Range Day April 28, 2011

My Bride's youngest brother is in town this week. He wanted to go do a little shooting while he was here. I took him out this morning.

It was a beautiful day and the shooting was exceptional.

We started out with the Hi-Point Carbine. We were shooting it at 50 yards. As usual it was a hell of a lot of fun to shoot. The Brother-In-Law enjoyed it a lot.

My target on the top, Brother-in-Law's on the bottom.

Brother-in-Law posing for the camera.

After 100 rounds of 9mm, we moved over to the 100 yard range to enjoy the Olympic Arms AR-15. We fired 60 or so rounds.

Brother-in-Law firing the AR-15

We moved on the the Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine next. I think we fired about 25 rounds through it. That is enough to get used to the recoil but not enough to kick your ass.

Brother-in-Law firing the Russian Cannon.

Brother-in-Law posing with our targets. We used the same targets for the AR-15 and the Mosin Nagant. Mine is the lower, his is the upper.

After this, we moved over to the shotgun range for a little light trap shooting. Big Mullet and his son joined us. We were having such a good time I forgot to take any pictures. We were shooting my Mossberg 500, my Mossberg 590A1 and Big Mullet's Mossberg 590A1. My Brother-in-Law turned out to be pretty handy with a shotgun.

As an added treat, there were several law enforcement folks at their range, which is next to the shotgun range. They were firing full auto M4 Carbines and a few other goodies like an MP5. But as we were getting ready to leave, they asked us if we would like to come watch the sniper guy fire his Barrett .50. What do you think we said to that? Umm, we said Hell Yes! It was an awesome sight. The concussion of the first shot set off the alarm in one of the police vehicles. It was sweet...

How about that Top Shot last night?

That sure was a nice selection of weapons the guys got to fire last night, some true legends in the firearms world. How can you ever go wrong with an AR-15 or the Browning Hi Power. And how about that FN FAL? Excellent weapons all.

What the hell happened to Ashley? I had a lot of respect for him in the beginning of the show. He seemed like a good guy. Last night he seemed as if he might be borderline unstable. What, exactly did Jamie do to him? Did I miss an episode somewhere? Jamie has avoided all the backstabbing crap that has been going on, mainly because he has been the butt of most of it.

I have to tell you, I'm semi-disappointed with this season. It seems as if History Channel was more interested in personalities than shooting ability. Don't get me wrong, these guys can shoot, but damn! Did they do personality screens on these guys and purposely put the most clashing results all in the competition?

I don't mind a competitive group, but backstabbers and schemers, I might as well be watching the news about congress.

It was good to see Ashley get his clock cleaned in the elimination challenge.

I'm rooting for Jamie to win it all at this point.

Adios Ashley...

Range Day - April 2, 2011 - More

When my Little One and I were at the range last Saturday, the last thing we did was spend a little quality time shooting Big Mullet's fine ass AR-15 that he built himself. I talked about it in a previous post.

Big Mullet sent me a couple of pictures today so I felt obliged to post them up.

Here I am spotting for my Little One. She did a pretty good job at 300 yards! Especially since she had never used this scope. The scope will give you a beautiful picture downrange, but it is difficult to get just right. Big Mullet doesn't care much for it. The crosshairs are big enough to completely cover your bulleye at 300 yards.

Here is my target from 300 yards. I don't think it is too shabby. I think with a little more practice with this rifle I could do a heck of a lot better though. Big Mullet can put 10 rounds inside of a couple of inches with this setup. Another downside for me on this target, I was shooting with Big Mullet's scope DOPE. He is a lefty and I'm not. It makes a big difference. I'm not trying to make excuses, just saying...

Range Day 3-11-2011

We knew yesterday that the weather was supposed to be awesome today, so we planned a trip to the range. This time of year we live for opportunities to get out and shoot for a bit.

We started out sighting in Joe Texan's new Savage .308. We tried last time we were out but the store gave him the wrong scope mounts when he bought the rifle, so he had to get a new set. With the old mounts the scope was looking at the sky while the barrel was pointed at the target. Not good. It's a good looking gun, it shoots nice too. It will make a nice hog hunting rifle.

Here is Joe Texan putting a few rounds down range after we got it dialed in.

I got to fire some rounds out of my Olympic Arms AR-15. It is really a nice shooter. I only fired from 100 yards but all the rounds were in the black and a few of them were in the red. Open sights from 100 yards for a guy with eyes as old as mine, all in the black is a good thing.

