Tried to go shooting almost every day this past week including today, but it's just too dang hot!!!!! 'shok' I'm afraid that the lead is going to melt soild into the bore before I drop the hammer!
Know what you mean, was tempted today as only got up to 105, been running in the mid teens here in this part of the Arizona desert.
I lived in the Phoenix area for two years, hottest it ever got was 119 the first summer I was there, but it's soo dry. Heat index here in Texas last Wednesday was 109 due to the humidity. Anyone else saving their powder because of the heat?
I am another waiting for cooler weather (not very patiently I may ad) :'(
I saw the weather this evening and ya'll be sending it east to get here about Tuesday. No thank ya! hdslp 98-100 with 85% humidity is just to hot to do anything outside. noway
I'm not shoot'n right now due to the heat Bulldog lady don't like going outside at all in weather like this and I do it as little as i can... person could die in heat like this in they arn't careful
maybe's we should have a postal drop everyone throw a bullet at the target and see which one melts the biggest blob! Naw to hot to even go out for that unless do it in the dark and then it is still H O T! Maybe's we should have a rondy up north where it got to be cooler! None of this d--m humidity up there. Like this weekend Wishful thinkin just a few months more if survive and then be a bitchin cause the wind index makes it zillion degrees colder than is and bones are frozen!! some of us there just ain't no pleasin!! ucrzy
Quote from: Bulldog lady on August 08, 2010
maybe's we should have a postal drop everyone throw a bullet at the target and see which one melts the biggest blob! Naw to hot to even go out for that unless do it in the dark and then it is still H O T! Maybe's we should have a rondy up north where it got to be cooler! None of this d--m humidity up there. Like this weekend Wishful thinkin just a few months more if survive and then be a bitchin cause the wind index makes it zillion degrees colder than is and bones are frozen!! some of us there just ain't no pleasin!! ucrzy
LOL!!!! ROFL
(susp) (susp) (susp) We had one cool evening in 3 weeks.This aint Virginny weather.
Quote from: Tanstaafl on August 08, 2010
Know what you mean, was tempted today as only got up to 105, been running in the mid teens here in this part of the Arizona desert.
You should have been at El Verano, just north of Payson. 71 registered shooters, temps in the 70's & some rain (always does!) A good time was had by all...
I did not take my usual quantity of pics, but here are a few...
Ramrod Kid
(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr223/Sheasmtn/ramrodkid.jpg)
George
(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr223/Sheasmtn/george-1.jpg)
Our store with several FTTA members...
(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr223/Sheasmtn/storefront.jpg)
GEESH 70's and rain- man ya really know how to hurt a person! Kiddin aside glad ya all had a good time, nice pics thanks for sharin your" dream weather "and rondy chrrs
[/quote]You should have been at El Verano, just north of Payson. 71 registered shooters, temps in the 70's & some rain (always does!) A good time was had by all...[/quote]
Haven't been up to the Rim this year, we normally wallow the old motor home off on FSR 142 in by Tom's Creek and Calloway Butte. Off and on been camping and hunting tasseled eared tree rats up there for many years, going back to the 1960s.
We have gotten up into the Hualapai Mountains, if go in by Yucca and taking the old K-5 Jimmy over the Rim Road to Wild Cow Springs, only about 40 miles from home It is like a cool ponderosa pine island in the sky up there, saw two black bears last trip.
We have about four months of very hot weather here along the Colorado River, but the other eight months of near perfect weather more than makes up for the heat. Wife and I can take the ATV's out of the backyard, make a 50 mile trip and never see another human being, consider ourselves so lucky to live here in AZ.
http://hstrial-rchambers.homestead.com/Photo_Gallery.html
http://hstrial-rchambers.homestead.com/Index.html
Success!! I got to the range about 2:15, just as the last shooter was leaving, had 20 lanes to myself, so I set up on two tables, the first for my Lyman trade rifle in .54, 1:48 ROT, the second for my .50 cal T/C, and I only brought the fast twist (1:32) barrel with it, but no matter, my range box contained plenty of conicals, most notably the 320 grain Lee REAL bullets that were given to me. So I put my target at the 50 yard line and proceeded to load my .54.
First shot was 12 inches low! 75 grains of Goex shouldn't do that, so I checked the powder, yep, I had grabbed the flask containing 3f, and my .54 doesn't like that. So I switched to 2f and started getting decent but not great groups. I ended up increasing the powder charge and the groups started to tighten up, rising too, until I was at the level I expect. What I found is that I needed 110 grains to get consistent groups, and these continued going to an unsupported shooting position. As much as I like the primative buck-horn sights, I do my best with them standing up. Perhaps it the balance of the rifle, or that it is right handed and I shoot left handed?
