This is the sound of silence

Today was a good day at the range.

After carefully arranging the arrival time to be after the scheduled competition, we set up targets and made ready.

Miss Tacticute shot first with her AR-15/22.

Next was my turn.



That was certainly good fun, so Miss Tacticute wanted a turn. Not surprising, since my M-14 was now about as loud as her .22. The recoil was significantly less, so I calculated that she would be pushed around, but was unlikely to come to any harm or result in an unsafe situation.



Excellent results all around. Miss Tacticute put 75 rounds of .22LR into her targets at 25 yards. The larger holes were sight-in shots after adding the suppressor to the M-14.

After getting the scope sighted in so I was 3" high at 100 yards, I started taking shots at the 200 yard targets that had been waiting so patiently to be ventilated. The middle squares are my targets, and almost all the rounds are on the 8"x8" targets. This is pretty good, considering that I wasn't taking my time with the shots, and the backblast from the action was making my eyes water.

Next purchase priority: airtight shooting goggles to keep the gas out of my eyes.

Buy-A-Gun 2012

Well, not the gun, per se, but what is now attached to it.



Suppressor paid for: July 2011
Time Paperwork sent to BATFE: Early August 2011
Time Tax Stamp Finalized: Early March 2012
Arrived at Dealer: Late March 2012
BATFE Inspector: Sandra J Snook

I left the rifle with the dealer to have the Gem-tech QD mount put on, which necessitated removing the standard M-14 flash hider. Of course, this took the standard front sight with it, so the front of the gas block was replaced with a part that has a hooded front sight built into it.

Lamentably, the range I normally shoot at has a competition occupying the main range for the entire weekend, so I can't go shoot it until the next weekend. I'm sure the suburbia that has sprung up around my range will appreciate me changing the BANG! to a more sedate gun raspberry.

It was a cold and rainy day

Apparently, President's Day is a good day to go shooting... indoors. When Miss Tacticute and I arrived at the indoor range, the waiting time was two hours.

Well, no way, we wanna shoot something now.

In the rush to get out the door, Miss Tacticute's own coat was left behind. Had we been shooting indoors, this would be no concern, but now it was cold and rainy and we were outdoors.

Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Miss Tacticute got my jacket, with sleeves well rolled up.

Here she is on the beginning of 125 rounds of .22LR:



She had been making some complaint about being cold, and the report of nearby shooters bothering her, but as soon as she settled down to shoot, all of that went away.

I did 75 rounds of .22LR and about 41 rounds of .45 ACP myself later. I didn't bring my own larger caliber rifles because we had intended to shoot indoors at a range that doesn't permit rifle calibers.

On the NFA front, I'm looking forward to getting my tax stamp for my 7.62 Gemtech suppressor any day now. The .22LR suppressor will be some time behind it, but the 5.56 suppressor is delayed due to USPS buffoonery. Apparently, the package I sent through the mail was thick enough to jam their machines and got shredded. They mailed back the parts that had my address on them, which was just the check. Other paperwork they mailed back to the dealer. The Form 4s were nowhere to be found. I had my dealer make new Form 4s, and now I'm going to scan those suckers in so I have my own copies. I forgot to do that this time, although I scanned other things.

And then he lightly tapped my scrotum

I'm flying to Israel on business, and since I'm not travelling with my family as I was a couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to opt-out of the backscatter X-ray. No fuss, the opt-out was handled without a raised eyebrow, and the TSA agent accomplished the invasion of my privacy with as much professionalism as could be wanted under the circumstances.

Some updates of recent history, since I have time to kill in this terminal:

The week before flying to England, I attended rifle league at West Coast Armory. Checking the score sheet before I left, I saw that I was the only one that had perfect 26/26 hits on both runs. My times were about double the front-runners, and this is not surprising. At my regular range, rapid fire is not permitted, so I don't get much opportunity to practice double taps or recoil management. Still, it's good to hit what I want to hit and not hit what shouldn't be hit.

