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RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Ironramrod - 07-20-2015
Eric, Rdnck is right on the money w/ his copper blade front sight suggestion. It's the best I've seen in a variety of light conditions using barrel sights on targets, and it's equally superb at 1/2 hr. before/after during Moby Buck time.
Regards
IR
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Eric Johanen - 07-21-2015
Thank's RdNk and IR. Have thought about replacing the german silver with a copper blade for some time. Just have not pulled it yet. With the blade smoked and the front of the rear, the sight picture was really very well defined in the bright sun. Just those pesky tiny discs were hard to center up. They sure did not leave a lot for error being only about as wide as the front blade. When I did center things up the group at 220 and 300 looked pretty good. Load worked well and I think more practice is in order. Making large chunks of lead into usable ingots today (need many more bullets)!!
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Eric Johanen - 07-21-2015
Thank's Rdnck and IR. Have thought about replacing the german silver with a copper blade for some time. Just have not pulled it yet. With the blade smoked and the front of the rear, the sight picture was really very well defined in the bright sun. Just those pesky tiny discs were hard to center up. They sure did not leave a lot for error being only about as wide as the front blade. When I did center things up the group at 220 and 300 looked pretty good. Load worked well and I think more practice is in order. Making large chunks of lead into usable ingots today (need many more bullets)!!
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Eric Johanen - 07-28-2015
Second match coming up this Sunday and I'll be shooting the Shiloh Rough Rider in 45-70 with the barrel sights again. Confirmed the accuracy with the BACO 500 grain RN Government bullet yesterday and it really works well. No changes to the load using KIK 2 fg. I shot some of the Money Bullet loads with 67.0 grains of 3 fg Old Eysenford and they shot well. Using the 600 yard reduced center at 200 yards, they grouped in the bottom of the black and some slightly in the white just off at 6 O'clock. Just a matter of watching how much front sight I use. I'll use the 500 grain RN for the 2 and 3 hundred and give the MB a run at 400 and 500. This is fun and I am seeing how well the open barrel sights can work with a little experience. Short line I'll be using the blow tube for fouling control and with the MB I'll wipe. Hope the weather is good and we don not get rained out! I'll post a report after the match.
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Don McDowell - 07-28-2015
Keep us posted Eric. Good stuff you're sharing here.
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Eric Johanen - 08-03-2015
Yesterdays match went well considering the overcast and bright sunlight followed up by a pretty fair rain fall. Wind was from 6 O'clock switching slightly left and right. Now I have a good zero with the semi buckhorn rear and blade front sight for 200, 300 and 400 yards. (Gave it a good try at 500 but with no hits and several close misses I have work to do at 500 and 600 yards). For now it seems that my limit working with these sights is around 400 yards! Kinda of impressed how well they can work at these ranges. Poor nights sleep and very early rise left my offhand looking a little poorly. 1 sighter hit and 1 hit for record in a 5 shot total. 200 yard prone went 3 for 5 with 2 close misses on the middle and middle right target. Discs shot with 1 miss off at 1 and 1 miss at 5. Centered the buffalo head right between the eyes as my last shot/target. 300 yards went 8 for 10 with nice solid hits on those targets. Both misses came on the small middle triangle. Close but no cigars on those two. For these ranges I again used the BACO 500 grain RN with 70 grains of KIK 2 fg and a federal large pistol primer and a primer wad and a .060 poly wad over powder wad. This load will shoot pretty good when seated out exposing the top grease groove and just kissing the rifling. Blow tubed and wiped between stages. For 400 and 500 I used the Sagebrush PJ Money bullet and 1.5 fg OE. Federal large pistol primer and primer wad and again a .060 poly wad over powder wad. This load surprised me by how flat shooting they are. 400 yards I scored 5 for 10. I did have to make a windage change at this range and the misses were close around the targets. With a little more experience I feel that 400 is very doable with these sights.. Sight setting was just a whisker under the 400 yard mark on the sight ladder. With the 500 yard setting on the sights I was over the target bank by quite a bit. Working the slider down I finally got some impacts around the targets with a setting just a whisker above the 450 yard point. Flat shooting indeed! I still must admit that I like Creedmoor shooting more, but these steel matches are really fun and can teach one a lot about shooting with open sights. I will keep at and see how my skill range improves with more experience. The shooter's are really great fun and the relaxed atmosphere is a joy for pulling triggers. Now I have to clean the brass and get them reloaded for more practice for the next steel match!
