In an effort to get away from incessant phone calls, we hit the range today. We needed to sight-in the new scope on Mrs. Graybeard's Marlin 336. That proved to be a bit more difficult than I would have liked; we needed to put shims (provided by Marlin, so it must not be uncommon) under the rear of the short piece of Picatinny rail we added to mount the scope.
It was a pretty typical day for this time of year; 59 at dawn and 80-ish for the high. Winds variable, but not over 10. At 25 yards, getting the scope aligned, it didn't matter much. I took this shot of a target at 25 that Mrs. Graybeard practiced on, once the scope was set. The blurry photo is due to shooting through my piece 'o crap spotting scope.
I've written many times about our trips to the range, and our journeys toward being competent with both long guns and handguns. I haven't been shy about how bad I suck. Our first time shooting at 200 yards, I felt lucky to hit the target, and that was a 12" circle, not one of these 8" targets. We used every inch of that 12" target, too.
That is some fine shootin' by you and the missus Graybeard. Dang it, I need some more trigger time.
ReplyDeleteGood Shootin'!
ReplyDeleteWhat caliber 336?
I believe all 336's are in 30-30 Winchester, now. Use to be you could get one in 35 Remington, but I don't think they make them in that caliber anymore.
DeleteI didn't know how old theirs was so that's why I asked.
DeleteMy 336, that I bought about 3 years ago is 30-30, but I know they used to have other calibers available.
Yes, it's 30-30 Win. It's a 336XLR - very nice looking stainless and laminated wood stock. They have models available in different calibers, like 45/70, .308, .338, and others I'm too lazy to look at, but the 336 itself is apparently 30-30 only.
DeleteHave you ever been to an Appleseed event? www.appleseedinfo.org
ReplyDeleteYes, I have. Although I had some problems that weekend, I still think it's the best money I've spent on training. It's just so good for so many things.
DeleteIf I may suggest....do a ballistic chart on the ammo (helps a lot if you have real velocity numbers from a chronograph) and compute the trajectory (Joe Huffman has a ballistic calculator at his web site).
ReplyDeleteStatistically, an AR15 with a 16 inch barrel printing on zero with 55 grain ammo at 40 yards will zero at 235 yards (suggestion: research "point blank range" on Al Gore's Intertubes).
Notwithstanding, of course, any error induced by the human.
(FYI, I'll be at Dixie Crossroads again in mid-April; I'll send you a private email and see if you're interesting in meeting up)
Roger that. My rifle is pretty much dead nuts at 100 yards. The Winchester ballistics program I have on my phone said 2.8" up at 200 yards, so I set my cross hairs on the third ring, top center. Stuff fell pretty much where it should. Now, a real chronograph is probably on the Christmas list, but I don't have one now.
DeleteIt looks like a 2 MOA rifle. At least, in my hands. Now.
I finally caved and built an AR this weekend. Its been over 10 years since I fired one of these - I only hope I can hit that well at 200yds!
ReplyDelete