By cracky! There were two Woodchucks down by the alfalfa field. Earlier today, I had counted at least four of them and probably there is up to seven, judging by all the fresh holes and dirt piles drilled into my field .... the Groundhog crop this year is the best yet. At lunch time earlier, I had time to load up only two rounds, 9 grains of IMR 4227 under a Magma cast 115 grain bullet sent to me by JerryB to try out. That load gave me 1,149 fps with an E.S. of 74 fps and a S.D. of 30 fps; at the range a week or so ago, the five shots I had loaded up with this recipe had gone into 2 & 3/16" at 100 yards. I figured this load is a keeper, and I've ordered the mould.
I grabbed my 'new' Winchester Model 53 chambered in 32 W.C.F., more commonly known as 32-20 and fed my two rounds into the magazine. This rifle had been serialized in Winchester's Polishing Room on April 19, 1926, 84 years ago last week. It is in superb condition and I doubt it has ever worked a day in its life. Time to change that. As I headed out the door, I levered in a round and lowered the hammer to half-cock. The first fellow saw me coming over 100 yards away, but there was some scrub and a clump of three Burr Oaks between me and the second Groundhog. When I came clear of the scrub, there was Woodchuck number two, with just his head and shoulders visible. He was right on his hole and he had spotted me. It was a free standing, offhand shot of 28 yards. My five shot group at 100 yards showed that the sights shot 1 & 1/2" to the right at 100 yards and I hadn't had time to adjust them yet, so I slid the top of the bead over to the right about 1/2" or so and touched off the little rifle. There was a solid thump and I knew the vintage rifle had started earning its keep. Photo is below ....
