Tuesday, August 23, 2005

e-Postal Match "Snub-or-Not" Ramblings

Went up to the CWSA range this afternoon for some paper punchin' and brass emptying. The weather was beautiful, except for having to shoot directly into the afternoon sun.

Shot a couple of "sighter" targets with a 9x18 Makarov, and after a short while decided it was not ready for prime time, so to speak. I do think a set of aftermarket grips would be a HUGE improvement, though. How about it, you Makarov shooters, what grips do you like?

Grabbed a Smith & Wesson model 60 with a snubbie barrel, and shot a couple more "sighters" with better results. I was using up some old .38 wad cutters, and I don't think they were the MOST accurate I've ever seen, but I don't like things to go to waste.

I hung the pair of e-Postal handgun match targets, and fired away. I did better than I expected (luck?) shooting off-hand, but worse (back to reality?) from the bench rest. At least I did better than I did with the Jennings!

One of my favorite wheel guns is a Taurus model 66 with a 6" barrel. I don't know if it's had a trigger job or not, but it sure does have a nice trigger, both single and double-action, it's smooth, crisp, and light. A joy to shoot, at least with decent ammo, and therein lies a tale.

To shoot an entry for the e-Postal match requires fifty rounds, twenty-five per target. I only had about thirty rounds left! DANG!! Rummaging around through all of my gear, I came up with another nineteen rounds, mis-matched, assorted bullets,and all VERY old. That gives me forty-nine rounds.

What to do? No stores nearby, and no one else at the range I could bum some ammo from. On top of that, I had no ammo for sighting in and figuring out where it was shooting.

I decided to "Cowboy up", so to speak, and shoot what I had, even if I was one round short. (I've been accused of being short a few rounds in the past, but this time it was true.)

I loaded up the best of the ammo, and shot the first target off-hand, sighting in as I went. Didn't do great, but not too bad, either. Iron sights are always a challenge.

The second target, with the "mix-n-match" ammo was more or less a disaster, even shooting from a bench rest. The off-hand shooting had given me a pretty good idea of where to aim. The first round of the old ammo was five inches high and three inches to the left. Aiming at the center target put me fairly close for the upper left one! It went down hill from there! It was a challenge to even get them onto the paper.

I managed to get twenty-two of the twenty-four onto the paper, but scattered all over the place. I actually scored twenty-nine fewer from the bench rest than I had done shooting off-hand. Blechhhhhhhhh........

KeeWee and I packed up the gear and headed over to the bowling pin range to shoot a few pins, since there's a pin shoot this Sunday.

...............couldn't hit the dang pins, either.

6 Comments:

At Tuesday, August 23, 2005 11:19:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmmmm....sounds like a case of "for want of a nail, the shoe was lost..." etc etc etc.

Now I know why I get the hernia fears when I get to the range: I have to unload all that ammo and carry it inside.

I've never shot myself dry, not once.

Maybe I should shoot more?

 
At Tuesday, August 23, 2005 11:20:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Above "for want of a nail" by the Rivrdog, of course, who is too tired to sign his own name...

 
At Wednesday, August 24, 2005 5:13:00 PM, Blogger AlanDP said...

I put the Pearce grips on mine. They add a little size to the grips, width-wise, but they are extremely comfortable and I wouldn't change them for anything. The original grips were worthless to me. I bought mine for using, not for any collectibility, so those thumbrest grips were just...oh man, I just don't want to get started on them. What was it with the Soviets, did they only grow right-handed soldiers over there, or what?

 
At Friday, August 26, 2005 7:32:00 PM, Blogger al said...

Only ever ran out of ammo once. My son and I were with my brother-in-law and his son. Went through 2000 rounds on Saturday and 1500 on Sunday. Ok it was twice. Luckily Wal-Mart was nearby :-)

I'll have to play with my J-22 to see if I can get it to feed again. When it did it shot groups.

 
At Friday, August 26, 2005 8:23:00 PM, Blogger Mr. Completely said...

Al: If we can get five J-22 shooters in the "Snub-or-not" match, I'll even create a special class for 'em.......

 
At Sunday, August 28, 2005 4:05:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds a lot like my "adventure" shooting a M1914 Mauser in 32 ACP earlier today, BUT it was all from the same box! Three suprise let-offs, due to a constantly varying trigger pull. And a radical change in POI, depending on where your little finger was, etc, etc, etc!!! Not something to bet your life on, that's for sure!!!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

All contents copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and beyond, unless otherwise noted