Grand time

[vega]

I went with my 16 year old son yesterday to the range to shoot our M38, M44, 22LR, 30-06, SA1911 45cal and SA X9mm. Sorry guys, that's all I have. We shot about 400 rds each for the pistols and its just mostly setting up the targets and a few talk. After we finished with the pistols we moved on to the rifle range. This was his first time to shoot high powered rifle. I let him try the 22 first and he was hitting the target at 50 yds. After that he tried his M44 and I was thinking he'd complain about the recoil. He's a skinny kid at 95 lbs not really tall (like me).

Since we don't have any paper target set up at 100 yds I told him to try hitting the steel target at 200 yds. We ahd a hard time setting the sight since we don't know the effective range for the calibration. I just set it at 2 hoping we get it right. He hit the steel target 3 times in a row, but that was after a few misses. He must have felt tired after that since he was all over the place after that.

I tried my M38 too but I only hit it once. We have shot around 60 rounds of 7.62.

After that we used the 30-06 using my own load. I tried it on paper first at 100 yds ( I was able to get a target after a while). I was hitting 3" high, on the 3rd round I sighted the steel at 200 yds and I hit it. I tried again on the 4th rd and luck was still with me. I stopped after that since I figured that's the maximum shot you need to get a deer.

My son tried the 30-06 too and I have about 16 rds left. He finished all and he was able to hit the 200 yd target too. But we don't know how many times he hit it.

I can't imagine he'd be able to withstand those recoils. Too bad we weren't able to try the Barnaul ammos since they don't allow steel bullets there.

vega

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Sounds like you and your son spent some quality time together . So he likes that M44, eh? Did you guys have a little friendly competition with his M44 and your M38?

BTW, was this at Angeles Shooting Range in Angeles Crest? They have steel targets for rifles starting at 200 yards as well (all the way out to 600 yards). As far as counting hits, I like having a buddy look thru a spotting scope while I shoot, so he/she can confirm the hits. We usually take turns shooting and spotting. Sometimes you can't hear the sound of the hits.

 

[ocabj]

What range were you shooting at?

I use a Past Recoil Shield when I shoot my 91/30 and Mauser. The metal plate doesn't do much in terms of padding recoil. Honestly, I don't think the Russian x54R or Mauser 8mm is worse than .308 or .30-06. I think modern rifles tend to already have some sort of rubber recoil pad like a Pachmayr Decelerator which makes a huge difference compared to the standard metal plate on milsurps. Recently, I shot range regular's M38 w/ scout scope at the club I'm a member of. He had one of those slip on recoil pads and that made a huge difference. Felt more like a strong push than anything when firing. He was using some Czech Silver Tip surplus and I let him try some of my Hungarian Heavy Ball surplus and the recoil was minimal with the slip on recoil pad.

Glad you got to go out shooting, especially in the SoCal heat. Gotta remember to start bringing my Camelbak to the range now. We've got a long five months of 90+ degree heat until October.

 

[ocabj]

As far as counting hits, I like having a buddy look thru a spotting scope while I shoot, so he/she can confirm the hits. We usually take turns shooting and spotting. Sometimes you can't hear the sound of the hits.

Yup yup. Having someone spot for you makes a huge difference when sighting in or shooting long range. When you hit, you usually know. When you miss, you also usually know, but the problem is a lot of the time, you don't know how you missed. High, low, left, right. A lot better if you got someone spotting your shots (bullet trace, bullet impact on target, bullet impact around target, etc).

 

[vega]

BB - My 38 is no match for his 44, or probably I was no match for him. Yes, we did shoot at Angeles Shooting Range. We forgot our spotting scope so we used the 30-06 scope. And if we are shooting the 30-06 we used the 22 scope for spotting.

ocabj - Where did you buy your scope. Got any pics?

I was surprised my son didn't feel hungry that day. He just kept shooting.

vega

 

[ocabj]

ocabj - Where did you buy your scope. Got any pics?

You referring to the scout scope on the M38? Oh, that wasn't my rifle. One of the guys who I see every now and again at the IFG range was shooting it at the bench next to me recently and when he saw I was interested in C&R stuff he let me give it a whirl.

From what the owner said, he used the B-Square scout mount and it appeared he used a BSA handgun scope.

I'm thinking about doing this to my Czech VZ24 Mauser, but I plan on using the Leupold Intermediate Eye Relief Scout Scope. It has an eye relief of 9", which is correct for the distance of your eye and the location of the rear sight where the mount will be located when the rear sight is replaced. Handgun scopes have an eye relief of 18" or so, which is a bit to long for a scout scope.