Hi Folks,
When I was a teenager back in the early 1960s, I was a member of my high school’s ROTC small bore rifle team. I really enjoyed the competition. I joined the Army in 1966 and was honorably discharged in 1969. I got busy going back to school, finding a job, getting married, finding another job and many other time consuming activities. I forgot how much I enjoyed target shooting. It is amazing how fast 50 years goes by.
About 5 years ago, I discovered my father’s deer rifle. It was in pretty sad shape. I decided to restore it. Working on this project reminded me of the many wonderful outdoor adventures I had with my father. The rifle restoration turned out very well. Then I decided to find a safe place to fire Dad’s sporterized “Springfield 1903 A3”. I joined the “Piedmont Handgunner’s Association” just south of Lexington, NC. They have several specialized outdoor ranges. With Dad’s rifle, I could barely hit a six inch spot target at 100 yards. I knew I used to be able to shoot a lot better than that. The recoil from store bought ammunition was too much for my old shoulder. So, I got into loading my own 30-06 cartridges, thinking I could experiment with reduced loads and special powers like Trail Boss to find a combination that was not so painful. I had no such luck, but it was fun trying and I learned a lot about handloading. Despite all of this, I was really enjoying the challenge of target shooting again, even if the competition was only with myself.
I decided to buy an entry level rifle, one that did not kick so much, maybe with a recoil about one half of Dad’s deer rifle. About four years ago, I bought a Ruger American Rifle, Model 6972, the Predator model, chambered for .243 Winchester cartridges. This rifle and re-loading hardware still holds my interest. I have kept a detailed journal of all of my experiences with this rifle and re-loading hardware. My first goal was, and still is, to keep the annual cost down by stretching out the time I purchase additional items and to get by with entry level items as much as possible.
My last addition was a Christmas gift, an upgrade for my old “Classic Weaver” fixed power 6X38 scope. I plan to mount the Weaver scope on my wife’s .22 rimfire rifle.
I have uploaded my experiences zeroing the Christmas gift to my google drive and created a shareable link to it. If you are interested, the LINK follows:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1B-...dlbaZ3kKrQijzl
Be sure to use the google zoom feature to read the text and view the targets.
Stay Safe,
Ron