Tuesday after the Challenge

[Richard]

Tuesday after the Kentucky Challenge
What I found out after shooting Kyle rifle was that my 1 ¾ lb. trigger was not as good as I thought. Kyle’s Jewel set under a pound was much nicer. His Night Force scope was……….yes, much nicer!.........His load was also more consistent. Congrats Kyle……..but my sights are set on you!
I started out by changing out the trigger on Monday with a Shilen 2 oz. I had bought from a shooter a few years ago………….Big Difference!
Tuesday started out raining but turned into mostly humid/cloudy and actually good conditions at the range. Herman could not make it as he was going to his hunt club to check trail cams and other stuff, so just Bill and I.

Fouled the barrel with five shots using a 250 gr. FTX FF along with a 8/58 Clays/H-4198 duplex (sheet says 5 gr.---wrong). Outside of the first fouling shot, 4 printed in a decent .747” group.

Next up was the load I should have shot at the Challenge but opted for one that had done good in the past? So, 300 gr. BE smooth sized to .4498” with 72 gr. of H-4198. This load was really hammering putting five in .680”!

So now I take the same load out to 300 yards; it starts out putting two shots in one hole and then decides to start spreading the last three around for a 2.7” five shot group?

Moving on to the 290 TEZ FF and the 10/60 Clays/H-4198 load as shot in Kentucky, the group opened up to 3.8”

Back to the 300 BE but FF with the 72 gr. H-4198 it gave 3 in 3”, the best 4 in 3” but a democrat made it 5” for all five!

And finally, I went to the 250 gr. TEZ (bought these from Rambler as they would not shoot for him. These had been previously sized and stuffed down his barrel to check fit—I knurled and FF sized them). Used the 10/60 duplex and wound up with with first three in 1.311” (sure could have used that one Saturday in Kentucky), 4 in 1.930 with all five in 2.9”

Today I bought back a 8 x 32 Night Force scope I had sold a friend of mine about 5 years ago. I knew he was not using it and he agreed to sell back for what he gave me for it. So next week it will be on the rifle which should bring it up in the “Kyle” class!

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[Mid_Tn_Plowboy]

Man you stacked those B.E.'s!!

[Mid_Tn_Plowboy]

Your tightest group had the largest ES. Does that happen often?

[rambler]

Good shootin' Richard! Yeah I couldn't find any Clays and I don't think my gun or my shoulder was up to the kick that those bullets need. I did find some blue dot here tho, don't know if that stuff would work. Glad you could use the bullets, better than them going to waste on the shelf.

[Richard]

I was not choked up with the ES's on the single powder loads. I was surprised the load did not hold up at 300? Maybe because of the ES? Will try it again next week. Looking forward to shooting the Night Force scope. I don't particularly care for the reticle though. Too cluttered. It may have to go to the doctor for a transplant. I really like Leupold's varmint hunter reticule.

[bigmoose]

I second your remarks on clutter, just give me a duplex.

Very nice shooting

[schunter]

Good shooting Richard. Your day started off great with the 300 BE. Keep working on them at 300.

[edge]

Any thoughts on why the BE opened up so much at 300?
Two weeks ago the same bullet and the same 4198 load did very well at 100 too with 3 in 0.742 but that load was FF

edge.

[Richard]

No Edge....Not sure? I am going to try another duplex next week. I am thinking maybe 5 gr. of N-110 under maybe 65 gr. of H-4198. The Clays duplex last week definitely was not working. I want the booster to be more on the mild side. Will also be interested to see if the ES's go down. Will the velocity go up?----------It will be two grains less powder but the booster might keep the velocity the same as the straight 72 grain charge? I am also adding the 8 x 32 x 56 Night Force scope. I felt Kyle's set up with the Jewel trigger and Night Force scope was more comfortable for me. And I did shoot it off the "bags" and not the sled. With the brake it was not bad. Don't know if I want to shoot 30 to 40 shots at one sitting without the sled, but definitely do-able.
I may also up the single charge of H-4198 to 74 gr. and see what happens? The 250 TEZ's might still need some more tweaking. Hard to figure also why shots 4 and 5 went north and south of the of the first three? Little by little I think I am getting a handle on the smokeless thing. The new (well, used) Night Force will definitely be a step up in aiming ability at longer ranges. The older Shilen 2 oz. has a tiny bit of creep but not bad. I might cannibalize the Jewel off an old bench gun to replace it. Don't know why I did not do this a while ago? I guess when you shoot a set up like Kyle's, your are almost forced to keep up if you want to be competitive.............Just never had any real competition with the muzzle loaders?

[Dave W]

Could always drop the Clays down too.

[Richard]

Definitely, just another combination to tinker with. Since the BE's seem to shoot well with the single and apparently don't like to get kicked too hard, I thought I would go with a little softer approach and I do have a few pounds of N-110 along with plenty of 4759. But yeah, go with 5 gr. of Clays instead of 10. The thing is, I shoot every week and always need something else to test and Rome was not built in a day! And the next Challenge is probably 6 mo. down the road.

[edge]

Have you tried the BE at 300 smooth or only FF with the straight load, I don't remember seeing that?

edge.

[7mmfreak]

Which reticle do you have in that NF? I don't like too many of their reticles. I'm a huge Horus proponent but for an SML I would do just fine with the MOAR or MIL-R (have owned both and like them) since dialing elevation would not be an issue since it is one shot at a time and no rapids.

[Richard]

If you look at group #2 and #3 Edge, you will see that 300 BE was "smooth" sized for 100 and 300. I then shot it FF at 300 for group #5.
7mm...........This reticule has a crosshair with a dot.....then a short verticle line underneath and then another dot........line and along the bottom thee is a series of numbers in the left plane. I am not overly thrilled with it but have not had it to the range yet. I may just use the crosshairs and dial up my yardages.
I e-mailed Night Force today and got a timely response back on a reticule change......WOW! They said they could put in the NP-R2 reticule for the "NOMINAL?" fee of $350.00? Holy Bat dung Robin! I had a reticule change with my Leupold MK IV two years ago and it was $125.00 I think I will have to live with the reticule for the time being.

[7mmfreak]

Option changes with NF cost money for sure. I bought one of the NXS Compact 2.5-10x32mm with MOAR reticle. The week I got it they released the MIL-R and .1MRAD adjustments. I called Bill and asked what it would cost to change it over since they didn't have that optic when I bought mine. He was willing to comp me the adjustments if I paid for the reticle. I would have been easier to just sell my optic and order a new one, which I did.

[edge]

Aug 20, 2015 18:42:51 GMT -5 Richard said:

If you look at group #2 and #3 Edge, you will see that 300 BE was "smooth" sized for 100 and 300. I then shot it FF at 300 for group #5.SNIP.

I stand corrected

edge.

[Richard]

I hate correcting the boss!
Easy to miss!

[cowhunter]

We don't mind you shooting better as long as you let us in on how you do it. It's called trying to dial the Kyle. We want to be like Kyle too, but I wasn't around to know what he did. As an old competitor, you are good at figuring out what it takes to shoot like Kyle.

[Deleted]

Phil,
If you come to the next shoot, stuff one of them Axis critters in your carry-on. Should go well with some Cobia if SML gets to bring some up. Kyle

[cowhunter]

I'll be at the next shoot I hope, but we need a five-shot group competition where you can dismiss the two worst shots from counting. Or at least have a mulligan for every group attempt. I have a question. I'm gonna steal my only Jewel trigger from another gun to make a Kyle knockoff. Do your Jewel triggers feel like nothing moves and then the gun goes off? I don't have anything to compare it with.

[Richard]

You might want to start a new thread on triggers?