WAUGH! I pulled a Jeremiah Johnson scene today. On my last shot, BOOM! A huge clump of snow falls from the top of a tree I was shooting under and splatters me right on top of my cap, shoulders and arms. Drenched the rifle as well :no: Nothing like the feel of sloppy slush snow falling on top of you while you are shooting LOL.
But other than that, it was a great evening shoot. Nice and warm but still could use my capote and badger cap. Looks really odd without my beard as I shaved it yesterday to get it cleaned up and looking better. I feel naked as the day I was born to say the least.
Top 4 shots in the bulls eye were from 50 yards and the lower 3 are from 75 yards. I think I pulled that last shot to the left a bit, otherwise they may have been touching. You never know, I was pretty wet by that shot as the snow fell on top of me as I was getting ready to take it :lol!:
SUPER pleased with the Bridgers Best patches. I lubed them up lightly with my anti-rust lube and stowed them in the patch box until this evening. ZERO wind, nice and warm at 40* with the evening sun going down behind the mountain.
With fresh snow on the ground I was able to recover all patches. The first patch fired on a clean barrel ( No swabbing was done, all shots were easy to reload ) came out perfect,no holes or any kind of flaws, Along with 5 more patches.
I had ONE patch, that was blown in half. Why? No freakin clue, Maybe I loaded it a little off center, no clue, just a nice clean patch cut right in half.
I shot 80gr 2fg Olde Eynsford 2fg and .490" round ball, so that's a pretty hot load for a 1:48 twist. Equal to around 90-92 grains 2fg Goex. Accuracy was nice and tight, especially at 50 yards where my eye could see better with the rear sight. Recoil was pretty stiff, it really surprised me on the first shot, just a good straight back shove. I use this load in my St.Louis Hawken and for some reason, it does not seem as severe.
I still have a lot of testing to do before I make up my mind. I have a ton of bulk patch material from Eastern Maine shooting supplies which does good, but load quite a bit tighter, even in pre-cut form. The real test will be at 100-125 yards, but that will have to wait till better weather or when the mud dries out after this snow melts. Nothing worse than range shooting in hog slop!