Did i mention how much i love my new barrel
I went out to my folks place just NW of Brooks, AB to try my hand at shooting some live targets. I had been loading my 223 for 75gr amax but due to finances etc i opted for loading some light bullets i had on hand. 50gr Hp flat base(not sure brand) and using up the last of my Dad's old IMR 4895 powder he gave me(30+years). I figured this would be a great way to get some trigger time and fire form some brass. i loaded up 200 rounds at 24.5gr which is .7gr under the starting load, seeing as i have never shot these bullets with this old powder i figured better safe than dead.
So i went out to my buddies field. man i started giggling like a school girl. thousands of gophers. no joke. i met up with the farmer he said some guys from up north had been coming down and had already shot 2000 of the little buggers. but i couldn't tell
so i pulled into one of the fields and found a great shooting alley running along the fence where the grass was nice and short. no range finder so i stepped off the distance. it was about 250yards. i pulled out my 50gr ammo placed my milk jug up at 100 yards dialed in to what i thought should be 100 yard mark and POP!! so i was on target check out my target and did some fine tunning to get zeroed in. Then I nailed my first gopher at 100 yards. moved up to 250 yards to see how well the bullets would group or not. took me a couple shots to get used to the elevation drop. but as luck would have it 250 yards was my next mildot so i proceeded to pound a few gophers at 250yards. I was pretty impressed with how well the bullets worked and i must have gotten lucky with the powder charge.
I let my barrel cool for a couple of minutes and while i was waiting a couple of gulls and a crow decided to have some lunch at the 250yard mark. so i let the crow get his fill then figured it was time to add him to the carnage pile. i can't remember the last time i shot a crow. it's too bad i can't shoot gulls. cause as soon as they came around the gophers disappeared.
I stayed out there for 4hours(wish it was longer) I had to keep moving around to get the gulls off my back side. i only used 90 rounds and missed about 5 times. I got a couple shots on video, wish i had them all on video but it's so hard by yourself and i'm not a very patient person. It's a good thing i brought my 10/22 with me or i probably would have done some damage to my barrel.
I'll be going back down around july 1st and will be taking my 6.5x55 along with me this time and see if i can't get set up for some longer shots. and this time i'll be more patient and get more shots on film.
I went out to my folks place just NW of Brooks, AB to try my hand at shooting some live targets. I had been loading my 223 for 75gr amax but due to finances etc i opted for loading some light bullets i had on hand. 50gr Hp flat base(not sure brand) and using up the last of my Dad's old IMR 4895 powder he gave me(30+years). I figured this would be a great way to get some trigger time and fire form some brass. i loaded up 200 rounds at 24.5gr which is .7gr under the starting load, seeing as i have never shot these bullets with this old powder i figured better safe than dead.
So i went out to my buddies field. man i started giggling like a school girl. thousands of gophers. no joke. i met up with the farmer he said some guys from up north had been coming down and had already shot 2000 of the little buggers. but i couldn't tell
so i pulled into one of the fields and found a great shooting alley running along the fence where the grass was nice and short. no range finder so i stepped off the distance. it was about 250yards. i pulled out my 50gr ammo placed my milk jug up at 100 yards dialed in to what i thought should be 100 yard mark and POP!! so i was on target check out my target and did some fine tunning to get zeroed in. Then I nailed my first gopher at 100 yards. moved up to 250 yards to see how well the bullets would group or not. took me a couple shots to get used to the elevation drop. but as luck would have it 250 yards was my next mildot so i proceeded to pound a few gophers at 250yards. I was pretty impressed with how well the bullets worked and i must have gotten lucky with the powder charge.
I let my barrel cool for a couple of minutes and while i was waiting a couple of gulls and a crow decided to have some lunch at the 250yard mark. so i let the crow get his fill then figured it was time to add him to the carnage pile. i can't remember the last time i shot a crow. it's too bad i can't shoot gulls. cause as soon as they came around the gophers disappeared.
I stayed out there for 4hours(wish it was longer) I had to keep moving around to get the gulls off my back side. i only used 90 rounds and missed about 5 times. I got a couple shots on video, wish i had them all on video but it's so hard by yourself and i'm not a very patient person. It's a good thing i brought my 10/22 with me or i probably would have done some damage to my barrel.
I'll be going back down around july 1st and will be taking my 6.5x55 along with me this time and see if i can't get set up for some longer shots. and this time i'll be more patient and get more shots on film.
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