Sunday's fun

[Noisydad]

My Pedersoli Sharps

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I'm playing in Sunday's mid range gong shoot with my Sharps .40-65. We start at 200 yards with the chicken, 300 yard turkey, 400 yard ram, 500 yard small buffalo and the 600 big buff. Ten shots at each. There will rifles in .38-55; .40-65; .45-70; .45-110 with Sharps, Borchardt Sharps falling blocks, Remington rolling blocks, and Winchester high walls. Feel like a kid on Christmas Eve!

[North East]

Classic guns...I like that.

[brett1868]

It amazes me just how accurate the old school black powder rifles can be, so many modern tacticool rifles struggle to match. As soon as I get back from Fji in May I'm going to have a very serious look at the black powder scene. Look out Noisydad as I'll be hitting you up for information and tips Enjoy the day and keep us informed of how it went, I'll be cursing you under my breath while I'm working tomorrow.

[wrenchman]

wood and steel i love them older guns

[Noisydad]

For me, one of the biggest attractions in the black powder game is that it's shooting in its purest form. By that I mean there are no modern or "artificial" aids like telescopic sights; benches; fancy screw adjusted, rifle holding rest thingies. No electronic range finders, balistic calulater apps or even a roof over us. The closest we use to any of this is a three legged milking stool (made from a slice of tree trunk with legs cut from stringy bark saplings) to sit on and cross sticks with a leather strap between them on top to sit the rifle on. So other than that it's just you, steel and wood, brass and lead. There's no conversations or experts in what powder to use as only the granule size varies. Gunpowder is gunpowder and the cases are full to the base of the bullet. With the muzzle loaders you dont even get to sit down on a comp day. Every event is shot off hand! The whole package is more challenging (and conseqeuntly satisfying) when you do well. and there's nothing to blame but yourself when you dont. I find the whole DIY aspect a heap of fun too.

[KWhorenet]

Shot a muzzle loader once as a 12 yo and still remember the drawn out clackwooshkaboom & smoke and thrill of putting a big ball of lead through a biscuit tin lid and half way through the stringy bark strainer it was nail to! I wanted dad to get one so he got me a .410 instead then a 12g pumpy. Shut me up about the muzzle loader but it was a blast

[melanie]

We start at 200 yards with the chicken, 300 yard turkey, 400 yard ram, 500 yard small buffalo and the 600 big buff.

That sounds like heaps of fun

[on_one_wheel]

If they put a show on like that here in SA count me in for the front stuffer events.

[RealNick]

I wish they'd set up a few rams at Little River.

I don't know if anyone has noticed but there is a trailer of them parked in a shed at one point along the carpark behind the firing line. Never seen them in use though.

Would be awesome for everyone if they stuck out a few appropriate targets at 200, 300, 400 and 500m for everyone.

At the moment there is one plate at 500m and that's it

[Lorgar]

It amazes me just how accurate the old school black powder rifles can be

As long as I can destroy Noisy's target frame at 25m on the first shot and ruin it for everyone else that's accurate enough for me



Good times.

[Noisydad]

Lol, I have "Lorgar" proof (now the official Australian standard for such devices) target frames these days that'll even withstand a direct hit from a 415gn bullet from the Sharps. Do your worst!

[TheDude]

Would be fun shooting steel with my black powder rifles. My local range won't allow it.

Got a 45/70 highwall, 577 snider and 45cal and 58 cal muzzle loaders. Think the next will be a flintlock after firing someone's old Brown Bess and charleville recently

[agentzero]

Would be fun shooting steel with my black powder rifles. My local range won't allow it.

The steel or the BP?

[Noisydad]

Vernier tang sights.

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We ended up shooting just four events as our white painted gongs become invisible after midday. I managed a third place in the 200yd chicken with a miserable 2/10 and hit the support post twice so my windage was spot on. The winner only hit it four times although to hit a chicken sized target at 200 yards at all with open sights is probably not bad going. We all noticed a peculiar phenomenon on the day were our normal sight settings (we all have a laminated card listing sight settings for our usual target distances) where nearly universally 6-10 points on our vernier sights to low resulting in a lot of near misses just under the targets. Don't think it was the wind as there long stretches where there was no wind at all.

[TheDude]

Would be fun shooting steel with my black powder rifles. My local range won't allow it.

The steel or the BP?

the steel. only the pistol guys get to play with the steel targets. can shoot black there. even the guys getting smoked out a the benches next to me dont mind it

[horter]

Not because of the recent Little River ricochet is it?

[Herdsman]

That's all back to normal now AFAIK.

The guy was fine, didn't even break the skin I don't think. Lots of hype at the time while all the details were sketchy turned out to be nothing.

[TheDude]

Not because of the recent Little River ricochet is it?

Nah, was before that I checked. They don't have gongs at SSAA ripley. Theyve got some steel silhouette targets but only for pistols.

[chacka]

The guy was fine, didn't even break the skin I don't think. Lots of hype at the time while all the details were sketchy turned out to be nothing.

Isn't the rule there now metal targets have to be 200m out now instead of 100m as you were allowed before.

(I'm in SA and don't go there, thought I read it here)

[Noisydad]

Even at just 35yards a .54cal round ball just splatters on a gong. There simply ISNT ANY ricochet! The splatter flies off but in a circle (not a spherical pattern) right in front of the target. You can see the bits of lead on the ground directly underneath.

[halberg]

Even at just 35yards a .54cal round ball just splatters on a gong. There simply ISNT ANY ricochet! The splatter flies off but in a circle (not a spherical pattern) right in front of the target. You can see the bits of lead on the ground directly underneath.

What do you mean not spherical?

[Klem]

Good condition sharps their noisy.

What'd cost you if I can ask?