Saturday Range Trip

On Saturday I hit the range along with GeekWithA45 and his friend B. We went to his gun club in southern Chester County, which turned out to have a very nice range.

I shot my Marlin 336 and Mini-14GB for the first time. The Marlin shoots really well. It grouped into about 2" at 50 yards with Remington 170 grain JSPs. This is about as good as I can do at that range with an open rear sight and a bead front. I'm very happy with it and looking forward to mounting the Williams peep rear and fiber optic front sight which I ordered from Midway. UPS's site says they should be here tomorrow. {Happy dance}

The Mini-14 functions fine but something was wrong with the rear sight. I couldn't adjust it for windage more than one or two clicks. Yesterday while putzing with it I made the problem worse. {sigh} So, I'm going to order some replacement parts, rebuild the rear sight, then get it sighted it. Assuming no further difficulties I'm strongly considering using it for my primary SHTF rifle.

Aside from the Ruger and Marlin I also lugged along my Underwood M1 Carbine and Arsenal, Inc. SA-M5 AK. This was the first time shooting them since I put the M1 into a replica paratrooper stock and added a flash hider to the Arsenal. The M1 shoots much as it did before, though I did need to make some windage adjustments. Firing the AK with the flash hider is an improvement vs. the OEM muzzle brake. A 5.56 semiauto that weighs about 7 lbs. needs a brake like a boar needs tits. The flash hider does a better job of eliminating flash (duh), doesn't direct blast at the shooter, and besides, it looks cool.

Geek let me put a mag though Mjolnir, his Springfield M1A Scout Squad Rifle. (He's since removed the scope shown in the linked post.) All I can say is, "SWEEEEET!" Mjolnir is an appropriate name indeed. With the Springfield muzzle brake, recoil is almost nonexistent, yet it hits with the authority of 7.62 NATO.. It is rather loud, though. From a rather shaky rest at 50 yards, I kept almost the whole mag inside the 10 ring of an SR-1 target. IMHO, for anything other than formal target shooting, the 18" barrel of the Scout Squad is perfect. If I ever get an M1A (a distinct possibility after shooting Geek's), the Scout Squad is the one I'll buy.