oldsmellhound

Well, I finally got to go shooting this morning after a LONG break. I bought a new scope and needed to sight it in. I got permission from a neighbor that has a large field to do some target shooting. When I pulled in, there were 3 turkeys in the field that refused to go away until I started walking aggressively towards them.

oldsmellhound

It was a great morning for shooting. I had boresighted it (with great advice from members on this forum) and was on the paper at 25 yards. I made some adjustments and shot a group at 50 yards. I made some more adjustments, then shot this 3 shot group at 100 yards.

90 grains FFFG 777
200 grain XTP
MMP tan sabot
777 primer

Not too great, so I decided to switch to Harvestor sabots and 95 grains 777. I knew from past experience that 95 grains was this rifle's "sweet spot".

oldsmellhound

The lower 3 shot group I shot first - right at 1.25". I adjusted the sights and shot the higher group - not at good at 2.75" - I might have flinched, or the barrel may have been heating up.



I then adjusted the sights again and shot a third group. Two holes were touching, and the third was a couple inches to the left - I may have flinched again. This was sighted in to be 2" high at 100 yards - I should be able to hold dead on out to 150 yards or so. This will probably be my hunting load for the upcoming season.

It's amazing how much of a difference 5 grains can make. I've shot other times that has confirmed this - my rifle shoots much, much better with 95 grains of 777 than with any other charge. I've shot several 1.25" groups with both XTP's and SST's with this. Lower the charge to 90 grains and groups open up. Up it to 100 grains and groups open up. Go figure. Well, in any case, it was a good day.

cayugad

Well it is always fun to shoot... glad the rifle and new scope is behaving... Nice shooting.

falcon

Good shooting.

dphobby

Nice shooting, What kind of scope did you put on? I guess in some guns a small variance in powder can make a big difference. I think next time out I will weigh the powder and see what happens. always nice to experiment and If everything was easy it wouldn't be any fun.

SuperKirby

Good shooting. It'll be interesting to see what happens if you do weigh the charges. I've heard some people say it makes a huge difference and some say it's a complete waste of time. Let us know what happens.

oldsmellhound

Dphobby, I put a Wal-mart clearance special Simmons ProDiamond shotgun scope on. It's nothing special, but I got it for 40 bucks and it has 4" of eye relief. My old Bushnell didn't have enough eye relief and the last time I came back from shooting I had a black eye like I had been in a bar fight. I used to shoot lighter loads (like 80 grains 777), but when I started shooting loads around 100 grains the eye relief just wasn't enough for the extra recoil. It's only a 4 power, which makes it hard to shoot very small groups at 100 yards, but it should get the job done for hunting.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to try weighing charges - I just don't know if it's worth it. I found it very interesting that the Harvestor sabots seem to shoot better in general with this rifle than the MMP. The reason is, the Harvestors are much, much easier to load - they slide down with only slightly more pressure than it takes to load Powerbelts. The MMP's load noticeably harder. I always thought that the tighter the sabot, the better the accuracy. Anyone experience this?

lemoyne

oldsmellhound
I have work with that over the last 3 years, with out going into long drawn out detail I hav come to the conclusion that too loose is no good and too tight will shoot much larger groups than just right. I believe just right can vary some what fromm gun to gun depending on barrel whip and polish especally polish.
If you can load it with one hand it is to loose if you want to pound on it it is to tight [notice I said want to] if it is in the middle of those two then it may be a tight group shooter if you are. I use to tech safty courses and it is my ezperance that only about 2 out of 3 people can shoot even close to minute of angle with out extensive training. Lee

oldsmellhound

Lee,

I could probably load the Harvestor sabots with one hand if I wanted to - they are pretty loose. Although that would probably vary from person to person depending on their strength. Not to try and sound macho, but I did work masonry for a long time and my upper body strength is probably greater than average. I guess it doesn't really matter - they seem to shoot good and that is the bottom line.

I will be the first to admit that I'm not in the sniper class when it comes to shooting. I've shot 3 shot groups that are very close to MOA at 100 yards with my ML, but it is the exception rather than the rule. I'd say that I'm capable of consistently shooting 2" groups at 100 yards if the rifle is capable of it and I have decent scope. The scope I'm using on my ML now is only 4 power which makes it difficult to shoot small groups at long range.