I had a great afternoon! It didn't start out that way but I learned a lot about my rifle today, and about myself.
I started out using 8 oz denim for patches and though they showed no signs of failing, my accuracy wasn't at all what I thought it should be. So I let Daryl shoot my Lang rifle, and he produced a much better group than I had, and all in the black, and with a 6 o'clock hold on the bull! He'd already been chewing one hole groups on the targets with his own rifle...he's always been a very good shot from a bench rest, shooting with a hand under the forestock and elbows on the table.
But when he described his sight picture, I was flabergasted, because that's what I thought I was seeing, but obviously had not, because I had found that I needed to see a considerable amount of white between the bead and the bull to get them anywhere near the centre.
But things took a really significant turn for the better when I changed from 8 oz (.018") denim to 10 oz (.021"). The 8 oz was very easy to load, and the patches were great after shooting - the only two things lacking were accuracy and consistency. So I scored some 10 oz patches from him and lubed them up with Lehigh lube, and gave it a go. Instant improvement but still some flyers that ruined nice targets and respectable scores.
So I went back to my favourite load for the rifle (85 gr. 2Fg GOEX) and tried again. I ran out of his patches, so he gave me some range pick-ups he'd collected and had stored in a tin in his shooting box. I lubed them up with LV and proceeded to shoot some x's. So here's my best target today, and my last submission for this month...a humble 47 1X. Still, a very gratifying day, shooting a 169 year old rifle with hunting loads....
