As a self-proclaimed "shooting curmudgeon" who is more than willing to express his opinions, I'm sure you guys have figured out by now that I'm not all that impressed with modern "bells and whistles" on firearms. I shoot mostly lead bullets I cast myself, mostly single actions, single shots, and lever guns, and mostly iron sights. I don't believe a guy can spend enough money to buy skill, unless he spends it on ammo and range fees.
So, with that said, here are a couple of examples of what the old iron can do. Mondays are my range day during the summer, where I grab a couple of guns to go shoot after work. Today they were my mil-spec Springfield 1911A1 in .45 ACP and my third generation Peacemaker in .45 Colt. The former was shooting the old Hensly and Gibbs 200 grain SWC over 6.5 grains of W-W #231 - a very traditional light bullseye load. The latter was shooting the RCBS .45-270SAA over 40 grains of very compressed Goex FFFg (yes, black powder). Bullets are cast from wheel weights and lubed with SPG.
All shooting was at 25 yards off hand. The Model P does better with smokeless loads, as the black powder really starts to foul after just one cylinder, and accuracy decreases with the heavy fouling. It will hang in there long enough for just about any real world use, though.
Anyway, the targets:
And now some close-ups of the sights. Both wear fixed sights, with the Peacemaker having no more than a notch in the frame serving as the rear sight. No three dots, no tritium, no inserts - nothing fancy. They are adjusted with a file and a drift punch (the 1911) or a file and a barrel vise and a hammer handle (Model P). No need for all that fancy, fragile crap being hocked today.
Oh well, enough of my curmudgeonly grumbling. Gotta head downstairs to clean 'em. Especially that black powder...