My Form 4 for my 7.62 suppressor still hasn't cleared the ATF, but my dealer finally got the .22 suppressor transferred to him, so I got to send off the Form 4 for that yesterday.

Black Dog Machine comes through

Yet another fine range visit has come and gone.

Miss Tacticute discovered recently that she likes sharing what she knows. She had an opportunity at her Kung Fu club to help out the kid's Basic class, and it was reported back to me that she did a very good job. So I considered what Miss Tacticute knew that she could teach, and what would make the biggest impression on her as a nascent teacher.

So I asked Mrs Friendly Neighbor if she would like Miss Tacticute to teach her how to shoot. I can't think of something with more kid-cred than being able to teach a grown-up how to do something.

That couldn't be done this weekend, so I brought Miss Tacticute to the range for a practice session.

She showed that 25 yard target who was boss.



Twice.



Following that performance, I got to go through two magazines from my M-14 (soon with can!). Miss Tacticute was my spotter through a 50x160mm spotting scope.



Not exactly Carlos Hathcock, but my first shot was on the left target, and it's the one touching the bullseye dot in the center. So, if I messed up, I messed up the right way.

After we had packed up and Miss Tacticute was sitting in the car, the Range Safety Officer came over to tell me how impressed he was with her shooting, and furthermore how amusing it was to hear her spotting my 200 yard shots.

I brought four Black Dog all-polymer .22lr magazines to the range along with four of their new polymer with metal feed lips magazines. Two of the new mags fed wonderfully. Two wouldn't feed, and in fact I had problems getting the rounds out later, even using tools. The feed lips just grabbed the rims of the rounds very, very tightly, so much that I couldn't budge them if I didn't depress them away from the feed lips.

So, Monday morning, I email Black Dog Machine, LLC, and ask them if there is something I should do to smooth the feed lips. By Monday afternoon, Rachel from Black Dog had emailed me back, confirmed that they had had some issues with the first run, and used my details from my order to send me two more. Following that email were confirmation emails from their online store confirming shipping. Rachel also suggested that I could use a file on the malfunctioning ones to widen the feed lips slightly so they are functional. Assuming that works, I'll had six working magazines, and if it doesn't I'll still have four that work. That's a solid customer service relationship and outstanding standing-behind-your-product.

So, if you have a .22LR conversion kit or dedicated upper for your AR-15, I must highly recommend Black Dog Machine LLC .22LR magazines.

UPDATE 10/21/2011: I had misunderstood. What Black Dog was sending me was two replacement steel feed lips parts, which arrived today. So I just need to pop the other ones off the polymer bodies and put these new ones on.

Items of mild import

On Friday, I attended another Rifle League session at West Coast Armory. I met my goal: I wasn't DQ-ed. I had earlier stopped by a gun shop and purchased a Streamlight TR-1, which was significantly better than a head-mounted lamp for low-light shots. There were so many attendees, however, that it took two hours to start the second runs.

While there, I ran into a guy wearing a Top Notch Tactical t-shirt. I inquired as to whether said person worked for the company, or if that was tchotchke. He replied that he was the owner. That made it rather easy to identify him as Alan, as he is the fellow that has been working on my silencer purchases. It's a small gunny world after all.

Last weekend, I received a little envelope from the USAF, and contained within was my Honorable Discharge certificate. I am now officially ex-military. Following a confirmatory call to the AFPC for instructions, I unceremoniously applied some scissors to my military ID, and now I have a pile of somewhat serviceable yet out-of-date uniform components to clear out of my closet. My Gortex wet weather gear is still good, although I suppose I should remove the Captain's bars from the rank tab.

The Quest for Silence

As I was checking my bank records today, I noticed a welcome thing.

The BATFE has cashed my (Trust's) check for the Form 4 for my M-14's suppressor.

The clock is now ticking. Anecdotally, I'm looking at 6 to 8 weeks more processing time.

