Ontario Hunter
AH ambassador
Returned to the range again today to clean up loose ends. Yesterday I shot only two rounds of 404 off the bench at 100 yards. Both were loaded with old Barnes X 400 gr bullets just to see if the gun was in the neighborhood for African Barnes TSX 400 gr. I also brought the Springfield to zero it with new 168 gr TTSX. I had a box of Hornady 165 gr Interlock on WWII military cases to play with. They were loaded too light and not grouping great but good enough for my grandson's first exposure to big rifle shooting. The 30-06 TTSX loads for Africa grouped very tight sub MOA with only slight scope adjustment needed to get a group 1" above the bull. By then we were late for our weekly skeet shooting so I wrapped it up.
Today the plan was to pull the Nikon 3-9x from my Springfield and check its backup irons. Then make sure the 404J was on target with TSX loads. A curious thing happened right off the bat. We were shooting in shirtsleeves and the 1/4" rubber butt pad on the Springfield was starting to bite.
So I added a Pachmayer slipon from my Citori. Grandson hit way right of the bull with the cheap loads - not even close to what he was doing with them yesterday. Then right and low. What the ... ? So I opened the box of polymer tipped stuff and sat down. Shit! Three and a half inches right. Another round was also off to the right. What happened? Yesterday this ammo was almost hitting on top of each other an inch directly above the bull. Only change today was the slipon. So I removed it and ... presto! Three bullets hit exactly where they grouped yesterday. Interesting. Adding a recoil pad must be a permanent attachment.
Next up was the 404. Three TSX loads grouped just to the left of yesterday's two Barnes X rounds. Easily adjusted with three clicks to windage. Then a final round to check. Jeezus! Scope smashed me between the eyes and the gun almost threw me off the bench. Fortunately no blood but I'll be wearing a bruise for a couple of days. Looking through the Springfield's 9x I see no hit on the target. Hundred yard hike downrange confirms I hit nothing. Not even the big political ad sign backing the target (appropriately from a local Liberal party candidate
). What the heck? Back to the bench and I take another shot. That one also appears to have missed everything. A trip downrange seemed to confirm another total miss. Shit! The scope crapped! What a time to have that happen just before safari. I'm walking away wondering what next. Guess I'll be shooting irons. Are you sure? I decided to go back for another look. Ah! There's a camouflaged hole through one of the black Gorilla tape patches covering the previous group. Back at the bench I decide that's enough. But a last look through the scope and something doesn't seem right. Kinda foggy for 4x. Wait ... the ring on the outer edge of the ocular bell is adjustable in and out (parallax?). Well, look at that! Now I can actually read the writing on the political sign behind the target! I can see the green bull in the center. One more shot is right on target next to the last one. Perfect.
Next, check the irons on 30-06. With my old eyes it's almost mission impossible at 100 yards. Looking over my glasses helps ... some. Check the first shot and I'm surprised. Just to the left of bull. Maybe just lucky. Two more shots reveals a nice group of about 2". That works for me. Grandson gives it a try and can't hit the target anywhere. Three shots and nothing. He's really bummed. Wait a minute! "I forgot you're left handed and right eye dominant." I had him shoot left handed to see if that made a difference and he hit wide right about 2.5". At least on the target. But then I noticed he was slapping the trigger. Parker, get you're finger on the trigger and squeeze it. "But Papa I'm afraid I might accidentally discharge." Who cares? Gun is safely pointed downrange. When shooting the shotgun at clay targets we always jerk the trigger. But moving targets is a whole different ballgame from paper targets and standing game. I'm sure he'll do much better next session. He's a good shot. And no, I DID NOT let him shoot the 404!
