*** Lesson 1 - being right handed, place all the loading tools and materials on the right hand side of the firing point bench. This makes loading a lot easier and helps you maintain a steady rhythm, preventing mistakes in the loading process.
After wiping down the pistol on the outside and then running through a patch to clean out the oil film left from the previous cleaning, started the session by 'capping off'.
Then started to work my way through the 13 shots needed to make up the detail, the best 10 shots to count.
*** Lesson 2 - try not to be on the firing point downwind of a blackpowder revolver shooter. These shooters tend to use 'fillers' between their powder load and the ball, to bring the ball towards the front of the revolver cylinder. This is supposed to make them more accurate but it does lead to very large clouds of thick smoke that slowly drifts downwind. [FYI the 'filler' is usually something like ground semolina].
*** Lesson 3 - keep the balls in a tray so that you can count how many you have fired in the detail. It should tally with the number of empty phials of blackpowder .
Thirty minutes later and the detail is over. Replace the shot card with a new card and retire to the firing point to look at groupings and scores. Brag or wail aloud depending on results.
First card scores a 76 ex 100 with no V bulls. Have managed to centralised the group by more careful aiming, but it is below the center line. Also found a .44 cross shot on the left hand edge of the target, thanks to the upwind revolver shooter!
*** Lesson 4 - don't shoot the following detail! Take a break for 30 minutes. Perhaps doing a short clean on the barrel, or to see what the other shooters are doing. And sit down. The reason? Thirty minutes is a long time to be standing on the firing point. Your arm gets tired and the small of your back starts to ache. It's called getting old!!
Having not followed lession 4, my second card of the day was a disappointing 68 ex 100 with no grouping. The tiredness had caused several flyers in to the white. At least I now have an average to supply to the Match Secretary.
Stats
Detail scores: 76 + 68
Average: 75.7
Barrel count: 39
With the days shooting completed, the cleaning begins. Having done the 'water method' last time, today I used the 'WD-40 method' instead. After removing the nipple and side chamber screw, WD-40 is sprayed liberally down the barrel. After using a nylon brush, the barrel is swabbed with patches until they come out clean. The outside is cleaned with baby wipes and a pipe cleaner for those fiddly places. Once clean, the whole gun, inside and out, is given a thin coat of oil to dispel the water from the WD-40 and to prevent rusting while in storage.
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