MSRC SSAA National Lever Action Silhouette Championships

[groundhog]

this is a interesting shooting class guys. in your experience does 357 have enough pop for this class of shooting ?

Hi bigrich

The .357 can be used fairly successfully for both rifle and pistol classes in CLAS. Your pistol load out to 100m can be practically anything, personally if I use my .357 I run 120grain Cast in front of 7.2gns or AP-70N. This load will also work for the rifle match out to the 150m turkeys but it will simply ring the rams for them you need to step up to a heavier pill, 180 grain cast are popular with those who use them for rifle - just watch for keyholing.

[groundhog]

[attachment=0

I have a set of half-size silhouette's now, one of each, but not sure I'll be able to start practicing until my left arm and ribs feel a bit better. My last practice on the one-fifth size rimfire targets I fired ten rounds at each and scored one hit on each

Not a bad set of targets there bladeracer except for a small issue with your chicken and turkey. The feet have been welded on in the wrong spot. I have attached the image for where the feet are supposed to go.

Target Weld.JPG (29.33 KiB) Viewed 9813 times

[bladeracer]

I have a set of half-size silhouette's now, one of each...

If anybody is interested I paid A$320 delivered from the US for the set.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-2sc-IHMSA-NRA-Metallic-Silhouette-Targets-4pc-AR500-Steel-Rifle-Knock-overs/261052417780
Took eighteen days despite being Christmas.

[bladeracer]

Not a bad set of targets there bladeracer except for a small issue with your chicken and turkey. The feet have been welded on in the wrong spot. I have attached the image for where the feet are supposed to go.

Target Weld.JPG

Thanks Groundhog
I don't expect it to make much difference with 240gn bullets but I might take a few minutes to cut and weld them to suit.

Most of my practice is at tracings of the silhouettes on paper so I can recover the bullets. I really just need these to confirm knock-down levels.

[bladeracer]

I just went and had a practice at these half-size targets, except I shot the pig at 60m not 50m.
So much easier after practicing on the one-fifth scale targets!
I fired fifteen at each target at 40m, 60m, 75m and thirty rounds at 100m getting 8, 6, 5 and 17 hits.
Then I fired fifteen at 100m off the bench to see where they're hitting. Holding about half his height over the ram's back puts the bullets into his left half. I aimed at the feet of the chicken and dead on the pig and turkey.
Then I fired a group of ten off the bench just to see how I'm grouping with the peep sight and dropped them into about a six-inch circle at 105m.

The body is still a bit tender for shooting the .44 I think so I'll just play with the .22 for a while.

I think I'll have to make a smaller aperture for the rear sight and possibly a new front sight and ramp. The ramp encroaches into the sight picture which I think detracts from accuracy. I still need to organise a peep for the Marlin.

[bladeracer]

Put another 165rds on (mostly around) these steels this arvo.
I think the pig must be shot at 60m, 50m is too easy.
I tried some Golden Bullets first on the ram at 40m just for giggles. It took four to realise they were shooting quite high and then eleven hits in a row to empty the mag.
Then I burned a box of Highland Target on the chicken at 40m for 29 hits out of 50rds - I still don't know exactly where they zero. The hollow point tends to catch entering the chamber so they're not much fun in the lever.
Then 30rds of CCI SV on the pig at 50m for 25 hits - too easy I think.
Then 45rds on the Turkey at 75m for 16 hits. This is definitely the hardest as it's completely hidden behind the front sight blade.
And I finished off with 40rds on the ram at 100m as this one requires a hold over - 19 hits although I seemed to fall into a rut midway through that made me think the sights must've moved. I think it was just me though

I had an idea that maybe I could use high-velocity ammo for the ram to avoid having to hold over. It's going to take some testing to see if that's feasible.

Pretty good fun all round

[Gamerancher]

The pig is always thought to be the "easiest" target. The correct distance is 50m for the 1/2 sized targets used in small-bore and pistol caliber.
When practicing, it is good to get into the habit of following match rules. Only load 5 rounds. Fire them in the 2 minute time allowed. Stand down, have a break. Then repeat. It is not much use practicing by firing off a whole magazine full at a time, it just creates bad habits. Slow down and take each shot with care and as if it is the only shot you get, make it count. This will develop good habits. Concentrate on sight picture and trigger control, improving on these two things alone do much to increase your ability to hit targets.

