Getting to The Range

There's not been a lot of shooting in LSPland lately because of our enemy, the Weather. Seriously, it's rained so much that the places I like to shoot at have been pretty much off-limits. But that's changed, at least for now, with a few days of heat and sun.

So I drove down to the range with GWB and a couple of wood stocked Ruger American .22s, a value pack of ammo and a mind set on a few hours of firearms fun. Make up for lost time, I thought to myself, and blaze away in the clean country air. Right on, get out and shoot.

Then disaster struck. Thanks to the Weather, part of a tree had fallen and was blocking the way into the range. It was a significant obstacle and there was no way it was going to move without a chainsaw and there wasn't one.

"We need a saw," said GWB, thoughtfully, and I agreed, "Yes, and there isn't one." I optimistically tried a bit of telekenesis on the fallen timber; maybe staring at the branches would shift them out of the way. No, it didn't, and then it came to me, GWB had had the foresight to bring a multitool. "What about your Leatherman?" I asked,  "That has a sawblade, a surprisingly good one."

Sure enough, the Leatherman Wave's handy saw made quick work of an offending branch and we were able to drive around the road block. Moral of the story?

Don't underestimate our enemy the Weather, it can throw some nasty punches. Also, be prepared, have the kit you need to reach your objective. Most importantly, when things go wrong you can sit there in your pajama onesie, whining into your coco as you wait for the Government to step in and save you, good luck with that. Or you can take matters into your own hands and find a solution.

That's what happened today. We cut through the wood and drove on through, to the other side.

Thanks, Leatherman Wave. You work.

LSP

Rimfire Roustabout

You've got a brand new Ruger American Rimfire sitting at home and it looks good, no doubt about it, but does it shoot? I took mine to the range with two other rifles and a Blue Heeler, to find out.

I Love The Range!

Blue Plinker thought this was a pretty neat game and jumped for joy, literally, when he saw me laying out the rifles on the bench. He had to be relegated to the shooting house after that; he will try and catch bullets with his teeth.

Big Rectangle = 3 Rounds

I started out with iron sights at an easy 30 or so yards, prone, and the new Ruger went first. It was fun to shoot and performed flawlessly, producing one of the the best groups of the day, 3 rounds in pretty much the same hole.

The Higgins did well too, and is certainly capable of good accuracy, though its trigger's heavier than the Ruger, and the old gun doesn't always feed too smoothly from its 17 round tube magazine. It was fun to move up to the more powerful, and more expensive, .17 HMR, a hot little round. 

After proving to myself that I could still shoot with iron sights, I scoped up the new Ruger with a cheap fixed 4 power optic, which came off the .17 HMR, and dialed it in from 50 yards. I used my coat as a rest, being a ballistic scientist. When paper got boring, it was time to shift fire onto a different enemy, old Gatorade tops.

They didn't stand a chance! Breathe, squeeze, off flies the florescent plastic top. Big fun. A tin can got itself in trouble, too. Take that, can, and Gatorade tops.

Good Work, Gun

All this proved that the wood stocked Ruger American Rimfire .22 LR works just fine. I think I'll adjust the trigger pull downwards a bit to 3 1/2 pounds or so, and take it out again with a Lead Sled for a more scientific dial-in at 100 yards. I'll also have to get a new scope for the .17 HMR, but that's a different story.

And so is open carry. The more CHL holders I talk to, the more the song remains the same. I don't want anyone to know I'm carrying, that's what they say.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Zeroing in the Ruger American .17HMR

Don't get me wrong, I like open sights, especially the bright fiber optic front sight that comes with the Ruger American rimfire series. Still, I wanted to scope this beast up, on a budget, so I mounted a cheap but clear Hawke Optics 4x40 onto the ready-to-go grooves on top of the receiver.

By some strange quirk of providence, the act of mounting the scope seemed to count as boresighting too and the rifle wasn't too off from the get-go at 25 yards.

Using a tool box as a rest, for tip-top ultimate accuracy, I moved out to 50 yards and shot away at a silhouette until the little .17 HMR (Hornady, 17 grain) zingers were hitting pretty much where I wanted them to. Then I fell back to 100 yards and repeated the process. I used Chuck Hawks as a guide for zeroing at 145 yards. Here's what he has to say:

"A better way to zero a .17 HMR rifle is to put the 17 grain bullet 1.5" high at 100 yards, for a zero range of 145 yards. It would then hit about 0.9" high at 50 yards, 0.3" low at 150 yards, and 5.5" low at 200 yards. The maximum point blank range (+/- 1.5") of the cartridge would be about 165 yards, at which range the bullet retains about 90 ft. lbs.of energy, enough to remain effective on the smaller varmints."

I was impressed by the accuracy of the gun and the round and it obviously shot better than I do, but did it pass the Arizona Ice Tea test at 100 yards? Sure it did.

I enjoyed that so much that I think I'll have to do it all over again. Soon.

Shoot straight,

LSP