I finally got my "round tuit" and took some guns up to my range today. It's a really long way to have to go (around 15 yards to the firing line from my back door) so it's been hard to make the long trip.
I took both of my new Ruger single actions with me along with my new Browning Buck Mark and my not new Magnum Research 17-22 a Ruger 10-22 clone and my S&W 629 which is new to me and was fired for first time today.
I didn't do any real extensive shooting with any of them but did give them all a try to see how they are gonna perform. First up was the MR 17-22 which I wanted to sight in for squirrel season next month. By the time I had the first five or so down range my little grandson Wyatt (Matt's youngest) was right behind me. He did good he stayed in a safe position all the way from his house to where I was. He stayed with me thruout the shooting session.
First up for the Ruger's was my Lipsey's Bisley .44 Special with 5.5" barrel. I only fired one of the three factory ammo loads I have for it today with 240 grain cast bullets. I don't recall for sure which but I think the one from HSM.
I shot at 25 yards and what I proved most conclusively is I'm a lousy shot these days and badly out of practice. Today is the first time this year I've fired a gun other than one round of skeet with my O/U .410.
The first five shots all went high and left so I made a sight adjustment and fired five more. They were a bit better centered but I still need to do some more shooting and adjusting. Wyatt insisted it was time to shoot a different gun so I put the Bisley away.
Next up was my Black Hawk .45 Colt also with 5.5" barrel. It shot way left but not so high and I think I might need to replace the left vertical support on my target stand after that. I know better than to begin with a new gun on one of the target sheets near any edge. Oh well they all get shot up sooner or later. It grouped better than the .44 Special. I shot again after adjusting the sights and like the Bisle it needs more shooting and adjusting but Wyatt again said it was time to shoot another gun so I put it away and shot the S&W 629 and Browning Buck Mark but that's a story for another forum.
Last up was Wyatt. He got to fire five rounds thru my MR17-22 and he hit all five shots on a Wet One's bottle at about 12 yards. He's only 4 years old and just turned that last month. He was very well behaved during our range session as I have been teaching him gun safety and protocol now for over a year and he's a good little student.
Yesterday Matt had him out shooting his little camo stocked Crickett rifle along with Heather, Evan and Bradley. They ran thru a box of my .22 LR ammo in the rain.
As best as I can tell with the tools I have for the job both Ruger guns have throats that are pretty much what they should be. For sure neither is undersized so don't need to be opened and neither do they seem too large. I think that somone who can see those irons and doesn't have the shakes like I do these days could turn in some nice groups with them. Sadly that is no longer me so I need to accept larger targets closer to me. I'm gonna scope the Buck Mark.
