Range Day

Well, Range Hour-And-A-Half...

So, I'm not really the only member of Pistol Forums.com to NOT have a Shooting/Training Journal on there, but if I have any New Years Resolution it's to shoot more, and, in fact, to attempt to shoot some of the drills on there, so that I can cease embarrassing myself when shooting in front of people I know...

So, having spent the last several weeks stuck at home pending a plumber or appliance technician, or dying of the creeping crud, I told Mrs. Drang I was hitting the range no matter what.   She, alas, is still dying of the creeping crud I gave her for New Years (Sorry, Sweetheart!), and declined to join me, which is a shame, since one of my plans was to test fire her Star BKM. ("Bearcat gets her gun")

A word about the range: Federal Way Discount Guns actually has two ranges as part of Federal Way Indoor Range, one with standard rental bays, and another, used for training,  which can be configured in several layouts, and which is also used for competitions and leagues.  As a shot trap it uses the newer (to me, at least) rubber bullet traps.  Lighting is excellent, and environmental controls are also very good.  I highly recommend the facility to anyone in South King County or northwestern Pierce County.

Back to the guns: Since the Star is a 40-odd year old gun of uncertain history, and (frankly) rattles when you shake it like GI lore says a 1911 will, I loaded one round into each of the four magazines we have, and tried them.

Offhand, seven yards, Federal Eagle 115 grain Full Metal Jacket.  I am particularly gratified that shot number one broke the ten ring, especially since I was mostly wanting to ensure the darned thing would fire.  Slide locked back on each empty mag.  You might recall that of the four magazines Mrs. Drang got with the pistol, two had metal followers, and two had plastic ones.  The plastic followers seemed to work as well as the metal ones.

Subsequent targets, same ammo, looked like this:

Still getting used to the sights, and the grip and feel is slightly different than what I am used to.  All these were at 7 yards; I did put one mag down at 15 yards, which didn't go so well...

We'll see if this is going to be a range gun, or if we need to get a holster for it.  Even if Mrs. Drang goes for "off-body" carry  (i.e., concealed in a purse) I think we'll want some leather to keep it in.  (Interestingly, even the PX is carrying Concealed Carry purses these days!)

I also needed to put some rounds through the Ruger Mark III 22/45 she gave me for Christmas. ("I have the bestest wife in the world").  No pics, but I did manage to keep every shot inside the "7" ring, which, considering that I was shooting off some of my stockpile of "Not sure what is is other than .22 Long Rifle" ammo, is OK.  (Actually, I'm trying to figure out where that one round of .22 Short came from...)

(The McFadden Machine Ultimate Clip Loader works pretty well, BTW.  I think it was Barron who recommended it at GBR a couple of years ago.)

That done, I discovered that the "rental" privileges that go with my range membership have been upgraded, and I now get unlimited rentals, with the caveat (which applies to all rentals) that I must use their ammo.  I've been thinking about expanding my horizons beyond the 1911 (Forgive me, JMB!), so I borrowed a Glock 19, Gen 4, and a Sig P229R, and put a box of Winchester White Box 124 grain FMJ through each.

I just can't get used to a Glock.  Maybe if I owned it and could do some Dremel work on the grip, but the combination of holding a 2 x 4 with the silly finger bumps in the front just doesn't work for me.

The Sig, OTOH, is excellent.

Shot at seven yards.
 Didn't take a pic of the target I shot at 15 yards,
it obviously wasn't as tight as the 7 yard one, but it wasn't too bad.
 "Combat accuracy" and all that.
 /gun magazine writer

Note that I said that "the Sig is excellent", not that "I am excellent".  I still suck.  This is why I need to be hitting the range at least twice a month.

Maybe I'll even start keeping a training journal.