200 Yard ALR - Score

[Candle Snuffer]

I got to the Range this morning and shot my 200 Yard ALR target.  5 shots Offhand, and the other 5 shots I shot from the kneeling position.  Here's my results;

Offhand - 6 points
Kneeling - 8 points
Total - 14 points

I hit the target 9 out of 10 times but the far right ball hole is outside the "half or better" scoring line - so it gets a zero, and rightly so.

I used my .45 caliber caplock Dickert Rifle with fixed sights.  My load was; .445 Hornady RB, .018 spit patch, 65 grains 3fg Goex.  I fought an 11:00 o'clock - 7 to 10 MPH headwind this morning while shooting.  I think a heavier ball (.50 cal and up) would probably be better suited for this type of shooting.

Here are some pictures.  My target is the little square of white - down range on the left;


My target after 10 shots.  I missed a shot completely.  The ball hole on the center right side of the target went for no score;

[Steamingspud]

That is an AWESOME range! I mean, nothing so special shooting wise, but with the castle looking building in the background and the hedge grows, wow. I'd love to just see a bunch of cool ranges around the world like that. Where is that range mate?

[J.D.]

That is an AWESOME range! I mean, nothing so special shooting wise, but with the castle looking building in the background and the hedge grows, wow. I'd love to just see a bunch of cool ranges around the world like that. Where is that range mate?

Yeah, that "castle" looks like some of the rock formations along the upper Missouri River.  Beautiful country, for sure.

Jump in there and shoot the 200 yard match, 'spud. IMHO, my 200 yard off hand target won't be any better than Candlesnuffer's.  The only way to find out how good any of us are is to drag out the flintgun shoot a coupla targets. 

God bless

[Candle Snuffer]

Our Range is located just west - outside of Crawford, Nebraska.  It is; Northwest Nebraska Shooter's Association (Home of the White River Brigade).

The castle looking Butte is called Lover's Leap, located in the Pine Ridge area that stretches  quite a ways.  It was once consider part of the Black Hills, internetting it's way through NE Wyoming and up into the Black Hills of South Dakota.  It also stretches south & east through Chadron, Nebraska (home of the annual July Fur Trade Days & the Museum of the Fur Trade).

There are also 3 other Ranges located here.  The Trap Range is to the south, and left of this 300 yard Range pictured above is a 130 yard Range (where the WRB muzzle loading group normally shoots), and a 50 Yard Pistol Range left of that one.

In all, we have 37 acres to play on, mostly grass lands.  The berms are all man made.  About 20 - 30  feet to the right of me there is 5 shooting benches, 4 of which are under cover.  We also have a small club house behind me.  This whole area use to be the city's golf course, but they built a new one and allowed Northwest Nebraska Shooter's to move into the old one here.

You can't see it in the picture above, but out beyond the tree to the left we have what we call "Gong Alley" that stretches out to 300 yards at a slight angle.  We have NRA metal silhouettes hung up down that alley; Chicken, Pig, Turkey, & Ram.

The fact is that our White River Brigade uses this Range way more then anyother's (membership) does.  About the only time it is used heavily by modern firearm shooters is when big game hunting season's are about to start.  Otherwise it's 75% muzzleloading, 10% Rimfire, 10% High Power Rifle, and about 5% Trap & Handgun.

Our muzzleloading group pretty much has the run of the entire facility year round.

[Dphariss]

I got to the Range this morning and shot my 200 Yard ALR target.  5 shots Offhand, and the other 5 shots I shot from the kneeling position.  Here's my results;

Offhand - 6 points
Kneeling - 8 points
Total - 14 points

I hit the target 9 out of 10 times but the far right ball hole is outside the "half or better" scoring line - so it gets a zero, and rightly so.

I used my .45 caliber caplock Dickert Rifle with fixed sights.  My load was; .445 Hornady RB, .018 spit patch, 65 grains 3fg Goex.  I fought an 11:00 o'clock - 7 to 10 MPH headwind this morning while shooting.  I think a heavier ball (.50 cal and up) would probably be better suited for this type of shooting.

