Range Review

Today I went to the Fort Benning Rifle and Pistol Club range.  Nice day, light wind, sunny but not too hot.  Took two rifles and two brands of ammo.

Chiappa M4-22 upper: 

The good; the scope got sighted in.
The Bad; large number of light primer strikes leading to failure to fire.  Occasional stove piping.

The verdict:  The light primer strikes seem to be caused by a short firing pin.  Comparing the Chiappa bolt carrier group with a Ceiner BCG shows this.  The Chiappa firing pin does NOT extend to the proper length when the rear of the pin is pressed flat with the back of the BCG (the Ceiner obviously does).  I had to press the Chiappa firing pin further into the BCG to get it to go, this means each time the rifle went "bang" it was because of the momentum of the firing pin.  As an interim solution I cut a few coils off the firing pin return spring to help with the momentum.  If this doesn't help I'll have to add material to the back of the firing pin, which means access to a machine shop that I don't have here in Georgia.

Put over 100 rounds through the Chiappa, and hopefully the gremlins will be worked out before too long.

Remington Model 5 (Zastava model 5).  I cleaned the holy living crap out of the chamber.  It shot Federal Bulk Pack nearly as tight as Golden Eagle Target at 25 meters.  I would have shot further, but since Appleseed is at 25 meters that is where I'll keep practicing for a while, at least with 22's.

The Ammo:  The Golden Eagle Target is Eley Primed, and is supposedly a step up from normal ammo.  At 30 bucks per 500 it certainly feels more premium than the 20 dollar brick of Federal Bulk Pack.  At 25 meters there doesn't seem to be enough difference to justify using the "good stuff", especially at Appleseed targets (with their generous scoring areas). 

Need to get a 22 conversion for my 1911 so I can shoot that all day without breaking the bank.