New Year's Eve blogger shoot

This past Saturday I met up with Andy and JB Miller and others for some down-on-the-farm range time, and it was just what we all needed. This marked the first occasion where I got to shoot a suppressed weapon: a Ruger MKII with integral suppressor. That thing is ridiculously quiet, to the point where you get to hear the full sound of the .22 round smacking steel without the encumbrance of muzzle report. I want a suppressor so bad I can taste it.

We shot pistols for awhile first thing that morning to let the dew burn off. I'm happy to report that the P30's flawless round count now stands at 922 rounds, most of it being the 115 grain Federal FMJ that I picked up from ammoforsale.com, which I earlier called "POS" which it isn't; all of it has fired well. From reading up on the LEM trigger, I find that I'm doing it wrong, which explains my tendency to sometimes drop shots low. I will now practice the "rolling trigger" technique to see if it helps my accuracy.

I remembered to bring ammo for the MK12 this time, and it was grouping pretty well at 250 yards. When I first dragged it out, I was proned out on my yoga/impostor shooting mat with the bipod legs set on the ground. After the shooters to my left touched off some .308 Winchester rounds and the blasty concussion was felt, I backed up on the mat a ways and the bipod legs were sitting on it, causing some bounce that is evident in the groups. Even with that, we were holding everything within 2" to 3", and Andy had five or six shots in a row touching. I can't wait to stretch the MK12's legs out even further now that I know it can really shoot.

The Miller's AR10B was hammering steel out to the 250 yard target with ease; everyone that shot it commented on how tight the sights were, and how effortless it was to shoot and get hits. That's why the AR platform is so popular, and known for outstanding accuracy. The Mosin Nagant carbine was again a crowd pleaser, but for different reasons I believe. To me, the rifle is like the .22 rimfire of the battle rifle world, like a fire-and-forget weapon. Ammo is stupid cheap, and being steel cased you could care less about where it ejects. It's also designed specifically for that rifle, so there's no worry about groups or vertical stringing or any of the other stuff that comes with precision rifles. The little carbine was fired until it was scalding hot, ringing the 100 yard steel offhand several times out of ten shots. My guesstimate from the shell casings that made it into my range bag put the round count close to 200 rounds. Recoil from the beast is fierce, with the small profile steel buttplate jamming into your shoulder with each shot. Good times.

The grand finale was when Andy set up fruit for us to shoot. Exploding fruit is fun that has to be experienced, and we were all smiling at the end of the day. Thanks for the trip, Andy!