vz-58 second time and an oops

[armoredman]

A beautiful day dawned, clear, crisp, clean air, frosted car windows…what? Arizona in March and I have to scrape frost? TANJ… Oh well, scrape frost and I am on my way to the range! No wind, no rain, no clouds, nothing but great shooting weather!
Today I am going to wring out the CzechpointUSA SA vz-58 5.56mm rifle some more and sight it in at 100 yards, optimum distance for me, with whatever oddball selection of ammo I have in the range bag. I met my friend LAGS, who also brought goodies, (different thread, sorry), and I proceed to get down to…I left my rest behind. DAGNABBIT! I left the rest behind, soooo, I am shooting with iron sights at 100 yards like this, braced, not rested.

Better have my A game on for this one. OK, she’s shooting low at 100 with the sight set at 100, so borrow a sight tool, and start cranking. Along the way I see the 65 grain Sierra Game Kings are doing…OK.

I also see an ominous red light in the camera…”low battery”. Double dagnabbit. OK, we’ll keep this pictures to a minimum. But I do have to say one thing.

This is a 1-7 twist barrel. I am shooting 55 grain handloads. This rate of twist is not supposed to be accurate with that bullet weight. It’s not rested, just “braced”, and I got consistent groups like this, keeping in mind I was adjusting the front sight at the same time.

For what it is and how it’s shot, I like that. That’s definitely minute of coyote…and when I fired my last round for final zero, I am thinking about the detachable scope next to me, with the quick mount, we’re gonna sight this baby in!!!

Disaster strikes!!
Last round I have no BANG, no recoil, feels like a dud, so I wait for hangfire. My buddy is looking at me strangely. Why? He heard the primer pop, which I did not. That’s right…

I HADDA SQUIB! I am incredibly careful loaded, visually checking every case powder levels 3 times with a flashlight to make sure they are all charged. I HADDA SQUIB!! I don’t have squibs, I am careful!!!

And whaddya know, it wasn’t my fault…somehow. The primer detonated, and forced the bullet into the barrel, but did NOT ignite the powder. LAGS and I watched as the manually ejected case spilled powder everywhere. Every other round in this group fired perfectly, but this one fizzled. Now I have a bullet stuck in the barrel, and no clearing rod. Dang, drat, filth and FOUL! Darn.

So back in the case it went, to wait for a trip to Home Depot for a metal clearing rod, which gave two light taps and the bullet dropped free, barely scored by the rifling. Back in the range bag went the scope with mount, for next time.

But I still had a blast with this rifle, serious fun.

 

[Mrgunsngear]

Great shooting and report for a very under valued rifle. The 58s are fine weapons.

 

[arizona98tj]

I was not aware that a 1:7 twist was not suppose to properly shoot a 55 gr bullet. I may hesitate shooting a 40 gr V-max bullet in a fast twist barrel (it might work, it might come apart), but not a 55 gr.

Sounds like you had fun in spite of the dud primer. Did you shine a flashlight down the mouth of the brass to see if there was a primer hole? (not sure if you were shooting new brass or used)

 

[armoredman]

Brand new Lake City, never fired. The primer fired, but I don't remember checking for a flash hole...I usually do that during loading. My friend said it may have been sizing lube deadening the powder. He wished we'd thought to stick a match to the spilled powder grains to make sure.
In any case, it was very strange.
The rifle is in 100% condition now. Yes, I've been told that I shoudn't go below 60 grain bullets. Never ran into this loading 7.62x39mm, you load and shoot! In Russia, bullet shoots you!
I figured that was good groupings for no rest, iron sights at 100 yards, for a new rifle. Of course there's a LOT of people that can out shoot me.
I'll have her back out before the end of the week.