Quick little steel match

[Eric Johanen]

Shot a steel match yesterday with my 50-70 Shiloh 74 Military Rifle. 4 sighter's and 5 offhand for record on Ram 's and 10 for record on Chicken's from rest @ 200 yards. Light rain and head wind, visability good but not perfect, fired under a covered line so we managed to stay dry. 2 sighters from rest on Ram's resulted in tight heart/lung shots. Started my string on the Chicken's and managed 4/10. Very close misses. Front sight is just as wide as the Chicken's at 200 so a very little alignment error resulted in a close miss. ( since I am the only one shooting open barrel sights I lobbied for a Turkey target for me next time?) Bit larger target would make centering up easier. I had 1 Ram offhand. I found sight picture a bit difficult offhand. I was bringing up more blade than from the rest and the first 3 shots resulted in centered but over the back. 4th shot not enough blade just under the belly. Last shot I got it right and made a very nice heart shot. practice needed on the offhand! Great fun! Load used was: fire- formed necksized OS Dixie brass with CCI BR2 primers. 73.0 grains of OE 1.5 and a .060 vegi fiber card compressed to seat the Accurate Molds 51-465S bullet to the bottom of the 1'st band. (This load is really a good shooter!!). Wiped with 1 damp and 1 dry between shots. From a rest I could have pounded the heart/lung zone all day long. Next time I'll run the BACO 511-500 FN bullet and 70.0 grain load of KIK 2 fg that also shoots really well. Nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon!