[old grump]

Sometimes you just can't wait for shirt sleeve weather, hunting season is over but you just gotta shoot. So here I am with a couple of Walkers, A ROA and a Colt Navy 1861 that has never been shot before. I'm thinking it's up to 37 degrees today, wind is nil I can do a little 25 yard target practice. So I get my old shaky bones outside and ..... change of plans, a layer of ice between my shooting bench and my target line and I am no ice skater. What I am old and I don't bounce for a hill of beans. So okay I will set up a dozen ice filled jugs at 10 yards and shoot them instead. I don't care what I shoot at as long as it's legal. 2 trips and 4 jugs and I barely get back to the shooting bench. Driveway is a solid sheet of ice too and my legs are saying some very bad things to the rest of me.

So here is what I have:

This what I am shooting at:



And to my pleasant surprise I don't do as bad as I thought I was going to considering how bad I was feeling. Especially since I guessed and goshed a load for the Navy 36 caliber and got this 6 shot group with it on a bleach jug. Even better the shots went all the way through with only 25 gr of FFFg powder and a round ball.

 

[old grump]

Some beautiful pistols! I'm jealous that you can just go out into your driveway to shoot.... you might want to tighten up those groups though! : j/k

Y'all can come up and show me how, I'm always open to suggestions. :lol:

 

[old grump]

I just got 5" of fresh snow dumped on me today. If it doesn't snow tomorrow I will try and shoot some more. I will try real hard to tighten things up. :lol:

 

[old grump]

Had company this weekend between snow storms; I gave him a proper coat so he wouldn't freeze his little Florida tail and then we set out frozen jugs of ice at 25 yards to shoot with a variety of guns. I started him on the Mosin Nagant M38 since it had been awhile since he shot anything.

Not a lot of action on the jugs at first, he was hooting high right but a little coaching and soon big chunks of ice were flying out of the back of the jugs, Best result you can get with hardball ammo.

Then I moved him up to the K31 carbine with similar results. It was funny because of the bolt configuration he thought it was a semi-auto.

Then a switch to more modern rifles. I demonstrated with the 7MM Rem Mag and suitably impressed him when a little 130 grain bullet sent ice flying 6' in every direction and tore the jug into several pieces. Then I turned him loose with the 7 and my 300 Wby Mag. I think the recoil and the extra noise bothered him a little bit even with the muffs on. He was still hitting but low left nicks on the jugs.

He did better with the old Stevens 520. Then I gave him the 10 gauge and 3 shells, He shot one, made an impressive hit but handed the 2 shells left over to me. Seems he had all the fun he could stand for one day. Being half my size may have had something to do with that but he is looking forward to the next trip and more guns. He is thinking Mini-14, 32 Win Spcl 30-30, 25-20.

There is just something about shooting in the winter that makes it different from shirt sleeve weather shooting.

 

[old grump]

This is what I use, Military Ball 173gr, 38 gr of 4350 Is the accurate load out of my carbine. Seat the bullet to OAL of 2.890"