First Blood .22

[11binf]

hey brother Glad to have you back !...i'm also happy to see you got out with your weapon and got a bunny for the pot,man thats a plus...i would like to see what ammo you use and whats in you assault pack used for the days hunt...anyway glad to see your back and enjoy every day !...vince g. 11B INF...

 

[British Red]

Well, Red, it looks like I'm going to give it a shot (!) under Chris's instruction. I have lousy grip as well as painful wrists and hands, and can drop a cup I'm holding in both hands for a passtime, so I'll only be holding the rifle when standing on soft grass !!! The right shoulder is a titanium replacement but the left is still me own. Have osteoporosis though - just lost the outside metatarsal in my left foot as it had crumbled away !!! - so knocking the shoulders about is a wee bit scary. I don't have varifocals though so that's one thing not to worry about

There is no recoil to speak of on a rimfire Elen - nothing to worry about at all. You don't even need to hold the rifle, it can be shot lying down on a bipod or rest.

Give it a go - I'm hoping for a range day with the man myself!

 

[Elen Sentier]

Sold !!! Now I can't wait ... if i get a bunny as well you'll all never here the last of it on here

 

[British Red]

Same goes for a .410 shotgun by the way - I can literally shoot mine one handed like a pistol - no recoil worthy of the word. Its a great rabbit harvesting cartridge as well.

 

[lannyman8]

hey brother Glad to have you back !...i'm also happy to see you got out with your weapon and got a bunny for the pot,man thats a plus...i would like to see what ammo you use and whats in you assault pack used for the days hunt...anyway glad to see your back and enjoy every day !...vince g. 11B INF...

hey up Vince, sorry just seen your post, i use Winchester subsonic hollow points at the moment, my daysack is packed with the rifle sleeve so dont have to leave it anywhere and so i can use it for long shots as a rest, and i have 1 liter of water and coffee 2 or 3 in one packets, and some mug shots, i just got a Primus ETA Solo stove to use, its basically a jetboil for less money...

thanks Vince

regards.

chris.

 

[Stringmaker]

Interesting post about shooting; thanks!

It reminds me of when I had bought my first shotgun (12G O/U for clays), and I set up a test plate at the shooting ground to see where the pattern was focused. For those who might not know, this was a pre-printed cardboard square about 3' along each side. This is placed on a stand with an earth bank behind it and then you shoot at it from a typical clay distance (25-30 yards or so). Once you know where the shot pattern is going relative to your aiming point you know you're set up.

Anyway, I was shooting with a friend and had never done this before, so in my mind I had a kind of Hollywood Die Hard idea of exploding cardboard when I pulled the trigger. What actually happened was:

"BANG"

Squint at the test plate.............

"B*gger I missed!"

Embarassed walk to see properly...

"Phew. No I didn't!"

Shooting a .22 in a strong crosswind at 100 yards? Respect!

 

[British Red]

I do that at all distances from 10 to 50 yards Stringmaker - using a variety of loads. I find "patterning" a shotgun very useful to establish not only point of aim, but also spread, choke effect etc. I just use basic flip chart paper (wall paper lining would work). Its an interesting exercise with any scattergun


6 1/2 shot Modified Choke 25m by British Red, on Flickr

 

[Stringmaker]

I must confess Red that I am completely ignorant of the choke effect; I shoot with the one in it when I bought it which seems to do the job okay.

I also find that I simply cannot shoot "eyes open" all the time; when I pick up the clay I have to sight with my left eye closed and then open it to swing and fire.

 

[British Red]

The amount of choke effects the spread of shot - full choke shoots a tight pattern (less spread), open choke (cylinder) spreads the shot really fast. Longer shots need more choke, closer shooting less choke. Think of it like a forcing cone for the shot. Some push the shot together more than others.

This is cylinder choke


Cylinder Choke by British Red, on Flickr

This is full choke at the same distance


Full Choke by British Red, on Flickr

Hope that helps?

 

[Stringmaker]

Sorry, I didn't explain myself very well; I know the principle and effect, but not the subtlety of how much choke to use for different types of shooting.

Now I've seen your pics I certainly appreciate the difference at the point of impact. Incidentally, what distance were you shooting from?

Thanks.

 

[British Red]

Thats about 10 yards....I once heard it said that the pattern on cylinder spreads about an inch per yard...so at thirty yards its two and a half feet wide. Clearly full choke is much tighter. Shooting high pheasants, you might want 3/4 choke - but that would make a big mess of a close rabbit. I find 1/4 to a half is fine for general game - but avoid the really long shots. You might consider more for use in wildfowling for example.

 

[Stringmaker]

I'll have to have a look and see what is in my gun.

It seems to be the right balance for clays, including low crossing bunnies and high overhead birds. I don't game shoot so vapourising a close rabbit is not a problem.

I must go and shoot a bit more, I haven't done so for months.

 

[santaman2000]

Thats about 10 yards....I once heard it said that the pattern on cylinder spreads about an inch per yard...so at thirty yards its two and a half feet wide. Clearly full choke is much tighter. Shooting high pheasants, you might want 3/4 choke - but that would make a big mess of a close rabbit. I find 1/4 to a half is fine for general game - but avoid the really long shots. You might consider more for use in wildfowling for example.

BR I'm sure you know our chokes are rated differently over here. Do you know how they might compare? Ours are (from least choke to greatest) as follows:
- Cylinder Bore (no choke whatsoever and rarely ever used)
- Improved Cylinder (very little choke and usually used for close shots)
- Modified Choke (the standard choke on general purpose guns before the days of changable chokes and a good compromise for most shooting)
- Full Choke (once the greatest choke and used for long range shots such as dove, ducks geese, etc.)
- Extra Full Choke (a relatively recent choke size used for long range shooting with other than lead shot I believe)

- Rifled Chokes (intended exclusively for sabot rounds but occassinally used for rifled slugs as well) I know you don't have a practical use for slugs over there.

As asked; how do these correspond with your choke sizes?

Edit to add: The comment that modified was the standard choke before changable chokes is only partially true. It applied with single barrel guns. For doubles, usually the first barrel was modified and the second was full choke.

 

[British Red]

Cyclinder is cylinder santaman

Improved Cylinder is 1/4
Modified is 1/2
Improved Modified is 3/4
Full is Full

Roughly equtes that way

 

[santaman2000]

Thanks BR. Not too different then apart from nomenclature.

 

[British Red]

No not really - we do get the odd 7/8 choke for example - usually on older fixed choke. We don't see much use of extra full or spreader chokes here to be honest

 

[santaman2000]

Understandable. IIRC You don't use other than lead shot so the extra full wouldn't be needed; in fact I don't know how effective it really is here either as I've never used it. And TBH the only use I've seen over here for the spreader chokes is on police or military type shotguns. They might or might not be used there on them also but as such, wouldn't appear on the common market so much.