photos of your witness marks please .

[DavidAR10T]

View attachment 32670





Rifle loaded with 105 grain 777ff, vegetable fiber wad and Fury 50 caliber 275g Star Tip MZ sized to fit barrel .

I have the exact same style of marks. Mine are made with the cutting edge of a Gerber Magnum LST Jr. pocket knife.

 

[BP Addict]

Im sorry to say I dont use them. Only because I never have one load for a gun. I may shoot 2-3 different bullets, powders, etc. At least for my inlines. For my sidelocks I shoot round balls and may use 80-100 grains of Swiss or Pyrodex with a RB. Depends on if Im hunting or target shooting. For me having multiple witness marks could get as confusing as none at all.

I do however mark the rod with fingertips when it rests on the load. Then hold it next to the gun barrel to see if things look reasonable. I guess in a way that is a witness mark.

I use a Stainless Steel Bench rod at the range. I mark it loaded and unloaded with a Black Sharpie. The rod under my In-line barrel is black so I'd probably use a silver or gold-colored Sharpie instead. I'm not a big fan of cutting notches in ramrods. The ink cleans off with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol so if you use it for different guns, you start fresh every time.

I've also seen folks mark them with a strip of (3/4" - 1") Blue Painters Tape.

My club's monthly match is tomorrow. I'll snap some photos and post them this weekend.

Walt

 

[Bowanna]

The yellow is my CVA Optima w/30" barrel unloaded and loaded w/120 grain T-7 pellets and 250 grain Smackdown MZX and the red is Traditions Pursuit w/26" barrel unloaded and loaded w/90 grains T-7 loose and Fury 320 grain Star Tip MZ.
Gonna need a new range rod with new Traditions on the way.

 

[Bowanna]

If your wondering about the 4-wheeler were off to the lease for some range time!

 

[ElDiablo]

Tape “loaded” mark on range rod.

 

[BP Addict]

Here they are. The first three photos are from after the shoot last Saturday. You can see the Silver Sharpie lines on the darker rod showing Empty and Loaded.

The next few are from the Range yesterday. The Blue Painters Tape for the Rifle and the single Black Line for the Pistol are the MINIUM or an "Empty/Unloaded" Indicator! The Last two are showing both Empty and Loaded marks. As I said earlier, the tape peels off and the Marks can be removed with 91% Isopropyl alcohol. That way you can use your Bench Rod for more than one gun by starting fresh each time.

Shoot Straight!

Walt

 

[JeffB1961]

ok , so my take from this is folks with a LOT of experience can probably get away with no witness marks ... but sometimes it doesn't go well .
someone not so experienced or new should absolutely us some sort of mark either empty or to top of their chosen load .
but even that isn't idiot proof so no matter how experienced or not we are , we have to pay fracking attention to what we're doing .