Seriously, the rifle has very fine sights, such that I became very comfortable using them last time out. They are extremely precise. I didn’t realize how precise they are yesterday, and didn’t really try to exploit them, but rather tried various sight picture styles because I’ve never had that kind of experience before with iron sights and I didn’t trust my perceptions. Now I do. I believe that I can concentrate and hold my sight picture during the squeeze in a repeatable fashion, so that even if I am only aiming at the six o’clock point on the tiny 100 yard roundel, if I let the rifle bark the projectile will hit the same point again and again—if I do my part that is. Also, no gusty winds, but the winds are predicted to be headwinds at 3 to 4 mph with temps dry in the low 60s. I always go the earliest I can, so if I make some good groups I’ll try and enlist one or two fellow shooters to pose for a selfie with the target, but quite often I’m the only one out there. Still, if I do manage to make some good shots on one occasion, I’m certain I can repeat the experience another time for witnesses.

After I do this today, I’ll have satisfied my curiosity about the new gun, and while I’m saving up for reloading dies, bullets, more primers, and my forum membership, I’ll go and practice offhand with my sixshooter. Strictly between 15 and 25 yards, shooting “Duelist” mode (aim, cock and fire one-handed) I’ve got the old man shakes. That sucker is heavy! I have to let the sights first line up and then drift across the sight picture and squeeze when the target (6 o’clock hold, again!) and the sights converge briefly. Don’t jerk! Squeeze. . . So far, I’m able to keep a cylinderfull on the target roundel. That’s the best I can do offhand; when I was ladder testing on the bench I routinely achieved 1.2″ groups at 15 yards, and 2″ at 25! Parallax was the enemy then, since the benchrest is a single point of contact and moving my head wipes out any particular sight picture. Oddly, the parallax issue should disappear in offhand shooting, as long as my hold acquires a degree of muscle memory. Hence, the practice time requirement. I reload like my wife crochets. it calms me and I relax and get into a rhythm. Good thing, too, cause with shotshells I’ll have three reloading regimes to manage in short order (actually, I probably will take my sweet time getting there!).

All right, All Y’alls were right, and I was wrong (WRONG! so wrong). My go to target sheet has 6 – 12″ roundels in 2 rows, 3 ranks. Only the central 6″ is shaded, the rest is white with concentric circles at the inches moving out from center. At 100 yards, the shaded roundel is smaller than the head of a carpet tack, maybe a straight pin. I’ve boasted about the sights being fine, but they still need to register on some kind of orb so I can locate the same aim point again and again in my sight picture. Simply not possible, the targets are swamped by the front sight post. I may as well have been shooting with my eyes closed. Complete waste of time.  So much for Zen. Hard to know what to do now; I mean, obviously I might well be able to go forward with an aperture sight, as y’all have suggested with all patience for my stupidity and hubris. But, , , what am I doing it for? I’m not hunting, if I’m just CAS I don’t need it. There’s mention of long range competition as well, but I’m not familiar with any in my state. That doesn’t stop me with benchrest however (so. . .?). It’ll take some ponderin. Now, while I save up for the next stage, black powder ladder testing, I’m going back to my sixshooter and the endlessly frustrating single handed offhand drills. I bought my holster from Mernickle on January 18, but I just checked and he’s got 10 to 14 weeks to complete it! I’ll be drawing from my belt for the foreseeable future!  

Chuck, sorry I missed your post. Yes, for smokeless ladder testing I select a bullet, then a seating depth (I usually go with Bergers and heavy-for-caliber, seated initially at a soft jam in the rifling). Now I select a 10- or 12-level set of charges going down from 15% above published maximum. Each step is 0.30 grains. There will be  at least one decided null in the 2-shot groups at each level. I then explore at 0.10 grain intervals around the nulls, again using 2-shot groups. Then I test the best and near best with 3 shot groups and decide on a winner from that batch. If nothing really makes my beanie propeller jive, I move the seating depth, usually by at least 10 thousandths of an inch. Repeat. Then change bullets, powder, etc. as needed. remember, your useful ACCURATE barrel life may only be 1000 rounds, so nothing is ever chased into its lair, but inferences are made from observation. Then in competition the final testing takes place and you either win or you observe your performance with an eye to winning next time. Now, with black powder, I have stayed within the technology. I can eyeball a unit measure of 2 1/2 grains on my powder measure, so I use that unit. I’m constrained by requiring no air space inside the cartridge, and the need to use a dimensionally-identical filler, such as a fiber overpowder wad to take up space. That eliminates a major source of load to load variation, the use of loose fillers. My compression is never less than 1/16′ and never more than 1/4″ and obviously I used a heavy crimp short of buckling the case mouth. Start with cases all the same length.

Oh, and Chuck, although I measure my powder levels from a starting point 15% greater than the published maximum charge, I DO NOT start shooting there. I start shooting at the lowest level of powder charge, and go up watching for pressure signs at all times, until I may elect if there are no pressure signs, to go at and over the maximum published charge weight as high as the 15%. Just wanted to make that clear, as I’m sure you understood also.

With black powder ladder testing I had a limited number of powder levels. Consulting my notes I used 27 1/2 grains, 30 grains, 32 1/2, 35, 37 1/2 and 40 grains of FFFG Goex in 45 Colt cases with a 255 grain Keith-type SWC projectile, The limited number of levels was dictated by the need to eliminate air spaces in the cartridge with either powder or filler, and the uniform filler I used was a fiber overpowder wad in the 27 1/2 and 30 grain cartridges, The rest had sufficient powder to compress without using any filler. So I changed powder levels from group to group. I’ll follow the same strategy with 44-40 cases. My sixshooter likes 32 1/2 grains; I’ll see what the rifle likes.

Also, Clarence, of course. Heat will often do it. Picking up a hair dryer today. Unwilling to have any open flame in the shop with my powders stored here too. I now think this obstruction, which is quite solid and immovable by feeling with my dowel up the loading gate, has reduced the rifle to a single shot. Who knows how long over the past 134 years it’s been thus. That accounts for the excellent barrel, as well as the storage damage, as we tend not to remember guns we don’t shoot and it was neglected to have acquired its rust damaged areas. I’m guessing I’ll find something unorthodox, such as a lipstick inserted by a child, or a simple mistake in ammo so there is a live round of some wrong caliber stuck in there.