Range Report

[Ysabel Kid]

You’ve already seen part of this from my previous post, http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=59024. Here’s “the rest of the story”.

My kids were off school this past week for Spring Break, and kind of at the last minute we decided to go up to Ohio to visit my in-laws. I always like these trips because my FIL has a lot of land and we can shoot on his property – a dream of mine.

Packing the night before we left, I just grabbed a few “go-to” guns. I then asked Y2K what he wanted to shoot, and wisely he suggested we take some guns we don’t have a chance to shoot down here. Smart kid, as usual.

It snowed Tuesday 4/15! But Wednesday it was a sunny and cool day – about 46 degrees. It felt nice outside – a perfect day for shooting.

We started with an IAC “Winchester 1887” lever-action 12 gauge shotgun. A lever-action of course! This gun functioned flawlessly, as long as you briskly eject the empty hulls. Y2K had hand-picked this one. We set up a walking course, blasting cans. It was a hoot!



Next up was my DPMS AR-15 with the new 24” heavy target barrel (R2Guns) on it. I had not had a chance to shoot this yet. It was a disappointment. I’m not sure whether it was the gun itself, the magazine, or the ammunition (Herter’s 55-grain FMJ steel-cased), but it wouldn’t feed. Essentially a single-shot for the day. After 20 rounds we gave up. I really need to take this to a formal range with a solid bench to sight this in and figure out what was the problem.



We decided to move on to another gun and it got worse! I had brought my FEG Mark II Model APK – essentially a Walther PPK in .380 ACP. I have carried this gun occasionally as a CCW weapon. I had some TulAmmo 91 grain FMJ steel-cased ammunition, so brought it so I wouldn’t have to worry about chasing spent brass. We got 20 rounds into shooting it and the gun literally fell apart in Y2K’s hands! I figured out later that the trigger guard pin had come out, dropping the trigger guard, and essentially field stripping the gun on the spot! I didn’t even get a chance to take a picture of it!

Well, we moved onto the Centennial “1960 New Model Army” – essentially a clone of the 1860 Army Colt. This was the best shooting of the day, despite the occasional chain-fire. As it had with me, the 1860 got him hooked on cap & ball shooting!

We wrapped up the day shooting my Ruger 22/45 Lite with a YHM 22 Mite suppressor.





Always a hoot to shoot.

So, a mixed bag shooting – but a bad day shooting is still a great day!

[mod71alaska]

Great times! Good job, dad! Handsome son, Jay. (Must take after his mother... ) He's growing up fast!

[Griff]

Even the worst days shooting are better than the best days working... Okay, so that cliche' is a little shopworn... But HEY! Identifying what needs to be improved upon is a start. Good luck with that.

[AJMD429]

A friend built an AR from fairly mundane parts, and it wouldn't cycle either. He asked me to 'fix' it, and I swapped parts out with a functional (my) AR, until his would function. The 'defective' part was the gas TUBE (gas block was fine). I could see no defects in the tip shape or length or openings, and it passed a fuzzy pipe cleaner and light shone through it just like mine. Never did figure out the problem with the gas tube, but swapped it out and it worked just fine. Perhaps a subtle issue with the position of the tube tip in the receiver maybe (?), but I've never had any other gun do that.

Anyway, just a thought.

[firefuzz]

Have you shot the DPMS gun before? Over the last several months I've had four, brand new DPMS factory guns come to me for repairs, none would cycle factory ammo. The gas key was loose on all four. Tightened 'er down and staked it....no more problems.

Just something to check.

Rob

[OldWin]

Nothin' better than burnin powder with your kids. Do it every chance you can. That's a good looking young man, YK. You should be proud.

[horsesoldier03]

I have no doubt that Y2KK is much like my daughter and easily finds that silver lining that exist in every gray cloud. Looks like despite a few malfunctions a father and son managed to have a great day. IMO, I wouldn't worry about that AR too much. The last time we were out with Herter's Ammo, we had the same experience. I would still take a second look on the position of the gas rings on the bolt.

[Nath]

Nice

Does your son still do archery?

[Blaine]

Good Dad....Good Son (How old is he, now....I think I remember pics of when he was like waist high )

[Ysabel Kid]

Nice

Does your son still do archery?

He still does it on his on, but doesn't compete. His middle school team split up into the two high schools in town, and neither fields a team.

He met his girlfriend in middle school on the archery team, and she competed this year as an individual. He's thinking about doing that next year.

[Ysabel Kid]

Good Dad....Good Son (How old is he, now....I think I remember pics of when he was like waist high )

15... turning 16 next Friday.

Yep, he's grown up here on the forum. I miss those waist-high days...

[RustyJr]

I would say there is a good chance that the AR15 malfunctions are related to the steel cased ammunition. I have shot Wolf brand steel cased ammunition in my AR and then followed it with brass cases. It was explained that the lacquer coating on the cases comes off the cases once they get hot and then gums up the chamber causing the brass to stick. I would imagine that is what is happening with the Herter's steel cased ammunition (albeit you aren't shooting brass cases at the same time).

RustyJr

[Ysabel Kid]

I would say there is a good chance that the AR15 malfunctions are related to the steel cased ammunition. I have shot Wolf brand steel cased ammunition in my AR and then followed it with brass cases. It was explained that the lacquer coating on the cases comes off the cases once they get hot and then gums up the chamber causing the brass to stick. I would imagine that is what is happening with the Herter's steel cased ammunition (albeit you aren't shooting brass cases at the same time).

RustyJr

I don't think this was the case this time, because we only fired a total of 20 rounds, essentially like a bolt action (pling the charging handle each time; it only fed consecutively once), so the gun never got hot.

Irritating to know though. I purchased these rounds on sale from Cabelas a couple years ago specially to use in the woods at my FIL's when I didn't want to chase the brass...

[3leggedturtle]

Like the 12gauge lever, wish they could be had in .28 or 20. I 've sticky extraction in single shot handis with the steel cased ammo. Have a few boxes around for something to shoot just in case I forget to bring real ammo. Things is other than 1 stovepipe in a 9mm, never had the pistol ammo ever act up like the 223 ammo.

[Sixgun]

Even the worst days shooting are better than the best days working... Okay, so that cliche' is a little shopworn... But HEY! Identifying what needs to be improved upon is a start. Good luck with that.

Ain't that the truth!

Kid,
You got yourself a good son there. Clean cut and likes guns......what could be better than that! You have done well.

BTW, don't slop up your guns with steel cased ammo. It's hard on everything, especially extractors. Steel against steel promotes wear, unlike brass. Steel is fine for AK's and SKS's because once those guns get worn out, you just throw them away and pull out a fresh one from the vault.---6