Rambling range goings-on

by Sarge , Central Misery, Sunday, September 16, 2012, 21:07 (4397 days ago)
edited by Sarge, Sunday, September 16, 2012, 22:48

Did a lot of shooting this weekend mostly with relatives who brought this or that new gun out for a test drive or a pre-season zeroing. BIL brought a CVA Wolf inline .50 out on Friday and I was favorably impressed. Youngest son went on a gun trading binge and came home with an old S-prefix S&W Highway Patrolman .357, which shot like only pre-1957 Smiths can shoot. The old gun had been polished badly and reblued at some point in its life but the 'GSP' stamp for Georgia State Patrol was still plainly visible. Cool old shooter with a lot of life left in it.

He also traded into one of these little weird, side by side Leonid-Cobray 45/410 Derringers.

I think the DD must stand for Double Deathtrap because even on safety, the firing pins protrude enough to touch the primers. We shot it anyway, one-handed. All we had was some 850 fps 45 Colt loads with a 255 grain bullet and it was invigorating, let me tell you. The grip is just big enough to crunch down on with your second finger and the trigger housing rests right against the knuckle of that finger. When you touch it off, that knuckle takes the first hit and the barrels pivot skyward. I think this is a design feature because that's where it shoots, too; about 16" above the front sight at ten paces, with either barrel. The big 45 slugs land sideways most of the time, with enough impetus to rip a hand-full of pine out the back of a wooden cable spool. That would leave a mark.

I also dug the old 94 Winchester out this weekend, cleaned up a little windage error and confirmed the zero at 100 yards. Pretty bland stuff, so I decided to back up against the line fence fire a couple of my 30-30 loads at one of the targets that the muzzloader got zeroed on. 196 yards, sitting in a canvas hunting chair shooting cross-legged and using the left knee for elbow support.

It was a great way to end the day.