Short Range Day

[Griff]

Yesterday I went out the gun club and sighted in a couple of rifles. Actually, just verified the zero on my .32-40 1885. I shot 3 different loads from the .32-40, all smokeless, one lead 170gr over 15 grains of 5744 pretty centered about an inch to 1-½" high, fine for hunting, and the two jacketed loads, both over the same 15 grains of 5744, one a Speer 150 grain, and the other a Sierra 150 grain were both lower and more left of center, with the Speer & it's slight larger meplat the lowest, centered about an inch low and an inch to the left. The Sierra being inside an inch high and an inch left also.

And, I shot the .40-90 1874 Sharps for the first time in about 3 years. And, actually the first time since I put the new front sight & longer staff on the tang. Since to fold the tang sight all the way down, I have to lower the eyecup all the way to the bottom, and... forgetting my notebook on settings, it took about 11 or 12 shots to find the paper at 50 yards. I had to finally, look thru the barrel to center the target there, and then adjust the rear sight to align with the front sight and the target... Still nothing! Then, I noticed the front sight was cranked way over to the left... After repeating the previous process, I finally got it on paper... then after a couple instances of moving the sights in "wrong" directions, I got down to seriously sighting in. My last 3 of the last 5 shots were in the lower right quandrant of the bullseye, and for some reason, the 4th shot was 1-½" right and an inch high, then the last shot just above and right of center. I got great pictures of the target and shot sequence on my tablet thru the Longshot camera system... but for some reason can't seem to get them imported to the laptop, although I have in the past... something about this tech stuff must be escaping me today. Here's the unmarked target:

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Not the best of groups, but for my eyes and just trying to get a group from which to proceed, good enough.

I got nearly home and a neighbor called and warned me that a hole had developed in our bridge (not the 1st one) and it probably wasn't safe to drive my p/u (dually crewcab w/diesel power) the final 1/4 mile home. And definitely not safe for me to drive the Kenworth out to leave today. While the State has purchased the road from the highway to just past the bridge, the agreement was we'd maintain the road until they get started on improvements to the highway and build the new bridge. The trash truck apparently completed the expansion of a hole caused by a separation in the joints in the concrete culvert under the road. So... a couple of neighbors & I got a sheet of steel that partially covers the hole (3'x3'x3-½' deep), added a couple of 4'x8'x¾" plywood sheets to provide a temporary cover so the neighbors can get home. After the other 2 guys get home, we'll meet to discuss how to make a better patch. I'm sure concrete & gravel will be involved!

[Paladin]

Good luck with the road situation. Glad you got to do the short-range report, Thanks. I gave up and went to optics on most items I use on live targets.

[Griff]

Good luck with the road situation. Glad you got to do the short-range report, Thanks. I gave up and went to optics on most items I use on live targets.

We repaired in a slightly different manner this time, we decided to lay sheet metal over the exposed joint in the concrete conduit and laid about 11 bags of quickcrete over 'em, the wetted them down on Friday night. Saturday I went & picked up a tow-behind gas powered mixer and we poured about a yard & a quarter in the hole and although we estimated we might have to use more... it was perfect. Tomorrow I'm going to uncover it and see how well it's cured.

[Griff]

Shoulda got pictures of the before, and the effect of during, but did take one of the after. About 3 ft in diameter, 3-½ feet deep and undercut the road bed in 3 directions. After stuffin' 11 bags of concrete on top of some sheet metal to cover gaps in the concrete culverts, we finished by topping all that with a yd & ¼ of mixed concrete. Between Sat morning and today, it's definitely hard enough to handle the traffic. Inconvenienced the neighbors for a few hours as we did the work, but all good now!

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