![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Winchester Model 67
9 January 2025 03:33 pmIf I am going to be in any way capable of completing the Brutality/CQB East Match on Memorial Day (link), I am going to have to do more shooting. The dry fire exercises and work desk exercises I have been doing will only get me so far. One of the things of that is that 45LC ammo for the lever gun I expect to run at the match is expensive. And while it’s always best to shoot the gun you intent to rely on in a match, things like sight picture and trigger control are mostly transferable so using a different gun with cheaper ammo is not a bad thing. Of course, better than not shooting at all.
This is my grandfather’s Winchester Model 67. According to Wikipedia, the finger groves in the stock were discontinued in late 1935 so since production was begun in 1934 this was one of the first produced and originally sold for $5.50 and has served four generations of my family. My grandmother was a a crack shot. My father a natural. I used this rifle to teach at a summer camp. My daughter learned to shoot with this rifle when she was five years old.
The regimen I am going to use at this stage is Riflechair’s Cabin Fever Challenge (link).
The basic format (for 22 caliber) is timed fire at 50 yards at a 4” bullseye. Five rounds fired standing, five rounds kneeling, five rounds prone, five rounds sitting. Scoring is the number of hits multiplied by five and divided by the time in seconds.
For me, that’s going to be quite the challenge. All of my 22 caliber target shooting experience has been at 50 feet and a 1.5” diameter bullseye. That’s a very different challenge than 50 yards, even at a 4” target. But, again, the point is sight picture, trigger control, posture, and simply shooting.
I am going to make a point of getting out at least once a week. I visit my mom once a week and the range is on the way home. This first week will be essentially sighting in the gun, figuring out where it shoots at 50 yards and how to dial it in.
I had the range all to myself with a few inches of snow and, thought mostly sunny, only 25 degrees. I forgot to grab my sandbags loading the car and so just rested the gun on top of my range bag. I fired two strings of 20 rounds each. My middle-age eyesight has the rear sight pretty blurry and, with iron sights, that is quite a detriment but one I can adjust to by being consistent with the blur.
Once completed, I fed all the data into Rob at Britishmuzzloader’s (link) Figure of Merit calculator (link). A FoM of 1.33 doesn’t mean much but I shot a 4.8” group size, 1.8” to the right and 0.3” high. Ideally, to zero it in, I should be aiming at almost the edge of the bullseye, just after the 8:00 position. Once I am no longer shooting off a bench, that’s going to be tricky at 50 yards but, well, it’s a sight picture.
What I do next week depends on the weather. I will move to shooting standing, kneeling, and sitting. When I do prone shooting will depend on whether the snow has cleared or not. After a bit of that, I will move on to timed shooting. My intention is to do the final challenge (timed and filmed as proof) at least twice before the end-of-March deadline; once with the 22 and once with the 45 lever gun.
In the meantime, I will also be working on dryfire routines, though I need more dummy rounds.
This is my grandfather’s Winchester Model 67. According to Wikipedia, the finger groves in the stock were discontinued in late 1935 so since production was begun in 1934 this was one of the first produced and originally sold for $5.50 and has served four generations of my family. My grandmother was a a crack shot. My father a natural. I used this rifle to teach at a summer camp. My daughter learned to shoot with this rifle when she was five years old.
The regimen I am going to use at this stage is Riflechair’s Cabin Fever Challenge (link).
The basic format (for 22 caliber) is timed fire at 50 yards at a 4” bullseye. Five rounds fired standing, five rounds kneeling, five rounds prone, five rounds sitting. Scoring is the number of hits multiplied by five and divided by the time in seconds.
For me, that’s going to be quite the challenge. All of my 22 caliber target shooting experience has been at 50 feet and a 1.5” diameter bullseye. That’s a very different challenge than 50 yards, even at a 4” target. But, again, the point is sight picture, trigger control, posture, and simply shooting.
I am going to make a point of getting out at least once a week. I visit my mom once a week and the range is on the way home. This first week will be essentially sighting in the gun, figuring out where it shoots at 50 yards and how to dial it in.
I had the range all to myself with a few inches of snow and, thought mostly sunny, only 25 degrees. I forgot to grab my sandbags loading the car and so just rested the gun on top of my range bag. I fired two strings of 20 rounds each. My middle-age eyesight has the rear sight pretty blurry and, with iron sights, that is quite a detriment but one I can adjust to by being consistent with the blur.
Once completed, I fed all the data into Rob at Britishmuzzloader’s (link) Figure of Merit calculator (link). A FoM of 1.33 doesn’t mean much but I shot a 4.8” group size, 1.8” to the right and 0.3” high. Ideally, to zero it in, I should be aiming at almost the edge of the bullseye, just after the 8:00 position. Once I am no longer shooting off a bench, that’s going to be tricky at 50 yards but, well, it’s a sight picture.
What I do next week depends on the weather. I will move to shooting standing, kneeling, and sitting. When I do prone shooting will depend on whether the snow has cleared or not. After a bit of that, I will move on to timed shooting. My intention is to do the final challenge (timed and filmed as proof) at least twice before the end-of-March deadline; once with the 22 and once with the 45 lever gun.
In the meantime, I will also be working on dryfire routines, though I need more dummy rounds.
