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New gun in town

20K views 73 replies 7 participants last post by  frontiergander 
#1 ·
Cleaned her up and degreased it with gun scrubber, 60 strokes with JB Bore paste down the bore, internals were lightly coated with Barricade, head space was adjusted .013" outward for a slight crush fit on the primer to prevent primer blow by. One heck of a gun so far! An easy 4 shots and shes ready to go. I will be using this Optima with 100gr Blackhorn209, 250gr Aerolite Powerbelt on my New Mexico mule deer hunt this September.




After 8 shots.



Tomorrow shes gonna get a work out at 100 yards and possibly even 150 yards.
 
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#68 ·
It looks like the trigger guard got the finger sled moved back a bit was not in the shoulder so it jumped up & back. Along with the improper cheek weld due to using the sled it is not allowing this & the I'm guessing heavy load hints need for sled in first place. Tho some guns just kick hard to start with not saying yours is one of them. This is why I don't use one it won't shoot the same off hand after sighting in with a sled all you need is a solid front rest to sight in. I would have warned about scope eye danger as it looks you did she was staying well clear of the scope. Let her shoot it off-hand make sure posture & eye relief is correct no mechanical contraption to reduce recoil is a good sub for proper stance grip posture its not natural bad things happen when recoil meets a brick wall unlike a soft shoulder. Lighten up the load if this is her first experience with a .50cal that's what I would do. In fact for a young hunter I would start with a .22 teach them how to use it properly any shooter would benefit from this new or not . Teach them how to hold & shoot it along with proper trigger control not jerking it then move on to the bigger stuff. Every good marksman will tell you a .22 will make you a better shot & better prepare you to shoot a real rifle. With little recoil cheap to shoot & fun once they can shoot a .22 accurately and properly hold it they will have a heads up on the bigger stuff & hold it the right way right from the start. To many kids scared off with bad experiences IMHO sleds add to this number. I have been shooting from the age of 8 & every time I use a sled it is a bad experience most in the rifle club i'm in agree that. It introduces a unnatural sight pic due to cheek weld is different when in sled as compared to shouldering the gun & recoil. Your body should absorb the recoil if it's to much to handle lower the load or check your posture - gun fit. A led sled just stops recoil like a brick wall & adds length of pull & unnatural cheek weld. She was probably pushing cheek into stock to be able to see into the scope. Glad to hear that it did not scare her off & she is still willing to shoot. Just my .02 cents
 
#70 ·
she very rarely shoots, it took us for ever to get her to pull the trigger LOL. Improper cheek weld? No just a new girl that hasnt any any time at all.

She did have a blast shooting my 3030 a few months ago! She was actually asking to shoot it and did pretty dang good at 100 yards.

I dont load my sled with weight as its not needed for a muzzleloader.

She also likes this one


NNext in line for her to try
 
#71 ·
Well good she is still shooting that's all that counts. She just looks uncomfortable with that gun in my opinion. Maybe next time start a bit lower on charges for a 1st timer a mag load in the muzzy has some kick most guys don't care to load bh209 to 120g limit kicks like a mule. Hows the sled reducing that much recoil with no weights? From the vid it looked to have some real deal magnum recoil coming back on her. If I remember right BH209 a load of 80g would be a standard hunting load above that would be mag load with a cap of 120g as recommended by the powder mfg shooting 100 to 110 is going to kick. even more so with a heavy bullet don't see many shooting that much powder without a sled cuz they cant accurately shoot that load without or want to:tongue:
I stick to what I can shoot with accuracy as far as powder charge goes & trust me bh209 80g powder load is more then enough to take game at 150 to 200 yards. The sleds wont be in the field with me if I'm lucky I may find a stable front rest for gun. If not I guess it's all off hand no rest. In fact I would like someone with a sled to test my hypothesis & post pics just to see what happens you spend lots of hours at range. Shoulder your gun don't change loads or a thing set just the front of the gun on a solid rest like a tripod try for a grouping I would expect to see shots all over. Now lower powder charge to lets say 90g sight the gun in only using the front rest amazing groups right. Now put the gun in the sled re sight with it get it spot on with that same load of 90 you used off hand then try to fire it with just a front rest no sled. Groups are all over Human error ? Nah I bet you 100$ if you was to sight back in only using a front rest & holding the gun you will get that amazing accuracy far better then the sled ever did.
 
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