An old Vet

AR15, AK47, FAL, Bolt, Hangun, etc... If I find we need it I will expand this forum.

Moderator: MudBug

An old Vet

Postby Hopalong » Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:22 am

So, after the relative success I had with the 300gr bullets in the 450, I've been farting around with a couple of other projects. A 6.5 Grendel to slot between the 450 and 5.56 and also a 22 target pistol. The Grendel has come together very slowly, kind of aggravatingly slowly actually. Nothing seemed to come together well. But a buddy wanted to shoot Saturday, and we got a rare window of decent temps, no wind, and surprisingly sparse range use. The Grendel was still fighting me, the optics setup I wanted still not coming together, but I figured I could at least function test it. I was looking for something else to shoot, so tossed in an AR15 carbine and a Glock. Feeling like I wanted to shoot something else, too, I grabbed an something out of the closet I've ignored for a long time. My Grandfather's 30-40 Krag. I'd picked up some HSM ammo as brass seems hard to come by.

The AR shot okay. I have a bunch of Winchester ammo I got out of a recall deal from Olins. Even with a scope and a pretty good rest, it grouped about 2.5" at 100 yards. Field of fire ammo. The Grendel functioned fine, firing and feeding as it should, but I didn't really test it for accuracy. I broke out the old Krag. It's rough looking, but given it's a century old, it could be a lot worse. Particularly after being carried in the trenches during WW1. I ran a few patches through the barrel and it felt okay. I adjusted the sights and lined up the old gal on the target. I shot an M1 in the Navy on a rifle team and had done pretty well with it and it was almost a deja vu moment. My eyes were some better then, and the notch and blade weren't as crisp as a reticle in a scope. I ran off 5 rounds fairly carefully and looked at the target down range. Nice group, about 6" high, but dead on for windage. I adjusted the sights again, shot a couple and looked again. Hmmm. About 3" high. One more minor tweak to the sights. Three shots, carefully fired. The trigger pull is long, but clean with a nice consistent release. Recoil is mild. I looked through the spotting scope and saw 2 10s and an X, which, when I measured them, were right at an inch.

Heck maybe I'll take this gal to a real dance, a CMP Match...

Hop
Hopalong
 
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 7:46 am
Location: Colorado

Re: An old Vet

Postby lungingturtle2 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:48 am

Congrats on your new rifles, I love shooting the old rifles, I once went to a CMP H.P. match and one of the guys brought a Springfield M1922 .22LR cal. He shot at the 200 yd line and beat everyone else's score with that old target rifle. I was really impressed as there were some excellent shooters in the match. Never under estimate what some of those old guns will do.
lungingturtle2
 
Posts: 97
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:11 am
Location: Manteno, Il.

Re: An old Vet

Postby wildcatter » Mon Apr 28, 2014 4:28 pm

Hopalong wrote:So, after the relative success I had with the 300gr bullets in the 450, I've been farting around with a couple of other projects. A 6.5 Grendel to slot between the 450 and 5.56 and also a 22 target pistol. The Grendel has come together very slowly, kind of aggravatingly slowly actually. Nothing seemed to come together well. But a buddy wanted to shoot Saturday, and we got a rare window of decent temps, no wind, and surprisingly sparse range use. The Grendel was still fighting me, the optics setup I wanted still not coming together, but I figured I could at least function test it. I was looking for something else to shoot, so tossed in an AR15 carbine and a Glock. Feeling like I wanted to shoot something else, too, I grabbed an something out of the closet I've ignored for a long time. My Grandfather's 30-40 Krag. I'd picked up some HSM ammo as brass seems hard to come by.

The AR shot okay. I have a bunch of Winchester ammo I got out of a recall deal from Olins. Even with a scope and a pretty good rest, it grouped about 2.5" at 100 yards. Field of fire ammo. The Grendel functioned fine, firing and feeding as it should, but I didn't really test it for accuracy. I broke out the old Krag. It's rough looking, but given it's a century old, it could be a lot worse. Particularly after being carried in the trenches during WW1. I ran a few patches through the barrel and it felt okay. I adjusted the sights and lined up the old gal on the target. I shot an M1 in the Navy on a rifle team and had done pretty well with it and it was almost a deja vu moment. My eyes were some better then, and the notch and blade weren't as crisp as a reticle in a scope. I ran off 5 rounds fairly carefully and looked at the target down range. Nice group, about 6" high, but dead on for windage. I adjusted the sights again, shot a couple and looked again. Hmmm. About 3" high. One more minor tweak to the sights. Three shots, carefully fired. The trigger pull is long, but clean with a nice consistent release. Recoil is mild. I looked through the spotting scope and saw 2 10s and an X, which, when I measured them, were right at an inch.

Heck maybe I'll take this gal to a real dance, a CMP Match...

Hop


Wow, what a Great Story..

..t
Safety First..t
User avatar
wildcatter
 
Posts: 2914
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:30 pm
Location: In the Middle of Deer Central Station or better known as, in the Thumb of Beautiful Michigan

Re: An old Vet

Postby pitted bore » Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:17 pm

Hopalong-
The Krags are nice rifles. Some of the old army marksmen cried when they had to exchange their Krags for the new-fangled hard-kicking 1903 Springfield rifles.

It's likely your Krag did not see service overseas, and in particular use in the trenches. The Krags were used in training in the US. The US troops were armed with the 1903 Springfields and M1917 Enfields. Apparently some few Krags went to England and France with some behind-the-lines engineers. It's been reported that some of these troops were involved in a skirmish, so a very few Krags may have seen WWI combat, but not in the trenches.

Lots of Krags were used in combat in the Spanish-American war and in the Phillipines.

Check the rules of any CMP match you decide to enter. Many have a required reload in the rapid fire stages. The lack of ability to perform a rapid reload is what made the US decide to discard them. The Spanish army taught the US the advantages of quick stripper clip recharging.

Good luck, and let us know how you do in a CMP match.

--Bob
User avatar
pitted bore
 
Posts: 700
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:05 pm
Location: The U.P.'s U.P.

Re: An old Vet

Postby Hopalong » Tue Apr 29, 2014 6:12 am

pitted bore wrote:Hopalong-
The Krags are nice rifles. Some of the old army marksmen cried when they had to exchange their Krags for the new-fangled hard-kicking 1903 Springfield rifles.
<snip>
Good luck, and let us know how you do in a CMP match.
--Bob


Bob-

Thanks for the additional info on the Krag. I know Grandad was a combat troop in WW1 but just assumed he used the Krag. He was also involved in a lot of fraternal organizations in rural Colo throughout his life, perhaps that's why he had the gun, but I'll never really know. I have a friend involved with the CMP and will need to see what all the requirements are for any match. Heck, maybe it'll be an excuse, er, reason, to pick up a Garand.

Hop
Hopalong
 
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 7:46 am
Location: Colorado


Return to Firearms

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests