Cast Bullet Wednesday

As soon as I finished the post below, I threw my range box into the truck and headed for the range. It was a quiet day out there, and I walked into the office and saw the Captain, told him I wanted to hang a red flag and go shoot. He was okay with that.

As I drove over to the firing line, I saw another deputy, one of our reservists, drive up behind me. I've worked with the guy several times and he wanted to shoot his Winchester Featherweight in .308.

Beautiful day to be on the range. Temps were in the high 90s with a RealFeel temp of 109. Slight breeze from the south. Hotter than a whatchacallit out there. I was glad I had packed an ice chest with bottled water.

Here's a better picture than the one from earlier this week. This photo was taken with my Canon SLR and it's much clearer than the last one I posted.

First, I wanted to work with the trigger on my SW MP45. I haven't completely learned that trigger yet, so I hung a bullseye target on the 25 yard pistol range and shot a few magazines. Slowly. Ammo was my standar cast bullet .45 ACP load. Shots were all over the paper and I concentrated on sight alignment and trigger squeeze. The MP45 pistol has some loyal adherents, but I'm one of those guys who grew up on revolvers and 1911s. I can't get used to the crunchenticker trigger on the plastic fantastic. Slowly, I worked the trigger, trying to find the reset and noticed that my groups were starting to shrink. On the fourth or fifth magazine I noticed that my groups were starting to tighten and the shots were landing in the 4 inch black bull. Wonderful. I shot another magazine and put the pistol away. Enough work for one day.

Then I went to the truck and took out the Winchester 94 and my cast bullet loads. Sat down at a bench and surprised myself when I rang the 100 yard gong on the first shot. It's been a long time since I used iron sights and the front bead on that rifle subtends six inches at 100 yards. I had the deputy spot for me and fired another round, rang it again. He told me that I was striking the gong on the left side of the plate, good for elevation. Adjusted the sights and in just a few more minutes, I was hitting it near the center of the plate. Walking down to the target to check the other deputy's grouping, I noticed that my shots were hitting the gong near the center in a 4" group. Not bad at all for iron sights and a rifle I haven't shot in a year or longer.

After getting the sights adjusted I took a bead on the 200 yard gong and rang it. Fired again and missed. Fired again and heard the bullet strike. Fired again and missed. 200 yards is a long way when the front bead hides the whole target. Still, I'm confident that at 100 yards I can hit a 9" plate, which is minute of deer. The energy on that particular load isn't sufficient for much more than that, so I'll limit shots at game to 100 yards.

I shot nothing but cast bullets and iron sights today and I feel better than I've felt in a while. I may have to take Milady to supper later to celebrate.