Right away I met Mark Klein, and his son John. No one could have been more friendly, or helpful. I learned all about their two Sharps, and one rolling block. Mark is a sizable guy, with a infectious outgoing mannor- a real John Goodman type guy. They took time to show me all aspects of their guns, and about the contents of their Cal-Graf rig. I watched them take their rotation in the match, and paid attention to details like stance, grip, etc. When the match was over, both John and Mark wanted me to fire their guns
Mark handed me his 30" full octo heavy barrel .45-70.I took a seated posture; one leg folded under, one knee up. That heavy barrel looked ballanced against Mark's shoulder, but loomed giant to my sub 5'6" size. I snugged the rifle against my shoulder, and looked through the peep. I tried not to think about the recoil that I've yet to feel before. I looked again through the peep, and lowered the front site's dot on the turkey. When I fired, the push felt suprisingly slow; it had not been the slam I had anticipated. To my suprise, I had hit my first silhouette ever at 200 yards
Mark showed me how to unload the brass, and handed me another cartridge. I immediately forgot what to do, but John was right there to walk me throught it. Taking my time, and locking myself up as stable as I could, I caused some mild attention when I dropped four 200 yard turkeys in a row. Sure I knew it wasn't like shooting 900 yards, but it felt tremendous nonetheless. After that, John handed me his 10lb. .50-90. It felt very light for what I thought a .50 should weigh. Shooting the .50 had more shove in it's push then the .45 had had, but was not near as brutal as I had expected. As long as I held the rifle snug against my shoulder, it was not bad at all. Afterward I helped them load their rig into their truck, while Mark continued sharing advise, and opinion concerning BPCR. I took his card, and was told they would bring more calibers for me to try next time.
By then, I hope all the books and catalogs I ordered will have arrived, especially Shiloh's
...and so it goes.
