What gun stuff did you do today?

[Ric-san]

Hung out for “how to” on the M1Garand and shoot a bit…

 

[Diver43]

Cleaned/degreased a new set of .223 dies, put fresh powerball ammo in my wifes SW EZ

 

[Piranha451]

Checked the zero of my hunting rifle.

 

[Raven]

Not telling!

 

[Daezee]

This Saturday I’ll be at a (property owner‘s invitation only) machine gun shoot and get together. Been awhile since my Sterling L2A3 was cleaned, lubed and checked over, so that was today’s project.

In the photo you can see the dual springs…makes for smooth cycling and steady holding as the bolt never bottoms out, but gradually slows down when fired. The spirals on the bolt mean less friction as only they touch the receiver and provide a place for firing residue to go between them and not gum up the gun.

 

[B52]

Trying to decide which gun to shoot. A game: Can you guess the gun.

 

[Daezee]

Sterling for sure #1

Suppressed STEN #2

 

[B52]

Sterling for sure #1

Suppressed STEN #2

Yes. How about the gun on top left. You should recognize it.

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

View attachment 253408
Trying to decide which gun to shoot. A game: Can you guess the gun.

2nd right. Gustav then mp40.

 

[B52]

2nd right. Gustav then mp40.

Yes Swedish K, and the MP40

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Picked up my G41 today. Now have 2 man cannons (G40/G41) to chose from! Or shoot both at the same time!! Both have the titanium SCS 100% solar recharging optics. Direct mount to the MOS cut. Gotta get a deer in front of em. 10mm and 45ACP. BOOOOOM!!!

 

[M60Gunner]

View attachment 253408
Trying to decide which gun to shoot. A game: Can you guess the gun.

Definitely should be the mp40!

 

[Daezee]

I use the Lyman 314299 (a 303 British type 200gr cast bullet) in multiple rifles. Went to use them in some more reloads and found I was down to my last small coffee can of them (can holds about 275-300 of them). So, over the course of a few days, I've been lubing and sizing them from last season's casting sessions. I've now sized 1500 with a goal of sizing 2000 to last a little while. And now that I'm back into the 7.62x54R loading, I'll be using that bullet even more.

Next, since I'm back into enjoying Finnish mosin nagants and relearning about their history, I asked a friend if he'd consider selling me back the Finnish civil guard M39 I'd sold him years ago, and no problem with a NO answer. Well, he had a heck of a deal for me: He'd give me the M39 with the stipulation that when I'm done, I give it back some day. Sure! (Bonus: a wife can't argue about me getting a free gun.)

He brings it over and I notice rust on the muzzle crown. Pulling the bolt, one can see rust, rust, and more rust with a little dot of light coming through the end. I cannot emphasize enough how bad it looked, like looking into a cave. Putting a solvent soaked patch through, it's hard to push through and comes out brown, a sure sign of rust. Patch after patch is coming out brown and the bore is looking no better. Well, he and I both felt sick as the outside of the M39 is one of the better looking M39's we've seen, matching numbers, civil guard markings on metal and stock (it's from the Finnish district of Raahe on the western border of Finland and no markings that it'd been transferred to the Finnish army). It'd been in his gun safe with his other mosin's and a golden rod to prevent rust. The other mosin bores are fine. Did a corrosive primed round get shot in it?...he doesn't knowingly shoot corrosive...did someone at the range ask to shoot it and shot corrosive...we just don't know for sure.

Take a new oversize brass brush and coat with ISSO cleaning paste and run 10 strokes. Clean with patches and solvent, repeat brush with ISSO, clean with solvent over and over. Hey, it's looking better, but ISSO can only do so much (it can remove surface rust) and it's not real abrasive. Let me try JB bore paste next, as it is considered a touch more abrasive than ISSO...it's doing better...5 strokes and clean with solvent, repeat, repeat, repeat. Looking better; has cleaned the edges of the lands so they don't look as rounded. Now shiny. Looks like "minor" pitting is left in the grooves now. I can live with that if it shoots OK. Happy

I was once given bore lapping kits in .308" and .311", but never used them. Consists of bullets coated with abrasive with 5 degrees of abrasive. Use coarsest, then milder, then milder, etc, etc, cleaning bore between each degree of abrasive. After each round of a few shots with a given degree of abrasive (.311" bullets were being used as appropriate for 7.62x54R), the bore is cleaned and examined (naked eye examined). Appearance of pitting is getting less and less. Finally after the last 5 shots of the least abrasive final bullets to be used, I see NO pitting, bright, shiny. All of the lapping bullets fired (21 total) did advance the throat approximately 16 thousands of an inch...a small price to pay and not a surprise. I let the bore soak overnight with copper solvent to make sure any lapping bullet residue was all gone. I also cleaned the bore with water soaked patches and dried it in case any corrosive primer salts were left as the possible cause of the rusting. All this work took a day and a half. It was nice I could fire the lapping rounds in my yard and let the bore soak in solvent while I reloaded the brass with the next degree of bullet abrasive so no time driving to and from a range. Happy Happy

Now the ultimate test: Go to neighbor's range. Using the cast bullet load I'd worked up years ago for that rifle, I did find I had to tweak the sights (vision operation and changes in vision over the years) a little. Only fired it at 35yd. Accuracy was great for me. Took about 4 shots to season that extremely clean bore. No leading. Easy to clean now with that bore smoothness. Both of us are now Happy Happy Happy

This lapping experience has me wondering how a mosin bore in even worse condition might turn out after lapping....I don't have a full compliment of lapping bullets left, but do have 6 of each of the 5 degrees of abrasive left. I used 4 of each and 5 of the final (least abrasive) in cleaning this bore. The instructions called for shooting 10 of each abrasive level.

Newly sized and lubed bullets. I see some dings in them from newly cast bullets falling into the pile from the mold; doesn't seem to affect them:

A 35yd group. This was 7 shots after I'd adjusted the sights. I estimate my holding error is half an inch. The black is 3" in diameter.

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Built shelving for primers, powder, brass and bullets. Used a shoe caddy for pistol magazines. Somehow I have a crap load of G21, G17 and PMR,CMR mags. I think I forgot I already had some and kept buying them. A good problem.

 

[sloporsche]

went to the range to see if the LGS fixed my dud issues with 7.62x39...they didnt

 

[Daezee]

My friend who'd given me the Finnish Civil Guard M39 Mosin came for a visit to see how the bore looks now. A mutual friend had delivered range salvaged lead bullets (free) to my friend to bring to me. More lead was delivered than what I expected. 2 large coffee cans with bullets and a partial bucket of not cleaned range salvage. The bucket will take a bit to clean out the trash. A nice haul.

Oh, I had a gift for my friend, so it's not just a one way street. Gave him (retired Air Force navigator) a Chelsea windup Air Force Tactical Air Command 24 hour clock. Waiting for word from the Navy museum to see if a WWII Navy bulkhead clock will enhance their ship display (they had a crap civilian clock in the display the last time I looked). Yes they all run.

 

[Sam 270]

Cleaned and loaded some 243win. Also cleaned about 150 270win cases. Went and seen baddog3032 also today

 

[snidervolley]

Stock

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Borrowed an ATN THor LT to test drive. Put it on the CMR30 for pest zapping. Now to find something to look at. Zero tomorrow.

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

CMR30 zeroed "sort of" had no thermal target. We'll see. Try to zap some critters.