Good shooting and a new target pattern I'm working on

[HangFireW8]

I've had worse than indifferent accuracy from an FN Model 50 .30-06 with an oversized bore, slugged to .3100" / .3000" on the lands. Suddenly everything came together when I ordered a .310" sizer and a Lee C312-185-1R mold and tried "the load". (Actually 12.8 grains of Red Dot instead of 13, simply because that was what my powder measure was throwing that day.)

The result this past weekend, the target on the left. 10 shots into 1.11" at 50 yards. This is a good start.

Mulling it over later, I realized I was tired of pulling/posting single bull targets every 30 minutes, I'd rather be taking notes, pushing patches and shooting the breeze. I was also tired of putting the little sticky orange dots on the targets while the firing line waited for me, or putting them on earlier and having them fall off.

I checked out the web Monday and saw refurb inkjet 11x17 printers for $79.99+tax delivered to Staples. A check of the local Office Depot revealed the same printer in stock, new/closeout, for $99.91, and I had a $15 off coupon, $5 different and I get a new printer with the full 2 year warranty (a Brother MFC-5890cn, great printer ignore the biased CNet review).

I pulled up my Open Office document I use for load notes and results, blew up the tiny target diagram and colored the middle orange, and Viola', printed the target on the right. It's not "done" yet, but, well, its plenty shootable in its current state.

The bullseye is various shades of grey, I'll probably move them to pure black, and scale them to 1/4 or 1/2" between rings. The little bulls in the middle are the originals, I use a blue or red pen to color in what my groups look like in my load notes. (That's why the bulls are grey not black, so I can see my pen marks). I think for shooting purposes, white rings and an otherwise solid black bull with orange bullseye will be best- just like the target on the left.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=424&pictureid=2883
I'm on a roll....

[waksupi]

I like a white center, as orange will give me color flare when sighting. I take my targets to Instyprints, and get a hundred printed out for $7.00. Cheaper than using my own ink.

[Bass Ackward]

I like a white diamond. :grin:

Fun when it works huh?

[HangFireW8]

I like a white center, as orange will give me color flare when sighting. I take my targets to Instyprints, and get a hundred printed out for $7.00. Cheaper than using my own ink.

That's a good idea, I'll have to check them out.

With Brother printers I can get ink for $2.50 a cartridge from 77ink.com, and that's the big high capacity cartridges. A commercial printer may still be cheaper for large print runs, and I'm hoping someone like that can print to short grain cardstock and then I'll have some "real" targets.

For now, I need to print at home in order to work out my design ideas and make sure they fit on 11x17 paper.

As for color flare, that gets down to the quality of the scope. I use primarily Leupold and Burris, and avoid their cheapest models (the ones that are not "fully" multicoated). I like a one inch orange dot because I can quarter it at 25 and 50 yards, and at 100 yards it is hidden entirely if the reticle is exactly centered on most of my scopes.

-HF

[reloader28]

Nice targets, but that is way to much work and money for me. I use to print my own, but I kept running out of ink and paper.
I have my own range so I spose its different, but I just staple a big square of freezer paper on the front of my backer (a 3' dia block of firewood that I split later to reclaim my lead). I put a paper plate (not styrafoam) in the middle with 1" magic marker dot on it.
Super fast and super cheap. You can get a stack of them for a couple bucks.



BTW, nice group.

[scrapcan]

If you are keeping notes and targets, print those things on heavy paper and punch holes in the end and do a tri fold so they fit in a standard 3 rign binder.

[Doc Highwall]

My target preferences for rifle shooting depend on if I am using iron sights or a scope. For iron sights at 100 yards I like a solid aiming black like the 100 yard small bore target that measures 8" that you have, or the MR-31 target that simulates the 600 yard target for 100 yards with a aiming black that measures 5.75". I shoot both small bore and high-power and I have the right size front aperture that will allow me to shoot my best with a round aiming black target. For scope I prefer a simpler target and I have two that I use depending on the power of the scope and the accuracy of the gun and ammo combination. For low power scopes that I use for hunting I use a simple open X target, and for higher power scopes I use a reverse of the small bore target with the ring sizes being the same size. Here I am posting a picture with both targets, the outside of the rings measure 1",2" 4" and 6" and some times I just use the 1" and 2" rings which allow me to put five targets on a 8.5"x11" piece of paper. Knowing the size of the rings lets me know how many clicks on the scope I need to apply to zero the gun and to judge the group size from the firing line without going down range.

