Continuing from the previous post:
Having mounted my BSA long eye relief 2.5x scope on the rifle, I collected a variety of ammunition I had on hand along with some fresh loads made up for testing, and headed to my club's outdoor range for some serious testing. I started with some low-power "Cowboy" loads consisting of a 120 grain round nosed bullet over 3.8 grains of Trailboss. I'd actually made up for my Blackhawk revolver, and decided to use them for initial sighting as they're relatively quiet, and I had well over 100 of them.
Initial results were acceptable, and enough to get the rifle shooting pretty much where it was aimed. I then switched to a mild magnum load- 158 grain hard cast SWC over 13.5 grains of 2400. This was one of Elmer Keith's favorite loads for the .38 Special fired in a heavy duty revolver, like a Smith & Wesson N-frame, and one he continued to use when the .357 became commercially available. Many loaders report that it's easy to shoot and very accurate, but my shots were all over the place. I fired around 40 rounds, trying to get the rifle sighted in at 50 yards, but just when I thought I had a reasonable group the bullets were suddenly landing somewhere else on the paper. I finally called it a day after an hour and a half and packed up.
Cleaning the rifle at home I didn't detect any leading, so that was ruled out as a cause. It's possible (but not terribly likely) that this just wasn't a very good load for this gun. It's also possible that my scope had its reticle knocked loose, or that the scope mount was loose, or the scope was torqued when mounting it, or a dozen other causes. I'm going to check the scope's alignment with the help of a laser boresighter, and remount it, making sure all the screws are snug. I'm also going to bring with me some .38 Special target loads of known accuracy, a variety of hand loads in .357, and a box of commercial Remington 125gr JSP .357, and see if I can't do a bit better next time.
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