Late this morning my son asked me, out of the blue, if I wanted to go to the range to sight in our Marlin XS7 rifle. That would be the one I bought at a Hessney Auction in October 2012. Imagine that, buying the rifle over two years ago but it had not yet been fired even once as of today at the time Brendan asked me to take it to the range. I truly am the Great Procrastinator!
Regardless of my slothfulness, we finally got it sighted in. maybe I should say we got it sighted in more or less. One reason for the 'more or less' qualifier is that we were at a 30 yard indoor range.So while we used a laser bore sighter to get it on paper and then I adjusted to get it in the black, it's still not really sighted in for the typical ranges at which it would be used. We plan to sight it in at 100 or 200 yards when it is warm enough to be comfortable range. Now there was one other reason that I have to say it was sighted in 'more or less' - the rings started to loosen up while shooting. I would have sworn I had them as tight as tight could be without breaking them but hey loosened up enough to the point that I decided not to waste any ammo shooting the rifle any more. I had all sorts of Allen wrenches and screw divers with me but needed a wrench to tighten this particular abomination of a set of rings and did not have one. Lesson learned. Anyway, we had fun while it lasted.
When shooting the 308 went belly up, we turned to another Marlin, our Marlin 25MN in 22WR. We both had some fun with that and then I had some fun getting in some shots with my Remington R1 1911. Being that we were at a local range, here in NY, Brendan could not shoot the pistol because he does not have a pistol license. Such in life in a leftist commie like state. Why he does not get his license is beyond me. As I was shooting the 1911, at 7 yards, one of the other shooters in the room told me that it was some great shooting. I hated to disagree but had to be honest and say I used to shoot better. I don't know if the small decline in my shooting skills is, in part, due to me getting older but I definitely think it has to do with me no longer getting free practice ammo from work (one of the few bad things about retirement). Add to that the current cost of ammo and the shortages of it in the recent past and I just don't get to the range as often as I used too. That, more than aging, is probably the greatest factor that has effected my shooting ability. I suppose anyone's skills could drop a bit due to those things. Still though, I will admit, it was a pretty nice group that I had just shot and that the other guy was a commenting about - certainly better than most shooters I have seen would do. Nope, not bragging, just more or less satisfied with how I shot today because regardless of age, ammo shortages, ammo prices, and fewer range trips, it's nice to know that papa's still got it.
All the best,
Glenn B
Regardless of my slothfulness, we finally got it sighted in. maybe I should say we got it sighted in more or less. One reason for the 'more or less' qualifier is that we were at a 30 yard indoor range.So while we used a laser bore sighter to get it on paper and then I adjusted to get it in the black, it's still not really sighted in for the typical ranges at which it would be used. We plan to sight it in at 100 or 200 yards when it is warm enough to be comfortable range. Now there was one other reason that I have to say it was sighted in 'more or less' - the rings started to loosen up while shooting. I would have sworn I had them as tight as tight could be without breaking them but hey loosened up enough to the point that I decided not to waste any ammo shooting the rifle any more. I had all sorts of Allen wrenches and screw divers with me but needed a wrench to tighten this particular abomination of a set of rings and did not have one. Lesson learned. Anyway, we had fun while it lasted.
When shooting the 308 went belly up, we turned to another Marlin, our Marlin 25MN in 22WR. We both had some fun with that and then I had some fun getting in some shots with my Remington R1 1911. Being that we were at a local range, here in NY, Brendan could not shoot the pistol because he does not have a pistol license. Such in life in a leftist commie like state. Why he does not get his license is beyond me. As I was shooting the 1911, at 7 yards, one of the other shooters in the room told me that it was some great shooting. I hated to disagree but had to be honest and say I used to shoot better. I don't know if the small decline in my shooting skills is, in part, due to me getting older but I definitely think it has to do with me no longer getting free practice ammo from work (one of the few bad things about retirement). Add to that the current cost of ammo and the shortages of it in the recent past and I just don't get to the range as often as I used too. That, more than aging, is probably the greatest factor that has effected my shooting ability. I suppose anyone's skills could drop a bit due to those things. Still though, I will admit, it was a pretty nice group that I had just shot and that the other guy was a commenting about - certainly better than most shooters I have seen would do. Nope, not bragging, just more or less satisfied with how I shot today because regardless of age, ammo shortages, ammo prices, and fewer range trips, it's nice to know that papa's still got it.
All the best,
Glenn B
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