A great afternoon in the Rock Pit...

[sabotloader]

It was a great day to go shooting here so i grabbed the newer Knight elite 45 and headed to the rock pit. I really do not like shooting in the pit much any more because so many people trash the place by hauling in junk to shoot and then leaving the mess on the floor. I know the Forest Service is going to clamp down and close the area - it is only a matter of time.

Here is a picture of the pit and you can see what i mean... If you look carefully you can see the clay pigeons that are placed here and there around the pit. They are arranged from 50 to 107 yards. You have to look hard on the back wall to see the birds placed in the rocks.

I had already decided this mission was two fold... 1. I just wanted to shoot the gun since I just installed a new REALTREE camo stock on the gun - thanks 'rt-con'. 2nd... I wanted to shoot the latest NFPJ that I had.

Since I was not shooting paper - I was just picking out targets on the floor or on the wall to shoot with the gun. I shot the gun 24 times this afternoon. Since this will be my deer hunting gun this year I was trying to shoot what I will be using during the season - the 40/200 gr. Lehigh. This gun has a Bushnell 3200 3x9x40 with Ballistic Reticule, I started shooting the less expensive Speer 40/180 Gold Dots at first as they fly very much like the Lehigh 40/200 gr. DOA. I was also shooting a Winchester T7 primer, a know dirty primer, and using MMP 4045 Light tan sabots - all pushed along with 110 grains of T7-2f powder.

The gun is deadly on target... i shot the first 15 shots with the Gold Dot and then not in my nature I decided to set out 10 birds on the wall and shoot all ten with the expensive Lehigh 200's. What great fun. Since I am shooting a 1/30 twist Knight it really is a bit slow for the long Lehigh's but for some reason this gun flat out shoots them...

Next! Grouse always tells me that that we probably can not get 100% blow back free with a Knight... But I think I have achieved 99.9% blowback free operation today.

Look at these pictures - I do not think I can get the breech area any cleaner than this... I was happy...

Any body that did not get out shoot today - you missed a good one....

My next shooting trip is already planned - I am going to the farm to shoot a bunch of different bullets across a chrono... I promised GM54-120 - I would do this a long time ago.... He has one heavy 260 grain .406 I am really interested in shooting...

 

[GM54-120]

Looks great!!!

BTW all the new 260s i have have been resized to .401 BUT the .406 does very well in the Harvester Smooth sabots. Resized they do better in the MMP tan upto about 105gr of BH209.

They are real pile drivers too. Its one of the few that i have a hard time recovering from my test media and they are not super hard either.

The more i handle my new Elite 45 the more i like it. I really like the balance and the way it comes upto the shoulder.

 

[k]

sabotloader
that is one clean breech!is that a lehigh plug with your steel washer?
was the carbon on the bolt from battery cup leakage?
karl

 

[sabotloader]

k

that is one clean breech!is that a lehigh plug with your steel washer?

It is exactly that.... The primer pocket on the Lehigh plug is down 0.245" and with this plug I have raised the bench to 0.192". That pocket fits my Knights very well. I think the new 2nd Generation of Lehigh plugs is going to have a 0.195" deep primer pocket which will/should function a lot better across the Knight Elite-Extreme-LRH line of rifles.

was the carbon on the bolt from battery cup leakage?

Yes, i am sure that is what it is. The size of the primer pin hole on a Knight bolt is the factor in that - and there is not much we can do about that one... but, I am really confident that it will be better than any of the Knight BP's.

 

[frontier gander]

good lord, that place looks like a good area to break an ankle! :lol:

 

[sabotloader]

FG

good lord, that place looks like a good area to break an ankle!

It really is easy to turn an ankle walking around in there - but the bigger danger is all of the broken glass that is all over the floor... Why do people need to shoot glass?

Then when you walk up the slag at the bottom of the wall to get to the solid wall that really is a fun experiance...

 

[frontier gander]

Kind of like people who break beer bottles in a fire pit. Nothing pisses me off worse than that. Well no i take that back, broken beer bottles in a creep where i like to gold pan

 

[sabotloader]

FG

The worst part is I flunked retirement again and I go back to work for the FS in April - bet I spend a day picking trash in the pit...

 

[Semisane]

The worst part is I flunked retirement again

You may have to take a class in remedial loafing. I can send you a copy of my book "Doing Nothing For Dummies".

 

[sabotloader]

Semi

My normal motto - but the job is just to attactive to pass up...

 

[saxman1]

Sounds like a fun day
I love shooting and hunting with the 45 cal
It get's her dunn

I can relate about people trashing the range.I have to clean mine again.
I even set out a 55gal drum for trash and they still cant throw it away so me and my daughters go out there and clean it.
These rednecks don't understand that this lease can be taken away because of trash like this.
You can't fix stupid

 

[GM54-120]

We have an unsupervised 65yard range (Logan) with nice solid tables about 5 minutes from the longer private range i use. During voluntary cease fires most of the guys i see pick up a little bit at Logan...except on weekends. Then its a mad house and i have to be the unofficial range master.

On our private range its spotless except for burn piles we setup to make cleaning easier. Recently we banned steel case ammo without the owners consent because too many people would leave it and only pickup brass cases.

You either take it with you or burn it PERIOD or dont come back.

Me and the owner are the range masters and instructors so if you dont like the rules, go to Logan. Obey the rules and if you want to learn how to use guns safely. you are very welcome.

Last time out i spent over an hour just picking up cases and sabots at my friends place. Its my long range area and backs upto Logan so i dont want to lose my shooting or hunting privileges.

At least i got a 5 gallon pale of nice brass now.

My other private area is in Sullivan MO and we simulate shooting from the elevated hunting and shooting stand. We place big thick round steel plates at all the known deer crossing areas and along the tree line for a more realistic shooting experience.. A quick spray paint job and they look like new again. You just cover the paint splatters and good as new.

Unless you hit one with a Lehigh or high powered rifle. :lol:

Thats tons of fun and we have a true 14-16ft elevated sightin for deer season. It covers shots out to 250 yards and a few are through the tree lines into anothert huge field.

Its the main reasons i got a 45...reach out and WAM without the extra recoil of a 50!!! All from a nice comfy covered camo stand with heat too :lol:

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

That's what my home town range looks like. Its sad. I'm afraid they will close it down if things don't change. It's sooo easy to take care of. You bring a target in, you take it back out. You shoot a shell, you pick it up. I even pick up my sabots when I can find them. Oh well, maybe the Dems will fix it, NOT!