10m air pistol practise

Some 10m air pistol practise, just to see if after 35 years, I can still do it!

Shot two 10-shot practise cards on a freezing indoor range, using my new Steyr LP10 and H&N Finale Pistol Match pellets.

Both cards were around my BP average; 77.0 and 79.0

The group on both cards was slightly high, even though I have dropped the rearsight.

Stats
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Barrel count: 200
Session scores: 77.0 + 79.0
Average: 75.45
Personal best: 85.0
Std Dev: 7.15

Two practise rounds - one with new balls.

The first practise card was poor 54.0 It was shot using the original Hornady .350 balls with prelubed .015 Ox-Yoke patches. Contributing to the poor score was the greasiness of the lubed patches transferring from fingers to the pistol stock. Although I wiped my hands on a baby-wipe after each loading, I had to properly wash my hands at the end of the 10-shot detail.

The second card was much better. I managed a 77.1 again with a 10-shot detail. This time I swapped to using my newly cast .350 lead balls. Using recovered lead from the range butts, mixed with some left over .38 wadcutters and some old air pistol pellets, the finished balls are nice and shiny, as well as a little bit harder than the normal balls.

STATS
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Session score: 54.0 + 77.1
Average: 79.38
Cards: 59
BC: 762

Std. Dev: 1.61 (on second card)

The second card started off well with 9 shots in the black. The 10th shot ruined it with a shot out in the 3-ring at 10 o/c. Otherwise it was a fairly good group inside the 8-ring.

Different patch thickness

Shot a practise card using the usual set-up, but with 0.12 patches instead of the 0.15 normally used.

The result was very poor. The [27C] lube recipe with the thinner patches resulted in no grouping at all. The loading was however a lot easier! Had 4 misfires with the Dynamit Nobel 1075 percussion caps!

I'm retiring lube recipe [27C] at this time as unsuitable. I'll revert back to lube recipe [09] Tallow:Olive Oil 1:6 until I come up with something that gives better grouping. I will however try using the thinner 0.12 patches with the [27C] lube recipe.

STATS
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Session score: 72.0
Average: 79.87
Cards: 56
BC: 730

Std. Dev: 5.57

A single A/P practise card

A single air pistol practise card slotted in one evening after work. With a few flyers, a solid [and average] 81.1 was scored.

The grouping was fairly good for such a rushed card. I've since raised the rearsight 3 clicks to compensate for the slightly low group.

STATS
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Session score: 81.1
Average: 77.08
BC: 120

Std. Dev: 5.19
PB: 85.0

Ending the season

Ended the summer 2014 season of the Kent County Black Powder Leagues with rounds 9 and 10 being shot. I again used the recipe 27C lube.

Round 9 was again a consistent 81.0 giving a standard deviation of 0.70 Again the grouping wasn't very tight with this lube/patch combination. This was followed by round 10 where things started to go wrong. As well as two misfire with the Dynamit Nobel 1075 percussion caps, tirdness, back pain and sore eyes lead to a very disappointing 65.0 being scored. There was no grouping and almost every shot could be considered a flyer!

STATS
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Session score: 81.0 & 65.0
Shooting average: 80.02
Cards: 55
BC: 711

Lube 27C and round 8

Shot round 8 of the Kent Black Powder League using a modified lube recipe. I took recipe 27 and added more Neatsfoot Oil (version 27A and 27B). Eventually got to recipe 27C using the following recipe:

Beeswax:Lanolin:Neatsfoot Oil 2:1:12

The recipe is solid, although fairly soft. When you place a patch on top of the solid lube and then use a finger to move it about, the heat from the finger melts the lube and the patch is easily 'wetted'.

The result was:

 

The grouping isn't brilliant but I suspect that's due to a painful lower back condition rather that the lube. Balls were slightly harder to ram home, but no issued encountered. A lube recipe to keep for the future.

STATS
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Session score: 87.0
Average: 80.28
Cards: 53
BC: 691
Std. Dev: 4.75

Some air pistol practise

A few days ago I had the chance to do some proper 10m air pistol practise. Shooting three AIR 4/89 cards with the Steyr LP10 and H&N pellets, I was pleased to shoot around my black powder average on all three cards.

 





The first card [above] gave both an almost perfect 10.9 as well as two flyers. Final score was 80.2 with the 4-shot group in the 10 ring. Card two also gave an almost perfect shot with an X-ring 10.7 for a final 77.1 score. The final card gave a score of 79.1

STATS
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Average: 76.73
BC: 110
PB: 85.0
Std.Dev.: 5.28