Well today was not the greatest day at the range. My buddy Bobby could not make it this morning. I encountered a washed-out road a few hundred yards from the shooting range turn off. This required me to take a 20 mile detour through the Hills to come at the Rifle Club from the opposite direction.
By the time I got there the breeze had come up a bit and there were gusting winds from 5 to 10 miles an hour for most of my session. Temperatures were in the low sixties and the weather was sunny with a low barometric pressure and rain expected tonight.
Still I was pretty excited about shooting because I had several new formula loads to try and no idea at all how they were going to work.
Round 24: 50 yds.
I shot five rounds of 75 grain BTHP over 25 grns of Varget, 50 yards, for about a 5/8" pattern. This was my best load from the last session and so I made a bunch more of them to try but as it turned out I only shot a few.
Round 24 was actually shot by mistake on club member Luis's target. He shot this with a nine-millimeter service pistol from 50 yards and I thought he was pretty good so I posted some pictures of it.
Round 25: 100 yds.
5 rounds of Nosler competition grade 77 grain bthp over 23 grains of Varget. These bullets were just way too slow to be accurate and I wish I had started out a grain or so higher.
Round 26: 100 yds, same loads as round 25 except 24 grains of Varget. These were faster and they came a little closer to the mark.
Round 27: 100 yds
Same as round 26 except 24.5 grains of Varget. The wind had picked up a little by this time & my pattern was getting more random. I should have started out with 25 grams of Varget and worked up from there because these bullets just did not have enough power behind them.
That's not terrible shooting but I have certainly done better with this rifle.
Round 28:
Round 28 did not exactly come off. I got a round, stuck in the chamber.
I think this cartridge had a case which had been shot once through my AR, and only been neck-sized. I could not get the bolt closed, nor would it open.
I tapped the bolt handle backwards and eventually the case pulled out of the chamber. Unfortunately it left the slug stuck in the throat, And without a good rod to tap it out, that gun was done for the day.
I put 12 mags through my 9mm pistol without doing anything noteworthy, and moved on to the shotgun alley.
I ran 20 rounds of re-loaded 16 gauge through my side by side. These were my used birdshot shells that I reloaded with 1oz number 4 buckshot & 13 grains Hodgdon Clays, with Ballistic Products "Sporting 16" wads.
There are 2 steel targets, at about 20 and 50 yds. I managed to ring both with perfect regularity from the shoulder, but was only half as effective shooting from the hip.
They also have a clay tosser, but I wasn't quite up for that yet.
By the time I got there the breeze had come up a bit and there were gusting winds from 5 to 10 miles an hour for most of my session. Temperatures were in the low sixties and the weather was sunny with a low barometric pressure and rain expected tonight.
Still I was pretty excited about shooting because I had several new formula loads to try and no idea at all how they were going to work.
Round 24: 50 yds.
I shot five rounds of 75 grain BTHP over 25 grns of Varget, 50 yards, for about a 5/8" pattern. This was my best load from the last session and so I made a bunch more of them to try but as it turned out I only shot a few.
Round 24 was actually shot by mistake on club member Luis's target. He shot this with a nine-millimeter service pistol from 50 yards and I thought he was pretty good so I posted some pictures of it.
Round 25: 100 yds.
5 rounds of Nosler competition grade 77 grain bthp over 23 grains of Varget. These bullets were just way too slow to be accurate and I wish I had started out a grain or so higher.
Round 26: 100 yds, same loads as round 25 except 24 grains of Varget. These were faster and they came a little closer to the mark.
Round 27: 100 yds
Same as round 26 except 24.5 grains of Varget. The wind had picked up a little by this time & my pattern was getting more random. I should have started out with 25 grams of Varget and worked up from there because these bullets just did not have enough power behind them.
That's not terrible shooting but I have certainly done better with this rifle.
Round 28:
Round 28 did not exactly come off. I got a round, stuck in the chamber.
I think this cartridge had a case which had been shot once through my AR, and only been neck-sized. I could not get the bolt closed, nor would it open.
I tapped the bolt handle backwards and eventually the case pulled out of the chamber. Unfortunately it left the slug stuck in the throat, And without a good rod to tap it out, that gun was done for the day.
I put 12 mags through my 9mm pistol without doing anything noteworthy, and moved on to the shotgun alley.
I ran 20 rounds of re-loaded 16 gauge through my side by side. These were my used birdshot shells that I reloaded with 1oz number 4 buckshot & 13 grains Hodgdon Clays, with Ballistic Products "Sporting 16" wads.
There are 2 steel targets, at about 20 and 50 yds. I managed to ring both with perfect regularity from the shoulder, but was only half as effective shooting from the hip.
They also have a clay tosser, but I wasn't quite up for that yet.
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