Story to come when I get to a full sized keyboard.

Gary

Iphone

Another test session. I took the completed HAWG and did some testing. Alas, I did not have the correct sizing die for the 62. I got decent numbers but it seemed the slug was tight. Have to find/make the correct one. I did sight in the 25 insert. Man it's neat how fast it drives that 63 grain slug. And it's just subsonic so it doesn't crack. The moderator really helps.

At this point, I'm "visited" by two abberitions of Christmas Present. In an old Toyota pick-up.

I say hello, and mention the field has now been planted in Winter Wheat. I've been sitting on the shoulder of the dirt road and working off my tailgate. Tip toeing around the edges of the field. One of these fellas just stomps out to fifty yards with a pc. of cardboard full of holes. I watch. They have a new .308 to sight in - only take a few shots. That's fine - help yourselves. I'm just shooting some airguns. No reaction.

One comes over and sees Eric's gun. Sees the chronograph sitting by the truck door on it's tripod. Might have seen the air tank. "WHAT THE EXPLETIVE DELETED ARE YOU DOING?!!" What's that ... your rest? No, that's a chronograph. It has a couple of photocells that can sense the bullet when it's fired over thru that triangle. Oh, we used to do that with arrows. Yeah.

So I tell them a few things about the guns as the fellow sees new things. I finally get the point across that it FIRES off of air? HOW? I ain't never seen anything like that in my life!!!

I'd mentioned that I MAKE them as a business? You say you MAKE them? How'd you get the idea to fire it off of AIR? I mention the historic pcs. "What are you, a EXPLETIVE DELETED scientist?!!!" Might be. Hey - you want to see my time machine? Nervous stares ....

I figure it's time to bring out the big gun. Orion 62. WOW ... that's a EXPLETIVE DELETED cannon!!!!

I hook it up. Show the slug and size one. You make those bullets too? Yes. I figured you did when I saw those sucky bags all drawed up there? Referring to the vacuum packed pouch of slugs.

This one will be louder. Sound like a shotgun. They move back outside the anticipated crater diameter. I lift the gun off the bench aim and fire in one gun slinger motion. BANG!!!! THWACK!!!!! I note with satisfaction that the bullet hit the target at about 48-50 yards at 5 o'clock just off the bull. I thought that wasn't bad for a slap shot drawn from the holster. ;?) The guy looked at the target and just dryly said ... it's a bit low.

They turned back to their work.

I watched as the young man crawled up into the back of the Toyota pickup and crouched over the side of the bed with the 308 on a pad on the rail. HUGE BANG and the older fellow strides out with a pencil and studies the cardboard full of holes. Draws a circle and stalks back. This repeated for some time. Each time an adjustment was made to the scope. After a time, the guy got to striding over behind my 50 yard TARGET as if for protection from his partner's 308 deer rifle. He'd go there and direct the sight in. Occasionally coming back to make an adjustment. They stopped, for some reason, when the shooter was consistently shooting about 3" to the right of 10X.

I went over and asked if the shooter was ready to get a big one? He verified that he'd just gotten the gun from a local sports shop and it came with the scope on it right from the box. I asked about it and complimented how fine it was. They were good folks. I sort of took them by surprise as though they'd stumbled upon the Roswell crash site.

After they'd gone. I decided to begin a loose verification of my scope elevation settings. I'd had an issue with the way the top cap of the scope was mounted to the scope. After I'd made a nice scope wheel to index, and gotten to the field the first time ... after one or two shots the commercial knob came loose. I found that it was just adhered to the threaded stalk. And, this stalk did not telescope and show revolution cross hatch lines. The knob stayed the same and the internals moved with nice clicks. Well, I can live with that. I marked my scope on several revolution levels. I can check it's topped out to start a setting if I need to. I fiddled with it and eventually modified it to mount with four 4-40 set screws to the stalk. I had the wheel back on. This was the first verification.

So, I laser the target and it's 48-50ish. I see (and recall) that I'd set the wheel on the 50 on the crosshair setting at the bench. I'd set this target at about 50. I'd just instinctly aimed at the target to blow off the shot to demonstrate, and silly luck had done the rest. I was close. So, I set up on the tripod to verify for real. And, I doubled the offhand shot!! Whoooh. You can always do something like that when nobody is there and it doesn't matter.

I then proceeded to move the board to ramdom distances and use the markings I'd pretty quickly penciled in on the one previous evening range session. Not bad. I intentionally didn't move the windage left because I wanted to check the consistance near and far and see how tight the cluster of shots fell. Next time I'll move it left and tighten up the number markings. Then laminate the dial markings. Old School. No BC numbers. No velocity charts. Just firing a dozen shots and marking the paper tape.

Yes, I know I haven't shown the gun. I'll do that soon with it's story.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2011 01:41AM by barnespneumatic.

Eric's 25 sighted in with four shots responding to the fine Simmons 4X Turkey scope atop. As i prepared for the fifth shot to take out the 10X at 50, I noticed a groundhog loping along at what I later lasered at about 140 yards.

Hey - this is shooting flat. I guessed the hold over and fired. The hog freaked and made a balled up hunched up lope to the field edge and cover. So; did I actually HIT it? Might have.

On the above target, you see Eric's 25 insert holes. Four to walk it in from the first about 15" and 6" right. The fifth was to be the 10X until the groundhog showed up!

What a lovely story. I hope that your audience appreciates what they saw...a *&??!!!@$%%* alien scientist with a big pellet gun.

Haha. Yeah. I debated telling the story cause I don't want to sound all snooty. But some of the things said and the reactions were just so darned funny, I figured folks either know me or not by now. Couldnt resist. Haha. .

At $3.00 a shell, it gets Expensive if-n ya don't know how to make the adjustments!

Great shootin' Tex. Always surprising what passes for sighting in. That 308 would be on from 50 to 200 without any hold over. That makes a big difference in the field at unknown distances. I'm still curious to see how the one dot under hold works out at distance. An interesting idea. Loved the story.

Kent

The man from Roswell...

Looks like some pretty decent accuracy already, wonder what it'll do when the slugs are dialed in?

It's always an adventure when you shoot at an informal range, especially trying to figure out when it's safe to head downrange to check targets. There's many a time when I've packed up and left when the wrong yahoos showed up, some people just have no concept of safe gun handling. Once I watched a self-proclaimed "expert" in all things firearms lecture his neophyte buddy with about a dozen different (and mostly incorrect) versions of safe gun handling rules, and then proceed to shoot a hole through the roof of his pickup truck with a lever action rifle.

I guess some teachers just have to include a demonstration.

great shootings.. excellent