Cats, Guns, and more. What’s not to love?
Now for the time of graders and rollers. The benefits of dirt roads in states where your property taxes are actually spent on public good.
Of course, the local car washes make a killing on salt and mud cleaning in the winter, and dust the rest of the year.
I’m ok with that.
Sunny, cold NW wind gusting left to right to 25. So not great for the diminutive, some say anemic, .22 round. But ya gotta practice. Today was a comparison day. I shot each rifle with no muzzle device (NMD), muzzle brake, and suppressed, using both CCI Standard and Eley Match. I find the CCI Standard to be a good, all-round ammo that shoots well in all my .22 platforms. Fairly accurate, but not match grade. The Eley Match is what I used to shoot for competition until I tried SK. Still, very accurate, and I have a bunch in stock.
And how did we do? Christensen Ranger:
Ruger Precision Rimfire:
Both rifles turned in good performances with different ammo and different muzzle configurations. Not Aspirin Shoot winners, but ok under gusty conditions. The CCI had several groups just over 1/2”, and the Eley had some .6” groups. I noticed a lot of lateral stringing with the Eley, probably from gusting. Even though it was running 35-45 fps faster. On a calm day it should outshoot the CCI.
Next time, I’ll be shooting on a no wind day with my competition ammo.
That’s right – the first one of the year is scheduled for April 27. The above pic is a reminder to aim small, miss small.
Well, then. We’d best get out our Aspirin Shoot Rifles. This is my #1 gun: Christensen Ranger. Lightweight, carbon fiber wrapped stainless steel barrel. Takes Ruger 10-22 magazines. 1/2 MOA gun, so misses are bad wind calls or screwing up elevation. Yes, it is possible to forget that step between stages.
Cleaned, boxed and ready to test fire. Vortex Crossfire 6×24 glass.
#2 gun is my Ruger Precision Rimfire. I swapped out the factory barrel for a Green Mountain barrel. I had to polish the chamber to get some brass to extract. Very tight. Also takes 10-22 magazines. How handy!
Arken 6×24 glass.
Also, first blood-sucking black flies of the year:
Coincidence? I think not.
Moving driveway gravel from base to top. Cranked up John Deere, dropped the deck, pulled the blades (sharp as marbles), made lots of sparks with my grinder.
Checked the belt – good thing. There was a crack that no doubt would have failed in the back forty. Going to Loews tomorrow for a replacement.
So, in the meantime:
I sent the box by USPS on Tuesday. Vortex sent an email today (Wisconsin) confirming receipt and letting me know what to expect. So far, so good.
So what did I do with the rest of my day?
Ranging the distance to all the targets by drone!
I used up three complete batteries because I hovered and maneuvered next to each group to get an accurate distance(although the latter targets are off because the drone updated its home location after leaving the bench).
Well, once the drone work was done (and I warmed up in the car (39 degrees, and a brisk damp wind)), I uncased the .308. Yes, I had brought gear in the event I really wanted to shoot. Amazing.
Ballistics were perfect at the 525 boulder, very close at 750 (but with 5 MOA windage correction) and, after a number of rounds, hit 900. Elevation was great, but the wind was all over the place. Very satisfying hearing the steel ring about three seconds after the shot!
Maybe I’ll do some drone footage tomorrow.
No, not what type of ammo they like. Feeding. As in going into the chamber.
A buddy sent an SOS. Federal Gold Medal Match 168s will not feed in his Aero AR10. The tip catches on the lip of the chamber using all different magazines. Evidently, Aero was less than helpful when approached.
He sent me this pic:
I took pics of mine for comparison:
Do you see what I’m seeing? I think his barrel has a sharp lip, while mine is definitely chamfered.
I’d be tempted to get my dremel, a wool brush and some metal polish and smooth out the lip right in front of the two feed ramps. But then, I have a high tolerance for DIY and risk.
KatNap Fever! 