My current hobby: Cowboy Action Shooting

[D_Hall]

[deleted for reasons]

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

That is some impressively fast and accurate shooting!

[D_Hall]

And just for fun... I put together a video of the local club's shooters. I don't think there will be any Oscar nominations for this video, but it sure was fun making it.

[Jimboishere]

I have an ancient Martini-Enfield that I haven't had the opportunity to shoot yet...




Did you use handloaded ammo? I think last time I've seen factory .303 British is pre-Covid at the local hunting store https://gritroutdoors.com/ , not the most popular load after all.

Wonder if it will fire even, considering the age. Probably would need to put some elbow grease to shoot it safely...

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

The firing mechanism worked perfectly and it didn't explode, but the rifling is so worn that it was keyholing like crazy, the bullets weren't stabilizing at all. I'll probably re-barrel it at some point.

[Jimboishere]

The firing mechanism worked perfectly and it didn't explode, but the rifling is so worn that it was keyholing like crazy, the bullets weren't stabilizing at all. I'll probably re-barrel it at some point.

I mean that's not too bad then! Surprised it worked that well, considering how old it is!

[D_Hall]

The firing mechanism worked perfectly and it didn't explode, but the rifling is so worn that it was keyholing like crazy, the bullets weren't stabilizing at all. I'll probably re-barrel it at some point.

You may be able to fix this with different loads.

Suffice to say.... I have an 1895 Mauser (7mm). When I first started loading for it....yeah, EVERY round keyholed. But the bullets I was shooting were light weight (I was trying to go easy on the gun due to its age) which in turn made them short. That meant that the bullet had to travel a bit before it engaged the rifling. All hell broke loose then and...keyholing.

Eventually I bought some longer (yes, heavier) rounds so that the bullet was *almost* engaged in the rifling while it sat in the chamber. I still kept the powder charge low-ish as I still wanted to be nice to the gun. Regardless, the keyholing was fixed and it is now a nice shooting gun. See below for a video (cued up to right spot).



Note too: If memory serves one of the guys in that video is shooting an original Springfield Trapdoor.

[D_Hall]

And as a minor brag, I set a new personal best last weekend....



...Still not going to win any championships, but I felt really good about that run.

[HarryPotter69]

i thought the man in the right was a dummy for a sec

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

That's pretty fast for such old designs!