Well it was warm out today although I did not know it was so windy. But its been days since I have had the opportunity to shoot because of a knee injury. So I was looking out side and saw how much the snow had melted and figured I could walk out there if I was careful..

I started encountering problems all most at once. It was so windy that the target would not stay standing. I should have turned around and went back inside. But I have never been one to take the easy way, so I took the stand apart, shoved the legs in the snow and took the other parts to brace the stand against the wind.

I got back to the bench and ranged the target. Once it read 30 yards, and once it read 32 yards. So I called it 30 yards. The rifle was my new .50 caliber Thompson Center Hawkins. I decided to really push the rifle hard today and see what it would do. So I loaded 100 grains of Triple Seven 2f. I then loaded a felt unlubed wad on top of the powder. And finally used a moosemilk pillow tick patch and a .490 cast roundball.

The last time I shot the rifle it hit a little high and left, and so I moved the sight to the right after my last range session. I was curious where it was going to hit. I fired the first shot and kind of attributed that to the powder charge and clean barrel. So I shot two more and saw it was too far to the right and not quite as high. So I made an adjustment to the left a little. I then swabbed the barrel and shot a bunch of rounds without swabbing.

I then made a final adjustment and turned the rear sight down. I also swabbed between shots. That final hole is supposed to be three shots. I fired three times. I can see definite two marks from the ball, but the third sure snuck into that same hole nice.

The wind was picking up even worse. And blew the braced target over. So I called it a day. It was sure nice to get out in the fresh air and shoot again.