Marko Kloos
October 21, 2001, 12:34 AM
Today, myself, Tamara and kn4qb went out to burn some serious powder at our local rifle club. It was a perfect 70-degree day, and we spent over 4 hours shooting various rifles at 100 and 200 yards.
I brought my M1 Carbine, the Swedish Mauser, and the German "byf" Mauser. Tamara brought her new Ruger No.1 International in .243 Winchester to get the Leupold scope sighted in, and kn4qb supplied a neat bunch of rifles, among which were a Springfield M1A, a Colt AR-15 HBAR, and a Springfield M1 Garand.
We had some groundhog targets, as well as standard rifle targets, and several of the paper groundhogs went up at 100 and 200 yards. The first groundhog at 100 received some incoming fire from the M1 Carbine, using the iron sights, hitting him twice out of five rounds and bracketing him with the rest. (Remembering the "M1 Carbine Thread That Would Not Die", I still hold the opinion that a carbine which delivers hits on a groundhog at 100 yards off-hand is plenty combat accurate.)
Much excellent marksmanship was displayed, including quarter-inch groups out of the Ruger No.1 once the scope was dialed in properly. The second gorundhog at 200 yards was taken under fire by the Springfield M1A and never had a chance, a ten-round group clustering around his little cranium.
The surprise of the day, however, was my first experience with an AR-15. I picked the standard rifle target at 200 yards and popped away off-hand, standing. I didn't bother with the spotting scope, since it was in use at the time, and figured I'd check on the 200-yard target when we'd walk up to check on the other targets. We safe the line, walk up to check the holes in the rifle target...and I'll be damned if the entire magazine didn't land in the black, with five rounds clean in the 10-ring. Much ballyhoo ensues, I feel pretty good about my shooting skills with an unfamiliar rifle, and on the way back to the bench I get asked, "What kind of sights did you use?"
"Uh, I left it on battle sights."
kn4qb and Tamara do a double-take and look at each other funny.
"What?" I ask. "Should I have taken the other sight?" The battle aperture was, after all, marked 0-200, so I figured it'd be ok to use at 200.
After being politely informed that I made the job unnecessarily difficult on my self by using a sight aperture the diameter of a Ford Explorer at 200 yards, I decide that I do like the poodle shooters after all.
Great, now I have to get myself a Bushmaster. Anything that lets me pop the X-ring offhand and standing at 200 yards in such a fashion, is something I need in my gun closet.
I brought my M1 Carbine, the Swedish Mauser, and the German "byf" Mauser. Tamara brought her new Ruger No.1 International in .243 Winchester to get the Leupold scope sighted in, and kn4qb supplied a neat bunch of rifles, among which were a Springfield M1A, a Colt AR-15 HBAR, and a Springfield M1 Garand.
We had some groundhog targets, as well as standard rifle targets, and several of the paper groundhogs went up at 100 and 200 yards. The first groundhog at 100 received some incoming fire from the M1 Carbine, using the iron sights, hitting him twice out of five rounds and bracketing him with the rest. (Remembering the "M1 Carbine Thread That Would Not Die", I still hold the opinion that a carbine which delivers hits on a groundhog at 100 yards off-hand is plenty combat accurate.)
Much excellent marksmanship was displayed, including quarter-inch groups out of the Ruger No.1 once the scope was dialed in properly. The second gorundhog at 200 yards was taken under fire by the Springfield M1A and never had a chance, a ten-round group clustering around his little cranium.
The surprise of the day, however, was my first experience with an AR-15. I picked the standard rifle target at 200 yards and popped away off-hand, standing. I didn't bother with the spotting scope, since it was in use at the time, and figured I'd check on the 200-yard target when we'd walk up to check on the other targets. We safe the line, walk up to check the holes in the rifle target...and I'll be damned if the entire magazine didn't land in the black, with five rounds clean in the 10-ring. Much ballyhoo ensues, I feel pretty good about my shooting skills with an unfamiliar rifle, and on the way back to the bench I get asked, "What kind of sights did you use?"
"Uh, I left it on battle sights."
kn4qb and Tamara do a double-take and look at each other funny.
"What?" I ask. "Should I have taken the other sight?" The battle aperture was, after all, marked 0-200, so I figured it'd be ok to use at 200.
After being politely informed that I made the job unnecessarily difficult on my self by using a sight aperture the diameter of a Ford Explorer at 200 yards, I decide that I do like the poodle shooters after all.
Great, now I have to get myself a Bushmaster. Anything that lets me pop the X-ring offhand and standing at 200 yards in such a fashion, is something I need in my gun closet.