Buckshot
03-03-2008, 03:37 AM
..............On the 2nd Sunday each month the club put's on an informal Buffalo Silhuette match. Since the range only goes to 200 meters the buffalo silhuettes are kind of small. I don't think there is any limitation on the rifle type so long as you're shooting BPC or a ML'er. You can fire your sighters before the match and the match is 6 rounds in rotation with the other shooters. They pay a cash prize down to 3rd place.
I haven't had much time at all recently to load any cartridges with BP, but I do have the Whitworth and the Rigby LR match rifles (Rigby has a broken stirrup at the moment). Last Tuesday the Burrito Bunch shot ML'ers and I won campaigning the Whitworth. I figured I might as well do something about using it for the Buffalo thing too. The range has a couple hanging steel gongs at 200 meters, and these are smaller then the silhuettes.
While the Rigby has a tang sight, the Whitworth is a copy of a 1862 Military match rifle so it has a military type rear sight. It has steps supposedly for 1, 2, and 300 yards and then you stand up the ladder and use the elevator. The front sight is a tunnel type that takes inserts. As it is, shooting at 200 meters has generally required some kind of shim under the ladder as the 100 yard step is too low and the 200 yard one is too high.
What I did was to use a post type front sight with the ladder on the 100 yard step. As I mentioned, this is normally a tad too low. I bent the front post forward a bit, which in effect shortened it which caused me to hold higher :-)
Normally I use a 70gr charge of Elephant 2Fg, but went to a 75gr charge and the paper patched 525gr swaged boolit. The powder goes in through a drop tube and then gets a lubed felt wad. The paper patch is lubed by hand with Bore Butter and just sits on the wad. It's seated just firmly enough to ensure there isn't any air space.
http://www.fototime.com/F5B2831828DBFE3/standard.jpg
I fired it dirty (in the British fashion of LRML), and hit the plate 5 times in a row. There were some guys hanging around the rangemaster and I heard them commenting on how long it took the slug to get there. They probably meant the sound of the hit. That load should be going just short of 1100 fps so for the sound of the hit to return, it would be just short of a second from me pulling the trigger. They're centerfire guys anyway so they were probably ******** about the smoke, too.
While the 2Fg Elephant powder I have isn't as energetic as the Swiss, it doesn't form the hard fouling ring at the wad that the Swiss does. To bad it's not made anymore. I have 8 lbs of the 2Fg left, besides what's in my rangebox, and when it's gone ............... oh well :-(
Last couple of matches there has been a guy shooting a repro P53 Enfield. He was the only one shooting a ML'er. I talked with him a bit and was surprised to find out he was shooting the familiar ole Lyman 575213 OS and 65grs of Goex 2Fg. I thought he might have been shooting a little heavier slug with a bit more powder. I saw him fire 4 of his 6 score rounds and they were all 4 to 6 feet short (or below) the silhuette. If it were me, I might have made a sight adjustment!
Maybe next month I'll work up a load and use the P58 Enfield! Of course, the Whitworth might be so much fun I'll want to use it again?
.................Buckshot
I haven't had much time at all recently to load any cartridges with BP, but I do have the Whitworth and the Rigby LR match rifles (Rigby has a broken stirrup at the moment). Last Tuesday the Burrito Bunch shot ML'ers and I won campaigning the Whitworth. I figured I might as well do something about using it for the Buffalo thing too. The range has a couple hanging steel gongs at 200 meters, and these are smaller then the silhuettes.
While the Rigby has a tang sight, the Whitworth is a copy of a 1862 Military match rifle so it has a military type rear sight. It has steps supposedly for 1, 2, and 300 yards and then you stand up the ladder and use the elevator. The front sight is a tunnel type that takes inserts. As it is, shooting at 200 meters has generally required some kind of shim under the ladder as the 100 yard step is too low and the 200 yard one is too high.
What I did was to use a post type front sight with the ladder on the 100 yard step. As I mentioned, this is normally a tad too low. I bent the front post forward a bit, which in effect shortened it which caused me to hold higher :-)
Normally I use a 70gr charge of Elephant 2Fg, but went to a 75gr charge and the paper patched 525gr swaged boolit. The powder goes in through a drop tube and then gets a lubed felt wad. The paper patch is lubed by hand with Bore Butter and just sits on the wad. It's seated just firmly enough to ensure there isn't any air space.
http://www.fototime.com/F5B2831828DBFE3/standard.jpg
I fired it dirty (in the British fashion of LRML), and hit the plate 5 times in a row. There were some guys hanging around the rangemaster and I heard them commenting on how long it took the slug to get there. They probably meant the sound of the hit. That load should be going just short of 1100 fps so for the sound of the hit to return, it would be just short of a second from me pulling the trigger. They're centerfire guys anyway so they were probably ******** about the smoke, too.
While the 2Fg Elephant powder I have isn't as energetic as the Swiss, it doesn't form the hard fouling ring at the wad that the Swiss does. To bad it's not made anymore. I have 8 lbs of the 2Fg left, besides what's in my rangebox, and when it's gone ............... oh well :-(
Last couple of matches there has been a guy shooting a repro P53 Enfield. He was the only one shooting a ML'er. I talked with him a bit and was surprised to find out he was shooting the familiar ole Lyman 575213 OS and 65grs of Goex 2Fg. I thought he might have been shooting a little heavier slug with a bit more powder. I saw him fire 4 of his 6 score rounds and they were all 4 to 6 feet short (or below) the silhuette. If it were me, I might have made a sight adjustment!
Maybe next month I'll work up a load and use the P58 Enfield! Of course, the Whitworth might be so much fun I'll want to use it again?
.................Buckshot