The South Florida Chapter of the Barnes Rich Snobs held it's first shoot today in Miami at Trail Glades Range.

The first order of business was to park your car full of air-gunning gear. Let's see........empty space............THERE, no........
OVER THER...............no...........handicap!


Next, show your admission ticket and get a position on the range:


Next order of business was to select our president. One candidate clearly stood out from amongst the crowd. You know the type: he'll have an erudite look about him with full beard and moustache, a Barnes rifle, knife and cap, he'll be wearing a vest and smoking a pipe or cigar.


Then we convene on the range; let's see, where to put our gear?


Keith, his wife, two sons, brother and I had a wonderful day at the range today putting the new gun through it's paces. From bottom right to top left: Keith's wife, two son's and Keith. I was taking the picture and his brother was off reading as he didn't shoot.


I took a lot of video but I'm not going to fool with it until later.

Lon



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2008 02:26AM by Bigbore.

Wow,

Busy range. Evidently they haven't taken "all" the guns yet!

Glad you all got out. The Prez. did look quite "Quite". So glad the election went without scandle (and glad it didn't run two years).

So - how did the gun do?

Gary

Excellent . . . looks like a lot of fun guys. Did you get any groups?

That is indeed a big range . . . but remember Gary that FL is a lot more gun-friendly than MD.

Lon, I read about your troubles with the range officer too (long story short -- apparently they wouldn't allow a tethered HPA tank at the firing line). Would it perhaps help if you guys went there "off-hours" and gave the range staff a crash course in big bore?

-- Jim

Jim,

I didn't want to whine about that here because on balance it was a great day. It was actually funny how Keith and I swarmed the range "Enforcer"-I don't know what his title is-without conspiring first and neither of us would let up on the guy.

You have to take a range safety course and follow a very choreographed set of safety procedurers to use the range. I had recently taken the course, you may recall a post about me being suprised by an "expired" range card on my last visit. Of the plethora of rules and regulations I didn't recall anything pertaining to pressure vessels. I was demanding to "see the rule" and pointing out that our tanks were D.O.T. approved with current inspections and Keith and I were demanding to see the Range Master.

The reason we were given for not being allowed HPA vessels on the range was a risk of puncture from a richochet. We came to an agreement about their use for today but it is uncertain going forward.

Lon

Richochet!!!! If they have the range set up so richochet can get back to the shooting line ... what about PUNCTURE of the human carbon units on the line!!

I thought they'd about made richochet impossible in the other rules and physical set-up.

That's a bummer.

I wonder .... brief story. I once had an old classic car. It used a common ford automatic transmission (about as unique as dirt). Well, I could not find a shop to rebuild the thing because they didn't want all the workers taking time to stand around looking and discussing the thing,because of the car. I pressed it some, and was nearly tossed out on my wallet.

Gary

Gary,

I shot the rifle once, full fill which yielded 3 shots. Keith was setting his target out to 50 Yards and I had 2 the were dead on sans elevation and I pulled the third shot, I knew it was bad before I even looked, TERRIBLE shooting form. Keith was keeping a notebook, I brought my chronograph and Keith had a few different types of ammo although none of my favorite Bishops.

All right Lon,

I see your name down there on the bottom bar. Give. We want to see holes in paper. We want to see clouds of condensation.

We want to see big antlers strapped across car hoods ....

Man ... I've been sitting here for twelve hours now ... hehe. And ... the President isn't taking my calls!

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2008 03:12PM by barnespneumatic.

Gary,

I literally have about 10 browsers open at once and a signon to this forum doesn't seem to time out quick if at all. Even though my name is listed as being signed on I may be 4 hobbies down the road, sleeping while running a full system(1,000,000 files) virus scan or out doing my laundry.

I didn't take any target pictures, I only saved two targets I shot with my 10/22 trying out two different types of ammo to see which flew best in the barrel the burglars left me. Ask Keith-as if you didn't know already from experience- I usually shoot my mouth off more than my guns at about a 5 to 1 ratio.

