AAR:Season 4: SUN, 24 MAR 2013 NWI Meet & Shoot

[KLB]

Wow. I can't believe no one else started this yet.

First meet of the year and it was just a little bit COLD.

We ended up with around 18 people showing up, which wasn't bad considering the weather. Lots of new faces as well as some familiar.

I got to site in my new Savage and Vortex Crossfire. I am very happy with both.

I also got to see my Primary Arms red dot. For $70 it is great.

Another fun meet in the past.

Thanks Jedi!

 

[repeter1977]

Had a great time, although still thawing out a little still. As stated, despite the cold and snow, we had a pretty good showing, and was very happy to see so many new people able to make it to the new one. Pretty sure most everyone had a chance to run some rounds through the SCAR of mine, and glad to see everyone enjoyed it as much as I do. Sorry that I had grabbed the wrong bag and wrong rifles. Usually I bring all of them, but was trying to go a little lighter this time. I will have all the rifles at the upcoming meet and shoots, so everyone that wanted to shoot the 1903 will get the chance.

As for the "gear" update. I know I did not get the best look, but I seen we had some plates, cups and condiments leftover. We had some of the food left over as well, a package of bacon as well as one of hot dogs. Next meet and shoot, I will try to bring a little more. As well, if needed to bring some wood for the targets or the posts, please try to let me know, as I am usually bringing my truck out, and do not mind throwing a couple sheets in there. My parents had a great time, and thanks to everyone for helping my mother out with shooting. They both had a great time, and I know we are all looking forward to the next meet and shoot.

As I had already stated, it was great seeing so many new faces, and hoping to see you all again. It might take a bit, but looking forward to knowing you all as well as the regulars.

 

[nipprdog]

I got to site in my new Savage and Vortex Crossfire. I am very happy with both.

Sweet! Which Crossfire did you get?

 

[KLB]

Sweet! Which Crossfire did you get?

3x9

 

[jedi]

--FINANCIAL UPDATE--
Pre-Event Pot: $35
Expenses: $(35.21) 3 plywoods donated to DNR WINAMAC
Donations: $10 (subtlesixer03 said $5 for plywood & $5 for food)
Post-Event Pot: $10.00

Part time RO said they are buyer plywood from the local area at $28 a sheet! So any donations we can give will help them now-a-days. Here I was complaining about $10-$13 per sheet.

As for our plywood guy in Vaplo from last year have not been able to get a hold of him. So looks like that lead for the free plywood may be a dead end. =(

--FOOD UPDATE--
Thank you to all that brought food this time around.

This is what our inventory looks like

Case of water (minus 1 bottle)
3 bags of chips
1 jar of salsa (not opened)
3 ketchups (not opened)
2 mustards (not opened)
2 boxes of hot coco coco mix, 20 servings (not opened)
1 case of 12 pack of lemonade cans
4 packs of hot dog buns (32 buns)

What we are running low on is plates. Granted we did not use any thing time around. Still we are down to our last 50 plates.

The hot coco was a hit this time around by the way. Hum.. I wonder why?


---THE RANGE---
Looking nice as usual. It was a bit cold in the morning and then it snowed and then we had ice rain for a while but by 1PM it was clear again and the snow was melting. Made for a semi wet day but overall with the weather being the way it was we were the ONLY ones there until around 2PM when we left.


--NEW GUEST--
We had some new guest and their guest show up. I think they enjoyed it but I'll let them post their thoughts.

--SPECIAL EVENTS--
We held 1 competition: the rifle shoot.

1st place was EricWP (aka "The THUG!"). I think he cheated but more on that later.

The Boo-Boo Award goes subtlesixer03
(Won a little PURPLE coffee can and the boo-boo award)

If you want to see what the new boo-boo award looks like you need to show up to one of the events.

--DNR WINAMAC TALK--
N/A

--MY DAY--
Went out with one goal in mind and that was getting data on how far up the M1 Carbine is shooting. I'll be using this formula
Formula For Changing Height of Front Sight
to increase the front sight based on the data I collected this time around. I'm shooting 1.5 - 2.5" high with 110gr @ WIN 296 14.5gr. I'm shooting 3" high with 110gr @ WIN 296 14gr.

Which brings me to something else I found out. Using 14gr of the powder my groups are more spread apart and higher. Using 14.5gr the groupings are tighter but still high. The high part I know is the front iron sight. Not sure why the more powder is causing the better groupings.