[HangFireW8]

Nice targets, but that is way to much work and money for me. I use to print my own, but I kept running out of ink and paper.

I have a ream of 500 and I'm ordering a 12-pack of hi cap ink cartridges for $30... but I hope I have that "running out" problem too. :)


I have my own range so I spose its different


Oh yeah... I have to consider things like Doc said, adjusting scopes on the firing line and shooting at already-used targets while waiting for a cease fire... it changes the entire equation. I am spending time at home to save time on the range, I'd rather BE at the range but it closes 1 hour before dark, and it's November... its dark when I get off work... so I spend the time preparing at home.



BTW, nice group.

Thanks, I was hoping someone would notice. [smilie=1:

[HangFireW8]

My target preferences for rifle shooting depend on if I am using iron sights or a scope.

Thanks for those measurements, Doc, that is exactly the kind of thing I am researching now and experimenting with. It sounds like you have your target preferences well sorted out.

I also have a mix of varmint, hunting, target, and fun rifles, with scope powers of 1.5x, 2.5x, 3-9x, 3.5-10x, 4-16x, 8-24x, 32x, buckhorn, post, ball, peep, ghost ring, and target peep sites... geez no wonder I want custom bulls.

I'm thinking not one target will work for all of them, but if I can kill a few birds with each stone, I'll be ahead.

Since I'm trapped at the firing line until cease fire is called, reading the target for how many clicks is very important. If the rings themselves don't give me the measurement, I might just superimpose it on a grid.

And one more thing... a little embarrassing, but the 11x17 size is important for now. I am catching up on my hobby after a few year near-hiatus, and I have yet to find a set of different loads that all group near each other for each rifle. The backing boards always have lots of 30 caliber holes...

Perhaps in several years, I'll have all those loads sorted out, and I'll be using post-it notes for targets, or maybe matchbook covers. :p

-HF

[HangFireW8]

If you are keeping notes and targets, print those things on heavy paper and punch holes in the end and do a tri fold so they fit in a standard 3 rign binder.

Hmm. Darn good idea. That throws another complication into the mix...

Hey, doesn't everyone keep notes and targets?

-HF

[XWrench3]

personally, i hate black in a target. it hides bullet holes way to affectively at 100 yards. especially small bore holes. i try to make all of the black, grey if i can. for what it is worth, which isn't much, my personal favorite is a two bullseye target. of course, most of my shooting right now is working up loads, so i need more room for groups. once i get a good set of loads for all my guns, i should be able to set into smaller targets.

[HORNET]

BTW, if you look up in the stickies at the top of this forum, there is a sticky on 'Targets From Your Printer' that has links to a LOT of places where you can pick different targets to download and/or print. I usually use the Gunloads 4 or 5 bull ones. I can put 2 side-by-side in my holder and run 8-10 groups without walking downrange. There are also some novelty targets that make things a bit more interesting than the traditional bullseye (rabbits, squirrels, etc).

[RayinNH]

Slight thread hijack, but on the subject of printing your own. When color cartridges no longer print true to life, they work fine for printing handgun targets. Reds start looking pink etc.. Paper is cheap but the ink is expensive, get as much life out of it as you can...Ray

[HangFireW8]

Slight thread hijack, but on the subject of printing your own. When color cartridges no longer print true to life, they work fine for printing handgun targets. Reds start looking pink etc.. Paper is cheap but the ink is expensive, get as much life out of it as you can...Ray

I get my generic Brother ink for $2.50 a cartridge, and it is High Yield LC65, about twice the ink capacity of your average (pricey) HP cartridge.

My color printing costs are down near B&W laser per-print. Also Brother ink doesn't "time out" and expire like HP and Lexmarks do, so I can stockpile some and not worry about the printer turning up its nose on it later.

-HF

[Mk42gunner]

I have started using black target pasters as aiming points. One works well at under fifty yards; at 100 yards I use one for scopes, and usually put four in a square for iron sights.

Of course, I somehow acquired a tube of ten or twelve rolls in my travels for Uncle Sam; so I am set for a while.


RObert