Hi,
Thanks for the posts everyone. I appreciate all your interest, comments, and help. Well it shoots! I handed off the rifle to the owner today. I set up my shooting bench and range and tested the gun at 50 yards. I have a laser bore sighter that almost always gets the shots on paper before actually shooting the gun. However, I was sure the front sight was high and that my first shots would be very low. So I aimed at 12 o'clock on the paper. The result was no hole anywhere. I shot again with same hold and no hole! So I loaded up, walked to 25 yards and shot offhand. The shot was 12 o'clock in the nine ring! So I went back to the bench at 50 yards, held at 6 o'clock on the black and proceeded to put 5 shots into the 10 and 9 rings. The owner came over and I loaded him up. His first shot was a ten touching the X. His second, third, and fourth shots were 10s and 9s. I fired 2 offhand and they were 3 and 4 o'clock in the 8 and 7 rings and the owner fired 2 and they were 2 o'clock in the 7 and 6 rings. There was a strong wind blowing left to right that made off hand shooting a challenge. Anyway, he probably won't have to work very hard zeroing in the rifle. The load we used was 85 grains 2F powder, 0.020" thick patches lubed with Ballistol and water, and 0.595" balls. He went home a very happy man. He will be ready for our first woods walk next weekend. I urged him to shoot at 100 yards before making any changes. I suspect that with dead on hold , he may be in the black without doing anything to the sights. But you have to shoot at 100 yards to really see how good your load and sighting is. Twenty-five yards tells you nothing, 50 yards gives you some idea, but 100 yards reveals all. The rifle shoots like a dream. It handles and feels exactly like a heavier version of a fine English rifle. Recoil is straight back into your shoulder. I tried a round using 100 grains of 2F and it was very comfortable plus the muzzle barely moved upward allowing me to follow through on sighting very well. This will be a superb hunting rifle and it only weighs 8 lbs 6 ounces.
dave
