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Range Report - Sunday At The Shooting Park

1K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  rawright54 
#1 ·
Today was a balmy 95 with a light breeze, so my shootin' buddy Denise and I headed for the range. I brought the entire arsenal, while she settled for her Norinco 213 9mm and Remington 788 .243 Win rifle. She got her .243 dialed in at 200 yds in no time, but couldn't hit squat at 15 yds with her 9mm. The same thing happened last time we were out - the 9mm wouldn't come close to the target. Knowing her to be a dead shot, I was inclined to blame the gun, but I'd already used a laser boresight on it and know it's right. So I fired a magazine through it and had no trouble making little round holes in paper out to about 25 yds. I passed on a few tips I was given by an instructor during an open house at another range, then let her go at it. By the end of the day, she was consistently hitting within a couple inches of the bull, so other than more practice, my job is done there.

For my part, I really wanted to get my .243 BLR sighted for 200 yds, but I ran into a snag. I was firing reloads I'd made last year, and had good results from them back then. But a large number of rounds didn't fire on the first try. All fired on the second, by manually cocking the hammer. Upon inspection of the fired cases I found nearly all had no dimple where the firing pin should have made a serious dent. There was a round shiny spot, but it was effectively flush with the rest of the primer surface. As a check, I fired a few rounds through Denise's .243 and all the cases looked normal, with a neat, perfectly round dent in the center. So I have to surmise that there's something wrong with my nearly new rifle.:(

I moved on a bit, and practiced with the Sig P938 for a while, holding 4" - 6" groups out to about 20 yds; the Hi-Power performed flawlessly as always, and I drug out my trusty S&W Model 10-5 4" 38 Special for some long overdue attention. I haven't fired that thing in 15 years, but Shep's video elsewhere on this site last week reminded me that it needs some playtime. It's still a pleasure to shoot, and more accurate and reliable than I am at 25 yds.

Lastly, I've had my stepfather's Beretta 950BS .25 Auto pistol since he died, but haven't fired it much. The ammo is hard to find, and ridiculously overpriced when it shows up. But I recently scored a couple of boxes, figuring it's a bit stupid to have a gun and no ammunition. I shout a couple of magazines at 10 - 15 yds and was very surprised to see how well it performed! I was aiming at the top edge of an 8" target and not seeing anything hit; the high aim point was because of my expectation of a lot of drop because of it being so under-powered. I was dead wrong, and my shots traced a short arc about 1 - 2 " above the top of the target. Impressive for such a tiny little mouse gun!

Back to the BLR problem, I mentioned it to the resident RSO while checking out, and he suggested trying one of the modern, pressurized cleaning sprays. He said that others have had the same problem, and it turned out to be gunk in the firing pin assembly. I don't have any problem believing that, since the BLR is nearly impossible to properly clean; articles I've read give dire warnings against attempting to disassemble the action because of the difficulty in reassembling it correctly. I know that I shy away from a full teardown beyond what's in the manual that came with it, but I may have to attempt it. First, though, I'll try this power washing technique he recommended, since I picked up a spray can of the stuff last time I was out shopping.

All in all, 'twas a great weekend out in the fresh air, letting daylight through small openings in sheets of paper.:D
 
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#3 ·
rawright54:

Reloads or commercial ammo in the BLR? Are the primers seated below flush by a couple thousandths? Can you force the firing pin into the bolt from the rear and observe its protrusion from the bolt face? Is it possible you had a reloading sizing error?

LDBennett
 
#5 ·
This happened with both factory ammo and reloads, and the reloads were from a batch that fired fine before. I was using them for sighting in the gun roughly before settling down to one good varmint load. I'm going to do a thorough inspection of the gun, including pushing the pin forward to check the surface condition and length of protrusion, but something's definitely changed since the last time I took it out. Hopefully the power washing will clear out any carbon fowling or oil buildup that might be interfering with the smooth movement of the firing pin.
 
#6 ·
Sometimes brass dust will get back into the firing pin cavity and after it's built up will stop the firing pin from protruding all the way (dust compacts and creates a small chunk). It's happened on a few diff firearms we've had in. Not sure if the new extractor is so sharp that it scrapes small particles of brass off or what, but we usually have to stick a dental pick in and scrape it out. We've had a few come in with that issue and they've all been new rifles, even a couple handguns. You could always swing by and I'll lend you a couple of my picks if you want to give it a shot, if spraying it out doesn't work.
 
#7 ·
Thanks, NPGunsmith! I'm going to try the carb cleaner that Joe suggested first, then see if the pin moves freely. I've got picks, but didn't want to risk scratching anything - nice to know it's safe to do if I need to. Thanks, again!
 
#8 ·
Just a preliminary followup - I cleaned up the BLR today, including blowing out the firing pin/bolt face with carb cleaner, then a blast of spray gun scrubber. The pin was visible in the bolt face when I started spraying, but dropped out of sight when I finished with that process. I continued my usual cleaning practice, lubed her up, and ran a couple of sized, primed cases through it. Both fired nicely, and resulted in a uniform, proper looking discharged primer. A quick pass with a lightly oiled patch cleared the sooty residue in the barrel, and I think she's ready for shooting next weekend at the Big Barbeque Shindig at our local range. Just for grins, I'll leave the scope off and try it with iron sights next week; a lever action carbine just doesn't look right with a big ol' scope cluttering it. Of course, if I can't hit the side of a barn with them, I'll snap that scope back on in a heartbeat.
 
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