back to the Range today.

I shot on the short range today. Was sighting in my Dad's .222 that I did some scope work to. Took along the PSL too; what can I say, Hate leaving my baby behind to pout in the gun case.

I like the .222. Decent round, high velocity, excellent mushrooming on the bullet. Sadly it has been ousted by the .223 round. Just bad timing on Remingtons part I believe.

Not an MBR though. While it has an excellent trigger/action set up. Bolt action with a max magazine capacity of 4 rounds, well, its only a deer rifle then. And a damned good deer rifle at that. Yes, in a pinch it could be used for more, but I wouldn't want to get myself in a pinch like that.

On the other hand, there is the PSL. Shoots a round that was developed in the late 1800's, was perfected in the early part of the 1900's, and has been in use in various weapons since then. The weapons may become less than desirable, but the round still very much kicks butt.
Below are some of the rounds I recovered from the berm. These are the steel cored Yugoslavian rounds I purchased last year.
As you can see, they don't mushroom, they disintegrate. On the right hand side of the pic are the copper jackets. This seems to be a cupro-nickel jacket. Its quite hard and doesn't bend except under pretty good pressure from a pair of pliers.(or impacting the berm as is the case here) On the left hand side are the steel cores. I looked at them under magnifying glass and can't find any deformation at all on any of them. Seeing how the jacket rips apart and the core is intact, I would have to imagine this thing tumbles like mad after impact.

I could be wrong though. Reason: that bullet at the bottom of the pic. This one was recovered from the berm also but only after it passed through a section of old red oak stump. The stump was 18" in diameter and I still had to dig about 8 inches into the clay we call soil around here, to recover that bullet. Seems that what stopped it was a rock as indicated by the tip. I didn't find the rock though. Still not 100% certain what happens with these bullets after impact. I would imagine that no matter what does happen, if you are on the receiving end, it ain't gonna be good. And for fact, with this round, a large tree is NOT cover. I know a 5.56 NATO round won't penetrate that far into hardwood. I haven't had one in hand for a few years, so I am not sure what they will penetrate any longer; though I have to doubt it has the kinetic energy to do the above feat.

Why the post on bullets? Why not. I wanted to show that what was, is still EXTREMELY viable as a combat weapon. Maybe more so than some of the toys we are issuing our troops now.(wonder why the Marines have been dipping back into the M-14 reserves? Hmmm??) It matters not if its a Mosin-Nagant, M38 carbine or a more modern version like the Romak3 PSL 54c or the honest to God Dragunov(though with the cost on that thing, you could get an AR10 and have money to spare for Ammo. .308 is a bit more pricey in ammo though the ammo is more readily available)

Just thought I would throw out some food for thought there. I always find it a learning experience to see what the rounds look like after they have done what they are supposed to do. Really gives you some Idea as to what the real end result will be. I usually try to push the limits of my shooting abilities but today was not that time. The mud around here is atrocious and getting to our 'long range' was not happening. 4X4 or not, just not going to risk getting up that hill today. Still, felt good to get out and make loud noises and destroy some targets.