The best you've ever done

[sandwarrior]

Along the lines of those great posts our good man Hrfunk gave us, What is the best you've ever done with any/and/or all of your vintage rifles.

I kind of thought I should separate this but then I thought, as with some of the posts on "most significant" that it not be separated. Some guys just don't like the really old ones and some guys feel the newer ones like the M40 are "modern". So, I thought, I'd give this a cutoff date of my short little combat tour of 1983. That's 30 years. Replicas can count as I know Basra has a couple built specifically to get the feel of 'what they had' back in the day. Some, like mine don't count as they were specifically modified to compete at todays standards.

Pics would be most welcome. Groups are fine. I apologize as I don't often take pics.

Anyhow for starters,

Open sights:
K31- Swiss with 175 gr. FMJ (M118) reloads, first round hits at 1000 yds. ....with three separate shooters.
DWM 1909 Argentino- (bolt not original) 1200 yd. hits on steel.
CG63- 4" group @ 800

not so good:
1942 Lee Enfield No.4 Mk 1*- five hits @ 300 on 10" round steel. ...it took a bunch of hold. But 3-under-4 moa ain't too bad?
Mosin Nagant 91/30 2.2" group @ 100...hit the paper @ 300. spam can ammo.

Scoped:
M40 Replica- 9" @ 1000 yds. (5 shot) Modern match ammo of course.
M48BO with WWII Russian PE replica scope. 5 shot .448" group @ 100 and 5 straight hits inside 2 moa @ 1k. M75 ammunition.
M1903 With Lyman Alaskan- 5" group @ 800 (5 shot)

I'd love to see what a lot of you guys do with older rifles.

p.s. MJ I know you've got at least a few posts toward this

 

[arnie19]

Shot this 5 shot group at 500 meters prone with 10 power scope . The dark thing to the right is my wallet setting on the hanger of a steel ram silhouette . 5 shots in 2 inches wide by 2.5 inches high .Swiss K31

 

[arnie19]

Years ago I shot a 38 out of 40 at a military silhouette match with a Swedish Mauser model 96 . Open barrel sights .Had better eyes then .

 

[-Jake-]

5 for 5 at 900 yards with my PU sniper using 174gr handloads. The first 2 shots are off camera but you can spot the hits at the end of the video. I'm shooting at a 24" plate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiML8V70830

 

[aur0ra145]

Used a 91/30 and an old .22 to get countless people into shooting. That's got to be my favorite thing, watching someone who has never shot before squeeze off their first couple of rounds; then peer over their shoulder grinning ear to ear. I'm trying to scrape fund together for a US marked 40X or Winchester 52 to teach with.

Let's see, great shooting stories:

-Shot a cigarette butt at 100 yards with my 91/30 PU. I put the rifle away after that because I knew I probably would never pull that shot off again.
-Placed 2nd in my first vintage sniper match using my 91/30 PU. That was with spam can ammo. I was really proud of that, probably my most notable achievement thus far in competitive shooting. The bigger plus was that this Texan beat a bunch of Okies in that match. (This was immediately after getting embarrassed in a .22lr match.)
-Shot a .74" group @100yd with that same 91/30 PU.
-Traveling to Tulsa from Dallas to shoot a match with my best friend. We were so poor that we had to stay at the free camp ground about 30 minutes from the match. The match was for service rifles and US military .22 trainers. Dear God, I could write a novel about that trip.
-I had a friend from the UK that I play video games with come to visit and road tripped down to my place with some of our other video game buddies from Colorado. I let him shoot all of my .303 ammo out of my Enfield No.4 Mk.1*. I've never seen someone so happy and grateful to shoot. He still talks about shooting my Enfield.
-Had a friend from the UK who lived in the USA join the Army, get his citizenship and served a tour in Afghanistan as a 68W. He too Loved my Enfield and really liked shooting "the old country's" battle rifle.
-Teaching a bunch of hot college coeds how to shoot with my Enfield.
-Using an old .22lr to shoot skeet that were thrown. Went 2 for 20 shooting those things. I need more practice; but, there is about 1 place in the world where I can safely do that.

Not so good:
-Came in dead last shooting a US marked 40X at a match. I learned so much at that match. Mainly how good those Okies and the one Canadian are at reading wind.
-Took 15 rounds to figure out how the scope adjustment on my 91/30 PU worked.
-Used off-brand Windex to clean a 91/30 of corrosive ammo. Later I realized it didn't have ammonia in it... Yeah, that took about 150 patches and a bunch of real Windex to fix. There was a lot of cursing involved.
-I've got a scar from the infamous "garand thumb."
-Tried the "field handcuff" with a Garand clip. That fucking HURTS!

