K31: Back to the Drawing Board

Took the K31 out with the correct cartridges recently. 24.0 grains of IMR 4198 with a 130-grain cast plain-base bullet. First three shots at 50 yds within 1.5 inches; then six, eight and ten-inch groups, if I could dignify them with that term at 50 yards.

Plus, the additional new knowledge that the load apparently isn't high pressure enough to prevent blow-back through the bolt. Had a nice black soot streak down my cheek by the time I was done.

So, is it the barrel or is it the load? A quick way to find out is switch back to milspec loads, or close to them if the originals are unavailable (or too damn expensive). So a load consisting of 37.8 grains of H4895 topped with a Winchester 147 grain FMJBT was whipped up yesterday and taken to the range.

This time, groups averaged 3-4 inches, usual due to one flyer adding an inch to the groups. At this point I'm sure it's me, due to my bifocals: first that I'm old enough to need them, with all that entails about my vision and secondly, this is the worst pair of glasses I can recall having as far as useful percentage of lens. Won't be going back to the vendor for the next pair.

Regardless, I can see the barrel is fine as military surplus goes; the most recent load is mild to shoot (at least wearing a sweatshirt and Carhart jacket) and easy to make. Think I'll load up another batch of these and do some 100 yard shooting in a weekend or two.

Oops

Not only can one chamber 7.5 French in a 7.5 Swiss chamber, but it will shoot reasonable well. Other than a blown-out shoulder on the cartridge. Next time, double check the cartridge box.

How A Good Day Of Shooting Starts.......

 

Be the only person on the rifle range;

Have someone discard 70 once-fired 2012 Lake City 7.62 x 51 cases;

have two old Mausers throw some good groups.

 The Israeli Mauser k98 in 7.62 x 51:

 

Date: Distance Group Size or Score (in.) Shots Fired Powder Grains Bullet Diameter Primer Case Conditions OAL Notes 3/29/2014 50 yds 1.356 5 Win 748 24.3 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR FC 308 Win Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/07/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 1.796 5 Win 748 24.3 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR FC 308 Win Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/07/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 1.886 5 Win 748 24.3 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR FC 308 Win Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/07/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 2.300 5 Win 748 24.3 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR FC 308 Win Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/07/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 3.553 5 Win 748 24.3 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR FC 308 Win Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/07/13 3/29/2014 2.178 Group size Average for Session 3/29/2014 4.356 MOA Average for session

and for the Chilean Mauser M1895 in 7.62 x 51: Date: Distance Group Size or Score (in.) Shots Fired Powder Grains Bullet Diameter Primer Case Conditions OAL Notes 3/29/2014 50 yds 0.946 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 1.419 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 1.593 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 2.185 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 3.353 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 1.899 Group size Average for Session 3/29/2014 3.798 MOA Average for session

Date: Distance Group Size or Score (in.) Shots Fired Powder Grains Bullet Diameter Primer Case Conditions OAL Notes 3/29/2014 50 yds 0.946 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 1.419 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 1.593 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 2.185 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 50 yds 3.353 5 Win 748 24.6 Lee 90309 0.310 Fed LR R-P Win. 308 Overcast 2.640 187.5 grns w gas check. Loaded 12/14/13 3/29/2014 1.899 Group size Average for Session 3/29/2014 3.798 MOA Average for session

It's Been A While

Due to a deployment, then being back in school while working, and another deployment, it's been some time since I've done much handloading. I believe it's time to inventory the loading room, and do some reorganizing, as there are items that have been on the benches where I left them over three years ago.

One of the reasons I started handloads was my area of interest. I like old military rifles. If you've been around a number of years, you'll know that that some calibers like 30-06 or 8mm Mauser can be plentiful and cheap for years, then next to impossible to find or unpleasantly expensive later (think surplus .303 British- I remember when it was dirt cheap). But there's an area of old rifles and ammunition where handloads are the only practical way to go. Look up the price of factory .43 Spanish, for an extreme example. Even more modern rounds like 6.5 x 55 Swedish or .30-40 Krag, although more available, are relatively expensive as they're generally new manufacture hunting loads. When you get to 6.5 Japanese or 7.62 x 45mm Czech, you can recover your loading equipment costs in a short number of rounds. Granted, a lot of these relatively modern but obscure rounds don't offer anything unique in performance. But without them, an otherwise functional gun is just a wall decoration.

So for the next week or so, I'll be digging out the books and gear to start producing 7.5 French rounds for the MAS 49/56 I dug out the vault. I believe it's been shot once since I bought it back when they were on the surplus market; time to get the grease off it and put it back to use.

Interesting

Apparently not a permanent alteration; might be nice for some scenarios. On the down side, it definitely demonstrates that the staggered column of cartridges is more practical for getting down in the dirt.

