Well, not so much range as creek bank, but anyway. I took my newly acquired from Luke on this board, .44 mag barrel and my .243 handi to see how they would do. After reading some of the reviews of the .44 on here, I was very concerned. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I was able to get 1.5 inch groups at from a rest on the back of my car with open sights at 25-30 yds. I was minute of paper plate braced on a tree and off hand at 85 yards. That is minute of deer and as good as I can ask with my eyes and open sights. By the way, I really need to do a trigger job on the old shotgun frame its mounted on. I used the Hornady Leverevolotions. I recovered three of the rounds from the dirt bank. They all retained their jackets and mushroomed very well. I could also see and feel the rifling grooves. They weren't real deep, but apparently enough to spin and grip well. I will try some more brands, but I'm happy with the LE's.
The .243 on the other had was not that great. I haven't done any thing to it, so this is basically out of the box. I did clean the latch/shelf. It was all over the place. I waited for cooling between shots. It liked the Remington corelokts okay, but not the other stuff I had. With either one I had fliers and large groups. So I did the O-ring thing last night and have some good clearance on the forearm. I will try again and let you all know. At least the trigger was nice on this receiver.
Thanks again to Luke. I think that .44 is going to stack up some deer for me and for my son when he is a little older.
mrgd
