a youg lad and his Great G'pa's 1893 Marlin .32 H.P.S.

[w30wcf]

The rifle has been in his family for over 100 years.
It is a takedown 1893 Marlin in .32 H.P.S. (High Power Special).

The bore is in pretty good condition.
It probably has not been fired for many years.
If guns could only talk……..!

Tuesday night at the gun club. Range 50yards. He fired 3 rounds of Hornady Leverevolution ammo.
The bullets landed 6-7 inches above the point of aim with the rear sight at its lowest level.

I explained him that when this rifle was made, the standard factory ammo was cataloged at 2,050f.p.s.
and the sights were regulated with that ammunition.
The Hornady ammo, on the other hand, is going almost 400 f.p.s. faster.

So, I am going to load some ammo that replicates the original ballistics and he will give that a try.
If the weather is aok next Tuesday we'll see what happens.

w30wcf

[Steelbanger]

Hello John and great post.

The young man has good form at the bench too. He's no stranger to shooting as we all can see. He's lucky to have run into you also. I wonder if he realizes his good fortune.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[gamekeeper]

Nice rifle and lucky young man.

Ray, I have long given up expecting gunstore clerks to know anything about what they are selling.

[Pete44ru]

.

Someone has "passed it on", giving that youngster the wonderful gift shooting - Excellent !

I see the future of our sport, there.

.

[Les Staley]

It didn't help that Marlin absolutely refused to acknowledge Winchester as the original developer of their proprietary cartridges. The Marlin guns will simply say "30-30" cal, and my 1951 RC waffle top says "32 spcl cal". My grandpa HATED Marlins, he didn't understand how they worked. They were different than his beloved Winchesters, different in the way the shells came up out of the magazine. I have several of both and appreciate them for their differences, but my go to deer gun is a Winchester..

[Ysabel Kid]

What great form! And a chamber-flag on the table top. You are teaching him right!

[Rusty]

I sure would like to see a picture of that young man with a deer taken with that rifle.

[ollogger]

That is a fantastic photo!!!



ollogger

[AJMD429]

That is a fantastic photo!!!
Yep. Priceless heirloom and photo...



ollogger

[Griff]

Most excellent.

[Gascozark]

Tuesday night at the gun club. Range 50yards. He fired 3 rounds of Hornady Leverevolution ammo.
The bullets landed 6-7 inches above the point of aim with the rear sight at its lowest level.

I explained him that when this rifle was made, the standard factory ammo was cataloged at 2,050f.p.s.
and the sights were regulated with that ammunition.
The Hornady ammo, on the other hand, is going almost 400 f.p.s. faster.

So, I am going to load some ammo that replicates the original ballistics and he will give that a try.
If the weather is aok next Tuesday we'll see what happens.

w30wcf

I was tickled to see this. My great grandfather purchased a new rifle identical to the one pictured above except his was .30-30. That rifle is still in our family's possession, in my cousin's care.

Although I've never had the opportunity to shoot it, I remember my Dad always talking about how he couldn't hit anything with it since it shot very high. He always thought that someone had messed with the sights or the rifle had an issue. But when I read your explanation about the pictured rifle shooting high, it made perfect sense. Do you think the same theory holds true to .30-30 too?

[w30wcf]

Guys,
Thank you for the kind words.
We went to the range again this week and he tried the reloads 170 / 2000 f.p.s. and they printed within 1" of point of aim at 50 yards. Success!

I also brought along some mid range loads 170 / 1500 f.p.s. and he found that by raising the rear sight up 4 notches, they also printed very close to the point of aim.

He was a very happy young lad!


Gascozark,
That could very well be especially if your dad was using 150 gr. ammunition which prints several inches higher than today's 170's.
Since your great grandfather's rifle is likely from the early 1900's, it just may print to the sights with 170 gr smmo loaded to 2,000 f.p.s. (30-30 factory at that time). Today's 170 is 200 f.p.s. faster and would print a bit higher but not as high as today's 150's.

w30wcf