Blammer - Gun Blog

I recently had a chance to try a rifle at MFL. I’m not even sure what kind of rifle it was, but it was a lot of fun and I wanted one. I had that sense of being able to really reach out and touch a distant target. I liked it!

I had previous shot a few rounds through the AR-15, but we couldn’t get the gun to cycle completely, so it was more awkward than fun. Still need to bring it back and see if the intensive cleaning has smoothed it out any.

Anyway, I asked one of the range operators which rifles I could shoot indoors. You can shoot the AR-15 if you use their frangible ammunition; the velocity limit at MFL is 2000fps. Ordinary .223 Remington and 5.56mm NATO have velocities in the 2500-2800fps range. The frangible ammunition is designed to crumble on hard contact rather than penetrate (such is the definition of “frangible”). The problem is it’s about 50 cents a shot. Yikes.

When I asked what other rifles we could shoot indoors, a .30-06 was fine, as were any carbines in pistol calibers. There were some .44 and .45 calibers that I didn’t quite catch. So this might be a good opportunity to pick up that cowbow lever action rifle. Pricewise, finding something in 9mm would be cheapest to shoot. Otherwise, I guess I’m looking at reloading at some point to keep costs down.