Range Report

I'm on vacation this week and got to the range today with my Polish Tokarev pistol, Springfield 1911, and Remington 870.

I got the Remington 870 last month and shot it for the first time today. I patterned it at 12 and 25 yards with Remington 00 buck and Federal Low Recoil 00 buck with Flite Control wads. I also put a box of Federal LR Tru Ball slugs through it. The Remington buck stays on a paper plate at 12 yards, but opens up a bit at 25. Most pellets would hit a torso, though. The Federal Flite Control load is impressive. Patterns at 12 yards were about as big as my hand, while at 25 they opened up to about the size of the plate. Assuming it performs as well in my Mossberg 500 Mariner, it'll become my load of choice. Both buckshot loads shoot right to POA at 12 yards, and a bit high at 25.

The Tru Ball slugs shot well. I was able to keep them on the plate at 25 yards once I found the elevation.

I'm happy with both the shotgun and all the ammo I tested today.

I bought the Tokarev last Fall but every time I took it to the range, something happened so today was the first time I've actually fired it. The Tokarev digested 70 rounds of Yugo surplus 7.62x25 Ball without a hitch. It's more pleasant to shoot than my CZ-52, which has some trigger slap. Shooting the Tok feels like shooting a 9mm, but one that's a bit louder. At 12 yards I kept them on the plate, which is about as good as I can do with the Tok's heavy trigger and small sights. I have 70 more rounds of the Yugo ammo, and then it'll be time for me to crack open the spam can of Romanian Ball that I picked up last year.

I've had the Springfield 1911 for several years. For the first 600 rounds or so through the gun it was extremely reliable. After swapping out the FLGR for a GI type setup I started getting stovepipes. After the last time I had it at the range I detail stripped it, paying special attention to ensuring that the extractor channel was clean. That was awhile ago and I finally shot it again today. In 84 rounds, I had one stovepipe with a Springfield brand magazine, one of the two which came with the gun. The other 83 rounds ran fine through 4 Chip McCormick and one other mag marked "NM 45," which came with the gun. I am pretty certain that the stovepipe was magazine induced (it's happened before with that mag), so I junked it. I plan to run more ammo through the Springer before I regard it as reliable, but I'm confident that I've diagnosed what was wrong.