Today was too nice of a day to pass up and not shoot. Besides, tomorrow I am busy with appointments. And I wanted to pay those paint cans back for an embarrassment they gave me yesterday. But I could not decided what to shoot. I looked at the cards and discovered the Black Diamond XR had not been shot in a while.. so that would be a good rifle to teach those paint cans a lesson.


50 caliber Black Diamond XR - blued barrel - Bushnell Banner Dusk to Dawn 1.5-4.5x32mm scope.



I decided to shoot long distance today and that meant 86 yards. So I picked out some Schuetzen 2f black powder, Winchester Mag #11 caps (I changed back to simple). And some Harvester Scorpion 260 gr Funnel nose bullets with the Harvester Crushed Rib sabots.

I started with 115 grains of powder. The Scorpion was loaded. That red bull though that 4.5 power scope did not look as nice as it does in the 9x scope. But I centered the cross hair and fired the first four shots.



Those first four looked real good so I decided to do 5. That's when Murphy showed up.. As you can see.. still not bad, but it slipped out of the group.

I then found 2 Barnes 250 gr Expanders in the shooting bag. So why not...



I thought of getting more of them out of the house, but I needed to shoot paint cans. So I pulled the target and got back to the bench. I used the Scorpions and had them just a swinging down there. And a nice group on them to boot.

Then my phone range and there was an emergency at the neighbor's place.. so I ended the session and rushed over there to help him out. (He fell out of his wheel chair outside and could not get up. Thank goodness he carries a cell phone with him).

So the paint cans only took four hits today.. but there will be more days out there.. It was a lot of fun shooting today.

Dave,

Compare Schuetzen 2f black powder to GOEX if you would... What are your thoughts?

I like Schuetzen better. Cheaper and it does not foul as bad. Also it is just as powerful. The one draw back of Schuetzen.. the bottles it comes in. None of my standard thread caps fit the bottles. So I have to pour the Schuetzen into a Graf's bottle that the pour spout fits on.

Dave,

Do you have any issues with the finish on the bottom of your scope getting marred/marked up due to the ignition of the primer? I used to when I shot my BD on a regular basis (using 209 primers).

Good shooting. Next time I go to the range I'm taking the BD. It's been sitting too long.

Thanks Dave...

Yes the open breech was burning the paint off the bottom of the scope. Which is a common aliment with open breech rifles. But I made a duct tape bikini that fits around the scope. Then it protects the scope and all you do it wipe it off after your done.

Congrats on some good shooting. The Black Diamond is a really good gun.