Home on the range

All shooting sports - ISSF/ IPSC/ HFT/ Sporting Clays etc.
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timmy
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Home on the range

Post by timmy » Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:36 am

I've been trying to head out to the range once a week lately, and a few times, I've remembered to take a few photos. Here are a few quick views of enjoying some shooting sports. You can click on the photos to make them larger.

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⬆︎ We're in a broad valley between two mountain ranges. The photos, of course, can't convey the open feeling of broad vistas.

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⬆︎ This day was for the "Star" pistol, actually a Chinese M213 in 9mm. It is crudely finished, but pretty serviceable. I was shooting factory l124 gr FMJ loads and just plinking at 25 yards. The holster is from Russia, a leather one I found on eBay for a very reasonable price.

The 1911 didn't see any action that day, because I had forgotten a part for the tripod that holds my brass catcher net that can be seen to the far right. I don't save this 9mm brass, as it is Russian steel case and Berdan primed. Berdan primed cases can be reloaded, but it is a pain and primers aren't normally common here. Of course nowadays, no primers are common. :( Also, the government has ended all imports of Russian ammunition due to a foreign relations situation. While there are reasons for this, I don't think that the administration found a reason to grieve denying ammunition to gun shooters. More than 30% of our ammunition was steel cased Russian, which was the cheapest on the market.

I'm of two views about this. I very much dislike banning any ammunition or guns from import. Other imports that aren't banned are PPU from Serbia, Sellier and Ballot from Czech Republic, Fiocchi from Italy, and others. They are still imported. One positive thing that I hope to see is home companies using the removal of such a large supply as a business case for expanding or building new construction, since ammunition is flying off of the shelves as fast as it appears, and ammunition manufacturers are now running their production 100%. Maybe now, production capacity will be increased. But, the lack of workers since COVID doesn't promise this.

Another sad thing about this import ban is the complete disappearance of Barnaul 203 gr 7.62 x 54r ammunition, the best factory ammunition I've found for Mosin Nagants.

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⬆︎ Heere's my Ruger Blackhawk in 45 Colt. I found a few boxes of reloads -- 255 lead semiwadcutters, and took this out one day to have some fun. And it was fun! These bullets over 9 gr of Unique are a fairly potent load and they let you know you have something in your hand. There are hotter loads, but I haven't shot them since my young days, that are well into hot 44 Magnum territory. Young men find that sort of thing more interesting than older ones, I suppose.

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⬆︎ This was from yesterday. I'm sure most of you are thinking, "What is that disreputable looking thing?" It is the first of four Mosin Nagant M1891 barreled actions I bought years back for $5 a piece. Little by little, I've been putting them back together, adding parts when I can find them cheap. It isn't common to find parts at a reasonable cost nowadays, and I've ordered some of them from Russia. They aren't cheap, either, but they are sometimes reasonable. Shipping isn't as slow as one might think it would be. The thing that's rare is the stock -- finding one that doesn't cost hundreds is pretty much impossible now. I found the one on this rifle about a dozen years ago. I think it is a war time replacement stock. Back then, the Soviet battle rifle was the Mosin Nagant M91/30, and whatever M1891s that weren't converted to the M91/30 pattern were given to partisan units behind nazi lines. I've seen pictures of partisans with them.

The only thing missing from this rifle is the barrel handguard, which are pretty much unobtainium today. The wood was thin and easily cracked, so not many survived. I also don't have a bayonet for it, as the M1891 pattern is quite expensive nowadays, as well. The sling is a WW2 pattern, probably made in the 60s.

I grabbed a couple of belt pouches filled with some Albanian surplus. Years back, I went through various kinds of commercial and surplus ammunition, looking for the most accurate loads I could use in Curio and Relic match shoots. This Albanian stuff is (I think) brass cased, unlike all Soviet and Warsaw Pact ammunition (Albania was communist, but not a Warsaw Pact member.) This stuff was filthy and shot quite poorly. The years of storage (however many they are) has not done them much good. There were large patches of black corrosion on a few of the cartridges, and on one, the primer fell out and jammed the rifle. So, shooting had nothing remotely resembling accuracy!

But is was so much fun!!! These rifles, with an almost 80 cm barrel, look long and ungainly. They aren't light weights, but they are surprisingly agile in one's hands. They are balanced nicely and swing naturally. But the long barrel and weight make them nice to shoot. It shoves one around on the bench, but not roughly or unpleasantly. It's been so long since I had an opportunity to shoot a high powered rifle that I found it a lot of fun!

Next time I take this fellow out, I'll take some real ammunition and see how it shoots. The trigger is not at all bad: the pull is long, but quite smooth with no hint of grittiness. The sights are a bit of a challenge for my eyes, but I can work with them. Of the remaining three barreled actions, I have two that I've completed to shooting condition, and one is in a cheap plastic stock I found, so it will need trying out soon.

I also want to find a bullet mould for these rifles, which are often called "fat 30s" and have the larger than 30 bore that can vary widely, just like British SMLEs.

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⬆︎ Then, it was time for the fun to end and head for home. Again, the photo doesn't do justice to the colors of the sunset. It's such a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

I hope that you all enjoy the photos.
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Shivaji.Dasgupta
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Re: Home on the range

Post by Shivaji.Dasgupta » Sun Nov 07, 2021 3:21 pm

Simply Wawwww
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Re: Home on the range

Post by winnie_the_pooh » Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:44 pm

Time well spent. Thanks for sharing.

