Range Trip - P30 At 1,850, P30SK At 300, A CETME That's Not-For-Me, And The M&P 22 Gets A Name.

Yesterday in the late morning the family headed towards the west.

Natasha and Abby headed to a nature trail for a hike and I took Leah to the range and afterwards we met up and had lunch at the nature trail.

Leah got to try the M&P 22, the P30 and P30SK.

She immediately announced the .22 Compact with silencer upon shooting it was now her "Quiet Pal" and thus it got a name.

She was hitting steel plates and poppers with it quite well indeed and really had a good time shooting it.

Leah found the P30Sk and pronounced it cute. I figured if we could induce a failure, having a ten year old shoot the P30 and P30SK should do it. Nope, no failures. However, the LEM trigger system was clearly hard for her to use and she was dropping her shots significantly with both of them and you could see her dip the muzzle as she squeezed the trigger. We worked on it and I then stood behind her, had her aim and I helped her with squeezing the trigger with my finger covering hers and she got it and started no longer dipping the muzzle as she shot but decided she wanted to go back to her Quiet Pal as it was more fun for her and easier for her to shoot.

I shot the P30 and P30SK with both hands, with strong hand only, weak hand only (still needs work but its getting better), and on one string with a P30 in the left hand and the P30Sk in the right hand just to alternate one by one hitting plates and poppers which Leah pronounced quite cool. The technique is a good way to impress your kid, but of little to no practical value.

I also had a friend's Century Arms CETME, one of the older ones, not the newer C308s at the range.

He hadn't fired it before and asked me to take it out to the range and try it as he had never fired it.

How could I say no to such a nice request? Overall it looked good.

It feels pretty decent, has a nice heft and the ergonomics were not bad and it felt rather comfortable to hold and it lined up easily enough on target. When it came to shooting it however....

First, the G3 magazines he had with it would not lock into the gun, an apparently known issue with Century CETMEs. I inserted the mini five rounder that had come with the gun and loaded it with five rounds and inserted it into the mag well with a healthy click and it was seated.

I then chambered a round, no problem. Firing it was fun, the first round fired just fine and recoil was minimal for a 308 rifle. I then lined up the sights pulled the trigger and click. The magazine had unseated when firing the first round. I re-seated it tugged on it to make sure it was locked in which it was, chambered a round, fired and the same thing happened. All five rounds every shot the magazine would drop out just enough to not chamber the next round. Finally I held it in place with my off hand to shoot. A nice gun but this one certainly has issues. I'd probably get one of the PTRs if I ever want a G3 clone, and I just might as even this one fit nicely.

That's 1,850 through the P30 with zero failures of any kind and no cleaning, and 300 through the P30SK with one FTF (#22), not due to the firearm.