I Shot My 101 Year Old Rock Island Today

[ArtPahl]

Serial #347176. I have owned it since 2008. It was sporterized many years ago and nicely done. The stock work is first rate with expertly executed checkering and a contoured steel butt plate. Unfortunately, it was not well maintained and suffered abuse. There is a bulge in the barrel near the muzzle likely from firing with a mud or snow plug in it. For some reason that I can't understand, some one ran a reamer into the chamber increasing the headspace .025" over max! The tool marks can be seen at the shoulder of a fired case. As I've noted in another post, I form cases by necking them up and then slowly back down again to fit this chamber. In spite of all this, the old girl produced a 1.66 five-shot group today with an old Weaver K4 and my 82 year old eyes. It likes Reloader 15 and Sierra 150 gr spitzers. The barrel had been shortened to 22" but it still developed 2860 feet per second.

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