Need to talk to the reloading boys about this as somewhere I did read that high velocity from that rifle may help. So still learning.

What I notices is that both the Berry's plated bullets and FMJ made no difference in terms of powder and grouping. Both preformed OK.

Now in terms of the magazines the new Korean Magazines BLOW! Sure they keep the bolt locked back on the last round but they had all sort of issues feeding the ammo. So I'm gald I only bought 4 of them. Maybe they need more breaking in. Not sure. The ones that came with the carbine feel more 'loose' and don't have any issues but they won't keep the carbine open on the last round. Not a big issue for me.

The other issue was the brass catcher. Yes it gets all the brass but afetr 5 to 7 shoots the brass begins to bounce back from the bottom of the catcher and jams the bolt, lays on top of the bolt, etc. I need to probably cut the bottom out and put a mess bag so it does not have these issues. Also the 14gr ammo had more issues with jaming the bolt with the brass catcher than the 14.5gr ammo.


Ran some appleseed targets and below are the results.
Note that the carbine is still shooting high so it makes for a challenge on the smaller targets.

Test 1 - 14.5gr ammo: 174 (Sharpshooter) Lv2
Test 2 - 14.5gr ammo: 120 (Unqualified)
Test 3 - 14.5gr ammo: 140 (Marskman) Lv1
Test 4 - 14.5gr ammo: 176 (Sharpshooter) Lv2
Test 5 - 14.5gr ammo: 124 (Unqualified)

Test 6 - 14gr ammo: 92 (Unqualified)
Test 7 - 14gr ammo: 110 (Unqualified)
Test 8 - 14gr ammo: 130 (Marskman) Lv1
Test 9 - 14gr ammo: 140 (Marskman) Lv1
Test 10 - 14gr ammo: 88 (Unqualified)
Test 11 - 14gr ammo: 126 (Marskman) Lv1

Test 12 - 14.5gr ammo: 70 (Unqualified)
Test 13 - 14.5gr ammo: 102 (Unqualified)

Got a long season ahead before I master this rifle. =/
Snow and water/ice is not an issue with the rifle but it is an issue with me. The cold was not an issue but cold, wet steel and hands with no gloves is a . Plus steel magazine next to steel magazine in the cold does what? Yup! Makes the magazines stick together.


BTW the cabela's boots with 2 layers of socks works nicely. I was actually not cold while out there all day except for my hands. I hate wearing gloves and shooting so I did not wearing anything and after a while it was hard to rack the slide, reload the maagzines and shoot. My fingers were just too cold. But the 7 layers of cloths I had kept me warm. I did feel like a big fat rolly polly and I it was a bit hard to do some of the applesseed positions comfortable with all the extra layers.


Also shoot the Mosin Carbine but what a waste of ammo. That thing shoots way too high. I don't think it was designed to be sighted or shoot on a 25 yard range. Not sure if I will bring it back out or not. It's a fun here let me feel recoil gun but can't hit jack with it. It might just be the fact that it's a carbine, but suspect it's me,the ammo and the rifle to blame. No matter this is the season of the .30 carbine rifle.


---Final Comments---
Thanks to all that came and had a good time. We had CrAzies who came out and shoot .22lr. don't they know that ammo is expensive and then we had diehards who shoot everything else. See you all next month.

 

[Raitekk]

I had a great time! It was cold, but hey at least we had a crap ton of fun!
A couple people liked trying out my FS2000.
Thanks for allowing me to hang out with you guys and shoot a bit. I will definitely try to make it to every M&S.

Pretty sure most everyone had a chance to run some rounds through the SCAR of mine, and glad to see everyone enjoyed it as much as I do.

That scar is one smooth rifle, maybe one day I'll add one to my collection. Thanks for letting me try it out!

Overall, a very positive and exciting experience.

 

[medic6882]

Hey Jedi,
I don't have enough post to pm yet so I'll ask you here. If I were interested in making a donation to the meet and shoot fund who and how do I contact. Also what type of donation is most needed, cash , plywood , food product ?

 

[jedi]

Hey Jedi,
I don't have enough post to pm yet so I'll ask you here. If I were interested in making a donation to the meet and shoot fund who and how do I contact. Also what type of donation is most needed, cash , plywood , food product ?

member tend to give me cash and that goes to buy plywood.
if you have the ability to bring plywood that is great as well.
that is our biggest expense.

food is a bring whatever you like. sometimes i do ask for specific if we are running low on somethong like right now plates. otherwise its just a general pitch in (ie. chips, pops, buns, etc..) as the season goes on the food changes (ie. deserts, fruit trays, etc..)

