Category: Shooting

Joe Huffman offers a lesson in exterior ballistics.

J.R. found some practical shooters that have a whole 1930s theme going.

Blackfork talks about working up subsonic .223 loads for his suppressed AR.  Bullets moving at supersonic speeds will create a small sonic boom that can still create a noise problem.

Having never shot any kind of practical rifle before, I got up this morning to go try out one of Langhorne Rod and Gun Club‘s practical rifle matches.  LGRC holds practical rifle shoots once every month, but this match was the one Kalashnikov match they hold each year in December.  I haven’t fired my Kalashnikov beyond 25 yards since GBR, October of 2007, and I shot like it.  Not good.  Had no idea even honestly where my site settings were.  Next time I go, I will make sure I have time to check my shit before walking on to the range and shooting a match.

But any day you get to spend sending hot lead downrange, particularly at steel, is a good day.  LRGC runs a fun, safe, no-pressure match.  They are very welcoming to first time shooters, and everyone there seems to have a good time.  Ran into Dave Markowitz of the Blog O’ Stuff, and was glad to meet him.  Here are our pictures for the day.  I commented in the pictures to give people an idea of what goes on in a practical rifle match, in case they are thinking about attending one (which I would highly recommend).  The pics of me were taken by Dave.

Who says AKs have no sporting purpose!

UPDATE: More pics up over at Blog o’ Stuff.

Time to go back to Pennsylvania.  Tomorrow there’s a Kalashnikov match at Langhorne Rod and Gun Club that I’m going to try to attend.  I’ll be shooting the AK-74, though I’ll probably take the 7.62 Romanian Kalashnikov too, just in case I feel like shooting that instead.

UPDATE: Back in Pennsylvania.  We got a new GPS for Christmas, and decided we liked being bothered by the American guy the best.  The British woman pronounced “Skippack Pike” wrong and it just annoyed me.  It works very well though.  We threw it for a loop a few times by deviating from the prescribed route.  Someone needs to make a gun nutty GPS navigation unit that can take you the shortest distance for states with no reciprocity.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to get a fall gun blog rifle match up, due to the elections, and then having to get caught up on crap after the election.  But for the Winter Match, I have made a 50 yard Kalashnikov and SKS match, and for the small bore match, I have brought it to indoor ranges, and made it an offhand only match.

If you would like to test your shooting skills against some other bloggers, this is for you.  Since you can shoot the small bore match at most indoor ranges, I’m happy to get a lot of participants for that.  If you have a Kalashnikov or SKS, you can also participate in that too, and if you have an indoor range that will allow 50 yard three position (NRA range in Fairfax, VA comes to mind) feel free to use it to shoot this match.  I will envy you, as I will have to shoot it outside in the cold.

I think it would be cool to offer a prize for this match, for the best picture taken of a competitor shooting under winter conditions.  I will only ask that you take a picture of yourself shooting in said wintry conditions, and then a picture of you and your target in said wintry conditions so I know you’re not cheating :)  We will hold a vote here for the best.  I will also put “They all suck” as a category, and if that wins, no one gets the prize.  I will offer a 25 dollar gift certificate to MidwayUSA to the winner, if there’s a winner.  If you’re shooting the match indoors, you can’t qualify, unless you have a particularly sucky indoor range.  You can qualify with the small bore match if you shoot it outside in horrid conditions.  If you win the match, you just get bragging rights, but if you shoot the match under horrid winter conditions, hell, that’s worth a 25 dollar certificate.  There’s still an opprotunity for those in moderate climates to win if you get creative :)

Papa Delta Bravo has an excellent post about zeroing your AR-15.  Conventional wisdom might not be wise in this case.  I have my 16″ barreled AR zeroed the way PDB mentions, and I keep my 20″ AR, which I use for target shooting, zeroed for a 6:00 hold on an SR-1 target at 100 yards.  I think it’s a good idea to take advantage of the .223s flat trajectory when zeroing a rifle you’re considering using for unusual circumstances.

Gun Clubs in Massachusetts are talking about how safe they are:

“We look at safety so seriously that any accident, especially a fatal accident like this, is going to rock our members for years,” Wallace said.

“But this is so rare; if you look at other activities kids are involved in, shooting sports at the ranges is probably the safest activity kids can get involved in,” he said.

It’s all true, but most people are smart clubs are smart enough to know you don’t give an eight year old a micro-uzi and let him try to dump a magazine.

Robb found a sign of hope that wasn’t just the talking point of an Obama press conference today.

Marko goes for round two.