Today I went to 100 yards with the CZ452. Weather was fantastic as we started out at 33 degrees, sunny, and a 2-5 mph wind from the right.
I first got my sights adjusted from my 25 yard setting. Easy enough, I just fired a five round group and measured from the center of that group to the center of the target, then made the required sight adjustments for windage and elevation. I fired another group to confirm the setting and was within 1 minute of center. The Williams FP sight is requiring 6 clicks per minute on this rifle.
I changed a few things this outing, notably the ammunition. I am out of the CCI Standard Velocity so I grabbed batch of CCI Blazer I had lying around. Not the best in this rifle, but good enough. I also enlarged one of the Lyman front apertures I had from .050 to .158. That gave me two front sights to try today, the mentioned .158 and a .120 I had been using. Honestly, why do they sell those tiny front apertures? Can anyone see through those things?
I did not try the larger rear peeps I had bought as I had plenty of sunlight today. Something we have been missing around here on weekends. So I stayed with the .093 rear peep I have been using.
First target was fired with the .158 front aperture. While not a great target I will improve.
100 yards. .158 front aperture. Three groups of five shots.
The second target was fired with the .120 front aperture. Not a bad target but certainly needs improvement. I want to see 1 minute groups when I get to shooting the Kerr.
100 yards. .120 front aperture. Three groups of five shots.
I learned a few things worth remembering.
- I need to start shooting in the morning, or at least early afternoon, as the target moves into heavy shadows after 2pm.
- While the smaller front aperture ‘feels’ like I have a better sight picture, the targets say otherwise.
- Several of my wayward shots were caused by changing where I focused on the front aperture. I find that if I shift my focus to the stem of the aperture I have tighter groups. If I focus on the ring, my focus can move back to the target without my thinking about it.
- I need to clean and lube my CZ, the bolt was getting sticky in the cold after the first hour of shooting.
- I still need to slow down. This is not a fast relay where I have sixty seconds for ten shots and a magazine change. I can afford to take a little more time.
A good day for the books. I need to finish the next post, barrel bedding on the Kerr rifle.
vring 