Hello Wayne59

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I did get out to the range to test this wonderful rifle. As you may be aware, I subscribe to the 75% rule for practice shooting my double rifles. That is; 75% velocity of the regulation load using the same bullet weight. Since the regulation load for this rifle is 2200 fps with a 480g bullet, 75% velocity would be about 1650 fps with the same bullet weight. I didn't have any 480g bullets, but was able to acquire some 500g Hawk bullets in .482 dia. Here is the very first target that I shot with that load. You should have seen my smile - no buyer's remorse for this rifle.

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I shot 20 shots with varying amounts of IMR 3031 powder; 70g, 75g, 80g, and the full load load which is 83.5g as was recommended by the former owner of the rifle. I shot 10 pairs total and groups ranged from 5/8" to 4-11/16" across the pairs of shots. On this next target, I shot a pair of "full power" loads on the same target as the 75% loads. As you can see, there was not a lot of difference in regulation from the 75% load to the full power load. And the 75% practice load is a lot more fun to shoot, being only 40.9 ft/lbs of recoil, instead of 70.2 ft/lbs. In the future I will shoot it with some AR5744 loads.

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You may find it interesting to see how I cool my double rifles between shooting strings. I built myself a cooling tube. This improvised device really cuts down on the waiting time between shots strings. I shoot 4 rounds (2 pair) and insert the barrel into the cooling tube. This rig cools the barrels down to ambient temperature in about 3 - 5 minutes; about the time it takes me to step through the chronograph readings, record the shots in my notebook, and walk the 50 yards down-range to measure the holes in the target. This devise was made up using a 110 volt 2-speed fan, attached to various rubber and plastic plumbing adapters, and then attaching them to a 28" long piece of 4" diameter flexible plastic drainage tube. (rubber and plastic for obvious reasons) Total cost was about $35 including the 110 volt fan. Lucky we have power at our range, otherwise I would have made one with a D.C. fan to run off my 12 volt car battery.