Seriously, however... how much of this processing could be replaced by a NICS check? The entire process is a hold over from the days when there was no such thing. The amount of manpower and resources, overhead, benefits costs, etc for the dozen BATFE agents that process these forms has to be more than the total revenue from the tax stamps. They could reduce costs, increase speed, improve overall adherence to the overall principles of the Second Amendment, and increase revenue by:

1. Moving suppressors to the same restrictions as the host weapon they will be mated to.


2. Pay the Tax Stamp costs at the FFL


3. Do the background check via NICS (fine, Delay for the first purchase for extra checking)


4. Cache the investigation results for the purchaser so the second purchase can be done on the spot

Double shooty

This was a good weekend. I went shooting twice.

When you consider the round count, however, it doesn't look like much:

• 60 rounds 7.62 NATO


• 60 rounds 5.56 NATO


• 18 rounds .45 ACP


• 5 rounds .22LR, plus another 95 for Miss Tacticute

The important thing, however, was that I was in good company while I was shooting.

Friday night was Rifle League at West Coast Armory. It was my first time participating, although I had been gearing up to do it for a while.

The course of fire was simple: double taps on all targets, first two targets fired under a table, then three targets at the next location to the right, two more targets firing around the left ride of a barrier, mandatory mag change, three more targets, show empty then transition to pistol for the last three. In between shooting, congenial conversation with the other participants.

I took it slow and just worked on being careful. I did discover that a head mounted light doesn't work well in the dark scenario, but I was able to use a optical cortex trick of the Binden Aiming Concept to get the reticle from my ACOG (which I couldn't see through properly due to the glare off the rear lens from my headlamp) to appear in my right eye and appear to be superimposed on my left eye sight picture. Not a good operating plan, but I hit all the targets and hit no no-shoots.

One of the participants had an N.D, and I'd like to highlight how a heavily armed individual took this. The rules are clear: any N.D, and you're barred from participation for four weeks. Well, he dropped his magazine while he was transiting from position three to four, and with a round in the chamber, touched the trigger while reloading. He shot a barrier, and the bullet likely went into the ceiling. Everyone stopped, the rangemaster called for him to clear his rifle and pistol, and they checked the damage. Meekly and with no histrionics, he packed his gear and went home. Amazing; according to some, he should have started a shooting spree at this little setback. Not so amazingly, such people live with counter-factual internal model of how real people behave.

The second shooting even was Sunday, for the long awaited range visit with Miss Tacticute. As usual, the other guys at the range were utter charmed by the little seven year old with her pink AR-15. Here's how she did at 25 confidence boosting yards:



Here's how I did at 200 confidence deflating yards:



Miss Tacticute herself took that last picture, moving me around like an Oleg Volk protege to get the picture she wanted. It doesn't matter, I still look overweight, which must be a trick of the light.

I readily admit that I screwed up that shooting. I was shooting high to begin with, so a couple clicks over and I was shooting worse. I got the Up/Down mixed up in my sight adjustment. By the time I finished, I was getting a consistent 2" high shot placement right above the bulls-eye. Well, I can adjust for that.

My daughter, the next Hit Girl

So, Miss Tacticute and I went to the range on a lovely Sunday, only to discover that when the range schedule said "competition", it really meant "state championships". No where for us to squeeze in.

So we went to an indoor range.

So, picture this (and you'll get video later, so you don't need to picture it for long): Seven year old half-asian, quarter-hispanic girl, pony tail, tie-die t-shirt, pink capris...

And her trusty pink AR-15 in .22LR. The range staff helpfully found a wooden box for her to stand on so she could get behind her rifle on its bipod in bay 12, away from the other shooters.

So she's rocking away on her pretty AR, pumping .22 into a Homeland Security Standard qualification target. She shoots a 25 round magazine into the center of the target. She also works out that, due to the reduced range, her rounds hit below the aimpoiint of her Trijicon reflex sight, so she walked the rounds up to the center.

Well, that's a big target, and she's shot up the center, so I suggest she shoot the head area.

"Yay!" Oooookay.

So she mostly sends the next 25 rounds into the head, for a time competing for speed with the guy in lane 6 who's relatively rapidfiring his 9mm. I slow her down and she starts shooting all over the target. What's going on?

