Weasel and I are heading to the Perry range to make sure our muzzleloaders are sighted in for the deer hunt coming up.  I told him last night I will take one shot and be done, he said he needs 3.  We will see.

My plan is to shoot out to the 100 yard target and hopefully be about an inch high at that range, that way any animal between 125 and zero is in trouble.  I don’t take shots past 100 yards usually and I like my shots under 50 if possible, but you never know what the game will do or whether you will need a second shot out that far to put it down for good.  So it’s better to be ready if needed.

And, what if a coyote pops up?  YES!  BOOOOMMMM!!!!!  $50 in the old pocket through the states dead coyote program.  That would help with some gas money on the hunt.  Maybe what this hunt should be is a coyote hunt with deer as an option….HMMMMM, food for thought.

More later on the sighting in results!

OH, and don’t forget, today is the muzz planning meeting up at Bones’ house at 2:30!  See you there!

Bears Butt

Sept. 15, 2012

THE NEXT DAY

Yesterday, when we arrived promptly at the range at 10 a.m. there was already a very large group of people assembled there.  It seems there was a hunter safety course finishing up their shooting and the place was very busy with activities in that arena.

Unfortunately for us who were there the target practice we had to wait.  The range masters said it would only be about 45 minutes and to just hang in there and be patient.  We were.

I need to interject here about the hunter safety training that we saw.  First off on the range there were three officials, but only one doing all the talking and instructing.  There was nothing wrong with that, but for me it was not a time to be teaching the trainees how to lay in a prone position, or how to sit to shoot or how to kneel to shoot, that should have been done long before coming to the range…JMHO!

Secondly, the instructors should have considered how the students performed at “aiming at the same spot” as they were instructed to do.  Even though they were shooting at a jumping squirrel target and the purpose was supposedly to hit the squirrel in the vitals as many times as they could out of 30 shots, that is not how the target is judged for passing or failing the course.  To pass the course the student needs to have 70% of the bullets strike within an area 10 inches in diameter and the animal on the paper target is just something for them to aim at.

Is it the students fault the rifle they are shooting is not sighted in?  NO.  Therefore if the student did not even hit the paper target at all, but hit the background cardboard with all 30 shots contained within a 10 inch circle (clearly more hits than needed to pass) should they not pass?  YES.  But these instructors totally ignored that part of the process and had the students “re-test” and then “re-test” a third time.  NOT FAIR is my call.  Nuff said.

So we waited nearly 2 hours to finally get to shoot.

3 Mile Gun Range, Perry, Utah

When allowed we posted our targets out on the 100 yard range and loaded up.  My rifle liked the 425 grain Hornady Great Plains hollow point/hollow base bullet in the past.  It has killed a nice 4 point buck two years ago, and a fine tender doe last season, so why not stick with success?  I told Weasel, 90 grains of ffg blackpowder and one conical Great Plains and one shot should do it.

Down the barrel went the bullet and I capped up.  At 100 yards my sights completely cover the black bull center of my target and the way I like to aim and have my rifles sighted in, I placed the bb gun type front sight, even with the top of bb gun type rear sight, centering the front sight between the uprights of the rear sight and put that entire picture just under the black bull.  I set the rear trigger and then softly touched the front trigger.  The rifle roared to life and when the smoke cleared my bullet had hit 1 1/2 inches high and two inches left of the bull…..I’m a Happy Boy!

I turned to the Weasel and said, “I’m done”!

Bears Butt is ready to kill his 2012 buck

Weasel hoped for similar success.

He too pushed a Great Plains bullet down on top of 90 grains of black powder and fired his shot.  LOW.  Very low and not good enough to take hunting.  Another shot was needed.  HIGH.  Very high and not good enough to take hunting.  A third shot….where did it go?  Not sure, but not good enough to take hunting.

Weasel cleaned his rifle between all shots using many cleaning patches and lubing the first with windex.  Windex does a fine job of cleaning out the blackpowder residue and it evaporates quickly leaving the barrel dry when finished.

After 8 shots using the Great Plains Bullets and varying his powder charges down to 80 grains with one shot and up to 100 grains with another, he decided to change to a Power Belt hollow point bullet at 430 grains in weight, and back to 90 grains of ffg blackpowder.

The first of four Power belts hit just a bit high of the bullseye, the second hit just low of the bull, the third hit lower and left, and with only one of the Power Belt bullets remaining in our arsenal, I suggested he charge with 100 grains of powder for his last shot, which he did.

I was watching through the binoculars as the rifle reported and clearly as the day is 24 hours long, a hole appeared as closely to the exact center of the bull as anyone can do with an open sighted muzzleloader!  The Weasel is ready for the hunt!

BULLSEYE! The Weasel is ready to kill his 2012 muzzy buck!

And so, I say to all the big bucks in Utah’s newly assigned Unit 2, you have 9 days to go hide, cuz we is comin!

Bears Butt

Sept. 16, 2012