At the Range

I spent Saturday shooting with my hunting buddy. Both Marlins are shooting great at 50 yards. Took some shots with the 50 cal plains rifle (there is only 3 1/2 months until muzzleloading deer season by the way!). And we did a bunch of pistol shooting.

I’m planning on taking my conceal carry exam this summer, but I need more practice before taking the class. I don’t get around to shooting my handguns as much as I should. Keith gave me some good tips and I did pretty well. Another couple of times at the range and I think I’ll be ready. I do need to find a class and get signed up for it. I need to do some looking around and find out who teaches it around here.

The Marlins are doing great so far. Each time I get them out, I’m more and more impressed. No wonder this rifle has been so popular for so many decades. We got the iron sights adjusted for 50 yards. I managed a bullseye at 50 yards with the scoped Marlin. A few more sessions at the range at 100 yards should do the trick for those two rifles.

Keith brought out his 30-40 Krag and put a few rounds down range. What a sweet shooting gun that is. First time out with it and it hardly needed adjusting. Smoothest bolt action I’ve ever felt.

I also managed to get some shooting done with the Plains Rifle. I was pleased with the results, especially after the disappointing year I had last deer hunting season. I seemed to get a better understanding of the site picture. Now I just need more range time to make sure I’m repeating the results.

So, all in all, it was a great day. There’s just nothing better than spending a day shooting with a buddy. I wished I would have remembered a camera. We shot up an old computer of his (sorry Dell!). The Dell logo made a great target circle. And for me, destroying a computer like that just puts my soul at peace. A 50 cal round ball sure puts a nice big hole in the thing!

Keep your powder dry.

Signting In The Marlins, Round 1

Finally had a chance to get the Marlins to the range last weekend. It was my first attempt at sighting in a scoped rifle. We didn’t do to bad. The Good Wife’s shoulder started bothering her after a while so we stopped after we finished up at 50 yards. I guess I need to watch how she’s holding it in her shoulder.

We still have some work to do yet, we were pretty close at 50 yards. Still needed to get the windage in before moving out to 100 with the scoped rifle. I have some adjusting to do with the rear site on the other one, didn’t have the time out there.

The open sight rifle is shooting to the right. So I need to adjust the rear sight some to compensate. I was shooting Federal and Remington rounds through it. The scoped rifle started out to the right and low also. I don’t have much experience shooting a scoped rifle, so it was all new. Can’t say I disliked it. We only shot the Federal ammo in it this time.

Below are the results:

Target from 50 yards from the scoped Marlin
Target from scoped Marlin at 50 yards
Target from 25 and 50 yards from the open sight Marlin
Target from 25 and 50 yards from the open sight Marlin

Turkey Hunt Number 2

I went out on my second turkey hunt this morning. It was short, we only had a couple of hours, but my buddy wanted to give it a shot.

As I frequently do, I under-dressed for the weather, it was 45 degrees when I stepped out of my vehicle at 5:45 AM. It’s May for crying out loud! I was thinking 60. Luckily, my buddy had an extra shirt that, coupled with the adrenaline, kept me warm enough.

We had a couple of gobblers right off the bat. Our stand is about a mile north of the Ninescah river with a country road between us and the river. The turkeys were down along the river, we could hear them in the tree line there when we pulled in. We hurriedly got set up and waited for the sun to come up.

I haven’t got the knack for calling yet, so my partner was chattering on his slate call. He saw the jakes get up to the road, but they wouldn’t cross into our field. He called at them for over an hour and they just weren’t that interested.

So, I’m zero for two now. But that’s alright. It’s always good to get out in the field. And in this instance, I can be patient.

Keep your powder dry.

Update (5-4-2010): it looks like I’ve managed to get poison ivy. I saw it, had hoped that covering every inch of my skin with clothing would keep from getting it. But not so. Must. Not. Scratch.