We were doing some serious work and Keith was keeping notes but that range is controlled chaos, 20 minute fire/no fire, crowded, patrolled, etc. It's not like rolling up in a private area with a portable shooting shack and being able to do what you want when you want to do it. Getting set up, targets placed, sighting in 3 differend types of ammo, letting five different people shoot the gun and trying to document 3 different types of ammo at 3 different fill pressures all between fire/no fire 20 minute intervals with all the chatter and chamraderie is not conducisive to volumes of detail.

I was running my mouth, Keith's wife literally brought a picnic lunch, we had other guns we were shooting and I was filming for the first 2 1/2 hours. Keith is going to have to provide you with his ledger notes. I have the film which I will edit during the week- today is laundry day- and we'll have more material as the week progresses.

I'll llook forward to seeing whatever you have to share. Glad you got out and shared some conversation and good food! Sorry I missed it.

Gary

Nice post Lon. Looks like you all had a good time despite the knucklehead range guy.

What a crowd at the range! No wonder folks don't shoot much. This is why everyone needs a Warwagon and a field to drive it to.

Jerry,

I'm sure you guys know how good you have it. My blood pressure rises about 1000 psi when I have to go to that range but it's all we have for rifles within reasonable driving range.

Looks like we may be driving further in the future though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2008 05:14PM by Bigbore.

Gosh Lon,

I feel so .... bad.

OK ... I'm over it.

Yeah ... I know ... "real ranges" are a real pain. It's what we peasants (without land) have to do. I just FINALLY stumbled onto a place where I could shoot (ok ... actually two places). That was after ten years of dragging everything to a public range.

I think we should all move to Wyoming.

Gary

barnespneumatic Wrote:

I think we should all move to Wyoming.


Good Call. Montana is starting to get too expensive..... at least in the civilized areas.......

Northeast corner, northwest corner, still affordable but its out there.......


dan

Lon:

Looks like you had a good time even with the crowds and RO issues. Hopefully, it won't be repeated out here in Clearwater.

Karl

All,

The range was a pain in the %$s. At least I know I have the counties support if I want to shoot in my back yark. I'm sure it will be safe, the next house is a good 25 meters away.

The range day was an event to allow the kids and Alice to shoot the rifle and to check the new ammo to see how the rifle liked it. The kids and my brother Kris, whom Lon mentioned above, all thought it was too much effort, but Alice insisted on zeroing the rifle, which was not the point of the effort. Anyway, it was a blast, and educational.

Now to the technical stuff:

Lon brought along his chronograph and I was able to get some stats.

K5's - three shots between fills

First shot
High 835 Low 811

Second shot
High 750 Low 735

Third shot
High 649 Low 637

Note: 4 inch drop between shots 1 & 2

K4's

First Shot
High 873 Low 864

Second shot
High 823 Low 813

Third shot
High 713 Low 684

Note: 3 inch drop between 2 & 3

The rifle was never really sighted in, thats for next weekend. However, I did learn a lot of how well the rifle does with different slugs. I think the bishops Gary and I shot worked the best, but I still need to do more testing. I guess I have to send in another order to Jerry before Wendsday.

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2008 01:22AM by Keith.

Keith,
What was your fill pressure for those shots? It looks like you could use more air.

BTW, better hurry with the order, the boys are looking to unplug the computer until the first.

Jerry,

Will do. I'll put the order in today.

I was running between 3100 and 3200 psi. Most charges were at the 3200 range. I did notice when a fourth shot was taken it would be around 600 fps and the valve would stay open, so I know what the low limit is. The rifle is great for a hunter where 1 or 2 shots are all that are needed, but its good to know I can push it to four shots before I'm out of air.

The 300gr K5 would be great for wild boar where I'm shooting 25 - 50 yards. Based on the impact to the rear burm, I bet it would be great out to 100 yards. The 2nd shot would have to be adjusted to make up for the drop, but I have to put a lot more lead down range before I will really know the performance variables.

