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Sure is quiet on the forum these days, I know the weather has been a little eratic, huge swings in temperatures and lots of wind here in Kentucky.
We're still table shooting about every week here. Put a 3000 watt infared heater in the shooting shed to make it a little more tolerable.
Trying some different sighter shapes and back and forth with a post and bead or just a post front sight depending upon the sighter.
I'm having pretty good luck with the Lyman 17 short wide post insert and a light colored 3" square on a darker background. The blade covers the block side to side and I raise the post to the top of the square and seems to work pretty well for these old eyes.
Hopefully will get something worked out before the first table shoot on March 11 down at Wilmore, KY
Looking forward to a lot of table shooting this summer for sure.
Never been to the York Shoot so I'm planing on going this year just to see it and say I've been.
Keep shooting !!!
Carl
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I'm not a table shooter - I'm a pistol shooter. I am just now getting one of my three match pistols back on the line. I'm taking advantage of the warm weather here and there. Crazy weather! Any way I'll be practicing and adjusting and tuning and so on. I shoot conventional pistol as well and the local matches for that start in March so I'm getting things out and ready and practicing. Just slow this time of year.
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Most definitely. Our group, Calusa Country Longrifles held our regular 2nd Saturday BP shoot yesterday at Port Malabar ( Palm Bay, FL). A dozen brave souls came out to brave our Winter weather. Started out a little chilly..temperatures had cascaded overnight down into the upper 50's, but once the sun got up we enjoyed a day of T-shirt shooting, offhand at steel targets out to 100 yds.
Based on the results, I need to spend some time on 100 yd. load development..!!!
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I've been trying to do some shooting every weekend, mostly off hand, I did shoot off the table yesterday for the first time this year.
Not too bad but I definitely need a lot more practice to keep up with you all.
I'm looking forward to this years shoots!
~Tony
Last edited by Tony N (2/12/2017 8:23 AM)
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Carl
In your quest for tighter groups have you tried different patch lubricants to see if different lubes helped or
hurt group size.
Dick
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Been shooting about ten rounds a day through my 1917 off hand for practice. Need to get the trade gun out and set up the target thrower and get back to shooting clay targets.
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Richard,
I have tried a variety of patch lubes from "dry patch" concoctions using different ratios of water soluable oil/water mixes, wiping between shots to "wet patches" using several different materials, Hoppes #9 Plus, Leigh High Valley, Mr. Flintlock and some other mixtures.
So far the best results is .023 Cotton Army Duck very lightly moistened with Mr. Flintlock patch lube wrapped around a .395 round ball setting on top of either 65.0 grains of 2F Swiss or 72.5 grains of 2F Olde Enysford.
I'm using the shorter wider post insert in my Lyman 17A front sight and shooting at 2.750" yellow square on a hot pink back ground.
The front sight covers the square side to side and with the top of the post brought up to the top of the square I have something I can see.
Shooting Tuesday this week with the above combination of components and sights and sighter, I was able to put 8 shots under a quarter with 3 more shots slightly above the 8 and 1 shot slightly below the 8 at 30 yards. No flyers in the 12 shots fired so I was very pleased with my results.
We shoot every week here at my place sometimes trying new things or just practicing shooting consistently.
Carl
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Hello Carl,
For shooting from a rest...Table or Chunk, I'm also using the Lyman 17A out front. I've had good results with the post and dot reticle and a round sighter that is sized for each distance to juuusssttt show a "halo" of the brightly colored round shape on black background.
When I first started working with that combination, using an open rear sight it didn't take too long to figure out that the notch in my rear sight was too large. DE-greased it, filled it in with JB weld and after a couple days for it to dry/cure...I cut a very minimal "V" shaped notch with a small jewelers file. Groups tightened up and became much more reproducible.
BTW: that's a stout load for a 40 cal. What barrel are you shooting..??
Thanks and good luck.
Don
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Don,
Table shooting from a rest.
I've tried the post and bead front sight and a round sighter with good results.
I guess my curiosity keeps me trying different combinations to see if I can improve my group and shorten my string.
The barrel is a 15/16" -.40 caliber - 38" in length - 1 in 48" twist made here in Kentucky by Wayne Jenkins
Now that I have a sight and sighter that works very well I'm seriously thinking about going back to a more traditional load for a .40 cal. barrel, 40-45 grains of 3F and see what results I get.
