My USAF 44s and I finally got to the range

[Four Fingers of Death]

I picked up a pair of 44Specials off a friend sight unseen recently. They are a few years old and have seen a few hundred rounds through them at cowboy matches. They arrived last week and I finally got to the range today.

They are a strange blue colour and at times they look like they have been painted, but the finish is Dome Blue I have been told (After the dome on the Colt factory) and is pretty much how they were shipped in the 19th century. They sure are pretty and are a tight as a drum when locked up.

I have some lightish loads with 180Gn commercial cast polymer coated boolits and the accuracy with these was reasonable and they printed a bit low. I have another 600 or so of these at home and I will run them throught the gun to get used to it and to slick it up a bit, then I will convert to Mav Dutchman boolits and black powder.

They are sweet.

My friend's alias is J B Books and they are consecutively numbered 44s. the serial numbers are JBB441 and 2! How cool is that?

Now I need a pair of 45s, FFD451 and 2 maybe :D

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Handguns/20091201USAF44SWSpecials10.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Handguns/20091201USAF44SWSpecials3.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Handguns/20091201USAF44SWSpecials6.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Handguns/20091201USAF44SWSpecials7.jpg

My friend's aim was to re-create the guns that 'The Shootist' used. Looks good to me. He has moved on from cowboy shooting and now is concentrating on long range rifle and BPCR. He needed funds for a Sharps or somesuch.

[targetshootr]

Nice catch. Does the front blade seem short? The one on my Rodeo does. It's 44-40 but I bought a 44 spl cyl from the factory and it's tight as a snare drum. Like the grips too.

[mike in co]

you can quit torturing us any time now.......

nice guns

mike in co

[Four Fingers of Death]

Nice catch. Does the front blade seem short? The one on my Rodeo does. It's 44-40 but I bought a 44 spl cyl from the factory and it's tight as a snare drum. Like the grips too.


I didn't notice whether it was short or not, looking at the gun now, the back of the foresight is abrupt, but that should be ok in reducing glare, etc. O wouldn't mind the rear sight groove to be a bit wider. The guns shot about 5" low and a few inches to the left, but that was with a middle of the road load with trailboss and a 180Gn bullet. I will use the rest of those bullets as I mentioned above, but will up the ante a bit tyo get a better seal on the case mouth.

Did you have to send the guns in to the factory to get the spare cylinders?

Sorry Mike in CO, but a guys gotta lash out everynow and then. I couldn't afford a pair of Colts and I couldn't afford a new pair of these, so a used set was just the ticket.

Life is too short to shoot ugly guns!

[targetshootr]

Did you have to send the guns in to the factory to get the spare cylinders?
!

Nah, they sent it to me and all it needed was a little taken off the bushing. If you have a dealer friend, they can get $50 off retail.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Worth thinking about. I'll see how I go with the Specials with black powder. If the blowby is too bad, I might get some.

[MtGun44]

Too bad they aren't fully engraved like the movie guns. I bet that would have cost more
than the baseline guns! They are really nice. How is the accuracy?

BIll

[1874Sharps]

FourFingers,

I shoot a 44 Special Colt SAA in CAS matches with black powder 44 Russian cartridges or 44 Special cartridges and it does just fine with either one. The Russian rounds are a little more economical and have less recoil than the Specials. Clean up is not all that bad, either.