Sighting in my .58 Flint Plains Rifle for Mule Deer

[Herb]

I wrote about this rifle in Gun Building, ".58 Halfstock Flint Plains Rifle" on 8-14-14.  I made a mistake, this is not a GRRW barrel but a Goodoien.  I still have the .58 GRRW barrel to build into another flinter.  My rear sight started out as the one shown by Daryl in "Re: Peep or aperature sight" in this forum on 9-09-14.  It was way too big for me and the hole far too large.  I filed it down a lot, filled the hole and drilled a new one.  I had to make several "holes" till I had to move on.  The hole sees about 32" at 100 yards.  I'll eventually make a smaller one with  1/3 of the top cut open.  But I hunt mule deer next Wednesday in the open sagebrush and have to get ready now.  On the top left target, the group is too low.  I want it about 2" high at 50 yards.  So I cut the .100 hole upwards with a needle file and rounded it out to .130.  This raised the group.  I shot 100 grains of Goex 2F here but would like more velocity for a flatter trajectory, so shot 120 grains next.  Because I may have to shoot off-hand and need to practice, I cut back to 110 grains.  I don't want to develop a flinch.




Next I shot at 100 yards and did some sight tapping to move the zero.  I did at least as well as the guy shooting the scoped centerfire rifle on this target I reused.  Notice that five of my seven shots are in one inch (one minute of angle) vertical.



For off-hand shooting, I would like a stock with an even shorter length of pull than this 12 1/4" one.  For mule deer or antelope hunting,  the .58 is unnecessarily powerful.  I'd prefer a .50 and may build one of those next.  This .58 would my choice for elk, but I do not expect to hunt them again.  Maybe I can get an antelope tag next year.  With the .50 I can get a flatter trajectory with less recoil.

[Herb]

My friend Carl took me out scouting this morning, about an hour's drive in the mud and fog.  We saw 24 bucks,  at least 16 of them on public land.   There were six in one herd and eight in another.  Only about 10 does and fawns, not with the bucks.  Here are the best ones, which I'll be hunting Wednesday.

[Herb]

After practicing some I filed the aperature a little larger.  It now sees about 38" at 100 yards.  I checked the zero today.  First shot was almost dead center, but the patch holed.  Number 2 also holed, but the rest were good.  This material is linen, 013 on the micrometer ratchet that crushes to .008.  Easy to load and holds up to this heavy load, except for the first two holed patches, which still shot near point of aim.  The breeze was from the right, enough to drift the ball.  I think the left movement was due to breeze and not sight setting, so I did not correct.  Then I shot at rocks at random ranges out to 200 yards, at first off-hand, but then I went to the sticks.  They are 6 1/2 feet long and I can support the rifle standing, which I might need to do to shoot over the sagebrush.   The powder measure is turned from brass with a copper base.  The cap box at bottom holds my pre-lubed patches, just the right size.  The lube is Murphy's Oil Soap thinned with 91% alcohol, but no hydrogen peroxide.  Shooting at rocks with a spotter to see where I hit, I shot over more than under.  This shoots flatter than I expected, even at only about 1600 fps.  That linen with the deer printed on it helps the ball go where it is supposed to!  I hunt tomorrow morning!
p:

[sloe bear]

 Good Luck, hunting in open sagebrush is always a challenge, go slow and keep low and a sharp eye , those buggers tend to stand very very still, the only movement  can be a ear twitch or a blink . Your 58 is more than enough, nothing better than fresh liver and onions, good luck again.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Good luck with the mulies Herb.  It's always nice to see your work, and I appreciate the effort you make to find accurate and effective hunting loads. 

[JB2]

I know we don't have an update from Herb, but I just wanted to say he's done a great job of thinking through whats needed for the job at hand.  Shooting off-hand, with hunting loads, at different ranges is something that a lot of hunters don't do, especially modern shooters.  I know I've been guilty as well, but trying to learn from you'se guys! 

[Herb]

Carl and Carole Jackson drove me to my hunt area on Wednesday September 24th for the opener.  Thirty five minutes from home on good blacktop roads and then 20 minutes more for six miles of dirt road to the end of where we hunted, an area of at least six square miles.  We saw only one other pickup with two hunters on Wed. and Thurs.  Saw 10 cow elk and a big bull first morning, and many sage grouse.  Over 100 on one lek (booming ground).  Could not keep track of all the bucks we saw.  They were little ones close or big ones running if I jumped them.  On one area we glassed a hillside and saw antlers of bucks laying in the sagebrush.  Made a big circle behind them and came up to the top of the hill exactly above where they were bedded.  A doe saw me and the buck at her feet jumped, about 20 yards from me.  Carl yelled "there's a big one to the right!"  He was about 30 yards away.  I swung on him and jerked the trigger a couple of times but the durned rifle wouldn't go off.  I was still on half-cock and had not set the triggers!  He went down the hill out of sight and I sat down to wait for him to reappear.  Sat right on a cactus.  Carl said his horns were at least five inches each side of his ears, maybe a 30 incher, four points.  Probably the finest buck we saw.  I had not practiced jump shooting deer!  I made three or four nice stalks on bucks, but was not able to shoot them on the run.  Today a good-enough buck stood close to us and I figured it was time to shoot and go home.


