A great day and an almost great group.

[supersubes]

For the first time in a dozen years, my Dad came up to visit along with his 30” Shiloh #1 in 45-70. He’s been ill for quite some time and was never able to load for this gun after I moved away, so it just got an annual fondling/cleaning.

From memory, this gun shot the same load that my saddle rifle did. A 530 gr Baco Postel lubed with spg, over a .030 fiber wad and 66 gr of KIK 1.5f. This rifle has never had another recipe fired through it, and the total round count is sub 100. We checked zero on day one with some old ammo, and I loaded up a batch of fresh stuff for some medium range the next day.

With no sight settings, I googled a bit and found a post by @clarence (thank you!) which got us close at our 523 yard target. Dad walked it on to the target with five rounds. He was holding vertical pretty well but the switchy headwind was kicking his butt. Either way, he kept them on the large target the entire session. His first shooting in a very long time, and he was having fun!

https://youtu.be/fTzmfvjEd_E?si=kWf1TExnof-twaez

With some leftover ammo I gave it a whirl. The load was holding vertical really well. After some sight adjustments to center things, I shot a five round group. It would have been amazing had it not been for shot three, which dropped about 1.5 moa low. This thing shoots!


A spring visit is already in the works, and next time we’ll be shooting PP loads.

[supersubes]

Here’s the ugly group.

[Coltsmoke]

That group would tighten up a lot if you had the right brass for that load.

[patchbox]

[supersubes]

I knew one of you would say that!

[patchbox]

It was inevitable as soon as you posted the pic of the target with the small caliber bottleneck cartridge.

[patchbox]

Nice group at 523 yards.

[supersubes]

It was inevitable as soon as you posted the pic of the target with the small caliber bottleneck cartridge.

I normally use a quarter but didn't have one. The 223 case rolling around the floorboard worked fine.

[gunlaker]

It's nice to hear about your dad getting to shoot his rifle. Shooting a Shiloh at distance is one of the great pleasures of life.

Chris.

[supersubes]

It's nice to hear about your dad getting to shoot his rifle. Shooting a Shiloh at distance is one of the great pleasures of life.

Chris.

Absolutely! He was a competitive muzzleloader in the 70’s. Family and business took too much of his time to stay dedicated to it. Hopefully this weekend lit his fire to return in the spring for part 2.

[TGC]

I am curious if you have data from the labradar?

[supersubes]

I am curious if you have data from the labradar?

I do for that group. Nothing special as far as ES goes. Right after that last shot, I commented that it felt spicy.

1121
1130
1126
1126
1137

[desert deuce]

Now, if that was what my jaundiced perspective saw at 523 yards with that ES I would have guessed about one inch vertical variance due to velocity.
Assuming I would be irritating SEMTAV, try dropping velocity to 1140 fps average and see what happens with the same bullet, same distance.