Went Shooting This Weekdend

[ltorlo64]

Alismith contacted me and we got together at a friend of Ali's farm. It was a great day, no coats required and we brought way too many guns for the number of people shooting (just kidding! There are never too many guns!). All together there were 7 of us, 3 men, 1 woman, a teenage boy and a young girl of about 10-12. Being as we were shooting in Maryland we were constrained in what we could shoot, but we still did pretty well.

For .22s we had 2 .22 bolt actions, one right handed and one left handed (my revenge on all right handed shooters is to have them try it), a Nylon 66 (original that you load from the butt end of the stock), Glenfield Model 60, an AR with a .22 LR upper (that was a blast to shoot), a Rossi Circuit Judge (a .22 revolver with a long barrel and a stock), a Beretta Neo, a Sig Mosquito, a Ruger .22 revolver and I think it was a Chiappa 1911. The owner had a cool little revolver that took .22 shorts. It looked pretty old and I didn't get the manufacturer, but it was pretty cool.

We had some larger stuff as well. I brought my M1 and Ali brought an AK and a Hi-Point 9mm carbine. As for pistols, besides the .22s already mentioned there were a couple of 1911s and my new S&W 686 (.357 mag). Ali brought a few Ruger revolvers besides the .22, one in 45 Long Colt, and 2 .44 mags, one with a 4" barrel (I still have a bruise on the heel of my hand from that one!).

We had targets set up at about 10 yards, 25 yards, 50 yards and 100 yards. The pistols were used on the shorter targets while we used the 50 yard targets for the rifles, except for the Garand, that one we used on the 100 yard target. Everyone had a safe and good time and we shot for about 4 and a half hours. It was fun teaching the kids about guns and watching them enjoy themselves. The woman didn't seem to keen on the larger handguns but she tried one of the 1911s and the S&W loaded with a .38 SPL round.

Before people ask about pictures, I remembered to take a camera and then I got so excited about shooting that I forgot to take a single picture so all I have are memories, no pictures to share. Ali told me you'all would be upset but I figured I would chance it.

[Full Otto]

"all I have are memories"

Well break out the sketch pad sounds like a good day

[l921428x]

Oh good I am so glad you had a fun day. .22's are so fun and a damn good step up
to larger caliber's. We will forgive the I forgot the pics once. Just once.
But I can understand your enthusiasm.

[Schuetzenman]

Good range report except for ... yep the lack of photos.

[alismith]

Yes, we had a blast (pun intended) last Sunday shooting at a friend's hunting area. I think we brought a few too many guns to really get down to some serious shooting, but even so, it was fun.

Itorlo64 forgot to mention we shot a few clay birds. He had a Rem 870, Doc (the guy who shot with us) had his Rem 1100, and I was using my Stoeger Marine model O/U (first time I'd shot it). We all did fairly well with those and the 15 yr. old boy did fairly well for his first time out.

Itorlo brought along his Garand and we shot it at 100 yds. With iron sights it placed all 8 shots inside the area that would be covered by a hand placed flat over them. Not bad at all. Minute-of-Man easily . Of course, it kicked like hell.

I brought my SKS Paratrooper model and it functioned flawlessly. I'd never shot it before and was concerned that it would have problems feeding from an AK mag, but it didn't. The only downside to it was the magazines was a little hard to insert. Other than that, it shot like a dream.

Like Itorlo said, the AR .22 upper performed flawlessly, too. The only problem with it was it was difficult to keep the mags loaded. They emptied out too quickly.

Of course, the Hi-Point was a pleasure to shoot and it was very accurate. The Circuit Judge .22 was right on in the sight department and it was a breeze switching from the LR cylinder to the Magnum cylinder.

The only pistol that had any problems was the Chiappa Govt. Model .22, but I found the problem was with the mags and not the gun, itself. Of the 4 mags I brought, 2 exhibited feeding problems and two functioned with no problems at all. Since the mags are all plastic, this is going to be a hit or miss issue.

The NEOS chugged along nicely, devouring anything the mags would take. I think everyone that shot it really liked it.

The bigger revolvers were fun to shoot, too. I brought a Ruger .45 LC with 8 inch barrel and it was pleasant to shoot. But, not everyone liked shooting the Ruger .44 Mags. One has a 4 5/8 barrel and the other had an 8 inch barrel. There was a big difference in shooting them and the .45 LC. The boy shot both and did a pretty good job handling it, but he didn't want to shoot the .44 Mag. twice.

We propped up a bunch of clay birds on the ground and shot at those with the handguns. I brought a steel spinning target and it was fun making it spin around. It's hard to spin it all the way around with a .22, but Doc did it once and almost did it twice. I came close but no cigar.

I brought my Howdah pistol and everyone shot that (even tried it on flying clay birds, but no luck). All I had to load it with was 7 1/2 sized shot. I'm going to work up a decent buck and ball load when I get more time to play with it. I'll post a photo of it when I get a chance. It's not the one that Dixie and Cabela's advertises. I ordered it from somewhere in NH, I think. It has shorter barrels than the more common one and uses musket caps instead of regular percussion caps.

