Well I had my first date with my new Bobcat Kitty. Since this was also my first fling with ML'ing it was extra special.
I went to work today as normal but 'long about 10AM my manager offered to let one of us go home early. My partner in crime didn't want to go so I decided to get Kitty and head for the range.
On my vacation to SanDiego I was able to find a shop (actually my brother found it) that had some Speer .490 balls and .015" Prelubed patches so I now had all the basics that I thought I would need.
The first real miracle of the day was that on a beautiful Saturday afternoon there was one lane open on the 50 yard range. I got everything out and realized that the range is about 75% MLs today (though only one other guy has the hammer in the right place :winking: ).
I started by measuring 55gr of Pyro P (only thing I had on hand guys, sorry) and dumped it into the barrel. A prelubed patch on the muzzle followed by a ball. Hmmm... Having a tough time getting it in with the ball start. Enough pressure to put a big ring on the ball doesn't even begin to get the ball going. I asked the guy in the next lane what he thought. A couple others also look it over. Yep definitely too tight. manure.
I tug on the patch to get the ball out and the patch finally comes out... and the naked ball proceeds to roll down the barrel. Ack, double manure. I upended Kitty (poor gal, and on our first date) and pounded on her butt. Sort of like an odd ball Heimlich maneuver. No go. Now wishing that I had gotten a ball puller the guy in the next lane, who is quickly becoming a mentor to me, suggest lightly raping her muzzle on the wooden loading bench. I am rewarded with a ball and a pile of powder.
I am heartbroken and nearly resigned to taking her home early when I remember that I have some cleaning patches with me. Well they looked a bit thinner, though I have no idea what they measure. What have I to loose.
A freash load of powder goes down the tube and I slather a bit of bore butter on a cleaning patch, center a ball and give it a push with the ball start. A little resistance but a smooth pop and its in. Turned the starter over and pushed her in a few more inches. All feels good so to home it goes with the ramrod. The other lanes are still firing so I go ahead and cock her, fit a cap and let one go at the bare backstop just to see if all the parts stay together. Flash, boom and my ML'ing virginity is gone in a puff of smoke.
Great. I just need to find out what size these patches are and I am in business. Since everything held together and recoil was clearly mild I load up a tube with 60 grains. Time for everyone to go down range so I put up a pheasant shotgun patterning target as that is all I had on hand. I fire a three shot string an all are on the paper roughly on a ten inch long line running SSE from a point about an inch or so south of my aim point. Needless to say I am tickled pink to be on paper at this point. Due to the generous front sight I expected to be low and it is. Fab.
Next string of three is at 70 grains followed by a string at 80 grains. Each group was slightly higher than the previous and tighter. The groups can now be covered with the palm of my hand. about three to four inch groups. Recoil is now noticeable but not brutal.
I shoot one more at 85 grains. This one starts to open up a bit but I am not sure whether it is the powder load or just a fouled bore. My wife has been waiting patiently for almost two hours by this point so I decide to call it a day. While I wait for the line to go cold so I can retrieve my target I pull out the old worn out .22 breaktop revolver and let loose a couple of cylinders (16 rounds) at the 50 yard target.
When we head down range I find a 10" group of .22 holes around my half inch holes. Gotta feel good about that given the range and condition of that old sportsman.
Now the icing on the proverbial cake. Chatting with an older gent on the line he says that he thinks that a HW store a few miles up the road sells real powder. Well I have to follow that up. It turns out that they did not have it but he sent me to another shop and they did have some. Woohoo! I am now the proud owner of one pound of Goex fffg. $16 seems reasonable to me given what he has to go through to stock it.
He said he is going to try to keep selling it. The Feds are not satisfied with his current bunker so he is going to try to get it set up to satisfy them. Local FD has no problem but you know how it goes.
Right now he only has the fffg but that is most likely what I would use anyway. So anyone who hails from anywhere near Syracuse Indiana I would suggest you drop in to Miller's on the West frontage road of hwy 13 (SW of the KFC) and pick some up. We need to make it worth his trouble to keep selling it.
After playing with some of the C&B revolvers in his case I took the ever patient Nan out for dinner and then took Kitty upstairs for a nice hot bath and bore butter rub down.
