LOW LIGHT SHOOTING IS A……GO!

Hey everybody.

I went to Rives’ (pronounced ‘reevis’) Rifle Range in Hardin, Tx.  (about 5mi. out of Liberty). I had not been able to get out there until yesterday when Myself and T-Bone Davis went in the morning. I took my M-4 and my bolt action Remington 700 {223 Rem) to zero the scope I put on it and to check the optic I’d put on the M-4. T-Bone wanted to shoot his black powder guns, and I was fascinated with and by watching the whole process. I learned quite a bit for sure.

This is one of my favorite ranges to shoot at. It’s well groomed respectful range with a relaxed atmosphere. There are always folks on the range sitting behind the shooting stations  in patio chairs just talkin and then getting back on line and firing a few rounds check the range provided scope then back to his chair and shoot the breeze. Like one of those old Farm Road Café’s where everyone knows everyone else and they all just congregate there for the latest town news and gossip... No time limit just if Mr. Rives isn’t there right then leave your money in the box and go shoot. He’s probably out on his four wheeler somewhere on the place. He’ll be there eventually. Follow the safety rules and be courteous to your neighbors. The way it should be. If you get a want to drive outside Houston in the country about forty five minutes Northeast of Houston or about 37 mi. North ob Baytown on 146. Basically you can shoot from sun up to sun down. I like it early or just before sundown to stay out of the heat, but yesterday the weather was perfect for outdoor shooting.

After getting the scope on zero for my “clearance sale budget sniper platform” and the optic on my M-4 on target making no allowance for optic to bore offset. [I do this because you have to be able to use the iron sights on your rifle NO EXCEPTIONS HERE. If you have an optical sight with batteries or fiber optic tubes you will have failures. Everything with batteries dies……unexpectedly, and fiber optic tubes are notorious for breaking and fragility. I also think that they put sights in the original design for a reason.] The Bolt Action.223 Remington 70 SPSR was superbly accurate. It liked one of the 6 types and makers cartridges until 3 rounds of PMC Bronze 55 gr. FMJ-BT {full metal jacket boat tail bullet} dropped into a 2 inch group with two bulls. I put 3 rounds of Remington PSP Power soft point, into one grid square on the target just outside the diamond in a perfectly triangular  pyramid with about ¼” space between them. I think the rifle likes these rounds very much. So do I. . . The stock fits me. The rifle had zero noticeable recoil. It’s new so it was a little stiff as a new rifle should be. After six or seven 3 shot groups were fired the action didn’t get looser, it got smoother. The $39.00 Caldwell bi-pod for prone to 13” positions was great. I’ll get another in the next few days for the other rifle I’ve got cause it has the older version on it and I’ll use it in something else down the line.  The 1x4 power Bushnell 30mm scope with illuminated dot reticle German style crosshairs, was crystal clear and rode in Millet rings. Didn’t need the red dot but could see it clearly in bright sunlight when set on the 3 highest bright settings. Best factory rifle trigger I’ve fired. No creep, not too light, and broke like a glass rod as they say. I love it. “Only accurate guns are interesting.” I did some 50 yd shooting with the M-4 and electric optic and I surprised myself holding at the top of the target grid center above the 2 diamond bull’s-eye, I put twenty rounds of mixed ball right at the top of the diamonds clustered into a five inch vertical path about two grid squares apart rapid fire. The t bar in the sight frames the target well and no problems seeing the daytime red or the green at higher settings (it’s for night). I did some fire while moving with the M-4 on the pistol range and 100% A zone hits were in view on the Shoot n See. 

After a few hours, it was time to pack it in so I packed up and loaded my gear and went over to talk with Mr. Revis as always. I asked if I could bring some folks out for a low light and night shooting training session. I told him I’d provide targets and barricades etc. and clean up afterward and provide liability releases and that two Galveston SWAT team members would provide the course of fire and probably run it for me for small groups of trainees. I’m going to do it with 6 at one time. Handgun, handgun flashlight, shotgun, rifle, weapon light operation and drills. I will run it from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. Since after listening, Mr. Rives says “you know you can shoot up till ten out here.” With a handshake and a “give me a call when you’re comin out.” Any time. So we are on. I’ll talk to Officer Maffei and get the course from him and invite his guys to come if they’d like. I will bring a wall mock up and other “STUFF” to demonstrate the effect of different ammo on walls in your home and other “STUFF” There will be a complete briefing on the course of fire and safety rules and run you one at a time though the course. I’ll give each trainee 20 minutes of shoot time (not strict). Then demonstrate material destruction and debrief and have fun.

Contact me if you want to be a part of this. I will do first come first served and whoever doesn’t make the first one is head of the line for #2. Everyone will go through it that signs up. Don’t pass this by. I’m not going to set a fee for this and you pay your own range fee (per gun). I will however request that you donate to the SWAT team guys if they help. Gas and food is appropriate but their team really needs the donations for training and equipment so please if you wanna donate to my Jack Daniels Relief Fund hey great but I’ll give my Instruction for free to you and you know that. Hey every little bit helps but I’m cool as long as the SWAT guys get taken care of.

Don’t miss out on this. Let me know ASAP.

Eddie……..OUT


Map to the range...

Rives Rifle RangeAddress:
2817 FM 834 W • Liberty, TX 77575 • 936.334.4808

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