Author Topic: Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18  (Read 929 times)

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Offline M1A4ME

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Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18
« on: February 08, 2018, 09:19:09 PM »
My youngest son took a couple days off, had no big plans, I said, "Let's go shooting."

He brought his Beretta 90-Two in .40 S&W and finally brought the 9MM M92 magazine I bought him a couple years back.  It worked flawlessly.  He has 5 or 7 standard Beretta .40 S&W magazines but I figured, for $10, how could I go wrong?  He shot it a bit and put it away and brought out his favorite, the CZ 75 SA in 9MM.

I reminded him I'd brought the rear sight tool so he needed to get the P07 9MM out and shoot some groups.  Ya gotta take the slide off to use the tool.  First time I moved it to far the other way.  Second time too far back the right way.  Third time just a tiny bit off.  Last time (you always get it right the last time) it was right there.  Tightened the screw back down (again) and he went back to the CZ 75 SA  (it's a group thing).  The Beretta and the P07 just can't compete with the SA CZ 75.

I shot only my P09 .40 S&W.  I had some 140 grain reloads I'd messed up.  Had some brass that had been previously cleaned/sized/belled that had tarnished in the year or more it sat in the garage.  I put it back in the vibratory cleaner with the crushed walnut shell media to shine it up - then forgot to check/clean the primer flash holes before beginning to prime it.  I think I had about 18 of them primed when I realized it.  I picked out 7 more with plugged/partially plugged flash holes and primed them.  I then loaded up 25 with walnut shell media in the flash hole and 25 without using CCI small pistol primers and 6.5 grains of Herco (my, so far, favorite lead bullet load). 

The idea was to see if the walnut shell media had an effect on groups or misfires/duds.  Shot 5 the other day during the monsoon range session but the target was toast (soggy toast).  Shot 20 of each on different targets, off hand at 13 yards.

With the walnut shell media in the flash hole.  That one way out to the left was a complete surprise.



Without the walnut shell media in the flash hole.



Then we went to the 25 yd. range to sight in some carbines and pistols (AR15 pistols).

I forgot the .22 ammo in my car so the SIG 522 didn't get sighted in.

I started off with the AR in 9MM I just finished putting together a week or so back.

Problems, right off the bat.  Fed/chambered/fired great - one time.  Then I got a jam with the empty (being extracted, but not ejected) and the next round from the magazine all jammed up in the upper receiver.  Fired the first 5 shots like this, all low, only one or two on the paper.  On the last shot the bolt locked back - with an empty still stuck to the bolt face.  Took a picture of it.  You can see the ejector behind and in front of the empty on the bolt.  The ejector was twisted to the left and the empty wasn't even hitting it.



Adjusted the red dot and opened the AR up for a look/see.  Got the empty off the bolt face and used a pair of pliers to twist the ejector to the right.

Closed it up, loaded another 5 round magazines (mags. hold 32 rounds but I was testing mags with 5 shots each - well, that was the plan).  Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.  Quick and easy.  Perfect functioning.  The group sucked for air, but the thing worked like a champ.  I'd forgot the good 9MM ammo in the car and only had some test loads with Unique and 125 grain LRN bullets I'd loaded for testing in the pistols (it didn't shoot well in the P07 either.)

Got all excited about the functioning and loaded up another 5 round magazine.  It went bang, bang, click again.  Yup, ejector had twisted back to the left again.  Opened it up, grabbed the pliers and twisted it to the right again.  Closed up and shot the last three just great.  Loaded up 5 more and shot those with no functioning issues.  Stopped messing with it (groups sucked anyway) and went to the .22 (only to find I'd forgot that ammo in the car, too, and then went to the AR15.

Took the Aimpoint off the AR15 and put a Bushnell 1X4 AR Optic scope on it.  Shot a 3 shot group and couldn't find it on the paper.  Tried several things (shooting upper right corner, lower left corner, etc. - no luck - off the paper at 25 yds.)  My son noticed two very large targets off to my left someone had taped over all the bullet holes on and then left them.  I aimed at the right target and put a hole almost 2 feet off to the left of POA and over in the left target.  After several scope adjustments I was getting close and switched to my targets.

First 3 shot group on one of my targets is the left group.  Made another adjustment and shot 3 more shots but it was high for what I wanted.



Made another adjustment and shot one more 3 shot group.  I think I'll keep this one.