Here I am, Billybob, taking a shot.

Big Mullet brought out his new AR-15, if you can call it that. Sure, it shoots a 5.56 round, but this thing is so far beyond an AR-15 that there really is no comparison. This is the first one he built himself. He did one hell of a fine job on it. He doesn't mess around with 100 yards anymore, he heads straight for the 300 yard targets. He can usually put 10 rounds in a two inch circle at that distance. With the 35 mph winds today and a 69 gr. bullet, he was lucky to put them on the target at all. He still managed a 3 inch group with 10 shots.

Here is Big Mullet sending a round down range.

We moved over to the 50 yard range after all that fun. Joe Texan wanted to try out the scope on his Ruger 10/22. He was also itching to fire my Hi-Point Carbine. He has seen it before, but never had an opportunity to fire it.

The 10/22 sighted in fairly easy. Joe Texan and Big Mullet got it on target quick and we were shooting some nice groups in no time.

Joe Texan enjoyed the hell out of my Hi-Point. I have a feeling he will wind up with one sooner rather than later.

The picture below is a target Joe Texan and I were sharing. The A circle is his group with the Hi-Point Carbine and the B circle is my group with his 10/22.

He was shooting a little right and I was shooting a little left, but the groups are incredible. His is a ten round group and mine was 12 rounds  I think.

The next picture is my target with the Hi-Point Carbine. I was shooting quick. This is two magazines, 20 rounds, and they are pretty tight for the most part. I had one or two fliers. If you notice, behind my target is a silhouette target. All of my rounds would have been head shots if I were using that target.

It was a beautiful day, it was a little windy, but no way I am going to complain. It wasn't that long ago that we got an 18" snow. I will take a 68 degree, windy day any time over that snow crap. It was good to get out and do a little shooting. A day at the range is the best therapy you could ever ask for. Doctors should prescribe it...

Range Day - 2-17-2011

It was 75 degrees and sunny here today. Awesome! The wind was blowing pretty steady but that's ok, it was 75 degrees!

I didn't take a single picture, I wish I would have, but I was more interested in being outside with no coat.

We got to the range about 1:00 give or take a few minutes.

I started out with my Olympic Arms AR-15. I think I fired about 50 rounds from 100 yards. The first 40 I was able to put into two 6 inch targets with some nice groups. The last 10 I was doing the rapid fire thing. Most of them were in the black, but I had a couple of fliers.

I had to break out the Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine. I only fired about 8 rounds but it was a lot of fun. You know you have fired a weapon when you are done with it. My buddy says it's going to give me E.D. I don't believe it.

A rep from our security camera company, Mariah, showed up about the time I was shooting the M44. She fired one round and was done.

We moved over to the 25 yard pistol range. When we got there an old guy was packing up to leave. We started chatting with him a bit and he showed us all his cool toys. A couple of Glocks, a Ruger LCR and a Walther P22. He let Mariah shoot all of them.

After he left my buddy broke out his .38 Special revolver. Mariah and I put about 100 rounds through that thing. I have to tell you, I'm not really a revolver guy, but I fell in love with that thing. Then he pulled out his new FNP 45. We put 50 or 60 rounds through that. It is a damn fine shooter. It seemed to have less recoil than a 1911 based .45. Not that I have a problem with recoil, but it is easy to shoot.

I wanted Mariah to have a little rifle fun so I pulled out the Hi-Point 9mm Carbine. She had a lot of fun with it. We put a box of 50 rounds through it. I had my first failure to eject with it today. But before you jump to conclusions, take into consideration that I have fired close to 5,000 rounds through it and it have never been cleaned. It will be cleaned now. That tells me a hell of a lot about the reliability of this little gun. I've said this 1,000 times, this is the most awesome gun I own. The weapon itself was a bargain at $224.00 and shooting the 9mm pistol rounds is about as cheap as you can get except for .22.

Mariah wanted to shoot the AR-15 a little bit, so we fired about 60 rounds at the 25 yard range. It was a lot of fun and she did a fine job. She put together some really nice groups.

As time allowed I was picking up brass. I can't believe people just leave perfectly good brass at the range. I must have picked up a couple hundred 5.56, a couple hundred 9mm and a hundred and fifty or so of .40 and .45.

While Mariah and I were shooting the AR-15, my buddy went over to the police range and picked up at least 500 5.56 casings. We must have picked up a couple hundred dollars worth of brass.

It was a damn fine day. Any day at the range is a good day. Next time I will get pictures, I promise.