Beretta 92FS Semi-auto 9-mm Pistol

Beretta 92FS 9-mm Semi-automatic Pistol

I have a special place in my heart for this pistol, since I bought it several years ago from a guy who went to cop-school but decided he didn't want to be in law enforcement after all.  He sold it to me with 2 extra clips and 450 rounds of ammunition for like 300-bucks and the only shooting it ever did was on the range at cop-school!  In addition I bought it from him within the city limits of Madison, WI at a time when pistols were illegal to possess within the city limits and, of course, I never had to register it--I gave him the money and he gave me the gun, the case, the clips, and the ammo.  It was wonderful.  To top it all off, the referral to the sale came from the county sheriff of my county of residence at the time.  Now that's our 2nd amendment at work!!

I have shot it some, but took it to the indoor range with a couple teammates after trap shooting, and shot half a box up.  I tend to shoot a little low with this gun for some reason, but it improved after I changed my sight picture some and concentrated on less flinching.  I love the gun and I love the history of it, so the liberals will never get it from me.  ha ha. 

1928 Lee Enfield .303 calibre rifle Mark III

1928 Lee Enfield .303 Short Magazine III rifle

 

I have shot the Mark I and Mark II so why not take out the Mark III.  It was fun, for sure, and loud!  I shot two groups but could only find 2 holes in the paper for them.  It is shooting a little down and to the left, so I adjusted my sight picture and squeezed off the third group very, very carefully, and managed to get them within 5.5 inches.  That's OK, but, like the other high power rifles, I need to work them up a little with more than careless introductory shooting.  I still have my go-to hunting rifles to shoot. 

Winchester Model 52 Bull-barrel .22 cal target rifle

Winchester .22 caliber Model 52 Bull-barrel target rifle

 

What a smooth trigger!  I am just blown away by it.  I shot seven groups of five and it was just so smooth!  This gun is so perfect!  Of all my guns, this one is probably my prize possission.  I inherited it from my dad and he had a penchant for fine things.  Mostly German air-rifles, but some firearms as well and this one is the greatest!  There is hardly any doubt that I will not find a smallbore rifle that can beat this gun.

Six of the 5-shot groups were scorable and came in as follows, the best being good for 5th place so far, but this gun is a contender when I sight it in and sandbag it later.

 

2.4"   2.8"  1.9"

3.0"  3.0"  3.7"

Mossberg Model 190 Bolt-action 16-gauge Shotgun

Mossberg Model 190 Bolt-action 16-gauge Shotgun

I purchased this shotgun a few years ago at an "antique" store for around $125 because I just couldn't resist it.  I have to confess that at this time I have yet to shoot it.  But it is a nice looking shotgun with an adjustable choke on the end of the barrel.  I have bought a couple of guns at these so-called "antique" or combination antique-general merchandise-flea market kinds of places but in recent years, one can hardly find even a BB gun at them!  The politically correct crowd must have them cowed with their anti-gun message. Perhaps they are afraid of someone having a shooting accident, or commiting a crime with them and then coming back at the seller.  Whatever.  Nonetheless that is how I got hold of this one, and I am determined that I am going to shoot it in the very near future!

The very near future took a little while. I brought it to Maidson to get a round in, but didn't get around to it, although I brought it to the league range for a back-up a few times.  I took it to Portage to shoot with my friend there and even though my 870 locked up, I went to grab the Mossberg and darn if I didn't pull the bolt out, it jumped all the way out and I couldn't get it back in! I was frazzled and borrowed my friend's gun instead.

Today, however, two of my teammates wanted to go and shoot on a Sunday and I took it down and was careful not to work the bolt hard enough to make it jump. The gun shot two boxes of factory shells just fine, although I only got a 13 and a handicapped 10 at 21-yds.  I was satisfied for a first outing.  I'm certainly not afraid to use it for a back-up now.  The external choke is a bit unnerving for covering clays; but it was an ungodly hot day and I was just happy to shoot successfully.

I shot two more boxes with a friend in Portage and did a little bit better, hitting 16 and 15.  On the first round, I broke the first and last five, but somehow managed to get only six in the middle three stations!  Oh boy!  The gun is a hit at the trap range, though, because bolt-action shotguns are not seen much. 

Diana Model 6 Air Pistol, .177 caliber

Diana Model 6 Recoilless .177 caliber Air Pistol

 

Another wonderfully made German gun inherited from my dad.  Mine has the gray plastic grips and I know from the past that it is a real tack-driver and a thrill to shoot.  However, it suffers from the same worn-out seals that my Diana Rifle does and will have to be repaired as well.  I am waiting for a slack time in which to try and carry off one of these projects.  I intend to do the rifle first because I have a downloaded complete manual of the task.  The pistol may be identically built even though the seals are different in size.  We will see, we will see.

