Today was my off day. Yesterday we had a big day at the church. Last night I was bushed. This morning I woke up... at 7:30 a.m.... a hour late! However, by 12 noon I had managed to do some studying, etc. My wife told me she was going to do a roast for a late lunch. When I said I'd just not go to the range, she responded saying to go ahead and go and that we'd have the roast for supper. Cool!
I loaded up all my gear... 18-3, 28-2 and 625-2, plus all the ammo, stapler, etc. I got a camera and put everything in the car and headed out. A little over 33 miles later... at the range... I discovered my ear-muffs were missing. A phone call later my wife told me the ear-muffs were on the bed. On well. Happily I had a pair of handy dandy G.I. ear plugs in my shooting bag. I didn't want to use them for the .45 and .38 revolvers. But for the little .22LR they were just the ticket.
I had a delightful afternoon firing and entire box (325 rds.) of Federal AutoMatch .22 LR ammo. I fired starting at 4 yds. then 7, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 25 yds. to mimic the way things were done when I fired some matches at a local state prison. My target was a used harrow blade spray painted flat white. The axle hole was the aiming mark. Wearing a pair of 1x reading glasses I could put the vast majority of shots through the axle hole out to 12 yds. At 15 yds., I could still keep everything under say 1 1/2 inches. Shooting at 20 and 25 yds. was a lot harder. The wind made things difficult. What I noticed was that shooting the stages SA and DA the group sizes were not so much different. There was virtually no difference in groups out to 15 yds. Part of it boiled down to the simple fact that seeing that axle hole at 25 yds. was hard. Then I got an idea. Instead of starting at 4 yds. and working out as was the practice in the matches I attended, I started at 25 yds. and worked into 4 yds. That is when I got a real surprise. I found that I could consistently put 6 shots at 25 yds. into less than 2 inches using that beautiful little 18-3. Shooting SA I got one remarkable group with 4 shots through the axle hole and two splattered on the metal. I think the rounds were hitting ever so slightly low as I found if I pulled the front sight up into the middle of the axle hole, I often was rewarded with a satisfying hollow sound made as the bullet went through the hole and into the truck hub against which the harrow blade was leaning.
A word about the ammunition. I bought this Federal AutoMatch .22 LR ammo when it was hard to find .22 LR ammo in anything more than the 50 round boxes. At that time, Wal-Mart was only allowing customers to buy 6 boxes of ammunition at a time. Local gunshops would only sell one 500 rd. box to a customer. So... one night when they were restocking the ammo at Wal-Mart, I was allowed to buy 6 of these 325 round boxes of .22 LR ammo. It has been flawless in every semi-auto rifle and pistol in which I've used it. Today it gave remarkable accuracy in my little 18-3. Also I noticed that it produces very little residue on the exterior of the revolver. I was able to fire 50 round strings with no real difficulty chambering the rounds in the cylinder. Occasionally I've had some problems with other brands of .22 LR ammo that does not burn so cleanly. I don't know if it is significant or not, but on the bottom of the box it states, "Made in the USA." On the side of the box is printed, "Target Grade Performance." Cool. I only have four boxes left... guess I'd better go back to Wal-Mart and buy some more!
Overall I can't remember when I've had more fun at the range. Very happily when I got home, my wonderful wife had supper on the table! She had cooked a bottom round roast w/ gravy, rice and vegetables, etc. This has been one of the best off-days I've had in a long, long time! Now I'm going to clean that little 18-3 and prepare a Bible study for tomorrow morning. Cool.
I loaded up all my gear... 18-3, 28-2 and 625-2, plus all the ammo, stapler, etc. I got a camera and put everything in the car and headed out. A little over 33 miles later... at the range... I discovered my ear-muffs were missing. A phone call later my wife told me the ear-muffs were on the bed. On well. Happily I had a pair of handy dandy G.I. ear plugs in my shooting bag. I didn't want to use them for the .45 and .38 revolvers. But for the little .22LR they were just the ticket.
I had a delightful afternoon firing and entire box (325 rds.) of Federal AutoMatch .22 LR ammo. I fired starting at 4 yds. then 7, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 25 yds. to mimic the way things were done when I fired some matches at a local state prison. My target was a used harrow blade spray painted flat white. The axle hole was the aiming mark. Wearing a pair of 1x reading glasses I could put the vast majority of shots through the axle hole out to 12 yds. At 15 yds., I could still keep everything under say 1 1/2 inches. Shooting at 20 and 25 yds. was a lot harder. The wind made things difficult. What I noticed was that shooting the stages SA and DA the group sizes were not so much different. There was virtually no difference in groups out to 15 yds. Part of it boiled down to the simple fact that seeing that axle hole at 25 yds. was hard. Then I got an idea. Instead of starting at 4 yds. and working out as was the practice in the matches I attended, I started at 25 yds. and worked into 4 yds. That is when I got a real surprise. I found that I could consistently put 6 shots at 25 yds. into less than 2 inches using that beautiful little 18-3. Shooting SA I got one remarkable group with 4 shots through the axle hole and two splattered on the metal. I think the rounds were hitting ever so slightly low as I found if I pulled the front sight up into the middle of the axle hole, I often was rewarded with a satisfying hollow sound made as the bullet went through the hole and into the truck hub against which the harrow blade was leaning.
A word about the ammunition. I bought this Federal AutoMatch .22 LR ammo when it was hard to find .22 LR ammo in anything more than the 50 round boxes. At that time, Wal-Mart was only allowing customers to buy 6 boxes of ammunition at a time. Local gunshops would only sell one 500 rd. box to a customer. So... one night when they were restocking the ammo at Wal-Mart, I was allowed to buy 6 of these 325 round boxes of .22 LR ammo. It has been flawless in every semi-auto rifle and pistol in which I've used it. Today it gave remarkable accuracy in my little 18-3. Also I noticed that it produces very little residue on the exterior of the revolver. I was able to fire 50 round strings with no real difficulty chambering the rounds in the cylinder. Occasionally I've had some problems with other brands of .22 LR ammo that does not burn so cleanly. I don't know if it is significant or not, but on the bottom of the box it states, "Made in the USA." On the side of the box is printed, "Target Grade Performance." Cool. I only have four boxes left... guess I'd better go back to Wal-Mart and buy some more!
Overall I can't remember when I've had more fun at the range. Very happily when I got home, my wonderful wife had supper on the table! She had cooked a bottom round roast w/ gravy, rice and vegetables, etc. This has been one of the best off-days I've had in a long, long time! Now I'm going to clean that little 18-3 and prepare a Bible study for tomorrow morning. Cool.