 

[darkkevin]

Hey Jedi,
I don't have enough post to pm yet so I'll ask you here. If I were interested in making a donation to the meet and shoot fund who and how do I contact. Also what type of donation is most needed, cash , plywood , food product ?

Unless Jedi says otherwise. Usually plywood donations are most needed, cash or actual plywood. I usually haul it down but couldn't make today so no luck.

 

[medic6882]

OK I will just plan on meeting you face to face then and thanks for the quick reply.

 

[Ericpwp]

I think he cheated but more on that later.

Hey, I didn't write the rules, I just read them!

That was a fun time. Thanks for putting it all together. I got home, cleaned the guns, then had a hockey game at 9:40. Sleepy.

I got to shoot my mosin on the 200 yard lane.
Still breaking in the Saiga. Good thing 12Ga can still be had.

Those bacon fried hotdogs looked awesome. I know what I'm having after Easter.

The snow was consistent, it made it hard to see the target at 200 yards, but it was not TOO cold. Dressed for the weather and was fine.

I hope to make many more of these this season. I hope there will be an abundance of ammo for the next one.

It was great to see everybody.

 

[PX4me]

Where's the pics? Anyone do the other kind of shooting?

 

[Ericpwp]

Like I said, I was looking forward to shooting the Mosin on the 200 yard range. Here are the results:

I was sitting at the bench with the gun resting on the mosin ammo pouch on top of a 50 cal ammo can. It was snowing hard enough to make it hard to focus on the target, not that it isn’t already hard to see. I had a 75 power spotting scope to see the hits. The target was a 17 inch(?) shoot and see.

I shot 3 rounds of 15 shots. The first round I needed to see where I was hitting. It was low. I had put a piece of wire heat shrink on the front site to heighten the front site, lower the poi at 100 yards. I took this off for 200 yards. I later found I needed to raise the rear site to the 150 slot to get them hitting consistently.

Here is the first round:

9/15

And the second:

13/15 on paper

And the third: The rifle comp was about to start, so I shot all 15 without checking the spotting scope. I was pleasantly surprised when I got down to the target.

15/15 on paper! (one nicked the bottom) Fun stuff!


FYI I mspainted the previous round's holes where the pasties fell off.

 

[repeter1977]

Where's the pics? Anyone do the other kind of shooting?

I know Lonehoosier took some on his phone, not sure anyone else did. Guess we all got so spoiled by Niper that when hes not there, we forget to take as many pics.

 

[KLB]

Lonehoosier did indeed get some on his phone. I imagine he will upload once he gets back home.

I personally kept my fingers in my pockets or gloves except to load mags.

 

[Ericpwp]

Subtlesixer had some good fireballs on his.

 

[lonehoosier]

I am done with Winamac

 

[lonehoosier]

Even with the cold weather I had a great time. I did not do much shooting but I normally don't when I come out by myself. The bacon once again was a big hit. Everyone was standing around me why'll I was cooking it but now that I think about it they were using me for the heat that the camp stove was giving off. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the hot coco. I still don't know why my portable propane heater did not work. As soon as I got home I hook it back up and it fired right up. Go figure. I saw a lot of new faces and that was great. I hope they stick around on INGO. Repeter thanks for letting me get my Scar fix. I got to get me one of those. Jedi once again thanks for putting in the work to keeping these M&S going.

 

[repeter1977]

Even with the cold weather I had a great time. I did not do much shooting but I normally don't when I come out by myself. The bacon once again was a big hit. Everyone was standing around me why'll I was cooking it but now that I think about it they were using me for the heat that the camp stove was giving off. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the hot coco. I still don't know why my portable propane heater did not work. As soon as I got home I hook it back up and it fired right up. Go figure. I saw a lot of new faces and that was great. I hope they stick around on INGO. Repeter thanks for letting me get my Scar fix. I got to get me one of those. Jedi once again thanks for putting in the work to keeping these M&S going.

Glad to help you with your fix. Let me know if you need to borrow it anytime to burn some lead down range. Be glad to let ya borrow it.

 

[ShootinDave]

Had lots of fun and got to shoot some intersting stuff. The weather wasnt as bad as expected, so that was a big plus. Hope to see everyone next month.