Written by Jeff Brown, this article was published in the Nov/Dec 2010. #208 of the Fouling Shot.
Short, fat cartridges are all the rage right now. Visit any of the major ammunition manufacturer web sites and the latest and greatest in pear shaped rifle rounds will be there to feast your eyes on. These rounds are touted as being more accurate and efficient than their taller cousins and based on the reputation of both the 22 and 6mm PPC target cartridges, the grandparents of the new age designs, there may be some merit in this. Action fit, feeding and cycling aside the stubby rounds, on paper, certainly seem to provide more bang for your buck in terms of the amount of powder consumed for the veloci-ty generated. I have recently acquired one myself; though not a factory round but a Kiwi wildcat based on the venerable Three Oh Three.
Derek is one of shootings good buggers. Into his late 70s he remains a very competitive shot on the range, a well informed and good humoured shooter. In addition to this it would appear that Derek is a man ahead of his years, as he and his friend Brian gave birth to their own short, fat, economical round, the 303 Pygmy (303 x 1.5 inch), in the early 70s heading off the munitions com-pany boffins by 30 years.
The boys wanted a mild, accurate round for shooting in NZ Deerstalkers Assc. 200m three position matches. They wanted something cheap to run that did not involve a reduced load in a standard length cartridge that would leave a lot of vacant powder space in the case; fear of the phantom and less than fully understood SEE detonation motivated this. In hind sight had the Russian 7.62 x 39mm round been readily available at the time Derek told me they would never have gone to the trouble and ironi-cally now his 3 position rifle is based on that exact case. Speaking as the new owner of their creation I say bravo and I am pleased they did!
What is the 303 Pygmy?
The boys inadvertently created a near perfect cast bullet round hence my enthusiastic embrace. In short (pardon the pun) the Pygmy is a standard 303 British cartridge case reformed and reduced to an overall length of 1.500 inches (38.1mm). Cartridge dimensions are as follows:
Case OAL - 1.5"
Neck Length - .045"
Neck Outside Dia. - .340"
Case to Shoulder - .975"
Shoulder Diameter - .435"
Rim Diameter - .530"
Case Capacity (water) - 33.5 gr.
Cartridge OAL - to suit
The idea of the 303 x 1.5 inches was spawned from Frank Barnes (Cartridges of the World fame) 308 x 1.5 inch round where a regular 308 Winchester is treated in the same manner. With the Pygmy neck turning is mandatory on reformed brass as the neck of the new case is formed from the thicker body of the parent. One very good feature of the finished Pygmy cases is propor-tionally their wall and neck thicknesses are very heavy and resist wear and stretching brilliantly so case life is excellent. What leans the Pygmy towards perfection in cast bullet shooting however is the long neck, to fully con-tain bullets with lubricated grease grooves and reduced powder capacity so near 100% load density may be achieved with only the necessary amount of propellant.
Short, fat cartridges are all the rage right now. Visit any of the major ammunition manufacturer web sites and the latest and greatest in pear shaped rifle rounds will be there to feast your eyes on. These rounds are touted as being more accurate and efficient than their taller cousins and based on the reputation of both the 22 and 6mm PPC target cartridges, the grandparents of the new age designs, there may be some merit in this. Action fit, feeding and cycling aside the stubby rounds, on paper, certainly seem to provide more bang for your buck in terms of the amount of powder consumed for the veloci-ty generated. I have recently acquired one myself; though not a factory round but a Kiwi wildcat based on the venerable Three Oh Three.
Derek is one of shootings good buggers. Into his late 70s he remains a very competitive shot on the range, a well informed and good humoured shooter. In addition to this it would appear that Derek is a man ahead of his years, as he and his friend Brian gave birth to their own short, fat, economical round, the 303 Pygmy (303 x 1.5 inch), in the early 70s heading off the munitions com-pany boffins by 30 years.
The boys wanted a mild, accurate round for shooting in NZ Deerstalkers Assc. 200m three position matches. They wanted something cheap to run that did not involve a reduced load in a standard length cartridge that would leave a lot of vacant powder space in the case; fear of the phantom and less than fully understood SEE detonation motivated this. In hind sight had the Russian 7.62 x 39mm round been readily available at the time Derek told me they would never have gone to the trouble and ironi-cally now his 3 position rifle is based on that exact case. Speaking as the new owner of their creation I say bravo and I am pleased they did!
What is the 303 Pygmy?
