After waiting two weeks for the rifle to be checked out and cleaned by a professional and a mission abort last weekend due to circumstances beyond her control ( otherwise known as kx59 being too freaking tired to mess with it) we went to the the range to shoot her beloved Natasha as first order of business today.
We paid our fee and headed to the 35 yard part of the range. It's been a long time for both of us since we've fired a long gun. I don't know what Belle's expectations were, but my plan was to just get reacquainted with a firearm. It's been so long for me that I couldn't recall what the recoil from a shotgun felt like.
Belle decided I should go first. I think she wanted to observe how much whiplash ensued from shooting this 70 year old rifle. So, I loaded up and sighted in on the target.
The Tokorev is a fairly heavy rifle. The recoil was minimal compared to what I
was expecting. Muzzle rise was nonexistent. We had a slight breeze from left to right, and I noticed a puff of dust off to the right of the target after I squeezed off the first round I've fired in 20 years. In the back of my mind I'm thinking well, whatever, it's been a long time. I assumed I'd missed the target entirely. We don't have a spotting scope, so I brought along my digital camera with a 12x zoom. I could see with my naked eye assisted with my high tech bifocals the second shot to the left of target center on the lower target. The other two I could not see, and assumed a major fail on my part.
Round one is in the top target just low of dead center. Round two is left of center in the bottom target. Round three is top center in the bottom target.
And then, the gun began to jam. Ten rounds in the mag. Fired three with everything functioning perfectly, and the reload for the fourth round caught in the breach, deforming the nose of the bullet. I cleared it and tried two more times with the same result. So, we aborted mission and gave the three deformed rounds to the gun range to dispose of.
My suspicion is that the spring in the mag is worn out
I shot well in my younger years, but from my short experience with the Tokorev, I believe if it could have driven itself to the range, it would have done just fine without me. That rifle just absolutely rocks.
The lovely Belle is now on a quest to find additional magazines in good working order, and pissed that she did not go first.
To quote Borepatch, that was Shooty Goodness. Now that I think about it though, even on a bad day, is there any other kind?
Of course I was even more pissed when the handsome KX59 said, as I was pulling onto the highway away from the range, "Well, we could have just breech loaded the rounds and shot it one load at a time"
ReplyDeletegrrrrr
My bad, it's been a long time. My caveman brain issued a rare warning "gun not functioning correctly, suggest stop shooting". This time I elected to listen.
ReplyDeleteYou did right to quit when if failed to function correctly. Looking forward to reading the next range report about how it's now shooting flawlessly.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to try different ammo next time, too. I'd be surprised if the spring suddenly wore out. Different ammo and a good cleaning/lube job should be tried, too.
Kudos for the interesting and historic rifle.