purchased a green mountain small game rifle some time back. here's a crappy picture of it
this weekend i finally got to shoot it. actually, i had tried to shoot it a couple of times previously, but was running into problems due to my OCD personality. the .32 cal jag which comes with the rifle absolutely does not work when attached to the ramrod that comes with the rifle. you cannot use a small enough patch ... it won't fit into the barrel. the jag isn't too big, but the ramrod is. the patch goes into the barrel the length of the jag, but then stops at the ramrod because the fit is too tight. ive tried a myriad combinations and none of them work ... you would have to have a smaller diameter ramrod to make this jag work.
anyway, i finally used the cleaning rod for my .22 with a slotted tip (not a jag), and a full-size .45+ caliber patch. this seemed to fit reasonably tightly for swabbing the bore.
the only target shooting i did was at 20 yds. keep in mind this is a .32 cal rifle shooting itty-bitty roundballs, not a long-range shooting machine. the wind was gusting to 30 mph+, so conditions were not ideal. this is the 1st target i shot, complete w/ scope adjustments:
load was 20 g. by volume t7 3f. hornady .310 roundballs and .010 ox yoke patches. i was really curious w/ this rifle as to whether i would be able to shoot it w/out swabbing between shots. the manual that came with the rifle said that you absolutely had to swab between shots. also, it listed loads not by grains (as is typical), but instead in terms of the Lee reloading plastic dippers
although i bought a set of the dippers to use with this rifle, i found it extremely obnoxious to carry the entire set of dippers around with me to use the rifle. that and carrying the additional .22 cal cleaning rod to swab between shots ... you get the picture as to why it took me so long to shoot this rifle. i finally experimented w/ the dippers and found out what they equated to in my ordinary volumetric measure, and thereby settled on the 20 g. measure setting (a pretty hot load in this rifle).
but long story short, the rifle shoots FINE without swabbing between shots. loading resistance is the same from shot to shot after the barrel is fouled ... light, with this ball/patch combo. and as you can see from this 3-shot group i fired, even though the targit is only at 20 yds, accuracy is great:
i will say that i do think that the rifle shoots BETTER when swabbing between shots. but for plinking, there's no need. i could tell that the ball wanted to get hung up a little in the last inch of a fouled barrel, but it just took a couple of raps from my brass powder flask to seat it past the point of hangup.
using this same load, i next set up a soda can at a measured 65 yards. at that range, i could hit the can with every shot (w/out swabbing between shots). that's good enough for me with this rifle. i can't imagine that the teeny roundballs it shoots hold up much past 75 yds or so.
overall, i am very pleased with the rifle. it handles very nicely, and is very accurate. muzzle blast is very mild, and recoil is just a slight push. kind of like a beefed-up .22. im sure accuracy would be improved by varying the powder charge and patch thickness ... but why bother? it loads easily and produces the power and accuracy i want at this setting.
that being said, there are a couple of things that really annoy me about it. first, i could feel the blast from every shot on my face. this was very perplexing to me ... i dont see how i could be getting that much blowback from only a 20 g. charge. but it was noticeable.
second, it has been a PIA to clean it. the scope mounts are not the detachable type. i guess i have gotten spoiled on detachable warnes! i have spent 3 days total cleaning it, just doing a little here and there each time. i wonder sometimes if its worth it! blowback fouling (mixed w/ breechplug grease :d'oh!: ) was all over the receiver and into the bolt. my .22 is much lower maintenance ....
anyway ... a very UNIQUE rifle! 8)
this weekend i finally got to shoot it. actually, i had tried to shoot it a couple of times previously, but was running into problems due to my OCD personality. the .32 cal jag which comes with the rifle absolutely does not work when attached to the ramrod that comes with the rifle. you cannot use a small enough patch ... it won't fit into the barrel. the jag isn't too big, but the ramrod is. the patch goes into the barrel the length of the jag, but then stops at the ramrod because the fit is too tight. ive tried a myriad combinations and none of them work ... you would have to have a smaller diameter ramrod to make this jag work.
anyway, i finally used the cleaning rod for my .22 with a slotted tip (not a jag), and a full-size .45+ caliber patch. this seemed to fit reasonably tightly for swabbing the bore.
the only target shooting i did was at 20 yds. keep in mind this is a .32 cal rifle shooting itty-bitty roundballs, not a long-range shooting machine. the wind was gusting to 30 mph+, so conditions were not ideal. this is the 1st target i shot, complete w/ scope adjustments:
load was 20 g. by volume t7 3f. hornady .310 roundballs and .010 ox yoke patches. i was really curious w/ this rifle as to whether i would be able to shoot it w/out swabbing between shots. the manual that came with the rifle said that you absolutely had to swab between shots. also, it listed loads not by grains (as is typical), but instead in terms of the Lee reloading plastic dippers
although i bought a set of the dippers to use with this rifle, i found it extremely obnoxious to carry the entire set of dippers around with me to use the rifle. that and carrying the additional .22 cal cleaning rod to swab between shots ... you get the picture as to why it took me so long to shoot this rifle. i finally experimented w/ the dippers and found out what they equated to in my ordinary volumetric measure, and thereby settled on the 20 g. measure setting (a pretty hot load in this rifle).but long story short, the rifle shoots FINE without swabbing between shots. loading resistance is the same from shot to shot after the barrel is fouled ... light, with this ball/patch combo. and as you can see from this 3-shot group i fired, even though the targit is only at 20 yds, accuracy is great:
i will say that i do think that the rifle shoots BETTER when swabbing between shots. but for plinking, there's no need. i could tell that the ball wanted to get hung up a little in the last inch of a fouled barrel, but it just took a couple of raps from my brass powder flask to seat it past the point of hangup.
using this same load, i next set up a soda can at a measured 65 yards. at that range, i could hit the can with every shot (w/out swabbing between shots). that's good enough for me with this rifle. i can't imagine that the teeny roundballs it shoots hold up much past 75 yds or so.
overall, i am very pleased with the rifle. it handles very nicely, and is very accurate. muzzle blast is very mild, and recoil is just a slight push. kind of like a beefed-up .22. im sure accuracy would be improved by varying the powder charge and patch thickness ... but why bother? it loads easily and produces the power and accuracy i want at this setting.
that being said, there are a couple of things that really annoy me about it. first, i could feel the blast from every shot on my face. this was very perplexing to me ... i dont see how i could be getting that much blowback from only a 20 g. charge. but it was noticeable.
second, it has been a PIA to clean it. the scope mounts are not the detachable type. i guess i have gotten spoiled on detachable warnes! i have spent 3 days total cleaning it, just doing a little here and there each time. i wonder sometimes if its worth it! blowback fouling (mixed w/ breechplug grease :d'oh!: ) was all over the receiver and into the bolt. my .22 is much lower maintenance ....
anyway ... a very UNIQUE rifle! 8)