So what about the wild 404 round that apparently never hit anything? Ah! I remembered I had inadvertantly wrinkled the shoulder of one brass case when I didn't get it in the shell holder properly during resizing. Not badly deformed so I figured I'd just load it up and fireform the case. It didn't occur to me I was shrinking the case capacity. I checked through the ammo box and the wrinkled case was gone. Guess that explains the bucking bronco that kicked me in the face. Curiously, there was no indication of extreme pressure. Bolt opened okay and no stress signs on any cases. Hmmm. I should check the primers ... yep. One is flattened. Won't do that again!
Quite a lot learned from just one session at the range.
Today the plan was to pull the Nikon 3-9x from my Springfield and check its backup irons. Then make sure the 404J was on target with TSX loads. A curious thing happened right off the bat. We were shooting in shirtsleeves and the 1/4" rubber butt pad on the Springfield was starting to bite.
So I added a Pachmayer slipon from my Citori. Grandson hit way right of the bull with the cheap loads - not even close to what he was doing with them yesterday. Then right and low. What the ... ? So I opened the box of polymer tipped stuff and sat down. Shit! Three and a half inches right. Another round was also off to the right. What happened? Yesterday this ammo was almost hitting on top of each other an inch directly above the bull. Only change today was the slipon. So I removed it and ... presto! Three bullets hit exactly where they grouped yesterday. Interesting. Adding a recoil pad must be a permanent attachment.
Next up was the 404. Three TSX loads grouped just to the left of yesterday's two Barnes X rounds. Easily adjusted with three clicks to windage. Then a final round to check. Jeezus! Scope smashed me between the eyes and the gun almost threw me off the bench. Fortunately no blood but I'll be wearing a bruise for a couple of days. Looking through the Springfield's 9x I see no hit on the target. Hundred yard hike downrange confirms I hit nothing. Not even the big political ad sign backing the target (appropriately from a local Liberal party candidate
). What the heck? Back to the bench and I take another shot. That one also appears to have missed everything. A trip downrange seemed to confirm another total miss. Shit! The scope crapped! What a time to have that happen just before safari. I'm walking away wondering what next. Guess I'll be shooting irons. Are you sure? I decided to go back for another look. Ah! There's a camouflaged hole through one of the black Gorilla tape patches covering the previous group. Back at the bench I decide that's enough. But a last look through the scope and something doesn't seem right. Kinda foggy for 4x. Wait ... the ring on the outer edge of the ocular bell is adjustable in and out (parallax?). Well, look at that! Now I can actually read the writing on the political sign behind the target! I can see the green bull in the center. One more shot is right on target next to the last one. Perfect.Next, check the irons on 30-06. With my old eyes it's almost mission impossible at 100 yards. Looking over my glasses helps ... some. Check the first shot and I'm surprised. Just to the left of bull. Maybe just lucky. Two more shots reveals a nice group of about 2". That works for me. Grandson gives it a try and can't hit the target anywhere. Three shots and nothing. He's really bummed. Wait a minute! "I forgot you're left handed and right eye dominant." I had him shoot left handed to see if that made a difference and he hit wide right about 2.5". At least on the target. But then I noticed he was slapping the trigger. Parker, get you're finger on the trigger and squeeze it. "But Papa I'm afraid I might accidentally discharge." Who cares? Gun is safely pointed downrange. When shooting the shotgun at clay targets we always jerk the trigger. But moving targets is a whole different ballgame from paper targets and standing game. I'm sure he'll do much better next session. He's a good shot. And no, I DID NOT let him shoot the 404!
So what about the wild 404 round that apparently never hit anything? Ah! I remembered I had inadvertantly wrinkled the shoulder of one brass case when I didn't get it in the shell holder properly during resizing. Not badly deformed so I figured I'd just load it up and fireform the case. It didn't occur to me I was shrinking the case capacity. I checked through the ammo box and the wrinkled case was gone. Guess that explains the bucking bronco that kicked me in the face. Curiously, there was no indication of extreme pressure. Bolt opened okay and no stress signs on any cases. Hmmm. I should check the primers ... yep. One is flattened. Won't do that again!
Quite a lot learned from just one session at the range.
