Hello,
I got out the Gewehr 88 today. I figured I wanted to shoot it at longer range than I'd sighted it in at, the sight-in range being 50 yards and 2" high there.
I had some questions about how it would perform with the new load as the old load was shooting a bit to the right.
New load is 46.5grns Varget under a 150grn spitzer, 0.318".
Old load was 41.5grns Varget under a 200grn jacketed round nose soft point, 0.318", for about 2200fps.
It's been raining and the creeks is up, so I had to take a target of opportunity. I had set up a coffee can on a dead sapling sometime back, and used it at various times for rough sight-in.
Range was 80 to 90 yards. I tried prone with a front rest, but that lasted all of five rounds before I started sitting. When sitting, I was either braced a bit against the patio door, or not supported. Never did I have full support while sitting.
Ended up with this:
I took the picture through a 4.5-14x 'scope cranked all the way up. The coffee can started up at the top of the sapling partially hidden by the vertical stadia and ended up where you see it now. Also covered by the upper stadia is a nice group on a log I was shooting through about 60 yards out.
This sucker shoots flat!
As you can see from the trees flanking the target, I pulled a couple times. Not sure why; I do know the Gewehr 88 has a relatively long lock time, but I shoot traditional caplocks that have an even LONGER lock time.
Total number of rounds were 20 to 30 -- I kinda' lost track as stripper clips load fast!
I think I'm cautiously impressed with the accuracy shown by this thing thus far. I'll be more sure of it when I get out to put up an actual target and make sure it's perfect windage-wise. Looks fairly lose, but I like to be caliber-on. (I know this is usually not possible with open sights, but it's something I dream about).
Comments are welcome, as always.
Regards,
Josh
