TSRA Garand, Carbine, Springfield and Vintage Championship.

  If you have never shot an M1 Carbine, which is likely- I mean, they made six million or so of them but lots of them were lost, destroyed, left in jungles, ditches, tossed in lakes, dropped in seas, et, et..6 million carbines down to a couple million today, say maybe a top of four...in a world of 3.5 billion...what are the odds?  Not good.  That you have shot one.  But I did.  Yesterday.  For score.  It's fun.  Like a date with an ugly woman fun.

  It's a little rifle.  Made as a pistol replacement it was so light, semiauto and hi-cap, (15 shot mag was 1942-state-of-the-art), that Airborne troops snapped it up.  Lotta rounds out quickly.

  Whatever.  Anyway, I have a couple.  CMP guns that were re-arsenaled in 1953 and stored since then.  New, nearly.  Early features, especially the barrel bands and great wood.

  But they don't shoot well.  Sure I killed a deer with one and they shoot OK...but not match quality.  The late barrel band with the bayonet lug secures the barrel much better. 

  So I struggled with a Standard Products through the 4o round match.  100 yards.  Five sighting shots, 10 slow fire prone, 10 rapid fire prone, 10 sitting rapid fire and 10 standing.  I shot two 90s and two 85s.  Dropped 50 points.  I would break a shot and sometimes it would be on one side and sometimes on the other.  Was shooting Remington UMC ammo from WalMart.  It grouped better than the Lake City I had.  That's not saying much.

  350 out of 400.  About fourth place.  Don Tryce won with a 462.  He jokes about having a National Match Carbine.  He's won it before at least once.

  Speaking of National Match Rifles, Gaby and Crawford tore my 1903A3 apart Friday night and fixed the old creepy trigger.  Crawford stoned the tool marks off the surface of the bolt cocking lug, (you could feel every one as the old trigger creeped along through the second stage) and Gaby ground a little height off the engagement sear.  Now it's one of the best triggers I have.  Never underestimate having access to Gun Gurus.  The Springfield needs only a new C Stock to be complete.  With the new wide front post and slick trigger it's quite a different rifle.

  Mark Woodard won the Garand Championship with a real score. 289 (out of 300).  Don Tryce won the Springfield Championship. (beat me by a point)  I won the Vintage Rifle for the third year in a row with my K31 and some Swiss GP11 ammo.  46 folks shot at the Temple Gun Club and most folks shot more than one rifle.  David Guthrie shot a Swede in the Vintage match.  (I beat him by a point)  Couple of Krags on the line.  P-17 Enfields were common.   TSRA Directors Ken Gaby and Rick Crawford ran an efficient match on the 200 yard line at the Temple range.  Video up soon.  Photo is Bill Aten shooting his P17.

Update:  I actually went down the line and shot this photo of Bill for next years TSRA calendar, which is supposed to feature more people and less still lifes.  Used a big file.  Handsome devil, his wife says.  I wouldn't argue that point with armed people.