[bladeracer]

The pig is always thought to be the "easiest" target. The correct distance is 50m for the 1/2 sized targets used in small-bore and pistol caliber.
When practicing, it is good to get into the habit of following match rules. Only load 5 rounds. Fire them in the 2 minute time allowed. Stand down, have a break. Then repeat. It is not much use practicing by firing off a whole magazine full at a time, it just creates bad habits. Slow down and take each shot with care and as if it is the only shot you get, make it count. This will develop good habits. Concentrate on sight picture and trigger control, improving on these two things alone do much to increase your ability to hit targets.

Wow, I think I'll be hitting the pig 100% pretty soon then
Only five rounds in the tube? I thought these things were shot in strings of ten.
And in two minutes?
That's at least an hour to fire 150rds.
All I'm doing is walking out and shooting two or three 15rd tubes from each firing point, only takes fifteen minutes to have a practice so I hope I can manage it at least once every day.

I'm concentrating on the sight picture primarily but I need to improve the sights. Even off the bench at 100m I'm only making roughly 150mm groups. With the scope the rifle is capable of pretty consistent 40mm groups at 50m and 100mm groups at 100m so I'm sure I can tighten it up a bit more with the peep sight. The front sight is sort of "furry" and too big I think, it completely conceals the turkey. And it is mounted on a ramp which intrudes into the aperture so my sight picture is flattened off across the bottom. I'm going to reduce the aperture first and if that doesn't help I'll have to make a new front sight or modify the ramp.

My breathing and trigger control have improved the most I think and I try to call every shot at the break. If I can fire when the sight post is in the right spot I'm fairly sure it'll be a hit. The trigger is not great but it's not bad. Pretty good feel and a reasonably crisp break, though quite heavy. I stripped the rifle to clean all the junk out of the action and all the parts are very poorly finished, even where they move against each other. I think I need to do some polishing and clean up all the flash and dags.

I intended to use Eley Edge for the actual comp but the CCI SV is accurate enough for practicing. The Eley will tighten up the groups as well. I want to try some supersonic stuff to see if I can find something that hits point of aim at 100m but still lets me shoot the subsonic CCI SV and Eley at 40m, 50m and 75m to point of aim.

[bladeracer]

Another hundred rounds just now in heavy wind.
40m 12/30
50m 7/10
75m 9/30
100m 12/30

The turkey is by far the toughest!

It takes me a few shots to get my eye in on the chicken which skews the score a bit, I'll start on different ranges to even it out. I'm also wearing a very tightly-buckled plate carrier to support my ribs which may be a plus or a minus - I can't tell

It also occurred to me that a neat tweak would be allowing the shooter to choose which target goes at which range.
Put the ram at 40m and get 10/10 on that and then have to try not to fall apart on the chicken at 100m

If I can shoot a minimum 100rds every day until May that should hold me in good stead I think!

[Gamerancher]

Targets are shot in banks of 5. 2 banks for your 10. In CLAS you will be called to the line, where you bring your rifle etc up to your position and put it down, no further handling of firearms. You will then get a 30 sec "ready" call, you may now load 5 rounds, adjust your sights etc. A "fire" command will be given and you have 2 minutes to fire your five shots. A "cease-fire" command will then be given, you clear your action and place you gun down on the bench. A second set of the same commands then follows for your next bank of 5 targets. All up you will be on the line for about 6 minutes per 10 "animals". Depending on the number of shooters and banks of targets, there will be a number of "details" to get all of the shooters through the match. You won't necessarily start at chickens, each shooter is allocated a starting position/ animal so that all positions are filled. You will rotate through the positions / animals throughout the day so that at the end you will have completed the full match / matches. (40 or 80 shots )
At large events such as the Nationals, there can be 4 or more details, so you spend some time away from the line. Most folks will spot for at least one other shooter so you may be on the line at least 16 times a day. With target resetting plus shooting time it makes for a long day to get everyone through. Even though it doesn't sound like much shooting, trust me, after an 80 shot match, you will be tired. It is very hard work to stand still for 80 shots.

