Black Powder... THE WIND
by Chris Risebrook
My lack of experience in handloading bottleneck cartridges proved not to be handicap. The only awkward part was full-length re-sizing and that was handled with a dab of case lube, lots of grunt and the usual bout of swearing.
The results of my chronographing , all using the excellent 180 grain lead gas-check bullets from Tru Flight were as follows:
10.5gr. Unique 25gr. Reloder 15 12gr. 2400 16gr. 2400
1323 fps. 1206 1179 1431
I stress once again that these are not recommended loads - they are loads that are safe in my gun, but may not be safe in yours.
These loads produce energies below 1000
ft.lbs and all are pleasant to shoot. My favorite load so far is 10.5 of Unique. This is what I call an ‘up and down’ load. It shoots point-blank at 50m and 100 yards, so it is on its
For the 100 yard shooting, I took the rifle to Bisley in March - it was freezing. We fired a few shots and went home. We tried again in April - it was blowing a hoolie - we fired a few more shots and went home. In June it came down like stair rods - scuba gear or a boat would have been useful but this time we persevered and actually got a group - of sorts- rather than the previous loose association.
Is it just me, or does Short Siberia make its own weather? I have used that range on and off for sixty years, and I always associate it with lousy weather. At least, we now shoot under cover – thanks to the British Benchrest Club. I remember in the Cadet Corps days, we used to roll ourselves in gas capes complete with rifles. All you could see was a row of camouflaged sausages with rifle muzzles sticking out!
Back on my Club range I also tried 10.5 gr. of Red Dot. Whilst I did not chronograph it, it shot to the same point of aim at 50m. and the perceived recoil was identical - which is odd, bearing in mind it has a faster burning rate than Unique. All of which proves there is nothing wrong with the gun or the handloads - as usual it’s just the idiot hanging on the back.
Now we come to the funny bit, or should that be pathetic? I have been trying to shoot the Beuret muzzleloader described in the June issue of Target Shooter and shown below. Any muzzle-loading riflemen reading this article must be laughing their socks off at my feeble efforts but, just in case there are any other would-be masochists out there thinking of trying this form of target shooting, I will recount my various trials and tribulations.
My initial load was 50gr. of Triple 7 and the 270gr.
Shooting undercover of the benchrest range on Short Siberia, Bisley
way up at 50 and on its way down at 100. It also works - standing - at 25m. provided I remember to take centre aim rather than ‘lollipop’. Being incurably lazy - and easily confused - I like loads which do not involve sight alterations.
lubed bullet from its (supposedly) matching mould. Well, it was quite an effort just getting the first bullet down the barrel and a T-shirt was definitely not the right shooting apparel - the resulting shoulder bruise took two weeks to disappear!
I swabbed the bore after the first shot with 4x2 lubed with Bore Butter but, the second bullet had to be hammered down the bore and the third bullet only went a few inches down the barrel and stuck fast. It was necessary to remove the nipple and tip out all but
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