That's the fun part !!!!
Carl
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Uh-Huh.. I see what you're doing. 
Make up excuses to burn up more powder..!! OK...you got me. Same thing we all do.
My 40 caliber is strictly used for offhand shooting...42" swamped, Southern Mountain Rifle.
She's got a Rice, 1:48 barrel. 55 grains 3f Goex has given me the very best 50 yd groups off a rest, but I use 50 gns for 25 and 50 yd targets and center hold on the targets(actually...it's more like "Center-float-by" since I have a real hard time getting that long-nose beauty to hold still). I've recently been working on 100 yd and find 65 gns with center hold seems to work.
A 38" straight bbl. ought to be a dandy in 40 cal. Have you found the "Sweet spot" to set on the rest yet..???
There's another whole new variable you can use to shoot even more..!!
ENJOY !!. See you in June.
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Carl,
Your sights and sighter is very close to what I use ,I like light green on black and make my square so I have a thin line of green on each side of my post.
In case you didn't know table shoot at Allen's on April 9th.
Dick
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Dick,
I do have April 9th on my calendar and am looking forward to the table shoot at Alan's.
I'll have to look into the black/ light green colors for a sighter.
Don,
I've tried several different support spots on the 38" barrel and seem to have the best results supporting it very close to the end. Maybe the shorter length and the 15/16" size minimize the harmonics?
My off hand shooting is much like yours, hoping to squeeze the shot off just as I approach the center and get reasonably close. We shoot offhand here on Thursdays and as we are all 65+ in years, a 46 on a big bull at 25 yards usually gets the quarters. We will shoot a small bull at 25 yards and a big bull at 50 just to add to the fun.
Keep shooting,
Carl
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Here's the Sighter target I've settled on to use with the Lyman "post and dot" front reticle and modified open rear sight. I added the light colored strip across the bottom, just beneath the brightly colored circle so that I could better see the alignment of the front/rear sights. Prior to adding that strip, I had trouble seeing whether the dot on the front post was correctly centered in the tiny little "V" I had cut in the rear blade. I'm reasonably pleased. The rifle is just a 50 cal. Green Mountain "Drop-in" bbl. in a T/C flintlock.
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Don,
That is an excellent group indeed!!!
Looks like I need to give some more thought to this "dry patch" loading process. Old habits are hard to overcome sometimes but the results of what you are doing makes it look like I need to try this dry patch idea again.
Oh well, more time at the bench shooting is not a bad thing. HA HA
Keep shooting,
Carl
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Don,
Great group are you taking that rifle to the York shoot?
Dick
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Don,
May I ask what means you used to put that picture of your sighter and target oin your post?
Carl
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Dick,
That is the rifle I used at the York last year. That target was generated at my range here in Florida shortly before the York while I was searching for the best load to use.
Carl,
Thanks for the compliment. I use an "Elmer's Glue Stick" to secure those cutouts to the main Black background.
On the subject of the York shoot, I learned a valuable lesson there last year. Allow me to share it:
I shot in the second relay. By the time we were getting to the line and posting our sighter targets, the morning breeze had turned into a pretty stiff crosswind. When it was time to post our sighter targets I did my usual 4 staples at the corners...After the first shot, my sighter target blew off the cardboard backer board.
They don't stop shooting and ask the whole line to "go cold" for such an incident. I had to use that one-shot "group" to post my first "X" target behind, and proceed through the 10-shot match. I'm not griping or complaining. I respect the rules and have no problem with it. Just sayin'....use a few more staples...!!!! They're pretty cheap compared to the cost of traveling to Tennessee for a one day event.
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Gentlemen,
I took to heart your suggestions about the sighters you are using.
I made up 3 sighters and posted them on my target stand this afternoon. I made up one that I use now, then one with a bright green square on a black background then one with a bright yellow square on a black background.
It was immediately clear that the sighters with the black background and the brightly colored squares gave a much better contrast and sight picture than my current sighter.
To me the bright green and bright yellow squares were about equal as to visability and contrast so the only thing left to do now is do some shooting and see what comes out best. We table shoot on Tuedays so will let you know how it comes out.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Carl
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