[bladeracer]

I traced out some paper silhouettes to see where my groups are hitting but it occurred to me that that'll probably change depending on which way the silhouettes are facing?
I found some video online of Aussie silhouette and it appears to be five facing right and five facing left.

These were all aimed dead on centre mass as I wanted to see elevation and windage so I can make a sight adjustment to suit.
Quite a useful practice I think.
I'll cut out some more tonight including the ram. Two of each facing in opposite directions to see how the shape affects my point of aim.Today's effort on the steels were 6/15 on the chicken, 12/15 on the pig, 9/30 on the turkey and 18/45 on the ram.

The Norinco really started playing up this time. Of 150rds I think about a dozen fell off the loading ramp and one was even ejected along with the empty case. About forty cases failed to eject preferring to stay in the action. And about five cases failed to extract fully. At 1235rds I think it's time to give it a thorough clean

[Gamerancher]

Yep, 5 each way is the usual way it is done. If you are having trouble with the front sight covering the animal, adjust for a lower hold. Say, aim the leg of the turkey and have the bullet printing centre mass. In pistol silhouette matches it is usual to hold "rail" with the target "standing" on the front post. Or, you could try a smaller post/bead if your eyesight is good enough.
Above all, it is best practice to get your sight settings off-hand. How your rifle shoots off a bench is not a good indication of how it will off-hand.
Your above groups also show a left of centre bias, that could be sight adjustment or a natural tendency of your follow through.

[bladeracer]

Yep, 5 each way is the usual way it is done. If you are having trouble with the front sight covering the animal, adjust for a lower hold. Say, aim the leg of the turkey and have the bullet printing centre mass. In pistol silhouette matches it is usual to hold "rail" with the target "standing" on the front post. Or, you could try a smaller post/bead if your eyesight is good enough.
Above all, it is best practice to get your sight settings off-hand. How your rifle shoots off a bench is not a good indication of how it will off-hand.
Your above groups also show a left of centre bias, that could be sight adjustment or a natural tendency of your follow through.

That is a good idea, a six-o'clock hold on the 40/50/75m might even give me a dead-on hold at 100m. I'll play around with that...when I fix the rifle
Yes, those are my offhand sight settings, that's why I shot them. Now I can re-zero to that rather than my original rough bench zero. I've also ordered a new front ramp and a taller, narrow sight as well as a couple of smaller rear apertures. For the Marlin I can't decide between the "ace in the hole" (peep built into the rear of a pic rail) or the FP336 receiver sight. I'll probably end up getting both to decide the matter.

I stripped it completely last night and found the problem. The secondary (LHS) extractor was pushed back into the bolt which allows the rounds to fall off the bolt face during feeding, gives only partial extraction, and without a tight grip on the rim gives poor ejection. It's just a piece of spring steel in a groove in the bolt. I'm going to try to order a new one now.

I also examined the trigger/hammer connection and am surprised how poorly it is finished considering the trigger doesn't feel too bad. One corner is chipped off the side of the hammer but isn't shiny so I think it was just finished that way. I gave the faces a light stoning to smooth and mate them without removing any metal. But while installing the mainspring I managed to shoot the guide rod over my shoulder...into the depths of my office. Going to be fun finding that! I'll order a new one of those as well just to be safe

The hammer and the lever both have some side play that I'm thinking should be shimmed out. And it amazes me how much debris winds up in the action, even decent lumps of lead shaved off bullets on the sharp edges of the chamber.

I guess I'll be practicing with the .44 now until I sort the .22

[bladeracer]

I guess I'll be practicing with the .44 now until I sort the .22

The .44 wasn't a good idea yesterday
Didn't feel too bad at the time but damn I was sore afterwards. Got no sleep and am hardly moving around at all today. Think I'm going to have to get the ribs xrayed and see what's going on in there.

[Gamerancher]

Unfortunately, time, is all that will heal broken ribs, unless it involves torn cartilage, then it never really heals, trust me I know.

[bladeracer]

Unfortunately, time, is all that will heal broken ribs, unless it involves torn cartilage, then it never really heals, trust me I know.

