Rimfire Practice

It was a perfect weekend here in SEPA, sunny mid 70s just a light breeze.

I managed to sneak away from my yard work for a hour or two with my rimfire A2.

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The high power range was crowded, due to the nice weather, but I had the rimfire range more or less to myself, which was relaxing. I had a couple of things to work on.

First I’ve been having some problems with my hand cramping/fatiguing in slow prone. I theorized I had a bit too much “downward pressure” so I brought my sling out another notch which seemed to help. Of course now I’m getting awful close to running out of sling.

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Second, I needed to work on off hand. While I’ll never be done practicing, I came to some interesting revelations. The High Power range must be angled up hill because my NPA is awful high. This isn’t so much a problem but explains why my position varies from range to range. Additionally, I pulled up and left, just like I did at the matches the weekend before. After reviewing the video on my GoPro it looks like I am flinching a little in anticipation, even with my 22. So some more dry fire and rimfire practice are in order.

Unrelated to practice, I enjoyed spending some time with my 22. The range was quite, shaded and peaceful. It was a nice change, I am going to try to spend some more time shooting 22.

Open a Tight Stamped Trigger Guard on A M1 Garand

World War Two Practical Match at LRGC

I went a little out of my comfort zone on this one. A friend of mine talked me in to signing up for a Garand “practical rifle” match at Langhorne Rod and Gun.

It was a sunny, unseasonably warm day in the forties, with a foot of snow still on the ground.

Several different courses of fire at different distances. All based on 8 round clips so lots of pinging.

16 rounds standing 16 round kneeling at 100 yards at steel from the top of their 100 yard berm.
16 rounds standing to kneeling at 50 yards at a reduced IDPA target
16 rounds prone at steel plates at 200 yards

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I did terrible, but it wasn’t really about “winning” or at least that’s what I told myself.

A couple things I need to think about from what I learned at this match. I think my 6:00 hold held me back a bit, I should keep a dope for both 6:00 and center mass. I wasn’t prepared to use hasty sling and they have a “muzzle down” rule that threw me off a bit. I’m a little ashamed to admit, I have no idea how to rig up with the barrel down without dropping my rifle.

My excuses aside it was fun, well run match. It has gotten me thinking a bit about my shooting style a bit, and perhaps I should spend some time practicing transitioning and hasty sling.

In unrelated news a fella there had a Mini-G, and I want one!

A little video of me shooting.

Surefire x300 Ultra and MR07 1911 Rail

Amazon recently had a sale on Surefire x300 Ultras (aka U-boats) that I couldn’t pass up. It’s a duel CR123 500 lumen weapon light. I’ve been carrying a 500 lumen Fury for a few months now so I was excited to try the U-boat. However, the only railed handgun I have is a Glock 19 that I carry daily and I don’t want to give up my crossbreed supertuck which is not light compatible. I have a Springfield 1911 that doesn’t get carried too often so I decided to try out sure fires MR07 rail adaptor.

MR07
The MR07 comes as simple kit, a rail, a new slide stop and a shim in case you need to tighten it up.

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Install is easy.

– Remove the slide stop.
– Put the rail in place.
– Insert the new slide stop, be careful not to scratch anything, it was a little tighter than my factory slide stop.
– Tighten the set screw. It’s important to do this before putting your light on the rail so you have access to the screw.

That’s it.

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I had a little trouble getting the u-boat to slide on to the MR07 the first few times however it became easier with use, I would not recommend adding or removing the light from any rail while the weapon is loaded. The MR07 is truly a drop in part which is a rarity for 1911 parts. The mount is solid and does not negatively affect functionality of the weapon.

X300 Ultra

As far as the Surefire X300 Ultra its a great light. It’s 500 lumens, pushing the switch forward works as a pressure swich, up or down switches it on in the middle it’s off. I really like the 500 lumens the extra brightness is nice.

It’s a big boy, 1.477 inches wide, compared to a Glock 19 which is 1.001 or a 1911 or .905 at the slide. On the Glock 19 the lamp protrudes about an inch and a half from the front of the slide. It’s more or less even with the barrel on the 1911.

The U-boat swich rides a little lower on the MR07 from the slide 1.352″ compared to 1.130″ on a Glock 19. However I don’t find that to be an issue.

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Here is the light at night, the fence is at about 50 yards the tree 30 and the wall 3.

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While I have found a custom holster option, and there are some universal duty style holster that will work, may of the big names holster makers do not make holsters that accommodate the MR07. I wish they would. For now this 1911 will go on bedside duty once I get a proper holster.

Bottom line the X300 Ultra is a great light and the MR07 is a good solution for adding a rail to a 1911. The only drawback is the lack of holster support for the MR07.

In action.

 

Update: I was never able to find a suitable holster for this set up. Raven no longer makes a Combatable holster and both of the small shops i reached out to did not fulfill my order. Which is a shame because it is a nice set up.

So the MR07 has gone into the parts bin and the U-Boat rides on my G19 in a Raven Concealment Phantom when I can OWB carry.

 

 

Remington 03-A3 Stripped Receiver

This afternoon I picked up, at my LGS, a stripped 03A3 receiver that I had ordered from AIM Surplus. I plan to build it up into a proper 03A3 that I can shoot in the Springfield matches at Camp Perry. These are recovered from drill rifles there is a little mark on the lower front of the receiver where the weld was ground off.

It looks nice and should be a good place to start. It includes no parts other than the ejector and the extractor collar. The receiver has been re-parked while the R stamped bolt appears to be original, and was still covered in cosmoline.

As I make progress I will update add to the “03A3 Build” tag.

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