I had a '53-vintage Mark I Target once − or twice

by FOG, Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 11:03 (4212 days ago) @ Sarge

It was one of the most accurate pistols I've ever owned.

For about four or five years during the '80s, I shot nothing but CCI Stingers in it, mostly jacklighting New Mexico jackrabbits.

On one occasion, I was out at the range on the West Mesa near Albuquerque with a friend who was in the testing phase of some load development for his new IHMSA pistol, a Contender in 7 mm TCU (which, as I'm sure everyone knows, is the .223 case necked up to 7, plus possibly some other case mods).

I was mainly there to bear witness to this solemn event, but I also brought along the old Mark I, just in case.

In case of what, I'm not sure, but my friend wasn't having such a good day, so I asked him at one point if I could get into the game.

He was fairly spraying them all over the paper and pretty well fumed about it, but I reminded him my bullet holes would be smaller, so they wouldn't get in the way.

He finally acceeded to my request, and I settled down at the bench, loaded five Stingers in the magazine, and proceeded to shoot my string at a leisurely pace.

BANG . . . . . BANG . . . . . BANG . . . . . BANG . . . . . BANG

Not knowing the exact drop at 100 meters, I just held center.

When we get downrange to examine my friend's most recent 18-inch 'group', at first I don't see any .22 bullet holes. (Either − LOL)

Then, I notice just one of them cutting the very bottom edge of the (LARGE) paper target.

We repair to the firing line, and when I get another turn at the bench, I hold up a smidgen of front sight and let fly again.

BANG . . . . . BANG . . . . . BANG . . . . . BANG . . . . . BANG

Meantime, my friend has just about finished pattern-testing his new shotgun, so we go downrange for one last look.

Clustered nicely in the black and centered therein right at three inches center-to-center are the five grim signatures of the Stingers sent there by me and my Ruger.

My friend sorta looks at me sideways and says, "You really ****!"

I was feeling pretty flush, so I gave him a pass on that one.

Epilogue: I've given away a lot of guns over the years, but the Mark I Target bore the distinction of being the only one I ever gave away twice. It was still a great pistol after 20 years the second time around, but I had plenty of fun with it the first, so I let it go again.

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