October 10-13, there will be the "56th Annual Indian Summer Black-Powder Rifle & Pistol Shoot." I plan to go, but surely not ready to compete yet. The Men's Pistol Match will have 3 relays, two at 25 yards and one at 50 yards. Total of 25 rounds in 90 minutes. I shot today at 25 yards, so my target below will verify that I'm not near being ready for any competition time! Should be able to do that in 2020.It was another pleasant day at the FOML range with temps in mid 70s and zero wind. I was able to shoot more round balls today compared to my first 2 range visits. I had been shooting 10 rounds, but was having a lot of fun and went to 15 today. And this was in about the same amount of time. (Not going for any speed record; just better know what I'm doing!).
I increased my powder load from 24 grains to 30 grains. That really got the pistol smoking. With no wind, it took several seconds for the air to clear before I could see my target again. I had one "oops" today.
Left my range finder at home, so it was harder to see my POIs. I was able to mark POIs 1-6 on the P-2 target, but couldn't track POIs 7-15 well at all. So nothin' to do but continue shooting, and just have some great fun. Shot off hand, standing. Final POI results were 14/15 round balls in target. Couple of good groups, couple of them flying wide, and had a favorite round dead-on bull! Will hang this target next to my other two range targets, and let them show me how today went. I don't think I'll increase the powder load next time out. Not that 30 grains is the sweet spot; just want to see if I can tighten the group size. The pistol shot well at 30 grains. While mentioning how the Trapper shot, it was an all-around perfect day. No glitches at all with the gun. That was very
.Yup, another side story. One thing I wanted to do was to see if someone would let me at least handle their cap & ball muzzleloader rifle today. I wanted to see what the sight acquisition and sight radius looked like. My hunt worked out, and the fellow to my right had a Lyman 50 CAL cap & ball rifle. I think it had about a 32"-34" barrel length. Very nice-looking gun. Unfortunately, I experienced the same challenge trying to get the sights focused with my tri-focals and head position. The target bull was quite blurred, and it just didn't work out. No different than the Henry rifles I recently let go. At the moment, I don't think a BP rifle is coming down the road my way.
Following are some photos. Same target configuration -- a 20" circle, standard muzzleloader 25-yard pistol target (a P-2). My dis-assembled Trapper pistol right after I gave it a bath. Finally, re-assembled pistol after a Ballistol spruce-up.
A really fun day all around!
I may get to the range on my own before October since I now have key access as a member. But definitely looking to "smoking" again in October at the Indian Summer BP Shoot. Hope you enjoyed my Number Three Blast!
PT7
The Picture Story
- Blast 3_P2 target at 25 yards_3391.JPG (134.13 KiB) Viewed 3302 times
- Blast 3_Clean Trapper_3393.JPG (275.34 KiB) Viewed 3302 times
- Blast 3_Trapper re-assembled_3396.JPG (257.45 KiB) Viewed 3302 times
- Blast 3_Trapper re-assembled_3395.JPG (253.27 KiB) Viewed 3302 times
- Blast 3_Trapper re-assembled_3394.JPG (275.33 KiB) Viewed 3302 times