"I shot him in the shoulders!" Well, nice grouping, sweetie.

So I reel in the target to show her what's she's done, and she's pleased with it. The target is pretty well peppered with .22, enough that it's not worth firing more .22, but maybe I can use it with something larger before putting up another target.

Sweetie, I think I'll shoot this target for a bit. You've been shooting with this, shows her a .22LR round, but I'll be shooting with this, shows her a .45 ACP 230gr FMJ.

"Wow, that's big! Cool!"

So I set her in bay 11 so .45 ACP brass doesn't plink on her head, run the target out, load up and...

"Daddy! Daddy! I want to tell you where to shoot!"

Like Simon says?

"Yeah!" Arrighty then, that sounds like fun.

"Tummy!" Ah, center of mass. *BLAM*

"Head!" Another classic choice. *BLAM*

"Ear!" Er, what? "Ear, daddy!" Right. Careful aim, front sight, press, *BLAM*

"Shoulders!", she says with a giggle. *BLAM* *BLAM*

"SHOOT HIM IN THE EYES!" *BLAM* *BLAM*

"Yeah! Make a smiley face!"

Oh, I wish I had had the camera running for that.

Behold! The awesome power of the Intrawebs!

By the power of RFC 791, I have the power!

But first, a range report.

Miss Tacticute was grumpy and strongwilled today, so she had to miss out. We'll get back to her when we've fitted her AR-15/22 with a suppressor.

So, in the mean time, I decided to have a long range day with the M-14. I have some concerns about my scope sight in at 200 yards however, so I'm going to employ a sled for my sight in activities.



Sight picture:



So, that shooting went on for a while, until a guy came along to do some range clean-up work. He said he only needed a few minutes, so why not. I was done with my sight-in work:



(I worked from left to right until my cluster was more centered on the bullseye.)

So, here I am with a bit of time on my hands.... and a shortage of targets. Yes, I forget to get the extra package of targets from the garage before I left. So, adapt and overcomes.

Paper plus Pen plus Target Stand equals Field Expedient Zombies.

200 yards:


100 yards:


25 yards with M&P 45:


On that last one, I had a steep learning curve. I kept plowing the earth with 230gr 45ACP until I figure out I had to keep the front sight up above the rear sight. There was a lot of bullet drop over 75 feet from that 4" barrel.

So, now, as advertised, the power of teh interwebs.

As I finish up shooting my 100 yard zombie and come up empty, a young fellow approaches. And he asked, "Sir, do you know anything about M-14s?"

Well, I might know a little, seeing as I am shooting one, so I follow the young gent over to see what the problem was. The problem seems to be Live Round In The Chamber, Hammer Has Been Dropped, Action Won't Open.

Well, that's a puzzler, and an immanent safety hazard. The rifle can't be transported like this. Out comes the iPhone, which has an IRC app, and connects to the Gunblogger's Conspiracy.

So, to the conspirators I pose the question, and Wally (who has no blog) comes to the rescue, going to his safe to get a representative M1A. We try a couple things, checking the safety operation, hammer position, etc. Finally it is determined that a vigorous thump on the operating handle is warranted, and the action extracts the round. A light primer strike is noted.

So we try again with another round, and the same thing happens. Thump, and it is extracted.

Meanwhile, the young gentlemen are astounded that I could find someone with experience on their matter over my iPhone. I read one of the gentlemen's t-shirts, and deduce that he is a USAF Academy cadet. I introduce myself as a Captain. Bonding is had all around. Solidarity, zoomie!

Finally, we discover that the problem is their ammo. It's marked on the case with "P G 308 WIN" and it doesn't even work in my M-14 (which has never failed to fire, extract or feed, ever). Fortunately, they had some ammo marked with "R G 93" and a cross in a circle, which I identified as Radway Green British military surplus of 1993. The stuff they were firing appeared to be slightly out of normal in the shoulder. The Radway Green works fine, as does a single round of my own Lithuanian milsurp.