Yep, I've done lots of ribs
I've known racers get them plated so they can race again a few days later, but they still hurt.
I did all my ribs on the left side in '04. I managed to do a track day at Phillip Island a few months later but it was three years before I felt they were strong enough for racing again. They still hurt now.

My local says he should be able to get Norinco parts without any trouble.
I took the Ruger Compact out yesterday instead. I shot some groups at 100m with CCI SV and CCI Suppressor. Despite really blustery winds both put 20rds into 75mm off the bench which was impressive. Both groups had more than 50% in 60mm. The 970fps 45gn bullet fell 20mm to the left of the 1070fps 40gn, but that might've just been the wind conditions on the slower, heavier bullet. Then I shot 10rd at steel off the bipod at 75m, 50m and 40m with the Suppressor which dropped them 30mm high at 75m and 70mm high at 40m and 50m.

Then I pulled the scope off and flipped up the rear sight - which I don't think I've ever used.
I assumed it was zeroed at 50m and went for it
With CCI SV it seemed to be about 50mm high at 40m and 50m, about right at 75m and about 120mm low at 100m, but gave me about 40% hits on all. Very impressed with that and now considering getting a peep for this one too. I think the pistol grip helps a lot shooting offhand.

[bladeracer]

I forgot to take the scope with me and it was getting dark so I didn't go back for it.
I shot some Velocitor and some CCI Quiet RN.
The Quiet is okay to 40m but doesn't have the accuracy for anything further - even the pig only gave 4/10 hits at 50m. At 50m it drops about 120mm from the CCI SV.
The Velocitor I shot at 100m but between the wind and the dusk I couldn't really get a reliable group. It seemed to drop about 40mm from the CCI SV at 100m which is odd.
Still running about 75% hits on the pig and 30% on the rest with the .22, even with the Ruger.

[Gamerancher]

For small-bore lever gun targets, ammo that has a 40gr bullet @ 1100 - 1200f/s M.V seems to work best on rams. They can sometimes be hard to knock down, especially if someone has set them incorrectly or there is a breeze from behind them. Even a wet rail from rain can make them harder to knock over.
Have you tried any Federal Auto-match? A lot of us have gotten good results with it.
Have you and your brother given any thought to coming to the Early Australia Day silhouette at Majura 19,20,21 January?
Scoped match, air rifle on Friday, .22 on Saturday and centre-fire Sunday.
I suppose with your ribs it might be a bit of an ask to travel up and compete. See if your brother can make it, even if just to have a look.

[bladeracer]

For small-bore lever gun targets, ammo that has a 40gr bullet @ 1100 - 1200f/s M.V seems to work best on rams. They can sometimes be hard to knock down, especially if someone has set them incorrectly or there is a breeze from behind them. Even a wet rail from rain can make them harder to knock over.
Have you tried any Federal Auto-match? A lot of us have gotten good results with it.
Have you and your brother given any thought to coming to the Early Australia Day silhouette at Majura 19,20,21 January?
Scoped match, air rifle on Friday, .22 on Saturday and centre-fire Sunday.
I suppose with your ribs it might be a bit of an ask to travel up and compete. See if your brother can make it, even if just to have a look.

So far I haven't been concerned about knocking them over (although the .44 does that with vigor!). I figure I can't knock over what I can't hit, so I'm concentrating on getting the hits for now

Federal Auto Match is not one I tested so I'm guessing it's not very common. I just rang my local and he doesn't show it as available from NIOA, but he's going to call them and try to get me a box to try.

The CCI SV makes about 70ft/lb of energy at 100m, the Velocitor makes 100ft/lb.
40% more energy has got to help surely. I note that the rules disallow "hyper-velocity" rimfire ammo - any idea how they define that? Technically it means over 10,000fps which seems unlikely

We hadn't thought about it much but I've reminded him and he might be up for a look, not me though, at least it doesn't look possible right now.
I'm staying ahead of my minimum 100rds per day practice on the silhouettes and have an FP336 peep sight coming next week for the Marlin.

