Pretty Before Performance.

As I unpack at the Black Powder Cartridge Rifle (BPCR) events I go to, I start to feel a bit self conscious about my packaging.  Everyone has a nice varnished rifle case.  I have a modern aluminum case.  Everyone has a nice varnished wooden "Possibles Box."  I use a nylon motorcycle tank bag.  Everyone has a nice varnished wooded ammo box full of neatly aligned 45/70 rounds.  I use a combination of plastic bags and styrofoam.  Finally, today, I set one thing right.  I have a real ammo box and I'm fiercely proud of it!

This past weekend was a festival of oldness for me.  I rode my 1954 BSA motorcycle 80 miles to a vintage motorcycle show.  My bike, a Bantam, is nowhere near show quality, but it is nice to show up on something older than a lot of the entries.  After rambling around the show and swap meet, I returned home, but stopped at some antique stores along the way.  I had two options, either a nice old leather doctors bag, or a wooden box similar to a card catalog box. 

This is what I found:

It is a microscope box from somewhere around the late fifties or early sixties.  It has nice slip joint corners but the blocking inside to hold the missimg scope was a bit beaten up.  For $4 it was mine.  Once home I chipped out all the interior blocking, added a better hasp, added the bullet holding trays (still styrofoam, but now neatly housed), and added a felt lined foam in the lid to hold everything in place during transport.  To add to the oldness vibe, the photo is taken atop a console radio/turntable with "stereophonic sound."

Open the lid, and voila:

So now I can go the range and hold my head high knowing I have an attractive ammo box.  If only the box could make me shoot better.


Current $ per shot = $3.90
Current % of the money spent on shipping = 10.2%

Continued Mediocracy

I seem to have a penny pinching issue when it comes to bullets.  When I find a new bullet I want to try, I buy a minimum order of 50 so I can test them out.  If I like the new bullet, I'm stuck reordering before the next match, and usually I don't get them in time.  If I order 100 or more, I risk not liking the new bullet and being stuck with excess lead.  This month I tried two new bullets.  The first a 500 grain cast flat base, called a Saeco 1881, like so:

The second is a swaged "Creedmoor" bullet:

The uniformity of the swaged bullet was surely attractive and it seemed to carry over to the range.  It not only outshot the 1881, but also the 530 grain bullet I have been using up to now.  The improvement was small, but it was there nonetheless.  So, my challenge? I need approximately 60 rounds to compete, forcing me to use a combination of these 2 bullets.  Not only did I have to use a bullet that was sub-optimium at times, but I also had to account for different grouping locations, an elevation difference of several inches.

Despite all this, I scored only 1 shot worse than my first time out.  I am fairly convinced some significant imrovement is afoot, if just through practice, refinement, and personal consistency.

Below is a shot of me honing in on the gong for a fouling shot:

And here is a shot of Janice, my girlfriend, taking over spotting duty.  She seemed to have fun and has been hinting at shooting herself.  Maybe a modern replica is more in order.

The plan for next month is to work up minor load variations with the swaged bullet and also to test out a .22 adapter that will allow me a lot of cheap practice time, especially to tighten up my offhand (standing) shooting.

Current dollars per shot = $3.57

Current percent as shipping = 10.6%

Nothing tried, nothing gained.

I got out to the range today to test a few loads and see if a modification I'd made to my cheek pad would work.  My cheek pad was giving me all the same fits it gives to anyone who buys it.  The stock is tapered slightly, so recoil makes it eventually slide down (forward) on the stock.  I punched a couple of holes and laced it back against the butt of the stock.  The knotting isn't a problem as I'm using a rubber pad, but if I ever change from that it will probably be a problem.  Here's a shot with the pad removed.

It seems quite functional.  It took a while to stretch all the laces so they were nice and tight, but in 110 rounds it didn't move a bit.  Before the added lacing it would shoot free in 20 rounds or so.  The high comb does a nice job of keeping my head high and steady.  I'd have trouble claiming my groups actually got smaller as a result, it just felt more firm.

The main test was of a bit of gunsmithing.  I went and had my muzzle recrowned.  There was a noticeable amount of wear from over a century of cleaning rods and it looked like somebody had tapped it on something in the past, leaving a little dent.  The recrown just takes a light skim off the muzzle, keeps the same shape, and freshens up the interface of the crown and the exiting rifling.  It looks all shiny and new right now, but I'm sure after a few shoots and some time it will "patina in" to be unnoticeable.

Sorry about the "sniper through a bed sheet" look, but I had to use a close backdrop to trick my cheap camera into focusing on the tip.  So, how did it work?!!!  Absolutely no different than before.  Money wasted.  Nothing tried, nothing gained.
Another thing I did today was shoot a new sabot load.  I think I've finally pushed this as far as it is going to go and declare it a failure.  Wanting a bit more weight,  I replaced the .40 caliber pistol bullets with smooth sided .399 "paper patch" bullets in the same sabot, like so:

I used 55 grains of ffg black powder.  With a bit of compression this put the crimp just forward of the sabot.

Not only were the shots all over the place, the residue in the barrel included layers of plastic in odd little snakeskins.  I'm guessing that in a muzzle loader it isn't a problem because it is already seated in the grooves, while my loads have to transition at the throat and get torn into.  Anyway, nothing tried, nothing gained.

Current $ per shot :$3.91
Current percentage of cost that's shipping: 10.4%