Had a ball on Friday out on the range. I may have not got to shoot a s/s 12 bore rifle but it still was a lot of fun. We started out with a BESS in .72 Cal,and the load was 100 of Elephant 2f with a .715 RB and Pillow ticking patch. This flinter has a fast ignition time,and from all accounts shoots about 6" low at 25 yards. Three of the guys from 18 to 25 had never shot a flinter before and each got to shoot it a couple of times. Talk about hooked on something!!!!!!! That old Bess sure kept the conversation going for the rest of the afternoon. I also took along my Pedersoli .32 flinter and it was shooting one hole groups at 25 yrds with 25 of Elephant,and a linen patach. Very easy to load,and everyone that was shooting it could not believe the way that little gun just kept spitting them into the bull. Of course,a flinter will cause you to learn to flintch,but range time clears that up. I always liked this little gun,and have shot several shoots with it,and also found it to be the most reliable of the flinters that I have. Just a blast to shoot any way you look at it. Next we were shooting my Traditions .50 also with 100 of Elephant and this is a flinter also. These rifles have always shot good for me,and if you take your time and work up a load for them,and also work on the locks,and springs,they are outstanding shooters for the money that you have invested. The day was not windy and the temp was in the mid fourties and it was a little interesting after the guns were shot to be able to see the targets right away,but that is part of the fun ,at least to me it is. The little .32 does not make as much smoke as the Bess does,and that took a little wind to clear the air enough ,again,to see what it was that we hit,or did not hit. Our range has a shoot comming up on the 10th of Jan.......and it is the ART ZIMMERMAN shoot for Traditional rifles,rb only. That is one of the reasons that we were out shooting to see what it was that we could hit,and play at the same time. Shawn is very new to the sport,and is using a Traditions .50 caplock Penn rifle in .50. His first shot,out of a clean bbl centered the one inch bull. Now,this kid is a ittle excited to say the least. After shooting the flinters,he is wishing that we had gone a couple of weeks prior to CHRISTmas so he could have gotten ne of these also. I also had to shoot in a .54 GPR that I had just put new Lymansights on. They are the covered front,and peep rear. With again 100 of Elephant and a .530 rb,pillow patch,this rifle was putting them into that one inch bull one after another. Very accurate rifle for a factory job,and its owner has yet to shoot it in this mode. I think he will be very happy when he gets a chance to shoot it.. I also was shooting my s/s 12 ga shotgun with RB,but was having some problems so,inturn,I did not get to shoot it much as I wanted to. Maybe this week I can work on it a little and shoot it some more. I shoot a lot of Elephant powder in the granulations of 1f to 3f,depending on the caliber of the rifle that it is that I am shooting. This powder shoots dirty,and fouls the bore rather quickly,but seems to work the best in a slower twist rifle of around 1:72 or s;ower. It is good powder for general shooting,and I have used it for target. I think it shoots better if the humidity is higher and it is kind of damp out. I also use a lot of Swiss in the granulations of 1.5 to 2f and found it an outstanding powder to use in all of the rifles that I shoot in the MZL catagory. It shoots clean,and moist. It seems that a patch for cleaning does not have to be run down bore after every 3rd shot as with Elephant. Goex,at least the lot that I have,is used for some target loads,and it seems to not be as consistant for me as the others when run over a chrony. Now,this could be something that is just particular to me when I am using this powder. I will say that when we got done shooting,we had went through 2 cans of Elephant and one each of Swiss and Goex in 2f. I have a lot of fun,just plain shooting on the range,but it is more fun when you have people out there that are eager to learn about the old ways,and the trials that had to be gone through to shoot some of these rifles. It is even better when the see just how accurate they can be with the proper loads,patch,and powder granulation. This day out on the range was for some of the new guys to see and play with the differant rifles that are out there. Not really to get down and serious. I did move to 50 yards,but it was starting to get a little dark out for good shooting,so hopefully at least 3 or 4 of us will get to do this a little later this week. I am hoping for some wind,to clear the smoke away a little quicker but that is part of the fun. Stay safe.........King
:-D
