African Carbines

[ssgross]

I finally got this underwood to the range tonight since I had my little brass chaser with me. My 11yr old daughter shot it while I worked up a ladder test on another build.
She shot the circled group at 25yds in the target below towards the end of the evening - after she already had put a box of 50rds through it. Wanting to see how it fared at 100yds I shot the remaining holes at that distance. The tight group bottom right shows the rifle's consistency - the same 2 minutes right that my daughter saw in her 25yd group.


Very impressed with how this little bundle of joy performed (and the carbine too! )
While Shots 2/3/4 exceeded my wildest expectations, the flyers in 5/6/7 were entirely my fault.
The ejection pattern is dead consistent at a straight 5 o'clock. My daughter shoots righty and I easily caught each case in my hat without hardly moving it. I shoot lefty which means every shot blasted me in the forehead. Shot 1 was the first round I put through it. Shots 2/3/4 I had the brim of my hat low enough to not notice. Grinning with pleasure on shot 3 hoping it wasn't luck, I took a step back and adjusted my head gear. POW! right in the forehead. I kept adjusting my cheek weld lower on the remaining shots to try and duck the brass. The last round was flung a high 5 o'clock, and landed flat against my neck. It was hot enough to melt flesh and stick rather than bounce off. So I went home with a divot just above my shoulders - a perfect impression of 30 US carbine right down to extractor groove of the case and the increased thermal mass of the case head vs. the case neck.

So I gave up and shot the carbine righty the rest of the night. I sprayed the bull, but nothing to write home about. Shooting righty might just be the best solution, but I hate to think so. Perhaps the extractor or extractor spring is worn/too stiff, and replacing it will change the pattern? I can trim a coil or 2 off the extractor spring - that for certain should have some effect. I'll tear the bolt down next, take pictures, and report back before doing anything irreversible.