The first picture here you can see our paper targets, then the large rock formation to the right. We used that formation to get on target, then we shot at the smaller rock in the lower right hand corner of that formation. It made a dandy target. We estimated the range at 350 yards. It was not as far as the 400 yard steel targets I shoot with Jim Williamson and Old Savage north of Los Angeles with some of our other Levergun friends. If you look to the farthest most right in this picture you can make out a smaller round rock formation that became the next array we shot at. We could see the hits pretty well with our binoculars or with the naked eye.
Here are the tools I bought. From top to bottom, “Old Thirty One Twenty”, a 71/84 Mauser I have had for years. The loads I had were using the lighter 385 grain bullets and were not loaded by me, but they seemed to function well. I needed to shoot them up so I could reload the cases with my own custom 485 grain bullets and smokeless powder load.
The next rifle is my custom McPherson 454 EX Puma. It has too much to list but I could not afford “bling” so it looks stock. It cycles regular 454 Casull or cartridges 1/10th of an inch longer. This allows me to use more powder or some bullets not normally useable. The chamber was also throated to allow for the longer cartridges. The internals have Robar NP3 coatings and a host of other upgrades. I'm currently looking into getting some custom exotic wood as the rifle deserves something special after all these years.
Next up is my Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk 1* made by Savage. I found this rifle at a local gun show all gooped up in Cosmoline. In the process of stripping that off, I stripped the color from the wood, so I had no choice but to refinish the wood. I steamed and sanded most of the dings out. The metal was perfect and looked new. Honestly, other than being tested by the factory I do not think this rifle was ever issued or fired. It was a good find. I did add an after-market ball trigger rather then grind on the original Savage parts.
Next up is my CZ 550 American Safari rifle modified to 375 H&H Ackley Improved. It has a trigger job, came with a premium pad, and we added a mercury tube within the buttstock. This made the rifle balance off the shoulder much better as it wasn't so muzzle heavy. The loads used were some 300 grain protected soft point bullets at around 2500-2600 fps and not my usual 350 grain boat tail Match King bullets. This rifle with its flip up leaf express sights is just sick on how flat shooting it is as you will see.
Not in the picture was my 454 Casull Taurus Raging Bull as gunsmithed by Jim Stroh.
This was our short range set-up from the road for pistols and small rifle.
This was our Extreme Range array. Follow the line of burnt trees from the lower right corner to the upper left corner. The big bald spot of dirt just upward left of dead center of the picture is approximately 800 yards in my estimation. It is not as far as the 1000 yard competition targets we have at FoBD (Friends of Billy Dixon Ultra Long Range Shooting Facility but I prefer just simple FoBD) which I must shamelessly promote again as it is the best place in the whole world to shoot.
http://www.gunblast.com/AndyTuttle_FOBD.htm
So how did it go? Well first off, I have to say that since I have not shot for two years now as my interests changed to hot rodding Harley Davidson's, my skills have atrophied some. I have a new eye glass prescription and I am learning to live with it. The front sight is crystal clear, but the rear sight is blurry. I am wondering if I should modify the prescription some.
All rifles were shot from a camp chair using iron sights except for the CZ 550 which has to be shot from standing for obvious reasons. Now that I have some practice again, I need to shoot from standing as Jim and Mic taught me.
Old Thirty One Twenty was a joy to shoot using the various loads I was given. The first set of handloads which were paper patched but with smokeless powder seemed to work very well and shoot to the sights. The other ammunition did not shoot to the sights so well, I think they were hotter loads but without a chronograph I cannot say. I am fairly certain both loads were with Accurate 5744 as they filled a lot of case space and such loads are fairly common for the 43 Mauser when using smokeless powder but I cannot say without having taken the time to dissect them.
I was able to get on the first “rock array” pretty easily and hit dead center in the largest part of the rock formation. After that, I was able to fire at the much smaller rock in the lower right hand corner of that array. It made a good target. My friend Steve helped to call the hits with his binoculars if I could not see them, and I would make an adjustment to my sight picture, and then I could pass the rifle over to him with instructions and he could hit the same rock dead on. Old Thirty One Twenty is a surprisingly accurate rifle at long range but it doesn't even get warmed up with a 385 grain bullet until your shooting 200 meters. Below that, it shoots 14 inches high at 100 yards with that bullet.
So I was able to hit the rocks I wanted dead center, and so was my friend at an estimated distance of 350 yards.
I was able to do the same with my Puma shooting my “regular” 300 grain 454 Casull loads. I did not adjust the rear sights from previous. Neither one of us bought tools to do so. Duh! So it was all “Kentucky windage” but the little Puma with a 300 grain bullet at about 2000 fps could still do the job with its iron aperture rear and fiber optic front sight. I told Steve hold this sight picture with a little bit of space between the bottom of the target. That was all it took. He was also right on the money! This is still my “go too” rifle. It is light, handy and powerful. And Mic's modifications make it accurate with a decent hand load even with the stock barrel which in this case, was actually pretty good.
I was also able to hit the rock formation, including the smaller rock, with the Enfield. Its iron sights are pretty darn good and easily adjustable.
We moved to the round rock on the extreme right edge of the first picture. This was when I broke out the CZ rifle. The 300 meter leaf was shooting too high for that distance and bullet weight (keep in mind the rifle is set up for my 350 grain boat tail handload). I went back to the 200 meter leaf and was able to get on target pretty easily. Bottom of the edge of the rock, dead center of the formation. I passed the rifle over to my friend Steve after giving him a brief tutorial and letting him dry fire the rifle in standard and set trigger mode. He had never shot such a powerful rifle cartridge before but he hit the target just fine. The guy can shoot. And he was a helpful spotter for me. It was actually him that recommended I try to hit the big bald spot of dirt way the heck away at an estimated 800 yards. I think I hit the center of that batch of dirt within 4 shots maximum and I think maybe I did it in 3. Its truly not hard with this rifle. It is just so darn flat shooting!!!! It did tend to make me take a step back because of the recoil. I have to work on my stance I guess. What was interesting was that you could actually see with the naked eye the location of my hits as they left a gray spot and what must have been a big hole. Yes, even at that range. Not making that up. Must have been some grey rock under that sand. All in all, I was again very impressed with this rifle and cartridge. I tried to get the Mauser on target at that range and target, but we could not see where it was hitting, or else I was way off, but I don't think I was. I tried various settings and targets to see where it was hitting in the dirt, but couldn't detect them. Oh well.
Note to self, I need to replace my spotting scope.
All in all, the day was wonderful and I had a great time.
Oh yeah, I also fired the Taurus Raging Bull in 454. I was surprised at how easy this gun is to shoot. WAY easier then my 460 snubbie! (I know, duh! But the darn snubbie just balances so well in the hand!) I am really rusty now on my pistol shooting and I'm switching my stance from a Weaver to an aggressive Isosceles Triangle which seemed to work fine. Thanks Jerry M.! More dry firing practice is definitely needed. Again. Sigh.
As always, thank for listening.
Regards,
-Tutt
Except for a couple or three smaller levers I have (39M, 1894 Marlin 44, old 94 Win) those Vs don't work for me anymore....I still get decent use from a large aperture and bright green/red front. I'm afraid I'll be using a scoped rifle to hunt from now on, tho 
