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Forums10
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Most Online1,344 Apr 29th, 2024
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 146 Likes: 11
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 146 Likes: 11 |
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Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 289 Likes: 25
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 289 Likes: 25 |
Got out to the range yesterday and one of the two smokeless loads I had picked from the ladder test put 7 shots at 100 yards into a little over 1.5 inches, so a good start there. I also shot ladder tests with black powder and the 480 and 535 grain bullets. I have to say that touching off a 535 grain bullet and 86 grains of black gets you attention in the 8 pound 9 3/4 ounce rifle!
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1 member likes this:
Vall |
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 731 Likes: 24
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 731 Likes: 24 |
I have to say that touching off a 535 grain bullet and 86 grains of black gets you attention in the 8 pound 9 3/4 ounce rifle! I bet it did! My recent foray into BP I loaded up .45-70 with my 526 gr. bullets and 64 grs. of 2fg BP, and it left my shoulder a little bruised! Can't even imagine 86 grs. in your lighter rifle!
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442 |
You will toughen up after a bit. I shoot between 82gr of Swiss 2f and 100 gr of the same using a 514 or 535 gr bullet in matches using my various .45s. That's 45 to 60 shots per day in multi-day matches. You will learn to mount your rifle correctly and consistently, or it will let you know about it. Usually 1 or two range sessions is all intakes every spring.
_________ BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)
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Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 289 Likes: 25
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 289 Likes: 25 |
You know though, it is really close to shooting a 12 gauge HV with 1 1/4 ounces of shot. Of course, I wouldn't want to do that much from a bench, and prone, not at all. I had a 12 that would double every now and then and the guys I was shooting with would tell me it happened and I wouldn't believe them until I opened the action. I guess standing and shooting at a moving target makes the difference.
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 731 Likes: 24
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 731 Likes: 24 |
You will toughen up after a bit. I shoot between 82gr of Swiss 2f and 100 gr of the same using a 514 or 535 gr bullet in matches using my various .45s. That's 45 to 60 shots per day in multi-day matches. You will learn to mount your rifle correctly and consistently, or it will let you know about it. Usually 1 or two range sessions is all intakes every spring. My issue is the buttplate. My Ballard Perfection is a low 3 digit serial number, and was built when Marlin was using up Brown Mfg. parts. So receiver is Marlin, but trigger, hammer, and the crescent buttplate is all Brown Mfg. Brown Mfg. made their version of the crescent buttplate very deep, unlike Marlin's were. So the two points are brutal no matter how you hold it! I use a PAST recoil pad to help. Even with that the two points can hammer me through the recoil pad.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442 |
Vall, you can fix that without modification using a lace on leather should sling butt piece and then as many laminations of thick leather as needed to fill out the crescent contour. Di do this for an old Marlin 95 and a Sharps #3. More to get some length than to overcome the crescent, but it has that effect anyway. Quite easy to shoot.
Or you make a second stock for it of course...
_________ BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 731 Likes: 24
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 731 Likes: 24 |
Vall, you can fix that without modification using a lace on leather should sling butt piece and then as many laminations of thick leather as needed to fill out the crescent contour. Di do this for an old Marlin 95 and a Sharps #3. More to get some length than to overcome the crescent, but it has that effect anyway. Quite easy to shoot.
Or you make a second stock for it of course... Here's a picture of my Perfection's early Brown style buttplate. If I was to build up the depth of the crescent it would easily add 1" to the length of pull. And then add a lace on cover, and I'd be stretching to reach the trigger. My only option would be to make up a 2nd buttstock with a plain shotgun style buttplate, or keep using this one with my PAST recoil pad, which is marginal at padding those points. I do have a couple old crummy Ballard buttstocks I could refit to this #4 to use it in our 1000 yd. matches. But likely I'll just set it aside, and switch to my Whitney-Laidley .45-70, or my Hepburn in same. Both lighter guns, with 30" barrels, but more comfortable buttplates. Don't really want to change this #4, as it's the first Ballard rifle I ever bought many decades ago.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442 |
No, you don't have to fill it completely to do what you want and even if you filled it completely, it might actually fit you better. My Ballard is no different than yours. Except that is probably a bigger caliber (it's a Pacific .45).
But whatever works for you, works for you. Just suggesting what works for me.
182130
_________ BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,767 Likes: 442 |
Here is a reproduction of an AH front sight. I have one of these and it's pretty nice after some refitting. Note it has a cross-wise hole in the base that holds the staff to the base. The hole is tapered so the screw wedges itself as tightened. https://www.buffaloarms.com/alexander-henry-elevating-long-sf12.html
_________ BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)
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