Good morning everyone,
Yesterday was milder at 0 Celsius or 32 Farhenheit if you prefer, my lady went to her parents with my heir, she suggested I should use that me time to go to the range. What a lovely idea!
A few weeks ago, on my last trip to the rifle range, I tried new ammo which was sold to me by a knowledgeable fellow at a gun shop in town. I had to get there to find some .22LR ammo as my closeby sources had dried out. Not only did he have some, he had just received five cases of Winchester 333 out of the 120 cases he had ordered. Since this is the ammo my Browning Buckmark rifle likes, I promptly bought a case. The gentleman, as a good saleman, had previously suggested that I buy some American eagle ammo, which I had never tried. You see, the new arrival was not yet on the shelf, so this one, already on the counter, was effortless to move. After he got me the case of 333, out of curiosity and respect for his help and effort for going downstairs get me my ammo, I decided to pick a brick of American eagle in extra to get a taste of it. The salesman assured me I would not regret it.
So, on that previous trip to the range, I decided, for no particular reason other than I had recently thoroughly cleaned it, to take Grandpa's old Coey .22 bolt action to the range instead of my usual semi-auto Buckmark. Grandpa died in 1998, already an old man. I had not shot the rifle since approximately 1996. My uncle had inherited it and later passed it on to me a few years ago when he began chemo and radiotherapy. To say the rifle has sentimental value is not enough: I loved Grandpa and this is the rifle I shot most when I was a kid, even more than my own Dad's .22 (Browning lever action, some anniversary model, gold plated receiver... He did not like to see me take it to the woods).
On that first trip with the old rifle, I shot what was left of my previous batch of 333, approximately 150 rounds, and then switched to the new to me American eagle. I shot 200 rounds of that one, not very impressed with the results compared to what I was doing with the 333.
Yesterday, I went to the range with the intention to burn that ammo without using a rest, using it as practice for stance closer to my usual unrested hunting situations. When I got there, there was already a bunch of guys shooting. I should have known, the warmer weather tends to do that. It is not welcomed to shoot without a rest at that range. When there is not too many people, the range officers will let me do as I prefer, but when it is crowded like yesterday, I do not even ask.
Given the situation, I decided to give another chance to the American eagle ammo. The wind was light in the beginning, I planted my target at 25 yards in the snow. The rifle had not been cleaned since the last outing, shame on me. My first group, using the open sights on the rifle, which is not scoped and will likely never be, was 1" + 1 flyer I think was my fault (slapping the trigger). The three other corners of the target were approximately the same, except for the one down on the right, a little more opened. I use the last circle, the big one in the Center of the target, to finish. That one might be considered the best with eight shots in three quarters of an in he and two flyers, one of which was certainly my fault.
I then put my second target at 50 yards, and, of course, the wind got stronger! The best group was the final one, on the big circle, probably partly because it is the only one I saw correctly (not completely covered by the front post). It was a twenty shots group as I had ran of of targets to shoot at before the line was closed. Eighteen of those shots were within 2 inches, two hovered just a little outside of that circle, one of them touching the two inches lines.
As I am not a very good shot, I was quite satisfied with that shooting. That old rifle has a crappy trigger, with lots of creep and some side travel. The ammo was the cheapest on the shelf, yet it performed admirably to my taste, better than the first time I shot it. I am thinking this rifle, contrarily to my Buckmark, likes to be shot dirty. Or is it this specific ammo which behaves better in a dirty barrel?
All in all, it was a lot of fun to shoot that rifle again. Memories of the good times I spent shooting it as a kid and of my Grandpa when he was still with us came back, practice got in, spent some time outside, very good day. I feel rifles have a special ability to engrave good memories, especially Grandpa or Dad's rifles. Have you shot one of those lately?
Yesterday was milder at 0 Celsius or 32 Farhenheit if you prefer, my lady went to her parents with my heir, she suggested I should use that me time to go to the range. What a lovely idea!
A few weeks ago, on my last trip to the rifle range, I tried new ammo which was sold to me by a knowledgeable fellow at a gun shop in town. I had to get there to find some .22LR ammo as my closeby sources had dried out. Not only did he have some, he had just received five cases of Winchester 333 out of the 120 cases he had ordered. Since this is the ammo my Browning Buckmark rifle likes, I promptly bought a case. The gentleman, as a good saleman, had previously suggested that I buy some American eagle ammo, which I had never tried. You see, the new arrival was not yet on the shelf, so this one, already on the counter, was effortless to move. After he got me the case of 333, out of curiosity and respect for his help and effort for going downstairs get me my ammo, I decided to pick a brick of American eagle in extra to get a taste of it. The salesman assured me I would not regret it.
So, on that previous trip to the range, I decided, for no particular reason other than I had recently thoroughly cleaned it, to take Grandpa's old Coey .22 bolt action to the range instead of my usual semi-auto Buckmark. Grandpa died in 1998, already an old man. I had not shot the rifle since approximately 1996. My uncle had inherited it and later passed it on to me a few years ago when he began chemo and radiotherapy. To say the rifle has sentimental value is not enough: I loved Grandpa and this is the rifle I shot most when I was a kid, even more than my own Dad's .22 (Browning lever action, some anniversary model, gold plated receiver... He did not like to see me take it to the woods).
On that first trip with the old rifle, I shot what was left of my previous batch of 333, approximately 150 rounds, and then switched to the new to me American eagle. I shot 200 rounds of that one, not very impressed with the results compared to what I was doing with the 333.
Yesterday, I went to the range with the intention to burn that ammo without using a rest, using it as practice for stance closer to my usual unrested hunting situations. When I got there, there was already a bunch of guys shooting. I should have known, the warmer weather tends to do that. It is not welcomed to shoot without a rest at that range. When there is not too many people, the range officers will let me do as I prefer, but when it is crowded like yesterday, I do not even ask.
Given the situation, I decided to give another chance to the American eagle ammo. The wind was light in the beginning, I planted my target at 25 yards in the snow. The rifle had not been cleaned since the last outing, shame on me. My first group, using the open sights on the rifle, which is not scoped and will likely never be, was 1" + 1 flyer I think was my fault (slapping the trigger). The three other corners of the target were approximately the same, except for the one down on the right, a little more opened. I use the last circle, the big one in the Center of the target, to finish. That one might be considered the best with eight shots in three quarters of an in he and two flyers, one of which was certainly my fault.
I then put my second target at 50 yards, and, of course, the wind got stronger! The best group was the final one, on the big circle, probably partly because it is the only one I saw correctly (not completely covered by the front post). It was a twenty shots group as I had ran of of targets to shoot at before the line was closed. Eighteen of those shots were within 2 inches, two hovered just a little outside of that circle, one of them touching the two inches lines.
As I am not a very good shot, I was quite satisfied with that shooting. That old rifle has a crappy trigger, with lots of creep and some side travel. The ammo was the cheapest on the shelf, yet it performed admirably to my taste, better than the first time I shot it. I am thinking this rifle, contrarily to my Buckmark, likes to be shot dirty. Or is it this specific ammo which behaves better in a dirty barrel?
All in all, it was a lot of fun to shoot that rifle again. Memories of the good times I spent shooting it as a kid and of my Grandpa when he was still with us came back, practice got in, spent some time outside, very good day. I feel rifles have a special ability to engrave good memories, especially Grandpa or Dad's rifles. Have you shot one of those lately?