AAR: 2011 Memorial Day range trip ***now loaded with pictures and videos***

[shooter521]

This space reserved for AAR to come. Thanks to TheJoker, lovemywoods, esrice and akaindy for a fantastic day of history, shooting and fellowship. Now, some teaser pics...

 

[lovemachine]

Holy cow!! I'm jealous!

 

[esrice]

Here are a few of my teasers. I had SUCH an awesome time today celebrating Memorial Day and remembering those who have fought for our freedom by shooting the very weapons they defended our freedom with (and many others). I learned A LOT.

Way more pictures, video, and commentary to come!

 

[TheJoker]

[FONT=&quot]I had a great time today. Many thanks to our host & hostess!

The correct way to pronounce the correct way to pronounce the magazine system of the Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 and the Carcano-[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Mannlicher 1938 Short rifle[/FONT][FONT=&quot]: [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Mannlicher =[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Mann li ch' er

the "ch" is almost a "k", but sounds like Mann lich air [/FONT]

Ferdinand Mannlicher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[akaindy]

I had a great time today shooting some nice peices of history and remembering Memorial Day. Thanks to TheJoker, lovemywoods, esrice and shooter521 for a great day of history, shooting and fellowship.

 

[lovemywoods]

I too had a wonderful day in warm Indiana sunshine with INGO friends!

I enjoyed some of the contrasts. Such as shooting a stable of heavy wood and blue steel rifles that go BOOOOM!...to a suppressed bolt action .22 that barely went pfsst...!

Or after many wood rifles, having someone bring out a AR15 and being keenly aware of how different the polymer rifles look and feel by comparison.

Or learning that magazine blocks were included on some military rifles because the 'powers that be' thought that without restrictions, our fighting men would use up too much ammo. But those leaders were willing to arm and send those same men into battle where the decisions they made were truly life and death choices.

Or how much better my aging eyes cope with optics over open sights.

lmw


P.S. Without INGO, I would never have met three of the gentlemen with whom I enjoyed the afternoon. Thanks Fenway and the mod team for creating and maintaining INGO!

 

[esrice]

lovemywoods' Memorial Day Shoot 2011
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I kicked off my Memorial Day holiday with a quiet morning drive down to beautiful Brown County. The anticipation of good company, historical rifles, and great food was enough to wake me up an hour before my alarm went off, so I took my time to enjoy the 50-minute drive. I could tell by the thick morning air that it was going to be getting very hot. I rolled down all my windows and headed for the hills.

Although I arrived an hour before the official start time, lovemywoods had already set up the range and courses of fire for the day. We would mostly be using the 211-yard range that spans the length of his lake. For targets we'd be using an assortment of Bobcat Steel, paper on stands, and a few water jugs. As an added challenge he set out a 1/2lb. container of Tannerite.

Soon I heard the crackling of the gravel drive as TheJoker, shooter521, and akaindy arrived. TheJoker was the only new face to me. He was not only kind enough to provide many excellent examples of historical military arms, but to also share with us the history behind them.

As the rifles and gear were unloaded it became quite apparent that the day would not only be fun, but educational. Wood and steel was the order of the day. The few black rifles present looked like misfit toys compared to the Garands, Enfields, and Mausers.

We broke the day into 3 basic parts: Orientation, Lunch, and Familiarization Fire. We also spent a few breaks zeroing in shooter521's ACR and tinkering with a couple ARs.

Because the range was in direct sunlight and already heating up, we decided to do the Orientation portion back up in the shaded yard by the house. Each rifle was laid out on a blanket and TheJoker went over each one, detailing not only its function and features, but also its history and place in the wars.

Here are a few clips of TheJoker discussing some of the rifles.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ieEiSZ4Qag[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p6BVihC0Kk[/ame]

Mrs. lovemywoods was also kind enough to snap a few pictures.

Ever seen a rifle with anti-aircraft sights?!?

After the Orientation we spent a few minutes before lunch zeroing the Aimpoint R1 on shooter521's new Bushmaster ACR. Its certainly an interesting departure from the AR platform. I'm still not sold on the gas piston operating system, but I did like how everything was fully ambidextrous, even down to the sling swivel mounts and charging handle. I would love to see an SBR'd version.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoJzldya8Lc[/ame]

We also tried our shooter521's new Savage .22 with factory threaded barrel. I can honestly say that it was the quietest gun I've EVER heard.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNY8pp31whE[/ame]

For lunch lovemywoods treated everyone to his famous BBQ ribs along with salt potatoes and beer bread. No vegetables were harmed during this meal. I'm pretty sure akaindy went back for thirds.Unfortunately I didn't remember to snap a picture of our feast.

After lunch we hauled our gear down to the range for the FamFire portion of the day. We used 2 four-wheelers and a big cart because we were too stuffed from lunch to carry everything (ok, we also had a LOT of gear ).

Our method was pretty straight forward-- TheJoker would pull out a rifle, give us a quick tutorial on its operation, and then we'd each take a turn shooting it to our little hearts' content.

Many of the shooting pictures look awfully similar, but here are a few samples to give you an idea of what we shot.

Check out that recoil!

