Mostly just for fun, though I did want to try the M95 out at 100 yards. It was high at 30 with the cast-bullet loads I put together, and I wondered if it'd be closer to point of aim at 100. Answer:
No. See the bottom target? Thats the one I was aiming at. Which means this thing is hitting a good 9" high at 100. And the ladder sight is no help, with the slider at the bottom it's marked for 600 meters. God knows where a full-power load will hit if the low-velocity stuff is this high*. The one at the bottom of the top target is a called flyer. Group, considering the sights, my eyes and the wind is not disappointing of itself; I guess I either use two targets like this to shoot it, or find a higher front sight(a LOT higher) to bring the POI down.The other target I kept is this pair, shot with the Martini model 12 at 100. The top target was shot with Eley Sport, which usually gives very good results in this rifle. The shots to the left edge were before I adjusted windage:
The bottom was shot with Eley Match EPS, which did not group this well last time I tried it; I guess this was a good day for it. I was looking at this through the spotting scope when I finished the group and bitching because of the size of it. Not the two high-right, those were my fault, though it's odd that I managed to pull two into the exact same place, the size of the rest of the group. Then I pulled the target and thought "That's not too big, really." Then I stuck a ruler on it when I got home: eight rounds in a shade under 1 5/8". That's not bad at all. Especially for iron sights and me on a windy day.That Martini is one of my favorite rifles of all time. There's just something I love about the action, it's got marvelous sights and it's very accurate. I'd love to figure out a scope mount that would clamp onto the barrel(I don't want to drill & tap it) to remove some of the human error from aiming. That'd be a win-win: I'd expect to get better groups with the optical help, and if I didn't it'd mean that, with iron sights, I can shoot this rifle as well as it can be shot.
Talk about an ego boost.
*I did remember the chrono and tripod, velocity on this load averaged about 1200fps.
2 comments:
I have a burning desire to own a Martini; the history, smoke, and technical aspects of rolling your own cartridges for it pulls at me like an well-aged whiskey. I'm envious.
FYI, slower loads print high, faster loads print low. The barrel begins climbing in recoil as soon as the bullet starts to move, and slower loads allow the muzzle to climb farther up the arc before exiting.
Try a full power load dn see if it's closer to where you want it. 1200 fps is pretty slow.
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