I am not a great marksman. Many days I can't hit the broad side of a barn...when standing inside the barn. But every once in a while the sun and the moon and the stars align, the shooting gods smile down on me and I put a few rounds fairly close together. I don't own any really serious target grade guns so if I do happen to make a decent group it's with a mundane firearm.
In 1998 I was living in Ohio and teaching at the University of Cincinnati. I was a member of a shooting club based in a small community north of the city. They did military handgun matches (I shot my 1918 Luger one time) and the annual Polar Bear Shoot on the second Saturday in January (one year it was 21 below zero).
One day I was just banging away to pass the afternoon and I decided to try my Interarms imported "Mini Mauser." I think it was made by CZ and is a scaled down commercial Model 98 in .223 Remington (later they added 7.62x39 as an option). I got the rifle as a barreled action in trade for a drill press I needed to unload when I was moving. I added the Ramline stock and a 2x7 Bausch & Lomb scope. No custom work has been done to it. I was using some military grade 55 grain FMJ ammo. This is the tightest group I have shot with any rifle ever.
Here's the rifle...
This target was shot at 50 yards and that's about all I'm good for with iron sights (and the sights are pretty rudimentary on this gun). The rifle is a custom Martini in 45/70 I bought from the smith who built it when he was set up at the Salt Lake City gun show in 1999. This was with 500 grain round nose lead bullets. I have found that it will shoot just about any bullet equally well, including 250 grain lead slugs sized .454" for the 45 Colt revolver.
Shooting with friends out in the desert one time I was challenged to hit an old, abandoned utility pole from 500 yards with the Martini. The pole was 18" in diameter and about 30' tall. Shooting from a standing position, I aimed at the center of the pole and everyone saw the bullet strike the ground and kick up sand right in front of it about 10' short. I corrected my aiming point to the very top of the pole and fired again. It took several second for the sound of the bullet impact to come drifting across the desert. Everyone was very impressed...including me.
Here's the rifle...
In 1987 I bought a Ruger 10/22 on sale at Walmart. I put an older 4x Redfield scope that I had laying around on it on it and took it to the range. These two targets are the first six shots fired from the rifle. What's surprising is how close the scope was to being dead on. I fired three rounds at 50 yards almost as fast as I could pull the trigger. True rapid fire. My buddy spotting for me with a scope told me to raise the elevation screw two clicks and shoot again. I did, again shooting as fast as I could. You can see the results. Both groups are one, slightly enlarged hole. I have never matched this performance since.
I still have the rifle...
In 1998 I was living in Ohio and teaching at the University of Cincinnati. I was a member of a shooting club based in a small community north of the city. They did military handgun matches (I shot my 1918 Luger one time) and the annual Polar Bear Shoot on the second Saturday in January (one year it was 21 below zero).
One day I was just banging away to pass the afternoon and I decided to try my Interarms imported "Mini Mauser." I think it was made by CZ and is a scaled down commercial Model 98 in .223 Remington (later they added 7.62x39 as an option). I got the rifle as a barreled action in trade for a drill press I needed to unload when I was moving. I added the Ramline stock and a 2x7 Bausch & Lomb scope. No custom work has been done to it. I was using some military grade 55 grain FMJ ammo. This is the tightest group I have shot with any rifle ever.
Here's the rifle...
This target was shot at 50 yards and that's about all I'm good for with iron sights (and the sights are pretty rudimentary on this gun). The rifle is a custom Martini in 45/70 I bought from the smith who built it when he was set up at the Salt Lake City gun show in 1999. This was with 500 grain round nose lead bullets. I have found that it will shoot just about any bullet equally well, including 250 grain lead slugs sized .454" for the 45 Colt revolver.
Shooting with friends out in the desert one time I was challenged to hit an old, abandoned utility pole from 500 yards with the Martini. The pole was 18" in diameter and about 30' tall. Shooting from a standing position, I aimed at the center of the pole and everyone saw the bullet strike the ground and kick up sand right in front of it about 10' short. I corrected my aiming point to the very top of the pole and fired again. It took several second for the sound of the bullet impact to come drifting across the desert. Everyone was very impressed...including me.
Here's the rifle...
In 1987 I bought a Ruger 10/22 on sale at Walmart. I put an older 4x Redfield scope that I had laying around on it on it and took it to the range. These two targets are the first six shots fired from the rifle. What's surprising is how close the scope was to being dead on. I fired three rounds at 50 yards almost as fast as I could pull the trigger. True rapid fire. My buddy spotting for me with a scope told me to raise the elevation screw two clicks and shoot again. I did, again shooting as fast as I could. You can see the results. Both groups are one, slightly enlarged hole. I have never matched this performance since.
I still have the rifle...
