Milsurp After Hours

Graeme,

Woe is me. I'm off to Sydney on Thursday 13 th inst. and won't be back till the following Monday. On the Tuesday I have a Doctor's appointment. Sometime between then and the 30th would be OK. After that it will be a while as I'm into hospital on the 31st to have a cataract removed from the shootin' eye.

Joe,

You want some more shots in Random Meaningless?

After that it will be a while as I'm into hospital on the 31st to have a cataract removed from the shootin' eye.

My mother ( now 85 ) had both eyes done last year and was amazed at the improvement in her sight and she said that the difference in colours was incredible. Good luck mate.

Go0d luck on the cataract operation. I've had my right eye done and need to have my left eye done. Just don't do two at once unless you are feeling real lucky because sometimes there is a "slight" problem that can occur.

Thanks for the good wishes, mates. I'm being done by one of the best in his field, so I'm told by my doctor and a coupleof the eye blokes former patients, but thats good advice to have the eyes done one at a time, fortunately my left eye is pretty good.

Well its been 19 months since this thread started and we have finally got the MLE up and running. And run into yet another problem.

Anyway on Wednesday Eoin and myself descended upon 2 valves abode. Eoin had some loaded 7.7 x 54 and a wealth of knowledge and 2valve had the rifle and the space to test it. Me ? I just had the itch to fire the beast .

After setting up the "range" we got down to business. The first shot was good - nothing fell off or exploded, extraction was slightly sticky but possible without assistance. However when Eoin checked the fired case he found (drum roll please) the shoulder had been blown forward. A quick check against a .303 round and the BLOODY THING IS STILL A .303

Fortunately Eoin came prepared with some milsurp and we managed to get off 4 shots before the cattle invaded the range - a local hazard you don't find on many ranges.

Now I know it was only 50 yds and off the bench but considering the sights are canted 10 degrees left and the front sight blade is missing I don't reckon the old girl did too shabbily. All four were on target, 2 in the black and the other 2 just outside. We also had a few misfires but this may have been the ammo.



After Eoin left 2valve and I checked out the area behind the target. This is a star picket that was directly behind the target. Just goes to show what the old milsurp ammo is capable of. Wouldn't like to be on the receiving end



Now if I've done things right the link below will be a video we put together to mark the occasion



And what was the issue ? Well it looks like the reason it wouldn't chamber a .303 round but would chamber a 7.7 x 54 was the distal end of the chamber is in poor condition. Below is one of the extracted shells.

Nice video show. Good simple solution to bench shooting too.

Great stuff mate! Where to now?

Looks like the chamber could use a bit of a polish! Was the case hard to extract?

Was the case hard to extract?

Not with a piece of 4x2 mate
Bolt would lift no worries but getting it moving rearward did require a little bit of persuasion. Doing something about the chamber is next on the list but given it has taken 18 months to get this far there is no rush.

BTW thanks to all who have contributed either intellectually, materially or with encouragement. It has been, and will continue to be, a fun project for 2valve and I.