Here are some pictures.  My target is the little square of white - down range on the left;


My target after 10 shots.  I missed a shot completely.  The ball hole on the center right side of the target went for no score;

Pretty darned good in the wind, no matter what direction its from. Wind just kills my 54 at 200. A 10 mph head wind needs allowance for with BPCRs as well. When I try this seriously I try to get shooting by the time the light is good in the morning.
You need some of the wind indicators used by schuetzen shooters. I should make some. I don't have any either .
I have also found that loading errors and slight amounts of fouling on the lands really hurt at 200.
At 100 it does not seem to rear its ugly head but at 200 every little thing hurts.

Dan

[Candle Snuffer]

Dan, I thought about this after I was done shooting.  I was thinking that maybe I should have swabbed between shots and the preasure would have been more equal shot to shot.  Instead, I swabbed once after 3 shots, and once after the final two shots from each shooting position.

I'm tempted to have another go at this with my .54?  I know I can't duplicate this morning's conditions, but I am curious as to what the .54 would do?

I did measure my 'main' impact area of the target and if it were our club's 16 x 17 inch gong, I'd of scored 6 out of 10 on that from 200 yards and thought that a good day.

[Dphariss]

Bore condition is important. The point of wiping is not just to remove the fouling its to make the bore the same for every shot.
Wiping a pretty damp patch once each side and a dry one, once each side.
Same wetness of the damp patch etc.
This gives a more consistent bore condition shot to shot.
Wiping on the third shot gives 3 different bore conditions, clean, dirty, dirtier. Then back to the wiped condition again.
Shooters also use pretty dry patches for best accuracy. The teflon coated things work pretty good. Oiled (neatsfoot or sperm whale oil) and then squeezed nearly dry with a vise. Oiled with mixed water soluble oil then let the water evaporate. Many things work. But the less lubrication seems to help. But I wiped the 54 and used SPG lube on one side of the patch. So???
Dan

[Candle Snuffer]

First thing I did this morning was patch the target.  Second thing I'll try and get done this weekend (Sunday) is shoot this target again, only this time I'll swab between shots.  I may as well stay with the .45 rilfe I used yesterday as to give me some comparison.

The other thing I'm thinking of doing, (after reading Roger's post about the 200 yard $100.00 dollar money shoot), is converting one of the existing .45 rifle's I have to a dedicated 200 yard rifle.

I've always favored the .45 for target work and all around hunting, though over the past few years I've been using my .50's & .54's for deer size game, and for what little small game hunting I've been doing I've been using my .40, so the .45's have become primarily used for target shooting.

It would be kind of nice to have a dedicated muzzle loader for 200 yard shooting.  Heck, why not?  I have .22LR rifles for this very purpose. 

[Dale Halterman]

It would be kind of nice to have a dedicated muzzle loader for 200 yard shooting.  Heck, why not?  I have .22LR rifles for this very purpose. 

You shoot a .22 LR at 200 yards?

Dale H

[Candle Snuffer]

Yes I do Daryl.  I shoot a Savage MK II FVT with a 6-24x42 Mil Dot Scope mounted on a EGW 20 MOA Base.  I use subsonic ammo.  I shoot bench and prone, at metal targets as small as 4x5 inches.  I have shot smaller 3.75 x 3.75 inch metal swingers, but the 4x5 is pretty much my minimum size for decent accuracy.  Lots of folks doing this these days.  They train with a .22RF at 200 yards for the 1000 yard .308 competitions as the ballistics are similar in scale.

I however only shoot the .22RF for what it is, and to see how much I can squeeze out of it.  To date I've marked out to 275 yards on an 8x10 metal swinger.  It's lots of fun, but not as fun as muzzle loading.    

[Steamingspud]

Jump in there and shoot the 200 yard match, 'spud. IMHO, my 200 yard off hand target won't be any better than Candlesnuffer's.  The only way to find out how good any of us are is to drag out the flintgun shoot a coupla targets. 

