First a lovely picture of this wonderful cool front sent in by our Lord Almighty specifically to make my day on the range something special. I just know he had me in mind when he sent it. This was taken at sunset last night and you can see the bank of clouds coming in and it brought temperatures I cannot ever remember experiencing in the Middle of July before around here. If it hadn't been for my poor overworked shoulder giving me fits all night I would have slept like a baby... a very comfortably cool baby :)
With the prices of ammo still what I consider extremely high and not wanting to either mess with brass catchers on my AR's nor chase empty cases around the place I decided that today was going to be a cast bullet, straight wall case and Black Powder only day.
I took my little .357 handy rifle, a GP100 and a little beauty I picked up a few years ago but have never fired. A Thomson Center White Mountain .50 cal Hawkins Carbine. I have to say I like my firearms like I like my women. Slim, trim and Petite :)
I spent half the night running around trying to find all my stuff to shoot this little girl. It's amazing how the little odds and ends get scattered around when you haven't used em in decades. As it turned out I plum forgot to grab the cleaning end with the little wires (whatever that is called) and almost had to call it a day early because a cleaning patch got stuck down in the barrel. Luckily my step dad managed to fish it out with the wire brush end so I could keep shooting.
The first shot out of her at 50 yards went dead center but a little high. After that the next six all went inside the orange center circle but I never did get a perfect bullseye.
I upped the powder from 50 to 70 grains and put another 20 or so shots down range with the same results overall. Nothing I can complain about for a rifle I have never fired before and shooting black powder which I haven't done in decades. The whole trip probably ran me maybe $10.00 in lead and powder even after shooting off a box of .38's through the handy rifle and the GP100.
I certainly can't complain about the little carbine either. She shot pretty well and since I only paid $75.00 for her to a co-worker a few years back I think it was a pretty good investment. As it turned out there was a meeting going on of all the old retired guys from the club and I had two people offer to buy her right on the spot. All the old BP guys were convinced the little carbine would kick like a mule but to be honest I never felt a thing even at 70 grains. She was just a sweet little rifle.
edit: I should add that all shooting was done standing with no bench rest and all open sights.
Why I may even take up deer hunting again since I can go out during primitive season and avoid the crowds now.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
Nice sounds like a good day everybody deserves one now and again
ReplyDeleteBubba - Ya it was a lot of fun. I forgot how much fun BP could be actually. I kinda got the bug to make a special shooting pouch for it once again now.
DeleteThat would be good enough for meat!
ReplyDeleteThat is a good plan be assuming you have enough caps and powder. You can recover many of your bullets and recycle them so it is a real efficient system.
Sf - That's why I didn't use a rest or anything. I was looking at it as a meat gettin opportunity only. When we do enter a collapse scenario I plan on hunting exclusively with BP as the most sustainable shooting I can do. Adding a flintlock to the armory would make it even that much more sustainable.
DeleteNothing like a little boom-boom to help clear and focus one's mind. glad you had a nice day with your Dad.
ReplyDeleteSD - Ya my step dad is kinda a weird bird at times but if you shoot with him he will be your best friend for life. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to firearms and has at least one of everything I think, plus 3 M1A's :)
DeleteThat sounds like a good day. You needed a break, I can't remember the last time you did anything but work.
ReplyDeleteHarry - Well I wouldn't say it was hard work but I always got something that has to get done. Actually I am behind now and scheduled to work the next two days plus I have some frames of honey I need to spin out. I had the boy mow the lawn today and he is really getting better at it but he has a ways to go to get it just right yet.
DeleteSo much to do so little time.
Hardly any such thing as a bad day at the range, thank goodness. I hunted whitetail with a .45 caliber CVA Mountain Rifle (caplock) for 15 years; loved that rifle.
ReplyDeleteRP - Last year my SR556 kept jamming up on me and the scope for my .308 got all knocked out of kilter and then I got a stuck bullet in my handy rifle all on the same trip. I was not a happy camper that day.
DeleteBut usually yes you are correct.
Good weather and a day at the range can't be beat! Now you have me thinking I need some black powder firearms. I see that carbine comes also with a set trigger. That would be my preference. The slow lock time would be offset somewhat.
ReplyDeleteMV - I am not an expert but I always thought those set trigger types were basically for target shooting only but I maybe completely mistaken. My limited experience with them also seem to be they have a bad habit of going bad as well. Anyway I didn't want one for a hunting rifle which is why I jumped on this one when the guy offered it to me. Can't beat it for 75 bucks IMO and cheap to shoot too.
DeletePP,
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like you had a great day out at the range. $75.00 on that baby, not bad!!!
My husband loves working with black powder. He teaches the boy scouts how to use black powder and shooting the guns out at the range.
Last week we went out and fired his 30-06 for the first time since he got it for his birthday two years ago. It fired nice, can't wait to go hunting.