These are typical of what we saw.  The big one stayed put but the smaller one came close enough for me to shoot at.


He came within maybe 150 yards of me, but there was enough wind that I shot just behind him.


We were on our way to hunt a nice four point we saw when this one stood up about 40 yards from us.  I decided he was good enough to shoot, Carl has medical problems and was getting tired and Carole is in her second week of shingles infection. so I shot him.  We all three saw him run about 50 yards, stagger and go down.  The brush is so thick that it toook us 20 minutes to find him.  This was a hunt as fine as one could want.  I had made four good stalks on big bucks, none of which I was able to shoot though I was close to three of them.  Carl and Carole have really good game eyes and it was a pleasure to have them with me.

[ScottH]

Good job Herb and Friends!
I enjoyed looking at the pics.

[Herb]

Carole calls this photo "The Victory Shot".  I emptied my .58 roundball over 110 grains of Goex 2F at the hillside.  Hit it, too.

The 9 3/4 pound rifle is heavy, but it holds steady.  I stuck a piece of white lable paper on the back of the front sight to make it easier to see.  I'll glue in a piece of ivory from an old piano key.  I loaded from the horn with a copper measure and had pre-lubed (Murphys Oil Soap and alcohol) 1 1/2" .008 compressed linen patches in a patch box, balls loose in the bag.  The priming horn was a problem, I did a lot of priming, each time I got out of the truck, emptying the prime when I got back in.  I had it on a leather thong in my bag, will hang it on my bag strap valve end up to make it easier to use, then drop it until I have time to put it back in my bag.

We skinned the deer and cleaned it up good and hung it in Carl's walk-in cooler to age for a few days.  the ball went through the body, hitting the heart.  The head goes to Carl for a European mount (bleached skull), the skin to Carole for a dress, and the dew claws to Laura for a rattle.  They are shown in my post in "Over the Back Fence" about the Fort Bridger Rendezvous.

Now I finish up a .54 Hawken for an elk hunter (just got a taller front sight from Muzzleloader Builders Supply and need to sight it in) and get back to my great-grandson's .50 walnut stocked and brass mounted Hawken for hunting pigs in Hawaii.  Have the barrel inletted into the hand-sawed blank and am ready to do the trigger with the brass trigger guard.

[Osprey]

Congrats!  Love seeing those mulies, been seven years since I've been out west after 'em.  All mine were bow kills, but I'd love to chase them with the flinter.  How hard is it to get tags in your region, I've always heard Utah took many years to draw, at least for NR's?

That looks a little nicer than when I was hunting in -14 degree weather in the Nodak badlands, too!    

[WadePatton]

Congrats from here too.  Nice pics and write up.  Thanks.

[George Sutton]

Congratulations on a successful hunt

Centershot

[blackbruin]

Glad you could enjoy it and make some meat too!

[Herb]

Osprey- I tried to look up statistics on the DWR's web site but couldn't figure it out.  I'll go to their office and talk with them and post a report for you.  It might be that it takes two years of applying and then you have enough "points" to draw, but I don't understand the system.  When I lived in Denver I got a non-resident antelope permit for this area, it was easy to do.  that was in about 1991.  Maybe you can figure out their website.  Go to wildlife.utah.gov.  But I need to ask them how many points I had for the ML hunt I just did and how many I have for antelope.

[Herb]

Osprey- I have also hunted in North Dakota Badlands when it was below zero, having lived in the state for 14 years.  And I have been to the Delmarva Peninsula.  I checked with DWR today and I think I know what they told me.  For all the applicants for a hunt, they take half and do a weighted random draw, whatever that is.  So it is possible to draw on the first application.  The second half, anyone with maybe 8 or 10 points gets a permit.  Then they work down the number of points, apparently drawing at random from each pool, e.g. 4 points.  So the more years you apply, the greater your chances to draw.  I had four points for this hunt and my chances were 1 in 106, but I won in the random draw.  All applicants with 5 or 6 points drew permits.  If you or anyone else wants to try for a permit in the South Slope, Diamond Mountain Limited Entry, I know where the big ones are and how to  hunt them.  I'd be happy to be a guide at no cost.  I expect the chances for a draw might be the same in any state for a non-resident.

[Osprey]

Thanks for the info Herb!  I'll have to look into the draw in the next couple years.  I do miss the cross country treks in the Jeep during hunting season.   

[Daryl]

Well done, Herb- glad to see it come together for you.