Gun Range Report: An afternoon of shooting

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sat May 04, 2013 12:56 am

I have been needing to go to the gun range for several months. A few new guns to test fire, a few guns to sight-in with new optics. Here are the results:

Kahr CW9: This is my wife's new concealed carry gun. Kahr is the only manufacturer of firearm that has the proper ergonomics for my wife's very small hands. She can't reach the trigger on other guns if she has a proper grip. Originally purchased a PM9 for her, but due to the short barrel and stiff recoil spring, she couldn't shoot without jams. She shot some beautiful groups with the CW9 today using cheap ammo. No malfunctions and great accuracy...winner!

Kahr PM9: Originally purchased this as wife's concealed carry gun about a year ago. Wife shot this and experienced several jams...same result today. I shot about 50 rounds through it without a single malfunction. The last time we shot this gun, I never had a malfunction. I shot some good combat groups today, so this will become my primary concealed carry gun. Determined she was "short-stroking" the gun due to the extra short barrel and short/heavy recoil spring.

Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm: This is my newest firearm...bought it back in late November. Shoots like a dream. I carry a Glock on duty, and have done so for 12 years. The S&W is a little less "tight" in feel/operation, but I can shoot the S&W faster and more accurately. I boil this all down to ergonomics. The Glock has terrible ergonomics for my hand. The M&P feels like it was made for me. S&W has finally built a semi-auto that measures up to the others. This is my off-duty practice/range gun.

Ruger 10/22 Stainless w/4X scope: This is my gun. Shoots just fine, and just as you'd expect from the most popular semi-automatic .22 LR rifle on the planet (over 5 million produced). Only about 10-rounds to completely zero from bore-sighting. Another 10-rounds or so for good measure.

Ruger 10/22 blued with Sightmark Reflex Sight: This is my dad's gun. He wanted his Tasco 4X removed and his Sightmark installed. Both the Tasco and the Sightmark are cheap scopes, but generally are okay for the rimfire rifles. When I pulled the 4X off the rifle before installing the Sightmark, the 4X made all kinds of broken machinery noises...scope was bad. So, install the Sightmark (a sight I'd never choose for myself). Couldn't zero to save my life. Grouped okay, but couldn't get the dot on the bullseye. It appears the windage and elevation cams were bad/stripped. The reticle wouldn't move properly and I could never get the shots consistently in the right spot. Fail. Will need to test an alternative.

Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag: This has been my dad's deer hunting rifle for over 20 years. My dad had a Tasco World Class 3-9X scope installed (another optic I'd never use, especially on a magnum centerfire). Took the gun out last fall...couldn't get it zeroed at all. Burned through 20 rounds, and the tightest group I could shoot was about 12 inches...not acceptable. Later learned that my dad has been shooting this inconsistently since he installed the scope. He told me he would zero the rifle every year, and would get about 2-3 shots out of it before having to zero the gun again (OMG!!!! This means something was terribly wrong with the scope or maybe even the gun). The fact that I couldn't get it zeroed suggested a bad scope. For his birthday last year in December, I bought him a Nikon 3-9X replacement scope...a much nicer and pricier scope than the Tasco. Mounted and bore-sighted it a couple weeks ago. Today at the range, burned through another box of ammo (about $32.00) trying to zero. Got it to shoot a group between 6-8" in diameter at 100 yards. Again, completely unacceptable. This rifle should be easily capable of shooting 1-2" groups at that distance. I am at a loss...I am 99.9% certain this has nothing to do with my shooting abilities. I can shoot an M4 with open sights better than this at 100 yds. I've also mounted and bore-sighted literally hundreds of scopes (I used to work in a gun shop), and never had this problem. Further, I've never had this problems with my own rifles. So I'm now convinced that there is something very wrong with the rifle. But it's been an expensive experiment! With ammo prices the way they are, I can't afford to keep trying to get it sighted in for my dad. I'm considering sending it back to Ruger to see if they can diagnose/fix the problem...really frustrating!

So, frustrating for the rifles...very satisfying with the handguns.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sat May 04, 2013 1:07 am

Oh, and I realized that I really, really need a spotting scope.

