Range Day with The Shekel

Well, it was more like half a day, but I recently got to spend some time with my friend Aaron from The Shekel Blog indulging in some high-velocity lead stress therapy.  The link will take you to Aaron's report, where he talks about his new M&P 40c, his 9x18 pistols from Czechoslovakia and Poland, and his new .300 AAC-based AR.

Me - I brought my trusty Springfield XD9sc, which is my carry gun, and which needed the waistband lint blown out of it.

I also brought my own CZ-82, unintentionally synchronizing with Aaron and his CZ, so we were both trying out range commands in Russian in honor of the 9mm Makarov round.  Well, Aaron actually knew the Russian words, I just used a very bad Russian accent. Boris Badenov would not have approved.

I also went a little old-school with my Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver, too.  4-inch heavy barrel for those interested, with the original grips.

Aaron mentioned the FAST Drill we were doing, and which in absolute terms I sucked, but I did a lot better than I thought I would.  I really lost time at the mag change, and picking up the front sight on the first round.  Areas to work on, certainly.  And let's not talk about the mag change on the CZ, except to say that the mag release is a definate weak point of this design, both in its stiff and gritty movement, and in the design of the grips around it.  I may have to attempt a detail strip to see if that can't be smoothed up a little.

I did get a few cylinders full through the revolver before we moved down to the 100 yard line for some musketry (as Aaron put it).  We each pulled out our new beauties, his an AR in .300 AAC and mine a Sig 556R in 7.62x39.  This picture isn't mine, but I neglected to take pictures of it so I filched this one off the internet.  Mine has Midwest Industries iron sights on it, though - for some reason Sig includes a chinzy red dot scope with this rifle instead of their excellent diopter sights which are included on other 550-based rifles.

I had this rifle out a few weeks ago but didn't get to do much beyond function tests at 25 yards, and some test shots at 50 yards just to see what happened.  So today was the first test at real rifle distances.  Everything was shooting off the paper high initially, and I found that the AR-style sight tool I have is slightly smaller than standard size and doesn't fit the Sig.  It was made for the Tech-Sights on my 10/22, and which is not standard AR size.  So I had to improvise for my elevation adjustments, which seem to have worked since the rifle is now just a little high at 100 yards.  Another session or two and I'll have this thing dialed in.

A couple of observations about this rifle.  First is that it is a nice shooter that doesn't beat up you at all.  It's not a mild recoiler like the AR, but it's pretty easy to handle nevertheless.  Second, this thing completely outclasses my AK.  They have very similar operation, but the Swiss have certainly refined it and made it better in every way. I really like this rifle. From what I am reading, this rifle is really showing the true potential in the 7.62x39 round, and with good glass will hit effectively out to 500 yards.  It would be nice to see some decently priced US made brass-cased ammo in this caliber.  The East-bloc stuff can be pretty inconsistent in its quality and consistency.  I suppose it won't happen though - the AK's can't really tell and there aren't enough of the 556R's in circulation yet to make it worthwhile.  I guess you can get Lapua, but that's pretty spendy.

Still, for what I bought this rifle for, there is more than enough good ammo available.

About this time our stomachs were telling us it was time to pack up and go, so we went into Williamston and had lunch at a local diner - a nice sandwich, chips, and drink type of place.

Sorry it took so long for me to post this, Aaron, but it was great to see and shoot with you again!