Lee Watne Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 I shot in an indoor Bullseye match last week end. There were 8 shooters on the line all shooting various loads of Bullseye behind 180 and 200 grain lead bullets. There were 180 rounds for each of the 8 shooters totaling 1440 rounds down range. When finished we swept the floor to make the range ready for the public shooters and I noticed a significant amount of black "dust", like maybe a cup and a half in the sweepings. I put a couple of pinches in an envelope and took it home where I gave it a flame test. It was gun powder no doubt. Nothing burns like gun powder. It seems strange that the powder that is prefered by so many as the most accurate and consistent reduced power load leaves so much unburned powder behind. I don't know how much powder in a confined space it would take to blow the doors open, but I'm glad no one smokes on the firing line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz-0 Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 bullseye loads are weird, I sometimes wonder why they don't jsut shoot air pistol. Going down range after our local bullseye guys shoot, I sometimes find plated lead bullets that bounced off the backstop with barely any deformation. That stuff is moving SLOW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 Its not just a Bullseye thing. A local indoor range here (KC) wets the floor in front of ALL the blackpowder shooters to avoid the inevitable fire the burning embers light when they land in the unburned power in front of the shooting stalls. I estimate that much more than 3/4 of the ammo shot at this range is factory ammo. And yes, Bullseye does work really well in 45 acp. Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Watne Posted January 19, 2005 Author Share Posted January 19, 2005 The unique thing is this time I know everybody was using Bullseye. I still have trouble understanding why people shoot a pistol with one hand, but some of them can really shoot that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted January 19, 2005 Share Posted January 19, 2005 A buddy told me that a guy dropped a cigarette on a carpeted firing line once and damn near burned the range to the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Friend of mine told me of a time when a spark set off the accumulated powder packed into the seam of the concrete floor of the indoor range he worked at. Burned from one end of the range to the other like a Hollywood black powder fuse... I think I read somewhere (an article by Guy Neill?) where some major powder manufacturer tests for firing "residue" by weighing the charges of the powder going into the rounds, and then fires them indoors over a butcher paper cover on the floor. They gather up the unburned powder granules from the floor and weight them to see how much actually got burned. I am not sure what they used the info for though... My first IPSC load was a very dirty shotgun powder (Herco). I could shoot targets from over ten yards away and find speckled burn marks around the bullet holes from all the powder that was still burning as it flew downrange with the bullet. I use Viht now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Duane wrote an article describing Hodgdon's "ejecta test" of Titegroup loaded in .40. Titegroup produced very little ejecta in that loading. There was a tragic fire at Glock USA HQ in the last year or so that caused the death of at least one employee. One likely cause was the ignition of range floor sweepings that had been collected in a bucket or a drum. Anyone have more details on the final results of the investigation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intel6 Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 When I was stationed in Berlin, Germany I shot a lot at a German shooting club that had an underground range. They used to have a bare dirt floor in front of the firing line. They ended up having to get it cemented over due to the safety concerns. From then on they always swept up the floor after the firing was done. I was amazed at the amount of powder that was recovered. Most cartridges are very inefficient and don't burn all their powder. One of the most efficient is the 22LR. Neal in AZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crovello Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 At the indoor range I shoot at, the floor is swept nightly,,, or is that weekly :)and dust is put into a steel bucket. Every few weeks the bucket is taken out side and a match is tossed into it. Great entertainment. It sure would be dangerous to leave that dust to build up on the floor. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Snyder Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 The unique thing is this time I know everybody was using Bullseye. I still have trouble understanding why people shoot a pistol with one hand, but some of them can really shoot that way. I happen to shoot Bullseye and actually had been shooting it for a couple of years before starting IPSC. What was evident was that having shot Bullseye, it had taught me more about the Basics of shooting, sight picture, breathing and trigger control. Compared to some of my friends that had not shot Bullseye and had started shooting IPSC the same time I had is that they were throwing more mikes and were confounded as to why I was more accurate. I am older than most of these guys and suffer from some back problems that don't allow me to move as fast so the accuracy helps. I also use Bullseye powder in my 45 loads and out of my 45 Bullseye gun it is under 1 1/2 inches accurate at 50 yards, dirty or not this stuff works! