So a friend and I took leave from Uncle Sam today and went to a local range in the Titusville, FL area. It was nice and cool outside, the breezes were trailing and light, and at 0830 there was only one other shooter on the line. It was the first time we had been shooting since the hurricanes of 2004, so expectations were low. Something about the "worst day of shooting is better than the best day at work" analogy, you folks know how that goes.
My buddy had just installed a barrel tuner on his Biathlon Basic, so he was generating data points for different types of ammo.
Myself, I had an unfired Romanian SAR-1 that had been sighted in by monkeys, or so the front sight post windage settings appeared. No problem, I had my Red Star front sight tool and a couple hundred rounds of 7.62x39 handloads.
Here's a pair of ugly Russian rifles, the Biathlon Basic, and the SAR-1:
It appears that the barrel tuner on the Biathlon Basic works as advertised, we were able to get CCI Velocitors to tighten their groups by adjusting the tuner in increments of 1/2 turn on the counterweight. I think it still looks funny hanging out there on the end of the barrel, but form follows function.
Here's the SAR-1:
It turns out that the front sight was drifted way too far to the right, with groups very far left at just 50 yards. A few judicious turns of the front sight adjuster took care of that. The SAR-1 turned in some downright respectable 50 yard groups, some just over 1.5" in spread. I may have to get a red dot sight and side mount, the gun shoots so well! BTW, those 20-round shorty magazines are the cat's meow for shooting off the sandbags.
I was apprehensive about shooting the little AK, because the wire sidefolder stock doesn't appear too terribly comfortable, and makes for a lightweight rifle compared to it's full-stocked cousins. No problems, the gun was a pussycat and the stock felt just fine.
Earlier, I had installed a 7-round extended box magazine on my Remington 700PSS. I'd never tried it out, so that rifle got a turn at the bench, too.
The magazine extension functioned flawlessly, although that 7th round is a tight fit. 5-round groups at 100 yards were staying right around 3/4", but we got bored punching paper and started setting up clay pigeons at the 100 yard berm, instead.
I forgot just how therapeutic a morning at the range can be for a fellow. We'll have to do it again, sooner rather than later.
My buddy had just installed a barrel tuner on his Biathlon Basic, so he was generating data points for different types of ammo.
Myself, I had an unfired Romanian SAR-1 that had been sighted in by monkeys, or so the front sight post windage settings appeared. No problem, I had my Red Star front sight tool and a couple hundred rounds of 7.62x39 handloads.
Here's a pair of ugly Russian rifles, the Biathlon Basic, and the SAR-1:
It appears that the barrel tuner on the Biathlon Basic works as advertised, we were able to get CCI Velocitors to tighten their groups by adjusting the tuner in increments of 1/2 turn on the counterweight. I think it still looks funny hanging out there on the end of the barrel, but form follows function.
Here's the SAR-1:
It turns out that the front sight was drifted way too far to the right, with groups very far left at just 50 yards. A few judicious turns of the front sight adjuster took care of that. The SAR-1 turned in some downright respectable 50 yard groups, some just over 1.5" in spread. I may have to get a red dot sight and side mount, the gun shoots so well! BTW, those 20-round shorty magazines are the cat's meow for shooting off the sandbags.
I was apprehensive about shooting the little AK, because the wire sidefolder stock doesn't appear too terribly comfortable, and makes for a lightweight rifle compared to it's full-stocked cousins. No problems, the gun was a pussycat and the stock felt just fine.
Earlier, I had installed a 7-round extended box magazine on my Remington 700PSS. I'd never tried it out, so that rifle got a turn at the bench, too.
The magazine extension functioned flawlessly, although that 7th round is a tight fit. 5-round groups at 100 yards were staying right around 3/4", but we got bored punching paper and started setting up clay pigeons at the 100 yard berm, instead.
I forgot just how therapeutic a morning at the range can be for a fellow. We'll have to do it again, sooner rather than later.
