Have you ever had one of those days . . . .

[Paul Lawrence]

when everything was perfect? I did today. I've had some steel targets in the garage for some time now but lacking someone to spot for me I just hadn't got to try them at longer ranges. To our surprise, my wife had the day off too, so I asked if she would like to give me a hand. She had watched from a distance as I went through Ian M's course so she had some idea of what was involved. We decided to get an early start at it and maybe pick off a coyote or two first and then try the targets. It was gorgeous out at the ranch. A friend of mine runs cattle on about 8000 acres and at the moment I'm the only one he lets hunt there. Eight thousand acres of rolling pasture land with clumps of aspen and birch and evergreens and enough water to keep things green, most of the time. I hunt Mulies, White Tail, Coyote and Gopher there. But since I'm new to all this I'm not only learning how to shoot long range, I'm learning how to hunt so I don't have many "war stories" to tell yet. Today there was a gopher on the run at 75 yds that came to a dead stop. I took him from a standing position thanks to Ian who taught me how to lead. Then there was the coyote that should have kept on moving when he had the chance instead of stopping to see where that wounded rabbit was. I took him from a fence post at just under 200 yds. Both shots were with the 22-250.

I shoot three guns, a Browning 1885 in 30-06 with the Elite 3200 10X40 Mil-Dot scope, an 1885 in 22-250 with an Elite 4200 6-24X40AO Duplex and a B78 in 6MM Rem with a Leupold VX-1 3-9X40 Duplex. It's not the kind of equipment I usually read about here but if I do my part the two 1885's will produce sub-MOA groups. I shot the 30-06 out to 600 yards with Ian and it held in there quite nicely with 180gr SMKs over 55gr of IMR 4350. But the 6MM Rem has been a problem, no consistancy, three shots nice and tight and then two off about 2-3". Remember the "pulling my hair out" topic recently? (6MM blues by Stitch) Well, here is a great big thank-you to all who jumped in to help him out as you helped me too. There wasn't enough relief on the forestock and the "floating barrel" was hard aground. Maybe that's why this little beauty was traded in. I love it, it's my carry gun. Today it gave me three groups in the 3-4" inch range at 320 yards with a 10-15 mph wind at 3:00 o'clock. Another big thank-you goes out to Jay for pointing out that Varget has it's preference as to bullet weight and tops out at 70-75gr. That solved another problem I was having. Then the new load I worked up for the 30-06 with 168gr SMK's hung in nice and tight at 475 yds on the 15" target. Everything worked just the way it is supposed to today, including me.

So there you have it, a little bit about me since it seems I know many of you well. Thank you for your generosity with your hard won knowledge.

Paul

 

[Ian M]

Paul,
I just read your great post and want to welcome you to this site. Very glad that you are pulling the trigger on some long shots, BUT, I seem to recall a spot down south that is still waiting for a shoot. I have been doing a bunch of long shooting and always have room for one more on our targets. Matter of fact my target collection has grown significantly since we shot together (had to get the springs retensioned on my poor little toy-truck).
Your Browning single shots are very accurate rifles, but it is still the guy on the trigger that makes the shot.

 

[Paul Lawrence]

Hi Ian,
Yes, I've been getting in as much trigger time as I can. It seems that Mondays are most suitable. I would love to join you, just say the word. Maybe it's time for another 140 round 30-06 bruise. That leads me to another subject. I've been thinking about adding a .308 to the collection. From what I read here, and what you say, life just isn't complete without one. Did John Moses design a bolt action? Maybe it's time to step forward about 100 years and try a synthetic/stainless combo. I don't think the bank account is ready for a "rock" yet but I've been doing some research and of course that's a lot of the fun. Any suggestions, new or used? I'm busy until August 5th but let's get together right after that.

Paul