Range trip: now with words

Went to the range for only the second time this year. Helped sight in the Burris FFIII/scope combo a coworker bought. I shot this 7 shot group through the Fast Fire III at 25 yards with 115 grain Noslers over Re10x. Not sure how many grains, we mixed up magazines once. I think 26-26.6 grains. I had a ladder loaded up in the box, I'm not sure which mag he grabbed. I was also testing new, fully loaded mags and didn't have Magpul baseplates on them yet.

 

The new 300 Blackout ran great. Locked back on empty. Fed great from a melted Pringles can lid, M3 20 round PMag (10 rounds) and 20 rounds from a 30 round Gen 2 Pmag.

Carry gun mag got a spring cleaning. No problems, even with all the lint on the gun. Also ran a Pmag that had been loaded for 2 years. Fed great in the 11.5. It locked back every time with the lighter BCG. That thing must have a small gas port- it runs the best with a carbine buffer and AR-15 bolt carrier. The M-16 carrier is in the Blackout now, no problems with it at all.

Sunday range trip

Took the 6.8 out for a few shots on Sunday. Nothing major; 350 reloads of various grains. I've it said before, if I don't shoot for whatever reason, I still reload a few more. Had to buy some more ammo boxes this time. Also ran some .223 reloads through Fugly. I am convinced it works much better with a commercial bolt carrier vs a mil-spec (m-16) carrier. Or my M-16 carrier sucks. Or I need an XM177 moderator....wait, that would be 2 stamps in one....

 I actually tried on this target-the corners are 110 grain Prohunters that I loaded in a ladder. The best groups were the lowest and second highest loads. There is a "but" I will get to later. Like a dumbass, I spilled the box of reloads after the first time through. So that batch turned into blasting ammo. Guess I could have brought it home and weighed them. Nah....

 The center was 130 grain of some type. I don't have a picture of the 120 grain Hornaday SSTs- I loaded them hot and they hit about 3" above the center of the targets. Ok, I do have pics, but they are of 25+ round groups. Not very informative.

Last of the zombie chick targets:

Zombie bacon:

I mentioned a "but" earlier. I was not shooting off my normal rest. Other people were using them, so I was shooting my ARs off a crappy sandbag and 2 loose 2x4s. Yeah, might be time to get/make a proper rest. It was funny, watching one of them resting the barrel directly on the 2x4s. Um, you have a bolt gun that is free floated.... ah, never mind. Says the guy shooting a non-free floated AR :)

All targets 50 yards, irons or cheap red dot. 1395 rounds since early October on the 6.8. Put 90 through Fugly, including some Fiocchi 40 grain v-max. Shoot that, then shoot 140 grain from a 6.8 back to back. The latter does not feel like a poodle shooter.

Soon to come- case annealing.

Inexpensive Red Dot Battery Test

My first experience with a red dot was the Tasco Pro-point PDP2. It stood up to 44 magnum recoil, but had a battery life measured in hours. As in, change the batteries at the end of the hunting day or look through a blank tube the next morning. Obviously, this was first gen technology. I still have it; it resides on my 18" 870 that I turned into a deer gun after tiring of paying $4 a shot for sabot slugs.

Recently, I've decided to audition cheap Chinese red dots. By audition, I mean I bought a couple of cheap red dots, put them on ARs and left them turned on. Even shot a few rounds here and there.

First up is the Bushnell TRS-25. It is a small, micro style red dot. For now, it resides on a Rock River tactial carry handle. That gives me lower 1/3 cowitness with the irons. I've actually swapped the assembly between Fugly (11.5" painted thing) and my all Armalite 16" rifle. I first installed it sometime in September. So far, I have left it on in position 4 when not shooting. The battery is still up as of today. (2 months) I've read somewhere 3000 hour battery life. So far, so good. I do find the reflective coating on the front of the Bushnell to be annoying. I haven't looked into a Killflash for it.

The other is a Truglo Trition TG8365B open red dot. It has been on the PSA 6.8 through 1045 rounds. I bought it because it has the smallest MOA dot outside of an Aimpoint or EoTech. Shoots to the same place with the same loads.

2.5 MOA dot

 I don't really need all the extra features on it- it offers 3 different colors -red, blue, and green, all on the same dial. Each color only has 3 brightness settings. Doesn't seem to be a problem at the range.

