Sunday, September 29, 2013

Range Day - IDPA & Hi Point 4095

I trust everyone had a good time at the range yesterday. I did.

Club IDPA match highlighted (for me anyway) by the stage starting off with 2 targets at arms length to be dealt with from retention, followed by one further off to be shot while retreating, followed by more targets in other places.

The first two targets don't require careful aiming or anything, at  2 feet you'll seldom miss so one shot left, two right, one more left and move on, all in just a few seconds. The fun part was coming back to score the string and discovering I had 5 holes in the right target and about eight in the left, which the SO would not let me credit against misses on any of the others.

This of course is caused by muzzle blast blowing the tape off the targets, but it's impressive to look at.

After talking to People Who Should Know, It was suggested that the Hi Point 4095 should indeed be shooting better than I'm seeing and it was suggested that the barrel needed to be fully bedded top and bottom. The barrel mounted rail is nice, but the barrel is prone to a lot of vibration I guess. The barrel mounts for the rail preclude using the original upper forearm, so I made one.
The forward notch was a mistake. This is my first one and solid walnut too. AFAIK, this is the only real wood piece of furniture for a Hi Point carbine in the world. You saw it here first! The part slides on and engages four tabs on the lower forearm.  As there is no other attachment, I added a collar to the barrel to keep it from sliding forward. This of itself also acts as a damper. If the rail mounts seem a bit tall, it's because they align the rail with the original back on the bolt shroud. If the rail seems a bit long, it's because it was a direct replacement for the original plastic rail. The scope is a 4X pistol scope I borrowed from a friend to get the eye relief that mounting it so far forward required. Overall a bit kludgey, but:
1.86 MOA at 50 yards was my best group. Whenever I tried to adjust the scope, the groups exploded in size and settled back very slowly which sounds like a sticky scope. I didn't bring enough ammo to fully center the groups. Still this is way better than the 6 MOA I started with.

Moving forward, possibilities include trimming the stock just forward of the bolt shroud and adding an aluminum sleeve to the full length of the barrel similar to something Tactical Solutions might do.

Build the rail into the sleeve or at least a hard point for the existing rail, and voila! eye-catching tactical tomfoolery on your now sub 2MOA Hi Point. In the meantime, users on a budget might try simply adding the collar. Mine is McMaster Carr P/N

3374K11Machinable-Bore Clamp-on Shaft Collar, for 1/8" to 3/4" Diameter, Two-Piece - $11.88
Clamp a business card between the halves and bore it to .659". Can't hurt.

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