I recently acquired some USGI style magazines. The magazines were Brownells branded and “3rd generation” (light brown colored and non-tilting follower). One note about the followers was that the “top round” bulge is on the other side than in magpuls and my previous usgi magazines (gen1 and gen2)
I ran into some problems while test firing the magazines in my tuned competition rifle: the action made some rounds stood up and collision to inside corner of the barrel extions and bolt slipped to the rim. This of course happened on stage 2 in a small weekly competition ( http://youtu.be/ISoByoDOwyY?t=16s )
I got a new Chiappa firing pin which (as described in previous posts) is not very good as it is: fat striker head, does not protrude for proper contact with the hammer. So off to the range for test fire and some “gunsmithing” i.e. filing the pin into the place.
From top: the enchanded (broken) pin, new Chiappa pin and the old (broken) Chiappa pinFiring pin evolution: Some light strikes with the fat pin, going down to the sharpened pin and also some duds
In the beginning I got a lot of Failure-to-Fires (FTF) which was sort of a good thing as I noticed that there was some problems with the extraction of rounds that had been deformed, i.e. the non-fired rounds extract fine, but the ones that have been hit with the striker did not always extract.
It still appeared that there might be some contact between the weight behind the bolt and possibly the hammer was also touching the slide rail (wear on the side of the hammer). So I once again filed the weight and also did a little polish/dremel on the bolt rail where the hammer might be touching.
Special Squad took part in Finnish IPSC Minirifle Championships as match officials, providing significant work contribution in form of a CRO, two ROs and one general official.
As officials we shot in the pre-match and thus took some handicap: when in pre-match, besides shooting the squad must also do all the necessary stage work and there are always some differences on the found ways to solve the stage challenges. For example on stage 2 we did not shoot the 10cm plates from prone (the stage was designed this way, but the main match showed that there were some faults on prop placement, allowing the prone position) and on stage 10 we actually stood normally on the start, instead of putting the barrel into the hole (this was apparently allowed in the main match).
Two of us shot with the NEA15-22 which was tuned as described in the NEA15-22 saga and we had zero failures, i.e. all rounds fired and no ejection problems. There was 12 stages and minimum rounds per shooter was around 165, actual count was of course higher.
While testing the DIY Brass Catcher, there again was some failure to fires, so I took the rifle apart for checking. It seemed that there might still be too much material on the recoil spring guide / bolt weight.. So I machined (read: dremeled) off some more.
from left: previous and new protrusion, top: markings that had appeared since last session and the new modifications “painted”, bottom: current state of material
Special Squad took part in Vindimurja 2015 IPSC Level 2 Competition held 3.-5.4.2015 in Estonia. The competition was stretched for 3 days, but for one shooter, the competition took only half a day.
The range type was familiar from Rewal 3gun, being a rock crushing /mine work site in the middle of a forest. Besides piles of boulders, sand and rock, there was a lot of mud and even a little “lake”.
Panorama with Stage5 on the left and nearest safety on the right.
The weather was quite cold (~ +5 deg C with some wind and a lot of moisture). This was no issue, as it was not the first time for us to be at the range when it is not summer, plus all the action kept us warm.
All paper targets were mini-IPSC and there were several No-Shoots to make the shooter to take the shots even more carefully. There were some swingers, one mover and also some longer range poppers (200, 130 and 80m). Stage descriptions can be read from Vindimurja 2015 EN stages.
Only negative thing that comes to mind, was that there were only two safety areas on the range and they were located over hundred meters from some stages. Thus it was not very convenient to adjust anything on the rifle, partly because they were far and partly because there was only 5 shooters in the squad, which meant very little spare time between shooting, preparing and all the filming/photographing.
This was the first time for us in Rifle Semiauto Open Division and there were a lot of mistakes when trying to decide what bipods are good for where, which magnification should I use or should I use the offset red dot and of course the optic it self is still “a new thing” after several years of shooting in the Standard Division with irons.
All the inconveniences a side, we really enjoyed the shooting and had a blast.
I have though for a while to do some sort of recap or compilation from the vast amount of un-edited shooting videos. I finally managed to get myself to do it, as I’m instructing an IPSC beginners course next weekend and these kinds of demo-videos will be a good addition to the rule-books and slideshows.
Demo 1 is about different start conditions: loaded, chamber empty and unloaded (or “Option 1 through 3”)
Demo 2 has reloads with pistol, shotgun and rifle
And the final video has different “stage challenges” and one example solution for them
Ps. I’m truly sorry about the few scenes that were apparently filmed with a potato..