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Vikram
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Re: Home on the range

Post by Vikram » Sun Nov 07, 2021 10:10 pm

Brilliant, Tim.

Nice to see you having fun at the range. The Ruger Blackhawk looks particularly tasty to me. I always liked revolvers and Rugers have a special place in my heart.

What is the maximum range you have tried with that Mosin-Nagant?

I occasionally watch these guys.



I tried to find one by Mark and Sam After Work but couldn't.

Thanks for sharing the photos.
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Re: Home on the range

Post by AgentDoubleS » Sun Nov 07, 2021 11:24 pm

The range is stunning and I’m sure many of us can see ourselves spending hours in a place like this. Thanks for sharing your collection and your stories, Timmy.

Cheers
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timmy
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Re: Home on the range

Post by timmy » Mon Nov 08, 2021 3:33 am

AgentDoubleS wrote:
Sun Nov 07, 2021 11:24 pm
The range is stunning and I’m sure many of us can see ourselves spending hours in a place like this.
I love going out there! I hope to use the long range facilities a little bit in the future. Believe it or not, the longest available range goes out to 1300 yards -- two thirds of a mile or so! For an iron sight rifle, that's 'way beyond my capabilities, but I do hope to try it sometime.
Vikram wrote:
Sun Nov 07, 2021 10:10 pm
What is the maximum range you have tried with that Mosin-Nagant?
Just 100 yards -- this is the first time for this old war horse. I can't recall if it is 1896 or 1898 manufacture, but consider that it may have served in 3 revolutions (1905 and February and October, 1917) and three wars, including two world wars (Russo-Japanese, 1905, WW1, and WW2) in its time. The rifling in the first few inches of the muzzle isn't the greatest.

My Finn M39 Mosin Nagant has been shot plenty over 100 yards, but that's all the range distance I had at the time. Now that things have changed, I do want to try it at longer range. This most likely would be my capable Mosin Nagant at long range.

The longest I've shot was many years ago in Montana, where the range had a steel coyote at 550 yards, but it was also far up a hill. I used to shoot at it with my then-young eyes. But doing that without a 'scope is in the past, I fear.
Vikram wrote:
Sun Nov 07, 2021 10:10 pm
I occasionally watch these guys.
I have an M91/30, arsenal refinished like that one, which is probably from Ukraine. It's a year older than his and was supposedly the last year of the rounded receivers to have the internal receiver ring -- which breeches quite like a Mauser M98. Mine's in very nice refurbished shape and I will be taking it out sometime soon, I hope. I've settled on a cache of Hungarian heavy ball (173 gr) made in the 70s, as I've found that Mosin Nagants like a heavy bullet (I prefer them, myself!).

Mosin Nagants look clunky and at times can operate in a clunky fashion, although my Finn, especially, is quite smooth. I can't approve of his hammer use. The old steel cases have shellac on them to prevent corrosion. Especially if the chamber has a rough finish, when the barrel gets hot, the cases will stick. The Mosin Nagant doesn't have the advantage of the M98's non-rotating extractor, and running the rotating extractor over the cartridge rim as the bolt tries to cam the case out of the chamber makes things sticky sometimes.

But when it comes to accuracy, the heavy striker is about the only thing going against it, versus the M98. Unlike the M98, the receiver doesn't have a thumb cut for charger loading and the magazine well cut is only for a single stack magazine. This makes the receiver stiffer than an M98 and that's why a Mosin Nagant doesn't have the bedding issues that can be found in M98s. The trigger can be crude, or not, as it is a simple design. It can be tuned to be pretty good, and the Finns went a step better and modified the trigger for a true two-stage operation.

I'm not claiming that the Mosin Nagant is the best bolt action battle rifle, but it is one that I like very much. Col. Mosin and those old Russians were a bunch of pretty smart cookies, I think! The Finns also were a tricky bunch, and made very nice improvements on the original design with small expense and attention to details.
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Woods
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Re: Home on the range

Post by Woods » Mon Nov 08, 2021 9:51 am

timmy wrote:
Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:36 am
I've been trying to head out to the ..................

I hope that you all enjoy the photos.
Unable to see the photographs on my Samsung phone running Android !!!!
Great men are not born great , they grow great .

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timmy
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Re: Home on the range

Post by timmy » Mon Nov 08, 2021 12:20 pm

Woods wrote:
Mon Nov 08, 2021 9:51 am
timmy wrote:
Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:36 am
I've been trying to head out to the ..................

I hope that you all enjoy the photos.
Unable to see the photographs on my Samsung phone running Android !!!!
I don't use a smart phone, but I'll check the link on my Wife's tomorrow and see what it looks like. They are plain old .jpg images that I've sized down to 800x600 pixel resolution.
“There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know”

Harry S. Truman

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Woods
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Re: Home on the range

Post by Woods » Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:05 am

US Constitution in its true spirit of freedom gave 2nd Amendment to its citizens . It must be preserved so and it must be supported wherever its criticized.

The fragrance of valley meadows , drying woods and grass absolutely no sound and we sitting there, the lovely gun in our lap and with our dog sitting besides . Few people understand what it is . Absolute bliss .

Its very curious to note that press and media in India criticize and lament on any gun related incident in US . Media world around dances on some kind of theme music , they see each other's moves and act in coordination.

Maybe , in India too , we will have access to world class arms of our choice one day .
Great men are not born great , they grow great .

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