Morning All

[canon6]

Good morning all, 25 degrees here and clear as a bell.I am going to reload today.Need some 30-30, 6.5x55 and load development for the new 308.Take care all.      Doug

[1Southpaw]

Good morning too all !
another fine day in the making ....46 degrees and rising under blue skies . Dead calm . High clouds off to the West and East .  Have to work today 
 Farming has kicked into high gear. Neighbors are a going and a blowing ...
Although I am retired ... The son in law needs to use my machinery for his first crop . So old South paw is busy servicing equipment to let him use. He is busy calving and readying his equipment also .
A time to work and a time to play .... I grasshopper-ed all winter now it time to join the ant force .   

[Double D]

Good afternoon Montanan, MT_Sourdough, dpe, Southpaw, Forster, Atlaw, pab1, newstart2k, Skunk, kitchawan kid, lurker, CJ, Bilmac,thxmrgarand, Syncerus, Mcwoodduck, Brennemanj83, Old Shooter,TY22, Canon6, burntmuch, Grimjim, CJ, Bilmac, rparsons934 wis_sharpshooter and BBF.

It bright sunny partly cloudy 57 degrees, minor breeze here in Cut Bank. 

Started the morning on work party at the gun club.  Moved a bunch of targets and frames from storage in town to storage out of town. Then out to the range and some clean up and repair out there.

Yesterday, I followed you guys advice and took a mental health day.  The wife and I drove up to the secret gopher patch and shot gophers.  The wife was feeling like a drive, but not feeling like shooting.  She has degenerative disc disease in her neck and it was acting up.  She served as my spotter....she can spot them, but her idea of "straight head" is interpretive.  We did have a good time.  I had less than a box of shells in my feeder box and emptied two 50 round boxes in the feeder while out there.  I had less then a box  left in the feeder box when I was finished.  So I shot some where around 100 rounds.  The wife says I hit right around 90 percent.   I'll accept her score.

The dogs got a good run, but they didn't catch any.  They are getting old. The youngest is 10 years.  Wait a couple of weeks when the babies come out.  The dogs will be like a shark feeding on a school of fish.

The wife bought a Nikon Pro Staff 550 range finder for me last Christmas and we used it yesterday.  The longest shot I made was 124 yards.  It was kind of interesting to drive around see the ranges we have been shooting for years.   There is one little stretch where we drive a two track that runs parallel to a fence.  The ground slopes up to the fence, then there is a big dip down behind the fence and then it slopes up.  We have always consider the range to the fence right at 75 yards.  Hitting squirrels along this section has always been a bit difficult.  I have always wrote it off to shooting up hill and not being able to get a good rest. Used the range finder and found out the fence was 105 yards.  I  didn't believe it and got out and paced it. Range finder 1, Douglas 0.

The wife was having a hard time getting the range finder top work and was sounding a bit frustrated mumbling "stupid thing".   I looked around and said "the stupid thing" won't work through the windshiled...I helped her, so why did I get "the look"?    .

Fun day!

 

[Skunk]

Good afternoon Montana!

Ugly, chilly, and rainy day here in NE Wisconsin.

Sounds like things are going pretty well in Montana.

Have a good one.

[dpe.ahoy]

Warm but windy here in Billings.  Went to the range today, introduced 4 new shooters to the sport.  2-20 something girls, a 50 something woman and my 4 yr old boy.   Put em all on a Handi rifle, 22LR and they all had a ball.  The boy got his cheek bit by the hammer, stock is to long, but came back for more .  He's gonna be shooting with Dad more and more, next time I'll have the Chipmonk for him.  Didn't know he was coming till more family showed up with him.  Had to many people out there, wore me out trying to keep an eye on everyone, but was a good day.  To windy for groups, but plastic containers bounce pretty good when hit and sandstone rock powders pretty good with 45-70's and hot 45 colt loads .  DP

[Mt_Sourdough]

Howdy All,
   Today, Austin wanted to take his friend out shooting, so we loaded up and headed out to the Beavertail area again. 
   Double D, I think you might be right.  They all seem to be flinching with all shots going high and to the left.  I fired the rifle once and it shot right where I aimed it.  Austin was hoping to see it shoot the same for me as it did for him, because he was trying to convince me that it had something to do witht the rifle. 
   So, I guess, the next time I take them to shoot it, we'll work from off hand and at closer ranges.  With a new approach, I hope that they start to feel more comfortable and confident.  They all do quite well at the range with the 270 and they do fine with the 22, but with the thirty thirty, I think the light quick action of the trigger caught them off guard.  Its a lot lighter and quicker than anything they have fired.  They also get nervous with manually lowering the hammer to the half-cocked safety position.
   Anyways, I am back to work on Tuesday so tomorrow is my last day to play for a while.  Not sure what we'll do, but it is suppose to be in the mid 70s tomorrow.  I have 4 1/2 boxes of 44 ammo, so maybe if I am realy nice to my girlfriend tonight , maybe I'll get a chance to shoot some of them.

[Double D]

High and left is bucking the rifle; throwing the shoulder forward anticipating the recoil from a rest.

There is another drill you can do with them. We used it  to teach young police recruits how to shoot the their revolvers. It's called Ball and dummy. 

You stand facing him.  Take the unloaded and open rifle from him.  Turn away from him so he can't see the rifle and load a round and close the action, lower the hammer to half cock.    Turn and hand the loaded rifle back to him. Half cock was and is intended as safe carry mode.  Have him shoulder the rifle and very slowly and carefully concentrate on trigger pull and sight alignment then fire.  After firing he opens the action and hands the rifle back to you and you laod again.  The dummy part is  every couple of rounds you load an empty fired case in the chamber.  He will see very well what he is doing wrong. 

[Mt_Sourdough]

I really appreciate your advice Double D.  Now that I think about it, I seem to remember doing similar drills in the Army.  We'll give that a shot.

[Skunk]

High and left is bucking the rifle; throwing the shoulder forward anticipating the recoil from a rest.

To help explain a little bit more about target results and to add to what Double D has said, here is a diagram that might be helpful. Note what Double D said about high and left and then look at what the diagram says about high and left. Double D nailed it right on the head.

[Double D]

That chart is actually for pistol but applies here for the problem at hand. Jerking the trigger in rifle for a right handed shooter should be low and right.

I have taught a few people to shoot.  My absolute favorite was a women back in the late 70's at the State  Police Academy.  The recruits were told to wear their leather with  gun unloaded to firearms class.  The women came in the class room with her leather on and no gun.  She was carrying a blue box in both hands.  When I asked her where her gun was gun was, she said she thought it was in the box.  I opened the box and there sat a new in the box S&W M-19 still wrapped in the oil paper.  The women said she had never even touched a gun in her life.  Even her father didn't have a gun.  She had not ever seen a gun fired anywhere other than on TV.  When she bought the gun (You had to do that sort of thing back them) she went to the Gunshop and the Chief of Police picked it out and she paid for it.

She was one of the most amazing students I ever had.  Besides being left handed like  me, she no preconcieved notions.  She did everything you told her and instantly accepted correction.  At the end of the two weeks firearms section she was range high shooter over 70 other Officers and walked away with new S&W M-66.   One of the other instructors was a big PPC shooter and worked for an agency near hers and introduced her to that shooting discipline. She did quite well shooting in the state matches.