44-77 Sharps paper patched load

[Eric Johanen]

Yesterday was my last match of the season. The Buffalo Shoot. 500 yard buffalo reduced to 200 with 4 sighter's, 10 off stick's and 5 off hand. I ran the 44-77 using the Brook's 440 grain paper patched bullet and 75 grains of KIK 2 fg. Color buffalo 36 inches from hoof to hump and 44 inches nose to tail. Lung shot is one third up the body, the size of a clay target and scores 8 for center and 7 outside. Heart is smaller 10 for a center and 9 for outside ring sitting low in the body just to the right of the front leg bone. Irregular shape makes for some interesting hold points. Gamble on the 9 and 10 or play it safer with the 7 and 8. All other hits on the body score a 6. I do not have enough strength for off hand and elected to shoot the 5 sitting for no score along with the 10 record shots sitting off the sticks. Since I use this rifle with the open barrel sights I dispenced with the sighter's and shot for score right from the first round. First one cold bore hit the right horn in front of the high neck shot. Lowered my blade a little and stayed in the area between and around the lung and heart scoring rings. Horizontal was pretty good with vertical caused by the shading on the Buffalo's coat and lack of distinguishing aim point. Up the front leg and around one third of the way into the body and let her fly! first 10 were all in the light's and would have resulted in a good kill. The last 5 I was a bit tired and had some trouble centering the blade in the rear sight and had a middle centered body shot maybe just catching the liver and a miss I called just off the brisket when I pulled with the blade not quite centered. First 10 shots scored a 60 with many impacts very close to the 7 and 9 rings but not centers. Had a bunch of fun using the barrel sights, watching the paper bits fly at the muzzle and placing my shots into the heart/ lung area. Match was shot in mid afternoon and the light was behind me so it could have been a little brighter on the sights which would have improved the definition quite a lot. Still got it done. Two years ago I used my Shiloh Military Rifle with barrel sights and last year I had Lucrezia my C. Sharps 50-90 with paper patch ammo and barrel sights so this year it just seemed right to use the Shiloh Hartford 44-77. I am the only runner using barrel sights and get favorable comments for doing so. The Lawrence rear and Hartford front really work nicely for this kind of shooting. This is one of my favorite shoots as the buffalo does not give a good aim point to place your sights on so you have to figure out where the kill zone would be on a animal rather that target hold as on a bull's eye. All smiles during and after the shoot!