There are times when entering the LGS is a danger to your wallet. This happened to me.
I need reloading supplies, LGS has them, Blue-Haired Faerie gave me a gift certificate to LGS.
As I was going to LGS, I was considering if I needed anything. I decided that what I wanted to start looking for was something in 7.62×51 NATO or 30-06. I have one rifle in each of those. Two is one, one is none.
When I walk in, there on the wall is an older rifle. Looks to be from around the early ’50s. And it is in “.308”. I.e. 7.62×51. It looks very nice.
Turns out it is a CETME Sporter. Now, these rifles are not original. They were built on American made receivers from parts kits brought in from overseas. Regardless, it looks nice. It looks like sort of like an H&K G3A3. The front hand guard is different. The selector switch is the same. The magazine release is different, the rear sight is different.
But it has the same charging handle, and it still has the famous MP5 slap to drop the bolt carrier and bolt.
There is something really fun about that “slap”.
It followed me home… Along with 125 8 mm Mauser shell casings, ready for boxer primers. Oh, and some 156gr 0.357 bullets.
I did a test firing. A few things.
It is freaking loud. With ear protection on, it still made my ears ring. It is a double ear pro sort of gun.
The rifle sights don’t work well for me. I need to put a little white spot on the front post. I just can’t pick up the dark post inside the dark ring across the dark 100yard notched rear sight. It all just blended. And still, it hit target with ever press of the trigger.
It is extremely loud.
It was a boat load of fun to shoot. The felt recoil wasn’t bad. I could double tap my target without too much problem.
It is louder than expected.
It THROWS brass. The brass landed “over there” about 30 ft from where I was standing. I’ll have to go back with the metal detector to recover all the brass. It also had a wide spread.
What firearm(s) did you spot in a gun store or show that followed you home. Even though you were not intending on buying?
The last couple of case articles felt a little bit unbalanced to me. More of their words and less of mine. Do you prefer the “mostly their words” or do you prefer more analysis by me?
Have a great weekend, all of you.
If it’s that loud, then, logically the answer is to get and put a sound suppressor on it.
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These days, I’m a little ashamed to admit, I order most of my guns online … albeit from my preferred gs when their web store has it listed. (We don’t really have a “l”gs.)
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That, however, doesn’t reduce the spend rate, it just means I know about it a little sooner so it’s easier planning. 🙂
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Speaking of which, I saw an advert for a Chiappa Rhino the other day…
The “HK 91” platform is an awesome piece. I can shoot 1 inch groups at 250 yards with mine. Po boy supressors are reasonable AND they work. Get one.
Having been raised by people who worked at the original Springfield Armory when it was in MA. and we as a family have embraced the resurrection of the brand over the last thirty or so years, I am a Springfield Guy….first. However anything H&K or Baretta gets my attention every time. Have G3 and a clone PTR 91 (similar to your newly acquired Cetme awa) with every upgrade ever made, and Baretta 92s, APX, Cougar, etc. So I feel your pain, awa, three-times loud.
If you want truely LOUD I will let you play with my P51- .308, 8.5 inch barrel, FULL auto…. Heh?
What?
I haven’t yet had a gun follow me home from a shop. Three I inherited; the other two I bought from the factory (Boberg). But it almost happened, with an Arisaka 38 that looked quite nice. I dallied until I could check on ammo availability (the answer, amazingly, is yes) and by then it was gone. 🙁
On throwing brass: my Boberg XR9 (compact 9mm Luger) throws about that far, and in various directions anywhere from 3 to 6 o’clock. Curiously, the last empty goes into a rather different direction than all the others. I don’t have a metal detector, so undoubtedly there are 50-ish empties buried in the grass at my backyard shooting position.
Having run an HK-91 for a number of years, I can share a few things I learned.
1. HKs are loud; the taper from the hammer forged barrels increases pressure at the muzzle.
2. I haven’t seen one for awhile but there used to be a rubber bumper to install immediately after of the ejection port. These prolong case life for reloading.
3. Reload military brass. Commercial brass gets rather abused in the fluted chamber.
4. Mine liked 150 grains. No more. No less. It would shoot pretty cloverleaf patterns all day long with hand loads.
5. Mine was dead-bang reliable. About the only round it didn’t like was Remington Accelerators. I even had a hand load where I load a 100 grain half jacketed bullet meant for the M1 Carbine onto the 7.62 case. My HK-91 shot that easily.
I’m sorry… but that is not a thing:
“1. HKs are loud; the taper from the hammer forged barrels increases pressure at the muzzle.”
You forge barrels by forcing a negative of the rifling through pre-drilled round stock while 4 hammers compress said round stock simultaneously from all sides over the negative. You’ll not achieve a taper that way.
On the other hand a polygon rifling *MAY* increase the pressure.
If the mandrel were tapered, would the barrel not also be tapered? (This would mean it could only be pulled out towards the breech, but would that be an issue?)
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And now I find myself wondering whether one could get better performance by electropolishing a barrel.
The mandrel is only a fraction of the barrel long. So no.
An H&R handi rifle in 45-70 followed me home, I wanted something simple and easy for boar in swamps. That thing is fun to reload for.
I enjoy reading your articles and hearing your take on the cases and often it has given me insight or caught something I’d have missed in all the legal speak