October Postal Match

[Daryl]

Mikes picture is slightly smaller than Alacran's or Taylors.

[Jakob]

Ok, this is a dedicated PDF hosting site. It's a little slow on my side, but I'm curious to how it works for other people:
https://www.docdroid.net/KgBFDKx/alr-october-pdf

[oldways]

          Just printed a copy and it worked fine. I can use it to scan and make other copies. Hope to shoot this when my range reopens.

[alacran]

Just tried your new link and it still printed slightly bigger than the one in the screen shot. I went into the printers settings, and printed it at 90% and it came out the same size as the screen shot. Again the size difference is not that significan.t

[alacran]

Well it is the middle of the month and it appears that MuskratMike, is the only one not afraid of this squirrel. Either that or the scores are so bad that only Mike has the stones to show his target. Just saying.

[OldMtnMan]

I'm just getting back into shooting and a muley hunt next fall. I'd like to shoot the postal shoots as soon as I get the gun and all the stuff to shoot and clean it. I gave everything away. My vision is crummy but i'll do my best. I don't need to come close to winning to have fun. Shooting is fun enough.

I'll do every shoot. I forgot. Do you shoot year around of take the winter off? Colorado is kind of brutal in the winter and I drive a Jeep with no top. brrrrr

[Daryl]

All of the matches so far, have run all winter long. The spring, fall and winter are the only times I can shoot it as the summer time, is fishin' time.

[OldMtnMan]

Ok, thanks Daryl.

I was thinking about another forum. They only shoot 6 mo a year from April to Oct.

[Maven]

Afraid of shooting at the squirrel?  That's nonsense and somewhat insulting.  Some of us have other commitments, meaning I'd rather be shooting, but medical stuff, etc. come first.

[Daryl]

OldMtnMan, you get winter in Colorado?

[longcruise]

OldMtnMan, you get winter in Colorado?

Not "Old Mountain Man" but been here 60 years.

Depends on where in Colorado.  Where I live we've come to call it the new Phoenix.  But there are plenty of places where we have 9 months of winter and 3 months of late fall!

[Daryl]

Similar- we call it 8 months of winter and 4 months of poor sledding weather.

[OldMtnMan]

OldMtnMan, you get winter in Colorado?

Not "Old Mountain Man" but been here 60 years.

Depends on where in Colorado.  Where I live we've come to call it the new Phoenix.  But there are plenty of places where we have 9 months of winter and 3 months of late fall!

Haven't lived here but came here to hunt since I was a kid with dad and brother. Only lived here 16 years.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Daryl and I made an effort to shoot this month's Postal, but got rained out...maybe tomorrow?

[Maven]

Got "medical world" sorted out and shot the October target a little while ago.  I "killed" him, but not entirely by head shots or barking.  I used my Lyman .50cal. percussion rifle with both a .488" RB (Lyman mould) + .018" pillow ticking patch* and a .495" (.497" as cast, Lee mould) with a .012" drill cloth (?) patch (material came from JoAnn Fabrics and is made by "Sew Classics").  Powder charges were 50gr. Graf's (Goex) and 55gr. Percussion caps were Win. #11 Mag.  Lube was 1 Ballistol : 6 water:  No bore wiping was necessary with this combination.

*Sometimes a smaller diameter RB a la Black Powder Maniac is worth using since you don't have to strain yourself or your [wooden] ramrod to seat it.




P.S.  There are 2 shots to the head +3 in the tree trunk on the lefthand target and 3 to the body on the righthand one.

[Daryl]

Well, we got out this morning, then he bought me lunch at Timmy's on the way home.
Just about time to clean the rifle, but first.
.69 (14 bore) Caplock
90gr. 2F Schutzen
.482gr. .682" round ball of close to pure lead
10 ounce denim (.021")
Water soluble oil and water, 1:10, I think it is.
Ist shot is marked on the first target. I double loaded it, one ball, 2X powder.
It was a little loud and did kick a bit. 2nd shot was the other head shot, then - oh well.
3rd target, first shot was in the melon. Next 4 were in the body - lung shots. Shows I can flinch exactly the same, shot after shot.
4th target was my best for score. 15 or 20. (I'd score it a 15) Not good enough. Maybe we'll get out again.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Nice day for a postal match today.  Daryl and I shot four targets (in a futile effort to improve our score).  He was using his squirrel/target rifle, ie:  .69 cal, and his scores don't reflect the killing effectiveness of that 14 bore rifle.
I shot my 9 1/2 pound T. Allison .25 cal Western PA flint rifle in with a .250" round ball (buckshot), 8 oz. denim precut patches, lubed with Ballistol/water @ 1:10.  4Fg GOEX in the pan, and 30 gr. 3Fg GOEX charges.  I found it difficult to find the squirrel's head in the sights with the target in shadows as it was...it's not an easy target.  I think the squirrels were seeing the flash and jumping the shot. 
There was no mention in the OP's first post about how the target is scored, ie:  half ball or just a touch for the higher score.  So I didn't score my targets, leaving it to the sponsor's better judgement.










Just for your entertainment, here's a picture of our first targets, together with a round ball for comparison...and finally, a picture of a .250" ball on the patch ready to ram.  I love shooting this rifle.

[Daryl]

The targets remind me a joke one in the NAPR magazines back in the late 70's or very early 80's, remarking on
John Baird's use of a .69 cal. rifle on squirrels.

[Jakob]

I'll do every shoot. I forgot. Do you shoot year around of take the winter off? Colorado is kind of brutal in the winter and I drive a Jeep with no top. brrrrr

Heck, even I shoot all year long. (Fort McMurray, AB)...as long as it gets above -10C and not too windy.
Going to get one of those small portable propane heaters this year, which should make it more comfortable.

I should get out to shoot the target this weekend, however the gun is currently sighted for hunting (100 meters), so this will be interesting.
Between work, hunting and adding this monster to the family, it's been hard to find time..

[Daryl]

-10C didn't used to be too cold to shoot when we were a bunch younger. That's 14F. It is nowadays, though.
We used to shoot down to -20F, which is -28C, but that was a long time ago - mid 1980's. We actually found
out that at -40F = -40C, that main springs break.

[OldMtnMan]

I don't have any meat on my bones now. I don't handle the cold like I used to.

[alacran]

Glad you all got out and shot the Squirrel. I believe the first time Taylor hosted this target we used the half ball rule. So, it is with this target.
I'll start with Maven's targets, the left target scores a 10, the right one scores -30.
Daryl's targets from left to right score; 0, 5, -35 and a 15.
Taylor's from top to bottom score; 15, 0, -10, and a 20, which puts him in the lead.
However the one of Taylor's target that I like the best is the third one where he circled the squirrels head almost perfectly.
If that had been the object of the target, it would be hard to beat. But then again so is a 20.
To recap the highest scores, Taylor has a 20, Daryl has a 15, the Muskrat has a 15 and Maven has a 10.

[Justin Urbantas]

That was some pretty impressive shooting Taylor, where you managed to just barely miss the squirrels head with every shot. Like there was a force field on it. I have days like that too.

[Daryl]

Yeah, Justin - I was watching it happen. We both had a laugh about it.

[Jakob]

A nice big 0.

Only had time/body heat for one. Already -5C and my patches were freezing over. (I was working on another gun first).

Will try again next weekend.