As promised, I'm posting about my first trip out with the new CMP Garand.
The rifle is a 1944 Springfield manufacture with a 1966 barrel that had apparently been unfired since there was virtually no measurable muzzle wear or throat erosion.
Fortunately the range was empty when I got there so that I could focus on learning the manual of arms, as I had only shot a Garand one time and I hadn't been the one to load it.
Loading of the clips was simple enough, but I found that when the manual says "all cartridges seated fully" in the clip they meant it. There was one clip that got hung up in the magazine as I had not put all of the cartridges fully to the rear of the clip. After a couple of choice oaths, the offending cartridge was unjammed and the clip reloaded.
I started off at 25 yards with a 5 bullseye sighting-in target. The first couple of rounds were somewhat to the left, but that was to be expected as the rear sight had been moved that reason for some reason. After a couple of clicks to the right all was well. The final 5 shots at this range were completed by shooting one shot at each of the 5 bullseyes. I split the X on all 5 bullseyes
At 50 yards, I had to raise the rear sight a couple of clicks as it was in the full down position. Shooting 2 clips at an 8" bulleye, most were within a 4-5" circle with a couple of weird flyers that were in all fairness my fault.
1 final clip at 100 yards (really the limits of my marksmanship on an 8" target) was in a circle similar to the 50 yard target. I found that I didn't need to adjust the rear sight at all for this distance.
My observations:
1) Being the first time I've had an extended number of shots with a rifle of this caliber (I've only ever shot .22lr, .223, 7.62 X 39 in any great numbers), I was suprised at how flat the gun shot at the various distances. In other words, sight picture was the same for each range without really adjusting sights.
2) A lot of .30 '06 shots with a metal buttplate leaves a satisfying soreness after 32 rounds
3) The ping of an ejected clip is the coolest sound emitted by a firearm
4) Trigger break on this gun is entirely different from all of the other guns. Once the slack is taken up and pressure applied, it breaks very fast with little warning. For me, this is a good thing as it eliminates last minute guessing as the trigger creeps through the final pull like on my SKS, etc.
5) Since I don't want to shoot out this barrel, I'm going to have to order another Garand....probably a Greek rack grade, so that I can use that as a regular shooter. Darn....
The rifle is a 1944 Springfield manufacture with a 1966 barrel that had apparently been unfired since there was virtually no measurable muzzle wear or throat erosion.
Fortunately the range was empty when I got there so that I could focus on learning the manual of arms, as I had only shot a Garand one time and I hadn't been the one to load it.
Loading of the clips was simple enough, but I found that when the manual says "all cartridges seated fully" in the clip they meant it. There was one clip that got hung up in the magazine as I had not put all of the cartridges fully to the rear of the clip. After a couple of choice oaths, the offending cartridge was unjammed and the clip reloaded.
I started off at 25 yards with a 5 bullseye sighting-in target. The first couple of rounds were somewhat to the left, but that was to be expected as the rear sight had been moved that reason for some reason. After a couple of clicks to the right all was well. The final 5 shots at this range were completed by shooting one shot at each of the 5 bullseyes. I split the X on all 5 bullseyes
At 50 yards, I had to raise the rear sight a couple of clicks as it was in the full down position. Shooting 2 clips at an 8" bulleye, most were within a 4-5" circle with a couple of weird flyers that were in all fairness my fault.
1 final clip at 100 yards (really the limits of my marksmanship on an 8" target) was in a circle similar to the 50 yard target. I found that I didn't need to adjust the rear sight at all for this distance.
My observations:
1) Being the first time I've had an extended number of shots with a rifle of this caliber (I've only ever shot .22lr, .223, 7.62 X 39 in any great numbers), I was suprised at how flat the gun shot at the various distances. In other words, sight picture was the same for each range without really adjusting sights.
2) A lot of .30 '06 shots with a metal buttplate leaves a satisfying soreness after 32 rounds
3) The ping of an ejected clip is the coolest sound emitted by a firearm
4) Trigger break on this gun is entirely different from all of the other guns. Once the slack is taken up and pressure applied, it breaks very fast with little warning. For me, this is a good thing as it eliminates last minute guessing as the trigger creeps through the final pull like on my SKS, etc.
5) Since I don't want to shoot out this barrel, I'm going to have to order another Garand....probably a Greek rack grade, so that I can use that as a regular shooter. Darn....