[bladeracer]

Well, I decided to take the old 1950 BSA Sportsman 5 out for today's practice - wow!
A fairly wide V-notch but a very fine front blade make for a great sight picture - I could still see the edge of the turkey on both sides of the blade. The trigger is possibly not quite as good as the Ruger but is certainly better than the Norinco. If I put a rear aperture on this I'd probably hit everything I aimed it at
Holding on the bottom edge of the pig's and chicken's bellies puts the bullets on them nicely. Dead-on hold on the Turkey but I had to hold below the feet on the ram with the CCI SV. So I tried Highland Target which is high-velocity, and they gave me hits on the ram with a dead-on hold. I've already tried the Target in the Norinco but they don't cycle at all.
9/10 chicken
19/20 pig
24/35 turkey
30/40 ram
On both the turkey and ram I shot at least one 5rd mag with no misses.
Today's effort is going to be an uphill climb for the Norinco to match I think

[Strikey]

For small-bore lever gun targets, ammo that has a 40gr bullet @ 1100 - 1200f/s M.V seems to work best on rams. They can sometimes be hard to knock down, especially if someone has set them incorrectly or there is a breeze from behind them. Even a wet rail from rain can make them harder to knock over.
Have you tried any Federal Auto-match? A lot of us have gotten good results with it.
Have you and your brother given any thought to coming to the Early Australia Day silhouette at Majura 19,20,21 January?
Scoped match, air rifle on Friday, .22 on Saturday and centre-fire Sunday.
I suppose with your ribs it might be a bit of an ask to travel up and compete. See if your brother can make it, even if just to have a look.

So far I haven't been concerned about knocking them over (although the .44 does that with vigor!). I figure I can't knock over what I can't hit, so I'm concentrating on getting the hits for now

Federal Auto Match is not one I tested so I'm guessing it's not very common. I just rang my local and he doesn't show it as available from NIOA, but he's going to call them and try to get me a box to try.

The CCI SV makes about 70ft/lb of energy at 100m, the Velocitor makes 100ft/lb.
40% more energy has got to help surely. I note that the rules disallow "hyper-velocity" rimfire ammo - any idea how they define that? Technically it means over 10,000fps which seems unlikely

We hadn't thought about it much but I've reminded him and he might be up for a look, not me though, at least it doesn't look possible right now.
I'm staying ahead of my minimum 100rds per day practice on the silhouettes and have an FP336 peep sight coming next week for the Marlin.

The rules disallow hyper velocity ammo such as CCI Stingers, more chance of ricochets and target damage other than that anyone using it will only handicap themselves as it generally isn't very accurate past 50m.
I have been following this post with interest and I am glad you are practicing lever action silhouette with some vigour but am a bit concerned about the method, if I can offer one piece of advice I recommend you get along to a properly run silhouette match to get a good grasp of it, Gamerancher has suggested going up to Canberra in a couple of weeks, the Early Australia Day shoot is possibly the most well attended event in the country and is a bloody enjoyable weekend

[Gamerancher]

"Hyper Velocity" is basically .22LR ammo that is above 1400f/s M.V.
Stingers , Yellow Jacket, Vipers, etc are all considered "Hyper" velocity and not allowed. If your Velocitor ammo is above 1400 f/s I'd be looking to use something else.

Sight picture is paramount in this game, "you can't hit what you can't see", really does apply.

[bladeracer]

The rules disallow hyper velocity ammo such as CCI Stingers, more chance of ricochets and target damage other than that anyone using it will only handicap themselves as it generally isn't very accurate past 50m.
I have been following this post with interest and I am glad you are practicing lever action silhouette with some vigour but am a bit concerned about the method, if I can offer one piece of advice I recommend you get along to a properly run silhouette match to get a good grasp of it, Gamerancher has suggested going up to Canberra in a couple of weeks, the Early Australia Day shoot is possibly the most well attended event in the country and is a bloody enjoyable weekend

Thanks Strikey
Can you elucidate on my methodology at all?
For now I'm concentrating on improving my offhand abilities with iron sights rather than practicing for a specific match. The silhouettes merely add some novelty value over shooting at the usual circular targets. The national championship is merely giving me a time goal, although I do intend to shoot the comp if at all possible.
I'm not going to get to this Canberra match as Rose is taking her mum up to Bendigo leaving me here to watch the cows. My brother though is going to try to get along for a look.
I've never been one to compete in anything for medals, even motorcycle racing I was only ever trying to beat myself and become a better rider than I was the day before.

