Winter Warrior Milsurp Postal Match

I was hoping to sneak out at noon. Have the M39 loaded up but we've been bombarded with cold related calls over night and into today. No way I can take off. Maybe tmrw.
 
Slide's a little greased and 4 mags are preloaded with 10 rounds each... Stay tuned.
My great uncle once said when they knew they would be up in elevation and into the snow they removed the lube from the garands and carbines and used it as lip balm. I always got a half joke half truth vibe with some of his stories.
In all his stories I never heard much of failures of small arms. Endless stories of heavy equipment failures like half tracks and deuceNahalf's. Stories of acquiring village donky or goats to hall gear where fun.
 
Probably going to shoot one of the M1’s tomorrow. If I can get going early enough it should be below zero. I think the Mobil 1 lube should be GTG in the extreme low temp.
 
My M1 Carbine didn't freeze up... 11F at the range. However, in the warmer months it was zero'd in for a nice 6 oclock hold at 100 yards on an SR-1.

I shot this sitting which is for me, the stable position to shoot the carbine in. I'm wondering how temp sensitive H110 is, or if it was just me as I had an m65 field jacket on with liner and many layers underneath. Felt like George Costanza in the "puffy jacket" Seinfeld episode.

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I shot a prone for 10 rounds and tried to adjust the sights. Finally gave up and shot at steel targets for the rest of the time. Had the range to myself too, which is always great.
Your fair weather zero will always be higher than cold weather. That's not including any influence on the ammo.
Over all I have to come up a minute or 2 in the winter months.
I generally keep my ammo in the truck until ready to shoot. One of the old timers said you won't see a difference in deviation of your ammo from 0'-100'f shooting surplus rifles inside 600 yards. Sub MOA shooters at 600-1000 yards will notice.
 
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DW, those shots really dropped. Maybe a combo of air density and perhaps that H110 is a bit temp sensitive. Good luck for your match. I've had trouble with AR's in extreme cold when using a cold incompatible lube.

Not cold enough to go shooting, so I'm going skiing today instead ;). Looking to test a M1 w/ Mobil 1 grease in sub zero weather. Monday AM should work, probably will bring the .308 'unlimited' that I built.
 
So it appears Varget is pretty stable in low temps. Normally we shoot the National Match course on reduced targets, but due to the cold, the match director changed the course of fire to 30 rounds offhand done 3 strings of 10shots/10minutes. I'm unsure if it was because my blood was flowing like molasses steadied me in these temps but I shot one of my better offhands.....

Now back to your regularly scheduled winter warrior milsurp match.......

Maybe there's an advantage to being dressed like this?

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Shots definitely on the mark...
 
So looks like my record coldest day to shoot is moving to Sunday AM. Might be -12F at my range that morning. Should be an interesting torture test for a M1. Gotta look up Mobil 1 grease service temperatures...

Here's a well worn but funny joke from the Russo-Finnish War:

A large group of Russian soldiers in the border area in 1939 are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a small hill: "One Finnish soldier is better than ten Russian".

The Russian commander quickly orders 10 of his best men over the hill where Upon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes, then silence. The voice once again calls out: "One Finn is better than one hundred Russian."

Furious, the Russian commander sends his next best 100 troops over the hill and instantly a huge gun fight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again Silence. The calm Finnish voice calls out again: "One Finn is better than one thousand Russians!"

The enraged Russian commander musters 1000 fighters and sends them to the other side of the hill. Rifle fire, machine guns, grenades, rockets and cannon fire ring out as a terrible battle is fought...

Then silence.

Eventually one badly wounded Russian fighter crawls back over the hill and with his dying words tells his commander, "Don't send any more men...it's a trap. There's two of them."
 
That story is posted on "The Mosin Crate's" website.

T


Among others :). As mentioned, well worn.

Went partridge hunting today with a friend in his 70's. His dentist has some good stories from when his father and uncle fought in the Winter War. The Finns were pretty nuts in a brutal way. Russian skull ashtrays apparently are not a rumor.
 
