Range Day

I managed to get up to the range this afternoon, but I forgot they were on winter hours so I only had an hour to shoot until they closed. So all I had time to do was re-sight in my SKS. I only had time to sight it in at 25 yards, but I plan to go back up there on Friday.

The results were much better today thanks to the thread locker I put on the scope mount set screws; the red dot scope remained rock solid.

I started out with a bore sighter stuck in the end of the barrel and then adjusted the red dot so it was showing the same POI. That done, I took out the bore sighter and loaded the magazine from a fresh 10 round clip. Three shots later I looked into the spotting scope and saw this.


It's a nice grouping (1"=4MOA@25'), but it was about 8.5" higher than where I was aiming. Was the bullet rising? I don't know, but I've experienced the same phenomenon before with other calibers and guns.

I dialed down the elevation and adjusted the windage a few times until I was hitting the center of the target. I found out today if I dialed down the scopes brightness to 5 or under, the apparent size of the dot shrunk and I was able to get much better accuracy. It may seem like a no-brainer I guess, but it hadn't occurred to me until today.

Since I couldn't go out and change targets, being short on time, I decided to pump a few rapid fire magazines through the paper and see what kind of grouping I could get.


Not bad... The sprinkling of hits around the hole in the paper are from when I went a little crazy with the sighting in. There is also two ragged holes in the target, one on top of the other. The bottom one from the sighting in process, and the top 2" - 3" one which have merged.

Not bad I say, considering I had less than an hour of trigger time and was unable to change targets. In addition to the Sarah Brady targets I also have some human silhouette targets I was going to put up at 100 yards. They'll keep till Friday I suppose.

Here's an overview of the whole target:


Remember folks, the worst day at the range beats the best day anywhere else!

UPDATE: DoubleTapper reminded me to include a picture of the SKS I used, which I somehow forgot to post originally. Sorry about that, here it is. :-)

Range Trip

I went to the range last Saturday afternoon with Jeffersonian. Since I am wanting to take part in the AvA (Axis vs. Allies) match at the club next Saturday, I decided I needed to make sure I could at least still hit the target.

I started off with my 10/22 and as expected, I was putting them in a 2" circle at 100 yards. Okay, no sweat... Then I broke out my Mosin Nagant M91/30, quite possibly the worlds longest rifle when the bayonet is attached. OUCH! I have shot this rifle before without a recoil pad, but it's been a while since I did and my shoulder is still aching!

I put three rounds down range and check my spotting scope. S&%#! I was hitting about 8" high and to the right (1 o'clock), this with new WOLF production and Polish surplus ammo (yes, my rear sight was on 1). Several rounds later, and holding off at about 7 o'clock, I was still not reliably hitting the black. It was at this time that Jeffersonian offered to let me use his VZ 24 in the match, with him shooting his Garand. I shot the last of his practice rounds through the VZ and managed to turn in some respectable hits at 100 & 200 yards. So it was settled, I will be shooting the VZ in the match this Saturday.

This is the first time I've shot in a match of this type, with both prone and standing shots taken under timed conditions. I'm using my M91/30 to practice with at home, and I'm already doing pretty good at getting into the position and working on cycling the bolt, though the Mauser's bolt is much better. Not to mention the trigger and sights. Jeffersonian has a Timney trigger and a Mojo rear sight on the VZ and they flat out rock! I'm going to have to get a Mojo for my Mosin and see what I can do about the trigger. As with most Mosin's, my trigger sucks!

Well, wish me luck!