500 meter silhouette with the 30-30

[Marc]

A couple people have been shooting 30-30's in our club High Power Silhouette match. I haven't done it in a few years so I joined them. I used the Marlin 336 that I made a receiver sight base for so I could use a Redfield sight that was made for a Mauser. The sight works good except it seems to have about two clicks worth of backlash in it. The original front sight was way to low and a globe sight I tried was still to low so I borrowed the square blade front sight off my 1873 Winchester. That worked well so now I need to make a blade sight for the Marlin. The Marlin has been a safe queen or really a safe rat since it lurks back in the dark recesses out of sight and out of mind. I haven't found a good cast load for it so I never shot it much. That, and like Joe with Marlins, I didn't shoot it much because the comb raps me in the cheek bone. The higher sight line took care of that problem while shooting off hand. I still have to watch it off the bench.

I used 150 grain Speer spitzers for rams and turkeys and 150 grain Remington round noses for chickens and pigs, both bullets seated over 30 grains H322. Both loads are very accurate in the Marlin. We have a very informal match and we shoot the match backwards. We start with rams and finish with chickens. We only get sighters on rams. I got roughly sighted in on the rams before the match. I had to do a little more fine tuning once the match started and I only hit one ram. He obliged by slowly toppling over.

On to 385 meter turkeys where it took several rounds to sight in. I was happy to get one turkey. Turkeys are tough! I guesstimated correctly on my sight adjustment for the 300 meter pigs and hit the first one. That helps! I ended up with four pigs so not to bad there. I expected to do well on the 200 meter chickens but a gusty wind came up at 10 to 20 miles an hour so things got tougher. I miss read the wind and was to slow to adjust the sight and only ended up with one chicken.

The first time with a new rifle and new loads is a learning experience. I got sight settings for next time and got a little practice with the sight picture. I got a little better idea of how much you need to move the sight to move the POI. All the little things you have to learn. I also learned I need to work on the trigger. I hadn't noticed it before but the trigger is an inconsistent two stage affair. Often it starts to break and then it catches and you have to increase the squeeze. Other times it breaks before you're ready. To much creep, to erratic and to heavy a pull for fine work! With a little fine tuning I should be able to improve my score next time. It is a lot of fun to shoot these rifles where they don't "belong"!

[Sarge]

Amen to your last line. I fiddled with a Foolproof on a 94 Winchester some years ago, out to about 600 yards. The windage wandered pretty bad as the mast went up and you had to be really careful how you tightened the gib screws for the longer setting. Once there however I could worry the hell out of a 5 gallon bucket at 550 yards, hitting it just often enough to keep me burning ammo. It was a great time.

These days I content myself with similar exercises using the OEM sights on my pre 64 Winchester. SO far I'm to about 330 yards with that rig, using reloads, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

[Nath]

I found the 336 trigger easy to stone. Well done on your shooting

Nath.

[336A]

Marc that is the very same powder and charge weight that I use in my marlin for 150gr bullets. I'm getting 1.5"-1.75" groups at 100yd. How tight does this load group for you?

[Marc]

That load seems to be scary accurate! Off the bench three of the Remington RN went under 3/4" at 100 yards. I chronoed those at 2200 FPS. I shot the Speer spitzers at 50 yards because the wind was howling and three of those went under 3/4". In calm conditions they will probably equal the Remingtons at 100.

Incidentally the rifle is a 336A from 1949.

[kimwcook]

Good on ya, mate.

[w30wcf]

Marc,
Nice shooting! It is fun to "stretch the barrel" and do some long distance shooting with leverguns. We have a long range levergun match at Ridgway, PA once a year in the fall. Course of fire is NRA High Power Rifle Silhouette....steel chickens @ 200M, javelina @ 300M, turkeys @ 385M and rams @ 500 M. Current course record with an iron sighted levergun is 24x40 fired from a field position.



w30wcf

[El Chivo]

Are the targets standard size? So you're really seeing them as half size targets (or less)?

If you want to rig a front sight for the Marlin, consider ordering one from Skinner sights. He will make one to your exact specifications. I have ordered sights with custom height and width and both times he did them exactly as ordered. Nice sharp edges, much better than my hand-filed sight. The price is only $11.00 shipped.

[retmech]

Marc,
Nice shooting! It is fun to "stretch the barrel" and do some long distance shooting with leverguns. We have a long range levergun match at Ridgway, PA once a year in the fall. Course of fire is NRA High Power Rifle Silhouette....steel chickens @ 200M, javelina @ 300M, turkeys @ 385M and rams @ 500 M. Current course record with an iron sighted levergun is 24x40 fired from a field position.


w30wcf

What is a "Field" position? Thanks Nick

[41 Redhawk]

What is a "Field" position? Thanks Nick

I'm guessing that he is referring to any position not involving an artificial rest. So if you want to go prone, have at it. Keep in mind that it does not sound like a sanctioned match.

If I am not mistaken w30WCF used his open sighted levergun with cast bullets to shoot in a NRA high power silhouette championship match. That one would be fired all off hand the the ranges he listed.

[Marc]

El Chivo, yes, standard size. They are relatively smaller than 1/2 size. The chicken would really be equivalent to 1/4 size at 50 meters. From there they get relatively larger but are all less than 1/2 size. That's only half of it though. There is a lot more air between you and the target than there is in 1/2 size. That means more haze, more mirage and more wind so things get a lot tougher. The sun angle also plays a part. A higher sun helps black targets stand out more. We use white targets in winter for the low sun. A white target now would be well nigh invisible.

I don't have sense enough to buy a sight and will probably just make one. That is a good price though.

I think that field position thing crawled in from another thread. I, for one, will not grovel in the dirt and concede the field to those peons with their battered 94 carbines who started this game down in old Mexico. This remark does not apply to W30WCF who has shot the real course and I salute him for that and thank him and all of you for the compliments.

[Lobo]

"....If I am not mistaken w30WCF used his open sighted levergun with cast bullets to shoot in a NRA high power silhouette championship match....."

And as I recall, he beats about two thirds of the bolt action guy there!!

[Wind]

Hey there Marc -- Were all your hits "kills", or did your loads "ring" any of the flat critters? I'd like to offer up the suggestion of a tang sight. Nice shooting! Best regards. Wind

[Lefty Dude]

FYI;

Globe front sights come in three different heights.

Try here for various front & rear Sights.

http://www.buffaloarms.com

[Marc]

Everything fell. The ram shot was a center shoulder shot and it fell but I am sure that load will ring some. The one that surprised me was the pigs. They all fell but they fell very slowly when hit with the 150 RN Remington. I don't know what is going on there. Maybe the bullet is a little to soft and is breaking up before it transfers energy.

I know a tang sight would be better but I don't think I will get one for this rifle. I have them on my 1895 and on a 94 Winchester. I got the Marbles sight for the 94 when I was playing with cast bullets on the silhouette course. It didn't have enough elevation adjustment for the cast slugs. I think my best 30-30 cast bullet score was five. I never found a really accurate heavy bullet load for the rams and turkeys. I have an accurate load with a 165 grain Saeco mold for the 94 which worked fine for chickens and pigs. I need a Lyman 311284 to try. Anyone have one for sale?

I have a globe sight on the 94 too. I don't know if I like it yet. It puts more clutter in the aperture.

[Lawyer Daggit]

Reading this helps me understand some of the long shots taken by old timers using lever actions. I had always looked upon these skeptically - not now