Sooooo, who's up for a little shooting tomorrow? Wonder how much affect 50mph gusts and near blinding snow would have on the trajectory of a bullet.
I have my gear ready if I can sneak off between work and home if club is accessible. Did not know it was going to be so warm today I would have tested out the mosin with the last 100_rounds of Chinese 54r I have.
As for wind correction your average 30 cal-ish load will need about 10min correction at 200 with a full value wind at 50mph
About 4-5min at 100 yards. Add another few couple several min for the blinding snow
 
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After a vaca day yesterday, probably shouldn't hike out to the range even if work shuts down early. Looks like forecast just changed to ~16" in our area. Our range road is pretty steep and based on past experience my truck is good for ~14" of snow on the uphill sections. Need better tires and I could probably be good for 2 feet.

I should shoot the 50 BMG prone and make a video of what happens to the snow from the brake blast. It's not milsurp but I do have some milsurp ammo for it. [smile]

Still thinking about the uber-cold M1 test once we get minus 10 degrees, give or take.
 
omg I want to be there for the avalanche that occurs after your first .50 round goes off!

Good idea, LOL. Had some micro avalanches last time- only a little bit of snow on the roof. Our pavilion is fairly small and low, so the 50 really jars it- along with jarring me because of the close confinement. I tend to bring it when the range will normally be empty because I assume it's a bit much for others to deal with. I may take it with whatever milsurp I shoot next time and see if there's snow piled up on the roof.
 
I've asked our club to cut pressure relief openings on the sides of our 50 yard range cover; its only about 30 feet wide and 20 deep. Anytime a muzzle in within the edge, your ears ring.

t
 
This morning may stand as my personal all-time record for coldest range day unless I'm dumb enough to go out if it ever gets colder. Yes, I'm dumb enough but remains to be seen if I'm free when it will be colder.

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I brought my M1 Garand Natl Match clone and some leftover rounds of Creedmoor 167 gr .308 Match. Temps this cold hurt the nostrils a little, but I was otherwise toasty in an Arctic work parka that I have had for a couple years.

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The hood 'ruff' is coyote and does a damn good job of keeping my face warm enough. It's actually better than a neoprene face mask and doesn't load up with ice like a face mask will. Not a believer? Check out discussions regarding Iditarod gear.

M1 was cold enough that my breath was causing frost and ice to collect on the stock as I held position to take aim. Shot with sling from the bench and the sling was very stiff. Rifle seemed to sight in quickly with only 3 shots on another target: an 8, a 9, and an X. However, the next 10 shots for score did wander vertically a little which I attribute to the action settling in to the frigid stock and also my eyes watering a little in the cold wind. Last 3 shots landed just as I called them, including the 'X'. All in all, I'm good with a 96-1X in such weather. Zero problems with the M1, and the Mobil 1 grease worked AOK as a lube in the extreme cold.

p6tUHY4l.jpg
 
This morning may stand as my personal all-time record for coldest range day unless I'm dumb enough to go out if it ever gets colder. Yes, I'm dumb enough but remains to be seen if I'm free when it will be colder.

8X0aTC7m.jpg


I brought my M1 Garand Natl Match clone and some leftover rounds of Creedmoor 167 gr .308 Match. Temps this cold hurt the nostrils a little, but I was otherwise toasty in an Arctic work parka that I have had for a couple years.

oJG9kdMm.jpg


The hood 'ruff' is coyote and does a damn good job of keeping my face warm enough. It's actually better than a neoprene face mask and doesn't load up with ice like a face mask will. Not a believer? Check out discussions regarding Iditarod gear.

M1 was cold enough that my breath was causing frost and ice to collect on the stock as I held position to take aim. Shot with sling from the bench and the sling was very stiff. Rifle seemed to sight in quickly with only 3 shots on another target: an 8, a 9, and an X. However, the next 10 shots for score did wander vertically a little which I attribute to the action settling in to the frigid stock and also my eyes watering a little in the cold wind. Last 3 shots landed just as I called them, including the 'X'. All in all, I'm good with a 96-1X in such weather. Zero problems with the M1, and the Mobil 1 grease worked AOK as a lube in the extreme cold.

p6tUHY4l.jpg

Damn, that's some good shooting in that cold weather!
 
