waksupi
08-20-2009, 07:31 PM
I got this project finished up this week. It is a Southern Mountain Rifle, no frills hunting gun. I got it from a friend in July at a shoot, as he had been lugging it around in the white for a couple years. The lock is one of the Old Doc Haddaways, so functions pretty nice. There are nice double lever/double set triggers on it. However, the first owner for some reason shortened the sear bar, so the front lever cannot reach the trip. I may fix this later on. When I got it, the barrel was 44" long, so I gave it a barrelectomy, down to 26".
He isn't sure who the barrel maker was, but thinks it was from a company in New York who generally makes modern barrels. The original owner was apparently making it into a sillouette rifle. I should have had a light go on when I heard that, but didn't.
When I took it to the bench, I was wanting to just find a nice light load at first, although I built this specifically as a hunting rifle. No luck. I started in at 60 grains, and started working my way up five grains at a time. At 90 grains 3f Schutzen, at 50 yards, it was coming down to about a six inch pattern. Not good.
It was when cleaning it, I really paid attention to the twist. I checked it several times. It is somewhere between 1-110, and 1-120. Ah ha! When he ordered the barrel, he must have read Forsyth's "The Sporting Rifle and It's Projectiles", as this was the recommended twist for longer range shooting with a ML.
So, enlightened, it was back to the bench.
I skipped right on up to 120 gr., and things were starting to come together. Group had dropped to around 2.5" at 50 yards. 125 gr. improved to around 1.5", and 130 gr. was printing under an inch, and I did get one group this morning of right around 1/2".
I was glad I didn't have to go beyond the 130 gr. load, as by the time I had reached that point, the recoil was getting to be rather demanding. I'm glad I won't have to shoot it off the bench any more.
I did take it up the mountain for some varied range shooting, and offhand it isn't at all uncomfortable to shoot.
I will tag on a picture of my rear sight, but it is pretty fuzzy. However, the idea is a full buckhorn open sight. But, the center is round, and used with the front sight like an aperture, rather than a notch. So far it is fast, easy to see the front sight and target, and hopefully will let me forget my glasses when hunting and not be handicapped. The previous owner had already cut the dovetail, so it is up the barrel further than I would care for, but the accuracy is there, even without the longer sighting plane.
Notice, I did add a sling, as this will be lugged around the mountains quite a bit.
He isn't sure who the barrel maker was, but thinks it was from a company in New York who generally makes modern barrels. The original owner was apparently making it into a sillouette rifle. I should have had a light go on when I heard that, but didn't.
When I took it to the bench, I was wanting to just find a nice light load at first, although I built this specifically as a hunting rifle. No luck. I started in at 60 grains, and started working my way up five grains at a time. At 90 grains 3f Schutzen, at 50 yards, it was coming down to about a six inch pattern. Not good.
It was when cleaning it, I really paid attention to the twist. I checked it several times. It is somewhere between 1-110, and 1-120. Ah ha! When he ordered the barrel, he must have read Forsyth's "The Sporting Rifle and It's Projectiles", as this was the recommended twist for longer range shooting with a ML.
So, enlightened, it was back to the bench.
I skipped right on up to 120 gr., and things were starting to come together. Group had dropped to around 2.5" at 50 yards. 125 gr. improved to around 1.5", and 130 gr. was printing under an inch, and I did get one group this morning of right around 1/2".
I was glad I didn't have to go beyond the 130 gr. load, as by the time I had reached that point, the recoil was getting to be rather demanding. I'm glad I won't have to shoot it off the bench any more.
I did take it up the mountain for some varied range shooting, and offhand it isn't at all uncomfortable to shoot.
I will tag on a picture of my rear sight, but it is pretty fuzzy. However, the idea is a full buckhorn open sight. But, the center is round, and used with the front sight like an aperture, rather than a notch. So far it is fast, easy to see the front sight and target, and hopefully will let me forget my glasses when hunting and not be handicapped. The previous owner had already cut the dovetail, so it is up the barrel further than I would care for, but the accuracy is there, even without the longer sighting plane.
Notice, I did add a sling, as this will be lugged around the mountains quite a bit.