Way Off Topic: Shooting and Riding
11-10-2012, 06:38 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 169
Way Off Topic: Shooting and Riding
Well, today I decided that I would try some smokeless loads instead of BP. Earlier I had discussed building my range and I have neglected of informing everyone that I extended my range a tad bit. Next weekend will be my last deer hunt this year so, I had promised myself that I would hunt with my C. Sharps Arms 1874 Hartford .45x2 1/10" rifle. I love shooting this rifle, but when it comes to hunting I thought I might want to shoot 325 grain FTX lever evolution ammo. I know "God forbid" I shoot smokeless in a Classic rifle...LOL... 
I set my targets up at 100 and 125 yards. I wanted to check my zero and adjust and check to see if my ballistic chart was close. I carry a handy dandy note book to record cold bore shots as well as atmospheric conditions and DOPE for all shots. Old habits are hard to break. With my usual BP loads and the 405 grain Cast lead RNFB and 69.5 grains of Goex and a tad bit of corn meal and compressed at 18 PSI at approximately 1100 FPS my Varner tang sight zero setting is .0302. So, I thought that this might be an interesting session on the range. I am never disappointed with my rifle. It is an amazing piece of work. This rifle shoots everything that I have stuffed in it within my ability skill set. I had no way of knowing where the round would impact but I expected it to be high and high it was. It impacted 8 MOA high center. The temp was 56*F with the wind at 6 mph SSW and gusting as high as 15 mph. Since my shot was over the target I dropped the sight down to .0113 and I hit 2" high of the bull’s eye and about 2 1/4" to the right due to the wind. So, I sent another round down range and the round impacted 3 7/8" high and 3 3/4 to the right. One more round and it clipped the lower right side of the first round after the cold bore shot. Not too bad for peep sights. I have shot better, but not today. So, I wanted to leave the sight with the same setting and shoot 125 yard target. I shot and hit about 1 1/4" low and right. I will take that any day. I ran the external ballistics calculator and checked it again my sight settings to confirm that I had confirmed my zero and the dope settings for the sights. It is always fun shooting this rifle. I am now ready to hunt with it and hopefully take a nice buck. If not I will still be happy just to be in the field and enjoy my rightful place in the food chain. I am attaching a few pictures of my range, rifle and targets. After a quick range session I threw on my skins and climbed on my Harley FLSTF Fat boy 2003 100th Anniversary model and put a couple hundred miles on her since it maybe a while before I get the chance again.
I set my targets up at 100 and 125 yards. I wanted to check my zero and adjust and check to see if my ballistic chart was close. I carry a handy dandy note book to record cold bore shots as well as atmospheric conditions and DOPE for all shots. Old habits are hard to break. With my usual BP loads and the 405 grain Cast lead RNFB and 69.5 grains of Goex and a tad bit of corn meal and compressed at 18 PSI at approximately 1100 FPS my Varner tang sight zero setting is .0302. So, I thought that this might be an interesting session on the range. I am never disappointed with my rifle. It is an amazing piece of work. This rifle shoots everything that I have stuffed in it within my ability skill set. I had no way of knowing where the round would impact but I expected it to be high and high it was. It impacted 8 MOA high center. The temp was 56*F with the wind at 6 mph SSW and gusting as high as 15 mph. Since my shot was over the target I dropped the sight down to .0113 and I hit 2" high of the bull’s eye and about 2 1/4" to the right due to the wind. So, I sent another round down range and the round impacted 3 7/8" high and 3 3/4 to the right. One more round and it clipped the lower right side of the first round after the cold bore shot. Not too bad for peep sights. I have shot better, but not today. So, I wanted to leave the sight with the same setting and shoot 125 yard target. I shot and hit about 1 1/4" low and right. I will take that any day. I ran the external ballistics calculator and checked it again my sight settings to confirm that I had confirmed my zero and the dope settings for the sights. It is always fun shooting this rifle. I am now ready to hunt with it and hopefully take a nice buck. If not I will still be happy just to be in the field and enjoy my rightful place in the food chain. I am attaching a few pictures of my range, rifle and targets. After a quick range session I threw on my skins and climbed on my Harley FLSTF Fat boy 2003 100th Anniversary model and put a couple hundred miles on her since it maybe a while before I get the chance again.
