Closure

I think its called closure. It is that sense of satisfaction that comes from successfully completing a difficult task.

Several weeks ago I agreed to work up a long range load for a good friend and fellow cowboy shooter. His tool of choice for this little choir was a replica sharps in 45-70 caliber. Just looking at the gun I knew first off it needed long range sights. I figured I could order and install the sights, work up several loads of differing powder and bullet weight. With a good set of sights installed all that was left to do was go to the range and pick the one that shot the best. I’ve done this many times and was not anticipating anything challenging. Boy was I ever wrong! That was six weeks ago and today I finally found the sweet spot.

I loaded heavy bullets and light bullets. I loaded lots of powder and just a little powder. I loaded fast burning powder and slow burning powder. In all of this I could have done better damaged to the paper target with a shotgun than I did with this rifle. I just could not get the thing to put two shots on the same piece of paper. All I managed to do was identify what loading the gun did not like.

A couple of days ago I was giving the gun a thorough cleaning when I noticed some leading in the barrel. What was lead doing in the barrel? I checked the rate of twist. I slugged the barrel and found the lands barely marking the bullet. I went back and reviewed every load, every sequence of shots. Could it be I was dealing with a slightly oversized barrel? If the barrel and bullet do not match, upon firing the bullet does not seal with a good fit in the lands and groves allowing hot gases to escape around the bullet and melt some of the lead as the bullet make it way down the barrel. The answer was right there in front of me all the time and I just couldn’t see it.

I ordered some 405 g. bullets sized to .459 inch, loaded them up last night and went to the range this morning. I cannot describe the feeling I had when the second bullet keyholed the first. I moved the sight and the point of impact actually moved like it is supposed to do. Thank you Lord for allowing me to see what was right in front of me. Sometimes you just have to return to the basics to clear up vision problems.