Author Topic: July Postal Match  (Read 3414 times)

Offline Daryl

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #25 on: July 17, 2024, 05:45:49 AM »
Good luck at your "shoot" Dan.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline taterbug

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #26 on: July 17, 2024, 06:53:26 AM »
yep, have fun at that little gathering ;)

Cool place to shoot. 

Offline foresterdj

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #27 on: July 18, 2024, 07:04:48 AM »
Took my other .54 Jaeger out today. Evelyn has a Moody barrel, fast twist of 1:30, narrow lands and wide grooves. I have not decided yet on a best round ball load for this gun, though I keep hoping to find a happy medium for it and the other. (Dorothy has a Douglas barrel 1:48, wide lands narrower grooves, results posted yesterday.) At present I have Evelyn adjusted for 3" high at 50 yards. Knowing it would not group as well as the other rifle I used a single target for all 5 shots.



I put it at a 36 score.

Some day soon I am going to run some Minie bullets through her and see what I get for accuracy.

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #28 on: July 18, 2024, 07:40:05 AM »
Good luck at your "shoot" Dan.
I will surely need it and divine guidance.
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #29 on: July 18, 2024, 07:45:16 AM »
yep, have fun at that little gathering ;)

Cool place to shoot.

I shoot FLs, other bp rifles and unmentionables in competition. I like to shoot.
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #30 on: July 18, 2024, 07:46:20 AM »
Took my other .54 Jaeger out today. Evelyn has a Moody barrel, fast twist of 1:30, narrow lands and wide grooves. I have not decided yet on a best round ball load for this gun, though I keep hoping to find a happy medium for it and the other. (Dorothy has a Douglas barrel 1:48, wide lands narrower grooves, results posted yesterday.) At present I have Evelyn adjusted for 3" high at 50 yards. Knowing it would not group as well as the other rifle I used a single target for all 5 shots.



I put it at a 36 score.

Some day soon I am going to run some Minie bullets through her and see what I get for accuracy.


I see 36 as well
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #31 on: July 18, 2024, 07:51:07 AM »
Have you tried a heavy linen patch? I find heavy linen at fabric-store(dot)com.
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline alacran

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #32 on: July 18, 2024, 02:10:32 PM »
I suggest you try lighter loads for Evelyn. I have a lady friend who was trying to shoot round balls in her 1 in 28 twist inline.
She was shooting 55 grains of Triple 7 behind her .495 Hornady balls. She is not a Novice shooter; she is a Master Bullseye competitor.
She was shooting off the bench at 50 yards and her group was a bit larger than yours.
I suggested she lower her load to 30 grains. Her groups improved dramatically. All she had to do was adjust elevation on her sights.
She is not a hunter but wanted to shoot the inline her husband had bought her, without getting beat up with recoil when using saboted bullets and heavy powder charges.
Just a thought.
 70 grains 2f is my plinking load on my .54 flintlock. It has a 1in 72 twist rate.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline foresterdj

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #33 on: July 18, 2024, 09:05:48 PM »
The Moody barrel in Evelyn has a good cone for starting ball and patch, the .535 RB and .018 patch is pretty tight. In fact, before I had the breach plug in I had to gently push to get a .535 ball through and it came out just slightly engraved by the narrow lands.

I have thought about lowering the charge, and may test this for targets, but did want it to have enough energy to punch through a WTD, out maybe to 75 yards (which is about the farthest I can see in my woods).

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #34 on: July 19, 2024, 11:41:09 PM »
Folks that think about coning should read the description of the Hawken barrel in John Baird’s “Hawken  Rifles The Mountain Mans Choice”. It was surely measured by TK Dawson. Its not what people are doing now.
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline foresterdj

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #35 on: July 20, 2024, 01:44:12 AM »
I used a universal coning tool one of the members here sells. Needed to do something  after shortening the barrel or those tight narrow lands would have torn patches when loading. Not sure if it is HC, but it works.

Offline alacran

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #36 on: July 21, 2024, 04:22:13 PM »
Went out to the range yesterday. I used my offhand target flintlock. It has a 40 inch by one-inch atf Douglass XX barrel in .45 cal.
I used 60 grains Dupont 3f with a .451 ball batched with bear lubed canvass.
I used this target as a aiming point.

I simply shot 5 shots at it and placed the smaller target centered on the center of the group.
It was sunny and not too breezy when I shot at this target. By the time we had a seize fire and was able to place a score target under it, a storm blew in  the sun was gone and the wind became strong and variable.
The wind kept gusting and changing direction on my first scoring target,

I didn't notice that I posted the target upside down under the sighting target. There are two holes in the seven ring on the right.
They called a seize fire after my fourth shot. So I placed a target below the other target and shot it without a sighting target over it.

It is my best target with a 41. That little dot is hard to see.
I shot one more target under the sighting target but by then the wind got pretty unpredictable and I lost track of it on my last shot. I also placed that one upside down.

