1950 Target goodness

by cubrock, Friday, June 15, 2012, 06:43 (4545 days ago)

I recently had a chance to buy a 1950 Target .44 Special that was an upgrade to the one I already owned. It has Coke target stocks on it, but letters with walnut stocks (most likely Magnas), so I figured I'd sell the Cokes and between that and selling my other one, it would be a free upgrade with just enough left over to maybe put some Herrett's on it.

I got it to the range yesterday and discovered a couple things:

1. The Cokes are fantastic for shooting. It is hard to fathom using them on a gun I will carry in the field (as I intend to do with this one), given how valuable they have become, but the idea of selling them is much harder to stomach now.

2. Someone put a custom rear sight blade on it that presents a fantastic sight picture. It sits much higher than the factory blade and seems to be just perfect for a 6 o'clock hold on a Bullseye target. However, for my normal hold, it puts 240 grain bullets too high at 25 yards. 210-grain bullets were a different story, printing only 2" high at 25 yards (with the cowboy load I had on hand) and being quite accurate. I figure if I shoot 429215s in the gun, both in solid and hollow-point form, it will be about perfect. Also, I may try some Keith bullets at higher velocity than factory to see if that is acceptable. But, it shot the lighter bullets more accurately. Below is a 1 3/8" 5-shot group I shot off my knees yesterday. Very acceptable, indeed, especially considered nothing about the load was tailored to the gun.

3. My old 1950 Target seems to shoot 240 grain bullets more accurately than the new one, making me wonder if I'll need to keep both guns, after all. I usually am not one to have multiple "identical" guns, although I have plenty that fill the same role. The 1950 Target .44 is one of my all-time favorite guns, but I'm not really sure I want two, particularly since not selling the original one means having to come up with a chunk of change I hadn't anticipated.

I have a little time to figure it out, though. And, I imagine figuring out what I am going to do is going to be fun and involve a lot more shooting. :)

The new gun with one of the targets from yesterday.

The new gun with its custom rear sight blade. Presents a very crisp picture.

The old gun, with a Simply Rugged flap holster that Rob made for it when I got it.