Bloghorn

Yesterday, Rob and I went to the Harrisburg Gun Show. Rob finally found the Tokarev TT-33 (OK, it’s really a Zastava m57, but it’s basically identical), and I picked up some nifty ammo. Naturally, we had no choice but to organize a trip to the range to try out our new toys.

Rob cleaning his new handgun

Exploded m57

All oiled and pretty...

The range we went to was out in Bellwood, PA. We wanted to go to the Sportsmen’s Association, but the other guys in our group weren’t members, which wouldn’t fly with the club rules. So we tried out a little range about 6 minutes from the BSA. It was, however, a bit unsettling that the road to get to the range runs parallel to the range for about 20 yards. As in, one negligent discharge slightly to the right from the pistol shooters and my car has extra ventilation. Other than that, $3 a head for a day of shooting isn’t all that bad.

Any opportunity to wear the uniform is a good one.

The gang

Mmm... Chicks with handguns...

SKEET SKEET BANG BANG!!!

Volley fire = win

After a while, we asked the range officer to let us shoot some hard drives that had failed, and that I “just happened” to bring along.

Our makeshift hard drive stands

Unfortunately, the video of the actual shooting is too low quality to warrant being immortalized on YouTube. However, I bring you the aftermath:

Evidence of Ryan trying to get the elevation right

Hillary holding a particularly destroyed drive

Rob shows off his kill

The day's carnage. Somehow, the black one came through unscathed.

My target. One shot, one kill.

This is pretty cool. The platters fused together when the bullet passed through.

A nice shot of the exit wound

As we were leaving, I spotted a guy with a Desert Eagle, and asked him to let me take a few shots. To my delight, he agreed!

Yes, the spent cartridge hit me in the eye. Left a nice streak of spent powder on my nose and cheek.

An excellent day spent on the range.

I just got back from taking cat on her first trip to the range. There are three ranges on Long Island even worth mentioning, and only two of them allow my Mosin Nagant. So for today, we went to the Brookhaven range out in Brookhaven, NY near the research labs.

The range itself was beautiful, and excellently maintained.

The range at Brookhaven

The firing line, as well as safety officer's office

Most of the people there were shooting either .22 Rugers, hunting rifles, or some other modern rifle. So when I pulled my Soviet beauty from her case, it turned some heads. Everyone from the safety officer to the guys down the bench were curious as to what exactly the monstrosity I had produced was.

One of these things is not like the others...

Cat was very, very excited to shoot her first firearm. But before I let her use the Mosin, I wanted her to get a feel for basic marksmanship with something that won’t make her flinch before every shot. For that, I borrowed my Dad’s Marlin 39 .22 rifle.

Cat's first shot

We traded off shooting, since we only had one bench available to us. Cat shot 10 .22 rounds, then I shot 5 Mosin rounds. We did that for about an hour before completely switching to the Mosin.

Me and my Mosin

Cat with the Nagant

We spent about 2 hours, 100 .22 rounds and 60 7.62 rounds on the range, and at the end, Cat was beaming with joy at the firepower she had wielded, and I was relatively pleased with my shooting.

Cat proudly showing off her handiwork

From the smile on her face as we left the range, I get the feeling we’ll be spending a lot more time there.

I got home last night, got a great night’s sleep, and decided to take my rifle up to Cortlandt Manor and put some live rounds through it. And, to my amazement, it didn’t explode.

My rifle on the firing line

It does, however, kick like nothing else. I’ve got some ice on my shoulder, and I probably should start thinking about investing in some padding to keep it from breaking my collar bone.

I had heard that Mosin Nagants were sighted in the factory with the bayonet attached, and if it was removed, the gun would perform differently. Being curious, I out 10 rounds through it with the bayonet attached (as pictured) and 10 without. The difference was that the group without the bayonet was about 6 MoA high (6″ at 100 yards).

Wow, I really am turning into a gun nut, aren’t I? Next thing you know I’ll be reading Unintended Consequences and chewing tobacco…