Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Range Report: Baby Blue


I took my M1 Carbine and M1 Garand out to the Casa Grande public range today for a tryout. I brought 100 rounds of Federal American Eagle commercial .30 Carbine, and a couple of bandoleers of the Greek HXP M2 Ball I bought from the CMP for the Garand. As seems to be standard practice when I go to Casa Grande, I forgot to take my spotting scope.

While I was interested in the accuracy potential of the little Carbine, mostly I was interested in how (or whether) it was going to function with the magazines I bought last year. The good news: It functions pretty damned well. I loaded ten rounds into each magazine. Out of the 100 rounds, I had one failure to feed that was very simply cleared. I had one magazine, one of the two Union Hardwares, that didn't want to fit in the well. It did, but it's pretty tight. Other than that, the rifle cycled like a sewing machine.

Without sandbags or any other decent rest, and my eyeball Mk. I sighting system, the Carbine was capable of holding minute-of-paper-plate at 50 yards. I'm certain that this is mostly me, and with some work I can definitely improve on that. I was startled to discover that the adjustable sight is dead-nuts on. Set at 200 yards, it hit (pretty much) where I aimed at the 200 yard berm, and set for 250 yards I was able to hit the (rather large) steel plate set into the 250 yard berm with regularity. Set for 300 yards I believe I was lobbing the rounds over the top of the 250 yard berm.

Overall, I'm very pleased! Now I just need to get some more ammo and practice!

I let some other shooters try the Garand and the Carbine. That put some smiles on faces! There was already a Garand shooter at the range when I arrived, and when I left the guys at the table next to me were shooting a Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk. I.

Damn, I love old rifles!

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