Carbine followup

Yesterday I went to the range, but a little differently. No chrono, no loads to test, just a couple of rifles and a pistol, some targets and ammo. Just shooting for fun, which I hadn't done in a while. I also couldn't stand all the 9/11 stuff on radio and tv, so went out.

That little Model 8 Martini is a really nice plinking rifle. It lets you break a clay pigeon at 50 yards, and then break up the pieces. It's a bit heavy for the purpose, but with fine sights and- especially with sub-sonic ammo virtually no recoil and very low noise it's a good rifle to let a kid shoot.

The M1 Carbine experiment continues. After the last time I used it, I'd taken it down for a thorough cleaning, so this time would tell how well it held zero after being dis- and reassembled. Answer is very well, I didn't have to make any adjustment; it hit right where it'd been hitting before. Be it said that this will depend a LOT on how good & tight the stock/handguard/barrel band assembly is. This one is pretty tight and goes back the same way every time, one that was any looser you'd have to do some work to tighten things up so it'd lock back up the same way every time. I do think the clamp-onto-the-barrel mounts out there are probably superior to this because they'd be lower to the barrel and would stay clamped on in the same position through disassembly. However, if you want to put this together and do some tweaking(if necessary) it's a worthy project. I'm going to see what are the lowest rings I can lay hands on and see how much they'd lower the scope compared to those I have now. The only other way I can see to lower it would be to inlet the scope base down into the handguard, and I have doubts how well that'd work; you'd be thinning the wood enough to seriously reduce the strength unless you also used epoxy or something to permanently fix it in as part of the guard.

And, if it's going to take all that to make it workable for you, you'd be adding in enough time that, unless you like messing with things, it'd probably be more cost-effective to just buy a good barrel-clamp mount.

The scope works nicely on it. As for a SHTF rifle or home-defense, I think the red-dot sight would be the way to go, without question. Fast and plenty accurate for the use.

Looked at the SOG site yesterday, and they show they're getting in some M1 Carbine receivers, listed as 'very good' condition. Tempting to see if could get one, then start collecting parts. Pretty much everything is available except receivers, and you can find those from some dealers; problem is, the receivers are around $350 everywhere I looked. Add parts to that, and you're paying as much or more than a ready-to-use carbine.

And I actually got some things done at home before had to shut down. Amazing.