Range day

I finally made it to the range.

It had only been, what, two years? since I've been able to go, so the trip was mostly a refresher for me, as well as a chance to break in a couple of acquisitions that I had not as yet had the opportunity to shoot.

Tonight it was the Schmidt-Rubin K.31 and the Brno VZ.24, both of which were terrific bargains when I purchased them, and both of which were fun to shoot this evening.

I ran into a few problems. 1) I used the wrong type of target (red, not black) for my set with the K.31, so 2) I couldn't see the bullseye, 3) which I stupidly put out at 100 yards. That isn't a terribly long way for me to walk, but 200 yards — down and back — is, if I plan to do any shooting after the stroll. Even though the temperature was mild, I was sweating at the end of my stroll downrange to place my target. So, 4) my safety glasses kept fogging up on me. I still managed to put 80-90% of my rounds within the diameter of a paper plate, but high off the bull.

For the VZ.24, I switched to a black bullseye, still at 100 yards. After another hike down and back, my group was high and to the right of the bull and marginally tighter, but nothing to write home about.

The main point of the expedition wasn't to shoot 3" groups over iron sights (which I've actually done with my M1A, once upon a time) but to get back into the swing of things, getting refamiliarized with everything that a trip to the range entails, such as making sure I have everything I need. Little things that I used to take for granted are hard now... like getting my rifles downstairs and out to the truck, or getting rifles and gear into the range in something resembling an orderly fashion.

Still and all, it was a good night out.