- Joined
- Mar 2, 2009
- Messages
- 91
- Reaction score
- 0
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
With every new toy, I mean ?tool,? there comes with it, new information and new techniques to learn. The black powder rifle is no exception.
After thoroughly reading not only the Owners Manual, but everything I could find of relevance on the internet, I feel quite confident as I drive up I-505 to the Sportsmen?s Club. I am comfortable with my newly gained knowledge and my ever-faithful ?clipboard.? Yes, I have approached this new joy just as I have approached almost everything in my career: with a checklist!
My not-so-simple checklist is a multi-page affair that not only has the perceived steps in loading and firing this new ?ultra modern-antique rifle,? but it also contains all of the steps and conditions that I will test! Yes, test, this new gun. I am entering today?s endeavor with a full-blown (pun intended) test procedure designed to not only sight in the rifle, but also find an acceptable sized powder charge and bullet that will start to give accurate results in this rifle. I will fine tune for greater accuracy later this summer.
I quickly moved through the efficient sign-in counter at the club, and even more quickly find myself at the 50 yard rifle range. I figure that it is always best to get a bullet hole on paper up close, move the guns sights to put a bullet in the bulls eye, and then start moving the targets further out to better dial it in.
I am all alone over here on the 50 yard range. There are a few people at the 100 yard range next to me on the right. I?d rather be completely alone, as one does not need to have witnesses when one messes up! I can see it now on the 5PM News: ?Yeppers, he loaded too much powder in dat gun, and dat was da last we saw of ?em?. just lots?a smoke? and poof he vanished! All we found was pieces of his left sock.?
I now survey all of my equipment on the shooters table. It appears that I have just received a ?stimulus check? and redeemed it at our local gun shop. This is a lot of stuff?.. well, let?s get going!
The first order of business is to go down range and hang up my two targets. These are the high-tech papers that when a hole is punched thru them that they ?mystically? change color around the hole. I think this is just way to cool! Well, ok, yes my eyes are not what they were once when I was a teenager, and this may help me out here? confuse in? me with the facts again! I have already ?bore-sighted? the rifle at home, by looking down the barrel and aligning the cross-hairs of the scope to what I see in the bore of the barrel. We should be pretty close.
I put on my safety glasses and ear protectors, as stated on step one of my infamous check list. (I should be looking like some OSHA horse by now.) So I have both on?. they?ll probably just contain my body parts if I mess this up.
I then place and fire two (2) 209 primers at the ground to clear the flash channel, and looking to insure that there is a clear passage thru the rifle, and the bore ?is conditioned.? These primers are cute little things?. about the size of very small mechanical pencil erasers. ?Spit? and ?spit? is the sound they make when I fire them off. Uneventful, but it helps build the excitement!
I then fold over the end of the barrel ramrod a dry patch (small section of cloth) and run it down the barrel. The next step is pretty important to get right, as I measure a 50 grain T7 powder charge for the gun. I pour this directly from the storage can into the measuring device to not only get the right amount, BUT! It seems that people have poured their powder DIRECTLY down the barrel from their large can or horn of powder? AND if there is a ember or something down the barrel, this spark ignites the falling stream of powder all the way up to the large can/powder horn, and ka boom! Ok, that will ruin your whole day, so I measure mine into the small measuring flask.
Keeping the barrel away from me, I pour the powder charge down the barrel of the gun. No, I do not feel like Davy Crockett yet. This step is then followed by placing a bullet in the end of the barrel. You start it down the barrel using the bullet starter rod, and then using the much longer ramrod, push bullet down the barrel via several gentle strokes, and seat the bullet FIRMLY against the powder charge. Noted on my checklist: WARNING! Do NOT leave any air space between the bullet and the powder charge! You see, if the bullet is NOT up against the powder, the gun blows up! This is obviously a VERY important step! OK, another probable reason they invented the regular brass case and bullet combination! Please notice the number of pitfalls that our great grandparents had to endure here!
Oh, ok, we are getting close to shooting it! I then kinda aim the barrel downrange, open action and place a 209 primer in the gun?s breech plug, and close the guns action. We are now ?armed and dangerous!? And the excitement builds!
I am now sitting down at the table on a chair, elbows propped on the shooting table, and looking thru the scope at my high tech colored paper target some 50 yards away. I cock the hammer back, take a deep breath, releasing it slowly, and start squeezing the trigger.
Ka-blooey! Wow? pretty much as I had imagined? not much kick (recoil) at all? and THERE IS plenty of smoke! I think that if I were insane enough to use REAL black powder, that there would be far more smoke. Pretty neat, the bullet hit just about 3 inches from the bulls eye, at about the 10:30 clock position. Time to shoot again!
I run a moistened cloth patch down the barrel, turn it over on the end of the ramrod and run it down again, followed by a dry patch. Now I get to repeat all of the fore mentioned steps to load it again! Please note that this takes a couple minutes to accomplish. I am not rushing it, as I NEED to be sure that I do not miss any steps, but, it occurs to me that if I were in the Revolutionary War right about now, I?d be dead! God evidently put me in the war that I was capable of defending myself in! Yes, I am assured of that now!
