Old Eyes Old Rifle Old Barrel Old Bullet Old News

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Mighty fine shootin' Dan. I do love the old war horses. The '03 is my 16 year-old's favorite.

Old stuff can still be good stuff. At least that's what I tell my wife. Funniest thing about that is, she agrees.
 

quicksylver

Well-Known Member
Old stuff can still be good stuff. At least that's what I tell my wife. Funniest thing about that is, she agrees.

Smokey...Being "VINTAGE" can be fun....at times...
 

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Old is good for those who achieve it! Am a firm believer that as long as there is quality, quantity is great. As long
as I can see well enough to see the target and pull the trigger with a degree of accuracy I will consider the quantity
to be more than adequate. Vintage is a good word for us quicksilver!
Paul
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
"VINTAGE": I like that.
You know when they make fine vintage wine it takes time and improves with age.
Then again, a batch can turn to vinegar just like that.:oops:

I'm glad that what we have here, from all the batches, Are some of the finest Vintages around! :)
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I am impressed. My eyes would still support that sort of thing up until age 63, and then it all went to piece in
about 6 months.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone, hope your eyes stay sharp as long as is possible.

Great shooting! and great casting and loading, too.

Bill
 

Intheshop

Banned
Very good shooting.I like irons for hunting in the rain.Scopes are more trouble than they're worth in the wet.

It's interesting,when we have small informal shoots here at the house...the guns that we end up the most "braggin" about is who can shoot the irons the best,offhand of course..223 CZ 527 with j word handloads.Bustin clays at 75 yds ,1$ a shot side bets between brothers.

Nice rifle,will take slight exceptions to older machinery not being in the league of modern.You're forgetting the human interaction that gets lost with CNC.I'll put my money on the old machinist everytime.
 

quicksylver

Well-Known Member
I am impressed. My eyes would still support that sort of thing up until age 63, and then it all went to piece in
about 6 months.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone, hope your eyes stay sharp as long as is possible.

Great shooting! and great casting and loading, too.

Bill

Bill thanks....I got to tell you ...I am baffled as heck as to why they still work. ...but i'll take it...hate to give up on irons...they are just so much more fun for me...but they do limit WHAT you can shoot at...:)
 

quicksylver

Well-Known Member
Very good shooting.I like irons for hunting in the rain.Scopes are more trouble than they're worth in the wet.

It's interesting,when we have small informal shoots here at the house...the guns that we end up the most "braggin" about is who can shoot the irons the best,offhand of course..223 CZ 527 with j word handloads.Bustin clays at 75 yds ,1$ a shot side bets between brothers.

Nice rifle,will take slight exceptions to older machinery not being in the league of modern.You're forgetting the human interaction that gets lost with CNC.I'll put my money on the old machinist everytime.

I agree completely about hand work ...BUT.
have to say if you want consistency batch to batch and volume... CNC got the old stuff beat..
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Keep enjoying it while you can. Some can do it into their 70s, others have bad eyes by 50. I was
lucky to go to 63, and things still work with good aperture sights after some surgeries and stopping
the deterioration with medication. Regular open sights are a trial, mostly not too useful. I have installed a
number of aperture sights in the last 6 months, more to come.

I did qualify for a Swiss medal last month, 300 meters on "the invisible target"..... if you have ever seen
a Swiss camo militia qualification target at 300M, most say "what targets. Wait, do you mean that gray-green
smudge down there?"

Bill-target-smaller.jpg

Yep, that one. Not as easy as it was 3 yrs ago, but 18 months back I couldn't do it at all, no matter how hard
I tried, so doing OK, thanks to modern medical miracles.

Bill
 
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Pistolero

Well-Known Member
That is a few years old pic, but I did qualify with a pretty similar score and group a month
ago on that same target. You haven't lived until you have seen a row of those Swiss silhouettes
at 300 m the first time. THEN you settle down and try to figure out a consistent sight picture.
Typical comment first time is something like, "You're kidding. I can barely SEE those things at
this distance!"

Scoring is with the 4, 3, 2 numbers not the smaller numbers. The central portion of the silhouette is
a 4, the rest of the silhouette is a 3, outside close is a 2. You fire six shots slow fire, then score.
Then three in one minute, three in one minute, then six in one minute. 18 shots total, possible is
72. You qualify with a 64 if under age 60, 62 if over age 60. I qualified with a 66 last month, happy
that I would have qualified for a medal even as a 40 year old.

