I put 20 rounds thru my very new GBL yesterday, a learning experience. I have a mixture of Win HP 300's and some Bufflo Bore 350's (both thanks to Woodycreek)and 350 hard cast reloads of mine. I was not testing accuracy but was wanting to become familar with the rifles, POA (it has peep sights) and see whether I can still hit with open sights.
The first lesson I learned was thumb position. When I fired the first shot my thumb hit me in the face, primarily my cold nose. I am thinking that "hurt" so I adjusted my grip and propmptely hit my self in the face a couple of more times. (my nose is still sore). Apparently I am a slow learner. After that lesson I begain learning to load the rifle. As my only lever rifle "ever" the side gate loading creates a complexity far beyond anything I have ever experienced in a rifle. It was kind of like single feeding a bolt rifle. After 20 rounds I pinched my thumb, (so now my thumb and nose is sore) made the tip sore ( it was cold) and managed to somewhat figure out the angles and pressure required for loading. Thankfully the trigger worked the same way as my bolt rifles. As far as the actual shooting went, it was OK. I put 6 jugs along an old road running thru our place then walked back about 80 yards and started relearning how a peep sight works. I shot the first jug (the closest one) first and after 3 shots figured out the hold. The farthest jug went with the first shot, as I moved a little forward I figured out the sight picture and then quite hitting the ground in front of the jugs. Bullet performance was amazing. The hard casts left a nice clean 45 cal hole in and out of the jugs. The Win 300 HP's made the jugs mostly fragment and explode. The Bufflo bore were a SP and while not as explosive as the HP but did fragment the jugs. All and all a great time and I learned a lot. I will reload so more hard cast and try them again on a target in the near future. I also think I will order some more 350 SP. A nice afternoon in the wind.
The first lesson I learned was thumb position. When I fired the first shot my thumb hit me in the face, primarily my cold nose. I am thinking that "hurt" so I adjusted my grip and propmptely hit my self in the face a couple of more times. (my nose is still sore). Apparently I am a slow learner. After that lesson I begain learning to load the rifle. As my only lever rifle "ever" the side gate loading creates a complexity far beyond anything I have ever experienced in a rifle. It was kind of like single feeding a bolt rifle. After 20 rounds I pinched my thumb, (so now my thumb and nose is sore) made the tip sore ( it was cold) and managed to somewhat figure out the angles and pressure required for loading. Thankfully the trigger worked the same way as my bolt rifles. As far as the actual shooting went, it was OK. I put 6 jugs along an old road running thru our place then walked back about 80 yards and started relearning how a peep sight works. I shot the first jug (the closest one) first and after 3 shots figured out the hold. The farthest jug went with the first shot, as I moved a little forward I figured out the sight picture and then quite hitting the ground in front of the jugs. Bullet performance was amazing. The hard casts left a nice clean 45 cal hole in and out of the jugs. The Win 300 HP's made the jugs mostly fragment and explode. The Bufflo bore were a SP and while not as explosive as the HP but did fragment the jugs. All and all a great time and I learned a lot. I will reload so more hard cast and try them again on a target in the near future. I also think I will order some more 350 SP. A nice afternoon in the wind.
