Range Trip

[Swampman]

I took 3 of my Rugers to the range today. My .44 Special Flattop liked the Skeeter load of 7.5 grains of Unique and the Lee 240 grain bullet. I was picking off pieces of clay birds at 25 yards. My short barreled 4 5/8" Super Blackhawk shot really well(but a little high) with the Lee 310 grain bullet over 10 grains of Unique. It also shot great with the Ideal 429421 over 8.5 grains of Unique. My 3 screw .357 with the 6.5" barrel shot the Ideal 358429 over 4 grains of Unique in .38 Special cases into 3" groups at 20 yards offhand. I really love shooting the unconverted 3 screws. Very good day...

[Frank]

swampman:

I took 3 of my Rugers to the range today. My .44 Special Flattop liked the Skeeter load of 7.5 grains of Unique and the Lee 240 grain bullet. I was picking off pieces of clay birds at 25 yards. My short barreled 4 5/8" Super Blackhawk shot really well(but a little high) with the Lee 310 grain bullet over 10 grains of Unique. It also shot great with the Ideal 429421 over 8.5 grains of Unique. My 3 screw .357 with the 6.5" barrel shot the Ideal 358429 over 4 grains of Unique in .38 Special cases into 3" groups at 20 yards offhand. I really love shooting the unconverted 3 screws. Very good day...
You want a bad day move it out to 50 yards. [smilie=p:

[Swampman]

I can hit at 50 yards with no problem.

[44man]

Now fellas, calm down! [smilie=l: I have to have some fun here and ask if you can do this off hand at 100 yards? Yeah, I did it---ONCE with my SBH so if you value all that is true and good, never ask me to do it again. I can hit beer cans at 100 from Ceedmore or from a rest but off hand takes a few shots.
Yet, I can not dispute that Swampman had a good day and a lot of fun with good shooting.
But I do have one suggestion for the .357. Use .357 brass for the light loads instead of .38 brass. That is the one and only thing I see that can match your shooting ability.
Frank, ever shoot a 1-1/8" group off hand at 100? YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, I am going to hold you to it. :bigsmyl2:
OK, I am not serious. Will you please just have a good time?

[Frank]

Not 1 1/8", but 6-7" all day long.

[44man]

Not 1 1/8", but 6-7" all day long.
Truth means respect my friend. That is still great shooting.
My goal has always to make the gun shoot first, never to say bad about the shooter.
Respect and friendship means too much. A challenge should only be load for load, never man to man. I have been taken wrong some times but it has never been man to man, just one load against another.

[Swampman]

When I was younger and could actually see what I was shooting at, I could hit a spray paint can pretty frequently at 100 yards. I hunted with pistols only for years and took quite a bit of game. Now I just shoot for fun.

[44man]

When I was younger and could actually see what I was shooting at, I could hit a spray paint can pretty frequently at 100 yards. I hunted with pistols only for years and took quite a bit of game. Now I just shoot for fun.
Me too, the gun shakes more now and I can't see for beans. I can call my shots and will tell you left, right, or high but that distance is getting larger.
It is why I had to get the camera after I shot the plate. Shots felt good but it was jaw dropping to actually see the group! :drinks:
I might brag a little about the load but not my shooting, it was just a fluke. The gun went off when the dot was in the same place and that is all.
One thing I have learned after years and years of competition shooting with bows and all kinds of guns is to never get uptight. Grin, laugh and joke about both misses and hits.
Get deadly serious when hunting, that is a live animal that should not suffer. I care less about paper then you can ever think, It is the animals that make me work so hard for accuracy and boolit performance.

[white eagle]

sheet man I can hit beer bottle caps at 125 yds off hand one gun tied behind my back

[Swampman]

I use open sights.