While I was messing with my guns (off and on I'd get up and watch my sons targets as he sighted in his AR15 pistol in .300 BO).  He was very happy with the functioning (100% with 150 grains Hornady FMJBT and AA1680 powder) and the groups.  His 25 yd. groups with the 8.5" barrel were better than my 16" carbine in .300 BO can do.  He did say it kicked pretty hard though.  I'm not sure if heavy bullets at a slower velocity would kick as bad or not.  We'll have to find out. 

Then he sighted in an AR15 carbine (16" barrel) I gave him last year while I was sighting in mine.  Mine shoots way better than his.

My load is a Hornady 55 grain FMJBT with either Tula or Federal small rifle primers and BLC 2 powder (today - sometimes I use the same bullet with IMR 4198, but the way the BLC 2 shoots and feeds out of a powder measure, the IMR4198 for these bullets isn't used much anymore).

The high today was around 43 F.  We were getting kind of chilly by the time we packed up and left, just after 3:30 PM.  The heater in the car felt good on the way home.

All the guns are cleaned now.

I used to think a .22 was the dirtiest thing in the world.  Well, a blowback 9MM AR15 beats out a .22.  That lower was sooty/black from the front to the back of the trigger guard.  Took two wipings to get it all off.  I think the outside was actually dirtier than the inside - if that's possible.

I messed with the ejector some more.  On the Spikes lower it's held in by an allen screw.  The ejector has a hole drilled through it and the screw threads through the receiver side into the hole to lock the ejector in place.  Well, the hole is larger in diameter than the screw, so the ejector can twist back and forth on the screw.  So, I twisted the ejector to the right even more in an effort to keep it correctly oriented even if it tries to twist back to the left on the small diameter screw.  We'll see how it works this weekend.

Bottom line - we got some guns sighted in, we got some load testing done, we had fun.  Another great day at the range.
I just keep wasting time and money on other brands trying to find/make one shoot like my P07 and P09.  What is wrong with me?

Offline Joe L

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Re: Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2018, 07:02:09 AM »
You can remember more detail from a range trip than I can!!  Great write-up.  Thanks.
Joe
CZ-75B 9mm and Kadet, 97B"E", two P-09's, P-07, P-10C, P-10F, P-10S, MTR

Offline baldrage

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Re: Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2018, 07:12:27 PM »
Bottom line - we got some guns sighted in, we got some load testing done, we had fun.  Another great day at the range.

Huzzah!  That would make a good signature line!   :D

Offline miller_man

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Re: Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2018, 08:23:03 AM »
Sounds like a great range day!

Next time take an extra minute or two before leaving the car (with stuff you want to bring)  ;D - I've done that a lot too.
List of guns here?

Offline M1A4ME

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Re: Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2018, 09:28:18 AM »
These days, I'm so very easily distracted by something I see, something someone says, or a memory that just popped up that I need to speak about.  I have walked out of the house with my EDC in the holster and no keys.  Or the keys but the EDC is still in the house.  That ammo was sitting there in plain sight in the trunk, I just didn't pick it up while switching the stuff over from handgun to rifle while heading to the 25 yd. range.

Supposed to be a couple nice days next week.  Hopefully I'll get to the range again.

Finally found some .22 ammo at a decent price.  Walmart had it on sale at $21.95 a brick.  Thunderbolts.  Yeah, everyone says those are the worst but in my (years ago) experience my Ruger Mk1 5.5" and my Winchester M52B just loved that ammo.  We'll see how the SIG 522 does with it.
I just keep wasting time and money on other brands trying to find/make one shoot like my P07 and P09.  What is wrong with me?

Offline Jiva

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Re: Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2018, 09:48:06 AM »
Yup - Come on Spring!, I'm about to join an outdoor range in the sticks, very informal but as soon as the weather warms up a bit - it's gonna be sweet  :D
75 P-01 Compact 99041
75 D PCR Compact
75 SP-01 Tactical 9mm
612 HD
452 2E ZKM Lux .22LR
452 2E ZKM Classic .22LR
452 2E ZKM Varmint .22LR

Offline cremaley

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Re: Afternoon at the range, 2/8/18
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2018, 10:23:21 PM »
Excellent write up. Thanks for sharing.
CZ 10-PC 9mm (HBI Trigger, CGW Striker 3lb spring, GGI Stainless Guide Rod 15lb spring)
Sig Sauer P365 9mm
Sig Sauer P320 X Carry 9mm
Springfield 911 .380
"Remember the first rule of gunfighting...have a gun"-Jeff Cooper