Ultimately, I had to wonder at this new fantastic future that we're living in. When faced with a problem, if I can't find it with a Google search, I can engage a live pool of experts that are familiar with my issue (at least one of them), and use this expertise to come to a satisfactory resolution. Could I have done this 5 years ago? Probably not.

I love living in the future.

B.A.G. Acquisition

B.A.G. day is really about associating two things:

• Grudgingly following the law and doing the paperwork and paying the taxes


• Exercising a right that too many in government (and those who love government power) grudgingly admit is protected

Since we finished out paperwork and payments weeks ago, I procured my B.A.G. acquisition just after that. The actual date, however, is as good a time as any to show off what I've scored:



(I'm no Oleg, and an iPhone isn't a real camera. Go see the professional stuff here.)

Smith and Wesson M&P 45C, no manual safety, with Viridian C5L. I'm hoping to replace my P14-45 as my regular carry piece, as, let's face it, that's a whole lot of steel.

The pistol and light are a great match up, and the ergonomics are nice, but it's a little short on holster options. Naturally, I don't want to be carrying this until I have a holster that will cover the trigger area. Viridian says they'll have some Kydex holsters for this pairing later this year.

New year, new range visit

I've been watching the weather forecasts for awhile, looking for the first decent Sunday to take little Miss Tacticute to the range. (She's been asking when she can go again.)

I was looking forward to it myself because this would be the first time I had been shooting since getting new optics. And by that, I mean getting LASIK. My vision is now 20/15, and I can tell.

So we packed up with high hopes: M-14, M-4gery, AR-15/22, P14-45 and a brand new S&W M&P 45c. Also taken were a new shooting sled for me to do sight-ins, a spotting scope and HD camcorder.

Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the range schedule, and the main range was entirely populated with High Precision shooters. That left only the .22 range and the pistol range available. Oh, well.

So, without further ado, Miss Tacticute rocking the pink AR-15!



Here were her results at 50 yards:



She was mostly shooting to the left, and as we went on with her shooting, I think it's because she's closing her right eye and sighting with her left.

After we ran out of .22LR, we went over to the pistol range. All we had were .45s so Miss Tacticute stayed in the car with my iPhone streaming German heavy metal to her through Pandora. I figure she can't pick up any bad words from Rammstein and Eisbrecher, at least, none that I or anyone she knows would recognize. My father-in-law and I shot the .45s until we had enough of that. The M&P 45c isn't bad, but its trigger can't compare to a single action 1911.

Even more new shooters!

You know what I love more than making my own range reports?

Making range reports for newbies!

Somewhere out there, an anti-gun zealot took a friend to the anti-gun range, let him have a go at his anti-gun, no, three anti-guns, and then checked his anti-targets and had his friend grinning from ear to ear with pride at the anti-holes punched in his anti-target. And not only did I completely nullify that effort, but I went one better because my friend brought his son.

Here's my friend, Mr Coworker:



Yes, I am totally ruining him, because I let him have a go at a totally sweet M-14. Now he's going to be ruined for the rest of his life, forever comparing whatever firearm he's holding to that glass-snapping clean break of the trigger.

Well, I probably ruined him more for AR-15s, because the break on the trigger package I have in my lowers will make him think a standard AR-15 trigger is a grinding piece of sloppy crap, and he would be correct. I started him on my daughter's pink .22LR upper, then let him try my piston AR-15 in 5.56mm, then moved him up to the M-14, watching him as he tried each.

Did I mention it was a soggy day? As in: paths turned to mud; standing water in the range; and downpours so heavy the camera kept picking focus on the deluge? This is what happens to self-adhesive targets when you get to them last:



By the time we had moved up to the 100 yard targets, the adhesive target on the left had started peeling off. I shot the bullseye on the left for the first time through the upper left hand corner that had curled over the center of the target. Mr. Coworker first shot at the center of the right target, then went to work on the upper right target corner. Pretty good for a first time!

Of course, Mr Coworker got his try after his son.



Not bad for a first time, on an unfamiliar gun, at 25 yards, when you're seven years old. And at the end, we see the characteristic show-your-molars smile.

