Gamerancher wrote: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