Just returned from a long holiday trip from SoCal to Spokane to see my family. Due to the great, read that as warm and dry, weather we were having I was able to get my pappy out to the range with an assortment of firearms to try out. Was something I have been hoping to do for awhile.
We started out with shotguns. Pappy brought along his Winchester Model 12 and I brought my Mossburg 500. Neither of us have fired trap in awhile so we were pretty rusty.
Next moved along to handguns. Pappy brought out his Beretta Model 948 .22LR. I brought my Springfield 1911-A1, Ruger New Model Blackhawk .45 Colt and Browning Buck Mark .22 LR. First chance to fire the Ruger and it was a joy to fire. We switched and I was able to shoot pappys Beretta which I have been wanting to check out for years. Nice little piece, smooth action and fun to shoot.
Next we moved on to long guns. Did most of our firing at the 25 yard line as we were working on sight adjustment. Pappy hadn't had his out in awhile. Pappy spent much of his long gun time adjusting the sights on his Winchester Model 61 with a Weaver B6 sight. His Winchesters were a gift from his dad back in the early 50's I believe. He was happy to get the sights adjusted with some help from the range master. As for me I was finally able to get my Mosin Nagant M91/30 out and get the sights set. Fun to shoot but am glad I installed the rubber pad on the butt as my shoulder got kinda sore by the end of the day. The most fun for both of us was that we were able to fire the Arisaka that my uncle brought back from Japan at the end of the war. It had been shoved under a bed for the 20 or so years so I ended up having to give it a quick wipe down. Didn't want to spend all day detailing it. What surprised me was that the patches I ran down the bore seemed to come back covered with cosmoline or a similar substance. Never been fired in all the years it has been in the family (56 years) and was not only surprised at how well the action worked, but that the iron sights were nuts on. Neither pappy or I did anything but drop them in the bull with no adjustments.
Anyway it was a fun day that pappy and I were able to enjoy together and spend some time bonding as I only get home once a year if lucky. We had a lot of fun and I wanted to share that with fellow forum members.
Kudos also to the Spokane Rifle Club for their help in getting us set up, lending us a spotting scope and helping pappy to get his sights set. Will be a fun day to remember thanks to them.
Photo of firearms used that day below (click to enlarge)
Admins, if this is the wrong place please feel free to relocate.
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