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Don McDowell - 08-03-2015
Eric, thanks for the report. It's really good to follow you thru the progression with the irons, and hopefully it's an inspiration for others to give it a try.
Keep those reports coming please.
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Lumpy Grits - 08-03-2015
Eric-THX for the detail and time it took for you to post this report
I for one, think you did very well
Gary
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Eric Johanen - 08-04-2015
Thank's for the encouragement Don and LG. Sight picture with the open irons is really pretty good and they work surprising well at ranges to 400 yards. Even the fellows with front globe/ tang sights had some trouble with the smaller targets. (small diamond at 300 and a flat topped triangle for a middle target at 500) On the 400 yard turkey targets I got 3 good body hits with my 1 miss impacting just above the dip in the neck. Should have flinched a bit right and would have had another solid body hit. I have been lucky in these first 2 matches with a slight winds shifting a bit from the 6 O'clock position so I have not needed to use large amounts of Kentucky Windage. Have had enough space between the ears to wiggle left and right to allow for close to center holds and this has definitely been a benefit. Next steel match I can attend is around middle of September so I have time to practice. I'll see if I can improve on my hit percentage.
RE: Experimental sights/experimental ammunition and gongs - Eric Johanen - 09-21-2015
Shot our last area steel match of the season yesterday. I went with my 45 70 Shiloh Rough Rider and the target sights. I tried out a pin head front inside the globe and used the Sagebrush PJ Money Bullet with fire formed Winchester brass, 67.0 grains by weight of OE 3 fg. .060 poly wad and the bullet seated to the first ,454 diameter band. These chamber easily and come up to the beginning of the rifling. First time I've run them at more than 200 yards. This poor blind soul did not find many acorn's yesterday! I did learn a few things. Forgot my comb riser and that made 400 and 500 yards difficult with no support and the shooting results showed it. Put it on the check list, start a check list!! The pin head sight picture was very clean but I did not use it properly. On different sized irregular targets I should have changed elevation on the sights rather than try line of white holds. On the smaller ones I had a bunch of shot overs. Brain was not engaged or I would have tried this prior to the end of the match. The load seemed to shoot well as I was on call for the 400 and 500 yard targets, I just called close misses. Well, that's where the impacts were! Called hits were right down the middle and my spotter called out several center hit's. I suppose if I took these matches seriously, I'd just shoot 1 rifle and 1 load, but it so much fun the shoot them all and try different loads at range that I probably will continue experimenting. Come up's were interesting: 200 yard zero at 44 up, for 300 yards I needed +14 for 58 up, 400 yards called for +13 and 71 up and 500 used 82 up for a +11 That bullet with OE 3 fg shot pretty flat out to 500 yards. Based on the results from this match and on the SR target, I'll use it again. Little, soft fouling in the barrel and I used 1 damp and 1 dry patch between shots. Took three damp patches to clean at the end of the match. When I got home I finished the cleaning with several more damp patches and two dry before a patch with Slip 2000. There were just the slightest flecks of lead on those damp patches so I am wondering if the Sagebrush lube is doing its job. Next time I'll remove it and test it with my own lube and DGL and see if it still leaves lead flecks. These gong matches provided a lot of fun and a good testing venue for load development and It's really nice when one can hear a hit and know the shot was on call. Until the snow shuts me down, I'll be shooting and testing loads at 200 on my local range. So much to try and learn about these rifles. Have to get ready for the next season!