It's a beautiful balmy morning in Texas, so what do you do? Retrieve a couple of rimfires from the bottom of the lake and go to the range. Would they work, for that matter would I still know how to shoot?
Two excellent questions, but first up, stop at McDonald's for two cheeseburgers, it's a range tradition, and I was astonished to see they'd gone down in price by 50 cents per psuedo-burger. Jubilate, perhaps this was an omen.
A short drive through the North Central Texas Exclusion Zone (NCTEZ) and there it was, the range, pretty much unchanged after all these years and full of memories of kids, friends, guns and big fun under Texan skies. Reverie over, I set up at the shooting house bench and tested a Ruger American .22 LR.
Mirabile dictu (enough Latin, Ed.), it worked, snapping shotgun shells off a swinging plate frame, knocking back mini steel plates and punching holes in paper like a veritable, ahem, blunderbuss. So that was all good and a vindication of very minor smithery on my part.
You see, my ancient Ruger magazines had reached the point where they no longer fed consistently, so I took the wretched beasts apart, tightened their springs and hoped for the best. Lo and behold, they worked, as did the rifle and its cheap 4 power scope. Result.
Next up, a Marlin .22 WMR with an annoyingly stiff, heavy, branchlike trigger. How did that perform? Not well at all, in fact hardly on paper, which was annoying because the miserable offender had been right in the X Ring last time I shot it, an aeon ago.
Maybe this rubbish ChiCom scope's busted, I thought grimly to myself as I calculated inches off target and 1/4 MOA clicks. You see, a bad workman blames his tools, but the tools ended up proving their worth and within a few clicks the Marlin was on and slamming mighty .22 Mag rounds into mini steels and all was well with the world.
I tell you, what a fun round, go .22 WMR. Is it better than .17 HMR? I don't know, but I'd hazard a dam sight less blowy. And Marlin, please sort out the ridiculously heavy trigger your otherwise excellent weapon comes equipped with. And perhaps they have, my rifle's a bit old.
Guns on, mission accomplished, it was time to head back to the Compound and cook up a rack of ribs in celebration. They're in the oven now.
Shoot straight,
LSP
12 comments:
I know only a little about ballistics. That said, when the pocket gophers decide to move into the pasture the .17HMR Marlin does a fine job of taking care of the hole makers. Compared to the .22LR it is exponentially louder.
It looked like fun and you didn't get stuck in the mud bog on the way to the range. No snow in Texas Hill Country either! Sweet. And once there, you shot on MLK day. Some would say that the day has significance beyond being a bank holiday - some not. Cheeseburgers instead of KFC...telling.
Nice!!! And always adjust ONE parameter on the scope at a time, and always 'tap' the turret to make sure it takes...
I do hope that we have a cooking post soon, detailing how said ribs turned out...and if Blue Porkpie benefited in some way.
Paul, I'm no expert either, but that little 17 moves fast! Check out the .22 WMR, a bit heavier and less blowy.
Mr. LL, I know you've been trained in the dark arts and now I know you're a telepath. I was thinking EXACTLY that on the way to the range, "Here I am, going for a shoot on MLK day, with a sack of cheeseburgers and no fried chicken."
Huh.
That said, I've been hankering for some of that delicious fried chicken for a while now.
NFO, what a pleasant morning's plinking! Must do more of that.
And sage advice. (my rimfire scopes are pretty rubbish, tbh, maybe an upgrade?)
Wow, DOS, you've joined LL in the Telepath MOS. And I was thinking of doing just that but somehow forgot in the excitement to take pics. Stand by for a Cooking With LSP ribs post.
"Enough latin, ed." I laughed audibly.
Never enough. At least for sacred latin.
Well you know what they say, Anon, the Devil hates Latin. What does that mean viz. Vatican II?
Hie thee hence over to Rimfire Central and see do the inhabitants thereof have anything to say about Marlin triggers. Much more than likely, they might.
Bloody hell, Wild, this thing's heavy as tree trunk. Makes me want to upgrade, tbh.
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