The target shown has 9 4s and 3 3s, total of 45. The slow fire six were fired already and scored, but
I would only have needed 17 pts from 6 shots to make 62, so all 3s would have made it, and I could
have even afforded to drop one to a 2 and barely qualified. In reality, that day I am pretty sure I shot
a 69, which was all the other six slow fire being 4s, only dropping the 3 3s shown here. That is about as
good as I have been able to do, ever, on that target.

Difficult target, but pretty realistic for militia qualifying. K31 is an honest 1.5-1.75 minute rifle with good
ammo. These are handloads with 175 MKs over 4064, basically a .308 load. I need to see what I can
accomplish with cast, but have never really tried to reach the full match accuracy with cast in the K31s.

This is with add-on aperture sights, but an otherwise totally stock K31. I shot two seasons with issue
sights (middle notch) before getting the aperture match sights, always qualified, but not always with
first try.

I do appreciate when I see quicksylver making amazing tiny groups like he has shown with aperture sights,
and old rifle and old eyes. I know exactly how challenging it is and how rewarding when you manage
to succeed! My group is nothing even close to what he has shown, although at longer range. I tend to
find that the '03 Springfields are more like a 1 to 1 1/4 minute rifle in
general, again it takes very good ammo to show this, and quicksilver's cast loads are REALLY
performing to make those kind of groups. Giving up nothing at all to jacketed there.

Bill
 
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Intheshop

Banned
Agreed,CNC is certainly the way...if we're talking "over the counter".

But that's not how the firearm industry started,and in the case of a fine dbl shotgun today exists.Believe me,there's a lot left on the table....be it shotguns,equipment,etc. when the public settle's.Not arguing ,we build traditional archery bows...longbows and recurves.Just like a shotgun stock,CNC ain't cutting it on the precision that we hand grind to.It's one of those things that if you saw us "molding" wood,your jaw hits the floor.The connection between the craftsman's hands and their equipment is a lost art.
 

quicksylver

Well-Known Member
Agreed,CNC is certainly the way...if we're talking "over the counter".

But that's not how the firearm industry started,and in the case of a fine dbl shotgun today exists.Believe me,there's a lot left on the table....be it shotguns,equipment,etc. when the public settle's.Not arguing ,we build traditional archery bows...longbows and recurves.Just like a shotgun stock,CNC ain't cutting it on the precision that we hand grind to.It's one of those things that if you saw us "molding" wood,your jaw hits the floor.The connection between the craftsman's hands and their equipment is a lost art.


Couldn't agree more ....that's why I shoot the old girls....early Smiths, Winchester Model 12's, Win.94's..Savage 1899's (not 99's),Early Marlins.....owned more than a few AH Foxes..
Still have my long bow from '63...
 

quicksylver

Well-Known Member
I agree with you Bill! Quicksylver is quite amazing at his age and with the sights he is using.

Thanks guys..really apreciate all the kind words...but let it be know that my shooting iron sights is restricted to days with good light and only certain parts of the day ....I have gone to scopes so I can shoot on low light days and in the afternoon at some ranges....

And yes....some of the old bullet designs don't give up much if anything to jacketed stuff...

Had a guy at the range tell me that cast would never shoot as well jacketed...having been there about three times now when I was there .....he doesn't say that anymore..

Kep 'em flying...Dan
 

quicksylver

Well-Known Member
CNC machines have their place, but they have no soul.

So true ....but consider this ..if we design a work of art ..make the parts on a CNC machine and hand assemble them ...they have a little more soul...

I had this conversation years ago with a fellow wood worker who said he made hand crafted furniture...
I agreed he did if he met this criteria: 1. go out in the forest, select a tree , 2. cut said tree down with an axe or hand saw., 3. let the tree air dry for at least one year, 4. cut slabs of lumber using a pit saw, 5. let lumber air dry ,6. rip lumber to desired widths with a hand rip saw, 7. hand plane/scrape lumber, 8. design furniture, 9. assemble furniture with hand tools..

Now steps 1-7 can be done with far more efficient methods (CNC) ...8-9 are where art and soul come into play....