[44man]

I know, you just want me to laugh and spill my drink! [smilie=l:
It is very cheap stuff but if you make me spill a drop, I will send an evil arrow at you! :p

[**oneshot**]

Swampman, I'm glad you had a great day at the range. I love shooting my 6 shooters, even my 5 shooters(pocket 38's) are fun.
One of my recent trips to a friends, we had more fun bouncing soda bottles across the range than anything. These were just tossed out and shot where they landed. Yeah we did some long range stuff too but every time someone finished a bottle we just had to toss it out there and shoot it.
Bottle flying, mud flying, laughing and grinning the whole time.

[Frank]

I'm pretty boring! I like to set up a target at 100 yards and shoot groups with a small revolver! But once I find the load, you would not believe how good it does 30 feet! :veryconfu

[Frank]

gandydancer:

Arrrr I can shoot almost as good as you all with one hand tied behind my back. AND only use one eye. HUH! Hows that?
Doesn't sound very good. [smilie=l:

[44man]

Swampman, I'm glad you had a great day at the range. I love shooting my 6 shooters, even my 5 shooters(pocket 38's) are fun.
One of my recent trips to a friends, we had more fun bouncing soda bottles across the range than anything. These were just tossed out and shot where they landed. Yeah we did some long range stuff too but every time someone finished a bottle we just had to toss it out there and shoot it.
Bottle flying, mud flying, laughing and grinning the whole time.
There you go! I like that. I hate paper targets like the plague and only use them to work loads.
I go in the recycle bin for plastic bottles and fill them with water before we go down to shoot.
Serious (wrong word, should be fun with a lot of laughs!) bench shooting at 50 yards means black walnuts or shotgun shells laying down to shoot into the bases. Chunks of rock are great fun.
I have grown to hate formal deadpan shooting, had enough of that.
I can say that if you just have fun, you really will shoot better. Learn to relax and laugh. That is how I won so many IHMSA and muzzle loader shoots. Others would glare at us as we laughed and joked.
If you want to shoot the revolver like crazy, learn to poke the center out of a target with a flint lock off hand. If you can center a pop can at 75 yards with a flint lock off hand, no revolver will be hard.
Do not think light loads will prepare you for heavy loads either. You will fall apart before ever pulling the trigger. Shoot your hunting loads all the time. You must prepare your mind for recoil. Your mind is your enemy. Put fun into shooting and brain meltdown is reduced.

[Frank]

fechmech posted this in another section. The one thing he has going for him is he is using a revolver that can achieve this kind of shooting offhand at 100 yards all day long. A load that will make you laugh shooting at bottles can make you cry at 100 yards. But a load that shoots at 100 yards, will give you the bigger laugh at the short ranges.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=22896&d=1276549398

[subsonic]

Jim is right on.

Nothing will "reward" your brain immediately like the fun of a reactive target when shooting.

Shooting paper from much distance reinforces your misses and mistakes. It's hard to tell the good shots from the bad until after you pull the target. Shooting reactive targets (from walnuts or dirt clods to explosives) will reinforce your hits and make your mind remember how a good shot "felt", rather than the ambiguity of how poor shots "feel".

This is why I like to teach pistols @ 7yds or on steel plates. There is no doubt when a good shot smacks the bullseye.

[x101airborne]

I too am a fan of reactive targets. That is how I taught my wife to shoot 22's, deer rifles, pistols and shotguns.
I also like water bottles and skeet set up at various distances. With my 45 colt blackhawk I usually hit em at 100 yards on about every third round, but I would not want to be on the recieving end of the other two shots. They are off by usually about an inch or two, but close nuff for gubment work. I actually shoot my 45 colt with open sights better than my encore pistol with a 2-7 weaver on it.

I really enjoy varminting at long range with my handguns. I have killed a yote at 75 yards with a 38 spl. I shot at a nutria at 150 yards with a 1911. I hit within about a foot of it wich I thought was pretty good for an off the cuff shot. I never pass up the chance of a hog kill with a handgun if I dont have a rifle. Some I hit, some I dont. But that is just the nature of the beast.

Inkedbylee (a member here) and I used to spend much time at the range shooting and ribbing each other. Amazing how good you can get when you have a FRIENDLY competition going. You can usually come up with some fun games to try also.