Gentlemen,
The November Turkey match was a bit different as we tried something new to attract more shooters and also as a bit of a comparative experiment.
We shot the usual 60 yards for round ball guns, allowed cartridge guns with cast bullets at 100 yards, and any rifle, any sight, any bullet at 200 yards. Target was the same turkey head for all distances, all shots fired from the same plank rest, all targets scored the same (string measure).
We had a couple shooters with hi-power benchrest type rifles and one with a breech/muzzle loader participate at 200 yards. The round ball shooters (Dan Phariss and I) did not treat them kindly, and, as we were the only two shooting muzzle loaders with round balls, we got to butt heads pretty much shoulder to shoulder. It was very interesting to see what was possible with a modern rifle shot from the plank rest. At the end of the day everyone felt that the different distances made for a level playing field, although there was some grumbling about "@!*% long-barreled round ball guns." A good time was had by all. The weather was sunny, very little wind at all, and 65 degrees.
Strings as follows-
Steve Garbe- 5.392" (round ball)
Dan Phariss- 11.134" (round ball)
Tim Eicher- 11.484" (any rifle, 200 yards)
Robbie Robinson- 16.044"(any rifle, 200 yards)
Gary Zollinger- 46.395" (any rifle, 200 yards)
Equipment-
Dan Phariss- .50 Phariss flintlock, MacLemore gain twist barrel, .495 cast ball, ticking patch, WS oil, 109 grains 3Fg Swiss, wiped, barrel sights with shaders.
Steve Garbe- .45 Phariss/Vincent percussion, Green Mountain 1-60 barrel, .446 cast ball, .015 ticking, 1-7 WS oil, 65 grains 3Fg Swiss, CCI caps, wiped, shaded bead front, lollipop rear sight.
Gary Zollinger- .308 Ruger, German ammo, 2.5X scope.
Tim Eicher- .25-06 Ruger, 100-grain Nosler bullet, Leupold 3-9X scope.
R. Robinson- .45 Sharps breech/muzzle loader, 1-20 K&P barrel, 495-grain pure lead bullet, SPG Lube, felt wad, 86 grains 1 1/2Fg Swiss, Rem. primer, wiped, Unertl 20X scope.
As I said previously, it was interesting to see what a modern rifle would do compared with a round ball gun shot from the plank. The modern shooters all agreed that shooting from the plank was much different than bench rest.
We hope to have our regular crew of muzzle loaders back for December...hunting season being the reason those numbers were down.