Redneck Gun Repair

or How To Replace A Hakim Ejector Spring On The Cheap.

First, let me note that it's possible to shoot over 50 rounds of surplus 8 mm and have all of them extract without the spring. I'm a little surprised by this, but having unintentionally done it, it's possible.

Seen clockwise above, the breech cover, bolt carrier, bolt, extractor, and safety housing. My first clue something was off occurred when disassembling the rifle for cleaning, and the extractor just fell onto the table.

Looking at this, my first thought was to wonder where I could buy a small piece of leaf spring material. Then, how to grind/cut/shape it for a good fit. That's when it occurred to me that I have a pile of leaf spring material sitting around:

The easily acquired, cheap stripper clip. In this case, from 5.56 rounds. These were sitting in the corner of the basement for the last 10+ years, but the rust scrubs off with a little steel wool and oil. A brief touch with a cutting wheel, or an appropriate handsaw, and a small length of leaf spring is available.


The piece above needed a little grinding along the long edge to adjust the width, and another cut to remove the retention curve at the tip.

Below, the finely-milled slots for receiving the spring can be seen at the base of the extractor recess.



With a bit of gentle pressure, the new spring can be slid into the milled recesses:


Next, gently prying upwards on the spring allows the extractor to be started into its recess:



A bit more gentle pressure, and the extractor will snap into place:


Total time to make, less then ten minutes, and a hell of a lot cheaper than buy the original parts via online auctions.

The Obsolete Rifle Match That Wasn't

As noted in an earlier post, I recently participated in what was billed as a military "obsolete wooden stock rifle" match. Now, seeing that title, without any other description, suggests to me that the focus of the match is probably bolt guns like the one above, or possible semi-autos of the '40s or not set up for quick magazine changes.

What it turned out to be was three guys (to include your curmudgeonly author) with three different generations of rifles: a competition grade AR, a competition grade M1A, and........

A rather old but serviceable Egyptian Hakim in 7.9 x 57 mm Mauser. At this point, I'd argue that only one of us was serious about using an obsolete rifle.

After checking the gas settings for the 154 grain surplus Romanian rounds I was using, we had two sighting rounds, and moved to standing slow fire. There were a couple pleasant surprises here. First, my rifle was actually accurate. Second, the significant weight and length led to more stability in the standing position. Third, I had high score for this portion, which was more of a shock than anything else given the rifles present.

Next was seated rapid fire, with one mandatory reload. With a stovepiped round on the second shot, and the Hakim's ability to smash a digit exceeding a Garand, this didn't go quite so well. Dumping six rounds into a target at 200 yards in less than the ten remaining seconds isn't an accuracy enhancer.

The next two stages, including prone slow fire, showed that shooting against competition grade rifles, shooting coats, slings, and and gloves with an standard-issue slingless military rifle, no gloves or dedicated coat, and surplus ammunition isn't going to generally go well. Something like going to the country club skeet match with your grandpa's Browning Auto-5: it'll shoot, but people will look at you like you're crazy and you'll get your butt kicked competitively. Or they'll say something like "Isn't it amazing how people used these crude primitive rifles", leading to choking back comments on the amazing lack of knowledge of what went into rifles of this era. Flint and firelocks are primitive and crude, my friend; that's a whole different concept form "obsolete".

At least my '70s era ammo didn't do this:

If the price of the primed "once-fired" 5.55 mm brass that guy is selling is too good to be true.........

Still, it's good to get an old rifle out and see what it can do. Especially when you're pleasantly surprised that the old rifle is accurate if you do your part.

This Should Be Interesting

A Martini-Henry carbine I picked up in the bazaar at Camp Phoenix a couple months ago. This one was made by the Braendlin Armoury Co. in Birmingham, England. It's what appears to be called a "trade gun", in that it's not military issue, but available to volunteer units, or individuals who wished to purchase their own carbine in military furniture. Although at one time or another, one of the local vendors went to town with the faked stamps all over the metal. Which I'll post further pictures of in the near future.

But for the interesting part: Until 2009, antiques like this were simply allowed to be inspected by a US military customs unit, then allowed to be mailed if OK'd by them. Which, unfortunately, was apparently severely abused. Leading to the regional military command to restrict all antiques which fired center-fire and rimfire cartridges.

Except.

IF one gets a BATFE Form 6 (part II, for military personnel) approved, THEN one may send home the previously mentioned systems.

So. The form is filled, and I'll be getting some express envelopes at the post office hut next door tomorrow morning. I'm told it takes 4-6 to get the form back with a yea or nay. Let's see what happens.

