The day was great too. Sunny and warm – upper 60’s. Plenty comfortable enough for shorts or jeans, without being too warm.
So, Y2K and I thought about what we wanted to shoot. His scouting-buddy was very interested in shooting my Kahr/Auto-Ordnance “Thompson 1927A-1 Deluxe (T1)”, the semi-automatic version of the famous (or infamous) “Tommy Gun”. This one has the steel receiver, and it ain’t a lightweight! I wanted to fire this as well – as I hadn’t had a chance to. So I loaded up a 50-round drum so we wouldn’t have to at the range.
Well, naturally, going with the Tommy I decided to bring my Auto-Ordnance 1911. Heck – they shoot the same cartridge (the venerable .45 ACP), and Y2K’s buddy has never fired one (Y2K has), and he’s probably going to inherit one from his grandfather at some point.
So that was two – but we had to bring more.
Number three was another “virgin”, a Remington Model 700 ADL Varmint in .308 Winchester. This is a heavy-barrel model. Dick’s Sporting Goods had them on sale before the holiday, and both TedH and I picked up one. Ted had great luck with his, so I couldn’t wait to get this one out. With all the firearms I own, this is my first modern centerfire bolt-action rifle. I have other bolt-action centerfire rifles, but they are all World War I or World War II vintage arms. The deal at Dick’s was great – I couldn’t pass it up. I had a Leupold Gold Ring variable that I purchased 23 years ago that has been waiting for the right gun all that time – and the Remington 700 is it! I mounted a bipod on it, bore sighted it, and couldn’t wait to get it on paper.
Well, if we were bringing three guns, we might as well bring a couple more!
Last time out with our friends the boys fired their M91/30 Mosin-Nagant’s, so I decided to bring a gun firing the little brother of the cartridge that rifle shoots (the 7.62 x 54R Russian), a Russian SKS in 7.62 x 39mm. They had fired an intermediate round before – the .223 Winchester in an AR-15, so this made a lot of sense.
Finally, I brought an old standby, a Ruger Mark II in stainless with a bull-barrel. This gun is just a ton of fun to shoot. Accurate and reliable – and I always bring a .22 whenever I hit the range.
Our friends brought two guns – the father’s Beretta M92, and his brother’s Mosin-Nagant carbine.
So, with a small arsenal ready to go, we decided to start with the Thompson.
And that is when the trouble started.
We couldn’t get the darn drum to feed – at all. Finally gave up on it, and started shooting my 1911. And then the rear sight retaining screw broke, and the sight would sit still. Two guns up – two problems. Well, that is why you bring more guns.
So we tried the Beretta M92, and it started jamming immediately. It was the ammo – purchased reloads. Still, we were now three for three. Okay, time to jump ahead to bring out “ol’ reliable” – the Ruger Mark II.
You guessed it – it jammed with almost every round. It was cleaned after the last shooting session – where it performed flawlessly, chewing through everything I fed it. Just like it always does. But not today. Only thing I can figure was that the ammo was to blame (Winchester “X-Pert” bought at Wally-World). Four for four. A this point, I seriously considered calling it a day.
Well, the Mosin-Nagant was next up, and it worked great. Finally – a gun functioning the way it was supposed to. Talk about embarrassing up to that point. Only thing that saved face for me was that their first gun also had problems!
Here’s a picture of our friend firing the Mosin. It is a carbine, wearing a 6x scout scope.
I can tell you, the muzzle-blast, report, and recoil on the carbine is significantly greater than the full rifle – but not uncomfortable and certaining a hoot to shoot. The boys loved it – we all did!
Meanwhile, I tried the Remington. The bore sighting had worked – it was on paper at 100 yards with the first shot. In fact, it was on target with the first shot – and this was shooting cheap Wolf 150-grain FMJ ammunition. Actually, I never touched the scope the whole session, and everyone hit what they shot at with it! This is a keeper!!!
Meanwhile, I had thought ahead enough to bring a stick magazine for the Thompson. We loaded it, and it functioned flawlessly! What a relief. Here’s Y2K’s buddy shooting it:
And him holding it mugging for the camera (this is now his facebook photo!
).
And here is Y2K trying to shoulder it:
Did I mention it was heavy? Between that and the length of pull, shouldering it properly may be another couple years off. Well, there is always hip-firing it:
And Y2K trying to mimic his friend:
I'll have to talk to him about where he needs to keep his trigger finger!
Finally, we broke out the SKS. No pictures – you’ve all seen them. The boys had a ton of fun shooting it, and it worked flawlessly. Just what you'd expect.
So, all in all, despite the issues, any day shooting is a good day. Sorry for the long-winded report!
It was to cold last weekend here to go to a range so we just settled for shooting CCI CB caps in the yard. Didn't you pick up an Enfield that you have yet to pull the trigger on?
--------------Sixgun