[bladeracer]

"Hyper Velocity" is basically .22LR ammo that is above 1400f/s M.V.
Stingers , Yellow Jacket, Vipers, etc are all considered "Hyper" velocity and not allowed. If your Velocitor ammo is above 1400 f/s I'd be looking to use something else.

Sight picture is paramount in this game, "you can't hit what you can't see", really does apply.

Thanks Gamerancher, that does rule out the Velocitor.
I'm going to take a file to the Norinco's front sight for sure

[Strikey]

The rules disallow hyper velocity ammo such as CCI Stingers, more chance of ricochets and target damage other than that anyone using it will only handicap themselves as it generally isn't very accurate past 50m.
I have been following this post with interest and I am glad you are practicing lever action silhouette with some vigour but am a bit concerned about the method, if I can offer one piece of advice I recommend you get along to a properly run silhouette match to get a good grasp of it, Gamerancher has suggested going up to Canberra in a couple of weeks, the Early Australia Day shoot is possibly the most well attended event in the country and is a bloody enjoyable weekend

Thanks Strikey
Can you elucidate on my methodology at all?
For now I'm concentrating on improving my offhand abilities with iron sights rather than practicing for a specific match. The silhouettes merely add some novelty value over shooting at the usual circular targets. The national championship is merely giving me a time goal, although I do intend to shoot the comp if at all possible.
I'm not going to get to this Canberra match as Rose is taking her mum up to Bendigo leaving me here to watch the cows. My brother though is going to try to get along for a look.
I've never been one to compete in anything for medals, even motorcycle racing I was only ever trying to beat myself and become a better rider than I was the day before.

Bladeracer, hope you didn't take offence, when I started silhouette many years ago I too just went out and practiced "randomly" but silhouette is for want of a better term a team sport, the shooter relies on his/her spotter to call your shot, trying to concentrate on your target with others shooting in close proximity while not burning up your time to get the five shots away is a challenge, if conditions are windy, raining etc or your rifle/ammo has a malfunction than that 2mins ( CLAS ) or 2 1/2mins ( RMS) suddenly becomes very short, can be a bit daunting for new shooters.
Gamerancher's comment about sight picture is very useful for silhouette, with rimfire follow through is the key, the high velocity rimfire ammo causes too much muzzle flip so you lose your sight picture to reference where your spotter tells you the shot went.
I like your attitude not being concerned with medals or placing, I stopped looking at the scoreboard years ago and only compete against myself at least trying to equal or better my last score, I look at the scores at the end of an event and it is what it is, far better to just enjoy the shooting although silhouette can be bloody frustrating but addictive and the sport has given me some very good friends

[bladeracer]

Bladeracer, hope you didn't take offence, when I started silhouette many years ago I too just went out and practiced "randomly" but silhouette is for want of a better term a team sport, the shooter relies on his/her spotter to call your shot, trying to concentrate on your target with others shooting in close proximity while not burning up your time to get the five shots away is a challenge, if conditions are windy, raining etc or your rifle/ammo has a malfunction than that 2mins ( CLAS ) or 2 1/2mins ( RMS) suddenly becomes very short, can be a bit daunting for new shooters.
Gamerancher's comment about sight picture is very useful for silhouette, with rimfire follow through is the key, the high velocity rimfire ammo causes too much muzzle flip so you lose your sight picture to reference where your spotter tells you the shot went.
I like your attitude not being concerned with medals or placing, I stopped looking at the scoreboard years ago and only compete against myself at least trying to equal or better my last score, I look at the scores at the end of an event and it is what it is, far better to just enjoy the shooting although silhouette can be bloody frustrating but addictive and the sport has given me some very good friends

Nope, no offence at all, just genuine interest
I wasn't aware of the spotters. I hate spotters in practical shooting sports, like IPSC. Knowing what your bullet is doing should be a critical part of the sport, not left for somebody else to tell you the target is down so you can engage the next one.
My interest in any shooting competition is to simply improve my skills for the real world. Competition adds novelty value that makes practice and learning more interesting and enjoyable.
Most of my practicing is done at paper cut outs of the steels so I can monitor where my misses are going, although I can't see them until I walk up to the butt afterwards.

