Fun Old guys with old guns range day.

[joshb]

i took some of my "old military rifles" and 2 friends to the range for some iron sight shooting. A couple Swedish mausers, 2 K-31 Swiss,a German K-98,and a French MAS 49/56. The competition was tight. My friend John and I realized, pretty quickly, that we needed to get our glasses' prescriptions upgraded, so my younger friend, Bill, won the day. I was hoping to do a more concise report on the guns, but that thought went out the door pretty quickly, with these old eyes. At least that's our excuse for shooting 6 inch groups at 50 yards, but those targets were fuzzy. The Swedes and Swiss were neck and neck. Fine guns and lots of fun. Liked the recoil of the Swedes better than the K-31s. All in all, a fun day. Guess I'm a little scope dependent, at my age. Oh well.I should add a big THANK YOU, to jpretle, for hooking me up with the Swedes. Fine guns!

 

[Lapua40X]

Welcome to the "scope dependent" club, josh ;D
I had quit shooting because I couldn't see the sights. I had been raised to believe that using a scope was cheating. My son convinced me otherwise. I've rediscovered rifle shooting and loving every minute of it.
I still try the open sights from time to time but unless the target is the size of a UPS truck my performance isn't what it used to be. :'(

 

[jonbearman]

It sounds like a great idea to me. I haven't had time to shoot my garands,o3"s,carbines,mausers,swedes, or my minty arisakas. You have given me an idea, thanks. Jon

 

[Mikey_P]

Welcome to the "scope dependent" club, josh ;D

Around my neck of the woods, we like to say "when there's a scope, there's hope"

Also, you might find this device to be handy - attaches to your shooting glasses with a suction cup. I have one and it definitely improves my sight picture with open irons - http://www.meritcorporation.com/products.html

Mike

 

[fredhorace77]

Welcome to the "scope dependent" club, josh ;D

Around my neck of the woods, we like to say "when there's a scope, there's hope"

Also, you might find this device to be handy - attaches to your shooting glasses with a suction cup. I have one and it definitely improves my sight picture with open irons - http://www.meritcorporation.com/products.html

Mike

a friend of mine uses this and says it really helps.

 

[Road_Clam]

I picked up a Mosin 91/30 about a month ago in hope's of having some 50yd iron sight only fun... well I did ok, but really struggling with my extreme nearsightedness , so had to add optics to my Mosin. Now just picked up a really nice Yugo M98 8mm Mauser and well same story, LOVE the Mauser, but the Mauser's rear leaf sight notch is SO shallow. So its added optics again ! I don't care, these antique retired military surplus rifles are just a blast to shoot !

 

[joshb]

I really like picking up a 75-100 year old gun and shooting them. Thinking about the history is quite humbling and interesting. AND, it's a nice break from the " tense" precision shooting thing. My friends and I checked out our groups and agreed that every shot would have killed a deer, so we at least know we won't starve, if it comes down to it. (If we could ever get that close to a deer) The modern guns are nice, but the old guns just seem to radiate more .. Romance, I guess is the best description. Thanks for the optics suggestions. Gonna look into them. I highly suggest dusting off the old safe queens and take them out for a little exercise. We had a ball. I have to say: I've read a lot of "stuff" about Cooper's Scout rifle ideas. While I was shooting the Swede M38, i had to think that we're kinda going full circle, as the old short mausers "fill the bill". As it were. They sure are a lot nicer than the newer Scout rifles i've held. And a lot cheaper!

 

[CatShooter]

A club I belonged to some time back, held "Clunker matches".

Rules were the gun had to be original, with original sights, and a "rack grade" field issued rifle (no "*" star grade barrels). You could clean up the trigger, but not less than 3 pounds, and you got a 5 point bonus if you had a really clean specimen.

The first match had three guys, but by the end of the year, there was a line at the registration table at 8 AM.

I shot a Winchester 1917, and a K-31, and I loved those matches.

 

[joshb]

My friend Bill was one of guys that went. He's new to shooting, and I'm doing my best to "draw him in". I have taken him to the range a few times with my better target rifles for group shooting, and he seemed to like it. Other times, i've brought out the pistols. On the ride home, this time, he made a point of saying how different and FUN it was to shoot the old, iron sight guns. Might have some thing to do with the fact that for the first time, he cleaned my clock,but the smile on his face was worth it.