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2008 04:22PM by Keith.

Jerry -- don't forget about the order I sent you before Christmas.

-- Jim

Jim,

Your order has not been forgotten. In fact, Chris is making the Bishops right now and the Avalanche and Pepper Grinders are complete. I still have to price it out because SOMEBODY had to order in odd quantities...

BTW, my intent is to size the big slugs to .4515 as you asked but go with .452 for the smaller slugs. We can always go down to .4515 from there but we can't go up... Given the intent to find the best size or the gun, this makes sense to me. Let me know if you disagree and we'll size everything to .4515.

Also, for those who are wondering. The cardboard you see on end in the range picture is for brass deflection. For some reason a lot of people were shooting assult weapons.

Keith

Hi Keith,

That's probably because the poor people don't have big bore PCP rifles. Poor folk.

Yeah ... sound like you might have had a little too much "help" that trip. Two hours, by yourself, and you'll know all you need to know about it.

25 meters to the next house .... hummm .... converted, that's .... carry the .039 .... 600 yards! Sure ...

Gary

Gary,

Well, everyone wants to play with dad's new toy and that's half the fun. I did not bother resighting the scope because it did not matter where it was hitting as long as it was on paper (able to put more lead down range in shorter time period). It was off after the baggage handlers banged it around during my return trip, but it was on paper. Since everyone shot the same, I knew it was not me.

I can wait for the chance to shoot solo. Of course Alice will have to have her own rifle to shoot or I'll never get past sighting it in.

BTW - you would be surprized at how many small bore holes appeared on my target. Some of the people shooting their AR15s at 25 yards were hitting my target at 50 yards.


Keith

I always think it's fun at a public range (might be the only fun) that soooooo many spotting scopes end up being turned onto my target!

Get up unexpectedly, and take a quick glance down the line .... heheh.

Gary

Also fun, at the range, when the guy next to you has a box or two of old ammo they are "blowing off to get rid of it". BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG ... NEW CLIP - SLAM - COCK - BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG...... REPEAT ... BANG BANG BANG ....

Now if they would shoot the Surefire ammo that fast it wouldn't be so bad.

Jerry,

Now that would be something to watch.

BTW - order sent.

Keith

Keith,

Got the order, Thanks. I'll be swinging by Gary's shop on the 1st to pick up the Bishop mold so it'll be a few days after that before we can ship.

I just located the Bishop mold here. Intended as a shop mold, it's on the other end of my 58 hunting slug! Bummer. I can't keep up with molds.

Just curious ... Keith, have you shot the K-4, K-6, K-8 slugs? I think the K-5 was sent just as a "see if this works" slug.

We'll get some Bishops out of my mold here, or I'll loan it to Jerry (99 year lease ... . I'm just wondering if you've determined the Bishop to be the best for you, or if you are just wanting to try that one again. I see we did use that when you picked up the rifle (the Bishop tray was in the Warwagon), I know time was short that day ... I don't recall if we tried others as well.

Gary

Gary,

We shot the Bishops and K8's when I picked up the rifle. The Bishopd performed well and so did the K8's, but we were on a feed from the tank and we never tested on single fills. The K4s and K6s I shot at the range purformed well, but the followon shot was far different between the two. The 2d shot with the K4 was close to the first, but the K6 had a noticable drop. So now I need to test the Bishop off of a single fill and compare that to the K4 (at 50 yards). Then test all three at 25 and 100 yards respectively. Also keep in mind that when we were out it was 30 degrees colder then it was here when Lon and I went out and I'm sure that had an effect. I will need to put more lead down range to determine which slug works best for the specific task and conditions.

Keith

Keith,

I think you might want to try a little higher fill pressure as well. I'll bet that going up 200 psi gives you two shots that are real close in velocity.

Jerry,

I would agree, but I'm not sure how far I can push the presure. I was filling to 3200 psi and I'm not sure I want to push it too far beyound that.

Keith