I was so proud of my shot with this Mauser that I had to pose for a photograph. With iron sights, standing unsupported, I hit a 25% IPSC steel target 211 yards away. That would be equivalent to hitting a full-sized IPSC target over 800 yards away. (its the tiny hanging target on the right in the below photos) Truth be told, I was actually aiming for the bigger IPSC target next to it.

To get an idea of that range, here is a photo progression.

Mason jar reload, anyone?

Noticing how light and handy the M1 Carbine was, akaindy referred to it as "yesterday's PDW". I think he was right. shooter521 and I decided to have a little fun and run a mock carbine drill.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwXHbTHsmEw[/ame]

After shooting for several hours in the 90-degree heat, we were all fat, happy, and exhausted. We retired back at the house for cold mandarin orange cake and our Memorial Day Shoot hillbilly finale-- shooting Tannerite from the porch!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GORfM4LRPrY[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2J8WrEVxs[/ame]

I'd like to again thank my fellow INGOers for spending their Memorial Day holiday with me and lovemywoods. I had a wonderful time shooting and learning about a generation of firearms that I knew nothing about. I'm again reminded that this is what makes INGO so special-- bringing people together to share our love of firearms of ALL kinds.

​

 

[esrice]

Almost forgot. . .

Ever wondered how a sling can help your shooting?

Ever wondered what it would look like for shooter521 to eat his words?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGYCsbdgDF8[/ame]

(I bet you Appleseeders enjoyed that!)

 

[Fenway]

Epic report guys! Looks like a blast and I really enjoyed the videos!

 

[MrSmitty]

Ok, that look's like the most fun ever!!, and if just one of those guns could talk!! especially(spelling?) the Arisaka...loved the anti-aircraft sights!!

 

[shooter521]

Wow, Evan; good write-up! I don't have much to add, save my "highlight reel":

Hardest kicking – Steyr Mannlicher M95 ... this is a short, lightweight carbine that fires the 8x56R round (on par with the 8mm Mauser). Big bark, big recoil; it would give the Mosin M38s and M44s a run for their money.

(NOT shooting at aircraft here!)

Smoothest action – Tossup between the Enfields and the Krag-Jorgensen M1898. Enfield gets bonus points for its 10-shot magazine (which is detachable, although the troops of the day did not take advantage of that feature; they reloaded the gun from the top using stripper clips).

Most Interesting History – Tossup between the Carcano M1938 which was an Italian rifle pressed into Finnish service, and akaindy's funky Winchester falling-block .22, which has been in his family for 4 generations.

Most Photogenic - M1 Garand. Both examples present had great finish and character, and that big ol' en bloc clip coming out of the gun makes for a great "money shot".

Best of Show - Mauser K98k. Great combination of ergonomics, power, shootability and accuracy. It was one of the few guns with which I could hit the 211 yard steel (the Enfield No. 4, Mosin 91/30 Sniper and my "Recon Carbine" AR being the others).

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TuUTdi372g[/ame]

Quietest – Definitely the Savage MkII FV-SR with the Outback II-D, but the Winchester falling block shooting subsonic ammo out of its 24" barrel was a very close second!

Only one of these historical guns I actually want to own – M1 Carbine. I've had the jones for one of these for a LONG time, but have never been able to justify actually buying one. Someday, maybe.

 

[esrice]

Wow, Evan; good write-up! I don't have much to add, save my "highlight reel":

I think I caught the general "flavor". You are the "details man".

I honestly still couldn't tell you which one was which without my cheat-sheet.

 

[Roadie]

Is there a "Jealousy" icon??

 

[mammynun]

What did you guys think of the Arisaka? I really like my T-99. Looks like a day well spent!

 

[danielocean03]

Looks like a great time was had by all, thanks for sharing!

 

[shooter521]

Is there a "Jealousy" icon??

LOL. I think there is...

What did you guys think of the Arisaka? I really like my T-99.

The Arisaka was, IIRC, the only one of the bunch we didn't actually shoot. Partly due to ammo availability and pricing, and partly because the stock has some cracks in it and we didn't want to aggravate that condition.

[STRIKE]FREE REP ALERT!!!

I'll rep the first member who can correctly identify all the rifles present in the very first pic in my original post. Here it is again (clicking on the pic to get the full-size version and zooming in may help); please PM me so as not to clutter up this thread, and be as specific as possible in your answers. [/STRIKE]

ETA - since it's been almost 24 hours and nobody has taken me up on my challenge, here's the list...

TOP TO BOTTOM
M1 Garand
M1 Garand
Mauser K98k
French MAS 36 (Algerian capture)
Enfield No. 4 Mk I
Springfield 1903A3
Carcano M1938
Enfield No. 1 Mk III
Arisaka Type 99
Steyr Mannlicher M1895
Mosin Nagant M91/30PU

LEFT
Krag-Jorgensen M1898 (Top)
M1 Carbine (Bottom)

RIGHT
Winchester falling block .22 (akaindy would have to provide the exact model)

 

[lovemywoods]

Thanks to shooter521 and esrice for their photo and video skillz!

Very nice AAR! It's almost like being there!!!

 

[Fenway]

Great pic!

 

[GARANDGUY]

Nice videos and pics! Good job guys!