Monday, April 04, 2011

Shooting and such

Yesterday, several of us went out to the range to get some shooting in. This Bren and the Browning 1919 (on tripod) were just two of the numerous machine guns that were there on this day.These and others were brought out by Mike Meador of EFI. Mike makes, repairs and sells all sorts of great stuff, both NFA and non.

And yes, I brought the new M60. The pig performed flawlessly at first, dominating the downrange impact area and destroying a hostile propane tank with 200 rounds.

Then I turned the gun over to David, and the Bad Karma fairy landed hard.

They aren't supposed to smoke like that.

As I was testing the gun on different types of ammunition that I had on hand, I let David run the gun with some Russian steel-cased ammo that I had a batch of. He fired less than one box before the Event occurred. A case became thoroughly wedged in the action, putting the weapon out of commission. Now to be fair, the problem was the crap ammunition. Had David not been on the trigger, I myself would have loaded and fired that ammunition shortly, so I can't blame him or the gun. But this will not stop me from referring to him as The Destroyer of M60s forever more.

Returning to the shooting, we have Mike here coaching Dan on the operation of the Browning 1919A4.I remember when I had one of those...and it didn't lock up on steel-cased ammunition.

And here's Oleg Volk demonstrating excellent form as he fires my Uzi.

Ah, the smile that only an Uzi (or a functioning M60) can put on a shooter's face.


A good time was had by all. Sadly the M60 could not be unjammed back at Mike's shop, but I have been in touch with the gun's actual manufacturer who fortunately lives somewhat close to me and Murphy and I will be driving it back to Mordor shortly for the requisite repair.

But until it crashed, that thing was awe-inspiring.

PS--Thank you to those of you who called my phone last night to help me find it. (It was in the laundry basket.) I will gladly return the favor to any of you, any time.

11 comments:

  1. Ah, that sound. Nothing quite like it. Sorry about the malf. The issue of steel cased ammo never came up when I was shooting one so I had no idea. Will the repair fix the issue or will you have to jettison all your steel ammo?

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  2. Dork! You need a leash for that phone! :-p

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  3. @ Six: Oh, there will be some steel-cased .308 ammo for sale cheap...1,984 rounds of the stuff, to be exact. It's new production and fine for rifles, but I'm not going down this road twice. Anyone who wants it, leave a message here with contact info. I won't post it publicly.

    @Nicki: But then the leash would have been lost, too.

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  4. I'm so depressed! That was covered I awesome sauce! Can I play?

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  5. @Keads: Any of you folks decide to come up this way, just bring ammo and give me a shout. We'll make some noise happen.

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  6. You're welcome. Glad the phone turned up. Oleg looks like he has a SERIOUSLY good time.

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  7. Thank you sir!

    I hope we can make that happen. WV is not that far. Schedules and other stuff makes it difficult.

    Tell us what caliber and we will make offerings to JMB!

    Thanks again!

    k

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  8. Trooper asks, "was it Lacquered Steel ammunition?"

    He has seen that stuff melt in the chamber and reduce chamber size, causing jams and misfires. A thing which I am confident you have heard of...still, if not, laquer thinner, a brass bristle brush and a lot of your time will be needed.

    Er - a lot of that other guys' time. Still it sounded AMAZING.

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  9. Help me with the Bren...Why is there a front sight when you've got the bloody magazine and a wooden handle between shooter and post? Is that just vestigial like an appendix or tail bone?

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  10. @ED: The Bren's sights--front and rear--are offset to the left, putting them in front of a right-handed gunner and making us left-handed gunners crane our necks to see around that magazine and carry handle.

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  11. Well, at least I didn't get blamed, cause that would have been MY luck to be on the gun... Glad most of the shoot went well, and I'm sorry I missed it.

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