200 yd postal match Nov-Dec 2019

[BFD]

I would love to be shooting any of those.

[semtav]

So just out of curiosity, thought I'd see how the weights compared between these old powders
Drop tubed 100 gr in a 45-90 shell added a wad and measured the depth.



010-908 .165 down
050-310 .100 down
050-510 .120 down
290-111 .030 down
120-312 .065 down
090-512 .075 down

Looks like 12 was pretty consistent and they got lighter each year
be nice to compare that to some newer lots.

[BFD]

The new lots are much lighter yet, starting in 2013, but continuing through 2018.

[semtav]

OK, thanks.

Got up early this morning and completely disassembled my rifle , cleaned it, and put in a new Shaver sear spring along with the modded trigger and all seems to function correctly.

No more excuses.

(except for weather)

[semtav]

sunshine-cloudy target.jpg

Good thing I quantified my no more excuses for bad groups with a weather exception, but this wasn't what I had in mind

First shot was right by the red bull. same point of impact I had yesterday.- in bright sunlight.
second shot the clouds were just getting to the sun.
The rest of the shots were in dark cloudiness.
Didn't pay enough attention yesterday, when the sun was going in and out of light wispy clouds whether that was causing any of the vertical but got to wondering about it later.
Not sure if the Sun up -bullet up affects it that much, but that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Not going to enter it cause I have enough 5"+ entries
I was hoping the sun would come back out before it set to see if it would go back up, but didn't look like that was going to happen.

[Kurt]

Did you shoot any fowlers to warm up the barrel?

[semtav]

Yea. I just shot 10 shots with the pistol primers.

[semtav]

The bottom group is what this load used to look like in actual matches , some horizontal but not a lot of vertical.

[SFogler]

Semtav, yesterday I was reading about "light" in 'Modern Observations on Rifle Shooting' by Edwin Perry 1880. Your target confirms exactly what he was talking about. In short: with fleeting clouds or variable direct sunlight: higher hits in sunlight, lower hits during darker cloud cover. Evidently it is a similar effect like what happens with mirage. I had never noticed the sunlight/clouds - always too many other variables going on like the flags snapping in all different directions at once and 'white water rafting' mirage .

[Kurt]

I see the sun up sun down effect more using a front post sight than a round aperture.
With a post the bull is with a 6 o'clock hold and I find that I tend to use more white below the black bull and hold tighter when the target face is bright.
With a round aperture or scope the center hold is used and the white around the bull can be pretty uniform.

Most of my match shooting in the past was using a post front sight, but since my eyes started to fail the round aperture was more effective and now getting down to using a scope.

[Aviator]

Made it to the range again today!
Mid 40's, with wind mostly in my face 10 to 15 gusting to 25.

Same rifle and load as my previous entry, but a better group today.
Too bad that one shot got away from me!

3.16 inch separation

IMG_20191208_140553585_smaller.jpg

IMG_20191208_114556067_smaller.jpg

Shiloh 1874 45-70 w/ 32 inch barrel
DZ Arms scope
Buffalo Arms Money 459542M3 grease groove (SPG lube)
Swiss 2F 57.5 gr
~1140 fps
Buffalo Arms bore wipes w/ MPro7

[Woody]

Great group Steve.

I loaded up a 30 round ladder test today, but chose to be a couch potato today. We will see if tomorrow is amiable. Of course these will only be five round groups. I'm done with the 2014 powder, so I've loaded this test with the 2018 that has shown promise. If I something it will be at least Friday before I can load a 10 round test.

Woody

[Aviator]

Well, Woody, being a couch potato today would have been more comfortable!
The temperature wasn't bad, but the wind in the face was tiring.
There's more than 3 weeks left, so plenty of time to do better. I know you can do it!

Most of the time at the range today was spent trying to find a better long-range load. Had a couple that look promising enough to try again.

[desert deuce]

Looking gooooooddd Aviator. Kind of see some headwind influence there on the 3 far right shots maybe? We know about the far left one.

Watching good schuetzen shooters I see a streamer of yarn or flagging tape out front for headwinds and waiting on conditions to repeat on that indicator before touching off the shot. Didn't ask or measure but looked about like 30 feet in front of the muzzle. The indicator was set so it was at muzzle level high and could be seen in the sight picture with iron sights. Whirley Gigs much further away.

But, as you know, there is no such thing as a perfect condition, much less an ideal condition.
You only get to figure out and shoot in the condition that exists when you pull the trigger on that individual shot.

Way above average group I would say.

[Kurt]

Steve,
Good work! 10 shot groups like that win matches despite the one in left field.