Leyden Rifle Club, Leydein MA 8/26-27/17

[goodpiper]

Wow! what a beautiful weekend at the Leyden Rifle Club. Again many thanks to the Leyden Rifle Club for the use of their idylic facillity, and a particular thanks to Elwin B. for making the place look so spiffy .

Our two shooters on Saturday persisted in their efforts, and showed progress by the end of the first day. I hope to see you again John. Sunday brought one shooter back, which gave the instructors a little "line time". Keep at it Ellen, we'll get you over the line.

Special thanks to Rasmus for coming out to work with me.

Pictures to come.

[goodpiper]

How did I forget ! A big thanks to MetalgodZ for saving my chair, dummy rifle, and camera. Thanks again!

[goodpiper]

1st Picture

[goodpiper]

2nd & 3rd Pictures

[hbennett]

Saturday was about as perfect a day as one could want for an Appleseed!  This was John's first Appleseed and he did remarkably well considering his age, and given the amazing instruction and assistance thanks to the the Appleseed instructor corps.   

When we started the ride home, I asked John if he had fun and if he would like to attend another Appleseed. He answered "Yes!", and "Definitely!".  John soon after fell asleep for the rest of the ride home.   Fresh air, sunshine,  exercise, an excellent history lesson, and fun, what a way to end the summer the weekend before the school year starts again on Monday!

[hbennett]

FWIW- Saturday was a great day to get in some trigger time!  And I got to try out a Ruger Mini-14 at an Appleseed.  As I am sure that
other instructors can attest, an Appleseed is a great way to see what a rife can do and for a shooter to become really familiar with that rifle. I believe we put somewhere near 270 rounds though the rifle that day.

Impressions of the Mini-14

1. Handles and feels a LOT like a 10/22
2. The stock trigger is rough.. yuck.. the trigger is going to get sent out to a smith to be smoothed a bit..
3. No function issues whatsoever.  The mini-14 lived up to its reliability reputation.  I was using federal golden eagle 55 gr. ammo.
    which, by all accounts, produces a pretty fair fireball and shockwave!
4. Accuracy.. wasn't bad.. I think the problem was more with the shooter and over 55 year old eyes..
    unfortunately iron-sights don't cut it anymore..as much as I'd like to believe otherwise.
    We will be adding an optic (Nikon P-223 on order) and will try again. FWIW- I now have the same problem with the 10/22.
5. It got HOT!.. Wow! did this thing heat up after a couple of AQTs the barrel got HOT!.. I set the rifle on a tarp.. and the barrel
    melted the tarp which adhered to the barrel.  That was fun to clean off.. did the hot barrel it affect accuracy..probably, just not sure  how.
6. The Mini-14 REALLY throws brass.. like 30 feet! No joke!  Ejected brass pinged the shooter alongside me in the head while he was in a sitting position . It hit him pretty hard too.. It would be wise to keep any Mini-14 shooters to the FAR right of the line..
7. Magazine changes are no big deal.  While not quite as fast as an AR, but I had no problem finishing an AQT in time due to fumbling with the rock and lock magazines.

In summary:

The Mini-14 is a fun gun to shoot.. not quite as accurate as an AR.. but IMHO it handles very fast..it is very similar in feel to a 10/22 and with  only slightly more felt recoil.  I need to do some more accuracy testing.. especially after I attach the optic to eliminate shooter vision issues.  I will  also be testing  other ammo to see what the mini prefers..  I have little doubt that this handy little rifle could easily
produce Rifleman scores.