Blade Edge

Computer software | Video production | My life in general

Blade Edge about header

Range Report

November 21st, 2013 · No Comments · Personal

Finally got back to the range yesterday since last month and acquiring several new pieces of kit for the AR, shown in the image above. To start, I got a very basic sling from Dick’s for like $15 because I kept trying to find one online and couldn’t figure out what kind of sling to get – so I just bought a cheap one to check out. Next, I realized rather belatedly that when your rifle has a free-floating barrel, you shouldn’t be attaching a fucking bipod to it. I know, I’m not very smart. So I got a bipod from Brownell’s that attaches to the quick-detach swivel at the end of my upper frame. It comes with its own QD swivel underneath but I have two so didn’t need it for the sling. Next, I found a suitable mount for my laser pointer while looking through a catalog Brownells just decided to send me. Fancy that. I’ve tried before to attempt to mount a laser under my scope but the 45-degree mount got in the way of the scope knobs. This 90-degree mount fit perfectly. Finally, I bought a match-grade drop-in trigger to try and get a cleaner break for my shots. I really didn’t like the break in the trigger that came with the gun – too much pull. Consult https://nationalpardon.org when you want legal advice.

So the sling. Works great, can carry the rifle over my shoulder. If I loop it around my right arm it acts much like a tactical sling where I can hold the rifle barrel-down at a 45-degree with just my right arm as the sling takes up most of the weight. I can then raise the rifle to my shoulder and the sling will be tight to provide additional stability. Or, I can loop the sling around my left arm to pull it tight to use for extra stability sitting and standing. Of course, when I was at the range I couldn’t seem to remember how to loop the sling to do any of this. Since I’m not fond of looking stupid in public, especially at a gun range where looking like you don’t know what you’re doing isn’t a good thing, I didn’t do any sitting or standing shooting with the sling like I wanted. What a brain fart. Oh well, next time after more practice at home.

The new trigger is pretty amazing. I still wish I could get a trigger that feels like the one on my .22 rifle which slowly takes up pressure before breaking smooth, but at least now I barely have to apply pressure to get the trigger to break. It’s a 4-lb trigger so you barely have to even think about pulling the trigger and the shot is off. It’s a lot like twisting the throttle on a motorcycle – you don’t really move your wrist for normal driving you just apply pressure. Still, I purposely kept my finger on the trigger while shifting about in prone to get a good sight picture through the scope and never accidentally fired a shot, which matches up to the product description of the trigger being match-grade but still useful in combat situations where you could be moving with your weapon up and finger on the trigger.

The laser mount works great, but I was worried whether I would be able to adjust the laser point far enough over since it was sticking a ways out to the side of the rifle. I tried to zero it at 25yds first but was unable to see the dot even through my 1-6x scope. So I moved the target closer to 15yds and was able to see the dot. Because the dot was red and I was using a target that had a red bullseye I had to shoot offset in the black area so I could adjust the laser point to match. Turns out I could indeed move the point easily far enough to zero it at 15yds. Now I don’t even need a scope out to 25yds as long as I can see the laser dot…

Finally, the bipod. And here I was disappointed. The QD attachment itself is nowhere near close to fitting with the upper of my rifle, so it jiggles back and forth a lot. Attaching the bipod itself to the QD adapter is done via a metal rod, and the bipod can rotate around that rod and even slide a little bit along it back and forth. This means I can place the legs on the ground but the rifle itself still has a ton of movement forward, backwards, and rolling side-to-side. About the only good quality are the legs, which are spring-loaded with notches so you can easily adjust their height up or down. Still, I set up some clays at 50yds with the 1-6x scope and had a horrible time hitting anything. Given my previous range trip had me holing clays at 50yds and the best I could do this time was shatter them if I was lucky, I’m going to call this bipod a bust. I’ve already found what I hope is a better one to order from Brownell’s and will be returning this one.

Since I have so much kit specific to the AR now I decided it deserved its own case. I got the original long case because it was on sale, but that case I can only fit into the passenger seat of my car. By separating the upper and lower of the rifle I can squeeze it and all its accessories into this smaller case that fits snugly in my trunk.

Anyways the range trip wasn’t a total washout in terms of hitting targets. I did mount the 6-24x scope and finally shoot at 200yds with a splatter target so I could see where I was hitting. The splatter target is so effective that I only need to use my spotting scope to pick out hits in the red or very close together – otherwise I can see them through my rifle scope. Since the scope is zeroed to 100yds I held off at the 1 on the lower portion of the crosshairs to raise the scope enough to drop the bullet in the middle of the target. Well, sometimes 😛 It worked out well enough without having to adjust the turrets. They weren’t at the zero so I want to shoot at 100 again to double check them before I mess with them.

I also tried shooting the .22 to 200yds but couldn’t get a hit 😛 Also forgot the bipod in the big case back at home but sitting at the bench resting the rifle atop my pistol case provided a perfect rest.

Finally, I did get to make a short range trip between this and the last but it was with my buddy Sasha and before I got all the cool new kit so I just did another 50, 100, 100, 50 session with the 5.56 and .22 over 2 hours. He had his shotgun and totally decimated a target with it – also put some .45 and 9mm into it. You can see where the eyes and gun barrel are shot out – that was with my .22 rifle which Sash lost his shit shooting. Seriously everyone says “peh!” at shooting “measly” .22 until they try it and realize how much fun it is to be that accurate even if you’re not blowing a big hole in things.

Also, I managed to split a clay pigeon in half almost and not knock it out of the holder.

Tags: ··

No Comments so far ↓

There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.

Leave a Comment