Bangity, Bangity, Bangity, Vroom, Vroooom

I had a nice day away from the computer today. I started out by going flying for a little bit, even though it was breezier than I liked. Then, after getting lost for a little bit (on the way to the range, not in the air), I went to a public rifle range to try out my Mosin sniper rifle (7.62x54R). I started out at 100 yards and got mightily confused on which way I was supposed to adjust the knobs on the sight, so I moved to the 25 yard position and dialed it in. That rifle shot 3-hole touching groups with Russian 7N1 ammunition; the Privi Partizan commercial hunting load was almost as good. I moved back to the 100 yard postion to have a little fun and then, after a few nice shots, the shot placement went all ferblibigetty. Sure enough, the screws clamping the scope had loosened up. I gave up and went home (and locktited those screws with the blue stuff [never the red]). All the work I did in boresighting paid off; the elevation was pretty much dead-on and the windage might have to be moved by a .01" shim, which I'll just cut from a soda can.

So I get to do it all over again. Woe is me. :)

Oh, yeah, I know I said it was breezy and you might think I was nuts for trying to sight in a rifle when the wind is blowing a little. The wind was aligned with the range, a direct tailwind for the bullets, and I didn't think that 15fps or so would have much of an effect.

Let me now sing the praises of Shooterpads. I fired over thirty rounds from a bench rest with that rifle. 7.62x54R rounds have the repuation of having the same level of kick as a hot-loaded .30-06; recoil was not a problem for me and I was not wearing a shooting jacket or any of that, just a t-shirt and shorts. Shooterpads are cheap, effective and they come with a number of inserts so you can adjust the length of pull. 30 rounds from a Mosin rifle with a steel buttplate would have turned my shoulder into hamburger, but not with those Shooterpads.

7N1 ammo is great stuff. For a little under $7 for a package of 20, you get match-grade ammunition. That is about a quarter to a fifth of the price of equivalent .30-06 fodder. Sure, it's corrosively primed, but all you have to do is clean the rifle the right way to flush out the residue. Flushing with boiling hot water works, Windex is supposed to work, too. You can pick up a transmission funnel from an auto-parts store for under $5. (I took a canteen of water with me to the range and did the first flush right there).

It was inded a nice day.