EDIT: Celestron Spotting scope is en route from OpticsPlanet.com

Raygun · Post by **Raygun** » Sun May 12, 2013 6:18 pm

I went shooting last week for the first time since before Newtown, which is an extremely long dry run for me. The fact that ammo prices have been utterly retarded since then hasn't helped, but I had a few bricks of .22LR stashed away and we just went gopher hunting, so it was cool.

Stats: 3 hours, 209 rounds expended, 167 gophers exterminated, 80% hit rate on the money, one shot every .86 minutes average. Not bad for not shooting for almost 6 months.

My 10/22, while perfectly accurate, is an unreliable piece of shit once it gets a little dirty and I am tired of it, so I will be ordering a new bolt from Kidd (among other things) ASAP. I switched to my mother-in-law's 77/22 in short order during that session, which, while having a right-handed bolt (actually kind of convenient so long as I have a rest to shoot from), has a fucking AWESOME trigger by comparison; I put a Volquartsen sear in it about 8 years ago.

I also need a new spotting scope. Mine is an old hand-me-down. Let me know what you think of yours.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon May 13, 2013 11:12 am

Raygun wrote:I also need a new spotting scope. Mine is an old hand-me-down. Let me know what you think of yours.

I'll give a more thorough report once I've taken it to the range. However, my initial thoughts are that it will suit my needs for years to come. The scope itself, while quite large compared to the typical shooting sports spotting scope, is very light. So light, in fact, that I thought: "This must be a piece of crap...heavier is always better in optics quality!" Yet in looking through it, it is very bright and very clear. Celestron makes a lot of high quality optics for astronomy, and this scope implements similar design features. I've sampled Burris, Leupold, Swarovski and Leica spotting scopes, with their small, dense and heavy construction. The Leica scope I recently sampled cost a few thousand dollars and is top of the line. But it is a different technology. The difference wasn't staggering between it and my Celestron. The Celestron, true to its astronomy telescope roots, has a removable eye piece and can be changed out for different applications (no idea if I'll ever take advantage of it or not). This is a great terrestrial scope and sky viewing scope...a Jack-of-all-trades, if you will. It'd be great for bird watching, viewing the night sky, shooting sports, spying on neighbors, etc. It has an unmagnified sight tube along the left side of the body for quick target acquisition...something that also shows its astronomy telescope heritage.

So far, the quality seems fantastic for a $165 scope & tripod. It came with two softside cases for the scope and tripod. The tripod is a large, standing model...not a tabletop model. It is not very heavy, and vibration, wobble and wind will all be a factor for a stable image. Still, it works for now. The real test will be trying to spot .22 caliber bullet holes at 100 yards or farther on black target rings. My few experiments at home have suggested this will not be much of an issue, but I'm still anxious to get it out to the range to confirm.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri May 31, 2013 1:01 pm

I haven't made it to the range since the last visit...partly because of weather, and partly because I can't find ammo for my dad's gun anywhere except online (where I'd have to pay $18 shipping for a single box of ammo). But I've been messing around with the new spotting scope here at home.

At maximum magnification, the image gets a little blurry. This is to be expected with a cheaper scope. However, it is still pretty darn clear at all but the highest magnification. Bullet holes on paper will be the true test, but I don't think I'll have any problem out to about 300 yards. And since I don't have an gun ranges longer than 200 yards available, this scope should suit me just fine.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Sat Jun 01, 2013 5:07 am

trying to work a trade for a Rock Island 1911...4 inch bull barrel model. Trying to find out if I can buy the kit to use the .22TCM rounds without having to buy a whole new gun too.

Raygun · Post by **Raygun** » Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:22 pm

UncleJoseph wrote:I haven't made it to the range since the last visit...partly because of weather, and partly because I can't find ammo for my dad's gun anywhere except online (where I'd have to pay $18 shipping for a single box of ammo). But I've been messing around with the new spotting scope here at home.

At maximum magnification, the image gets a little blurry. This is to be expected with a cheaper scope. However, it is still pretty darn clear at all but the highest magnification. Bullet holes on paper will be the true test, but I don't think I'll have any problem out to about 300 yards. And since I don't have an gun ranges longer than 200 yards available, this scope should suit me just fine.

