Why shoot 50 yds w/PB's at low vol?

[462]

Fifty-yards just works better for me, considering my vision and shooting only iron-sighted ex-military rifles with reduced loads.

 

[.22-5-40]

Few years back, I picked up a W.J. Jeffery rook rifle in .255 Jeffery. This is a little one about 5#, side lever, break action, ejector that really slings the brass out. For sights it has a standing 50yd. & two folding...100yd & 200yd. Factory installed Lyman tang sight. I bought a set of RCBS .255 Jeffery dies & factory .25-20 Starline brass shoulder is pushed back .100" & I trimmed brass to fill chamber length. The bore slugs right at .250..but the rifling is strange..starting out very shallow and gradually deepining on a circular plane to reach full depth next to adjacent land...looking at slug on end under magnification...it's shaped just like a ratchet...ratchet rifling! I've been so busy, I haven.t had time to really work with this one yet. Using the Lyman 252435 @50grs. cast of 20-1 lead/tin alloy, & lubed with SPG. I thought I would start with IMR TrailBoss..but accuracy wasn't there and all loads were impacting very high. Might need more velocity & plan on trying H4227 next time.

 

[Paul]

One

Know that there are a lot of folks who say why shoot at 50 yds? Well, there are a number of reasons. For me, this time of year, it is a tromp thru crusted snow, and at 50 yds, it is half the distance that 100 yds , and is much easier walking. A second reason, is that even with low power scopes 4-5x you can most likely see the bullet holes without setting up a spotting scope. Third, in theory at least, what ever you can shoot group wise at 50 will double at 100. Fourth, there is half the chance at 50 of wind being a problem that there is at 100. 5th, there are usually fewer people on the 50 yd line than on the 100. Probably other reasons that I can't pull off the top of my head that may come to me later.

Now on a nice clam warm day in the spring/ summer, with temps in the 70's, and some cloud cover, I don't at all mind a stroll down to the 100 yd line. Also, at that time, it is good to test the theory that the 100 yd groups should be double the 50 yd.

Anyhow, that's my thought on the subject for what ever it is worth.

reason you did not mention, but is a reason for me to shoot at 50, is shooting with kids and new shooters! I have found that with kids, just like fishing with kids, if good results are easier and immediate, their interest and confidence is piqued and easier to maintain. My kids both started out with mild cast loads in revolvers and a couple old Mausers. Their enjoyment was greater when good results were quickly achieved. Exactly the same reasons they started with bluegill and trout on days we could catch and release over 50 with little effort.....

 

[Paul]

Another reson I like 50 yards is that, as someone else mentioned, I'm vision-impaired. I have a corneal transplant in my left eye (legally blind and pretty useless) and my non-correctable condition in my right eye provides 20/35 vision on a good day.
So long as I can still focus on the front sight, I'm still not too bad at close ranges with iron sights.

 

[smokeywolf]

I would be very satisfied with shooting 50 yard as I only have 2 scoped rifles and my eyes are not so pretty good anymore. I still shoot rifle at 100 yards because the only 50 yard targets at the range I patronize are on the pistol range, which allows rifles in rimfire only.

 

[Pistolero]

Brad, I had to grin a bit about you shooting airsoft at work....... Having been there, and seen how
little (apparent) privacy you have, I think some of your customers might freak out unless there is
a storeroom or something like that to get out of view totally and still be handy to answer questions,
etc. as you need to do.

Little Old Lady at the pickup window....."He's got a gun!"...... would not go over too well, I would imagine.







Bill

 

[Brad]

It wouldn't go over well at all.

 

[Rick]

Brad don't make assumptions, try it and see.

 

[Winelover]

Reminds me of a time... when a co-worker brought a 22 pistol to work and popped off a few rounds on the fifth floor of a warehouse that GM owned and used for storage and repair of industrial pumps. Most of the time we were the only ones around but..............

 

[smokeywolf]

Used to make a type of cannon in the MGM Metal Shops. Stunt men used to cut a hole in the passenger side floor of a sedan. Cannon was mounted to the reinforced floor facing down, over the hole. A 6 inch peeler log would be fired electronically so that when it hit the roadway surface it would flip the car over. This method of flipping a car was used when a ramp couldn't be used in the scene because of space constraints or because of camera angles. Used these a lot in CHiPs.

Firearms at work reminded me of this.

 

[Bret4207]

I'm a bit late to the party, but I'll add my thoughts.

I can, if I want to go to the trouble, shoot at ranges upwards of 500 yards without encroaching on other folks property. 250-350 is a snap here on the farm. The question for me is why? It's actually easier for me to shoot at 200 than 100 due to "water hazards", but it's far easier to shoot at 40-50 yards. Plus, my vision simply stinks anymore. This is supposed to be relaxing and fun, not stressful and hard.

 

[Lost Dog]

Yup, shooting at 50 is great for testing loads as was so well stated earlier. My range at my place is in the woods. 100 yds from just out my back door to the backstop. 50 is a box with a stapled target half way. So simple. I test loads at 50 and if promising, at 100 later. Simple.
Firearms at work... When police'n ages ago we'd varmit hunt at night on our lunch break in the rural areas. When I retired and moved where I am now, for 6 years I ran a security team on 5sq mi of woods, pastures, and private lake. I was told to shoot on sight any hogs. I was in heaven. Coyote too. It was great... Then my health went south and now I'm home... But boy did I whack a mess of ugly hogs!

But yeah, 50yd poppin' is fun!

 

[Brad]

Brad don't make assumptions, try it and see.

Unemployment isn't a viable option right now.

 

[freebullet]

I don't think unemployment & welfare combined would cover Brad's primer "needs".