Excellent day at the range

[Hebrew Battle Rifle]

Today was a great day for me. I arrived at the public range about an hour after it opened. I was surprised to see that all of the lanes were full and there were two fellas waiting for an open lane. While I waited my turn, I got a few targets ready. I had gone to the range to do some load development for 3 of my F A Ls and do some accuracy testing for one of my Mausers. I also took my Garand along just for, well, ya'll know why I took it
When my turn came up I set all of my gear on the table, posted the first target, and got down to bid'ness.
First, let me thank all of those wonderful Austrailians for sending us that premium surplus ammo. If I could, I would buy an 18 wheeler load of that stuff.
First up was my Frankenfal with the StG 58 front end that I bought from DSA. I made my standard modifications to this rifle and I have to say that I am most pleased with it. After a few minutes of me shooting, looking through the spotting scope, and shouting OOORAH!, the guy on the next bench wanted to know just what was up. He came over to my table and took a peek though the scope. His first words were "You shot groups like that with a FAL?" We spoke for a few minutes and I extolled the virtues of the Aussie ammo, the StG 58 barrels, and with just a little pride, my modifications.
I asked him about the bolt gun that he was shooting and he said that it was a Remington 700 with a synthetic stock and bull barrel. ( He told me the model but I don't remember what it was.) He mentioned that it was chambered in 308WIN so I offered him a blister pack of the Aussie ammo. He fired it and immediately asked me where he could get some.(He shot a 3/4" group @100 yrds with it.)
Anyway, I got back to my rat killin' and after 60 rounds, I was satisfied that my FrankenFal STG was an excellent shooter.
Next up was my FrankenIzzy. This one has one of the Badger US made F AL barrels that DSA was offering. Again, this rifle has had my standard mods made to it and it too is a very good shooter. The aussie performed almost as well in this rifle and the first. Consistant 1 1/2"groups@100yrds (benched and bagged). After a couple of mags of the aussie, I switched to my hand loads. This is where it got disappointing for a while. It is amazing how just a half a grain of powder can make such a difference in groups size. I did come up with a couple of loads with 147 gr FMJBT and 173gr FMJBT bullets that are dandies. ( This barrel has 1:11 twist instead of the standard 1:12 of surplus barrels) I was able to get consistant 1 1/2" groups from both bullets and loads. Life was good again.
The third FAL has a problem that I will have to address. It breaks open when it is fired. This is a new problem but I have diagnosed it and will get it repaired tomorrow.
With the F A Ls back in the rack and me feelin' pretty good, I cranked up the Mauser.
I bought these Mausers so that I could shoot the cheap surplus 8mm ammo. This particular Mauser is by no means a tack driver, but, it is good enough for my needs. I want to be able to practice off hand shooting without going broke doing it. I can put a 5 inch steel plate up at 100 yrds and if I do my part, this ol' Mauser will ding it. That is good enough.

I saved my favorite for last and she was a real sweet heart. This Garand was a real bitch to find a load for. I thought that I was going to wear the barrel out back when I was developing a load for it. I learned a lot about ammo and rifles while developing loads for this rifle. The three things that turned this rifle into a sweet shooter were a synthetic stock, adjustable gas system, and longer bullets seated out far enough to almost engage the lands. My standard load for this rifle is a 200 gr Sierra MatchKing over 52 gr of W760 in a Remington case and Remington 9 1/2M primer.The over all length of the dummy cartridge that I use to set my dies is 3.335
***Please DO NOT use this load data in your STANDARD GARAND!!!*** It will wreck your operating rod.
I learned today that that powder charge is perfect for 180gr Remington Bronze tip bullets when seated the same length as the 200 gr bullets. I also learned that fine adjustments to the gas system made big differences in groups sizes. It did the same in my F A Ls, but not as significant as with my Garand.
Well, to sum it up, the weather was perfect, the range was good, and the shooting was excellent. It was without a doubt, an awesome day.

[instr8]

Congrats on a high seretonin level day Heeb! Tis really great when a plan comes together. We all need more of those.

[fal fiend]

Rooster & i had some fun today at our local range as well..fals ,ar;s, ak;s,,,,was alot of fun

[Sand Pirate]

jimbeam and I made fire and thunder at our range today. A good time was had by all. A new SIG and a new Hi-Power had their coming-out party. Both were deemed "ready for polite society".

Well done, Hebrew.