The boys inadvertently created a near perfect cast bullet round hence my enthusiastic embrace. In short (pardon the pun) the Pygmy is a standard 303 British cartridge case reformed and reduced to an overall length of 1.500 inches (38.1mm). Cartridge dimensions are as follows:
Case OAL - 1.5"
Neck Length - .045"
Neck Outside Dia. - .340"
Case to Shoulder - .975"
Shoulder Diameter - .435"
Rim Diameter - .530"
Case Capacity (water) - 33.5 gr.
Cartridge OAL - to suit
The idea of the 303 x 1.5 inches was spawned from Frank Barnes (Cartridges of the World fame) 308 x 1.5 inch round where a regular 308 Winchester is treated in the same manner. With the Pygmy neck turning is mandatory on reformed brass as the neck of the new case is formed from the thicker body of the parent. One very good feature of the finished Pygmy cases is propor-tionally their wall and neck thicknesses are very heavy and resist wear and stretching brilliantly so case life is excellent. What leans the Pygmy towards perfection in cast bullet shooting however is the long neck, to fully con-tain bullets with lubricated grease grooves and reduced powder capacity so near 100% load density may be achieved with only the necessary amount of propellant.
Enter The Cast Bullet Kid
Derek had once told me of the project and his trials and tribulations with the stout barrel dimensions. Some years later (present time) we were talking at the range and he told me he was having a clear out with his rifles and giving some away to his family. I asked if he still had the Pygmy, if he wanted to part with it, and the rest is history.
The rifle: Action
The Pygmy is the quintessential Kiwi cobbled together bitsa (bits a this, bits a that) creation. Not surprisingly the rifle is based on a Lee Enfield action; MLE/Long Tom to be exact. Given the availability of these actions in NZ and the benefits of not having to make alterations to the bolt head, etc. this was a logical choice. The magazine well has been blinded off top and bottom rendering the lit-tle rifle a single shot and considering its intended use was on the range this too is a nice logical and easy option. What is rather dinky is the spring loaded feed ramp installed at the front of the action in order to facilitate ease in chambering a round. As the bolt closes the loaded round rides onto the feed ramp and is guided into the chamber. The feed ramp then depresses as the bolt passes over it and allows the bolt to fully close and lock. Nice work there boys.
Derek had once told me of the project and his trials and tribulations with the stout barrel dimensions. Some years later (present time) we were talking at the range and he told me he was having a clear out with his rifles and giving some away to his family. I asked if he still had the Pygmy, if he wanted to part with it, and the rest is history.
The rifle: Action
The Pygmy is the quintessential Kiwi cobbled together bitsa (bits a this, bits a that) creation. Not surprisingly the rifle is based on a Lee Enfield action; MLE/Long Tom to be exact. Given the availability of these actions in NZ and the benefits of not having to make alterations to the bolt head, etc. this was a logical choice. The magazine well has been blinded off top and bottom rendering the lit-tle rifle a single shot and considering its intended use was on the range this too is a nice logical and easy option. What is rather dinky is the spring loaded feed ramp installed at the front of the action in order to facilitate ease in chambering a round. As the bolt closes the loaded round rides onto the feed ramp and is guided into the chamber. The feed ramp then depresses as the bolt passes over it and allows the bolt to fully close and lock. Nice work there boys.
Barrel
The action wears a No. 4 Lee Enfield barrel in 2-groove configuration and this barrel proved to be the Achilles Heel for Derek in his attempts to get the rifle to produce target quality grouping. Two-groove 303 barrels are famous for rather generous internal dimensions and this one is no exception. While the bore is spot on at .303-.304, the groove runs a very large .317 which is a full six thousandths of an inch over specification. The enormously oversized groove diameter did not allow for accuracy better than approximately 100mm (4 inches) at 50m/55 yards. It does not take a great deal of imagina-tion to understand why when launching traditional 303 bullets of .311-.312 diameter down a .317 groove. The bullet effectively rattles down the barrel. As such the Pygmy project, after a fair amount of experimenting, was shelved and remained that way for many years.
The action wears a No. 4 Lee Enfield barrel in 2-groove configuration and this barrel proved to be the Achilles Heel for Derek in his attempts to get the rifle to produce target quality grouping. Two-groove 303 barrels are famous for rather generous internal dimensions and this one is no exception. While the bore is spot on at .303-.304, the groove runs a very large .317 which is a full six thousandths of an inch over specification. The enormously oversized groove diameter did not allow for accuracy better than approximately 100mm (4 inches) at 50m/55 yards. It does not take a great deal of imagina-tion to understand why when launching traditional 303 bullets of .311-.312 diameter down a .317 groove. The bullet effectively rattles down the barrel. As such the Pygmy project, after a fair amount of experimenting, was shelved and remained that way for many years.
