So today I wanted to shoot a local F-class practice shoot. However, my F/O rig was all torn down to put a new finish on the receiver and I polished my barrel all up to a nice mirror finish!
What to do..... Hmmm... well I had sitting in the closet a project from last year. I took a mosin nagant and put one of those UK-59 machine gun barrels on it, made a big BR stock for it and never really shot it that much other than a couple groups at 100 which were hanging out at 1/2". I didn't have the bullets I wanted to shoot, the sierra .311" 174's I believe, and I had to borrow a scope (bushnell elete) from the smith I work for. I did however have a batch of Norma brass which I got lucky one day and found at Cabelas on sale for like $30 with my cabelas card and it was in the bargin cave. Back to the bullets, I had some Hornady 174gr .3105" FMJ BT's sitting on the shelf....
Well, I figured I could make something work. Picked a load out of the book, used my OAL case I made up and loaded away. I was running those bullets about 2,550fps according to the book so they were being lobbed compaired to my .280 Imp. F/0 rifle.
I showed up late... my fault, but it was a causual type shoot and they squeezed me in. I didn't have time to sight in the rifle, so the range master helped me spot to get me on target.
First shot.... Ahhhh... hit the berm in front of the pit a good bit. We also had a stiff 20 mph wind, so I hit below the target to my left.
Here's where it gets really interesting if you're not already wondering.... what the hell.....
The scope that I was using, the bushnell elete, ran out of elevation. Ok, I thought, I might be able to hold over and work with that. Next obsticle, was that I ran out of windage. This is getting interesting. At this point I was thinking, "OK, I should just stop, save the ammo and not even waste my time". However, just as I was thinking this, I just by chance happend to see where my bullet hit the berm, dumb luck... I know, what are the odds. I was able to figure out where my hold over was and I decieded along with the range master to take one more shot and see if I can pull it off.
So with my cross hairs on the bullseye, on 32 power, I was able to see my hit in the bottom left corner of the scope. Then I held over again to compensate. I found a tree branch that was hanging in there still and let my second shot fly. Target went down... Hit! 7! Holy... #$$@#, I'm on my way.
I've held over before, but I guess I took it to the next level. In the 3 courses of fire shooting at 600, I shot 137 2x, 137 3x, and 128 1x. So, I shot a 402 6X out of 450. We were self scoring, so it was a pain moving my scope back and forth to check my score, but It all worked out. It was definately different holding off a branch vs. holding off the X. I usually try and click my scope in depending on conditions, but It was not even an option here.
I think I might try and actually get this rifle set up so I can aim at the target! I'm intersted to see what it will do when everything is set up the way I want it to be.
It was definately an experience, but it was all fun. At least I got to shoot!
What to do..... Hmmm... well I had sitting in the closet a project from last year. I took a mosin nagant and put one of those UK-59 machine gun barrels on it, made a big BR stock for it and never really shot it that much other than a couple groups at 100 which were hanging out at 1/2". I didn't have the bullets I wanted to shoot, the sierra .311" 174's I believe, and I had to borrow a scope (bushnell elete) from the smith I work for. I did however have a batch of Norma brass which I got lucky one day and found at Cabelas on sale for like $30 with my cabelas card and it was in the bargin cave. Back to the bullets, I had some Hornady 174gr .3105" FMJ BT's sitting on the shelf....
Well, I figured I could make something work. Picked a load out of the book, used my OAL case I made up and loaded away. I was running those bullets about 2,550fps according to the book so they were being lobbed compaired to my .280 Imp. F/0 rifle.
I showed up late... my fault, but it was a causual type shoot and they squeezed me in. I didn't have time to sight in the rifle, so the range master helped me spot to get me on target.
First shot.... Ahhhh... hit the berm in front of the pit a good bit. We also had a stiff 20 mph wind, so I hit below the target to my left.
Here's where it gets really interesting if you're not already wondering.... what the hell.....
The scope that I was using, the bushnell elete, ran out of elevation. Ok, I thought, I might be able to hold over and work with that. Next obsticle, was that I ran out of windage. This is getting interesting. At this point I was thinking, "OK, I should just stop, save the ammo and not even waste my time". However, just as I was thinking this, I just by chance happend to see where my bullet hit the berm, dumb luck... I know, what are the odds. I was able to figure out where my hold over was and I decieded along with the range master to take one more shot and see if I can pull it off.
So with my cross hairs on the bullseye, on 32 power, I was able to see my hit in the bottom left corner of the scope. Then I held over again to compensate. I found a tree branch that was hanging in there still and let my second shot fly. Target went down... Hit! 7! Holy... #$$@#, I'm on my way.
I've held over before, but I guess I took it to the next level. In the 3 courses of fire shooting at 600, I shot 137 2x, 137 3x, and 128 1x. So, I shot a 402 6X out of 450. We were self scoring, so it was a pain moving my scope back and forth to check my score, but It all worked out. It was definately different holding off a branch vs. holding off the X. I usually try and click my scope in depending on conditions, but It was not even an option here.
I think I might try and actually get this rifle set up so I can aim at the target! I'm intersted to see what it will do when everything is set up the way I want it to be.
It was definately an experience, but it was all fun. At least I got to shoot!
