Happy to report

by Dave B , Alamogordo New Mexico, Sunday, October 12, 2014, 16:39 (3700 days ago) @ Dave B

I got out of the house, didn't bring one, I did bring 4 guns, and not quite a hundred rounds of ammo. Thanks for the kind words folks, they are appreciated.

Four guns today, the 375 Ruger, which continues to impress me, my Ruger #1 in 45/70, a Rem 760 in 30'06 with cast bullets,and my Freedom Arms 454. What started out as checking the 45/70 loads at 60 yards, quickly turned into try to bust up a big rock (face is 9" top to bottom) from 279 yards away. Let me tell you, I don't know how them buffalo hunters did it, I had a wind blowing at 270* and 20 kts with 30 kt gusts, not knowing all of the ballistics of my cast bullets, I guessed and used it for elevation, was able to smack the rock every time after abot 4 shots to adjust, problem was, it was the rock 4 feet down wind. With the 375 I was able to dial in correction for windage as well as elevation, the blemished 270gr and 300gr bullets impacted withing 2 inches of each other, and I was able to hit within a 6 inch spot on the rock every time, despite the gusty condition. The '06 needs some work, I can't adjust the impact of the 202gr cast any higher with the aperture sight, they were 6 inches low at 60 yards with 14.5grs of Unique, but grouped very well. In the 45/70, I can report that Ramshot X-Terminator works very well, originally bought it to load the .223, but since the AR is long gone, thought I would try them with the 45/70, has a burn rate right next to H335, I did get a lot of leading in the #1, will have to try the same load in the Marlin, as it has never leaded with any bullet or any load, will try some gas checked 420s in the #1. With the 454, I made 3 hits on the rock at 279 yards, it too drifted about 4 feet down wind, that was out of 8 shots, pulverized some rocks at 50 with the 325gr WFNGC bullets. Despite the windy, dusty conditions, it still beat sitting in the house.

Dave