Friday, July 01, 2011

Friday Range - New Shooter

Jeffery came over today. Jeffery is the 11 year-old son of my son's girlfriend. The ladies wanted to do some shopping, so Jeffery was going to hang out with me. We went to the range.

I wanted to chrony some loads, so we put a couple of carbines and revolvers into the truck and headed out. Jeff has been to the range with me and he knows the drill. In short order we had the chrongraph set up and I ran some loads across it, finding just what I expected to find.

I noticed yesterday that I had one standard load that I didn't have chronograph data for, and I wanted to run it over the screens. It's a pretty standard load for the .357 magnum magnum. 14.0 grains of Alliant 2400 and a 158 semi-wadcutter bullet. I cast my bullets from wheelweights, using the Lee TL358158 mold. The load showed a real steady 1207 fps from my 6" Model 28, and a blistering 1710 fps from my Marlin 1894.

After we got through with the chronograph, I let Jeffery have some .38 special loads and posted a 25 yard bullseye target and let him try out the Marlin carbine. With .38 special loads it's very manageable and in just a few minutes he was keeping his shots in the 8-ring. We took an opportunity to talk about things like sight alignment and trigger squeeze Then I handed him a handful of magnums and asked him if he could hit the 100 yard gong. In just a few shots, he was ringing the gong, making it swing.

It's nice to have a shooting partner for a Friday afternoon session.

2 comments:

Skip said...

Good on ya Paw.All new shooters make America a better place just for the smiles alone.
On the 2400 under 158gr, try 13.5.
Out of my 686/4" it works very well.
Muzzle blast is a bit mutch at sundown but pretty acurate.

Gerry N. said...

I remember my insane uncle taking me to shoot at the Seattle Police Athletic Assn. Range when I was about that age. Jeff will remember you and Friday the rest of his life.
Ya done a good thing Paw-Paw.