We all met at the 25 yard indoor range yesterday... my son Mike and I, Tom, Aron from the Barnes and Nobel book store, and two of Aron's friends. Aron is interested in C&R's.
I took my trusty M39 (the second time I've shot it), and four other mil surps for the first time. A Tula 91/30, SKS, FR-8, and my Yugo Reworked k98k. I brought about 50# of ammo for the mil surps.
The range regs do not allow steel bullets, so all the ammo had to pass the magnet test. I had Olympic ammo for the Mauser and M-N's, some South African Nato surplus for the FR-8, and American Eagle for the SKS.
I'd never shot an SKS before, and I kept trying to load the rounds to far back in the Mag. It was funny, because I would load the second round and the bolt would slam shut ON MY THUMB! (If you do this with an M-1 you break the bone) finely, I figured out you load the rounds into the front part of the mag and the bolt stays put until you draw it back and let go!
Back to the shoot, the M39 and the Tula were fun to shoot, but the M39 is our favorite; it was shot the most and the barrel got HOT! The Tula was relagated to the wall and we put a box of round through the 91/30.
The SKS was another favorite, as it had less kick with the semi-auto feature. We zipped a 100 rounds through that in no time... after I realized hot to load the mag. I had problems loading the FR-8.
The FR-8 is made in Spain and does not have the quality of the other Mausers. I had the most trouble feeding from the mag. It liked having three rounds, but five gave me problems. The mil surp had massave amounts of cosmo, so I may have missed some in the magazine assembly. I'll take it apart and give it a good cleaning today. Althought, at the end of the shoot it seamed to loosen up and work better.
Aron liked the Yugo Reworked k98k... he said, "You can almost feel the history as you shoot!" The hands that held it, used it and died fighting for their country are like a goastly presents inharented with the Mauser. The mil surp went naturally to your shoulder, and it extruded a kind of grace and power. It is my most chearshed mil surp!
We all had a great day, and I'm looking forward to shoot these mil surps at a range that I can use my mil surp ammo... I know I'll save some money with my targets... NO HOLES! :eek
Thanx Dante' (2003)
For the anniversary of the site-the above was my post in 2003... but I went to the same range yesterday, and D**b 25 yards seems even longer today! 50 rounds through a Glock 22 and Sig P239 compact steel 40 cal.
Dante'
