I'll Have To Buy My Wife Some Flowers

[Rum River]

Just had my 50th birthday last week. My wife gave me a birthday card that said to go buy a gun, reloading equipment or something else if I prefer. No dollar limit was mentioned.

So, I headed to Cabelas and came home with a Pedersoli Kodiak double rifle in .72 caliber. (I wanted something out of the ordinary for my 50th.) It's supposed to have 1-75" twist, and the barrels are supposed to register at 75 yards.

I saw the other thread where people have had problems with the Kodiak. I guess I'll find out for myself.

[Semisane]

Good for you Rum River.  Even if it's a pain in the butt to find loads for each barrel that do what you want, it will be fun getting there.  Enjoy the ride.  May as well buy the notebook now so you can keep good records of everything you try.  I had one gun that took over 150 load combinations to get that "best load".  Enjoyed every frustrating minute of it.

[captchee]

well  done , get her a couple dozen 

[PartsMan]

Maybe she could give my wife some tips?

[Saloon slug]

Thats awesome. You have a fine woman right there.

P.S. Happy Birthday

[Rum River]

Got the .72 out to the range Sunday. My brother-in-law's range only goes to 50 yards, the next step is to get out to the 100 yard range.

At 50 yards each barrel is capable of 3 shot 1 1/2" groups, outside measurement. This was a load of 90 grs. FFg Goex and a .010" bore butter patch. I tried both the Cabela's .715" ball and the .715" Rush Creek ball from Track of the Wolf. They both shot the same.

As far as both barrels together, the left barrel shoots about 4 inches higher than the right. The windage is actually pretty good, maybe 1 1/2" to 2" no matter what load. The main thing is the vertical dispersion. This was just the first try, I already have plans on what to try next. One thing I want to change is the front bead, I plan on replacing it with a smaller 1/16" brass. The triggers could use a little work. The right one isn't bad, but the left is creepy.

I guess for the first try I'm happy. The worst I'd have to do for 50 yards is to load a different powder charge for each barrel.

Time will tell.............

[Semisane]

Another possibility Rum River.  With the left barrel shooting a few inches above the right, you may be able to use the same load and have the right barrel dead on at 50 yards and the right dead on at 100.  Then you could just select the appropriate barrel to shoot depending on how far out that ten-point buck is.

[Saloon slug]

Another possibility Rum River.  With the left barrel shooting a few inches above the right, you may be able to use the same load and have the right barrel dead on at 50 yards and the right dead on at 100.  Then you could just select the appropriate barrel to shoot depending on how far out that ten-point buck is.

I think Semisane is on to something here. That would be a cool thing to do.

[Rum River]

The thought of having a barrel available for two different zeroes is something I hadn't thought of, I'll have to give that a try.

I've also got some Fg and 1 1/2 Fg Swiss on hand. I don't know if they're likely to make a difference or not, but I'm going to find out. I do know the .010" patch seems pretty reliable, the fired patches look just like they're supposed to. Of course all this can change at 100 yards.

We've got a late snowfall on the ground right now, with a nice damp 20-30 mph wind. Otherwise I'd be on the backyard range right now instead of in front of a keyboard.