All in all, it was a great day. Everyone had a safe, good time and I think we easily surpassed the 1,000 rnd. mark for .22's. I, also, think we all had sore shoulders the next day, too. That's definitely a sign of a good time shooting.

Oh yeah, the small revolver Doc had was an RG10, probably made in the 50's or 60's. It would only chamber .22 Shorts.

It was great spending time with Itorlo and his .357 S&W is one beautiful revolver.

[alismith]

Here's a few website photos of the howdah pistol I took shooting last Sunday. This is the company I bought it from. The video, at the bottom of the page, shows what a pissed off tiger is capable of and the need for the howdah pistol's development.

Sunday was the first time I had fired it and I was pleasantly surprised at the mild recoil it had. I loaded it with 60 grains of Pyrodex with a plastic wad cup, loaded with the same volume of 7 1/2 shot and covered with two over-shot wads, ignited with a musket cap.

The next time I take it out I want to print the pattern on paper and try shooting some round balls and, maybe, a buck and ball load.

I couldn't argue with the price as it was about $300 cheaper than Dixie and Cabela's.

http://www.middlesexvillagetrading.com/PDBC.SHTML

[Schuetzenman]

Ah a double barreled 62 cal cap lock pistol. That should be a handfull if you use one ball. BTW I have a 62 cal. round ball mold, built a rifle in 1995 in that caliber.

[alismith]

Ah a double barreled 62 cal cap lock pistol. That should be a handfull if you use one ball. BTW I have a 62 cal. round ball mold, built a rifle in 1995 in that caliber.

Cool. How does it shoot?

I've got a round ball mold for making ones that I can use with patches, but am looking for the size that will fit into a plastic wad cup. The ones that use patches are just a hair too large to fit into the wad cup so I can ram it down the barrel without too much force. If I try using teh ball with the wad cup, it pushes against the sides too hard to allow me to ram it past the muzzle.

[Schuetzenman]

Cool. How does it shoot?

I've got a round ball mold for making ones that I can use with patches, but am looking for the size that will fit into a plastic wad cup. The ones that use patches are just a hair too large to fit into the wad cup so I can ram it down the barrel without too much force. If I try using teh ball with the wad cup, it pushes against the sides too hard to allow me to ram it past the muzzle.

How does it shoot, accuracy I am assuming? It is quite adequate for deer out to 125 yards. It is a little bit English Sporting rifle era muzzle loader style. I milled a two leaf express rear sight. The fixed rear leaf is point blank to 75 yards and the flip up leaf takes me out to 125. 90 grains of 2FG kicks like a 12 ga. with filed loads. I did shoot 130 grains in it for 3 shots to see the grouping. It wasn't better but it sure was punishing. I seem to remember the .62 ball is about 375 grains.

On patching a round ball, are you using any lubricant on the patch like some type of grease. Crisco shortening can be used in a pinch. Of course beef tallow and beeswax is a very traditional patch lube in a 50/50 mix.

[alismith]

How does it shoot, accuracy I am assuming? It is quite adequate for deer out to 125 yards. It is a little bit English Sporting rifle era muzzle loader style. I milled a two leaf express rear sight. The fixed rear leaf is pint blank to 75 yards and the flip up leaf takes me out to 125. 90 grains of 2FG kicks like a 12 ga. with filed loads. I did shoot 130 grains in it for 3 shots to see the grouping. It wasn't better but it sure was punishing. I seem to remember the .62 ball is about 375 grains.

On patching a round ball, are you using any lubricant on the patch like some type of grease. Crisco shortening can be used in a pinch. Of course beef tallow and beeswax is a very traditional patch lube in a 50/50 mix.

When I use patches, I use pillow ticking and soak it in Number 13 plus Bore Cleaner solution. It goes on as a liquid, then dries out a little so it won't get the powder wet. When I shoot BP revolvers, I use the pre-soaked, over-powder wads I ordered from Dixie.

I use mostly Pyrodex because that's all I can find around here. It works in everything except my flintlocks.

When I was hunting with my BP shotgun, I was using 90 grains of powder to send the load down the barrel.

Since Crisco tends to be messy and tends to run a lot, I only use that when I'm shooting revolvers and know I'm going to shoot right away. It's still quite messy, but it works.

[Schuetzenman]

Pillow ticking is popular. Also pocket drill fabric, in all cases should be 100% cotton and not permanent press fabric. For a smootbore you might get by with Linnen, in other words a very tight weave but thin cloth. To use the Crisco or the Beeswax and Tallow stuff take a putty knife to scrape it into the cloth then fold or roll it up. You don't leave a thick layer on the cloth, just mash it into the weave. The beeswax will keep it from melting unless it gets super hot.