It was unseasonably warm yesterday, so after I finished some highly exciting PCR reviews in the morning I went off to the range.

After all, days with temperatures in the mid 60s are rare in February, so why not take advantage of them.

I took two rifles to the range to do some fine tuning and testing.

The first was my AR15 Carbine, or M4orgery, if you will. I’ve only shot it once before and that was to make sure that my self built lower receiver actually worked. Events being what they are, I’ve taken that gun just a bit more seriously than I did back when I put it together a few years ago. I was never one for the “tacticool operator” look and the Ar15 doesn’t have a lot of cool stuff  on it. I just can’t see (no pun intended) putting a $400.00 scope on a rifle.

I might have to consider that, although not a $400.00 scope. My eyes are old enough that I can use some help seeing targets out beyond about 75 feet.

My shooting with open sights was, uh, what’s the word? Sad, I guess. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that my $50.00 or so Bright Star red dot sight works really well. My shooting, while still not terrific was well inside “minute of paper plate” accuracy. I’ve been told that really good shots can dial in their sights with three shots. I am not that guy, not even close.

Not to mention that I forgot both the AR15 front sight tool and the Allen wrench for the Bright Star. I was able improvise a tool to adjust the Bright Star and actually got the grouping pretty much were it should be. I’ll continue that because as the saying goes, “Shooting stuff is fun.” Even if “stuff” is paper targets.

The AR15 ran flawlessly, which is really good, but expected, news.

Then to my brand new, never before shot, M1 Carbine. This is a new production Auto Ordinance made rifle. Interestingly, new production M1 Carbines are less expensive than the highly prized and collectible World War II versions. There were over 6,000,000 of those made during World War II. That makes the M1 Carbine the most produced rifle of World War II. At various times both during and after that war, the government loaned them out to friendly governments. Israel, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Britain, and South Korea among others.

Some of those have been returned at various times and were sold as surplus, but the current Administration has stopped that practice because goodness knows that criminals prefer 70 year old war relics to newer firearms. Or something.  Maybe the next Administration will change that, but it all depends on who is in the White House next year.

I’ve been lusting after a M1 Carbine for several years and saw one listed at a gun shop that I’ve bought a number of firearms from over the past several years. When I looked at the rifle, it was priced right for it’s condition, but it’s condition wasn’t that good. I was discussing the rifle with the dealer and mentioned that I was more interested in a shooter than a valuable collector’s piece. To which he replied that I should go over to the new gun rack and look at the brand new M1 Carbine they had for sale.

I did exactly that and bought the rifle on the spot. It didn’t have the provenance of a World War II rifle, but it was otherwise identical. Money was exchanged, pointless federal and state paperwork filled out, and I went home a happy gun owner.

Of course the weather wasn’t conducive to shooting outdoors, so I contented myself with field stripping, cleaning, and lubricating the rifle.

Which is where things stood until yesterday when the nice weather came around for a visit.

After finishing with the AR15, I loaded the magazine and started shooting.

I should mention the ammunition I used. Herters 110 grain jacketed soft point. The main virtue of this ammo is that it’s pretty inexpensive. The M1 Carbine was not designed for soft pointed ammunition. That situation was made a bit worse by the fact that the gun was brand new and never fired.

Which means that the first couple of magazines featured a lot of stoppages because the lead nose dragged it’s way up the feed ramp. At least I got pretty good at the stoppage drill, if nothing else. Actually, towards the end of the box that improved quite a bit. Which gives me hope that future range trips will feature fewer stoppages and more shooting.

The gun is pretty accurate, even with open sights and my older eyeballs. At 25 yards, open sights, offhand, I was able to keep all the rounds well within my 9 inch paper plate targets. I’ll get better with more practice. Of course that means finding more ammunition. That will be my mission when I go to the gun show this coming weekend.