Guns thread

[UtwigMU]

I discovered the joy of shooting bolt action 22LR rifle the other day at the range.

It's like shooting a film camera, you have to focus and aim for every shot and the manual reloading process makes the experience more enjoyable. You fire around 1/3 of rounds you would with an autoloader in the same amount of time and you become completely focused on the technique and aiming. Takes your mind of stress completely.

The 22LR rifles are cheap (300-700), ammo is cheap, has almost no recoil, it's what they shoot at the Olympics and biathlon.

[KRSESQ]

God, yeah, .22s are a hell of a lot of fun.

As a kid I set up a shooting range in my basement. But I could only get 12 or 15 feet from my targets, so I had to make my own targets. In no time I was putting bullets through dots as small as a fly.

Good times...

[Dr Mordrid]

We have a family range membership; outdoor rifle & muzzleloaders, skeet, trap, indoor pistol, indoor/outdoor tactical.

Michiganders hunt and practice a lot. Over 1 million with concealed pistol permits, about as many rifle/shotgun deer hunters, a primitive weapons season, archery season, small game seasons, etc.

[UtwigMU]

I'm thinking of buying a semi auto rifle next. The other day at the range one guy showed me his AR-15. I go to the line to observe him shoot and it malfunctioned several times (both rifle and ammo were .223 Remington). So while the AR is lighter to carry and more accurate than AK, I started to lean towards AK. Especially as I saw how disassembly of AR looks like.

I also got a chance to try HK416 22LR (AR style) which with optics is spectacularly accurate - like turning cheat mode on in the game.

The reason for considering AR is someone is selling his Colt AR which from what I read is good.

But then if I go AK (7.62x39 is common here) which one? Rails are cool to have, so probably one of modern ones. We had AKs in the army so I'm familiar with it.

What do you guys think about ARs?

[Dr Mordrid]

There are AR's and then there are AR's - meaning many makers with varying features and quality, with the best US makers being those who specialize in that platform. Most commercial brands like FN, Ruger, S&W, SIG and others are considered mid-tier.

Personally, my favorite weapons for big game are

.50 Thompson Center Hawken rifle (muzzle loader I've had for 50 years). 500gr bullet or 180gr round ball

.44 magnum Ruger semi-auto carbine

45-70 Marlin 1895 SBL lever action

300 Magnum Remington 700 bolt w/custom stock & scope

30-06 Remington 760 Gamemaster pump carbine

[UtwigMU]

There are AR's and then there are AR's - meaning many makers with varying features and quality, with the best US makers being those who specialize in that platform. Commercial brands like FN, Ruger,, S&W, SIG and others are considered mid-tier.

Doc, any opinion on Colt AR?
The malfunctioning AR was Italian and my opinion is: Don't buy anything with moving parts from Italy.

[Dr Mordrid]

Not the lightest, not the smoothest, and for sure not the best trigger, but a reliable upper tier.

I'd do a lot of research before getting an AR because the options are almost bewildering.

Lined barrel? Yes.

Higher grade trigger? Oh, hell yes

Piston? more reliable in poor weather (dust, water, humid, heat, etc..) but it impacts balance and many are very propriatory, impacting parts availability

Etc.

[UtwigMU]

Guns taught me the importance of showing up. I took part in all local pistol league (small town, old farts) matches that took place this year and finished in the top 3d. While my results weren't that great I was better than all people who came to less matches. I placed in the middle on the final match against people who shoot longer than I do.

I also went to steel challenge and one dynamic match.

[Dr Mordrid]

Not shabby for a newbie. It can be harder for those not brought up hunting almost from when we could pick up the weapon (no minimum hunting age in MI if with a mentor.)

[UtwigMU]

Haven't done any range since October because of corona. Do you guys get to shoot? I'm looking into some dry fire but the G-Sight 9mm is not compatible with my pistol. Anyone using any dry fire stuff?

