VZ58 MARS - First Range Day
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:24 am
I managed to take the MARS out for a test fire on Sunday, despite a sizeable hangover, and was intent on doing a proper range review with a variety of ammo for function and accuracy testing. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas…. sign01
The wind was strong even for Ponteland, I’d guess 20-25mph more or less constantly but with gusts doubling that, certainly strong enough to shove you if your feet weren’t well planted. Worse, it was coming into the range from between 5-3 o’clock.
Regrettably that meant that zeroing was almost impossible and as such there was no base line for accuracy testing. I ended up leaving a 2” left windage bias on the ‘zero’ to compensate for the wind. Hopefully next time out will be calmer, or at least the wind will be coming from 12 or 3 o’clock.
I took the following ammo;
.223 55gr FMJ PPU
.223 55gr FMJ Barnaul (zinc coated rather than lacquered)
.223 55gr FMJ Hornady Training
A variety of 5.56mm (C J ’94, RORG ‘88, RG ‘86, L2A1, L2A2, FNM ’81)
The only positive to take away from the day was that it chewed its way through everything I put in it with only 1 malfunction out of 180 rounds; the case didn’t completely clear the action and I closed the bolt on it giving the impression of a ‘stove pipe’ type jam. This was the 2nd round fired and I’m putting it down to the newness of the gun, rather than a ‘real’ FTE.
Speaking of ejection be prepared to spend a LOT of time picking up cases if you’re wanting to reload them, (or that’s the range protocol), the gun ejects them up, and forward, varying from 3ft to 10ft in the air and a similar distance forward. emrolleyes This makes keeping the profile of the gun on the range low next to impossible. You should also expect to spend a LOT of time explaining the action type to the many people that come over to gawk – “what the hell is THAT?” ”where do you get them from?” etc etc. :lol:
If you don’t know the RCO is ‘cool’ with this type of thing, it might be an idea to let them know before you start shooting. Also don’t forget to ask for permission to go forward of the firing point to pick up the cases after everyones guns have been cleared if protocol dictates.
Using the trigger to close the bolt takes some getting used to and is a bit unnerving at first as to some extent it goes against one of the golden rules of firearms safety. I’d imagine using this gun for CSR or practical rifle may present some challenges to conventional shooting/safety drills.
Once I’d come to terms with the fact I wasn’t going to get any accuracy testing done I just had fun with the rifle, and it’s a gun that its easy to have fun with! Although not capable of proper semi-auto speed an impressive RoF is achievable and it takes considerably less dexterity that the SGC lever release rifles.
Expect to have a tired finger at the end of the day though.
Its now highly likely i'll also be getting a 9mm version too to use for IPSC gallery rifle comps
The wind was strong even for Ponteland, I’d guess 20-25mph more or less constantly but with gusts doubling that, certainly strong enough to shove you if your feet weren’t well planted. Worse, it was coming into the range from between 5-3 o’clock.
Regrettably that meant that zeroing was almost impossible and as such there was no base line for accuracy testing. I ended up leaving a 2” left windage bias on the ‘zero’ to compensate for the wind. Hopefully next time out will be calmer, or at least the wind will be coming from 12 or 3 o’clock.I took the following ammo;
.223 55gr FMJ PPU
.223 55gr FMJ Barnaul (zinc coated rather than lacquered)
.223 55gr FMJ Hornady Training
A variety of 5.56mm (C J ’94, RORG ‘88, RG ‘86, L2A1, L2A2, FNM ’81)
The only positive to take away from the day was that it chewed its way through everything I put in it with only 1 malfunction out of 180 rounds; the case didn’t completely clear the action and I closed the bolt on it giving the impression of a ‘stove pipe’ type jam. This was the 2nd round fired and I’m putting it down to the newness of the gun, rather than a ‘real’ FTE.
Speaking of ejection be prepared to spend a LOT of time picking up cases if you’re wanting to reload them, (or that’s the range protocol), the gun ejects them up, and forward, varying from 3ft to 10ft in the air and a similar distance forward. emrolleyes This makes keeping the profile of the gun on the range low next to impossible. You should also expect to spend a LOT of time explaining the action type to the many people that come over to gawk – “what the hell is THAT?” ”where do you get them from?” etc etc. :lol:
If you don’t know the RCO is ‘cool’ with this type of thing, it might be an idea to let them know before you start shooting. Also don’t forget to ask for permission to go forward of the firing point to pick up the cases after everyones guns have been cleared if protocol dictates.
Using the trigger to close the bolt takes some getting used to and is a bit unnerving at first as to some extent it goes against one of the golden rules of firearms safety. I’d imagine using this gun for CSR or practical rifle may present some challenges to conventional shooting/safety drills.
Once I’d come to terms with the fact I wasn’t going to get any accuracy testing done I just had fun with the rifle, and it’s a gun that its easy to have fun with! Although not capable of proper semi-auto speed an impressive RoF is achievable and it takes considerably less dexterity that the SGC lever release rifles.
Expect to have a tired finger at the end of the day though.Its now highly likely i'll also be getting a 9mm version too to use for IPSC gallery rifle comps
