Went to the Range

[Griff]

Good golly... Miss Molly, what a day! Test fired the 2nd Gen 1851 after having the arbor tightened up. Over the years it had loosened up to the point where the wiggle of the barrel was noticeable. After asking around, the consensus appears to be to use JB Weld to tighten the arbor in the frame. I picked up the finished frame, barrel & cylinder assembly a couple of weeks ago. I got home last week and reassembled the gun and put a set of caps on and had all six fire with no problem. Loaded it up this morning with my normal competition charges (about 13 grains of 3F and a .375" ball with a lubed Ox-Yoke wad between. Fired it at 25 yards off a block & while a bit high & right, the gun held together and feels as tight as it started. So, tomorrow I'm off to a match outside Cleburne and see how it does one-handed unsupported... at the big pieces of steel @ 3-5 yards!

I also took my custom mdl 94 Winchester in .30-30 and think I've figured out a problem I've been having with my loads. I have been loading on some 50 year old loading dies. And have noticed over the past few years it's getting harder & harder to close the bolt on them. To the point that it takes two hands to get the bolt closed and the lever up where it'll disengage the trigger block safety. 1- either my dies are worn, or I've been setting them too high and not setting the shoulder back enough. I got home and tried a factory Remington Core-Lokt 150 grain in my .30-30 case gage... drops right in... next my reloads... Nope... no go, the rim is proud of the gage. So, I gotta resize a bunch of loaded cases. So, it back to the drawing board and sizer die setting. I guess I can't rely on my dummy rounds to give me enough squeeze... or that old set of dies is worn out!???

The last rifle I shot is the .32-40 1885 Miroku Winchester. I hadn't shot it at 200 yards and wanted to get a sight setting. My load of 15 grains of 5744 behind a 170 plain base bullet is very mild. From previous outings it runs mid 1400 fps. Compared to my .30-30 running 2290 fps w/a 150 gas checked bullet, it's real mild. Today, I left the spotting scope at home and relied on my "Longe Range" camera system. For some reason it wasn't picking up the bullet holes, so I really had no idea of how to adjust the scope (6X Malcolm style). Thought both the camera and Pad were fully charged... maybe not. And was surprised when I went to pull my targets to see an actual group! Wasn't impressive, about 6" centered a little left but elevation was correct. But, I have no idea of which rounds those were!

[gamekeeper]

Glad you got that 2nd Gen Navy back and good luck with it at the match...

[Griff]

Overslept and missed the match yesterday... didn't make that mistake today. Even made it in time to listen to the "safety meeting"... Didn't have any real trouble except that caused by one of my flasks and caps. The problem one... forgot knowing about it until it happened a couple of times... The dern block plate on the inside of the Colt type flask is off kilter, letting powder trickle (or maybe a lot...) back into the flask, making the charge a bit short. Like squib short! Luckily, it only caused a miss on one stage, as it happened on both pistols in one chamber... so I was able to cap both 6th chambers and pickup one of potential 2 misses I would have had. The newly repaired gun drags at least one, but not more than two caps on the recoil shield, so a thin shim behind the cylinder should correct that problem. At least half the fun in shooting a C&B revolver is sorting out the various issues you can have. So now, all that's left to do is start the brass in tumbler from the rifle, then while that's running, clean the four guns I used...

On the other hand, the new Cimarron 1878 Coach Gun worked perfectly, even if the gunsmith went a little overboard beveling the chambers. Since it's been several months since I shot BP thru the shotgun, why does my new load of 40 grains of Goex "Cartridge" seem heavier than I remember the 60 grain charges I used to use. Surely the 1/8 oz of extra shot I use to make up the column length can't be THAT bad! I only dropped from the 60 grain charges a couple of years ago when a Match Director asks me how hot my shotshells were. At the time I didn't know, since I've been using the same MEC bushing for over 35 years for my BP loads. Who knew that a #43 dropped 60 grains of 2F Goex. And to think 35+ years ago, I used an 1-1/8 oz of shot!

[gamekeeper]

Over sleeping as caused me to miss some good shooting opportunities too
Glad you got to test the Navy, I have never been to a Cowboy action shoot but I watched a few on YouTube amazing stuff one thing I'd like to know is does shot size matter? I know pattern isn't a problem at that range and killing something isn't required but just thinking about safety from ricochet or bounce back. I don't have to worry about that with Squirrels.

[Griff]

Over sleeping as caused me to miss some good shooting opportunities too
Glad you got to test the Navy, I have never been to a Cowboy action shoot but I watched a few on YouTube amazing stuff one thing I'd like to know is does shot size matter? I know pattern isn't a problem at that range and killing something isn't required but just thinking about safety from ricochet or bounce back. I don't have to worry about that with Squirrels.

I've used everything from 7-½ to # 9. The last two bags I bought were #8... all work about the same. Bounce back is mostly a function of angularity or raised places on the target like attaching bolts or from targets that have been cratered with pistol or rifle round use. I've always preferred "carriage head" bolts for attaching targets to supports.