For people who are not familiar with guns: If you don't practice regularly you are in no way ready to pull a gun in self defence. For example on a steel challenge where you shoot 5 stationary steel targets in order of your choice World class results are below 2s, good shooters complete a stage in 2-4s. Even though I've been shooting regularly every week for 6 months or so it still happened on some stages that I emptied 19-round magazine and took 15 seconds and still haven't hit all the targets. In a real situation the target will be moving and can close the distance well before 15s.

I managed to find and order wide safety for my CZ Shadow 2 so at least I'll get some joy tinkering. Wide safety is good for dynamic matches and steel challenges as you start some stages with round in chamber and safety on. Wide safety makes it easier especially to reengage the safety and not fiddle with gun and potentially point it in unsafe direction, receiving disqualification.

Also thinking what gun to buy next:
AK/AR - I really don't need one and there will be one or two events per year where I can compete. Can't shoot that on my local indoor range. Problem is new EU gun directives and leftists potentially coming into power preventing us from ever owning semi auto civilian versions of military rifles. So if I ever want to own one I need to buy one now and hopefully be grandfathered in.
Revolver: They are cool, they are reliable, I can compete in same events as I do now with my 9mm auto. 357 is reasonable. TRR8 is in stock. S&W 29 is also in stock locally (Gun Clint Eastwood had in Dirty Harry) but it's more desirable than practical
22 LR rifle: don't know whether auto or repeating
More compact 9mm: P10C, P07, SIG 365
Or classics: 1911, Walther PPK or maybe MP40 (you can own it modified to semi auto, it costs mouthwatering 2700€ but I want one ever since I held it)

[Umfriend]

Never held a gun. Once I get rich and retire (never gonna happen) I'd like to try a sniper rifle. See if I can get a good shot at, say, 300 mtrs.

[UtwigMU]

You can get very close to that experience by trying scoped 22LR (some refer to it as small caliber rifle, also used in biathlon, Olympic shooting, hunting small animals). Normal 22LR rifles cost around 300 EUR, while very good competition grade go for 500-600 EUR.

With scoped 22LR which has almost no recoil I had 5-10cm groups at 25 meters the first time. Compared to pistol it's like turning on cheat mode in the game, it hits exactly where you put the cross in the scope.

When we were in the army we were noobs and we could hit machine gunner silhouette at 300-400m with normal iron sight AK-47s consistently.

[Dr Mordrid]

I'm a huge fan of the Ruger 10/22 semi-auto rifle. My first was from the early 1960's. That rifle's now my grandson's and I'm using the Takedown Lite (composite stock).

They're tough as nails, accurate and can use 10 round rotary, box, large banana, or drum magazines. It's so popular the aftermarket accessory market is huge; tactical stocks, triggers, magazines, mounts for this 'n that, etc.

https://ruger.com/products/1022/overview.html

Carbine


Takedown Lite


Target


Competition

[UtwigMU]

10-22 Takedown is a great idea since in case of SHTF situation you can put it in backpack and cover some distance on foot. I found a shop which imports Ruger but they said shipments from USA are slow since Covid.

[Dr Mordrid]

I have a Ruger .44 mag revolver, and the wife has both a Ruger LCP (.380/9mm Short/9x17) and an LC9 (9mm) for concealed carry (LCP = Light Compact Pistol). Both in pink, which most ladies here like. A lot.

OTOH, our daughter carries her hubby's Ruger Alaskan .44 mag or a .40 S&W Military & Police auto. I carry a SIG Sauer P320 (striker fired) or P250 (hammer fired) modular auto in 9mm, .357 SIG or .40 S&W. The SIGs can be converted between calibers, subcompact, compact, or full size, depending on what you need.

LCP


LC9


Ruger also makes the LCR (Light Compact Revolver) in .22 LR, .22 Mag, .38 Special, 9mm, .327 Federal Mag, .357 Mag.

https://ruger.com/products/lcr/models.html