Sunday, June 16, 2019

Range time

Finally the range wasn't flooded so I got to try out the newish Remington Model 11. And for a 76-year old shotgun, it performed flawlessly. And it was busting ALL the clays until I started getting sloppy on the second box of shells and let a string of "Away" clays get by me. Just bad cheek weld and head position on my part from trying to rush the shots because they clays were going into a shaded spot and I couldn't follow them for more than a few seconds. But once I started focusing on those exclusively and slowing down, the gun did it's part and the clays all dies valiantly.
Then the cut-down Krag came out to play, fresh back from a visit to the CMP custom shot to have a new front sight base installed. It looked great but once there was a base and blade, it was obvious that the barrel wasn't timed all the way to center as it had a noticeable cant and it was hitting about 5" right at 25M. And that's 20" at 100M and exponentially worse farther out. Pity. because the groups were tight as hell. This rifle probably wasn't shot much after it was re-built and cut down so it's worth seeing if CMP can fix that too.

Also tested out an old Sears and Roebuck Ted Williams .30-30 lever gun that's been on my rack forever. I bought it a couple years ago because Sears and Ted Wiliams but never shot it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had a pretty good 100M zero already but it wasn't extracting well so I suspect it's overdue for a teardown and good cleaning.
Back in the day, baseball star and Marine Corps pilot Williams had a deal with Sears where his name only went on premium gear that he himself evaluated first. These rifles were made for Sears by Winchester and he gave them his personal ok before his name went on them. My only bitch with this one is that someone cut the stock for a rubber buttpad. Very nice job but I'm looking to restore it with an original butt one of these days when I find one.
I put 50 rounds of .45 on steel with my old 1911 next.

I haven't shot it in quite some time so this seemed like a good time to take it back out. I remember when I had the trigger down and had it reduced from 13lbs to 5lbs back in the 80's. I thought it was an awesome trigger then. It's horrible by today's standards and may need to be reworked again.

9 comments:

  1. W went out to the in-laws ranch last week for some shooting. Today is Gun Cleaning 101 day, where I get to teach my wife how to clean her revolver.

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  2. Photos of the Krag? Please??

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    1. It's this one. https://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-to-me-gun.html

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    2. Nice. I agree with the consensus that it was probably shortened to match the M1903s and used as a funeral saluting rifle.

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  3. Hey Murphy;

    That is a very nice 30-30 rifle there, and any chance to go to the range is a good thing.

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  4. glad you were able to get to the range - my range day is tomorrow afternoon, possibly Tuesday if tomorrow doesn't work out. Gonna do some pistol drills and work on 15 and 25 yard groups since I kinda suck at those distances, especially when shooting on a timed drill. Also will do some weak hand work, since I really suck at that too...

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  5. Time on the range is GOOD time! And glad to hear everything worked!

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  6. Not quite sure if this is a worthy follow up after that last comment, but what are the odds of two talented bloggers both having a Remington Model 11 and a TW Model 100 (mine has a slightly 'glossier' finish on the receiver}? You don't also happen to have a J. C. Higgins Model 20 (S. R. & Co. version of High Standard 200 pump shotgun), do you? From what I've researched, this JCH is - at its youngest - a couple years younger than me, or possibly a couple of decades older.

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    Replies
    1. Alas, no J.C. Higgins guns in the house...

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