clum553946
11-10-2015, 04:44 PM
Well, I shot a small local Steel Challenge match yesterday, the first time I've shot any competition for over 20 years & boy did I stink it up! I used my old Les Baer Premier in 45 acp & I think I need some more tweaking to get the job done better! My two biggest problems were sight aquisition & using the wrong loads. My older eyes had a problem picking up the sights quickly. I have the old standard target sights that are black & was thinking a front fiber optic sight would be better. It was overcast yesterday & I kept pulling the shots low & to the left. I test fired it before the match & it was spot on at POI. One string I shot was so laughable that I probably could have done better with a handful of rocks! Lol. Looking back, shooting at speed, I just couldn't settle the sights fast enough & missed some targets I usually don't.
The next thing was the loads. I was using cast 185 gr swc over 6.7 AA #5 which is a mild load, but still enough recoil to slow me down. Anyone have any thoughs about using the Lee 160gr 452-160-RF with a light load of W231 & a 12 or 13 lb mainspring? I thought about going to an even lighter bullet since the targets are so close together, but I thought I'd start here.
All in all I had a good time getting my feet wet again. I never have shot Steel before & when it was all said & done, I still got 2nd in my class (there were only 4 shooting single stack) & 18th overall out of a field of 28. Heck, at least I didn't shot my foot off on the draw! I thought of shooting a Para Ordnance P16, but glas I didn't. That was the class that all of the speed demons shoot in! I will stick with single stack 45 acp for now. I had been out of shooting for almost 20 years & started back again about a year & a half ago & all of my practice has been shooting paper at a slow rate of fire. My gun club doesn't allow draw from the holster & no Steel Target practice, so I had no rapid fire experience until I walked into the match. I know I'd never be able to compete with the younger speedier guns, but would like to do 25-30% better. Any suggestions or ideas would ne appreciated. Thnx, Chris
The next thing was the loads. I was using cast 185 gr swc over 6.7 AA #5 which is a mild load, but still enough recoil to slow me down. Anyone have any thoughs about using the Lee 160gr 452-160-RF with a light load of W231 & a 12 or 13 lb mainspring? I thought about going to an even lighter bullet since the targets are so close together, but I thought I'd start here.
All in all I had a good time getting my feet wet again. I never have shot Steel before & when it was all said & done, I still got 2nd in my class (there were only 4 shooting single stack) & 18th overall out of a field of 28. Heck, at least I didn't shot my foot off on the draw! I thought of shooting a Para Ordnance P16, but glas I didn't. That was the class that all of the speed demons shoot in! I will stick with single stack 45 acp for now. I had been out of shooting for almost 20 years & started back again about a year & a half ago & all of my practice has been shooting paper at a slow rate of fire. My gun club doesn't allow draw from the holster & no Steel Target practice, so I had no rapid fire experience until I walked into the match. I know I'd never be able to compete with the younger speedier guns, but would like to do 25-30% better. Any suggestions or ideas would ne appreciated. Thnx, Chris