Lodi results

[Distant Thunder]

Arnie,

There is a good amount of interest in the 200 yard .22 BPTR match in August. It is not official yet but if it does happen, if the club allows the match to take place that day, it will be very interesting to see how many people turn out for that match. A lot of people have asked Cliff questions about what will be allow as far as rifles and shooting positions. I told Cliff I wouldn't post anything (too much) about the match until the club ok'd it and that's about all I can say right now. I am a little excited about the prospect!

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

I have been just about every weather condition there is in my 25 years of shooting at Lodi, hail, rain, snow, freezing temps, temps over 100 degrees, fog and of course wind, wind so strong spotting scope were blow over and chairs went tumbling across the range. You name it I've shot in it, pulled target in it and spotted in it. Just as most of us have. It makes for good memories and good story telling.

My final load for the .44-77 was as follows:

BACO JIM430520 (recut to .433") dry wrapped with 9# 100% cotton onionskin .002" thick and sized to a snug fit in my Krieger barrel.
86.0 grains of Swiss 1 1/2, lot #18-01-2021, weighed.
(1) .030" LDPE wad seated on the powder with (1) .060" HDPE wad seated on top of that.
.050" compression.
BACO brass converted from .50-110 Win.
Remington 2 1/2 large pistol primers.

For the next match I will have at least 2 or maybe 3 different bullets to see how each does with this same load. That won't happen until before the end of the month. I may have time to test the different bullets at 220 yards here at home, but I won't be able to do any match shooting until the end of May at the earliest.

[Distant Thunder]

Don,

Yes, those kinds of matches are fun in hindsight, but not always so much while they are going on. At one point on Sunday while I was spotting for Brent my hands got so cold they were getting very painful. Brent gave me his gloves to put on since he could not wear them while he was shooting anyway. After that relay I dug my gloves out of my truck and I wore them the rest of the day when I wasn't shooting.

At the time it wasn't fun, but it was worth it when all was said and done and Brent won the match. I always say, if I can't win the match I damn sure want one of the guys I'm pulling and spotting for to win. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's not for lack of effort on my part.

I like it when the spotter(s) for the winner get some recognition for their part in the winner's success. I like the TEAM aspect of the sport.

[Don McDowell]

The BPTRA match in 2020 we had shirt sleeve weather, and then the last day the wind came whipping straight out of the north, at M1 and the temps were in the mid 40's with a bit of snain mixed in just for fun. Everybody was excited to get off the line and into the pit. LOL. I thought it was fun at the time and still do, some not so much.

I finally started to work on my new 44-77. Having some trouble getting this MVA scope converted to the Zimmerman mounts, so that I can reach 1000 yards. Need a taller base under the rear and then I should be able to get past 900.
But will shoot it as is for the Wy. State match in Worland a month from now. Hopefully I can get the kinks with the scope ironed out by the Scoggins match in July, and then maybe maybe make the trip east to shoot with you guys in August?
Really like the way this rifle is shooting, and cogitating a bullet just for it.

[Aviator]

I made it back home mid-afternoon today.
I pulled up the current weather conditions for Lodi when I got home. 6 mph steady wind ........ Quite different from the 15 gusting 30 we experienced Saturday and Sunday.....

There were four of us that shot without having a spotter on Saturday. Just the way it worked out, due to not having the correct number of shooters to make it work out even. But on Sunday one person had dropped out, and it worked out that we now had the correct number for the shooter-spotter-target puller combinations.
I also got a little chilled on Sunday afternoon. Mid-40's doesn't sound that cold, but the wind had a bite to it.

There was one relay where I never really made any sense of the wind calls on Saturday. But I figure unless you try, it isn't likely to ever learn how to do it.
All in all, it was a very good way to spend the weekend!

[Distant Thunder]

Don,

Brent told me that one of my bullets that came in a low right 6 was tipped noticeably. He didn't notice anything like that on any others. It may have been a bad bullet, or it may be that it hit some bad wind and wasn't able to recover. I don't think the bullet is too long at 1.456" under more normal conditions. I have given some thought to shortening the mold just a little.

I noticed some tipping, 10 to 15 degrees, on a few of Brent's bullets as well. I'm thinking that with those really hard gusts of quartering headwinds we had that a bullet might get a bit wobbly and not have time to recover if it ever would.

I know I had one low miss in record fire, but the other 2 or 3 misses I had were to the right, if I remember correctly. The wind was mostly from the south and southwest and the range faces west so it makes sense that I would get pushed off to the right.

I don't know where the sweet spot is for length in a 17-twsit .44, probably around 1.440 to 1.450". When I run the numbers I get a maximum length of 1.480" and I don't like to push right up to the maximum in any caliber. I've got two adjustable molds and I will have to play with one or both to find the answer.

I have also begun thinking about my next .44 caliber bullet mold! Apparently there is no cure for this mold buying disease

[Don McDowell]

Jim I have great confidence in the 1.35 long bullet I shoot in the 44 2.4
I would think that at 1.4 a 44 caliber bullet should with stand about anything Mother Nature can throw at it and still make 1000 on a stable flight path
High low misses can be because of the bullet length but if the bullet is well under practical length then it’s more likely something in the wind currents above the line of sight

[Don McDowell]

Steve nice job on your shooting
Guess those trips to BA and Byers are paying off?

[Distant Thunder]

Just about everybody had trouble with unexplained shots and there was wind for sure.

I had paper patches coming back in my face at times. I had a stack of several wiping patches just take off and be gone.

I covered my stuff with a tarp between relays but had a hard time keeping it in place. I had to have help folding it up when we finished shooting on Sunday.

My dirty patches were scattered all over because they would blow away when they came out the muzzle. I saw other shooters crawling around on their hands and knees picking up patches too.

So, I think there was some wind up above the flags that we couldn't see.

It's all part of the fun!

[Don McDowell]

Out this way it’s not uncommon to see stay put mats with grommets added for staking the mat down ?