I shot in a Korean War commerative military rifle match Sunday called the "Frozen Chosin." The weather was cold, low to mid '20s, but probably not as cold as the real Chosin Resevoir was back then. We didn't have to march through the snow either. The match was limited to M-1 Garands and M-1 Carbines with the club providing the ammo.
I brought a Winchester Garand I got from the CMP. I hadn't shot it yet but had high hopes for it since it was rearsenaled in the '60s and had a new barrel. The rifle worked flawlessly at first and I was quite happy when it only took me four shots to get it "dailed in" and I started dropping rounds into the 10-ring at 200 yards.
Everything was fine until one string when I went to reload a full clip. I got the clip in, but one of the rounds shifted forward and jammed the gun up tight. The round wouldn't chamber, the clip wouldn't go in or come up, the timer was counting down and I was screwed!
The match director came over and we finally manhandled the round into the chamber. Unfortunately, my time was almost up and the (hypothetical) Red Chinese were almost to our position. I popped up to a kneeling position and blasted out the clip taking only quick sight pictures and to heck with breath control! It wasn't quite as bad as just firing "in the general direction of the enemy," but it wasn't much better. The report of my last round was still in the air when the targets ran down.
Up 'till then, I'd been doing pretty well, for me at least, but I had three misses and several fives and sixes in that last string of 16 shots (two full clips), which dragged my score down a bit.
Turns out the problem probably wasn't the gun, but was probably the ammo. We had to load the clips from loose rounds and I probably had one cartridge in that clip that wasn't fully seated and was too high. I'm told that can cause the type of problem I had. I loaned the rifle to two other shooters that day after I used it, and neither one of them had any problems. (They probably paid closer attention to loading their clips)
If you've seen "Band of Brothers," the jam was almost exactly like the one one of the troopers had in the battle outside Armhem.
All in all, I had a good time and it just further reinforces the respect I have for the men who had to fight in that bitter cold winter 50 years ago. A got a little stressed in the match, and I was only facing paper bulls. I can only imagine what it like to face hordes of shouting Red Chinese.
I brought a Winchester Garand I got from the CMP. I hadn't shot it yet but had high hopes for it since it was rearsenaled in the '60s and had a new barrel. The rifle worked flawlessly at first and I was quite happy when it only took me four shots to get it "dailed in" and I started dropping rounds into the 10-ring at 200 yards.
Everything was fine until one string when I went to reload a full clip. I got the clip in, but one of the rounds shifted forward and jammed the gun up tight. The round wouldn't chamber, the clip wouldn't go in or come up, the timer was counting down and I was screwed!
The match director came over and we finally manhandled the round into the chamber. Unfortunately, my time was almost up and the (hypothetical) Red Chinese were almost to our position. I popped up to a kneeling position and blasted out the clip taking only quick sight pictures and to heck with breath control! It wasn't quite as bad as just firing "in the general direction of the enemy," but it wasn't much better. The report of my last round was still in the air when the targets ran down.
Up 'till then, I'd been doing pretty well, for me at least, but I had three misses and several fives and sixes in that last string of 16 shots (two full clips), which dragged my score down a bit.
Turns out the problem probably wasn't the gun, but was probably the ammo. We had to load the clips from loose rounds and I probably had one cartridge in that clip that wasn't fully seated and was too high. I'm told that can cause the type of problem I had. I loaned the rifle to two other shooters that day after I used it, and neither one of them had any problems. (They probably paid closer attention to loading their clips)
If you've seen "Band of Brothers," the jam was almost exactly like the one one of the troopers had in the battle outside Armhem.
All in all, I had a good time and it just further reinforces the respect I have for the men who had to fight in that bitter cold winter 50 years ago. A got a little stressed in the match, and I was only facing paper bulls. I can only imagine what it like to face hordes of shouting Red Chinese.
