Buckshot
02-08-2007, 06:21 AM
.............We were supposed to shoot muzzle loaders Tuesday and I swear those hosers I shoot with will do anything to keep from participating. I think they say 'okay' when I suggest it just to keep me from whining, and then spend the next week dreaming up excuses. Deputy Al said he had to go to court, and another said his training day (he's a volunteer at the local PD) was changed, and El Pistolero said he jumped off the bumper of his CJ-7 and cracked his tibia. Or fibula or one of those bones.
Why he was jumping off the bumper of it is beyond me, but just another indicater of the gomers I hang with. The only one to show up was Glen and he was an hour later then he normally is and he REALLY hates shooting ML'ers. Since it was just the 2 of us we didn't shoot a match. Glen didn't shoot at all and I think it was because he'd told me he had to JB the nipple into his rifle. I don't think I'd have shot it either.
So I hung out way up at the single digit bench numbers with Jon K and a friend of his. Jon K showed me his new C. Sharps with a Shiloh barrel, or it's aShiloh with a C. Sharps barrel? Anyway it was a nice piece of hardware and kinda heavy. Think it's 1-1/8" a the muzzle. I looked at the hole in the end and the fat barrel made the 45 cal hole look like a 40 :-).
Since I had gone to the trouble of pan lubing some slugs for the Whitworth Monday I decided I oughta a least shoot it, especially since I'd paid my range fee. Jon K had the sighter Ram up at 200 meters so I shot it a couple times, but he had to leave so it came down. Only members of the range's silhuette club are actually supposed to shoot at them. All I had then was the gong at 200.
The gong is one of the "Couch Cushions" I liberated from the Nevada Cast Boolit Shoot in 2003. It's a remnant from a mining machinery rebuilder BruceB has an in with, and they were apparently scrap. They're 4" thick, measure 12"x12" and weigh 172 lbs. They've been shooting it for 3 years and it's still going strong! I was 3 for 5 offhand shooting the Lyman 457191 P-H 475gr FN over 75.0grs of Elephant 2Fg.
I had a few swaged and paper patched 530gr HB slugs so I figured I'd shoot those up, as there wasn't enough of'em to use for anything else. Since I was changing boolits, I changed from the Elephant to Swiss 2Fg too. It's been quite awile since I'd shot the Whitworth with Swiss powder. What a difference from the Elephant. Truth be known, the Elephant weighs what the measure shows. The Swiss is much denser so the indicated 75.0grs with the Elephant was actually about 84grs of Swiss.
The heavier slug and the heavier charge of Swiss sure made a noticeable difference in sound, recoil and sight setting. While the Whitworth with the Elephant does produce a sharper report then say the 58 Enfield with a heavy charge, the Swiss produces a sharp bark almost like shooting smokless. The recoil would sure snatch your head back too! The BPCR guys may chuckle at being such a wienie, but it's been quite some time for me and I'm just not used to it (excuses, I know!).
With the previous load I had the rear sight on the 100 yard step with a piece of cartridge box cardboard under it and held 6 to hit the plate. Using the Swiss and the 530gr slug I had to put the ladder down on the 100 yard step and hold about a foot under the plate to hit. Although the swaged slug is pointier then the FN Lyman, it was probably recoil that was causing the slug's elevation increase more then anything.
That charge should have been giving that boolit a velocity of about 1200+ fps or so. There were a few other guys shooting at the gong too. I don't know what they were using but you'd hear the clang and not much else. Momentum counts, and connecting with one of those 530 gr slugs would definetly swing it around, unlike the high velocity jacketed jobs :-).
....................Buckshot
Why he was jumping off the bumper of it is beyond me, but just another indicater of the gomers I hang with. The only one to show up was Glen and he was an hour later then he normally is and he REALLY hates shooting ML'ers. Since it was just the 2 of us we didn't shoot a match. Glen didn't shoot at all and I think it was because he'd told me he had to JB the nipple into his rifle. I don't think I'd have shot it either.
So I hung out way up at the single digit bench numbers with Jon K and a friend of his. Jon K showed me his new C. Sharps with a Shiloh barrel, or it's aShiloh with a C. Sharps barrel? Anyway it was a nice piece of hardware and kinda heavy. Think it's 1-1/8" a the muzzle. I looked at the hole in the end and the fat barrel made the 45 cal hole look like a 40 :-).
Since I had gone to the trouble of pan lubing some slugs for the Whitworth Monday I decided I oughta a least shoot it, especially since I'd paid my range fee. Jon K had the sighter Ram up at 200 meters so I shot it a couple times, but he had to leave so it came down. Only members of the range's silhuette club are actually supposed to shoot at them. All I had then was the gong at 200.
The gong is one of the "Couch Cushions" I liberated from the Nevada Cast Boolit Shoot in 2003. It's a remnant from a mining machinery rebuilder BruceB has an in with, and they were apparently scrap. They're 4" thick, measure 12"x12" and weigh 172 lbs. They've been shooting it for 3 years and it's still going strong! I was 3 for 5 offhand shooting the Lyman 457191 P-H 475gr FN over 75.0grs of Elephant 2Fg.
I had a few swaged and paper patched 530gr HB slugs so I figured I'd shoot those up, as there wasn't enough of'em to use for anything else. Since I was changing boolits, I changed from the Elephant to Swiss 2Fg too. It's been quite awile since I'd shot the Whitworth with Swiss powder. What a difference from the Elephant. Truth be known, the Elephant weighs what the measure shows. The Swiss is much denser so the indicated 75.0grs with the Elephant was actually about 84grs of Swiss.
The heavier slug and the heavier charge of Swiss sure made a noticeable difference in sound, recoil and sight setting. While the Whitworth with the Elephant does produce a sharper report then say the 58 Enfield with a heavy charge, the Swiss produces a sharp bark almost like shooting smokless. The recoil would sure snatch your head back too! The BPCR guys may chuckle at being such a wienie, but it's been quite some time for me and I'm just not used to it (excuses, I know!).
With the previous load I had the rear sight on the 100 yard step with a piece of cartridge box cardboard under it and held 6 to hit the plate. Using the Swiss and the 530gr slug I had to put the ladder down on the 100 yard step and hold about a foot under the plate to hit. Although the swaged slug is pointier then the FN Lyman, it was probably recoil that was causing the slug's elevation increase more then anything.
That charge should have been giving that boolit a velocity of about 1200+ fps or so. There were a few other guys shooting at the gong too. I don't know what they were using but you'd hear the clang and not much else. Momentum counts, and connecting with one of those 530 gr slugs would definetly swing it around, unlike the high velocity jacketed jobs :-).
....................Buckshot