Mixed Updates

Taurus 9mm. PT92 'Econo Race Gun'

Damiphino was visiting from Billings, so yesterday afternoon we loaded up and headed out to the Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club range for a little shooting. He brought some of his cowboy action and cowboy fastdraw pistols, and I brought my Taurus 66 race revolver and my Taurus econo race gun project gun. The weather was rainy and miserable, mostly, but the shooting stations are covered so everything stayed dry. It was a good way to spend an afternoon. He came up with a few small changes in my single action shooting that both increased speed and accuracy.

The econo race gun is now shooting reliably, and the lack of accuracy seems to trace back to the particular bullet I was using. I have switched to 115 Gr. Master Blaster bullets and it improved greatly. I wish I had more time between now and the Inter-Club match this Saturday to fine-tune the loads for best accuracy. Hopefully the moly coated lead bullets will put a more visible mark on the steel plates so I can tell if I hit it or not. My Peltor electronic hearing protectors block loud sounds well, but since the "ding" of the steel plate and the gunshot are so close together, I can't hear the ding a lot of the time. I may go back to non-electronic hearing protectors and take a little of the sound foam out to see if I can keep the noise limited and still hear the plate. This afternoon is our last team practice, so I better get it figured out soon!

I've made a few more small changes in the 9mm. Taurus project, including moving the red dot sight forward about half an inch to give a little faster access to the slide if I need to clear a jam in a hurry. This meant I had to build an extended muzzle blast shield, as the smoke from the compensator would fog up the sight after ten rounds or so. I got that built and installed last night. I also loaded up another 150 rounds of 115 GR. Master Blasters to try today at the practice. So far one of the best shooting 9mm. rounds I've found has been the Remington 115Gr. hollow point bulk packs from Walmart! On a bowling pin it hits even harder than the Winchester 147Gr. white box hollow points. Apparently Winchester isn't putting much powder behind the bullet!

That's all the news for now, but stay tuned!