Springfield 87A Tube-feed semi-auto .22 cal rifle

Springfield 87A .22-calibre semi-auto rifle--tube feed

 

I tried to shoot this rifle, which I got from an old lumberjack friend, on two occasions this summer with the same result: The firing pin clicks but does not fire the shell.  I have to regard it as "down" and will have to take it apart to investigate, I am afraid.  It is a tube feed for LR only in that mode.  Will get around to this task when I get a little time for it.  Meanwhile there are several other .22's in the armory to sight in and evaluate.

Karabiner Model 1931 .308 Straight-pull

Karabiner Model 1931 (K31) Swiss Straight-Pull Rifle

 

Quite some time ago, I had some amateur radio equipment which an old guy a few miles away desired to have and I traded it for this rifle.  Oddly enough it had a sniper-scope, or what qualified for one in it's day on it, but he wanted to keep that scope, so I had the gun fitted with a peep-sight much like the one pictured here.  I don't really like a peep sight. It is difficult centering that front pin in the big aperature and then on the target, but it is what it is. 

Mine has been bored to .308 and, unlike some of my guns, I have shot this one some.  I have even killed a few whitetailed deer with it on the farm. It is particularly useful from a high tree up on the ridgetop that I used to love to sit in, but it was a very difficult climb, both to the ridgetop and then up the tree. 

I brought it out on the 100-yard range and put five rounds through it before I could find a hole in the target to go by.  It turns out that it was shooting high, over the target altogether.  I had almost given up when, aiming very low, I got one in that I could see and, so, I popped two more in and at least got a group to measure, although it is a very primitive one...I'm sure the rifle can do better.  Now, at least, I've identified the problem and can devote some time to it when I get a chance. 

I was able to score an 11.7-inch group, which was nothing to brag about, but I will shoot this gun again.

Cooey Model 82 .22 caliber Rifle

Cooey Model 82 Rifle .22 caliber Rifle (light stock)

 

Having shot the dark stock Cooey Canadian, I decided to shoot the light one as well, and what a surprise was in store for me!  While the previous model stuck out the best group so far, the light model was fraught with problems!  First of all, I had a real difficult time getting a legal 5-shot group!  My first effort gave a nice 4-shot group with the fifth nowhere to be found!  Then I tried a couple more and got one marginal one only by including the tape that held on an adjacent target.  In addition to that, the gun had bolt issues...sometimes when I ejected a casing, the bolt would jump the restraints and come right out the back of the action!  This happened several times unless I gently operated the mechanism.  Oh boy! 

I finally put up a larger target and did manage to get a couple more groups to at least get this gun on the charts.  It may be an ammunition issue, because I shot a box of Thunderbolt LR.  We'll see how that goes down the road.

The two groups that I was able to score were:

4.9-inches

3.4-inches

 

The best one was good for 14th place of shooting so far.

Cooey Model 82 .22 caliber Rifle (Dark stock)

Cooey Model 82  Rifle .22 caliber  (Dark stock)

 

The Cooey Canadian rifle has a rich history and a great deal of information available.  I have two of them in .22 cal that I inherited from my father.  I refinished both of them and one turned out a little darker than the other and I refer to this one as the Cooey Dark. 

It was time to shake down another .22 cal rifle, so I took the Dark out and put up some rabbit targets and a couple small sighter charts at 50-yd.  The gun shot well and I realized that the common sight picture left a pretty nice group, but low, off the paper.  I changed my sight picture so that I covered the target with the front bead, bisected by the rear notch, and this seemed to do quite well.  In fact, I was very pleased with a couple of the groups, particularly after I got rid of the shooting glasses, which were fogging up on me. 

 

I obtained 8 groups I could measure, after shooting up a box:

 

1.7 "     7.1 "     3.0 "

2.4 "     1.6 "     1.3 "

1.7 "

2.9 "

The gun now temporarily owns the top four groups that I have shot.

 

The 1.3-inch group was very satisfying but one shouldn't be surprised.  These guns were commissioned by the Canadian government for training rifles, and the stocks go right out to the bitter end, so they are engineered to be good guns.  Why would you train your soldiers with inaccurate rifles?  Anyhow, it was a lot of fun shooting it.

