9 Attachment(s)
1944 Shirley No 4 T first experience
Hello All,
Thought I would share some pics and info of a recently acquired rifle of mine. I'm not that good with the camera so the pics are a little less than studio quality, but for intended purposes hopefully it will do. Like any kid with a new piece of candy I couldn't wait to shoot it, so I had a friend check the headroom, picked up a box of cartridges and took it straight to a pit where I shoot often. Here is where the "lessons learned" begins. After a fairly brief inspection of the scope clicking the turrets through their adjustments while observing the crosswire I decided to take it to the 100 yd mark shooting at a piece of copy paper with an "X" deflection set to zero and elevation to -1. First shot was on the bottom left corner almost missing the paper, the next three shots didn't hit the target at all. After sctrutinizing the No 32 a little (with respect of course) I decided it needed service. After speaking with BD is S. Carolina I coundn't make myself feel settled about it. So at this point the novice decides to do what he should have done to begin with..get educated! Obviously not being over-abundant with patience, I couldn't see having to wait weeks to recieve Peter's literature, although it is on the way, I looked for all the info available in the web. I'll try to keep this down to a short novel but I was able to find two discrepancies that were leading factors at least. First, someone had discovered how convenient it was to adjust the turret barrel scales. The windage was off 16 clicks. The elevation seems to be very close. Since the scope has never been separated from the base I didn't accomplish a true collimation, but close enough for my own satisfaction. Secondly the upper hand guard was slid all the way forward hard into the front sight protector. After investigation, I loosened the strap screws, slipped it back and tightened. It seemed to snug up well. The muzzle seems to be nestled in the bottom center of the stock with maybe a couple pounds down force. From what I gather this should be in correct form? Anyway at this point I'm ready to take it back to the pit but start from the beginnning this time. I would be graciously appreciative of any advice and comments are also welcome. I understand at this point a "Dammit Giligan!!" would probably be in order, but some of the best things in life also come with humility I suppose.
Thanks everyone and especially Peter for sharing your knowledge.
M