Range Report: Random Observations


Random musings from the gun range:

1. Five rounds of five stand with a 12 gauge over/under will make your shoulder a wee bit sore. But it’s a good sore. It may take me a few boxes of clays to get my swing back, but my last round was 17/25, and if it weren’t for shooting directly into the sun on a couple of springing teal targets, it might be 19/25. Could be better, but I’ll take it.

2. If you’re low and left with everything up to and including the staple gun, it’s you, not the sights.

3. I’m not a Glock fanboy, but it’s hard to disparage a weapon that feeds 100% reliably, has easily-managed recoil, and shoots perzackly where it’s pointed. Me likey.

4. Shooting the 1911 brings an entirely different visceral reaction. I didn’t shoot it as well as I did the Glock, but I have to say I like it more. And honestly, my shooting with the High Standard Crusader was not much worse than the groups I was getting with the Glock. If the Crusader sights had some kind of, you know, reference points painted on them, I’d have probably done even better. Still, it’s nice to see .45 caliber holes blossom on a 10 yard target like a cloverleaf. I’m no handgun expert, but I think I acquitted myself damned well with everything I shot today.

On the performance of the gun, it ran pretty much flawlessly for 200 rounds of mixed UMC, Blazer, and Winchester 230 grain FMJs. On the next-to-last mag, the slide failed to lock open on the last round. Any ideas as to why that happened, aside from the intuitively obvious like a dirty gun?

5. The Bushmaster XM15 carbine is a damned fine single-shot rifle. And if you actually keep the bolt lubricated, it can be capable of firing multiple rounds in succession! Who knew?

On that note, any of you AR aficionados got any suggestions for a quality lubricant for it? Because my plain old aerosol can of Rem Oil ain’t doing the job. At least not, for more than a couple of thirty round magazines, anyway.

Preferably, a lubricant that isn’t priced like it’s distilled from unicorn tears, please.

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