M1 Conversation at the range

Going to the range is interesting. The one I got to is populated by benchresters and hunters. These particular ones are gun snobs to the man. When I'm firing kneeling or offhand, they all stop what they're doing and stare, as if rifles were never made to be used that way. They can't seem to figure out why I'm the only one without a scope.

One fellow, who was at the stand next to me, watched me for a few hours. He saw me work the bolt on my m91/30. I'm guessing he was in his 50s or so. He said to me, "Nice garand you've got there. How much is that .303 ammo these days?" I told him it's a mosin and it's in 7.62x54R. "Yeah, what I said. 303." Right...

As I was packing up, some woman said, "Um, I'm not sure if you're new to guns, but last time I checked, you can't have an AK47 here." She was, of course, referring to my sks. Her husband came to my rescue: "Linda, it's okay. That's an early model; no pistol grips, so it's allowed."

Next time I see them there, I'll set up next to them so I can shower them in brass from my early model Kalashnikov...

:runaway: <--- me leaving the range that day
 
Brutus said:
.
Once Silverback brought his Garand to an all day fun shoot, one ignorant old drunk thought his rifle "broke" when the clip was ejected, and started to point and laugh????
Click to expand...

haha, thanks man, that is too funny.

I also love to bring the old warhorse to the range, it always sparks up a few conversations here and there.

Never had such a funny comment though, except from that guy who thought it was a norinco m305. :D
 
You think these stories are bad,on weds I took my M1D to the range
and the hunters were there getting ready for deer season and I had
a pair of them tell me what a lousy job I did putting the scope on
my rifle.It's all off to the side,it'll never work there.Did you do that
yourself hahaha.I just shook my head and when they were shooting
I shot at their targets(the benches are close together)they did'nt stay
long they said there rifles were sighted in great.Regards 375rum
 
375rum said:
You think these stories are bad,on weds I took my M1D to the range
and the hunters were there getting ready for deer season and I had
a pair of them tell me what a lousy job I did putting the scope on
my rifle.It's all off to the side,it'll never work there.Did you do that
yourself hahaha.I just shook my head and when they were shooting
I shot at their targets(the benches are close together)they did'nt stay
long they said there rifles were sighted in great.Regards 375rum
Click to expand...

So now some deer is possibly going to be injured. :( Great.
 
375rum said:
You think these stories are bad,on weds I took my M1D to the range
and the hunters were there getting ready for deer season and I had
a pair of them tell me what a lousy job I did putting the scope on
my rifle.It's all off to the side,it'll never work there.Did you do that
yourself hahaha.I just shook my head and when they were shooting
I shot at their targets(the benches are close together)they did'nt stay
long they said there rifles were sighted in great.Regards 375rum
Click to expand...

Cant really agree with that!:eek:

I would just shoot a really small group, and smile!:)
 
I had to convince a guy that a ruger 10/22, was in fact NOT an AK47. And this is no BS. I think he left still thinking it was an AK because of the Banana clip :rolleyes:
 
Probably my best experience with those uninitiated with milsurps was at the Heffley Creek range at Kamloops.

Was up one day with my Swede M96 and plinking around a bit when a couple of hunters with the typical high monetary value rifles, witht he way too powerful/expensive scope on them showed up. So I took a break to let my barrel cool, and let them set up targets.

So they came back, and we talked for a bit, and they were quite thoroughly proud of their rifles that could shoot vastly better than they could, and asked what I had, so I told them I had my M96 that was made in 1899. They laughed a bit and said how a rifle that old was completely unsafe to fire, much less capable of shooting anything decent. I shrugged them off and we went on to our shooting.

After a few rounds, one of them starts plinking at the 300 metre gong (the range has 12"x18" gongs at 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 900 metres) and was bragging to his friend how he could nail the gong almost everytime and then laughed and said that my old war horse couldn't do anything even close to that.

So I loaded my last five rounds, flipped the sights up, put them at the 700 metre setting. Bang, PING. Bang, PING. Bang, PING. Bang, PING. Bang, PING.

They didn't talk to me after that.

Should've went for 900 metres instead. :D

Probably would've missed though. My Swede does shoot better than I can. ;)
 
Best one I heard was regarding an M1D Garand at the range with a Hart Flashhider..."What's that Megaphone on the end of the Barrel for???"...!!!
 
We have been running a small military match at my club for quite a few years now. When we first ran it, many of the non milsurp members would walk slowly past staring with big frowns. Once, I had my Soviet SG43 set up on the anti-aircraft position of the carriage with the belt hanging out of it when the shotgunners walked by. Some of them almost fell over when they saw that :eek: . At another match, some grumbling came at the sight of my M1A1 Thompson. That subsided when I offered to let the grumblers shoot it. The grumbles turned to grins and my ammo seemed to dissapear rather quickly.
 
i started out with modern stuffs (you know, ar15, sig pistol P2** series, etc), but now i am more interested in milsurps. i don't know if AKs considered milsurp, but i like them very much. however, it's out of the question since it is prohibited...so, my attention turned to SKS and VZ.

i go to poco range and folks there seem fine. on several occasions, i had people came up asking questions with admiration while i was shooting tokarev and mosin.
 
Some forum members (no names mentioned :D ) can be a little aloof when it comes to milsurps too. At a gunshow I told some fellow gunnutz I was looking for a P-14 but only found a P-17. Thier response..... isn't that a pistol? Well, I can't blame them for thinking of a certain product made by Para-Ordanance, but I still found it funny.

I've only shot at a large range once (Silverdale) and most of the guys there were using milsurps or the sporterized versions of them, so I've never had any strange questions.
 
Brutus said:
Once Silverback brought his Garand to an all day fun shoot, one ignorant old drunk thought his rifle "broke" when the clip was ejected, and started to point and laugh????
Click to expand...

It is 100% true, the guy was just an idiot anyway, all I could do is look over at him and shake my head. The guy wasn't drunk at the time (I don't think so) but he was just an old alcoholic, what a loser.
 
I love old guns, if I see someone shooting one, I go over to learn about it, does not matter whether it is misurp or an old hunting gun, it neat to see an old girl still performing.
 
I wonder what those folks would have said if you had brought out a Martini or a Snider?;)

Oh by the way, I was ISSUED an M1. Had to give it back when I left. I suppose the army wanted to give it to the next guy.:D
 
Wow. Nice to hear I'm not the only one who gets strange looks when you bring an old toy to the range. Most of the other shooters have the AR's, and complain that the Garand or LE is "too loud".
 
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