Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

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Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by Archer »

I've been trying to get to the range more often. It hasn't been too easy but having a member only range only a couple exits down the highway from the office means I can sometimes hit it after work.
I mentioned in OTHER non-Rossi Firearms taking the Savage out finally. Here is a more detailed story about the back to back range days in early May.


Thursday May 4th took the boss to the range.
He was supposed to bring his 'new' AR he bought from the shop a year to a year and a half ago but forgot it.
He did have his Buckmark handy so he did bring that.
I had mine with me and we started out on the pistol range for a while.
Still love this gun but I was having some FTF with Remington Golden bullets. This is about the 4th or 5th time I've had the gun out and I may have cleaned it once. It may be that it's built up just enough soot and crap to cause some problems but it's also possible that the Remington 550 stuff just isn't quite right either.

So my Buckmark is the Contour and my boss has a stainless Camper.
His functioned nearly flawlessly. 1 FTF that I know about. He shot it something like 70=100+ times had a lot of fun but was disappointed in his groups. I ran about the same number out of my gun and my groups were better but I've been shooting more recently and my eyes may be a bit better. Last rounds were at a stick about a foot long by an inch in diameter on the backstop and it was minute of goblin or better hitting the stick a couple three times. My boss tried that and was a bit surprised how easy it was at that distance. He finished up with two mags rapid fire at short range and mentioned he'd like to see his wife able to do that in case of an intruder.

We moved over to the rifle range, I'd brought my White Oak AR-15 and my .308 AeroPrecision.
Both guns wear a Leupold Patrol 3-9X scope. We set up on the 100 yard range and ran a 10 round mag each out of each gun. I was using crappy 'go bang' ammo as a buddy of mine calls it. My groups weren't what I'd like but they were 2-3 MOA when I did my part. My boss was having problems seeing where he was hitting and holding the gun quite steady. At 9X it is easy to see your heart beat on the target. Timing your shot release is something you have to work at. The wind starts whipping up around the time we got to the range. We were shooting over my range bag as a rest. Not the best but ok. I'd like to shrink my groups but I suspect more practice and better ammo may very well be key to that at least in these guns.

My boss said he needs to get in to get his eyes checked. He didn't realize it was quite as bad as it appeared but the evening at the range convinced him it needs attention.

There were two vehicles at the rifle range when we got there and at least 1 at the action range. We started on the handgun range and were asked a couple times to cease fire for the rifle guys to go downrange. They thanked us each time and as they left for being understanding. Just part of doing business. We asked the guy on the action range to give us the same privilege a couple times and he had no issues with it. It should be pretty safe out to the hundred yard butts the way the berms are set but better safe than sorry and the 200 and 300 yard stands in my mind require the ceasefire since an over the berm on the action or pistol ranges could possibly impact on the rifle range. It'd be hard for the shorter 50 and 100 yard target areas since they are up against the side berms and on the sides of the range it'd be pretty much a freak shot BUT it's been known to happen at other places.

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Friday May 5th 2017
Went to the range again. This time with one of the manufacturing guys and 3 scoped bolt guns.
The purpose of this trip was to get my shop guy some 'hunting rifle' trigger time and introduce him to some of what's out there.

Started out with my CZ-550 in .30-06 with the Walnut stock and the 3-15 Nitrex by Weaver scope held on by CZ rings. This gun is a beauty but I've not wrung it out to the point I'm totally happy with it at present. We broke open a box of .30-06 165 grain Remington ammo and started out with 3 shot groups.
My group was ok but nothing to write home about.
My shop guy took his shot and after a moment he apparently noticed he got scope bit.
He took his next two shots and I decided it was time to put a bandaid on his nose.
He said he didn't even know he'd been bit until he noticed it dripping.

We moved on to the Remington 700 in 270 Winchester. This is the first time I've had this gun out. It is a closed box without floorplate in a laminated stock wearing the 3-9X Tasco that came with it. The scope was a little better than I expected. The gun was nice. The .270 Win kicks a mite. Just a tad bit of feeling the pain as it was touched off. I put 3 downrange and my bud did the same. I made a few scope adjustments but it was pretty close as we started out. I ran 3 more after the scope adjustment. That was about all I wanted to play with it at that point though. I think I got the scope close to right but I'll have to take it out again and make certain plus I'll need to push the range on it. We were using Federal 130 grain blue box ammo.

The last gun we shot was the Savage 243 Winchester I won at the pawn shop opening.
This gun is blued in a plastic stock with the accutrigger. Wears a Redding 6-18x 44 (I think) mounted on a PRI steel rail with a set of Warne steel QD rings. This gun was a surprising joy to shoot. Next to no recoil and the unsighted scope was about 4"x4" off at 100 yards. Did a scope adjustment after my 3 rounds and passed the gun to my bud who took 3 more. Followed it up with 3 for effect that went into a 1" group about 1" off the bull. Made my final scope dial and we packed it in and left for the day.

During the time we were at the range there was only a couple other guys and I think they took 1 shot for effect at 100 and then packed it in.
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I've got to get out more often.
This year I've only gotten out maybe once a month at best, probably more like once every couple months or less.
These past couple range visits were a lot of fun even though I only got a few shots in.

