We didn’t get to do a lot of shooting today, as it was dedicated mostly to a little more advanced instruction. Target detection and identification; range estimation; and some external ballistics were the order of the day.

With disabled rifles (bolts removed and confirmed by instructors), one of the instructors walked up and down the 200yd, 300yd, 400yd, and 500yd lines on the KD range, while we got him in our rifle’s sights and attempted to estimate his distance based on the width of our sights and the typical width of a man.

The little bit of shooting we did was a little frustrating for me, due to issues with my FAL. First, it seems my rifle likes to eat magazines. I’ve had two of my four metal mags have their floor platea blow out for some reason. Well, when I tried one of my new Thermold mags, it actual cracked. So now I can’t trust those and will probably have to send all 12 I bought back. I switched to my two remaining metal mags, and so far so good, but I’ll have to keep a close eye on them for any swelling.

Second, I had my rear sight adjusted all the way up to the 500yd mark for a 25yd range. One of the instructors knocked it back to 200yd (sighting in for 25yds with low profile sights will sight you in for 200yds; with high profile AR-type sights, it will be the same as 300yds), and said to adjust my front sight down so I can, in a pinch, use the markings on my rear sight. Problem is, I don’t have the right tools to adjust the front sight, so I had to bump the rear sight back up to 500yds. My groups, however, are pretty good, so I’m doing better than I did in March.

Lastly, seems my arms are a little short for this rifle and my eyes are close enough to the rear sight that part of it whacks my shooting glasses leaving a mark. I don’t care with cheap glasses, but it matters a lot with my more expensive ones with a slight prescription.

So I was a little frustrated, but I’m glad to see the improvement just since March, even though I haven’t shot this rifle since then.

Tomorrow we should be shooting almost the whole day on the KD range. I’ll have a few more pictures later.

Update:
Red coat target from the morning with the SA58:

I believe two rounds went through the same top hole in the 100yd red coat, so I did at least shoot all three rounds in the 100yd simulated target. Not quite as good as the 10/22 where I got all three in the 300yd target and also got the head shot.

My first sighters with the SA58:

Decent group, and only needed slight adjustments in windage and elevation. And here’s where the problem arose where one of the instructors suggested moving the rear sight down to 200 and adjusting the front sight up. Without a tool to adjust the front sight, and without any knowledge of what is a 1 MOA adjustment on it, anyhow, I was kind of stuck with shooting it as is. I also don’t know how many turns of the screws for the rear sight constitutes 1 MOA.

Here’s after adjusting the rear sight from 500 to 200, with predictable results:

Good group, but keep in mind I was still aiming at the center square, so it’s way low and I adjust the windage much to far to the left.

I suspect there are aftermarket iron sights for the FAL. I hope, at least. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like them.

Stay Dangerous, My Friends.