14 degrees in Pembroke today. Swept the snow and threw down a mat.CE1D9235-D6D7-4E81-BBB5-9AF2C2FCEA18.jpeg 3F877973-A1F3-4700-A403-82A6AB171A77.jpeg
I shot three strings of 10 shots. My first shot on all three targets were the same low left 8 ringer. This was the best I could do before the rifle house stove ran out of wood and I could no longer get blood back into my hands between strings.

Garand, S&B M2 Ball, 94 1x
 
Probably voids the rules, but no chance of competing here. I haven't been feeling well the last few days, and didn't want to lug out all the assorted rifle stuff. It was 35F with plenty of snow, and the range shelter floor was an inch of ice. There haven't been many 30F+ days lately, so I had to go since I had the time. Having just mailed off my M17 S/W, I wanted to shoot some .45acp. Brought out the 101 year old Colt 1911, 30 rounds of WWB, and three 50' targets. Shot at 50 feet. It was sunny, but the range was in shadow. Thought the first target, top left, was the worst, but it was my best at 55-1X. I went downhill from there; following with a 48 and a 36.

t
 

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I will get in on this. Next weekend day that it's below freezing I'll get over to the range and put some rounds through a milsurp rifle or two.

Question: Can I use my ugly, beat-up 1956 T53 Mosin? I see the rules are "WWII or older" but this is an exact copy of the M44. No go? If no, the only rifle I have that meets the criteria is the 1945 M1 carbine. That's fine if I can't use the T53 but I really enjoy shooting that piece of driftwood. Really, it's horrible looking but shoots great.
 
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Great, glad you are in!

Yes, T53 Mosin is AOK. Close enough. Mostly I want to avoid AR's and M1A's / M14's which in match condition could have an advantage over the older iron. And remember, if you can see any snow from the range you are good to go, LOL. Postal match runs through end of February.

I think I'll do this again next year and leave it open to any milsurp, with optics up to 4.5X. Not for this time, however...
 
And remember, if you can see any snow from the range you are good to go, LOL. Postal match runs through end of February.

Oh Ok so it doesn't need to be below freezing on the day of pew? There should be snow sticking around here (Cape Cod) for a while now, freezing temps coming in after this snowfall this morning. Although it's rain now. ;)
 
Below freezing and/or snow cover. Special recognition for anyone with the cajones to shoot prone in the snow. :D
 
Today is the day, I have a feeling. [smile] Heading to the range today with my Mosin 91/30 and 1903A3 to see if my last round was a fluke or not. So cold, snow and windy. Think it meets all the rules. Did prone last time and damn that was cold. Might go bench this time.... [wink]
 
I think the temp is climbing up, but it was 1 degree here at 7am. I'd like to go shooting but need ski racing practice & the exercise today. I'll be racing in NASTAR Nationals at Squaw & my flatlander lungs need some some work so I can breathe at 8000'.

Yeah, I'd shoot bench today too.
 
I think the temp is climbing up, but it was 1 degree here at 7am. I'd like to go shooting but need ski racing practice & the exercise today. I'll be racing in NASTAR Nationals at Squaw & my flatlander lungs need some some work so I can breathe at 8000'.

Yeah, I'd shoot bench today too.

wow! you're cooler than you look, sir! :D
 
I plan on making it to my club this afternoon. Will probably not be going prone but heck I guess I could just bring a tarp!

hell yeah! i'm going to bring out my winter ladies before all is said and done on this...will be excluding my scores from the put due to my recent triumph in the Garand 'RANDOM' drawing though. Gotta spread the wealth, you know.

guns i'm considering and may make time for all of them, who knows:

-1903 Springfield (900,000 serial)
-M39 Sako
-K31 Swiss
-M44
-91/30 Hex
 
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