JReed wrote:Those are sexy looking. Cant wait to hear how they shoot.
Not so good, but not bad at all, if I do say so myself! 1st of all, I forgot my reference chart of sight settings... dern "senior moments"! Anyway, in total, I fired 10 rounds, none of which registered on the chronoghraph. And I don't have the foggiest idea why. 'Cause following that, I fired 10 rounds thru the .45Colt 18" Uberti 1873 ½-rnd/oct and 8 of the 10 registered. The other 2 registered as 90fps and 17.7 fps... The 90fps was shown as shot #7, although I'd only fired 6 rounds at that point. I'm guessin' the battery might be a little weak, as it's a year old, or a little better!
I started off on the Sharps with the sight setting just below my 200 yard mark (as I found after getting home), and was well high, firing a second shot before adjusting anything... at the top edge of the paper... 2nd shot being about 6" right of the 1st, but about the same elevation. I then moved it down (too far), and had 4 shots not on the paper, doin' that guessin' thaing! Moved it up, and shot 1 shot about 5" low, 4-½" right. Moved it up some more and fired another not quite 2-½" high, but 4-½" right. Moved the windage left and fired another shot about 4-¾" left and about an inch higher still. Split the difference on windage and dropped the elevation almost an 1/8" and fired. This punched paper 5/8" high and about 1-¼" left. This off a bench on good rests. I can see the front sight good enough, but the back sight and target are very blurry. This is probably about as good as it's going to get... my bead covers the 7" colored center of the target... So it ain't 'xactly "precise"! Oh yeah, the loads were 85 grains of Swiss #1-½ over a TP wad and CCI BR-2 Primers, all topped off with a 350 grain bullet from a RCBS .40-350-CSA mold, lubed with SPG.
Didn't want to fire anymore as I really want to know what the tale of the numbers show!
Changed rifles to see how the new Uberti Short Rifle handled BP rounds for cowboy action. My 1860 Henry is VERY tight and binds up after 3 or 4 shots... Whereas my older (1986) Uberti Rifle can go almost 100-110 rounds before the lifter starts feelin' "gummy". The 1873 shot way low, as my rear sight was on the lowest step of the elevator, which is where I had for it cowboy shoots. Moved it too much and ended up with 2 shots about 4" high. Moved it back down in the second step and shot several shots with different sight holds. Didn't bother trying to get a group, just wanted to see where to hold the front sight to get in the "green". Cut the 10-ring @ 4 o'clock on the last shot... and called it good! Especially for me with a .45 Colt at 100 yards! Good for coyote, deer or even havelina inside that distance!
The .45 Colt loads with Goex "Cartridge" are only carrying 28 grains of BP, pushing a 225 RCBS 45-225-CAV bullet with SPG lube. Outta the 18" barrel these were loafin' along at an ave. 885.5fps, with 8 of the ten measuring an ES of 52.5 and SD of 21.5.
That was with the Chrono set up about 13' in front of the muzzle to keep any BP smoke outta the screens. Next time I'm going to tape a piece of paper over the front one, and move it up to where the back screen is about 5 feet away.
All in all, not a bad day. But, I shoulda got an earlier start... as by the time I had everything set up, it was 4:30 and the sun was far from being anything close to overhead!
And thanks for the spelling correction
