Welcome to Friday! Just one more day until the weekend.
This weekend will be busy. I’ve got my lady on deck to help me organize my office, my reloading/gun supply room, and to remove my spore from the living room and dining room.
After that, I need to cast some bullets for .357 Magnum. I was able to pick up 1000 Magnum Small Pistol Primers, CCI the other day along with a new powder.
I realized the other day that my eyes just aren’t good enough. The “test range” is only 25 yards long. There is a small, 4-inch, hanging gong, a larger 8″ hanging gong, and a 1/3 IDPA target. The IDPA target is set up such that just it’s little head is visible at the 1 o’clock of the small gong.
When doing my testing, I start with the big gong, move to the small gong, and then move to the “headshots”. I’m not bad at it, just not good.
What happened was that I could no longer even see the damn head. It blended in so well that it was impossible for me to see. I was still hitting it, I knew where it was in relationship to the small gong. (You can hear the difference and the gongs swing when you hit them).
All of this is to say, I decided I wanted to start using scopes for some of the more precision shots.
I have never mounted a scope before. I haven’t sighted in a scope in the last 30 years. That scope was mounted by a professional and bore sighted before I started.
I attempted to mount and bore sight my .22 bolt action.
No go, I couldn’t even get it on paper/large gong. 10 rounds and I gave up.
I spent $40 and picked up:
Damn, I wish I had done this earlier. It took a few minutes to figure it all out. Once I did, it took maybe 3 minutes to bore sight the rifle.
Back on the range, first shot was on paper. The rest of the shots were on paper. I am a bit disappointed, my groups at 25 yards are about 0.5 inches, offhand. I expect better of myself.
The comments are open, have at it.
Comments
6 responses to “Friday Feedback”
Ok, it would seem that you’ve arrived at that point in every shooter life where he must bow out gracefully and start knitting sweaters. Yup, if you can’t put every round in the same hole at that yardage, it’s time to take up knitting. But then again, since you’ve become a law addict you could just stick with the great work you do here. LOL, you said ‘have at it” so I obliged you. I could have said, ‘Try closing your eyes next time’.
Scopes are the bomb for us old guys.. a 1-4 is nice cause on 1 power you can keep both eyes open like a red dot. And muscle memory helps when eyes are not as good as they was.. you like me are more critical of yourself but if you are putting them on target you good..
Wouldn’t mind a write up on how you cast your boolits. I miss the old days of showing up to a tire shop with a 5 gallon bucket and a case of beer in exchange for all the lead wheel weights you could carry out. Old iron pot and a ladel and all the .45 long colt food I could make in an afternoon.
Those generic laser boresites are only so good. Even the ones like you got, with the specific inserts for each caliber. A tiny little imperfection turns into miles at a distance. Best to get the ones that actually chamber, but that gets pricey if you want one for each caliber.
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There is still a lot of “adjusting” you have to do no matter what method you use, but for $40, if it gets your first shot on paper, it saves a LOT of ammo.
The method that they use to align is that each of those little end pieces is designed to expand as you tighten the hold down screw. I find the right sizer, expand it until it fits snugly but not tight. Then I insert the entire body into the bore until it seats well. This centers the laser emitter. At that point, I slowly twist the emitter, which expands the sizer until the entire unit is locked in place.
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The first time I tried using the laser, I figured it was bouncing around too much. With just a little bit of work, it is nearly spot on.
Whatcha rolling? I like about 14/15grs of 2400 under a 125gr bullet. Feels like the hornady critical defenseoads to me.
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Otherwise I do h110 with 180gr hard casts. Can’t remember the powder charge off hand tho.