PHOENIX PHIL
AH ambassador
Just when I had myself thinking I'm not going to buy anymore rifles, at least no more bolts, along comes a PM from @AZDAVE. I have chatted with Dave over the past couple years off and on about double rifles. Dave lives a bit south of here and we've talked about getting together to shoot, but never have been able to connect. But that hasn't stopped our conversations.
Dave has a fair amount of DR's and I guess he decided he had one too many after a purchase of one from the collection of @cal pappas. As such, I guess Dave took pity on me and extended an offer that was impossible for me to not at least pursue to some point. He was offering me this Searcy PH model in .470NE along with I don't know exactly how many rounds, brass, loading dies and a nice leather case with some snap caps inside.
So Dave was lucky enough to draw a muzzleloader elk hunt somewhere up near Flagstaff. As such he would be traveling through Phoenix this past Thursday on his way to camp and in fact coming right by my office. So we met just up the street Thursday morning from my office and he handed over the rifle and some 20 rounds for me to give it a go.
I had to wait until yesterday afternoon before I could give it a go! But off to the range after a bit of time at work first. Near as I can tell the rifle fits me fairly well, not perfect, but dang close. I was a little concerned with the length of pull at 15", but no problems shouldering. The sight doesn't quite perfectly align when I bring it up, but it's close.
The rounds consisted of a mix of 500gr Woodleigh softs and what I presume are 500gr Hornady DGS solids. I touched off 8 of the Woodleighs first. I was shooting completely offhand as I discovered the rest on my Bog Pod was broken. So I wasn't expecting a lot of accuracy as I haven't shot with open sights regularly since my BB gun days as a kid and I wasn't going to shoot this off the bench and risk table marks nor developing a recoil flinch.
So initially I was shooting low and figured that I wasn't lining the round front bead and V rear sight properly. Thanks @Wheels for confirming. So shots started coming up as I progressed. The rifle seems like it was regulated for the solids load as those groups were all things considered pretty respectable. The softs weren't quite as tight, but they were also first and without a rest as mentioned, so we'll see.
In total, I touched off 14 rounds, which was probably about 4 too many. The .470 is a shove like most big bores, but it is a BIG shove. And my shoulder is still reminding me of that today. Overall I really like the rifle and likely to write a check to Dave on Wednesday.
I have to really thank Dave. Having a DR at this point was not something I was planning for, thought it would be a few more years once the pups were off on their own. But this was a great offer and one that would be dumb to turn down. So thank you again Dave!
A few pics:
Dave has a fair amount of DR's and I guess he decided he had one too many after a purchase of one from the collection of @cal pappas. As such, I guess Dave took pity on me and extended an offer that was impossible for me to not at least pursue to some point. He was offering me this Searcy PH model in .470NE along with I don't know exactly how many rounds, brass, loading dies and a nice leather case with some snap caps inside.
So Dave was lucky enough to draw a muzzleloader elk hunt somewhere up near Flagstaff. As such he would be traveling through Phoenix this past Thursday on his way to camp and in fact coming right by my office. So we met just up the street Thursday morning from my office and he handed over the rifle and some 20 rounds for me to give it a go.
I had to wait until yesterday afternoon before I could give it a go! But off to the range after a bit of time at work first. Near as I can tell the rifle fits me fairly well, not perfect, but dang close. I was a little concerned with the length of pull at 15", but no problems shouldering. The sight doesn't quite perfectly align when I bring it up, but it's close.
The rounds consisted of a mix of 500gr Woodleigh softs and what I presume are 500gr Hornady DGS solids. I touched off 8 of the Woodleighs first. I was shooting completely offhand as I discovered the rest on my Bog Pod was broken. So I wasn't expecting a lot of accuracy as I haven't shot with open sights regularly since my BB gun days as a kid and I wasn't going to shoot this off the bench and risk table marks nor developing a recoil flinch.
So initially I was shooting low and figured that I wasn't lining the round front bead and V rear sight properly. Thanks @Wheels for confirming. So shots started coming up as I progressed. The rifle seems like it was regulated for the solids load as those groups were all things considered pretty respectable. The softs weren't quite as tight, but they were also first and without a rest as mentioned, so we'll see.
In total, I touched off 14 rounds, which was probably about 4 too many. The .470 is a shove like most big bores, but it is a BIG shove. And my shoulder is still reminding me of that today. Overall I really like the rifle and likely to write a check to Dave on Wednesday.
I have to really thank Dave. Having a DR at this point was not something I was planning for, thought it would be a few more years once the pups were off on their own. But this was a great offer and one that would be dumb to turn down. So thank you again Dave!
A few pics:
Congrats on this big step further into your gun and African addictions!