2.5 MOA dot with ring

4 different dots are available with a twist of the rear knob. I have yet to see if changing to a different shape changes the POI. I have moved the knob, moved it back and the POI remains the same. I have no use for the other settings- The 5 MOA dot and the 2.5 dot with ring serve little purpose. I didn't even get a picture of the 5 MOA dot, it looks much like the 2.5 dot with the ring.

5 MOA dot with ring.

 I might find a use for the 5 MOA dot with the larger ring in snap shooting. Really, the outer ring could stand to be larger.

Blue!

The original battery did not last long at all. I left it on after one range trip. Three days later, it was so weak that it could not be seen on position red 3 in daylight, and the other two colors did not light at all. I put a new Energizer 2032 battery in it (same battery the TRS-25 takes) and left it on after one trip last Wednesday (10 days) on the red 1 setting. In my truck. Lows have been in the 30's to 20's this past week. I don't plan to turn it off any time soon.

Green!

I do like the clear glass when shooting with the irons. There are no emitters or knobs in the way for right handed shooters. Shooting left handed on a left hand rifle would not be bad, the brightness knob is below the plane of the glass.






All in all, neither sight pisses me off to the point that I would not buy another. I would love to run an Aimpoint PRO or a transverse Eotech. At this point in time, these fill a niche and accurately put bullets on target. I will update when the Truglo's second battery loses power

Video from range trip (HD!)

Painted thing works alright.
Added: They videos are being edited to be shorter and less talky. Gives me a chance to play with the youtube editor stuff.

Added: Whoops, forgot to take down the safety flag. Ace and I had the range to ourselves, so we were checking targets after each string. Bad shooter. I was worried people would come up while we were down range, not that this backstop is very far away.

Range trip

Went shooting with Ace. I should never hand him my guns. He makes them look like bullseye pistols.

 Not sure what he is pointing out here, think it was a g27 group. The top right left was his group with my M&P 357. Full house carry load. Even his LCP group was tight. For an LCP. Or he is pointing out one of his groups with the AR. He did shoot it semi rested once. He's a better rifleman than me, too.

Shot about 170 through the fugly painted gun. Not all in a row, but all mags shot fairly quickly- over 15 minutes or less. No paint burned off. Got the barrel up to 300 degrees. Non-contact thermometer. The MOE handguard was around 140, that may been from the sun. 100 Fiocchi. Shot great. Buy more will I. Also ran some reloads, and new S&B that the 11.5 doesn't like and won't lock back on. The gun ran perfect on some Tula 55 grain I had laying around. Go figure.




We shot both targets, anyway, I did, with the AR. Sometimes back and forth. And sometimes, I'll admit, just shot the gun in the general direction of the targets to get the job done.

Here's me blathering:

Amateur gun refinishing

Yeah, I got a bug in my butt the other day. I never quite liked the OD green of the Magpul stuff vs the OD green of the Armalite stock. All the pictures of the spray painted rifles gave me a solution to my problem. So, first, the before:

The aftermath:

With FDE, Black, and OD PMags for comparison. Paint still isn't dry. And I think the pistol grip needs a little brown added to it on the right side. Didn't do the carry handle, at least not yet.

Now, the handguard was kinda fun. Can't just paint a rifle, you have to make it your own:

Yes, I totally went there. Hacked some flame shapes into a plastic sheet (all 6 are different) and spritzed some dayglo orange in there. Then shot some khaki/brown over that to dull it down. The camera flash really makes it pop. I know, the flames should be on the top vents. How in the hell are you supposed to see them from the sides if you do it that way? ;)

And, just because:

From Simpsons wikia.

Quickie range trip

Shot by me and another shooter at the range. 75 grain Hornady Steel Match. Like the Magpul K Grip. Felt weird asking them to hold the camera, so I watched one of the guys there with me shoot it, too.

I had to remind his grandson to put his ears on once.... The remark was made after I shot the first mag: wow, that is loud WITH hearing protection on...

Oh, target was at 25 yards, offhand, unsupported. On the large aperture.

Look, lipstick on a pig

Okay, it's not a pig, but my homebuilt  5.56 11.5" barreled AR. (pinned and welded, nothing to see here, move along) It has been working out well enough to get a few things put on it.

Okay, so that is a 6.8 mag. Picked up some Magpul Ranger baseplates to try out. Helps differentiate from the 5.56 mags- sucks to grab the wrong one, and those will help. Going to try out the MOE K grip, too. I'm kinda meh on the MOE stock, so I'll run the carbine stock a little longer. Yes, still no optic on the RRA carry handle. Send me a Burris FFIII and I'll beat the crap out of it.:) test it. Yeah, didn't think that would work.