I need bullets, lots of bullets, like those that streamed out of our electrically operated mini-guns and rockets in my cobra gunship. I need firepower, ?cause I am terrible at this clean, load, fire one bullet, and repeat. One stinking bullet a minute is NOT enough! I?ll die for sure!
?Mrs. Wright on behalf of the President of the United States, the Congress, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we?re sorry to inform you that your son was not able to clean, load, and shoot his ONE BULLET fast enough.?
I finally get another bullet ready to fire, and sit down on the chair again. OK? we now have 60 grains of powder! Squeeze? slightly bigger Ka-blooey! A wee bit more recoil is felt, but remarkably less than I figured it would have.
These steps are repeated as I increase the powder charge towards 80 grains of powder. Surprisingly, as I increase the powder charge the bullets do not climb up the target as much as I expected them to do. They just make a slightly larger hole. I am too close to make a real difference in trajectory.
The 80 grains of powder finally has some kick to it. Even it is not as bad as I imagined. Of course I am always comparing everything to my Winchester .300 Magnum bear gun. That rifle kicks? in fact it has been kicking my ____ , let?s just say ?tail feathers? since I was 14 years old in Alaska!
After several more shots, I walk down to my target and measure the center of the group of bullet holes. I have made a large hole, and this accurate rifle just keeps sending bullets into the same hole. I like this! They are all hitting about 2 inches above, and a half inch left of where they should be. At this point I return to the rifle and change the scope settings to get the bullets on the bulls eye. I fire two more bullets at 80 grains and both smack the bulls eye. Close enough for day one!
On Friday, I returned to the club with Joe and Henry. They were shooting a few rounds of trap on the other side of the club. I moved a new target out to the 100 yard range, fired a dozen rounds or so, and adjusted the sights at this distance. We can now put all of the bullets into the bulls eye at 100 yards. Goal reached!
As expected, Joe and Henry finished before me, as we all know by now that I am terribly slow at clean, load, and fire! It has been rumored at the club that the geese have all reared a set of goslings in the amount of time it takes me to reload once. The rumor may be true. In any event, Joe and Henry were kind enough to take some pictures of me to send to you. They are in ?slow motion? of course.
We all then met up for a great lunch in Vacaville? I was going to arm-wrestle Joe for the tab, but he mentioned something about my retirement, and I knew that he?d whomp me. So I?d like to just note that ?Joe was kind enough to pick up the tab? and leave it at that. Thanks again Joe!
Life is good? even if it is ?slow? in some categories! Cheers!
With every new toy, I mean ?tool,? there comes with it, new information and new techniques to learn. The black powder rifle is no exception.
After thoroughly reading not only the Owners Manual, but everything I could find of relevance on the internet, I feel quite confident as I drive up I-505 to the Sportsmen?s Club. I am comfortable with my newly gained knowledge and my ever-faithful ?clipboard.? Yes, I have approached this new joy just as I have approached almost everything in my career: with a checklist!
My not-so-simple checklist is a multi-page affair that not only has the perceived steps in loading and firing this new ?ultra modern-antique rifle,? but it also contains all of the steps and conditions that I will test! Yes, test, this new gun. I am entering today?s endeavor with a full-blown (pun intended) test procedure designed to not only sight in the rifle, but also find an acceptable sized powder charge and bullet that will start to give accurate results in this rifle. I will fine tune for greater accuracy later this summer.
I quickly moved through the efficient sign-in counter at the club, and even more quickly find myself at the 50 yard rifle range. I figure that it is always best to get a bullet hole on paper up close, move the guns sights to put a bullet in the bulls eye, and then start moving the targets further out to better dial it in.
I am all alone over here on the 50 yard range. There are a few people at the 100 yard range next to me on the right. I?d rather be completely alone, as one does not need to have witnesses when one messes up! I can see it now on the 5PM News: ?Yeppers, he loaded too much powder in dat gun, and dat was da last we saw of ?em?. just lots?a smoke? and poof he vanished! All we found was pieces of his left sock.?
I now survey all of my equipment on the shooters table. It appears that I have just received a ?stimulus check? and redeemed it at our local gun shop. This is a lot of stuff?.. well, let?s get going!
The first order of business is to go down range and hang up my two targets. These are the high-tech papers that when a hole is punched thru them that they ?mystically? change color around the hole. I think this is just way to cool! Well, ok, yes my eyes are not what they were once when I was a teenager, and this may help me out here? confuse in? me with the facts again! I have already ?bore-sighted? the rifle at home, by looking down the barrel and aligning the cross-hairs of the scope to what I see in the bore of the barrel. We should be pretty close.
I put on my safety glasses and ear protectors, as stated on step one of my infamous check list. (I should be looking like some OSHA horse by now.) So I have both on?. they?ll probably just contain my body parts if I mess this up.
I then place and fire two (2) 209 primers at the ground to clear the flash channel, and looking to insure that there is a clear passage thru the rifle, and the bore ?is conditioned.? These primers are cute little things?. about the size of very small mechanical pencil erasers. ?Spit? and ?spit? is the sound they make when I fire them off. Uneventful, but it helps build the excitement!