More Miss Tacticute

I have been shooting in the last several months, and I've been sitting on the range reports.

Today's range report is much more fun, however, because it is not mine.



Except for three shots to check the optics alignment, all those hits are Miss Tacticute's, .22LR, at 25 yards. The two bullseyes, for instance, were all her.

And here she is in action!



The thing that just kills me is her going "pew pew pew" during pauses in her shooting.

New Shooter

She's been bugging me to go for a while, wanting to try out her pink AR-15 (with Spike Tactical dedicated .22LR flattop upper, Cavalry Arms pink pistol grip and collapsible buttstock, Gold Trigger and Trijicon reflex sight), so as a reward for finishing kindergarten, here's Little Miss Shooter after some patient tuition and months of dry-fire practice.

Memorial Day Range report

My method of honoring our war dead today was to employ an M-14.

100 yards:



This is actually exactly where I wanted it. This means my 200yd zero wasn't affected by dismounting and re-mounting the scope to the rifle.

200 yards:



And I seem to be shooting to the right at 200 yards, although it's not apparent why from my shots at 100 yards. Still not bad for someone that's getting to the range only once every few months.

Spotted hereabouts

Taken with my iPhone, at night against the glare of tail lights, over my steering wheel so I couldn't get closer. The details may be a little hard to see, so here are the salient points:

Pink Kalashnikitty window decal.

Air Force logo in the center of Kitty's shirt.

"Always Protect My Country" written over Kitty's head and Kalashnikov.

"Obama Is My Homie" in the upper right corner of the rear windscreen.

Just the observable facts, as I saw them.

Even later range report

This is what I get for not getting on my range reports properly. Here's the short version:

November 2009

With the aid of my new spotting scope (see right), I manage to get my rifle dialed in for 200 yards.



Not bad, I think. Hitting a bit to the right and low, one bullseye (I'll call it a fluke), but otherwise a good grouping, and that's a foundation I can build on.

January 2010
At 200 yards:


Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over. I'm all over the place.

It didn't help that I forgot my scope, but I don't think it would have mattered. I could tell I was rushing my shots, but I couldn't get myself to fine the zen necessary to let the shot come on its own.

I'll tell you what the problem was: I had too much vacation. Holy smokes, I was so happy when I got back to work the next Monday. The cabin fever has disrupted my chi. My cool was gone after two weeks of the Daughter being out of school and the Son have extra daycare-closed days. I'd had one too many exposures to Thomas and the Magic Railroad. That's right: I was not in complete control of myself, so I could not be in complete control of my rifle.

On the plus side, I was still good enough to land every shot in the torso area of a life size silhouette target, if I had such a thing.

Extremely late range report.

When last we met our intrepid rifle n00b, he had received some advise for the wise old men at the range.

This time, he went to the range equipped with that new knowledge, and also toted his father-in-law along. His father in law, being from England, gets dragged along to the range with his every visit because, hey, where's he going to get an opportunity to do this where he lives?

Firearms:
M-14, 7.62x51 NATO, 6x-20x 56mm scope
AR-15 with .22LR dedicated upper, 1x 40mm reflex sight

Ranges:
50 yards, one target .22
100 yards, one target .22, one target 7.62
200 yards, one target 7.62

So, let's see how our intrepid n00b did:

50 yards, .22:



I fired this rifle first, and sighted it in. It (or I) was shooting left, so I eventually got it sighted in. The 6-MOA dot in the Trijicon amber-dot sight covered the entire central diamond of the target.

100 yards, .22:


Sighted in, the dot in the sight covered the whole target. I'm still shooting a bit left.

100 yards, 7.62mm:


Now, I am proud of this. Fairly tight group in the center, with some vertical stringing, then two shots at each corner target.

200 yards, 7.6smm:


Now, I am quite proud of this. Sure, I was aiming for the center target, but I ended up with a fairly tight grouping, predictably 2-MOA or 4" low, with a rifle sighted for 100 yards. This is vastly better than I did before.

