Target shooting with my M1917

[Merc]

I had cataract surgery last week (left eye) and three weeks ago (right eye) so I’m anxious to shoot my ‘17 and the others at paper plates that should now look about the size of man-hole covers. We’re getting snow and cold weather now and Indian Summer was several weeks ago so it won’t happen anytime soon.

I also staple a sheet of brown wrapping paper behind the paper plate so that I can see where the shots go if I’m off target.

[rayg]

I use a marker pen and put a small dot/circle on the plate to center on....

[Heavy Metal 1]

1. Small black paper plates can be had at the Dollar Store for pennies around Halloween. I put an orange target sticker in the center and it makes for a cheap target.

2.My Rem. 1917 has the JA 2 groove barrel. When I first acquired the rifle I found that BT bullets were not the recipe for 2 groove barrels. I had some 165 gr flat based bullets on hand and loaded them up with a mid weight charge of IMR 4350 and that load is so very accurate I have never changed it.

[Merc]

1. Small black paper plates can be had at the Dollar Store for pennies around Halloween. I put an orange target sticker in the center and it makes for a cheap target.

2.My Rem. 1917 has the JA 2 groove barrel. When I first acquired the rifle I found that BT bullets were not the recipe for 2 groove barrels. I had some 165 gr flat based bullets on hand and loaded them up with a mid weight charge of IMR 4350 and that load is so very accurate I have never changed it.

Experimenting is the nice thing about reloading. I’ve tried a few different combinations and found that my Winchester ‘17 likes M2 flat based 150 gr. FMJs propelled by IMR 4064 but also did ok with 174 gr. BTs propelled by Hodgdon BLC-2. My original barrel is still crisp and I think that might have a lot to do with its performance.

I’ve always been curious about the purpose of the boat tail design.