Fireballs Are Fun!

I have a new entry on the blogroll, Arms are the Mark of a Free Man, by way of An NC Gun Blog.

He has a post about shooting in a Vintage Military Rifle Match at Crosse Creek Rifle and Pistol Club that got me thinking about how much fun it would be to shoot the Arisaka and/or the Mosin with a group of like-minded individuals.

The Mosin would be a great rifle to shoot in competition based on its performance during the last range session, but I'd have to learn how to sight the Arisaka in (how far down to aim) due to it's "battle sight" configuration. The rules are no modified sights, so I wouldn't be able to set the Arisaka up with an adjustable elevation sight as I had planned.

Once I figure the Tennessee elevation factor in I think the Arisaka would be less punishing to shoot. Also, being a carbine, it would probably be less of a handful to hold up for the standing/sitting/kneeling portion of the match. The downside is that 6.5x50mm Japanese ammo is pretty pricy.

The Mosin, on the other hand, is more accurate with its iron sights and a lot cheaper to feed since I have more ammo for it than I will probably ever use unless the zombie apocalypse strikes next week. The downside to it is that it kicks like a mule, and since it's a full length rifle it would be harder to hold up during the standing/sitting/kneeling part of the match.

Of course the Arisaka doesn't shoot fireballs out of it's muzzle and knock everyone else's targets down with the shock wave of the bullet traveling downrange either, but I guess that is the trade-off that would have to be made.