Bullets
I was not fazed by the oversized groove diameter and was confident with a correct fitting bullet the rifle had the same potential as any other. While the main-stream bullet mould manufacturers do not cater for .317-.318 diameter bullets, I knew that Jim Allison of Cast Bullet Engineering (CBE) in Australia had a huge range of designs and would be able to help. As it happened my CBE 313 220GC (220gr) mould produced bullets in wheel weight alloy that measured .3165 so I figured this bullet would be a good starting point.
Shortly after acquiring the rifle Jim released his new 316 175GC (175 gr.) bullet so I ordered this also as the 175 grain bullet would be a better match to the case capacity of the Pygmy. Both bullets are bore riding designs where the bore diameter nose section is the greater part of the bullet and the remaining rear section is groove diameter. This design of bullet excels in 2-groove Lee Enfield barrels as the ratio of lands/grooves is 5/8 bore, 3/8 groove meaning that the greater part of the bearing surfaces are bore diameter and provide a huge amount of support for the bullet nose aiding in keeping the projectile perfectly aligned.
In addition to the extra support the wide lands give the bullets the 2-groove barrels are also more accommodating of undersize bullets. This is because the bullet has so little groove to upset into and so much support from the bore that misalignment that might occur in other types of barrels from too small a projectile does not man-ifest itself. This is rather handy in view because of many of my bullets being a shade light on girth.
Jim also then released his new 316 240GC (240gr) bullet, another bore rider and this too is very well suited to the Pygmy barrel. Also tested at the very beginning of experimentation was the Lyman 311466 Loverin style bullet in both the round and flat nose configuration (I have a mould that has been altered). Neither bullet performed at all well and trials with these projectiles were ceased.
I was not fazed by the oversized groove diameter and was confident with a correct fitting bullet the rifle had the same potential as any other. While the main-stream bullet mould manufacturers do not cater for .317-.318 diameter bullets, I knew that Jim Allison of Cast Bullet Engineering (CBE) in Australia had a huge range of designs and would be able to help. As it happened my CBE 313 220GC (220gr) mould produced bullets in wheel weight alloy that measured .3165 so I figured this bullet would be a good starting point.
Shortly after acquiring the rifle Jim released his new 316 175GC (175 gr.) bullet so I ordered this also as the 175 grain bullet would be a better match to the case capacity of the Pygmy. Both bullets are bore riding designs where the bore diameter nose section is the greater part of the bullet and the remaining rear section is groove diameter. This design of bullet excels in 2-groove Lee Enfield barrels as the ratio of lands/grooves is 5/8 bore, 3/8 groove meaning that the greater part of the bearing surfaces are bore diameter and provide a huge amount of support for the bullet nose aiding in keeping the projectile perfectly aligned.
In addition to the extra support the wide lands give the bullets the 2-groove barrels are also more accommodating of undersize bullets. This is because the bullet has so little groove to upset into and so much support from the bore that misalignment that might occur in other types of barrels from too small a projectile does not man-ifest itself. This is rather handy in view because of many of my bullets being a shade light on girth.
Jim also then released his new 316 240GC (240gr) bullet, another bore rider and this too is very well suited to the Pygmy barrel. Also tested at the very beginning of experimentation was the Lyman 311466 Loverin style bullet in both the round and flat nose configuration (I have a mould that has been altered). Neither bullet performed at all well and trials with these projectiles were ceased.
Dies
The Pygmy came with the original reamers (since used to cut a clone in Australia by a fellow cast bullet shooter), 70 cases and a pair of dies; seater and decapper. What I really needed was a sizing die. Enter the good folk at Lee Precision in the USA. I am a huge fan of the Lee collet neck sizing system and Lee offers a custom die service. For the meager sum of $55.00 US they will knock you out a collet and seating die to your specs. This is very good value for money in my opinion. All Lee Precision requires is two fired cases and two of the bullets intended to be used in the rifle and they make the dies to suit.
The Pygmy came with the original reamers (since used to cut a clone in Australia by a fellow cast bullet shooter), 70 cases and a pair of dies; seater and decapper. What I really needed was a sizing die. Enter the good folk at Lee Precision in the USA. I am a huge fan of the Lee collet neck sizing system and Lee offers a custom die service. For the meager sum of $55.00 US they will knock you out a collet and seating die to your specs. This is very good value for money in my opinion. All Lee Precision requires is two fired cases and two of the bullets intended to be used in the rifle and they make the dies to suit.