What made the difference with the M-14? I was holding onto the Grip-Pod at the front. Previously, I had my left hand under the stock of the rifle in a fist, and by shaping my fist, I changed the point of aim in a fairly stable way. The fore end of the rifle was on the Grip-Pod. Well, when the rifle fired, there was a bit of jumping around going on before the bullet left the barrel. Thus, the impacts were a bit imprecise.

Following the advice of my elders, I held onto the Grip-Pod and pulled the rifle into my shoulder tightly. The problem of heartbeat remained, so I needed, as before, to fire after the heartbeat. I used my shoulder only to aim the rifle, and concentrated on having a smooth trigger pull on that sweet trigger. (I have learned the value of the M14/Garand type trigger after experiencing a stock AR-15 trigger and a PACT AR-15 Gold Trigger. Let me tell you: I'm buying more Gold Trigger units for my other AR-15s. Any comparison between the stock trigger and a Gold Trigger necessarily involves some profanity as modifiers to adulations and general heaven-ward eye gestures.) By providing extra stability to the fore-end while firing, my grouping became tighter.

I'm sure this is no surprise to any true rifleman, but remember where I am starting on this journey: no tradition, no education, and my military training was bloody useless in this regard. (Note to US Air Force: you can recover from some of the other services imprecation of "not really being a military service" if you start taking riflery, for both enlisted and officers, seriously. Who cares if it is not directly related to service goals? The common bond of being skilled riflemen will establish a respect common from fighter pilot to orderly.)

I have always relied on the kindness of strangers

Another lovely morning at the range.

I began with a couple shoot-n-see targets set up at the 25 yard line so I could continue fine-tuning the sight on the .22 M-4gery upper for eventual use by my children as a learner's rifle. Each target had a central target spot, with another in each corner. Starting on the left and aiming at the center, I dialed in the sight so my grouping was approximately centered, then I moved to the corner targets for a little more fine adjustment, until on the right target I was shooting a fairly tight group. The dot in the Trijicon sight is 6 MOA, so that's a 1.5" circle at 25 yards, which, all in all, is not bad for a CQB reflex sight. The target spot themselves were 2" across, so all I had to do was center the dot in the square.

Moving the target out to 50 yards exposes the weaknesses in my technique more, but the grouping is fairly good.



Not bad considering the circle obscured the target.

At this point, I switched to the M-14, and I had four shoot-n-see targets at 100 yards, and two at 200 yards.

As the scope has to be re-mounted to the rifle each time I shoot it (I was using it as a spotting scope earlier), my first target was used for sighting it in coarsely with ten shots in three groups of three plus a finisher, the second used for a group of 10 to establish another adjustment, and the third for another group of ten for a finer adjustment. The fourth target I was really proud of. Except for one flier (which I knew right after I fired it) the other nine shots landed in a 1 MOA cluster around the aiming point.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this due to my dismay at the performance at 200 yards. Two targets, ten rounds each, and blessed few hits on those, although (to salvage something of my self-esteem), the grouping was better than last time, and the shot placement was creditable to a man-sized target.
I have pictures, but they're not worth uploading.

Now, I should expect to have 1" of bullet drop from 100 yards to 200 yards, and I can easily manually do that overhold. That in no way explains my results. Definitely not Boomershoot quality.

Here's where the kindness of strangers comes in. To my right at the range were a group of guys, one of which was mostly spotting for the others. He looked at my targets, and after I explained what I was doing, he had this to say about my fourth target, the good one, "That's pretty good shooting, considering what you were doing."

My basic problem, it seems is that I'd not holding the fore-end at all. I have my right on the pistol grip, the butt in the shoulder, and I'm using my left hand as a fine-adjustment under the end of the stock at my right shoulder. The front of the rifle is on a bipod (GripPod, actually). So, with the front end resting stably on the bipod, I was letting it go about its merry business while I took care of business from the rear. That laissez faire attitude towards the front of the rifle is apparently causing me some accuracy problems at long rage. I could also add to the some end-of-session anxiousness which caused me to rush some shots. Perhaps the best thing to do is to sight in, then move on to the 200 yards immediately.