Dave Markowitz
Member
The weather finally cleared up yesterday and by today, we had a glorious Spring day here in SE PA. Far too nice to do anything inside, so I packed up the truck and hit the range with my Mini-14 and S&W M-625.
This was the first time I shot the 625 with the Pachymar grips that I got from my brother. I'm a little disappointed, since they are slimmer front to back than the Hogues that came on the gun, resulting in my palm getting whacked a bit more. I'll keep them for now but may wind up swapping them off for grips that are a little rounder in cross section.
I also got to try one of the "RIMZ" polymer full moon clips. Scott Beckham, the inventor, posts on THR and saw my initial writeup here and offered to mail me a sample clip. When people offer me free stuff I am happy to take them up on their offer.
I am impressed. The clip loads and unloads very easily without needing a demooner tool. I'm not sure that it holds the cartridges as securely as steel clips, so it might not be the best for carry. To be fair, I did not test this by dropping the RIMZ clip while it was loaded. I did not treat it gently, though, and even bent it over on itself. It showed no adverse effect from this mistreatment. At least for range use I don't think the RIMZ clip can be beat.
Having put several hundred rounds through the big Smith, I've now made it my home defense gun. It resides in my bedside lockbox loaded with .45 ACP hardball, along with two loaded full moon clips of the same.
After running 100 rounds through the S&W I did a cursory cleaning and then switched to my Mini-14. I brought along two magazines which I hadn't shot before today. One is either a Triple-K or a Victor (I have two of each and can't tell them apart) while the other is a no-name mag that looks like a PMI, but I only paid about $15 for it at a gun show. They are 20-rounders that I bought before I got the 5 PMI 20s from CDNN last year. I ran over 100 rounds through the Mini-14 today, 40 Wolf 62 grain FMJ loads and the remainder Ultramax 55 grain FMJ-BTs. I am happy to say that the cheap mags worked fine, as I did not have a single malfunction and the bolt locked back when the mags were empty. My plan is to use these for range mags and save the wear and tear on my PMIs. Hopefully, come September, I will be able to get my hands on some heretofore LEO-only Ruger 20 round mags.
I shot the Ruger at 50 yards today at paper plates and clay pigeons set on the berm. It's minute-of-pigeon accurate at that distance which is good enough for me. I've probably put close to 500 rounds through the Mini-14 since I installed the gas port bushing that was missing when I bought it. I have not had one single malfunction in that time. The decent accuracy, good ergonomics (especially for us lefties), and utter reliability are the reasons why it's my SHTF rifle.
This was the first time I shot the 625 with the Pachymar grips that I got from my brother. I'm a little disappointed, since they are slimmer front to back than the Hogues that came on the gun, resulting in my palm getting whacked a bit more. I'll keep them for now but may wind up swapping them off for grips that are a little rounder in cross section.
I also got to try one of the "RIMZ" polymer full moon clips. Scott Beckham, the inventor, posts on THR and saw my initial writeup here and offered to mail me a sample clip. When people offer me free stuff I am happy to take them up on their offer.
I am impressed. The clip loads and unloads very easily without needing a demooner tool. I'm not sure that it holds the cartridges as securely as steel clips, so it might not be the best for carry. To be fair, I did not test this by dropping the RIMZ clip while it was loaded. I did not treat it gently, though, and even bent it over on itself. It showed no adverse effect from this mistreatment. At least for range use I don't think the RIMZ clip can be beat.Having put several hundred rounds through the big Smith, I've now made it my home defense gun. It resides in my bedside lockbox loaded with .45 ACP hardball, along with two loaded full moon clips of the same.
After running 100 rounds through the S&W I did a cursory cleaning and then switched to my Mini-14. I brought along two magazines which I hadn't shot before today. One is either a Triple-K or a Victor (I have two of each and can't tell them apart) while the other is a no-name mag that looks like a PMI, but I only paid about $15 for it at a gun show. They are 20-rounders that I bought before I got the 5 PMI 20s from CDNN last year. I ran over 100 rounds through the Mini-14 today, 40 Wolf 62 grain FMJ loads and the remainder Ultramax 55 grain FMJ-BTs. I am happy to say that the cheap mags worked fine, as I did not have a single malfunction and the bolt locked back when the mags were empty. My plan is to use these for range mags and save the wear and tear on my PMIs. Hopefully, come September, I will be able to get my hands on some heretofore LEO-only Ruger 20 round mags.
I shot the Ruger at 50 yards today at paper plates and clay pigeons set on the berm. It's minute-of-pigeon accurate at that distance which is good enough for me. I've probably put close to 500 rounds through the Mini-14 since I installed the gas port bushing that was missing when I bought it. I have not had one single malfunction in that time. The decent accuracy, good ergonomics (especially for us lefties), and utter reliability are the reasons why it's my SHTF rifle.