I sent them both and requested that they produce the sizing mandrel in the die that case necks reformed to an inside diameter of .3155 after the opera-tion. This gives me 0.001 inch neck tension with bullets of .3165 diameter. A real bonus was that when I loaned the Pygmy reamers to a fellow member of the Cast Boolit internet forum in Australia to make his own 303 runt rifle, he cut me a case forming die and sent it over when he returned the reamers to me. I was all set now for cartridge load-ing and case forming. Not bad for someone who swore he would never own a wildcat.
Woodwork
Being a project rifle the original woodwork was not flattering and was a standby until the rig proved itself. The original fore end was very short and the butt stock had a transplanted piece of wood for a check piece. All in all, not very pretty. I sourced a new and suitably longer fore end with a Schnabel tip and checking that suited my stock crawling tendencies much better. Via the purchase of a dunger sporterized No1 MkIII rifle I scored a beautiful butt stock with a pistol grip and rollover Monte Carlo check-piece that really sets the rifle off. Added to the butt stock was a rubber recoil pad to bring the pull of the stock out to the correct length for my gorilla arms.
Sights
The rifle came furnished with a set of home made scope mounts. A lot of work had gone into making them however I was not sure they were up to the job. Instead I fitted a ramp mounted bead foresight at the muzzle end and attached a spare PH5A aperture sight on the back. This set up works splendidly and is 100% reliable.
Load development
There is no published data for this cartridge go figure. The only data I had was a page of notes from the diary that Derek kept from his early testing. As I have no access to pressure testing equipment, conservative has been the word of the year for all loads to date. A fellow member of the Cast Boolit forum was good enough to run some powders, projectiles and the case specifications through his Load from a Disc PC program. He came back with nominal data for AR2205 (H4227), Bench Mark 2 (BM2) and W748 all powders I keep on hand and use in other cartridges. From the outset the AR2205 was always going to be rather limiting as it is a very fast rifle powder and I stopped load development with it early on as accuracy was poor and velocities very limited. The remaining two powders have proved very well suited indeed. Based on the case capacity and projectile weights I firmly believe that AR2219 (H322) would be the all round best powder for the Pygmy round and this has been reported by the Pygmy shooter in Australia. His rifle likes the powder under a 174 grain projectile. This is not a powder I keep so I have developed loads based on BM2 for the CBE 316 175GC bullet and W748 for both the CBE 313 220GC and 316 240GC projectiles. Load data is shown in the accompanying table.
Projectile Diameter SD Heat Treat Brinell Weight in WW Alloy Powder Charge Velocity OAL
CBE 316 175 gr. GC .03165" .249" Yes 24 177 gr. BM2 25.0 1850 fps. 2.14"
CBE 313 220 gr. GC .03165" .315" No 9.8 221 gr. W748 23.0 1500 fps. 2.36"
CBE 316 240 gr. GC .03165" .338" No 9.8 237 gr. W748 24.0 1500 fps. 2.31"
These loads are those that have been settled on in terms of the best accuracy for the given projectile. All the usual indicators of pressure show moderate loads at best. Note that for the heavier projectiles the velocity is a rather modest 1500 f.p.s. only. While this may not look very impressive it should be remembered that the 9.8 BHN alloy is very soft and even at lower velocities will readily expand on game. Further, these ballistics more than duplicate those of the 32-40, a cartridge long considered more than adequate for deer size animals at reasonable ranges and the penetration of bullets with sectional densities this high is very good. All loads produce very workable field trajectories when sighted at 100m. Given the results above I decided the 175 grain bullet would be used in my field load for small/light game due to the flatter trajectory, and the two heavier bullets would be reserved for larger game and target duties based on how well the bullets would hold up over longer ranges and their sectional density for game.
Accuracy
Before I even considered taking the Pygmy to the rifle range I gave it my usual Lee Enfield accuracy work over. I have four LE action rifles and every single one of them has a distinct preference for a pressure pointed barrel. The Pygmy was no exception and in addition to this I bedded the action from the Knox form at the front to the very rearward section of the receiver. The barrel pres-sure point was created by placing bedding compound in the barrel channel at the tip of the fore end using a card-board spacer between the barrel and woodwork to generate some upward pressure. Once the bedding com-pound had cured the cardboard was removed. Through a process of trial and error and lots of trips to the rifle range the above loads were developed all of which will group into 25mm (1 inch) at 50m. Some do much better than this and the initial testing with the new CBE 316 240GC bullet produced a three shot group at 50m consisting of only two holes cutting each other. True testimony to 1) how accommodating 2-groove barrels can be, 2) how the bullet must fit the barrel and 3) why Dereks experiments with traditional .311-.312 bullets showed very aver-age results.
