The wife and I went to Crosley this morning to sight in a .17 Fireball Contender and just get some trigger time. The Contender came in way over expection. Once I got it sighted in with factory ammo, I switched to 4 different loads of home brew. Fired a 3 shot group with each load at 100 yards. They measured a best of 0.320" to "worst" of 0.703" (outside to outside minus bullet diameter). I'm ecstatic! Had a "squib" load in my AR varminter. Very little noise, no bolt movement. Fortunately, I never do any rapid fire and realized what had happened. I operated the bolt and the next round wouldn't chamber due to the bullet lodged in the barrel. Apparently, the round had no powder charge. Now I need to figure out why it happened. I'm going to weigh the remainder of that lot of ammo (my loads) to make sure I have no more such rounds. The wife got in a little practice with her Ruger Mk II "anti-snake device". She needed it after I ragged her about shooting "near" a rattlesnake in SD this year. (and got it on video 
) The range was empty when we arrived about 8AM and probably half full when we left about 10. We were the only ones shooting at 100 and nobody was at 200. Despite the following, we had a good time.
Rant: I sure hope nobody here is among the guilty parties but, if you are, you should be barred from using the range! The Crosley range was beyond trashed! There were large amounts of junked and torn up targets at the target line and somebody had set up a target made of a 2x4, a piece of chipboard, and some cardboard about midrange on the 100 yard range! I can't comprehend the stupidity of setting up a target 50 yards in front of the backstop! If you're going to break the rules at least do it by shooting from midrange to make sure the backstop contains your rounds on the range. We disassembled the midrange target and put it in the trash.
I understand abandoned brass and shotgun hulls. I understand leaving a usable piece of cardboard backing at the target line. What I don't understand is empty ammo boxes, pop cans, beer cans, and McDonalds sacks left on the ground under and around the benches.....within 2-3 feet of a 55 gallon trash barrel! I don't understand trashed targets left at the target line.
I always put up clean cardboard when I post my targets and regularly carry trash back to the trash barrels. Today I could have filled my truck with trash at the 50 and 100. It's a FREE public range with solid covered benches on concrete floors and good backstops. Idiots who use it and make no effort to even pick up their own trash will be the reason it ends up being closed. Rant Off!
) The range was empty when we arrived about 8AM and probably half full when we left about 10. We were the only ones shooting at 100 and nobody was at 200. Despite the following, we had a good time. Rant: I sure hope nobody here is among the guilty parties but, if you are, you should be barred from using the range! The Crosley range was beyond trashed! There were large amounts of junked and torn up targets at the target line and somebody had set up a target made of a 2x4, a piece of chipboard, and some cardboard about midrange on the 100 yard range! I can't comprehend the stupidity of setting up a target 50 yards in front of the backstop! If you're going to break the rules at least do it by shooting from midrange to make sure the backstop contains your rounds on the range. We disassembled the midrange target and put it in the trash.
I understand abandoned brass and shotgun hulls. I understand leaving a usable piece of cardboard backing at the target line. What I don't understand is empty ammo boxes, pop cans, beer cans, and McDonalds sacks left on the ground under and around the benches.....within 2-3 feet of a 55 gallon trash barrel! I don't understand trashed targets left at the target line.
I always put up clean cardboard when I post my targets and regularly carry trash back to the trash barrels. Today I could have filled my truck with trash at the 50 and 100. It's a FREE public range with solid covered benches on concrete floors and good backstops. Idiots who use it and make no effort to even pick up their own trash will be the reason it ends up being closed. Rant Off!
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