5/17 and 5/18/2013 Range Days!!

Hey guys, I made it out to the range twice and decided to finally post up some information surrounding it.

Friday

I made the trip out to Best of the West to get some shooting in. Its was a great sunny HOT day, and I was able to put quite a few rounds down range. Lets start with the AR-15. I shot about 90 rounds of 5.56 and .223 both brass cased and steel cased. Several different brands. I had no malfunctions from this “frankengun” doing both slow and rapid fire. I started off trying to correct my sighting issues that I was having last trip to the range since I finally bought a nice little front sight tool. I was unable to get it sighted in very well!?!?! I am hoping that this is due only from the short distances that I was shooting the rifle, 50 yards max, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have picked up the wrong height front sight for my gas block. I am running an upper height, known also as same plane, gas block and I think I may have gotten a front sight for a slightly lower gas block. I have the front sight pin cranked way down, yet I am still hitting low on my targets. I was able to figure out my basic aiming with the rifle in this configuration though, so I was able to put some accurate shots down range. I brought some clays out with me and set them on the berm to practice doing some multiple threat type shooting, and I had a blast with that. at the end I dedicated a full 30 round magazine to rapid fire, and put all 30 rounds center mass of a target as fast as I could. Such a fun thing to do. I also practiced a few rifle to handgun transitions, and many reloads. 

I then switched to my CCW pistol, my Glock 27 and did some realistic training with it. I shot 50 rounds doing some double taps and hammer drills with reloads and starting holstered and concealed. I feel that it was some valuable training time spent as I was finally able to be as realistic as possible. The hammer drills, two shots as fast as I could without getting a second sight picture, were very interesting. This was my first time to attempt them, and I think I did pretty well with them considering. I was shooting at a close range to the berm, so there was no worry of sending a flyer over the berm, and was able to keep my shots on target. I’ll be spending more time on this type of shooting to be sure. For the last 5 rounds I walked back about 35-40 yards and was able to do some longer range shots with the little Glock at a few clays set up on the berm. This being my first time to shoot the little gun further than 25 yards I was surprised when my first round connected with a clay. My excitement got the better of me though as the next four rounds all hit right around the next clay. It was a blast, and something I will be trying again. 

Saturday

We headed over to the indoor range on Saturday to try out a new revolver, a Dan Wesson model 715. What a fun gun chambered in .357 magnum. We shot mostly .38 specials through it stretching it out the full distance of the indoor pistol range at 25 yards with surprising accuracy. Did I mention that it was really fun shooting a revolver? I’ve been so caught up in the semi-auto craze that I have never paid all that much attention to revolvers. Yes, I’ve shot them before and had fun, but I guess I’ve just forgotten the thrill of shooting them and the accuracy that they can achieve. It has me thinking of all kinds of ways to incorporate a revolver into my life. That .357 magnum load just puts such a smile on my face!!

Until next time, get out there and shoot safely!!

-WSCBS 

5/13/13 Range Day

I just went to the range today. I decided to go to Red’s Indoor range today for a couple of reasons. For one, Best of the West is not open until Wednesday and two, so that I could get a good estimate of range for sighting in the new rifle. That’s right, I took the new AR-15 that I have been building for it’s first few boxes of ammo. 

Rifle Range

As I said before I took the AR out for the first time. I shot 60 rounds through it consisting of 20 Independence brand brass 5.56 rounds and 40 TulAmmo steel .223 rounds. I was able to get my left to right sighted in pretty well, yet I was unable to get my height sighted in due to my lack of a sight tool. My rounds were hitting quite low at 25 yards , so I made some adjustments when I was cleaning the rifle at home. Overall I am very excited about how everything has turned out with this rifle. It shoots great and is cycling reliably. I think I will post a more in-depth report on my final findings on building your own AR.

Pistol

After shooting the rifle, I went over to the pistol range to shoot my carry gun, a Glock 27. I shot 50 rounds of American Eagle 40 S&W 180 grain ball ammo. I have found that I really like the recoil of the 180 grain ammo as compared to the 165 grain ammo. When shooting the 165 grain ammo out of the small Glock 27 the recoil is very severe with lots of rise, making it feel very “snappy”. With the 180 grain ammo I was able to keep the majority of my rounds inside of the 7 ring out to the full 25 yards that the range offers. I am now up to 280 rounds through this small gun and I’ve got to say I am very surprised by it’s accuracy and how well it handles for such a small package. I had been considering purchasing another full sized Glock like the Glock 17 that I traded for the 27 I have now, but I am seeing that there may not be much need for the bigger size. I shot with both the standard length Glock 27 magazines and the standard Glock 23 magazines today with no issues.

I’ve gotta say, I can’t wait until there is more ammo available so that I can do some more shooting. Between the ammo scare and spending all my money getting the AR built I have missed spending time at the range. I’ll have to start doing a lot more shooting.

-WSCBS

5/5/2013 Range Day

So I finally got a chance to make it out to the range today!!! I was able to check out The Best In the West shooting range, and let me tell you, its a favorite!!! 

Shooting

Today we shot an AR-15 chambered in 5.56, a 1911 in 45 and a .380. All guns functioned reliably with no mechanical issues to speak of. The 45 was shooting very low and we are trying to diagnose the issue. We were able to sight in a new optic for the AR. It’s 3x magnification with a illuminated optic. We had no issues using it on small targets out to 100 yards once sighted in correctly. We burned through a bunch of ammo and had a ton of fun doing so.

The Range

Now here is the part that I am most excited about. The range!!! Best of the west is a large sized outdoor shooting range located just west of Liberty Hill Texas. It features skeet and trap shooting, up to 1,000 yard rifle range, a static pistol range, and most importantly several tactical bays. The prices were very reasonable and the staff was very friendly. We rented a 100 yard tactical bay for our shooting and it was very nice. The berms around the bay were tall enough to promote comfort and the ground was manicured and clean. We were able to sight in the AR all the way out to 100 yards in comfort without having to worry about other people, and we also were able to take some longer ranged shots with the pistols. This range has turned into my favorite range to go to, and I will be surprised if I willingly go anywhere else around here. 

-WSCBS