Old Friend, New Clothes

Had a soldier come into our quarters at NTC with something that definitely wasn't an M4 from a distance, and had to go look at it. I was suprised to see this current version of the M14, tricked out like a mall ninja's wet dream. The big difference being that these add-ons will see use somewhere besides the range. A fair number of the 11Bs were given these fine rifles based upon their qualification scores during the last range qual. These troops are now squad designated marksmen, something I both envy and approve of. Envy, because properly set up this rifle will take out a hostile far beyond the effective range of the M4 gopher gun most of us are saddled with. Approve, because at least someone has something with both range and individual accuracy you can't get with an M240B machine gun. This is the man and gun you go to when Akbar the part-time sniper pops of rounds from his Enfield or Mosin while nicely ensconced in his ROE off-limits compound full of women and kids. Lucky dog.

Well, Duh.......

Everyone knows thugs prefer weapons over three feet long with a top-loading packet clip system.



Jackass.

Mosins N' Carhartts

Actually made it out to the range for the first time in months, which is way too long. And instead of being 28 degrees, it was a balmy 42, with a 10mph wind out of the very flat, unobstructed west. Anticipating this, I decided to take my snowblowing gear, which is a set of lined Carhartt bibs and jacket.

Getting to the range, I was a little suprised there was anyone else there, but there was one pistol shooter with his very supportive wife/girlfriend/something, who looked decidedly cold. Shortly after this, another two pistol shooters showed up, one of them shooting in jeans and a t-shirt. I love shooting, but not enough to freeze my ass off for a fifty round plinking session. Then again, he was probably wondering why some guy was shooting an antique dressed like a construction worker in January. Hey, at least I was comfortable, even lying on the ground for an hour of prone unsupported at 200 yards.

Some realizations from this session:

I can shoot my Model 1891 Mosin made in 1916 more accurately at 200 yards than I can shoot my AR, which also went along today;

With the right weather and a good tin roof overhead, the 7.62 x 54R makes a beautiful rolling boom that really stands out on the range;

My AR fires Brown Bear 62 grain softpoints without a hiccup;

Two years of no shooting past 50 yards takes a noticeable toll on my skills;

Carhartts are a great product;

I may start doing some winter shooting if I can be as comfortable as I was today.

Maybe Tomorrow......

Loaded some up tonight; classwork and weather allowing tomorrow........

In The Oddest Places

As I'm clearing away paperwork in my barracks room, I have the TV on. All programming is through the post television station. On one of the four English-language channels, World's Most Dangerous Places or something of that nature is on. Today, it's the host wandering about the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of the things that drew my attention away from my paperwork:

This line from the host as he goes with some park rangers looking for mountain gorillas:

The first sign- a fresh turd.

Truly, something I have never heard on TV before. And delivered with complete earnestness.

Second, and more interesting to me, was watching the park rangers assemble. A short platoon of men, armed with M1 carbines. In what appeared to be very good condition. How long must those rifles have been sitting in Africa?

Sweet, Sweet Relief

Few things relieve stress as much 60+ rounds through the L1A1 at silhouettes. 200 yards will definitely let you know if the sights are on. In my case, they weren't, unless you're getting kickbacks from on ortho surgeon who does hip replacements. On the other hand, at least I'm consistent from shot to shot.

Next time around, I'll remember to take the spotting scope so I can actually see where I'm hitting before I'm out of ammo.

Sunday Ugly Gun Post

Granted, I've never thought of Carcanos as particularly handsome rifles to start with, but I don't have any idea what this person's reasoning was.

The Weather Gods Hate Me.......

I have a nice new batch of cast bullet .303 for my P-14 that I loaded up last night, and I was planning on chronographing them. Until the light rapidly diminished in five minutes while I was in my living room. So, while I reconsidered loading up all the gear, it started coming down so hard and fast that we suddenly had a river running in front of our house. Another shooting session shot to hell and gone.

Rimfire Silhouette Match

The club's first silhouette match at the new range occurred this Sunday. I was disappointed that only six showed up, but I notice that new events tend to attract only a few shooter at first, with more becoming interested as word spreads. There was a considerable spread in rifles, with bolts, semis and even a lever action:

This was the first time I've shot one of these, and it was much more challenging than I expected. I wasn't aware that it's all standing unsupported, with no jackets, gloves, slings, etc. Very dependent on the shooter's fitness and the quality of the rifle's trigger. I was shooting my '30s era Winchester 52B with the scope set to 10x for most of the match. It's damn hard to steady a rifle intended for prone (lots of weight) in the unsupported standing. I won the match, with the incredibly impressive score of 11 out of 40. Out of six competitors. Yes, I'm impressed too.

Given the number of shots where the trigger broke as I was sweeping through the target so that the shot was nowhere near the target, I'm seriously in need of standing practice before the winter four-position season. Then again, a shooting jacket and glove make a world of difference. Anyway, I'm hoping the guys running the match continue doing these. It's difficult, but enjoyable and casual.

