[Superman]

Living in the PNW has some positive features including access to Doc Higgins. He invited me to bring some firearms to his favorite shooting range and I knew the right answer to that question. We went there yesterday and had a ton of fun.

Doc Higgins adjusted the sights on my new Winchester Model 1892, using tools he apparently keeps in his shooting bag. Both for elevation and windage. It now shoots accurately. Or, I should say, as accurately as the shooter can manage. More on this in a moment.

Then we went to the pistol range where once again he adjusted the sights on my Ruger New Vaquero. Out of the box, these things shoot substantially low. The fix is to file material from the front sight. He used a file and, in keeping with tradition and his general tendency toward data and measurements, a dial caliper. IIRC we ended up taking a full 0.060" off the top of that front sight. As a result. that pistol now shoots accurately....

.....as accurately as the shooter can personally manage. I learned many things yesterday. One of them is that Jeff is a very much more highly skilled marksman than I am. No surprise there, but it was impressive to watch him make small groups with a .45 caliber revolver using a one-hand grip. Using two hands, my groups were pathetic by comparison. Really pathetic, but my accuracy improved throughout the day.

We used several firearms including Jeff's full-size Vaquero. As Jeff has reported here, that thing is nearly painful to fire. Ever watch the Dirty Harry films? This revolver behaves like that one. Both recoil and sound. Jeff has said this revolver can out-do the .44 Magnum for power, and my experience yesterday supports that.

But the most fun of the day was with his Colt .45 using black powder rounds. I couldn't stop laughing. Big booming report accompanied by a could of smoke. I'm chuckling right now just remembering that experience.

Unfortunately, we had so much fun that we ran out of time for cold beverages afterward. Honestly, sitting and chatting with Jeff is at least as much fun as range shooting. I'll be looking forward to the next time we can do that.

Thank you, Jeff.