270Win
Member
Recently purchased a Bloom Automatic Golfball Launcher that fits on the 22mm NATO grenade launcher on my Yugo 59/66. Figured "Hey, why not?"
Went to the range today - was the ONLY one out there, weather was in the teens with wind chill, unbroken snow between the firing line and the targets... pristine.
The Bloom launcher is parkerized, and fits over the NATO launcher, screwing on with three dog-point screws. First time I screwed it on, I didn't tighten it quite enough, and after two shots it made its way down to the retaining clip, lightly scratching the NATO launcher in the process. Not a big deal.
After REALLY tightening it down, I blasted off with Wolf blanks (also purchased from Bloom - can't find them ANYWHERE else) and some refurbished balls I picked up on the cheap at WalMart. No more problems with the launcher.
Well... it was FUN, first and foremost. But the balls were as inaccurate as it gets. They flew left, down, right, up...anywhere. For the hell of it, on the last five shots I raised the sight ladder for the NATO launcher. Turns out, there was some correspondance. If you held the lowest notch even with Bloom launcher, the ball hit (roughly) where the next notch up was pointed.
Unfortunately, I lost six of the nine balls into the woods - these things fly FAR, and richochet wildly when they hit - but none of the three recovered were demolished or anything. All reusable. Due to the erratic flight patterns, it proved impossible to actually hit a target with the ball... but it was fun to try! I'm pretty confident if you stood someone up at 100 yards, and aimed directly at them, they would almost certainly be safe. Not a single shot went straight the whole way.
Good thing the range was empty - these things would be a real menace to other shooters. Imagine: You're concentrating on that last, fifth shot in your near-record-breaking group... and just as you squeeze the trigger, a golf ball whizzes past your target, throwing you just off enough...
Then I shot the SKS with regular Wolf Military Classic hollowpoints - still the cleanest ammo I've encountered, BTW - and settled down to really try for some decent groups at 50 yards. My best two came from one stripper... first five were 1.3", then I realized I'd been canting the rifle slightly, straightened out and the next was about 1.7" ... and close enough to the first five to make a total of just under 3" for the ten.
For generic Wolf ammo, I found that completely acceptable, and was even a little pleased.
Summary: For $40, that Bloom Automatic launcher is a hell of a lot of fun... within its limits. And Wolf Military Classic HP 7.62x39 remains incredibly clean and fairly accurate ammo.
Went to the range today - was the ONLY one out there, weather was in the teens with wind chill, unbroken snow between the firing line and the targets... pristine.
The Bloom launcher is parkerized, and fits over the NATO launcher, screwing on with three dog-point screws. First time I screwed it on, I didn't tighten it quite enough, and after two shots it made its way down to the retaining clip, lightly scratching the NATO launcher in the process. Not a big deal.
After REALLY tightening it down, I blasted off with Wolf blanks (also purchased from Bloom - can't find them ANYWHERE else) and some refurbished balls I picked up on the cheap at WalMart. No more problems with the launcher.
Well... it was FUN, first and foremost. But the balls were as inaccurate as it gets. They flew left, down, right, up...anywhere. For the hell of it, on the last five shots I raised the sight ladder for the NATO launcher. Turns out, there was some correspondance. If you held the lowest notch even with Bloom launcher, the ball hit (roughly) where the next notch up was pointed.
Unfortunately, I lost six of the nine balls into the woods - these things fly FAR, and richochet wildly when they hit - but none of the three recovered were demolished or anything. All reusable. Due to the erratic flight patterns, it proved impossible to actually hit a target with the ball... but it was fun to try! I'm pretty confident if you stood someone up at 100 yards, and aimed directly at them, they would almost certainly be safe. Not a single shot went straight the whole way.
Good thing the range was empty - these things would be a real menace to other shooters. Imagine: You're concentrating on that last, fifth shot in your near-record-breaking group... and just as you squeeze the trigger, a golf ball whizzes past your target, throwing you just off enough...
Then I shot the SKS with regular Wolf Military Classic hollowpoints - still the cleanest ammo I've encountered, BTW - and settled down to really try for some decent groups at 50 yards. My best two came from one stripper... first five were 1.3", then I realized I'd been canting the rifle slightly, straightened out and the next was about 1.7" ... and close enough to the first five to make a total of just under 3" for the ten.
For generic Wolf ammo, I found that completely acceptable, and was even a little pleased.
Summary: For $40, that Bloom Automatic launcher is a hell of a lot of fun... within its limits. And Wolf Military Classic HP 7.62x39 remains incredibly clean and fairly accurate ammo.