I'm trying to get the Norinco going using bungy cord while I'm waiting for a new mainspring guide rod

[bladeracer]

Well, I "fixed" the Norinco so that's back in action finally
No stoppages either. Maybe it runs better without the mainspring
Only shot 75rds tonight as it was getting too dark to see the targets, and it's raining.
10/15 on the chicken
9/15 on the pig
5/15 on the turkey (it really was quite dark at this stage though)
3/10 on the ram (very dark and wet now)

[bladeracer]

Today's effort.
Fifteen rounds on each target facing both directions except for the ram. I put 50rds on the ram to finish.
Pretty happy with how I'm going.
I need to concentrate more on aiming at the centre of mass which I think will be easier when I have a rear sight I can adjust for a dead-on hold at each range, although I think a six-o'clock hold might have value.
The sights are still putting me a little to the right but I'm still focused more on the size of my group rather than its placement over the target. Once I tighten the groups up significantly then I can start working on group placement.
The ram still confuses me. The head is a lot of real estate to ignore, and it's higher making knock down easier. But the body is so much bigger and more symmetrical. If I can get my 100m group down to 100mm then I can probably aim at the head, until then I think I'll have to focus on the oval of the body and ignore the head completely.
For the turkey I need to ignore the head as well. Including it in the "mass" draws my group up into a bunch of misses instead of keeping them clustered in the body.

Chicken 50%
Pig 70%
Turkey 30%
Ram 40%

All this talk of ammunition limits led me to set myself a challenge to shoot at least 100rds every day, and so far I'm staying on track. I had xrays today as my ribs are not improving at all, and got some strong pain relief so hopefully I'll sleep much better tonight.

[bladeracer]

I filed the Norinco's front sight from a 0.070" rectangle to a 0.040" taper. I also tapered it forward on the top and sides so any light hitting those faces couldn't affect my picture. Results were decent with 50% on the chicken and pig, 40% on the turkey. But I only managed 20% hits on the ram as it was too dark to make out the white target against the tan board.

I've got a 7/32"-40tpi die coming so I can make some apertures next week. And the FP336 peep arrived yesterday for the Marlin. I made the mistake of mounting it immediately, forgetting I'd just loaded test rounds with six different bullets. The scope would be preferable for load development.
I shot all jacketed bullets first to avoid them being affected by lead in the bore. I loaded them all on 8gn of Trailboss to keep them just subsonic - I wasn't wearing ears.

180120183165.jpg (587.05 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

The 265gn FTX didnt shoot well last time and I didn't expect it to do any better this time, so I used those to put the sight on paper at 25m. From a seated position the first went wide of the target to the left, so I adjusted the sight then put the next four into a 120mm group...at 25m. These are also too long to cycle through the tube even with 20% compression of the powder.

180120183167 b.jpg (966.75 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

Next the Nolser 240gn JHP put five into a 50mm group at 50m resting across a front bag on a chair - very nice.

180120183171 b.jpg (999.76 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

The 180gn XTP put five into a group 75mm wide but 200mm high - they might be worth testing again. These had a crack to them so I think they went supersonic.

180120183172 b.jpg (984.54 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

240gn Berry's HP Copper Plated went into a 120mm group.

180120183175 b.jpg (994.14 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

240gn Berry's Keith-style hard-cast went into a group 130mm high but only 50mm wide - worth more testing.

180120183177 b.jpg (1015.81 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

232gn CBE cast RN (3 parts 7-1/2 shot to 1 part 60/40 solder) sized to .432", checked, and painted with Alox went into about a 130mm group. I fired one round at the wrong target.

180120183179 b.jpg (848.57 KiB) Viewed 9267 times

[bladeracer]

I started getting some light strikes in the Norinco and had to tighten up the rubber band mainspring

I also had a major stoppage in the Marlin. The first round did not fully exit the tube. The bullet stayed in the tube, the case on the lifter and the action fully open and jammed solid. It took me fifteen minutes with a multitool and block of wood to eventually punch the round loose. This was the first of the cast RN's and I fired it at the wrong target in disgust