Woodwork
Being a project rifle the original woodwork was not flattering and was a standby until the rig proved itself. The original fore end was very short and the butt stock had a transplanted piece of wood for a check piece. All in all, not very pretty. I sourced a new and suitably longer fore end with a Schnabel tip and checking that suited my stock crawling tendencies much better. Via the purchase of a dunger sporterized No1 MkIII rifle I scored a beautiful butt stock with a pistol grip and rollover Monte Carlo check-piece that really sets the rifle off. Added to the butt stock was a rubber recoil pad to bring the pull of the stock out to the correct length for my gorilla arms.
Sights
The rifle came furnished with a set of home made scope mounts. A lot of work had gone into making them however I was not sure they were up to the job. Instead I fitted a ramp mounted bead foresight at the muzzle end and attached a spare PH5A aperture sight on the back. This set up works splendidly and is 100% reliable.
Load development
There is no published data for this cartridge go figure. The only data I had was a page of notes from the diary that Derek kept from his early testing. As I have no access to pressure testing equipment, conservative has been the word of the year for all loads to date. A fellow member of the Cast Boolit forum was good enough to run some powders, projectiles and the case specifications through his Load from a Disc PC program. He came back with nominal data for AR2205 (H4227), Bench Mark 2 (BM2) and W748 all powders I keep on hand and use in other cartridges. From the outset the AR2205 was always going to be rather limiting as it is a very fast rifle powder and I stopped load development with it early on as accuracy was poor and velocities very limited. The remaining two powders have proved very well suited indeed. Based on the case capacity and projectile weights I firmly believe that AR2219 (H322) would be the all round best powder for the Pygmy round and this has been reported by the Pygmy shooter in Australia. His rifle likes the powder under a 174 grain projectile. This is not a powder I keep so I have developed loads based on BM2 for the CBE 316 175GC bullet and W748 for both the CBE 313 220GC and 316 240GC projectiles. Load data is shown in the accompanying table.
Projectile Diameter SD Heat Treat Brinell Weight in WW Alloy Powder Charge Velocity OAL
CBE 316 175 gr. GC .03165" .249" Yes 24 177 gr. BM2 25.0 1850 fps. 2.14"
CBE 313 220 gr. GC .03165" .315" No 9.8 221 gr. W748 23.0 1500 fps. 2.36"
CBE 316 240 gr. GC .03165" .338" No 9.8 237 gr. W748 24.0 1500 fps. 2.31"
These loads are those that have been settled on in terms of the best accuracy for the given projectile. All the usual indicators of pressure show moderate loads at best. Note that for the heavier projectiles the velocity is a rather modest 1500 f.p.s. only. While this may not look very impressive it should be remembered that the 9.8 BHN alloy is very soft and even at lower velocities will readily expand on game. Further, these ballistics more than duplicate those of the 32-40, a cartridge long considered more than adequate for deer size animals at reasonable ranges and the penetration of bullets with sectional densities this high is very good. All loads produce very workable field trajectories when sighted at 100m. Given the results above I decided the 175 grain bullet would be used in my field load for small/light game due to the flatter trajectory, and the two heavier bullets would be reserved for larger game and target duties based on how well the bullets would hold up over longer ranges and their sectional density for game.
Accuracy
Before I even considered taking the Pygmy to the rifle range I gave it my usual Lee Enfield accuracy work over. I have four LE action rifles and every single one of them has a distinct preference for a pressure pointed barrel. The Pygmy was no exception and in addition to this I bedded the action from the Knox form at the front to the very rearward section of the receiver. The barrel pres-sure point was created by placing bedding compound in the barrel channel at the tip of the fore end using a card-board spacer between the barrel and woodwork to generate some upward pressure. Once the bedding com-pound had cured the cardboard was removed. Through a process of trial and error and lots of trips to the rifle range the above loads were developed all of which will group into 25mm (1 inch) at 50m. Some do much better than this and the initial testing with the new CBE 316 240GC bullet produced a three shot group at 50m consisting of only two holes cutting each other. True testimony to 1) how accommodating 2-groove barrels can be, 2) how the bullet must fit the barrel and 3) why Dereks experiments with traditional .311-.312 bullets showed very aver-age results.