Lee Enfield .303 cal MK2 (F) rifle

Lee Enfield .303 calibre MK2 (F) rifle

 

I had so much fun a couple weeks ago shooting my friend's Enfield Mark I that I decided to put my Mark II through the paces.  I bought this rifle some time ago at a resale or antique store in the good old days when they were not afraid to sell firearms.  It's a beauty but I have to admit that I have never shot it!  That is unacceptable, so I brought it out, set up the target at 100-yds and the telescope on the shooting deck, and shot three 3-shot groups.  The gun has a large circular rear aperature and the front sight between two bars.  I shot the first group trying to center the front sight in the circle and the pattern was high and to the right but a very respectable 4.8-arc seconds, tying the best I have done so far this year.  For the second group, I rested the front sight on the bottom center of the circle and at the bottom edge of the target.  One hit the paper and two went under!  For the third group, I rested the front bead on the bottom of the circle and dead center.  I shot a fantastic 3.6 arc-second group in the central area of the target and was very happy.  This gun has a good barrel, I think!  Lots of fun!

Springfield Model 82 .22 Rifle

Springfield Model 82 .22 Rifle

 

This was my grandfather's .22 on my father's side.  I have both my grandfather's and father's (Model 15).  This particular one was given to me by my paternal grandmother, which is quite an honor because I not only am not the oldest cousin on that side of the family, but there are a slew of them which were quite close to my grandmother.  I did not see her all that often, as when my parents divorced, the dad side tended in those days to bow out. 

Anyway, I got it out of the safe for a shakedown box of bullets and had some fun on a sunny day after a rainy night.  I was able to keep seven 5-shot groups on the paper and of those three were quite satisfactory all things considered.  I was using those old macked-up Sears targets which are a little hard to see 50-yds away.  I scored the following group sizes:

2.0"     2.3"     2.5"

3.8"

4.5"     4.8"

5.2"

 

The gun seemed to be sighted in a bit high, so I took a deeper bead the second time through and that brought it down.  Next step, of course, clean it up and have a much, much more serious day and see if the groups can be tightened up.

Springfield Model 15 .22 Rifle

Springfield Model 15  .22 caliber Rifle

 

This .22 Caliber rifle belonged to my actual father and was likely his first gun for just plinking and learning about firearms in his day.  It is pretty well-kept and was given to me by my grandmother on my mother's side.  How she came to possess it I do not know, but it is likely that he had it on the farm around the time of his divorce from my mother and it just got left there.  My other grandmother gave me his dad's .22 so I have them both.

I set up some 50-yd small bore targets and shot up a box of Federal LR that was in the armory.  I didn't make a project yet of doing any sight adjustments.  I am a believer that until you demonstrate that a gun is shooting acceptable groups there is no point in making fine adjustments as long as you are hitting the paper.

I only missed the paper once so I have nine groups I can score.  From tightest to widest they were as follows:

2.0     2.3     2.5

3.5     3.6     3.7     3.8     3.9

5.7

 

all in inches + tenths of an inch.

 

Looking at actual scores from the targets, the following:

38     36     32     31     30

23     22

19     10

 

We will see how the Model 15 compares to my other .22 cal rifles before deciding which one to really work up first.  This is just a shakedown run.  Lots of fun, though, on a beautiful day.

Walther LP Model 58 Air Pistol .177 caliber

Walther .177 Caliber Air Pistol, Model 58

 

The Walther is an inheritance from my dad, who loved airguns, particularly German ones of highest quality!  The bluing on this one is getting a little weak on the barrel side, but otherwise it cocks and seals great.  I brought it to Madison and decided to give it the same workout with the Daisy ammo of three types that I did the Hammerli.  When I got set up; no rear sight!  Just the mount and the elevator dial, which I then proceeded to use for a rear sight for the purpose of making the same shot over and over and finding out what kind of groups this pistol will shoot.  It shot very low and I had to adjust my visual picture to accommodate.  I did get 9 groups that I could measure, however, with slightly different results from the Hammerli.  The tightest group I could produce was 1.7" with the hollow-points. The next was a 2.2" with the pointed, hunting ammo, and third best was the diabolo shape with a couple of 2.8" groups.  The diabolo did produce a 4-shot group within an inch and a half, but the fifth shot was off the paper, so sadly, I could not in good conscience score it.

 

Pointy          Diabolo          Hollow-point

 

2.2          2.8          1.7 

4.2          2.8          2.2

4.8          3.8          2.8

 

The hollow-point style clearly produced the winner in all three starts and I'll have to mount a rear sight on this gun, sight it in, and return to this task and see if that is truly the case.  Nonetheless I was pleased that there weren't any mechanical or seal issues.  For now, I'll move on to another pistol.  

