New Winchester 1917- Jewel or Turd?

[RC20]

My brother let me shoot his Eddystone with the ladder sight that had a smaller peep hole drilled in it (JB weld).

I usually cannot shoot iron sights (even peeps on the A3) worth a hoot due the older dyes.

I got a decent group at 50 and took it out to 100. Not a good target (the Leopold old 4 square) but got a decent group with the XTP (high but a decent group).

I then shifted to a large 3 inch orange ball (still too small at that distance) but got 4 shots into it at that distance before the sun played havoc with it and my eyes again. A few outside the ring so not bad as all. A decent size black ball would have worked well I think

Oddly the hand loads had quite a bit lower than the XTP and spot on using 52 gr of 4831 with the 168 gr match (same load as the 1 1/4 group with the scoped Eddystones).

Amazed at how good a picture I had and you can adjust the height with hand loads if you are running high with the normal velocity loads (these are down around 2400 fps I think)

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[Patrick Chadwick]

Amazed at how good a picture I had and you can adjust the height with hand loads if you are running high with the normal velocity loads (these are down around 2400 fps I think)

This points out a basic rule: get the optimum load for the rifle established BEFORE filing around on the foresight blade. Fiddling the load to suit the blade is the wrong way round to do it!

The ideal powder charge/bullet weight combination should be one that is tolerant of a charge spread of 0.2 gn. Which is about the tightest you can get in practical reloading, unless you want to weigh each charge on a chemical balance. I spent a great deal of time optimizing the charge for my Eddystone, and found 2 optimum charges (48 and 50 gn with Swiss N140, 168gn HPBT Sierra or Lapua).

Changing that charge so much that the POI is noticeably affected would mean using a charge that is very sensitive to tiny load changes, and would produce poor groups! The difference between best and worst group size in my 30-06 testing was a factor of 3. A 1 MOA load is a potential competition winner. With 3 MOA you can stay at home.

Optimum load first, THEN sight correction!