Sunday Range Day

So yesterday morning I got up, loaded the car, and met Tosh at the range.

Did some solid handgun practice, in which I learned I need to practice more, but I think I already knew that.   To be fair, I was using a couple new handguns while doing so, so getting used to them likely slowed me down a tad.  More on that in another post.

We also shot my Turknelli shotgun, which is still having some issues since coming back from repair and is now being broken in all over again.

We then shot Tosh's AR-15 with his new can.  It is much more pleasant to shoot it with a suppressor but it does kick a lot of gas right back in your face and he's working on modifications to reduce that.

We then shot my PS90 and much fun was had.

So as it turns out, we shot those three firearms in descending amounts of recoil.

In short, the Turknelli shotgun with 12-pellet 00 Buck kicks quite a bit and wants to get off target. 

The AR-15 by comparison had very little recoil and was easy to keep on the steel silhouette target.  

The PS-90 had effectively no recoil at all and stayed right on the target without any effort at all.

That was a darn good time at the range.

Sunday Range Trip

Two range trips in two consecutive days. 

Likely a personal record, and Tosh came along as well.

This time, it was at the outdoor range with temperatures in the mid to low 20s. So I wore a lot more winter clothes this time. Thankfully it was pretty calm and without a wind, so it wasn't all that bad.

I went to the range again as my Turknelli  (Copolla T4, a Turkish copy of the Benelli M4) came back from the importer after I had returned it due to some serious functioning issues.   Basically after about 60 rounds, the pistons would get covered in gunk and the gun would freeze up as the pistons would be un-moving and need a hammer to get them free.  Not satisfactory.

So after having it for 4 months, it was returned with a note online for the warranty process that they had changed out the bolt carrier, and in the box there was a further handwritten note said they changed the barrel, which makes a lot more sense.

Fedex dropped it off Saturday after claiming they had tried a delivery on Friday when they had not actually rang the bell or knocked on the door.  So, I had to go to the range again to function test it.

The barrel and bolt carrier do indeed appear to be new, Overall, it worked much better than before, with a few ejection issues initially. But, as I shot it more it worked better and was clearly getting broken in with 120 rounds of Buck and birdshot fired through it.  Visually and tactile-ly the pistons were still moving freely all this time whcih is a good sign that they actually fixed the problem.

Then, of course, something else had to happen - the stock was coming loose, and that hadn't happened before.  Likely they forgot to really tighten it down when they worked on it all.  So, I will strip everything down, clean it all, check to see the pistons are not gunked up, and tighten the stock down.   I will have to bring it to the range again after that soon.

Then we did some pistol shooting and it was great fun drawing from concealment with all that clothing on.  Certainly slowed down and it muffed a couple draws as well.  Ended up having the winter jacket unzipped and the P320 under the sweatshirt and so still concealed.

On the 3x2 Drill I deliberately tried to push faster, and I did a 2.68 and then a 2.38.

The single Bill drill I got done wasn't great with a 3.4.

On the upside, there was some good improvement on the 7 yard 11shot drill.

Most times were in the low 1.3 second range, with the slowest at 1.4, fastest was 1.18, with a nice satisfying string right in a row before it of 1.21, 1.25, 1.27, 1.30, and 1.27 ending with that nice 1.18.

The 1.18 beats yesterday's best of 1.27 nicely.   Now, to try and get it faster and more consistent.

That was enough exposure time at the range so we cleaned up, raked up the shotgun hulls, and headed off.

Memorial Day Range Trip

So for the morning of Memorial Day I headed to the range.

Met up with Tosh and his buddy Timo.  A good time was then had by all.

Had the Turknelli out and it ran like a top - even ran the lower powered 7.5 birdshot and the Federal Flite Control 8 pellet 00 Buck that it had choked on during its first time out.

 

In short no failures, fed everything it was given and seems good to go, and cleaning the pistons fixed the issue nicely.  

When I got it home, I took it down to clean it and  there was some solid carbon buildup on the pistons yet again, but not nearly as much this time, so hopefully the gunk is working itself out. Will need to keep an eye on it and I expect to make it a regular bit of maintenance to clean the pistons after each use.

Shot the Tavor as well out to 100 yards (longest range they've got at the range sadly)  and no issues. Did decided to give it a cleaning as it had not been cleaned in quite some time, and I think it appreciated it. Got a lot of build up out of it and it is nice and clean now.

Also shot my Glock and IWI Masada.  Definitely need to practice more as my draw is pretty slow and could use some work.  Accuracy with both is good and I'm hitting an A Zone at 7 yards on Bill Drills pretty consistently, but need to speed it up, especially the draw.

This means some regular dry fire practice which I keep telling myself I'm going to do, so might as well do it.  From now on it's 15 minutes of leg stretches for the hip rehab followed by 15 minutes of dry-fire a day.  Let's see if I can stick to this.

Turknelli Trials And Tribulations

Took the Turknelli to the range and had some issues.

Basically, it would not eject, or would eject but not  chamber the next round. In short, it had become a lever operated shotgun.

Stripped it for cleaning and it was rather apparent why.

Turns out the gas pistons were frozen solid, completely locked up with massive carbon deposits.

As in really locked up:

 

 

 

That's solid carbon poking out of the piston tube under the barrel after hammering the piston downward to try and get it to move.   The pistons had to be removed by tapping on them with a hammer, a lot and rather hard.

 

Both O rings were found to be broken on the piston covers (that's the remains of one below between the piston covers and the pistons, so I ordered some new ones. I wonder if they broke during the first shooting session and that's why the other rounds wouldn't feed properly.

 

 

Look at all that carbon on those pistons, the one on the left with what looks like a black cap should look like the one on the right with the carbon removed. This stuff was packed on, solid 

Now the pistons move freely again, and I expect the Turknelli will work properly now.  They were rather impressively filthy and absolutely coated in chunks of carbon, as were the insides of the tubes they sit in.

Got everything back together and per the internet, it apparently will work even without the o rings in place but I expect the replacements will come in soon anyways so I'll pop them on before taking it to the range for its next trip.

Overall, the fit and finish of the Turknelli could be a touch better.  It takes a fair amount of effort to get the barrel lined up and inserted, and it seems to be a fair bit more effort than on Benelli M4s as seen by others showing disassembly/assembly on Youtube which is a bit of an annoyance. 

Then again, this is a budget version of the Benelli so if this now works, I won't complain all that much. Be interesting to see if this carbon build up  is due to some particularly dirty ammo or if it is some break in issue.