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Long Range Shooting with other rifles >> Black Powder Cartridge Rifle >> #2 Musket - 300m match in Belgium
http://www.lrml.org/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1191760031

Message started by belgmart on Oct 7^th, 2007, 1:27pm

Title: #2 Musket - 300m match in Belgium
Post by belgmart on Oct 7^th, 2007, 1:27pm

I just returned today from the annual 300m match in Leopoldsburg, Belgium. Weather was - unusually - quite fine, nice and sunny and almost no wind at all, in short, ideal shooting weather...
The drill here is to shoot 13 shots on the continental target (scores to 10), with the 10 best for score (MLAIC rules).
After having some problems the last few matches with my "2, I decided that - hopefully - the problem was with my brass (some cases had stretched quite a bit), and I corrected the problem, meanwhile also reaming out the primer pockets to be able to seat the primers to a correct depth. One of the prices you have to pay when shooting an 'exotic' calibre...

The rifle is a Martini-Enfield, rebarreled with an Eichelberger 34" barrel and restocked with a Peabody Creedmoor buttstock and a 'free' copy of the Webley-Wyley forend, sights are aHolbrook Dr. Goodwin's for ML rifles astang sight, and a P-H sight recuperated from a 12/15 as front (cheap and efffective, lots of inserts available!).
The load was as follows:
81.2 Swiss 1 1/2Fg (no.4 for us continentals)
card overpowder wad
Lyman Postell bullet, cast in antimonial alloy, sized to .458 and a slip-fit in the fireformed cases. Bullets seated out to engrave the 1st driving band upon chambering.
WW large pistol primer
Kynoch brass, converted from 500-465 NE

Things started out quite well - 1st shot was a 9 (the kind of 1st shot you always hope for in a match), and except for a single stray in the 5-irng, I never left the 8-ring, with most shots inside the 9-ring. Except that the 10 seemed a bit hard to reach... Fwiw, the 10-ring is about 1.5 minutes, the 9 about 3 minutes.

In all, the cure seemed to have worked - except for 1 shot, the shots arrived where called, with no unexplainable flyers anymore. Result? 91/100, and a happy camper :) And, of course, my confidence in the #2 Musket is restored...

Title: Re: #2 Musket - 300m match in Belgium
Post by David on Oct 14^th, 2007, 6:03pm

Thanks for the report. I'll be giving my Deeley-Edge-Metford a first time match outing at the NRA Trafalgar Meeting at Bisley next weekend and hope to have as much success as you. I've entered the 900yd competition and will also be shooting the 900yd muzzle loading match, so it will be interesting to see how the two rifles compare.

What support is permitted at the Belgian match; sling, wrist rest, cross-sticks?

David

Title: Re: #2 Musket - 300m match in Belgium
Post by belgmart on Oct 15^th, 2007, 6:14pm

David,

Tell me - that Deeley & Edge, what calibre? #2 Musket? (most D&E's are WR, so...) Some pics please! Also, what type of rifling on your barrel? Segmental, or the early gaintwist? As to the shooting styles at the Belgian matches, it's sling only, no wrist rest or cross-sticks allowed. Mind you, the most interesting match we have is a 200-300-400m aggregate, where the 400m leg is shot on the same target as the 300m! VERY small...

Title: Re: #2 Musket - 300m match in Belgium
Post by David on Oct 16^th, 2007, 7:11am

belgmart wrote:

Tell me - that Deeley & Edge, what calibre? .......

See new thread (http://www.lrml.org/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1192514865).

David