St. Patrick's Day shoot at PEMI

I have been working hard this winter to develop the best 30-30 home cast, handloads I can.  Last year I had some feeding issues and what I thought was some inconsistent accuracy issues.  Turns out I had a mix of bullets, home cast 31141 and a clone that LaserCast provided.  They look identical until you measure them.  So, without an open range to test ammo, I decided to head north to Pemi.  No range time or air rifle this winter, something which became painfully evident today! It was 34F when I left Hopkinton and by the time I got to Ashland, there were cars in the ditch and snow coming down.  As Lanny Bassham says, "I'm the best snow shooter in the world".

I got there early in an effort to help out and learn from those who are already shooting for accuracy.  Let's face it, score shooters are a bit more demanding than Silhouette shooters.  You can't just hit the target, it has to be an X.  Me, I was happy to be on paper!  New bullet, new load, new front sight insert and no bench time....phew!  There was a lot of twisting of knobs in the first few record shots as I got the kinks out.

As it turns out, there were just 3 out of the 12 shooters shooting non Service Rifle firearms.  My New Haven, Conn Marlin 336CB in 30-30.  Skip's Miroku/Winchester Low Wall in 38-55 and another shooter had a Winchester
Model 70 in .308, it looked pre '64 to me.  Double click on the bottom picture and let me know if I am wrong.  The rest of the shooters were military rifles from .30-06 M1903s to current AR15 platform and everything in between.  I am not up on military firearms.  It would seem, just like silhouette, it all depends how seriously you want to pursue the sport.

The good news, my handloads all loaded without pressure on the bolt and they fired. Getting on the 6 3/8" target bull was not an easy feat. I fear I had a lot of pass shooting due to a numb trigger finger and a host of other excuses.  PRACTICE!  I am woefully out of practice and the time spent reloading is of little value if I can't break on the target.  Still, snow shooting is always fun.  Watching the snow melt on the hot barrel and having to blow the snow off the timer is something I will remember at some hot match in August.

I just wish I had taken a picture of the target so I can figure out what I need to work on.

April 26th is around the corner.  Be sure to dust off those reloading presses and get ready for CLA!

Match Results.

Magnums at Pioneer and target damage in general

Recently there has been some dialog around what you can or can't shoot at the Pioneer Silhouette range.  Here we go on the slippery slope which as I researched the material for this post, is not that slippery at all.

The club rules state you cannot use Magnums on the Silhouette range.  Well, that kinds snubs all those who shoot 44 Rem Mag, 357 Magnum and .22 Magnum.  .22 Magnum would be the very easiest on the thick animals and I would rather have those rounds fired at steel than a 45LC.

From the NRA rule book under 3.1.3., 2 a. is states:

Any lever action rifle with a tubular magazine. A rimmed pistol cartridge loaded with a round or flat nosed bullet must be used, i.e. 25-20, 32-20, 38’s, 357 Magnum, 38-40, 44’s, 44-40, 45 Colt, 45 Long Colt, .22 Magnum and .22 long rifle.

It goes on to state in rule 3.1.3 c.

Ammunition may be loaded with smokeless or black powder, using jacketed or cast bullets, with or without gas checks. All bullets must be round or flat nosed suitable for tubular magazine use. Any cartridge causing target damage or deemed unsafe may be banned.

It is all about target and target stand damage.  We just want the club property to last for the other shooters who have followed the request of the match director.

There is no reason to run with ammo that damages the rails and/or animals.  Although popular, I will not allow use of XTP (eXtreme Terminal Performance) bullets.  There are too many other options and these bullets are designed to be explosive on impact on live game, and not intended for steel targets.  Hitting the rail with such force that it knocks down all 10 animals is also a queue that perhaps you have a bit too much flame under that bullet.  I fight hard to keep match fees down with an eye to promoting shooting sports in NH. A $15 match fee to cover target damage would likely discourage new shooters.  As you ready for the 2015 season, develop a load that does not damage targets.  Keep in mind, PSI borrows Purgatory and Pemi steel to host the regional.  I will not return damaged or cratered animals.

If you use factory loads, figure out how to get downloaded ammo.  Factory loads are loaded hot so John Q. public thinks they have "the good stuff".  My 30-30 hand loads using hand cast bullets shot a group at 100y that was half the size of factory jacketed bullets.  You reload to not only save money but also to produce higher quality ammo...that won't damage the targets.