yesterday's Levergun day at the range .....

[new pig hunter]

Levergun day at the range yesterday (Burro Canyon to be precise, for you SoCal folks).
http://www.burrocanyon.com/

Started off at 50 yards with the Marlin 375 .... put the crosshairs on a 5" diameter Shoot_n_See target and blasted away. With the scope sighted-in for 100 yards, the pattern was of course a couple of inches high. And what a pattern: of the first 8 shots, 6 were touching. And the other 2 weren't quite touching those 6. What a shooter !! (220-gr Hornady bullet, 36.0 grains of Reloader 7, magnum primer).

Next I hauled out the top eject Winchester BigBore94 in .375. I've been using it to shoot .38-55 and it's scope is adjusted for that ammo at 50 yards. But today was .375 ammo day so I aimed low and to the left. As expected, the pattern was way high and a tad to the right. With the same ammo as above, the group size: 6 shots inside 1-1/2" !! Awesome !!

Lookin' good, so still at 50 yards I hauled out the Winchester Trapper in .45LC. I had played with the scope mount and it needed re-sighting-in. I used some Bitterroot Valley 300-gr ammo for that chore and soon brought the POA to POI. Nice and accurate ammo, 2" and less 5-shot groups when everything got settled.
OK, time now in the Trapper to again test my newest most-favorite ammo: Underwood Ammo, 250-gr Hornady XTP/HP, +P powder load. Holy Smokes, groups were high as expected, but tight !! The best 8-shot group was about 1" with all shots touching, and it's possible a couple may have gone through the ragged hole without touching the target !! The worst group (operator error of course) was 2” !! Superb ammo, my Trapper now has a commercially-available ammo it really really likes.


OK, so I moved the target to 100 yards, and put a bowling pin at 100 yards.

The Marlin 375: what a shooter, every shot inside the 5” diameter target, and most within 2”. If I was careful, every shot hit the bowling pin. Put the crosshairs on the pin …. Hit. Wow.

Didn’t try the BigBore94.

Did check the Trapper with the Underwood ammo. PERFECT !! With the crosshairs on the X of the target, 1-1/2” groups !! I loaded 9 rounds into the Trapper, and no kidding, at 100 yards I hit that bowling pin 9 times in a row.

Does it show I had an incredible exclamation point day ?

Cheers,

Carl

p.s. also had the Ruger Mini-14 there ..... semi-auto is great fun.

[Nath]

Nice

Nath.

[AJMD429]

Don't you just LOVE range-days like that...

[tman]

Levergun day at the range yesterday (Burro Canyon to be precise, for you SoCal folks).
http://www.burrocanyon.com/

Started off at 50 yards with the Marlin 375 .... put the crosshairs on a 5" diameter Shoot_n_See target and blasted away. With the scope sighted-in for 100 yards, the pattern was of course a couple of inches high. And what a pattern: of the first 8 shots, 6 were touching. And the other 2 weren't quite touching those 6. What a shooter !! (220-gr Hornady bullet, 36.0 grains of Reloader 7, magnum primer).

Next I hauled out the top eject Winchester BigBore94 in .375. I've been using it to shoot .38-55 and it's scope is adjusted for that ammo at 50 yards. But today was .375 ammo day so I aimed low and to the left. As expected, the pattern was way high and a tad to the right. With the same ammo as above, the group size: 6 shots inside 1-1/2" !! Awesome !!

Lookin' good, so still at 50 yards I hauled out the Winchester Trapper in .45LC. I had played with the scope mount and it needed re-sighting-in. I used some Bitterroot Valley 300-gr ammo for that chore and soon brought the POA to POI. Nice and accurate ammo, 2" and less 5-shot groups when everything got settled.
OK, time now in the Trapper to again test my newest most-favorite ammo: Underwood Ammo, 250-gr Hornady XTP/HP, +P powder load. Holy Smokes, groups were high as expected, but tight !! The best 8-shot group was about 1" with all shots touching, and it's possible a couple may have gone through the ragged hole without touching the target !! The worst group (operator error of course) was 2” !! Superb ammo, my Trapper now has a commercially-available ammo it really really likes.


OK, so I moved the target to 100 yards, and put a bowling pin at 100 yards.

The Marlin 375: what a shooter, every shot inside the 5” diameter target, and most within 2”. If I was careful, every shot hit the bowling pin. Put the crosshairs on the pin …. Hit. Wow.

Didn’t try the BigBore94.

Did check the Trapper with the Underwood ammo. PERFECT !! With the crosshairs on the X of the target, 1-1/2” groups !! I loaded 9 rounds into the Trapper, and no kidding, at 100 yards I hit that bowling pin 9 times in a row.

Does it show I had an incredible exclamation point day ?

Cheers,

Carl

p.s. also had the Ruger Mini-14 there ..... semi-auto is great fun.

So you are saying that you can shoot .38-55 ammo thru a .375 winchester?

[new pig hunter]

tman,

to be very accurate: I shoot .38-55 only in my .375 Winchester BigBore94, not my Marlin. And as my lawyer says to me quite often, "what works for you may not work elsewhere."

For many years there have been lots of discussions at various places around the 'net on that topic. I've read the discussions, asked more than a few questions, read closely all the opinions, considered who was writing those opinions, and made my own decision.

Some folks won't, they aren't comfortable with it.

For me personally, I'm convinced of my own safety .... and especially the safety of those around me. The ammo is good stuff, technically sufficient, and certainly lower in power than .375. The BigBore94 is designed to be more than adequate for high-power .375's which makes it IMHO very adequate for .38-55 plinking target duty. Personal decision for me, based on everything I've been able to learn and understand.

Cheers,

Carl

[bsaride]

I was gonna head out to burro canyon with friends on Saturday but with the rain comming it will be indoors this weekend.

[kimwcook]

Nice report. Any day at the range shooting is a good day.

[C. Cash]

Excellent!

[olyinaz]

Nice! That shootin' with the trapper especially gets me worked up. VERY nice!!

Oly

[new pig hunter]

yep, some days those range days are the best days.

bsaride,
hey dude, it's only water ..... won't slow the bullets that much.

olyinaz,
I do not reload so I'm at the mercy of trying to find a commercially-available load for .45LC. I certainly recognize I sound like a advert for Underwood Ammo, but whatever being whatever it is, Underwood's Ammo is the most accurate load I've found to-date for my particular Trapper.

Cheers,

Carl

[bsaride]

yep, some days those range days are the best days.

bsaride,
hey dude, it's only water ..... won't slow the bullets that much.

olyinaz,
I do not reload so I'm at the mercy of trying to find a commercially-available load for .45LC. I certainly recognize I sound like a advert for Underwood Ammo, but whatever being whatever it is, Underwood's Ammo is the most accurate load I've found to-date for my particular Trapper.

Cheers,

Carl

Carl,

Yeah, I know, but got some of the wimmin folk commin

Jay

[new pig hunter]

Jay,

well, it's Saturday and the sun is shining down upon us !!

here's two of my favorite Burro Canyon pictures ..... and no, it's not me .....
http://www.riflegear.com/blogimages/ShootingKitty1.jpg
http://www.riflegear.com/blogimages/ShootingKitty2.jpg

Cheers,

Carl