Pelican Parts Forums - Shooting Again

Well, I took a chance this last Saturday morning and snuck off to the pistol range while my wife was working. I just had to give it a try... had to know...

It turns out I'm still really not quite 100% ready. I brought a 1911 (the new Ruger) and some 200 grain SWC loads, which turned out to be pretty darned tolerable. I had a great time with it. I actually shot it fairly well, too - all that airgun shooting must be keeping me fairly tuned up.

Where it got kind of dicey was with my beloved Colts. I brought several, along with several boxes of various loads suitable for them - some full, some almost used up that I just wanted to reclaim the brass from.

I wound up only able to shoot one gun, and the remains of one box - seven cylinders full, or 42 rounds. Probably should have stopped sooner, or looked for a "volunteer" to empty what I shouldn't have, but oh well. It's done. My hand is killin' me...

That aside, I did choose to shoot the new 7 1/2" gun. Just like the new 5 1/2" picked up last year, it shot right to the sights at 25 yards with one of my standard loads, consisting of 40 grains by volume of Goex FFFg, CCI #350 magnum primer, Lyman #452664 cast from wheelweights and lubed with SPG, all in a W-W case. This load - the bullet weighs about 255 grains - tops 900 fps from the longer barrels in my other guns, so I assume it will in this one as well. It shot very, very well, using the traditional one hand hold it kept all 42 in the black. I'll have to get serious and shoot it from a rest once my hands feel better again.

While it's certainly no .44 mag or anything, maybe that was just too much, too soon. These are actually pretty light little guns, and black powder adds significantly to the recoil as compared to smokeless. It sure was fun, though, and I'm awfully glad I finally did it. I know I can do it in moderation at least, and I know the new gun shoots, so it was well worth it. Made me feel a lot better...