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zerwas Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 One more positive reply for the bullseye shooters out there. I have been shooting bullseye for the last 8 years, and like some others, I learned quick about the fundamentals of pistol shooting. I'm sure you are not being too overly critical about that sport. It is one of those things, kind of like golf, where you just don't appreciate it until you try it. You then find how quickly a person can become frustrated. You also learn quickly what good quality practice and what good habits can do for your game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sc0 Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Talking about Shooting Bullseye or using Bullseye? I started shooting pistols Bullseye fashion due to my father being Ex-Army and was a MP and was a part of the AMU at the time. To this day I am more accurate with a one hand hold compared to a two hand, so is my father and my brother. As for Bullseye powder I am trying to use it as a all-in-one for 9mm, .40S&W, and .45ACP. I tried about 120rds through a Glock and with lead bullets is leaves a little caking on the breechface. I am thinking with a tighter crimp the load should burn a little bit cleaner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Watne Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 Actually I was talking about both Bullseye shooting and Bullseye powder. I didn't mean to belittle the sport. Bullseye shooting is the most challenging type of shooting I have ever tried, but I have always wondered how one handed shooting got started when it seems so much easier to get get satisfactory hits with two hands. Maybe it was a natural progression from sword fighting. Bullseye powder whether it all burns or not is the accuracy standard for reduced lead bullet loads in the 45. But, watch your matches and arcing things around the range floor sweepings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sc0 Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I think the one handed hold was for accuracy, barely anything to affect the gun when sighting and squeezing. With a .45 or a Ruger 22/45 the arch of my hand contacts the backstrap and my front two fingers contact the frontstrap/triggerguard while my index squeezes the trigger. If the sights are off I stop squeezing or rest for a bit and retry. With nothing else touching the gun it means less movement, I don't even let my thumb or pinky fingers rest on anything as it might throw the shot off. Also, you have a longer sighting radius as the arm is around full extension. I am accurate with slowfire bullseye shooting and decent with rapid fire, now the two handed stance is something different maybe because nobody has taught me the proper stance? Now tactically it's not beneficial unless your doing a Matrix movie with a Desert Eagle but for competition where X's count... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Watne Posted March 9, 2005 Author Share Posted March 9, 2005 It would be interesting to see a really top two handed shooter and a one handed shooter in an accuracy shootout. Two handed repeat shots are much faster because you can control recoil so much better and when your score is divided by time that's really important. You don't see much one handed shooting at pistol ranges any more, but when I was a kid that's all you saw. I started shooting two handed when hunting with a 44 magnum. I was alone and nobody could see me "cheating". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HQBrass Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 As for Bullseye powder I am trying to use it as a all-in-one for 9mm, .40S&W, and .45ACP. I tried about 120rds through a Glock and with lead bullets is leaves a little caking on the breechface. I am thinking with a tighter crimp the load should burn a little bit cleaner... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I do just that. I load all of my rounds with Bullseye powder 45 ACP, 40 S&W, and 9mm. I started using Bullseye for 45 ACP and really liked it. It is cheap, meters well and requires a small charge to get the velocities required. As to being dirty, if the round is not properly constructed it will be very dirty. There needs to be a good tight crimp or some other way to get the pressures up. I can run 300 rounds through my gun with Bullseye and compare it to my friend who shoots the same amount of rounds loaded with Tightgroup, my gun just looks sooty while the Tightgroup gun look very dirty with a greasy like film everywhere inside the gun. It is not the perfect powder for high-pressure cartridges like 40 S&W & 9mm but it can be used within reason. Just watch for pressure signs and work up to where you want to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 Important safety tip: Do NOT, repeat, do NOT, attempt to arc weld a broken pepper popper on an indoor range if the sides of the range contain a sound deadening foam which has accumulated years of unburnt powder residue. Trust me on this one. ps: Not, It wasn't me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Watne Posted March 29, 2005 Author Share Posted March 29, 2005 Check this Post on crimp by Brian http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...ndpost&p=262648 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted March 30, 2005 Share Posted March 30, 2005 Rob, Oh, that must have been exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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