Lockdown Activities inside 5K

Uinseann_16

Just a thread on outdoor ideas / shooting things that can be done within 5K of home
Personally im lucky enough to have a duck lake about 500m from my front foor so that kept me busy during this lockdown, Ive also been out lamping around the local fields without much luck :pac:
This is a handy website to determine your borders ive also noticed theres one pier within my 5km so i might go and do a bit of fishing

https://2kmfromhome.com/

Im also thinking of doing some mink trapping as i have a decent sized river that is near home

otmmyboy2

Dry fire practice

Also pest control services for farmers ignores the 5km, since farming is deemed an essential activity and pest control supports that.

alan0387

Great website, I've got private farmers fields, the local town and a motorway

Dry fire will be mine, what do you use to protect or limit any firing pin damage? Dummy rounds?

I might mount the scope on a tripod and use it out the window to learn how to estimate ranges using the reticle like some of the YouTube videos show? Use easy stuff like car wheels, reg plates, doorways, stuff that is standard in sizing.

Plus my scope is an off brand cheap job at the moment and I've no idea if it's moa/mil or even accurate so I can back track by knowing an object's distance I can figure out what my reticle is set to and what magnification it needs.

https://youtu.be/hVOXreCL73g
https://youtu.be/l-WNofGasFo

Nothing to lose at this stage

Feisar

I'll stand corrected however I don't think a modern firearm would be effected by dry firing.

Uinseann_16

Feisar wrote: »

I'll stand corrected however I don't think a modern firearm would be effected by dry firing.

Rimfires will sustain a certain amount of peening from dry firing and i have broken a shotgun firing pin by dry firing
I didnt think it was possible to break a pin by dry firing until the front part of the pin fell out on the ground :pac:
Though most guns should be fine though tbh

otmmyboy2

alan0387 wrote: »

Great website, I've got private farmers fields, the local town and a motorway

No chance any of those farmers would need some pest control done eh?

alan0387 wrote: »

Dry fire will be mine, what do you use to protect or limit any firing pin damage? Dummy rounds?

For the 22s I use a fired casing until it is well and truly flattened and then swap it out for a fresh one.
Not a live fresh one, a fresh fired one mind

For centrefire I don't really bother with any methods unless the firearm explicitly shouldn't be dry fired, as in noted in the manual etc.
If so then I often take the pin out and do it that way, or alternatively use a fired case or a few with some appropriately carved heads so they will cycle through magazines.
Another way would be to take a fired case, pop the primer off and replace it with some rubber glued in place in the primer pocket.

For shotguns I use snap caps most often, and sometimes a laser snap cap where if you dry fire a laser will fire and you can spot where(approximately) you would have hit.

Finally, and this is a bit OTT for most, for pistol I use a SIRT laser pistol on occasion.
Helps with followup shots since it resets every trigger pull, only thing it is missing is recoil.

That can be accomplished with airsoft, but that requires more cleanup afterwards, and can breed some bad habits if not done properly.

Edit: tad longer than I thought it'd be, but I think that covered it pretty completely lol

civdef

I make snap caps by replacing the primer with hot glue, seems to work well, and easy to repair when it gets worn eventually.

otmmyboy2

civdef wrote: »

I make snap caps by replacing the primer with hot glue, seems to work well, and easy to repair when it gets worn eventually.

Interesting, and you never found the glue residue getting into the firing pin channel?

GooseB

For the 22s I use a fired casing until it is well and truly flattened and then swap it out for a fresh one.
Not a live fresh one, a fresh fired one mind

I was told at the club range one day to be sure and clean out a .22 casing before using it for dry fire practice. The used brass still has plenty of charred primer and/or propellant remnants in it that get flicked into the chamber/bore when the rim gets struck with the firing pin. He then took out his Leatherman and used a small screwdriver or such like to scrape out a spent casing and sure enough, black "soot" could be scraped out and cleaning it out beforehand saves this from entering your barrel.

Hunter456

snaring, bird watching, lucky myself most of the land i shoot is all within 2km.

alan0387

otmmyboy2 wrote: »

No chance any of those farmers would need some pest control done eh?



For the 22s I use a fired casing until it is well and truly flattened and then swap it out for a fresh one.
Not a live fresh one, a fresh fired one mind

I must introduce myself to some of those farmers.....had a handful of pheseants over my back fence into one of the farmers fields...

Spent casing is a great idea, cheaper than buying a pack of dummy rounds from Brownells or YoDave!

alan0387

GooseB wrote: »

I was told at the club range one day to be sure and clean out a .22 casing before using it for dry fire practice. The used brass still has plenty of charred primer and/or propellant remnants in it that get flicked into the chamber/bore when the rim gets struck with the firing pin. He then took out his Leatherman and used a small screwdriver or such like to scrape out a spent casing and sure enough, black "soot" could be scraped out and cleaning it out beforehand saves this from entering your barrel.

I'll keep that in mind, being a mechanic I have access to plenty of carb and brake cleaner, and a parts bath to soak manifolds and egr's that are caked in carbon....

civdef

otmmyboy2 wrote: »

Interesting, and you never found the glue residue getting into the firing pin channel?

I haven't noticed any, the hot glue primer seems to hold together pretty well, just eventually gets too dented and needs to be heated back up.

JP22

Feisar wrote: »

I'll stand corrected however I don't think a modern firearm would be effected by dry firing.

Some firearms can be safely dry-fired, Other cannot - please check the manual.

It is not recommended to dry-fire a rimfire as the firing pin is off-set and can be easily damaged.