Anyway, loaded up my .50 with 3f and proceeded to put the Lee REAL's downrange. This is the barrel that I had cut and crowned due to a bulge that the previous owner put in it, along with a wide brass front sight and adjustable full buck-horn rear. These were also hitting low and I had to increase the charge to 95 grains to get them to group well. This sight set up is also better for shooting unsupported, which is proved to myself again.
It was past 4 o'clock so I called it a day, but I have some questions maybe you can help answer. My normal charge shooting my .54 is 85 grains but today I had to go up to 110. The temps were above 100 along with high humidity, so was that a factor that required such a higher powder charge? My .50 fast twist barrel is now 26 inches long, so am I wasting powder with 95 grain charges?
Have I just spent too much time in the heat? skrt
PS- Ironwood was kind enough to cast those REAL bullets for me.
If it worked you weren't wasting powder but I don't like that heavy of a charge from the bench because it hurts my shoulder.
Renegades were made with with 26 inch barrels and they balance and shoot well for me. Hawken barrels were 28 inches and there was a good reason for their choices of barrel lengths. They did a lot of testing to decide what barrel length to manufacture.
The Thompson instruction book that came with my Renegade in 1978 goes up to 100 grains of 2f with the 370 grain maxi in the Hawken and 120 grains of 2f for the .54 Renegade with the 430 grain maxi.
Patched balls are listed to 110 gr 2f in the Hawken and 120 gr 2f in the Renegade.
There is also a chart showing the pressure curve and velocity obtained with 70 gr 2f. The results would shock most diehard longbarrel fans because the velocity gains from longer barrels are highly overrated. Adding 10 inches of barrel length to the Hawken only gained 80 fps and the greatest gains in velocity and pressure were in the first 8 inches of the barrel. Dixie Gunworks also has a similar chart but theirs deals only with charges and barrel length, not pressures.
My normal powder charge in my .54 1:48 ROT RB is 75 grains of 2f Goex, which normally puts me dead on at 50 yards, but on that day with the temps at 100 + it was hitting nearly a foot low, and I had to go up to 110 gr.s at the same distance.
For my .50 1:32, normally 85 grains of 3f puts either 350 gr. maxi-ball or 320 gr. Lee REAL conicals dead on at 50 yards but again they were both hitting low, requiring more powder to get them to hit where they should. This barrel I had cut due to a bulge and is now 26 inches as compared to the .54 at 28".
I don't think that Goex goes bad or looses potency like subs, so I am wondering why it took so much more powder to bring up everything to where they normally hit? I checked my patches and they weren't torn or burned through, perhaps they weren't lubed enough? But then there is the conical performance and they don't require patches. Perhaps the combination of outside temps and lack of a lubed wad can explain why the conicals were hitting low, and not enough lube on the patches plus the temps can explain why the RB were also hitting low?
One thing I can tell you is that humidity will change your load/point of impact. Here in Colorado the humidity is usually quite low and on a rainy or humid day my charge has to be raised by 20-25% or it will always strike low.
Quote from: flintboomer on August 19, 2010
One thing I can tell you is that humidity will change your load/point of impact. Here in Colorado the humidity is usually quite low and on a rainy or humid day my charge has to be raised by 20-25% or it will always strike low.
I think that's the best explaination I've heard so far. The heat index due to the humidity that day was well over 105.
Took my .54 out again a few days ago and set my target at 40 yards. I changed to a thicker patch, this time using .020 and the results seemed more consistent although I used pillow ticking for one shot only that grouped within the same area. Although the .020 patches are pre-lubed and cut I have added more olive oil to my mix as it wasn't soaking into pillow ticking material that I have in reserve.
First three shots; (http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i79/Bull3540/Phonepics.jpg)
Next three; (http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i79/Bull3540/Phonepics1.jpg)
(http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i79/Bull3540/Phonepics2.jpg)
William , I don't think there is any doubt that the heat/humiddty combo caused your POI and the lessor performance of the BP load! [hmm] Bill Knight (yes the same) (susp) has over the years tested and researched the many factors that can and wil;l affect BP performance . If there was anything that could , might , may affect BP however slightly or remotly he tested it . The one thing that seemed to be consistent and predictable was the effect of heat and humidity If I can ever find the hard copys of his reports I'll post them. flwa