God bless

I'd love to, but I have a serious issue. I have absolutely NO idea where I can find a 200 yard range. I live in Mass, my rifles in NH, and the biggest range I've ever been at is 100 yards fairly deep into the woods of NH. Any ideas?

And wow. 200 yards with a .22, sounds like a heck of a lot of fun! every try it open sighted?

[Candle Snuffer]

Haven't tried open sighted as yet with the little .22...  That's a far piece to shoot without a scope or peep.  How 'bout we keep this .22 talk to PM's or email since this is ALR.  I'd be happy to discuss the topic through PM's.

I guess I didn't realize how hard finding a 200 yard range would be when posting this muzzle loading match idea.  If you do find a 200 yard range, I'd highly recommend giving the ol' round ball a try.  It is a challenge.

 

[SCLoyalist]

 C.S. What sight picture did you hold for this?

20-odd years ago, I used to shoot NMLRA metallic silhouettes monthly. The 200 yd range of this challenge is the same distance as the NMLRA's metallic silhouette bear target (13"WX35"H, I think).    With a little practice, that target can be hit more than 75 percent  of the time, and 13X35 presents a smaller area than this challenge target.  From your picture, and trying to imagine a bear set up in front of it, you would hit at least 6 or 7 times, which ain't  shabby.

For 200 yds, I used to load 80 or maybe 100 gr 2F under a 495RB, put  the base of the front sight even with the top of the rear and try for a  low center hold on the bear's belly.  I remember more shooters shooting this stage from a sitting position than from a standing offhand position.   I also remember how you'd see the bear start rocking, hear the 'clang', and then see him tumble.   Except, one guy shot the match with a Zouave shooting 500 gr Minies at 800 fps.  The bear would spin off his pedestal.

SCL

[bob in the woods]

Candle snuffer, I have pretty much the same set up as you in .22 Only thing better is a long rifle!
When shooting at 200 or 300 yds [ my set up out back is 300 ] I try and set up the sights so that I can aim at the top of the black. This gives me a clearer vertical hold point which helps to keep the vertical variation to a minimum. Wind or even a small breeze is another matter . What is really cool, is that when it's hot and really humid here, you can actually see the balls path at the longer ranges. Kind of like a little vapour trail!
Also thought I'd mention that you should weigh your balls [ no laughter please ! ]  For long ranges it does make a difference. For serious target work at 200 yd matches, I use an electronic scale to pre weigh my powder charges as well.

[J.D.]

 I have absolutely NO idea where I can find a 200 yard range. I live in Mass, my rifles in NH, and the biggest range I've ever been at is 100 yards fairly deep into the woods of NH. Any ideas?

Does NH or Mass have any public shooting ranges? The Mo Dept. of Conservation has established shooting ranges on a few of their conservation areas. I found one range, through an internet search, that that extends to 275 yards, within about an hour and a half drive from me.   

Barring that, there there may be a place in a National or State forest that might allow a 200 yard shot.

I would love to spend a day at the  club that my son is a member of. They have a 600 yard NM course, but that range is 4 hours away, for me, and almost two hours from him. However, he is a high power shooter who would probably lose patience with the old man slowly banging away at long range with a flint gun.   

God bless.

[Candle Snuffer]

C.S. What sight picture did you hold for this?

SCL,  my hold was what I determined to be a foot or better above the top left corner of my target.

I had about a 7 to 10 mph - 11 o'clock head wind.  The elevation of our Range is 3900 ft. above sea level, and there was no humidity to speak of.

Out here where I shoot, if I go to my Lyman Black Powder Handbook and look up the load I will be shooting at a given range -  it says I will have a 48" drop at 200 yards.  I then half that drop number to 24" and add a few inches of elevation and I seem to be able to do all right with this.

Remember, the Lyman BPHB charts were prepared at around 800 to 860 ft. above sea level, and in a high humidity setting.

Out west here at the higher & dryer elevations your balls fly higher...

I never once was able to see the center of the target when I aimed, and accounted for windage & elevation.  It was guess and by-golly.