Challenging Yourself: Shooting with a purpose

In May I finally got around to doing something I should have done years ago. I took an NRA course and got certified as a pistol instructor. That, in itself, is really great, but during the class I learned about a program co-sponsored by the NRA and Winchester for self-paced, honor system, marksmanship. I started reading about it and it looked like a lot of fun. Well, it's been the focus of my shooting for the last several months. It's not only fun, but I really like it because it gives you specific goals to try for each time you go to the range. It has forced me out of my comfort zone, and made me attempt shooting skills that I probably would never have otherwise tried. It's sort of like golf. You get excited challenging yourself to do better than you did the last time. It's really added a lot of enjoyment to my range outings.

I made it a little harder on myself by doing all the shooting at 7 yards (21 feet) rather than the specified 15 feet. I also used a variety of handguns, revolvers and automatics, in numerous calibers. Moreover, I made it a rule to fire the revolvers only in double action mode, thereby making it a little more realistic and challenging. I achieved the Sharpshooter qualification today using a S&W model 649 .38 special revolver, and a Glock 21 with an Advantage Arms .22 LR conversion unit on it. My best target so far has been a 98/100 using a 1974 manufactured S&W model 59 9mm auto that I bought a couple of months back. That old war horse is a real tack driver! I think the extractor is worn out, so I'm going to replace it, but the gun is a keeper for sure. I also shot some very good targets with my Springfield Armory TRP Operator 1911 with a Marvel .22 conversion slide. I've re-learned that autos are easier to shoot well than are revolvers (when fired double action), and single action autos are easier to shoot well than DA autos. This is hardly news, but I've found that when you're actually scoring all of your targets, you really pay attention to every little detail of how the gun handles and shoots. I think this program has really improved my marksmanship over the last couple of months. It has motivated me to pick my game up every time I shoot. If your range outings are starting to get stale and repetitive, you should look into this program.

I Finally Got One!

I remember reading about Freedom Arms .454 Casull revolvers back in the early-mid 1980s. Even then, they were very expensive revolvers and I never really held any serious hope of having one. Well, twenty-five plus years later, I finally decided to dig deeply into my gun safe and make a trade for one.

I traded a Wilson Combat CQB .45 automatic, which is no small change gun, I assure you. What I got was a solid old soldier of a revolver, that I later found out was completed on May 31, 1990. It locks up like a bank vault, and is unquestionably the most accurate handgun I've ever owned. It came with an older Leupold M8 2x scope and Leupold mount. I sort of thought I'd have to replace them, but they seem to be working just fine. I took it to the range on two consecutive Sundays. On the second one, as I was finishing cleaning it, the trigger spring broke! I figured my new pet would be out of service for at least a month or more, but I decided to take the opportunity to send it back to the factory, get an action job done on it, and have all the springs and internal parts replaced. To my amazement, Freedom Arms had the gun back to me in exactly one week, and as nice as it was before, now it's like a new gun.

I took it up today for the first time since the work was done. I had to remount and re-zero the scope, but I had the foresight to carefully record where the zero was on the boresight. I must have done pretty well, because the first round was in the black, and only a few very minor adjustments to nail zero. This gun is amazingly accurate, far more so than I am as a shot. A really good shot could hit bullseyes all day long. Me, I'm just happy to shoot such nice groups and the plentiful bulls are a nice bonus. FA set the trigger at three and a half pounds, and it breaks like a glass rod. Once I got it zeroed well, I blew the black out of the target at 25 yards, so I moved it out to 50 yards. One of the range officers told me one time that I was just about the only guy they ever see shooting at 50 yards on the pistol range. I do it with all my scoped handguns, even my .22 Ruger Single Six Hunter.

I felt really good about how I shot today. Using both the Freedom Arms and my new Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum, I was able to keep every round (of the ammo the respective guns were zeroed with) in the black at 50 yards. That's quite an accomplishment for me. I'm shooting better than I think I ever have. It also makes me feel very confident about my ability to take a coyote at 50 yards or so, too. Shooting in the field is a lot different than on a range, but any hit in the black would be a kill on coyote sized game.

Just about all my shooting today was with .45 Colt and .44 Special. I did take a few .44 magnums and .454 Casull rounds, but I made no attempt to re-set the sights or scope, so I didn't really count hits or misses with that ammo. My standard .45 Colt load is a 250 grain rnfp lead bullet with 7.8 grains of unique. The Freedom Arms REALLY likes this load. I also tried another load with 5.3 grains of Clays pushing the same bullet. This also proved to be a very accurate load in the big .45 For the Ruger, I was shooting 200 grain rnfp lead bullets over 4.5 grains of bullseye. This was also a very accurate load. I had 50 rounds of 240 grain Lyman 429421 "Keith" bullets that I had really high hopes for. None of my guns have liked these bullets, and the new Ruger was no exception. But it liked the cowboy loads, so I zeroed with these and, despite a 4-5/8" barrel, it too could keep all these loads in the black at 50 yards.

I couldn't be happier with the the Casull, and the Ruger for that matter. I think some Western Maryland coyotes are going to be in for a really tough time very soon!