Following the match, I got a little recreational time in. First, twenty rounds of Romanian 7.9 x 57mm through a '20s vintage Brno Gewehr 1898. Basically, fun to shoot, but don't expect too much for accuracy. Some Turk went to town on the muzzle with a cleaning rod after the Czechs sold them off. Still, it's always a good time playing with a vintage rifle.

Following that, a Spanish M43 in 7.9 x 57mm. This one was shooting groups of about eight inches at a hundred yards. Yes, not great, but three factors to consider: I was shooting prone unsupported (no sling, rest, etc.), the top of the front sight (if you know Mausers, you know how wonderful that front sight is at it's even at it's best) was a nice, bright silver, as the bluing had worn off. And I didn't bring my sharpie to darken it up, so it pretty much disappeared on the target; and I got a little flinch after a pierced primer on round three dispersed a lot of smoke and gas into my glasses. I'll be doing a little file work on this one later this week.

Now, a little elbow grease to get all the nice thirty year old mercuric salts out of the barrels. The joys of surplus ammo.

Fun With Toys

Made it out to the range for our monthly meeting on Thursday, which I happened to have off. Having a little time between the ongoing struggle to finish the bathroom remodel and the meeting, I grabbed some rifles I haven't shot in a while. First thing to come to hand was my L1A1 with Imbel receiver. FNs are a joy to shoot; their weight is reasonable for a full size rifle, the furniture fits me well, and recoil with the 7.62 is only moderate.

Lots of history associated with the FALs too. The picture above was taken during the Falklands War in the early '80s, when both sides (British and Argentine, for those too young to remember) used them. Looking at some of the photos from that conflict, having a 7.62 semi auto looks like the way to go. Lots of large open areas. I'd rather have a rifle with a cartridge that still has some impressive thumping power at over 300+ meters, and put up with the extra weight in close quarters, than have a light-weight small caliber that does have impressive an hydrostatic effect, IF you hit tissue with high fluid content, AND within 300 meters. It's also nice to have something that will penetrate hard barriers. I've punched through railroad tie plates with 5.56 at a hundred yards, so I know what all that velocity can do, but for bricks, lumber, and concrete, I'd rather have 7.62 x 51.




Also took out a Spanish FR8 that I picked up years ago, and have only taken out once. I find 7.62 in Mauser actions to be also comfortable to shoot, compared to the usual 7.9 mm Mauser loads. One thing that is not comfortable is when I forget to alter my bolt handling for this rifle. While most Mausers have their sights in front of the receiver ring, the Spanish came up with a rear sight containing a rotating disk with apertures and v-notch sight. Conveniently located right about where ring and little fingers will pass through the same space during a speedy operation of the bolt:


Pain is a great teacher, so that only happened once. FR8s will also get you some second looks on the firing line, with the flash hider and bayonet housing mimicking a gas operated rifle while the operator cycles the bolt.

Playing with the old rifles like these gives me thoughts of vintage rifle matches. Maybe a vintage carbine match. I'll have to give it some thought after the pistol match next weekend.

I Love The CMP

My Danish M1 Garand arrived yesterday. I'd originally ordered a Greek, but the ran out between the time I sent the order and their receiving it. After several episodes of phone tag with a remarkably patient and pleasant lady at one of the southern offices, I was offered a Danish substitute in "good condition". I accepted and hoped for the best. Less than a week later the big cardboard box in the kitchen was waiting for me when I came home. Inside was a Springfield Armory rifle with metal in very good condition, and wood with nice figure, and some handling ding acquired over the years. More than worth the cost and wait. I still need to get some of the storage goop off it, but I'm definitely happy. Now if those back-ordered 148 grain bullets from Dillon Precision would show up, I could get down to business....

Sunday Ugly Gun Post

Enfield No. 4 MkI Caliber .303 British:

This is a professionally sporterized Enfield that has had a lot of gunsmithing done to it. It had a Wolff bolt spring installed, barrel shortened to carbine length, fiberoptic blade front sight installed......

Here' what a proper No. 4 Mk I looks like:

as in the one on the bottom.

Yes, that's quite an improvement. Some kind of recycled plastic formed into a stock, a bobbed barrel, original ten round detachable magazine reduced by half, and that lovely primer-grey new parkerized finish.

The thing is, you can buy plastic stocked, all weather finish brand new rifles for less than the cost of this conversion at Wal-Mart, Fleet Farm, and a hell of a lot of mom & pop gun shops.

Which would leave more hand-made and hand-finished rifles for those of us who appreciate what went into them:

Apprentice training, Royal Small Arms Factory, 1947.

Assembler's bench, Royal Small Arms Factory