As near to a perfect day as I can imagine. I think we are in for a long relationship.
mike
I went to work today as normal but 'long about 10AM my manager offered to let one of us go home early. My partner in crime didn't want to go so I decided to get Kitty and head for the range.
On my vacation to SanDiego I was able to find a shop (actually my brother found it) that had some Speer .490 balls and .015" Prelubed patches so I now had all the basics that I thought I would need.
The first real miracle of the day was that on a beautiful Saturday afternoon there was one lane open on the 50 yard range. I got everything out and realized that the range is about 75% MLs today (though only one other guy has the hammer in the right place :winking: ).
I started by measuring 55gr of Pyro P (only thing I had on hand guys, sorry) and dumped it into the barrel. A prelubed patch on the muzzle followed by a ball. Hmmm... Having a tough time getting it in with the ball start. Enough pressure to put a big ring on the ball doesn't even begin to get the ball going. I asked the guy in the next lane what he thought. A couple others also look it over. Yep definitely too tight. manure.
I tug on the patch to get the ball out and the patch finally comes out... and the naked ball proceeds to roll down the barrel. Ack, double manure. I upended Kitty (poor gal, and on our first date) and pounded on her butt. Sort of like an odd ball Heimlich maneuver. No go. Now wishing that I had gotten a ball puller the guy in the next lane, who is quickly becoming a mentor to me, suggest lightly raping her muzzle on the wooden loading bench. I am rewarded with a ball and a pile of powder.
I am heartbroken and nearly resigned to taking her home early when I remember that I have some cleaning patches with me. Well they looked a bit thinner, though I have no idea what they measure. What have I to loose.
A freash load of powder goes down the tube and I slather a bit of bore butter on a cleaning patch, center a ball and give it a push with the ball start. A little resistance but a smooth pop and its in. Turned the starter over and pushed her in a few more inches. All feels good so to home it goes with the ramrod. The other lanes are still firing so I go ahead and cock her, fit a cap and let one go at the bare backstop just to see if all the parts stay together. Flash, boom and my ML'ing virginity is gone in a puff of smoke.
Great. I just need to find out what size these patches are and I am in business. Since everything held together and recoil was clearly mild I load up a tube with 60 grains. Time for everyone to go down range so I put up a pheasant shotgun patterning target as that is all I had on hand. I fire a three shot string an all are on the paper roughly on a ten inch long line running SSE from a point about an inch or so south of my aim point. Needless to say I am tickled pink to be on paper at this point. Due to the generous front sight I expected to be low and it is. Fab.
Next string of three is at 70 grains followed by a string at 80 grains. Each group was slightly higher than the previous and tighter. The groups can now be covered with the palm of my hand. about three to four inch groups. Recoil is now noticeable but not brutal.
I shoot one more at 85 grains. This one starts to open up a bit but I am not sure whether it is the powder load or just a fouled bore. My wife has been waiting patiently for almost two hours by this point so I decide to call it a day. While I wait for the line to go cold so I can retrieve my target I pull out the old worn out .22 breaktop revolver and let loose a couple of cylinders (16 rounds) at the 50 yard target.
When we head down range I find a 10" group of .22 holes around my half inch holes. Gotta feel good about that given the range and condition of that old sportsman.
Now the icing on the proverbial cake. Chatting with an older gent on the line he says that he thinks that a HW store a few miles up the road sells real powder. Well I have to follow that up. It turns out that they did not have it but he sent me to another shop and they did have some. Woohoo! I am now the proud owner of one pound of Goex fffg. $16 seems reasonable to me given what he has to go through to stock it.
He said he is going to try to keep selling it. The Feds are not satisfied with his current bunker so he is going to try to get it set up to satisfy them. Local FD has no problem but you know how it goes.
Right now he only has the fffg but that is most likely what I would use anyway. So anyone who hails from anywhere near Syracuse Indiana I would suggest you drop in to Miller's on the West frontage road of hwy 13 (SW of the KFC) and pick some up. We need to make it worth his trouble to keep selling it.
After playing with some of the C&B revolvers in his case I took the ever patient Nan out for dinner and then took Kitty upstairs for a nice hot bath and bore butter rub down.
As near to a perfect day as I can imagine. I think we are in for a long relationship.
mike
