Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Well, the rain finally let up and I was able to get out for something other than groundhog control (not that I actually saw any groundhog as stupid as me standing out in the rain!) and got to the range.

Took the 4" S&W M629 to the range along with a bag of the Hornady swaged 240 gr. SWCs over 8 gr. of Unique. A little smokey but accurate at 25 yards. Most shots from the 5 cylinders full were in about a 4" group a little left of but on the same elevation as the X-ring on a 25 meter pistol slow-fire target. I was using a 6 o'clock hold at this range. Tried adjusting the sight but something isn't quite right (maybe it is me!) and the group only moved slightly to the right.

I also took the Makarov in the original 9x18 Soviet chambering and a couple of magazines of the Barnaul 95 gr. HP loading. This load seems to be the most satisfactory of the factory loads and is available from Dan's Ammo for $60 per 500 rounds. Doesn't pay to reload at those prices. On the same target (well, a new 25 meter pistol slow-fire target) all shots from the single magazine fired were in the bull with several in the X-Ring. This was also fired at 25 yards.

I was then going to go to the 50 yard range but Mr. Greene and his buddy as well as Dave Rhodes and a friend had showed up and I really didn't have time to wait my turn to set up a target at 50 and then at 100. So, I came home.

Unfortunately the forecast for the rest of the week is for rain. That's for the next 6 days!

I have quite a collection of brass and need to load the .22 Hornet and .218 Bee brass. I've been putting this off in order to do other things. I also have a bunch of brass to polish and pack away.