another levergun at range day

[Grizz]

Steve's post reminded me of a range day in the past that shares some elements with his experience...

I met several guys online who lived in the PNW, and we eventually got together to do some shooting. Fred knew someone with a private gated range, and we fellow-shipped there several times. It's where I finalized the 45/70 load anti-water-jug load. When I got there Fred and Blaine were already there occupying a couple of benches at the 100 yard gong spot, and three people I hadn't met. One man was working with his hunting rifle at another bench, and two guys were at right angles to that line with pistols and paper targets. One man was instructing a visitor from Britain who had never fired a gun before. (!)

I had a Marlin 39 and a Marlin stainless guide gun, and as is my custom I fired offhand at the gong standing between Blaine and Fred. Starting with the 22 for warm ups i dinged the generous size gong for a while. The Visitor was noting the lever gun and I offered to let him shoot his pistol targets, his host was OK with this, so I showed Visitor the manual of arms and he started trying to apply his pistol training to the receiver sight, so I explained that if he ignored the rear sight, and concentrated on the front sight and target the bullets would go where the bead is.

Meanwhile I loaded up the 45, announced the coming booms, and rang the gong with 525 Gr BTB running around 1450-ish, I forget. Got good tone Naturally this peaked the interest of Visitor, who had arrived at the boring stage with the 39, so I offered the 45/70 to him. It has the exact same sight setup, and other than a mention about recoil management there was nothing more to say. His two friends watched him center the gong with two shots, an Englishman who had never shot a gun before. His pistol mentor also took a shot and centered the gong, first time with a lever action 45/70. Two strangers to lever action carbines were now proficient with new hunting skills. I credit the genius of the Marlin 45/70 as a universal diplomat, making friends one boom at a time.

†
grizz

Screenshot (5255).png

[Bill in Oregon]

Grizz, as my late father-in-law would say, you were "doing the Lord's work" at the range that day.

[Paladin]

Great excuse to shoot and have a good time with war stories. Just fired 20 rds through a lever gun in the backyard today working on sights

[Grizz]

Great excuse to shoot and have a good time with war stories. Just fired 20 rds through a lever gun in the backyard today working on sights

that's something I miss. not in the back yard but a 3 minute skiff ride across the inlet was my spot. i only shoot pellets in my yard now. goes tink instead of gong!

[Ray]

They called him frog. Never mind he looked more like a toad than anything else. A toad is just a frog that doesn't like water and this particular frog preferred drier conditions. He had thought and planned to spending the daytime hours of his waning years in a boat on the coosa river, primarily on lakes henry & martin with occasional trips north to the tennessee but he soon wearied of that. All of that hauling and backing down ramps and the like tried his patience and physical strength. You see frog was a huge fellow, something like 28 stone on a frame meant to support only 14 to 15.

Frog was a retired educator. Coach W______was what he had been formally known as. He had always tended to stoutness but then a fall and subsequent injury set him so far back, healthwise, that he never recovered his former level of physical training. Twice daily fast food combos and thrice weekly trips to Cantonese and Texican buffets did the rest and he wasn't too far into his retirement before he became too large for casual boating and eventually not conveniently ambulatory. First a walking cane-then one in each hand - then a rolling frame - then an $8,000 rechargeable three-wheeler assisted his mobility or lack thereof. He sold the boat(s) to finance the scooter and had enough yankee greenbacks left-over for a hunting equipped golf-cart and trailer and the annual dues to a deer hunting lease membership.

The new of the hunting lease soon wore off, same as with the boating/fishing. Hauling the golf cart and unloading and squeezing himself into a 20 sq. ft. blind that reeked of urine and cigarette butts soon grew tiresome. The first half-dozen beasts he slew gave him some satisfaction but then taking undisturbed, broadsided deer at 150 ft. in a food plot proved to be about as sporting as shooting turtles in a bathtub.

So, in the end, his hobby became weekends at the local shooting range that was close to home. He liked to get there rather early and savor the quiet before the crowds arrived and the gunfire started. To frog, it (the range) was like church to other folk and scratched all of the itches that he had previously thought that fishing and hunting would fulfill.

Then one weekend morning the crowd arrived at the range to find the gate oddly still locked. Someone rushed to frog's home only to find him cold and slumped into a heap between his bed and bathroom door. His range bag and the firearms that he had intended to use that day were in the kitchen waiting to be loaded into the truck.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/an ... id=8659094

[Grizz]

Steve's post reminded me of a range day in the past that shares some elements with his experience...

I met several guys online who lived in the PNW, and we eventually got together to do some shooting. Fred knew someone with a private gated range, and we fellow-shipped there several times. It's where I finalized the 45/70 load anti-water-jug load. When I got there Fred and Blaine were already there occupying a couple of benches at the 100 yard gong spot, and three people I hadn't met. One man was working with his hunting rifle at another bench, and two guys were at right angles to that line with pistols and paper targets. One man was instructing a visitor from Britain who had never fired a gun before. (!)

I had a Marlin 39 and a Marlin stainless guide gun, and as is my custom I fired offhand at the gong standing between Blaine and Fred. Starting with the 22 for warm ups i dinged the generous size gong for a while. The Visitor was noting the lever gun and I offered to let him shoot his pistol targets, his host was OK with this, so I showed Visitor the manual of arms and he started trying to apply his pistol training to the receiver sight, so I explained that if he ignored the rear sight, and concentrated on the front sight and target the bullets would go where the bead is.

Meanwhile I loaded up the 45, announced the coming booms, and rang the gong with 525 Gr BTB running around 1450-ish, I forget. Got good tone :) Naturally this peaked the interest of Visitor, who had arrived at the boring stage with the 39, so I offered the 45/70 to him. It has the exact same sight setup, and other than a mention about recoil management there was nothing more to say. His two friends watched him center the gong with two shots, an Englishman who had never shot a gun before. His pistol mentor also took a shot and centered the gong, first time with a lever action 45/70. Two strangers to lever action carbines were now proficient with new hunting skills. I credit the genius of the Marlin 45/70 as a universal diplomat, making friends one boom at a time.

†
grizz

Screenshot (5255).png

I should explain the jug shot, which was shot at the spot I described, but not on that day. That was the final test on the load the gentlemen were shooting. The bullet stopped in the 12th jug, and the hydrostatic shock lifted the plank clear of the bed rails, which shows in the video.
It is the essence of trading velocity for momentum, and is not punishing to shoot in any way. This is the most surprising thing about this load, pistol or carbine or rifle, it is easy to shoot because the recoil impulse is not destructive. :)