I had to be nuts I told myself, but I could not look at that rifle sitting there and not being shot. So I bundled up and went to the range anyway. It was cold out there. In my hurry I grabbed the wrong spray bottle for swabbing. I grabbed some window cleaner instead of my 50/50 mix. Now how cold was it?? In fact it was so cold, the bottle of window spray after fifteen minutes, the sprayer froze shut and could not work.So I hauled that back to the house and brought out a bottle of straight isopropyl alcohol. I figured that would not freeze. Even though my fingers and toes were trying to.

I took out some .452 300 grain XTP's and some 300 grain Shockwaves. I also took out three different kinds of sabots. Some harvester short petal and some long petal, and then some crushed rib in case it loaded hard. Shot #1 in the A group was on a clean barrel. I was a little surprised as I was holding on the blue X and figured it would have hit the plate. So I swabbed and shot the other three, swabbing between shots. (this is where the window sprayer froze).

I then swabbed extra good and shot group B. I was surprised that they shot a little higher with the Pyrodex P. I did not really expect them to do that, to be real honest...

I swabbed again and this time loaded 120 grains of Pyrodex P and a shockwave and shot the first shot. It too was somewhat with the group B. So to test my theory, I aimed the second time for the top of the white paper plate and shot the second shot.

I thought about taking my gloves off and adjusting the sights, but my nose was running like a cheapWal Mart faucet, my fingers were a little cold, and my big toe was just plain numb. I decided I had enough for the day. I was only out about an hour or maybe a little longer. Maybe when it warms up I can play some more. It was -23 below last night and is supposed to get colder tonight. So we will see what tomorrow brings.

good shooting there. bet you can't wait until it gets warmer to get in a range session that does not require setting in front of the fire for half hour (not a problem in my mind)

ever thought about an heated shooting shed

Dang Cayugad! When you want to shoot, you shoot. That's all I can say -DANG!

When I extend my garage maybe this spring, I am going to make a heated shooting station on the back end of it. Also a place to clean my rifles in the wood working shop so I do not have to bring them into the house for that. I want to bring the two buildings together to form an L shape building and then I will have more room in my wood working shop for more tools that I never use. You all know what I mean.

NOW yer talkin!!

Nice shooting. I never could have done that with open sights and shaking from the cold, but then again I'm a southern boy. We hope its under 65 or so in november so the deer will move a little bit.

Hey Dave, so what do ya think of the gun. were ya happy withit and do ya think it will be a shooter? Was -31 over last night. Man I hope it isnt colder tonite. Kerry

I like that cheap wal mart faucet remark but I have worse luck with the [:@]Delta stuff.
Any way ya proved it can shot thru the hoar frost for sure.

They are talking -25 tonight so we will see. This weather has to break pretty soon I hope.


I think this rifle is going to be a good one. I was not real impressed with the groups today, but for the first time out and playing with one kind of bullet basically. I did not expect much. AZlthough I was surprised the group opened as much as it did. I was more concerned with ignition, and ease of loading, etc. The red primer discs loaded perfect, even with gloves on I could load and unload it with no tool. That will be a big plus when muzzleloader hunting in December around here.

I think once I find the right powder charge and bullet this rifle will be a good one. I also think this rifle likes a powerful powder charge. But there is little to no recoil with this rifle. Even with 120 grains of Pyrodex P which I would consider a magnum load, I can not say it was uncomfortable to shoot at all.

Time will tell. I have a lot of things to try and am really looking forward to seeing what others find accurate in their rifles...

That's what it's really all about. I find load development and experimentationinteresting and fun.Of course, with the number of guns you have you need a data base to keep track of loads.