Today was the monthly bp shooters match in my area, and the first one I've gone to since the begining of summer....yes I wilt in the heat if you must know. Anyhow, I brought out my trusty 50 cal T/C Renegade lefty as usual and proceeded to shoot my first shot to the left...WHATTT????? Oh no you don't that's unacceptable!! Next shot was high, then left again, then right then low etc for a full 8 shots, hell I even missed the lollipop targets!! All this at a target only 25 yds away. Now usually I can dot "I's" with this rifle so I figured I must REALLY be rusty and I'll settle down on the trail targets. As we were walking away from the deer target ( it was a 8X11 piece of paper with a deer cartoon on it), a friend asked me what load I was shooting, my reply, was "The same as always, 55g 3f goex. Well, we soon got to the trail where the targets are my "friends", the distances vary between 25 and 125 yds. There I proceded to miss 4 out of ten "HOLY CRAP", says me to me-self. However, I noticed with the last shot, which was away from the crowd, the boom sounded like a firecracker, not a rifle. Thinking about Kim's question earlier, I asked him if that was why he asked what my load was and he nodded yes. Same gun, check, same powder, check, same balls, check, same patches, check, same caps, check, same powder measure, check....now "What the devil is going on here???", I either screamed or mumbled...I can't remember which. As I was turning to walk back down the trail, shuffling my feet looking woebegone and down at the path, not making eye contact and dragging my rifle in shame, I raised and blew into my homemade horn powder measure and stopped dead in my tracks.....(pause for effect)....... There in the bottom half of the powder measure was a spider's coccoon!!!! Instead of 55g I was throwing about 25-30g. A wave of relief swept over me as I realized I could shift the blame to a spider and not my inadequacy with my long gun WHEW!!! This my friends is proof positive, for me, that when you find that"special" load for your smokepole, never deviate!!! Always expect the unexpected and never trust what you hear while wearing government issue hearing aids !!
Range Report From Hell !!!
- Thread starter sltm1
- Start date
- Status
72coupe
Member
Condolences on your day but congratulations on finding the problem.
Last edited:
Texan Scott
Member
Spider cocoons are sticky little string wads of NOPE. I would not feel right until that measure was cleaned with a flaming jet of WD-40. Keep it away from the powder!
BullRunBear
Member
Sorry for your bad day but glad you found the problem.
And many thanks for another excuse, in my growing collection of them, for why my targets are "inconsistent" so often.
("Hey, guys, it's not me. It's the spider!")
Jeff
And many thanks for another excuse, in my growing collection of them, for why my targets are "inconsistent" so often.
("Hey, guys, it's not me. It's the spider!")Jeff
45lcshooter
Member
Glad you found the problem. Ive been shooting smokepoles for a couple of years, and i figured out that they like what they like, no highway option.
loose noose
Member
Harold V Schoultz, convinced me of that a long time ago, especially with the water soluable oil patches, weighing the balls to within a grain of each other, as well as the powder charge, every rifle is an entity upon itself.
- Status