I plan to go out again where I can use my cross sticks, and don't have to deal with the range seize fires.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline Maven

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #37 on: July 21, 2024, 07:23:26 PM »
Nice targets, alacran!
Paul W. Brasky

Offline JBJ

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #38 on: July 27, 2024, 08:16:06 PM »
Dan,
As I promised you, I finally had an opportunity to try the July target. By the way, I VERY much appreciate you having a shoot from a rest and somewhat old fashioned in its approach.Shooting from a bench alllows us old guys an opportunity to more effectively participate. My 81 year-old-eyes let me down today and I just couldn't seem to get the groups to center. Oh well, still had fun trying. I scored it as 43.





Offline Tony N

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #39 on: July 27, 2024, 08:39:22 PM »
That’s a very good group!

Tony
« Last Edit: July 30, 2024, 02:04:06 PM by Tony N »

Offline Marcruger

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #40 on: July 28, 2024, 12:35:18 AM »
I was spotting for JB today.  The lighting was terrible.  He did some good shooting.  My test group to see where mine was hitting was so bad I didn’t bother.  On JB’s target the second hole from the right is two shots through a slightly enlarged hole. God bless, Marc

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #41 on: July 28, 2024, 03:31:12 AM »
Good shooting, very nice group JB. 43 is correct.

Dan
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline Daryl

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #42 on: July 30, 2024, 04:08:12 AM »
The double hit in that hole is obvious.
Nice group.
My fishing rods dont shoot very well
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline alacran

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #43 on: July 30, 2024, 03:09:07 PM »
First let me say Good Shooting JBJ. I hope I can shoot that good ten years from now.
I went out yesterday to the creek bottom and set up cross sticks and lasered my target at 50 yards.
I shot the same rifle and load as on my last outing. .45 caliber Douglass barreled flintlock. 60 grains Dupont 3f, bear lubed canvas with ,451 balls.
This is my offhand flintlock target rifle. Haven't shot it off sticks in quite a while.
My first target was my best target even though it started with an 8 due to a sighting error or whatever.

I score it a 44 but it may be a 45. I ran out of 50# paper and the 20# paper doesn't cut as cleanly.
I made a sight adjustment for my second target but I went one click too many.

I score it a 40. Easier to score a crappy target.
My third target I changed back to my original sight setting. I did have a slightly slow fire on my second shot, but I should have held through better.
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I score it a 43.
Not a big fan of shooting from a rest, but it lets you know that your rifle is capable.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline JBJ

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #44 on: July 31, 2024, 02:21:57 PM »
Thanks for the kind words. I agree that rest shooting will test the rifle's capabilities AND it will also test your abilities to manage the care and feeding of the rifle AND your ability to read light, etc., etc. Clearly, I didn't do so well reading the light nor being alert enough to shift my aiming "bud" in a timely manner. Perhaps my eyesight isn't the only thing that's getting wonky  ;D. These days, offhand shooting is but a distant memory - so I'll just watch until the next "rested" postal match comes along. BUT it's all fun! Thanks, Dan.

J.B.

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #45 on: August 03, 2024, 08:17:53 AM »
I spent way too much time looking at Alacran's #1 even shining a light though it and a super imposed clean target on a glass table top. Given that it appears that the black circle obscures the "leaded edge" of the closest to center hole that is obvious on the others and would make it a 10. I can only call what I can see. But a 44 is the win anyway. So congratulations to alacran and to the other shooters as well. Pretty close race at the top.

Back from Camp Perry last night then remembered I needed to find the winner here..... Shot some decent scores but not in the one I really wanted to do well in. But one must keep one's brain in gear at all times. And mine seems to have jumped into neutral at the wrong time and I shot too many 9s.
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline JBJ

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #46 on: August 03, 2024, 03:37:25 PM »
Guys, I must have missed something or miss counted, but didn't Tony N turn in a 45 on his July 6th post of 5 separate targets? Might be my wonky eyes again  ;D

J.B.

Offline alacran

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #47 on: August 03, 2024, 03:58:28 PM »
I concur with JBJ. Tony N turned in a 45.  I scored my target a 44.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline Dphariss

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #48 on: August 03, 2024, 05:26:04 PM »
OKI have to recant here.
TONY won with a 45
Dang I hate that.
How I missed this I cannot say.
But I was still not 100% after 1 1/2 days at the speed limit in 7 states so forgive me.

Just spaced it but I did have a pretty busy 2 weeks getting up at 4 am most days.

Please forgive.

Dan
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline Tony N

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Re: July Postal Match
« Reply #49 on: August 03, 2024, 06:18:13 PM »
That was a very close match with 3 or 4 of us within 2 pts of each other! Rested at 50 yds isn’t as easy as it sounds to me.
I would like to try this target again, same rules as July, unless someone has a better idea?

Tony