Murphy's Law was in town so this afternoon he dropped by with his nephew the Spud, and we headed to the Lapeer pit range.
We arrived around three, and the range was packed shoulder to shoulder with what Tam would poetically call "Cleti".
In short, we had idjits bump-firing to the left of us, idjits bump-firing to the right, and missing every target with ammo wasted all over the place. While bump-firing apparently feels cool and all that, and while some can manage to hit a target while doing so, these folks sure couldn't.
This is part of why we have an ammo shortage - idjits wasting it left, right, and down-range.
Adding to the fun was watching people who clearly had no training and no clue how to shoot, or teach how to shoot, instruct others.
One guy farther down the line had what appeared to be his girlfriend out shooting, of course he was bump-firing and generally hitting the berm and not much else. She was fashionably attired in pink ear protectors and a lime green t-shirt that tightly advertised her rather sizable tracts of land.
What made her really stand out was the really impressive back-bend she was doing while shooting a pistol aimed some-whence in the direction of the berm, I mean this back-bend was gymnast quality.
Often a good thing to remember for pistol shooting is "nose over toes". In contrast to this adage, she had enough of a curve to her back that it was upraised mammary glands over toes, and her shoulder blades a solid foot behind her ankles.
The recoil from the full-size 9mm pistol she was shooting was practically knocking her over with each shot. Not a helpful experience nor could it have been very comfortable for her methinks.
So after watching the yokels, uh locals, we waited for a cease fire and got our stuff together for shooting.
I had brought out a carefully selected array of targets to shoot - cardboard boxes, a computer that deserved to go out in glory, a printer that died at a needed time and which deserved to be done in, and some other sundry stuff, as well as trash bags and gloves for hauling away the shot-up remains once finished. Sadly, because the Cleti denizens of the Lapeer pit famous for not picking up after themselves, they've passed an ordinance that only paper, clay and cardboard targets could be used. Dammit. Slobs are why we cannot have nice things.
We finally got a cease fire and put targets out and then got to shooting. I shot my Uzi, Saiga-12 and 300 Blackout AR. Murphy's Law shot his pistol, his Mini-14 and an M&P 15-22.
Spud got to shoot the M&P 15-22 and had a great time and was safer and more accurate than about 90% of those present.
Murphy's Law demonstrated yet again that a Mini-14 can be quite accurate, busting clays out past 100 yards that the cletus who had put them out was busy constantly missing while bump-firing at them.
There were a few nice people there and we chatted a bit about guns and the route and process to legal full-auto ownership, and I let them handle the Uzi.
The weird guy who seems ever-present wandering around with a Long-Reach Pick-Up Gripper
Ignoring the cleti around me, aside from awareness of their muzzles as some of them had no idea of muzzle awareness, I was hitting my targets nicely with short bursts from the Uzi, and the Saiga nicely hit where it was aimed at, as did the AR. This was again in contrast to most of the Pit denizens at the time. They were noisy, but if you were their target you were likely pretty safe surrounded by bump-firing impacts everywhere but on target.
The AR is still having trouble with the occasional round of ammo from the local manufacturer. Most shot fine but a few did the same thing as before - loaded, but the bolt would not fully lock into place and the charging handle wouldn't work to pull open the bolt. it took a flat-head prying at the bolt and then it released relatively easily allowing the round to be removed. Very strange. If anyone has any ideas on the cause I'd love to hear them.
In any case the Aimpoint PRO it is now nicely zeroed, and hitting targets was a snap, at least on the times it went boom.
After about a couple hours we tired of the environment and headed off to have dinner with our families and had a great time. Leah got to hand feed Murphy the dog and the beastie quite enjoyed the experience, good dog. Murphy and Murphy's Law will be around for a bit more, and I expect further adventures with Murphy's Law while he's in town, so stay tuned.
1 comment:
Wandered over here from Murphy's Lair, and saw your AR ammo travail, and an idea popped into mind.
I wonder if the rounds that jammed were slightly over length, either from reloaded brass that stretched and wasn't trimmed, or bullets seated just barely too far out. If the bolt is -trying- to close, but can't quite get there because of an overlength cartridge, I can see the lugs binding up from the friction. Since there's not that much distance for the lugs to move, though, that would explain why the screwdriver worked so easily and quickly.
Post a Comment