Last week I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days at a firing range with a good friend of mine with an interesting collection of weapons. One opportunity I had was to compare the M1 Garand of WWII vs a modern 5.56-mm rifle weighing a third of the older weapon. I also had the chance to check out a red-dot scope vs a traditional telescopic sight.
The M1 has a solid feel and a good kick to it. It’s balance and solidity coupled with impressive shot groups at range gave me a feeling of power and the impression that you could fight around the world with it. The Bushmaster 5.56 with its carbon-fiber receiver, stock, and grips felt like a toy rifle. However, that light weight and the Bushmaster’s low recoil make for an effective combat weapon. The target sheet shows a shot group from the M1 supported at 50 yards.
I prefer the regular telescopic sight to the red-dot, although I’d take either before open sights at intermediate distances. Both pistols, the Colt Delta Elite and the S&W revolver fire a 10-mm auto round (you need the clip seen at the left edge of the revolver picture to load the rounds into the S&W), which makes impressive holes. The target image shows a shot group from the S&W pistol supported with telescopic sight at 50 yards.
Nice shootin Tex!!!
Nice post.
People tend to suck up to you when they see you’ve got weapons in your hand(s)… (see #1, #2)
I’ve got a Bushmaster Bullpup. It’s very compact, with a nice heavy 21 1/2 inch chrome moly vanadium steel barrel in a gun only 30″ long. It shoots 1 1/2 groups at 100 yards with cheap South African surplus ammo, from a rest. Shooting with 30 round military magazines it never jams.
You amaze me more and more Alix. This makes my world much more confusing…..lol 🙂
And a scope on a pistol, is only good if you have something to LEAN on.
Only 50 yards?? for a rifle?? YUCK, get a 30-30
I don’t get to shoot nearly as much as I’d like to…it would be cool to do that M1 comparison.
I AGREE ABOUT THE 50 YARD THING. Here is my last outing at 100 yards..and this is after having not shot anything for the last 10 years.
Of course this was an M16 assault rifle set up for sniping. Much nicer. I got credit for an additional bullseye since one of the bullets went through the same hole twice. I prefer shooting state-of-the-art weaponry rather than old clunkers.
You can be sure that all of the Dvorak Uncensored editors can shoot reasonably well. Interesting, no?
We’re a complicated bunch…
do guns make you feel like a man? And is true that gun lovers have little winkies?
#10 Pat: No and No to the second. We just like shooting stuff. It’s a hobby like any other. As an added bonus, any hunting gun lover knows that his food is 100% organic.
6, 8,
There were stepped ranges, you had to change tables to change range, so we decided to split the difference and do 50 so we could shoot both pistol and rifle. So the group with the M1 is not very impressive, but the one from the 10-mm S&W is.
5,
We all have depths, my friend.
No Pat, never even thought of that. It’s fun. Maybe you should try it in-between sewing classes.
#8, I’ve never heard of an M16 being referred to as an “assault rifle” before, heh. Decent group you’ve got there, even though 100 yards is pretty close :-P. If you ever get the chance to fire on a Marine Corps rifle range, you should try doing the KD course (200/300/500). One of the things I enjoyed the most about my eight years in the military.
M1 Garand at 50 yards, give me a break. Supported slow fire required for Marine Corp qualification in 1952 was 500 yards open sights. Standing off hand at 100 yards, 10 rounds slow fire. 10 rounds in 50 seconds, 5 sitting and 5 kneeling at 200 yards. 300 yards 5 sitting and 5 kneeling. 10 rounds rapid fire prone position. You shooting that weapon at 50 yards is akin to blaspheme. Especially if the groups your producing are so loose one can count the shots.
50 yards was pistol range open sights and some from the hip could outshout these results. At that distance why waste ammo, just throw rocks at them.
500 yards sounds fun but I suspect there would be a demand for golf carts.
14, 15.
We all know the M1 has a significantly longer range, and that military marksmanship requires a longer target distance. (FWIW, I qualified “expert” in the Army. That means proficiency with a man-sized target to 300 meters.) However, as I pointed out, we had a mixture of weapons with us and wanted to shoot them all, hence the 50-yard range was used. (Also, if I shot more than a couple of times a year, I’d have a better shot group.)
They should have “drive-by” firing ranges so the guys in the hood can practice.
#18 — they already have those. It’s called Oakland.