That seems to be the top phrase in the news lately - I decided that I need to fact check my thought that I had this new Knight 45 cal. Super DISC shooting well.
Sitting in the front room this morning and looking out the window at the good looking morning - sun shining and a fresh layer of snow - it really felt like I needed to run to the farm, to
'fact check' this rifle. When I made the comment about heading to the farm to shoot - Terry reminded me that it was 16* out there.... but the sun looked so good.
By the time I got to the farm the temp had risen to a balmy 24* according to the Leupold Range Finder.
This picture shows my path out the field to place clay bird targets - but just look how nice it is outside - heck of a lot better than being in the house!
When I got to the farm I unloaded the shooting bench and shooting utensils. Found my range finder and walked 6 birds out to place in the snow. 2 each at 50 - 75 and 100 yards. The mission today was to confirm that the rifle was sighted in and ready to be used for hunting.
According to the computed Ballistic Sheet, which is computed with a 6" Point Blank Range, meaning through a given range the bullet will never be higher or lower than 3". I really prefer this method versus dialing a range on the scope. There are times hunting I would never get the time to do the dialing process. With this 6" PBR according to the ballistic sheet I should be able to shoot from 0 to 204 yards and be within the 3" parameter.
According to the Ballistic Chart the Lehigh should be:
1.91" high @ 50 yards
2.76" high @ 75 yards
2.97" high @ 100 yards
Of course this is according the calculated computation with a bunch of variables.... you really do not know till you shoot the ranges... That was the mission today!
The gun was loaded and the shooting began at the 50 yard birds. At 50 yards I held the crosshair at the bottom of the bird. The bird measures right at 4 1/8". with both shots using the same hold I hit the top rim of the bird at about 12 o'clock.
Next came the 75 yard birds using the same hold - the hit on those two birds appeared to be about the same as the 50 yard birds. Both high hits on the upper edge of the bird.
100 yard birds using the same hold the first shot sailed over the top of the bird. Second shot at the bird holding with a little air under the bird - crushed the bird. Fist shot at the second 100 yard bird using the same hold pushed the center of the bird out. The outside ring of the bird was intact. Think all of the 100 yard shots were probably up closer to 4" than the 2.97" the paper said.
At this point I really should have take a target out and verified but time was running short and then I decided I wanted to shoot a weed sticking up out of the snow. The first weed was approximately 120-130 yards away from the bench. I held low on the weed shooting a spot in the snow below the weed. The bullet buried the weed!!!
Next target was another weed tuft further up the hill - I did range this target @ 209 yards. According to the ballistic sheet I should be down approximately 4" @ 200. I held the scope crosshairs at the top of the tuft hoping to hit it right in the base. As it turns out I was just a bit low and slightly right of the target. Well within the dead deer range of the chest cavity. I do attribute the drift right to a cross breeze blowing across the range. Loaded up a second shot and held slightly higher on the target - results the height was right on but still right approximately the same. I decided to go with one more shot and this time I sighted in directly on the base of the weed and used the second yard line under the crosshair. Bullet hit higher than the previous 2 shots and again to the right.
Frustrated I packed up and headed back to the city...
Here is few pics of what I was doing. The very last picture I took was looking from the bench up to the 200 yard weed tuft but just as I was ready to pop the picture - camera bleeped and the message said batteries dead!!! So I did not get pictures of the hits - dang it! All three shots would have harvested!
O - one other thing I wanted to note... Some have question the longevity of T7 powder - this T7 powder was bottled in July of 2011. I purchased the powder on a close out Feb of 2012. The powder work just as it should have.