Not me, but my buddies:
-Best friend went 7 for 8 shooting my Garand at 500yds on an 18" steel plate. Made me proud seeing how far he's come in the marksmanship department.
-Non-shooter friend had a first round hit on a 18" plate @ 500yds using my K31.
-The first non-shooting friend call me from the gun counter to confirm his research about 5 minutes before he bought his first firearm.

5 for 5 at 900 yards with my PU sniper using 174gr handloads. The first 2 shots are off camera but you can spot the hits at the end of the video. I'm shooting at a 24" plate.

What bullets are you using? I've got 100 cases cleaned, cut and ready to load. Just looking for a suitable projectile.

 

[Joop]

Most of my shooting is probably done with milsurps, so there's a lot to choose from. Here's some of the more memorable incidents.

Mosins:

Prairie dogs at 500 yards and a prairie dog mound at 700+ using a '43 Tula PU and surplus 1970's Bulgarian light ball, shooting prone off my elbows.
Three out of five on a pistol silhouette at 800 yards with a 15mph wind with no sighters/spotter using 1967 Czech light ball and yet another '43 Tula PU.
Clay pigeons at 600 with various PUs and my '39 PEM (using handloads).
Two first place scores and one second in Vintage Sniper matches (I used the '39 PEM and my brother/partner shot my '44 Tula PU).
Gallon jugs out to 500 with irons on various, standard 91/30s and surplus ammo.
Holding the ten ring at 600 with my '43 Sako M39 (irons, and the first time shooting it at that range) with a 20mph wind that was bouncing back and forth down the valley in which I was shooting.

Others:
Coffee can at 400 with a French MAS 36/51 and surplus ammo, offhand (could probably never do it again. Have you ever seen the front sight post on one of those? LOL).
Clay pigeons at 600 with my '42 Savage Enfield No.4 Mk.I(T) and Weaver K2.5 scope (off a bench with handloads, of course).
And, one of my most memorable sessions was with my '43 Savage No.4 Mk.I* ("L" flip sight) and 1950's British surplus (click-bang). We set up some gallon water jugs in a field. Range was 240 yards to start with but the wind was high (25+). Shooting offhand, sling supported, I shot one jug and once the water drained out and it started to roll across the field, I kept shooting at it until the mag was empty (don't recall how many rounds I had, total, before starting on it). When I retrieved the jug it had five hits on it!

I've done some great shooting with my "Loaded" M1A and irons, as well, including a couple of prairie dogs at 500 yards, sitting, shooting off sticks.

John

 

[hrfunk]

Thanks for the tip o' the hat Sandwarrior. Mine is easy to remember. The Vintage Sniper Rifle match at last year's East Coast Championships. My 03A4 and I were good for a score of 195 5X. Only 4 shots out of 20 made it out of the 10 ring. (1-9 at 300 yards, 2-9's and an 8 at 600 yards). It's the best I've ever shot, and with my partner's score it was good enough for 5th place overall (and 7th place as an individual). This while competing with some of the best shooters in the country (if not the world). I'm still surprised by how emotional I was when the match was over. It's hard to put into words just how it felt to finally put everything together and shoot that well. Somehow CMP ran out of medals to award after the match. So last week, in the mail, my gold medal finally arrived. A belated Christmas present.

HRF

 

[MJ1]

p.s. MJ I know you've got at least a few posts toward this

Not sure this is the place. LOL

 

[Joop]

p.s. MJ I know you've got at least a few posts toward this

Not sure this is the place. LOL

I've never known you to pass up an opportunity like this, MJ. But, it IS more funny doing it on a certain Precision Rifle forum and watching the sparks fly.

 

[Matno]

Not long range, but I once shot my grandpa's 8mm Mauser 98 (brought back from the war) before a deer hunt. 3 shots at 100 yards prone in the dirt cloverleafed and covered by a dime with open sights. The gun is now mine but 24 years later, I don't think my eyes can do what they did back then!

 

[sandwarrior]

Not long range, but I once shot my grandpa's 8mm Mauser 98 (brought back from the war) before a deer hunt. 3 shots at 100 yards prone in the dirt cloverleafed and covered by a dime with open sights. The gun is now mine but 24 years later, I don't think my eyes can do what they did back then!