I then fold over the end of the barrel ramrod a dry patch (small section of cloth) and run it down the barrel. The next step is pretty important to get right, as I measure a 50 grain T7 powder charge for the gun. I pour this directly from the storage can into the measuring device to not only get the right amount, BUT! It seems that people have poured their powder DIRECTLY down the barrel from their large can or horn of powder? AND if there is a ember or something down the barrel, this spark ignites the falling stream of powder all the way up to the large can/powder horn, and ka boom! Ok, that will ruin your whole day, so I measure mine into the small measuring flask.
Keeping the barrel away from me, I pour the powder charge down the barrel of the gun. No, I do not feel like Davy Crockett yet. This step is then followed by placing a bullet in the end of the barrel. You start it down the barrel using the bullet starter rod, and then using the much longer ramrod, push bullet down the barrel via several gentle strokes, and seat the bullet FIRMLY against the powder charge. Noted on my checklist: WARNING! Do NOT leave any air space between the bullet and the powder charge! You see, if the bullet is NOT up against the powder, the gun blows up! This is obviously a VERY important step! OK, another probable reason they invented the regular brass case and bullet combination! Please notice the number of pitfalls that our great grandparents had to endure here!
Oh, ok, we are getting close to shooting it! I then kinda aim the barrel downrange, open action and place a 209 primer in the gun?s breech plug, and close the guns action. We are now ?armed and dangerous!? And the excitement builds!
I am now sitting down at the table on a chair, elbows propped on the shooting table, and looking thru the scope at my high tech colored paper target some 50 yards away. I cock the hammer back, take a deep breath, releasing it slowly, and start squeezing the trigger.
Ka-blooey! Wow? pretty much as I had imagined? not much kick (recoil) at all? and THERE IS plenty of smoke! I think that if I were insane enough to use REAL black powder, that there would be far more smoke. Pretty neat, the bullet hit just about 3 inches from the bulls eye, at about the 10:30 clock position. Time to shoot again!
I run a moistened cloth patch down the barrel, turn it over on the end of the ramrod and run it down again, followed by a dry patch. Now I get to repeat all of the fore mentioned steps to load it again! Please note that this takes a couple minutes to accomplish. I am not rushing it, as I NEED to be sure that I do not miss any steps, but, it occurs to me that if I were in the Revolutionary War right about now, I?d be dead! God evidently put me in the war that I was capable of defending myself in! Yes, I am assured of that now!
I need bullets, lots of bullets, like those that streamed out of our electrically operated mini-guns and rockets in my cobra gunship. I need firepower, ?cause I am terrible at this clean, load, fire one bullet, and repeat. One stinking bullet a minute is NOT enough! I?ll die for sure!
?Mrs. Wright on behalf of the President of the United States, the Congress, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we?re sorry to inform you that your son was not able to clean, load, and shoot his ONE BULLET fast enough.?
I finally get another bullet ready to fire, and sit down on the chair again. OK? we now have 60 grains of powder! Squeeze? slightly bigger Ka-blooey! A wee bit more recoil is felt, but remarkably less than I figured it would have.
These steps are repeated as I increase the powder charge towards 80 grains of powder. Surprisingly, as I increase the powder charge the bullets do not climb up the target as much as I expected them to do. They just make a slightly larger hole. I am too close to make a real difference in trajectory.
The 80 grains of powder finally has some kick to it. Even it is not as bad as I imagined. Of course I am always comparing everything to my Winchester .300 Magnum bear gun. That rifle kicks? in fact it has been kicking my ____ , let?s just say ?tail feathers? since I was 14 years old in Alaska!
After several more shots, I walk down to my target and measure the center of the group of bullet holes. I have made a large hole, and this accurate rifle just keeps sending bullets into the same hole. I like this! They are all hitting about 2 inches above, and a half inch left of where they should be. At this point I return to the rifle and change the scope settings to get the bullets on the bulls eye. I fire two more bullets at 80 grains and both smack the bulls eye. Close enough for day one!
On Friday, I returned to the club with Joe and Henry. They were shooting a few rounds of trap on the other side of the club. I moved a new target out to the 100 yard range, fired a dozen rounds or so, and adjusted the sights at this distance. We can now put all of the bullets into the bulls eye at 100 yards. Goal reached!
As expected, Joe and Henry finished before me, as we all know by now that I am terribly slow at clean, load, and fire! It has been rumored at the club that the geese have all reared a set of goslings in the amount of time it takes me to reload once. The rumor may be true. In any event, Joe and Henry were kind enough to take some pictures of me to send to you. They are in ?slow motion? of course.
We all then met up for a great lunch in Vacaville? I was going to arm-wrestle Joe for the tab, but he mentioned something about my retirement, and I knew that he?d whomp me. So I?d like to just note that ?Joe was kind enough to pick up the tab? and leave it at that. Thanks again Joe!
Life is good? even if it is ?slow? in some categories! Cheers!