Sweet.

I have been looking at Vortex scopes a lot, as they seem to make really good, affordable glass. So I've been looking at their spotting scopes too. Which also seem awful nice. Not set on a model yet.

trying to work a trade for a Rock Island 1911...4 inch bull barrel model. Trying to find out if I can buy the kit to use the .22TCM rounds without having to buy a whole new gun too.

Hmm. I bet that's fun to shoot. No recoil from a 1911 and really flat shooting. I have a vz52 in 7.62 Tokarev and I have always admired it for the fact that it shoots so fast and flat. It's kind of a crap gun otherwise, but it's super easy to hit things way far out with.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:57 pm

Evaluation of the Celestron Spotting Scope:

I should have predicted it...I know you get what you pay for. In short, very lackluster performance. The included tripod isn't worth the material it's made from. Even with the legs collapsed, it shakes terribly if you touch it or the slightest breeze blows. Just awful, almost to the point of complete unusability. My 3x9x40 Nikon riflescope was much clearer, just not that much magnification. The celestron, even at higher magnification is much less clear, making observation difficult. The scope will be much more useful with a better tripod, but I am surprised that a 40mm-objective riflescope is way better than an 80mm-objective spotting scope. I should have known a $165 scope wouldn't be worth much...save your money and step up to the $400+ optic range for a spotting scope.

On to the good news. I finally got my dad's Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag to group with the new Nikon. Last 3 shots were on/in the bullseye. Not quite minute of angle, but close enough. I had to make some adjustments to the rings & re-boresight, but only took 9 rounds total to get it where I felt satisfied. Still, I'm not impressed with the accuracy. I can usually zero a rifle in 4-5 rounds (the last round being a confirmation shot) if starting from boresight. My dad's Ruger 10/22 with the cheap Sightmark red dot will only group about the size of my fist (3-4") at 50 yards, but that'll be acceptable for him. Next year I'll get him a better quality red dot and bring it up to my standards.

paladin2019 · Post by **paladin2019** » Sat Jun 15, 2013 2:29 am

sinsual wrote:trying to work a trade for a Rock Island 1911...4 inch bull barrel model.

I like mine.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 1:14 am

paladin2019 wrote:
sinsual wrote:trying to work a trade for a Rock Island 1911...4 inch bull barrel model.
I like mine.

Trade fell through, but what model is yours and what work have you done to it if any?

UJ,
I have a plethora of tripods at the moment, let me know what your looking for, if I have something close to it, (except my heavy Camera tripod) your welcome to it for the cost of shipping.

paladin2019 · Post by **paladin2019** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:46 am

I have one of the compacts, their version of the GO/3.5" barrel model. And I put a Crimson Trace grip on it. That's it.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:42 am

sinsual wrote:I have a plethora of tripods at the moment, let me know what your looking for, if I have something close to it, (except my heavy Camera tripod) your welcome to it for the cost of shipping.

Appreciate it! I'll have to take another look at mine. Really, I think I just need a heavier tripod. Mine might be suited to a point-and-shoot camera, but the scope is way too large and heavy for it. I might have to find a Manfrotto or something like what I use at work to stabilize it.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:05 am

I have a spare Bog that normally holds my medium format camera sitting collecting dust...

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:07 am

Gun range report.

125gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip over 43.5gr IMR4895 from my .308 Axis at 100yrds...(Led Sled with no weights)

The wife got me a Lee turret Press and dies in exchange for a Coach Purse (I got the better deal

)

I also just got a new 357 Harrett Barrel for the TC Contender that I need to load for. Right now there is a shortage in the area of .357 over 165gr. the Harrett gets the best results with 180-200gr rounds according to the load data the previous owner sent me with the barrel.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:34 pm

Well I haven't really been shooting since the last time I posted about it...maybe once?

I have a .300 Blackout AR on the bench that needs final assembly. The lower is all put together...just need to add the barrel. Have a nice EOtech for it from a Black Friday purchase last year. Just so many projects...but they are winding down. Gonna get some range time with the .300 in the next couple weeks. But after that, mostly be focused on the plane. Really, though, I should keep up my shooting skills since I don't train in firearms for work anymore.