You have to get back a little more from the rear sight

 

[wilecoyote]

first try w. my first k98+ 1 box of unknown milsurp ammos, and my first time in a _Tyrolean shooting stand_
picked the wrong ammo, and burned their wooden target frame with a puff of white smoke : some kind of observation/incendiary/whathever f'in'ammo,of course_
never dared to return there for some time_

 

[Pinecone]

Hit steel at 763 yards at Bang Steel with my Mosin Sniper repro.

PPU 182 gr ammo.

 

[sandwarrior]

first try w. my first k98+ 1 box of unknown milsurp ammos, and my first time in a _Tyrolean shooting stand_
picked the wrong ammo, and burned their wooden target frame with a puff of white smoke : some kind of observation/incendiary/whathever f'in'ammo,of course_
never dared to return there for some time_

Dammit! I hate it when I burn shit down and can't go back....

 

[Forgetful Coyote]

Along the lines of those great posts our good man Hrfunk gave us, What is the best you've ever done with any/and/or all of your vintage rifles.

I kind of thought I should separate this but then I thought, as with some of the posts on "most significant" that it not be separated. Some guys just don't like the really old ones and some guys feel the newer ones like the M40 are "modern". So, I thought, I'd give this a cutoff date of my short little combat tour of 1983. That's 30 years. Replicas can count as I know Basra has a couple built specifically to get the feel of 'what they had' back in the day. Some, like mine don't count as they were specifically modified to compete at todays standards.

Pics would be most welcome. Groups are fine. I apologize as I don't often take pics.

Anyhow for starters,

Open sights:
K31- Swiss with 175 gr. FMJ (M118) reloads, first round hits at 1000 yds. ....with three separate shooters.
DWM 1909 Argentino- (bolt not original) 1200 yd. hits on steel.
CG63- 4" group @ 800

not so good:
1942 Lee Enfield No.4 Mk 1*- five hits @ 300 on 10" round steel. ...it took a bunch of hold. But 3-under-4 moa ain't too bad?
Mosin Nagant 91/30 2.2" group @ 100...hit the paper @ 300. spam can ammo.

Scoped:
M40 Replica- 9" @ 1000 yds. (5 shot) Modern match ammo of course.
M48BO with WWII Russian PE replica scope. 5 shot .448" group @ 100 and 5 straight hits inside 2 moa @ 1k. M75 ammunition.
M1903 With Lyman Alaskan- 5" group @ 800 (5 shot)

I'd love to see what a lot of you guys do with older rifles.

p.s. MJ I know you've got at least a few posts toward this

Mr. Todd, Blake here. What would you say shoots better between the CG63 and K31? Also which do you like better?

And Mr Jake, is that round subsonic at that range?

Thanks.

ETA: how difficult would it be to create an L42A1 replica? Would it be possible with an Ishapore and the right stock?

 

[-Jake-]

They're supersonic until around 1200 yards. At 900 they're traveling around 1400 fps.

 

[sandwarrior]

jbhotrod,

The comparison between the two is an apples to oranges. The CG-63 has precision target sights, diopter rear and globe front. The K31 has standard open sights. Either round has high BC bullets available for it. The 6.5 has better. So, technically, the CG-63 is more accurate. But for 'standard' open sights, the K31 is hard to beat.

Until you start shooting well with anything, it is hard to see the advantages of either. Get to that point and you'll see what I mean.

 

[stealthgoat]

CG63- 4" group @ 800

Crap, now I need to pull one of the CG/63's out of the safe.
Honestly while the rifles can do that (6.5x55 rocks) I don't think my old eyes can see that well with vintage match sights - that is good shooting!

 

[-Jake-]

They're supersonic until around 1200 yards. At 900 they're traveling around 1400 fps.

I had the wrong velocity in my Sierra Infinity software. They're barely supersonic at 1000 yards. 1139 FPS according to my calculator and 1218 FPS at 900 yds.

 

[sandwarrior]

Crap, now I need to pull one of the CG/63's out of the safe.
Honestly while the rifles can do that (6.5x55 rocks) I don't think my old eyes can see that well with vintage match sights - that is good shooting!

Keep in mind that was only the best group. I F'd up a lot of good groups and scores over the years....

 

[Joop]

Keep in mind that was only the best group. I F'd up a lot of good groups and scores over the years....

LOL!

I agree. It's easier (and less painful) to only talk about the "wins".