Range Day, 11-12 Dec 2021

[98Z5V]

Went out over the weekend for another shootfest.  This time, it was Hannah's BF visiting here.  No need to try to scare the dude - he was plenty worried enough.     He's in the US Army Reserve, and he's a good kid.  I had a one-on-one chat with him later in Saturday, and he's alright.  He knows not to fuk up.  

So Kenny (those of you that visit this area know him) and his wife Shawn went out there on Friday night and set up.  The rest of us got out there Saturday morning.  Saturday night, the only ones that stayed/camped were myself, Kenny and Shawn, and @JBMatt.  All the kids took off, DirtBike Tommy went home to prep work for Sunday and Monday, and @Moon Boots jetted back home in the afternoon-ish.  

So Kenny and I planned out food for Saturday night.  Fired up a 16lb turkey in the Orion cooker, and it was done in 2 hours.  That thing is a badass cooker!   Shawn took care of everything else, so we literally had a big Thanksgiving mean out there on Saturday for everyone.  Had it ready right around 3pm, because people were going to have to start peeling out of there.  It. Was. AWESOME!!!  

For the shooting, of course we were shooting that night again.  FOr daylight stuff, we set up a good pistol run of targets.  Everybody was supposed to get after it, but it came down to me being the first shooter.  Run a 4-plate rack, shoot the center target on a hostage target, and run the 6-plate dueling tree.  11 shots.  Okay, so I run the thing first.  I get a 15.32 on it.  Well, guess who shoots next...   Matty.   That fucker ran it in 15.13...     I went back up there and wasted a bunch of ammo trying to beat him, and it just got worse from there.  THEN, he ends up running a 12-something on it...    Salt in the wound, you bastage...  

Here's the two pics he sent me from that day...

Another thing we accomplished was breaking in @Matt.Cross 's 6 ARC Mk 12 gun.  It's doing pretty damn good right now, but needs some load development.  

Edited December 14, 2021 by 98Z5V

[Matt.Cross]

On 12/13/2021 at 9:48 PM, 98Z5V said:

Another thing we accomplished was breaking in @Matt.Cross 's 6 ARC Mk 12 gun.  It's doing pretty damn good right now, but needs some load development.  

 

Awww man, check that sexy beast out! That Mk12 doesn't look too bad either....

[98Z5V]

I see what you did there...   

I took the 12.5" ARC out there, but we didn't get on it until Sunday.   That little bastard is a Dragon Slayer.  It's impressive.  

[Matt.Cross]

On 12/13/2021 at 10:46 PM, 98Z5V said:

I see what you did there...   

I took the 12.5" ARC out there, but we didn't get on it until Sunday.   That little bastard is a Dragon Slayer.  It's impressive.  

I've heard some good reports and seen some really impressive groups out of both of those guns. I was duly impressed...

[98Z5V]

Working on 2 different .308ARs that came into GunPusher John's shop right now.  Did some initial assessments on both last week, and we shot them on Sunday.  I fucked up on one of them, the 18" rifle gas gun.  It's a factory STAG .308AR gun, and that 18" barrel had an 0.080" gas port, and I let that slide.  I knew better.   The other one I'll get the details on, but it was a factory gun (not a PSA).  18" midlength gas, with a port size of 0.070".  Drilled that thing to 0.085" right away.

Both guns had messed up recoil systems.  That 18" midlength gun looked like it had an AR15 carbine recoil spring in it, inside a 7.000" receiver extension, and a short 2.500" buffer that was 3.8oz.  I grabbed a KAK 5.3oz short heavy buffer, and a Sprinco Orange spring, after drilling the gas port to the 0.085".   That one ran like a champ on Sunday, no faults, no failures, just worked.  Dude had an adjustable gas block on it, so I went straight to the high side (range should be 0.080"~0.085").  Ran the gas block wide open, and it functioned great - so we tossed a can on it and shot it suppressed, too.  Ran damn good, had some forward-ish ejection...   still with the gas block wide open.  Maybe suppressed, close it down a click or two.  We didn't test that, didn't care.  It runs.  Well. 

That STAG, though...   Damnit.  I knew that gas port was okay-ish, but needed to go up.  0.080" ain't where you need to be on 18" rifle gas.  That thing should be 0.093"~0.096" - in that range.  I should have drilled it when I drilled the other gun up.  Damnit.  It had a 7.000" receiver extension as well, another 2.500" shorty 3.8oz buffer, but it was running a factory Stag spring that looked pretty close to another Sprinco Orange.  Almost.  Needless to say, that gun didn't run, no matter what I could do to it that Sunday, with the parts on hand.  That gas port just needs to go up.  I don't know when I'll shoot that one next, but it'll get drilled this week, and probably shot again this coming Sunday.  Ironically, this coming Sunday is 19 December...   22nd Anniversary of the 1989 Invasion of Panama.  I think I'll go shooting that day. 

 

***   NOTE -both guns actually had the correct gas tubes, from where ever they came from.  Both guns had gas tubes that ended directly in the very center of the cam pin cutout.  That was a bonus, because it's less work...  

[98Z5V]

23 hours ago, Matt.Cross said:

I've heard some good reports and seen some really impressive groups out of both of those guns. I was duly impressed...

One thing I'm gonna do on that 12.5" ARC is move to an H3 buffer.  It has an H2 now, and that little demon could use a little more in the recoil-mitigation department, and calm it's ass down a little bit.  I'll test that soon, too. 

Normally, I'd only run a VLTOR A5 recoil system on these kinds of guns (Grendel, ARC, Valk), but I'm stuck with a 7.000" internal pistol extension on this one - so no longer A5 buffer will work.  SO, H3 it will be...  

[Matt.Cross]

On 12/14/2021 at 11:45 PM, 98Z5V said:

One thing I'm gonna do on that 12.5" ARC is move to an H3 buffer.  It has an H2 now, and that little demon could use a little more in the recoil-mitigation department, and calm it's ass down a little bit.  I'll test that soon, too. 

Normally, I'd only run a VLTOR A5 recoil system on these kinds of guns (Grendel, ARC, Valk), but I'm stuck with a 7.000" internal pistol extension on this one - so no longer A5 buffer will work.  SO, H3 it will be...  

I never bought into the heavy buffer shmoo until the one Clint sent me kept me from losing track of the bullet trace on the MA TEN in the optic, and now I'm a believer....

[98Z5V]

1 minute ago, Matt.Cross said:

I never bought into the heavy buffer shmoo until the one Clint sent me kept me from losing track of the bullet trace on the MA TEN in the optic, and now I'm a believer....

Exact same thing I did on the Mk11 build, brother.  Lost track spotting my shots on the 500 target.  Toss that old-skool Tubb CWS in that thing with the tungsten insert - that's another 4oz directly into the back of the carrier, into the mix for operating weight on the recoil system.  Directly.

Calmed that thing down enough to observe any shots through the scope, no matter what the distance of the shot.  

Light buffers and lightweight race-gun BCG carriers are not where you want to be on these things.  Not unless you're winning major money in all the top race-gun competitions throughout the country...   My opinion...