Rifles On The Fourth

[ACP230]

My family and I went to a parade in the morning.
In the afternoon we celebrated at the range, driving by another parade to get there.

I decided to shoot ex-military rifles, or rifles similar to the ones used by the U.S. military on Independence Day. Stuffed the van with rifles, ammo, targets, more ammo, more targets etc, etc. My wife managed to squeeze in some drinks, veggis, and cookies too.

Friends we met at the range brought brats, polish sausages, potato salad, beans, chips and dessert. I managed to stop shooting long enough to have supper.

I shot my M1A with Radway Green surplus .308 FMJs first. Next an AR clone with PMP commercial FMJ ammo. Later I shot my M1 and a Reising submachine gun with my reloads. With the M1A and AR I tried shooting Fred's "Quick & Dirty AQT." I'm a cook with bad eyes at the moment, but maybe I can do better later. The .308 threw up so much dust from the backstop I had a tough time seeing the last row of little targets.

Once we had my buddy on the M1, me on the Reising M50, and my son with a .45 handguns firing at silhouettes at the same time. That combination fought together in the early days in the Pacific in World War II, and I wanted to see what it was like to have them all shoot together again.

I shot some reloads from my semiauto Ruger .44 Carbine too. Brought more guns and ran out of time to shoot them.

It was a high caliber way to celebrate the 4th.

 

[Optical Serenity]

Sounds like you had a good time. Happy 4th.

 

[Chris Pinkleton]

Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to shoot yesterday, we had a storm that lasted a solid 4 hours. I didn't get too upset, though, as we really needed the rain.

I did do a little "muzzle flash comparision" between .22LR, .22 mag, .38, 9mm, .45, and 7.62x39 at 11:00 last night, however. Childish? Maybe. But it was plenty of fun. BTW, 9mm in a Glock was actually "flashier" than the 7.62 in my SAR.

Being able to walk out in my back yard to shoot whatever & whenever I want makes me very happy to be an American! Clear (but hot as blazes!) weather today -- I think some serious work with the GP-100 and some wadcutter handloads is in order. And there are some rotten tomatoes that "need" to get splatted with the .22 ....

I hope everyone else had a good 4th!

 

[Ed]

I thought you meant friends brought "brats" like unruley kids....

Sounds fun

 

[wdlsguy]

I decided to shoot ex-military rifles, or rifles similar to the ones used by the U.S. military on Independence Day.

The gun-rights groups should promote this sort of thing every 4th of July. Large crowds at gun ranges on the 4th would put anti-gun politicians on notice.

My wife and I took the AR-15 out to the range this weekend in honor of Independence Day.

 

[Tony Mig]

My wife and I took the AR-15 out to the range this weekend in honor of Independence Day.

I did the same thing, but I left the wife at home.....(can't seem to get her interested in shooting)

I spent both Saturday and Sunday at the range. Sat was handgun day, and I celebrated the 4th by shooting my S&W 686, and my Springfield XD-9.
Sunday I hit the rifle range with my Bushmaster XM-15-A2, and my Savage-Anschutz 141.

I would have shot on Monday too, but I had to work a 24 hour shift with the fire dept I'm employed with, but that included taking the lead in a 4th of July parade with our engine, so I enjoyed a full schedule of Independance Day celebrating.

 

[ACP230]

My friend's two sons were there.
They're champion Jr. pistol shooters getting ready to head for Camp Perry again in a few days.
Definitely not "brats."

The pistol team did take over the range after a while, but that was fine. I was just about ready to pack up and head home for a nap by then anyway.

 

[spacemanspiff]

the alaska machinegun association had a shoot out in whittier, i didnt make it, but it was on the news. for those who arent familiar, whitter is a small town that thrives on the tourism industry, there are no homes, but one large apartment building, and i think theres one hotel.
the town of whittier welcomes the AKMGA and according to the spokesperson interviewed, they will keep going out there on the Fourth to celebrate. next year i will be there for it.