And now for something furry
My very good friend Glenn was due in the country from Alaska and I had offered to take him hunting for a wallaby. This seemed the perfect opportunity to blood the 303 Pygmy so I loaded it up with the CBE 316 175GC bullet. Glenn chose his .54cal muzzleloader and we set out south for Waimate. The following morning we crossed the stream and began climbing the steep terrain looking to get some alti-tude under our belts and into the tussocks where the wal-labies would be sunning themselves.
My very good friend Glenn was due in the country from Alaska and I had offered to take him hunting for a wallaby. This seemed the perfect opportunity to blood the 303 Pygmy so I loaded it up with the CBE 316 175GC bullet. Glenn chose his .54cal muzzleloader and we set out south for Waimate. The following morning we crossed the stream and began climbing the steep terrain looking to get some alti-tude under our belts and into the tussocks where the wal-labies would be sunning themselves.
About half way up the ridge we were working I paused and told Glenn I thought we should be into some game soon and that we should take one side of the ridge each and split up. As I was in guiding mode I gave him the sunny side and away we went. Within literally minutes a resounding BOOOOOM echoed around the hills and three wallabies rocketed over the ridge in my direction fleeing the mighty 54 round ball gun. Glenn had downed his first Southern High Country Mouse and I carefully crested the ridge to locate him and help recover his trophy.
I waved and caught his attention and immediately a wallaby bounded into the view and stopped for a look at me approximately 100m away. The Pygmy swung up and the bead, surrounded by the ghost ring (target aper-ture removed for hunting), settled on the roo just as the little rifle barked. At the report the animal faltered and disappeared over the ridge.
After 5 or 10 minutes of searching the blood soaked tussocks the well proportioned buck was located and car-ried up to the top of the ridge again for display to the Alaskan visitor and mandatory photos.
I waved and caught his attention and immediately a wallaby bounded into the view and stopped for a look at me approximately 100m away. The Pygmy swung up and the bead, surrounded by the ghost ring (target aper-ture removed for hunting), settled on the roo just as the little rifle barked. At the report the animal faltered and disappeared over the ridge.
After 5 or 10 minutes of searching the blood soaked tussocks the well proportioned buck was located and car-ried up to the top of the ridge again for display to the Alaskan visitor and mandatory photos.
On we went and another target presented itself to the Pygmy; this time a shade closer at 80m and allowed for a sitting shot. After a couple of wayward shots at a very obliging wallaby with a lovely big white spot on its chest for an aiming point, the third round connected and the roo flew over backwards into the tussocks and stopped dead. Love that rifle.
Moving on into the next basin a small wallaby bolted around the head of the gully and stopped immediately opposite me for yet another shot at an honest 100m again. Poor old Glenn was missing out as he was look-ing elsewhere. I settled the bead on the base of the head of the wallaby and as the shot echoed around the hills it dropped on the spot. When I recovered the animal I found the bullet had entered the head just behind the right eye and exited the left.
The rifle accounted for two more roos that morning and barked at many more as I tried some running shots (none of which were successful, I might add). Glenn downed a dozen with his .54 caliber muzzleloader. He is hooked on roo shootin.
How far the wee rifle has come from the dark days of the early 70s when it was born. A mild recoiling, soft speaking, hard hitting, accurate little rig has really come into its own. One day I would love to get it feeding from a magazine but in the meanwhile the single shot config-uration suits me just fine.
Huh, mum was right. Good things do come in small packages.
Moving on into the next basin a small wallaby bolted around the head of the gully and stopped immediately opposite me for yet another shot at an honest 100m again. Poor old Glenn was missing out as he was look-ing elsewhere. I settled the bead on the base of the head of the wallaby and as the shot echoed around the hills it dropped on the spot. When I recovered the animal I found the bullet had entered the head just behind the right eye and exited the left.
The rifle accounted for two more roos that morning and barked at many more as I tried some running shots (none of which were successful, I might add). Glenn downed a dozen with his .54 caliber muzzleloader. He is hooked on roo shootin.
How far the wee rifle has come from the dark days of the early 70s when it was born. A mild recoiling, soft speaking, hard hitting, accurate little rig has really come into its own. One day I would love to get it feeding from a magazine but in the meanwhile the single shot config-uration suits me just fine.
Huh, mum was right. Good things do come in small packages.