 

 

 

Remington 7400 Semi Auto Rifle, Caliber 30.06

Remington 7400 Semi-Auto 30.06 Rifle

 

I got this rifle from a friend, traded a Kawasaki 400 motorcycle for it, in essence, but the nature of the relationship is that I would return the rifle if asked.  It is a complicated issue, not in need of discourse here.  The rifle is a recoil-operated automatic but is missing the clip.  I took it on the back 40 and shot at a sighter chart marked off in arc-seconds at 100 yards (inches) and shot three 3-shot groups as carefully as I could from a rest. 

 

Group #1 was 150-grain

The group was 8.3 arc-minutes wide at 100 yds

Center of the group was 5.6 arc-minutes off the bull

4 arc-minutes to the left

3.5 arc-minutes low

 

I did not change the scope adjustment for the subsequent two groups

 

Group #2 was 150-grain

The group was 4.8 arc-minutes wide

5 arc-minutes low

3.8 arc-minutes left

 

Group #3 was 180-grain

The group was 7.5 arc-minutes wide

Left/Right was dead on

4.7 arc-minutes low

 

These are figures for the Center of each group

Ithaca Model M-66 12-gauge shotgun

Ithaca Model M-66 12-gauge shotgun

This was my first shotgun, given to me by my dad.  It took me a long time to work up the nerve to shoot it the first time, because I was afraid of the impending recoil.  He got a kick out of that (no pun intended) and I think he liked the fact that I was so fearsome of this weapon.  It was a good beginning of respect for a firearm.  Mine has the 3-inch chamber and I have had it out hunting for ducks, however my high school friend and I were hardly really hunting since we had no retriever, no skill, and no spot that was worthwhile.  I have, over the years tried a little clay pigeon with it, but largely it has sat in my safe until today, when I dragged it out to give it the once-over and some kind of work out before cleaning it up.  It is spring turkey hunting season and there is no reason not to go sit in the woods with it a little bit and see if I can figure out where they are roosting.

Here is a schematic of the gun from Ithaca's website.  It is a lot simpler than a lot of guns I have.

Diana Mod. 60 .177 cal Rifle

Diana Model 60  .177 calibre rifle

This is an extremely beautiful gun I was handed down from dad.  I pulled it out of the gun safe and brought it to FL to shoot toy soldiers, pencils, and golf balls (turned out golf balls are not a good idea)with a friend in his linnae and to generally re-familiarize myself with.  Unfortunately it has to be, like my other problems, considered "down" because of little or no power. 

The breech seal was quite worn and I was able to purchase a couple from Umarex, USA for only a dollar.  This did not do the trick and that leaves me with the probability that the piston seals are shot.  A little blogging and I learned that they dry-rot, and this gun has been in the safe a long, long time.  So I am in the process of obtaining the seals and enough information to determine whether or not I can handle the repair, or whether I had better have a facility do it.

The exploded diagram.  The model 65 and 66 had locking levers to maintain positive locking of the break-barrel.  The 60 does not. 

Hammerli Mod D .177 calibre pistol

Hammerli Mod D  .177 Calibre Pistol

Handed down from dad.
This is a lovely CO2 powered pistol, in it's own form-fitting box along with cutouts for a box of gas cartridges, a cleaning brush, and tin of pellets.  I have not fired it for years and took it out of the gun safe to bring it to Florida for the winter. Naturally, when I inserted a CO2 cartridge, nothing happened.  The mechanism inside did not load any gas behind the piston. 

This diagram was downloaded from Pilk 10-P website with the following instructions:
     Sights--clockwise - right        clockwise - down     2 clicks per scoring ring at 10m

     Trigger weight--Turn screw A 176-1 anticlockwise to increase. Should the trigger fail to engage while pistol is being cocked, turn A 176-1 anticlockwise.

     Trigger slack--Loosen lock nut A 177-2 to adjust.  Turn A 177 clockwise to shorten, anticlockwise to lengthen.

Needless to say, this was another target for my entry-level gunsmithing.  I took it apart to the extent that I could, cleaned, and oiled everything.  Then I adjusted the trigger to be a little lighter on the pull, and put it back together.  Voila!  It began cycling.  Friend Don was down to visit in FL and we put in another cannister of CO2 and had a blast popping Coke cans in the back yard.  The pistol is quite accurate out to 25 or 30 feet.

Remington Model 870 12-gauge Shotgun

Remington Model 870 12-Gauge Shotgun

Purchased @ gun show.
Wingmaster; 3-inch chamber, removable choke tubes.  Came with improved cylinder.  I added a full choke and a modified choke so as to learn how to shoot trap.  It is a beautiful shotgun in very good shape and a lot of fun to shoot.  Every woman should have one.

This is an exploded diagram of the gun in case, God forbid, I ever have to make an adjustment or repair.