Chilly day at the range
 

Went to the range with couple of friends today. Weather was really nice, clear sky and the sun was shining, temps were around -15F. Took my Saiga and Tikka with me and my friend brought his PAR Mk3 AR-15. Add enough ammo and you get a very fun day with friends :D

Tikka was shooting well with my handloads and also some other ammo I grabbed from the gun safe, sub-moa @ 100yds. With the Saiga we were getting 7"-ish groups off hand at the same distance with Barnaul ammo, 4"-ish with the AR and S&B ammo. The AR was suffering some chambering issues, couldn't really figure out what it was exactly, but we suspected it was due to the cold temperature and we also noticed the buffer tube had worked itself a bit loose, could have been a lubrication issue too. It had worked without an issue before with the same mag and ammo. The new FAB Defense handguard on the Saiga made the sight picture a bit blurry because of the rail on the upper half. I'll need to figure out some better sighting options or try to widen the groove on the handguard's rail.

After three hours our fingers and toes were starting to feel the cold and we headed home. All in all a good day.

Me with the Saiga
http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...40647_edit.jpg

Kasper with the Tikka
http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/P2040648.jpg

Mikko with his AR
http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...P2040650_1.jpg

Taken from the targets
http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/IMG_1605.jpg

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/P2040652.jpg

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/P2040651.jpg

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...a/P2040653.jpg

Hi Alek, looks like a fun time! Though around here when it hits -15F the only thing I'm look'in to do is find the remote for the TV.

Thats kinda neat the way Mikko has that extra mag holder mounted on the rail. Never seen that done before.

You guys sure have a super nice place to shoot, enjoy the rest of the winter. Ken

GREAT range report!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

Thanks Ken! -15F is cold for us Finns too, but not too cold to have some fun at the range :p The fore grip on Mikko's AR is a FAB Defense item. I had it laying around without use so I gave it to him. It's not that great really as a fore grip and inserting a fully loaded mag in it will add some weight to the front of the gun. We just used it as reference point for the support hand and Mikko's already ordered a Magpul RVG to replace that mag grip.

Apparently, Mikko is in the witness protection program. What did he do, tick off some Russian mobster? ;)

Looks like a fun day.

Cold but fun. Thanks fer posting.

Not a mobster necessarily, but might tick off some russians. He's in the military so he didn't want his face on the interweb :)

Ultimak makes a lower profile railed gas tube for the AK that might solves you problem.

Mikko = CIA, NSA?

Thanks, I'll look into that Ultimak gas tube, looks like a solution for my problem. Not sure if those are available here though and very few US companies ship to Finland do to export regulations.

About Mikko, well, he showed up at the range in a black SUV and said he had just spent the last three weeks in the deep forests of Eastern Finland :rolleyes:

Mikko's last name wouldn't be Hayha would it?? :rolleyes: --

http://christopher-eger.suite101.com/simo-h-yh--the-greatest-sniper--a5714