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Another note on equipment...
I typically use a set of cheap Tasco binoculars for sighting at shorter ranges. I can usually pick out hits out to about 100+ yards for the 223 and 308. With the Leupold scopes at 9X they are better than the binocs.

My shop buddy gave me a cheap Chinese 15-45X spotting scope. We took this puppy out for the first time on Friday and it was a huge help. I may end up needing to get one that has some actual magnification and some decent lenses.
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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by Mad Trapper »

Sounds like a good couple days of shooting, a lot of good practice.
Ive not done any shooting in some time, but I need to get out and work up some loads and try some new molds.
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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by mr surveyor »

Archer ... you mentioned using Remington Golden Bullets. I gave up on them 10 years ago when I noticed about 5-10% of them had bullets seated about 5° off plumb. I could squeeze them into the Single Action Six, but they would make the Ruger Mark II quite a bit unhappy.


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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by akuser47 »

Sounds like some great range time. As stated remington 22 rimfire golden, and thunderbolts are horrible. Bad reliability, and dirtier than any other rim fire I've shot. Though it is in stock around here because of this lol. Maybe your experience has been different than mine. Great post thanks for sharing. +guns
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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by GasGuzzler »

IMO Goldens are the best of the worst. Red box Winnie's win the FTF and dirtiest awards. Most overall suck award goes to Thunderbolts. For bulk pistol use (MKIII 22/45) my go to is AutoMatch. I have 14 unopened boxes of 325:).
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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by akuser47 »

I love the automatic as well. I do ok with federal bulk as well.
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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by Archer »

My Ruger MKII Govt eats ANYTHING I've been able to feed it.
The Ruger MKII Tgt seems to be very similar.
The Ruger MKII Standard is a bit finicky and is the only MKII I've shot that was.

Remington Golden Bullets were running pretty decent around here BEFORE the Obama price increases and the scarcity caused by the scalpers.

By that I mean that the rounds were straight and functioned most of the time in most guns I tried them in. It was not my preferred ammo by any stretch of the imagination but when it was all that was available I wouldn't turn it down for plinking.

Due to the shortages during the Bush II and Obama years Remington in my experience and from word of mouth reports took a dip in quality across the board with their ammunition. A buddy of mine had an issue with a .30-06 round that I returned to the factory and they sent me a full box back. Another buddy of mine had a Remington Golden Bullet cause an issue with his Ruger P22. He returned the gun to Ruger and they made it right. I think he had another issue with a .38 SP round. He won't touch Remington ammo.

What I've noticed about Golden Bullets over the last decade or so is it seems the power levels are inconsistent, the priming is not up to the same standards as other domestic producers and the shelf life stability is not great.

I prefer Federal Automatch when I can get it or CCI minimag ammocan in bulk offerings. Mostly the CCI bulk dried up and other producers often weren't producing or were being scalped.

I will note that my CZ-Kadet unit failed to fire often when I got it with all ammo brands I tried but when I contacted CZ they sent me a new firing pin, spring and retention plate which moved the point of the pin outboard and solved the problem.

The Rem GBs also used to function fine in the Smith & Wesson revolver the lever actions and mostly in the 10/22s. I think I ran them through the Nylon but to be honest that's been a while.
I think the dirtiest stuff I've ever tried was the Remington Subsonic. THAT was pretty bad. I agree Remington Thunderthuds are about the crappiest although I also tend to avoid Winchester Wildcats. I haven't had problems with Winchester 333s much but then I haven't shot much of them recently.

The High Standard and the Smith 41 get CCI Standard V ONLY.

While my Buckmark was a bit less than pleased with the Rem GBs this go around it had fired them fine before and that was what my boss had purchased in spite of my warning to get something else if possible. It was all the local shop had when he made the ammo run at lunch.
I'm going to do a bit of a scrub on mine as it's probably had a few rounds through it since it was cleaned and lubed very well.
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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by Ohio3Wheels »

My M&P 1522 doesn't care for anything remington, but has handled everything Winchester or CCI I've fed it. It was also happy with some Eley (Brit) silhouette that I had left from the early 90s.I'd like to try some Aquila but cant find it in less than 500 round bricks. Almost forgot the thing like the Federal 333s.

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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by Archer »

The 333s are Winchester's bulks.
The Federal Automatch are 325 count.

Aquila has been ok from what other shooters tell me with the exception of a fellow on another board who says they've had multiple firearms show up with bullets stuck in the barrels from Aquila subsonic.
I've been avoiding the brand in .22 since then. The shop I hang out at has sold several cases of it in quantities from boxes to bricks. I did pick up a couple boxes of Aquila .308 plus a box of PMC to replenish what I've shot of ZQ1 over the past couple range trips.

I do have a brick of Federal Gold Medal Match and a couple boxes of Eley that I haven't tried yet.
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Re: Getting to the range in Early May ARs and Bolts

Post by akuser47 »

Yea wildcats aren't what they used to be either. The 333 bulk is decent ammo. As for subsonic only ones I've shot where in a friend 1022 suppressed with a sparrow and he only uses CCI subsonic in his he said it was cleanest compared to the other options around. I have no first hand knowledge other than. I thought his 1022 was filthy from the 150 rounds we shot. He said it's to be expected in rimfire guns being supressed. He said it's worse with some ammo than others. Lol
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