Yesterday late afternoon I finally was able to head to the range with my new Versa Pack. With factory open sights, the performance was about as expected -- squirrel-hunting accuracy at 25 yards, falling off to barely acceptable at 50 yards. This is certainly caused by my aging eyes, rather than the little gun itself. I'm sure a scope would make it a great shooter, but optics would also spoil the perfect balance and carry. I'll put good Williams or Marble's open sights on the barrel. That should tighten up the groups a bit. I have become an avid convert to light-gathering front sight beads.
The .410 barrel did exactly as expected on pattern paper with #6 Winchester 3/4 ounce loads. At 25 yards, it's a bit sketchy for squirrels or bunnies, but with #7-1/2 or #8 loads, there should be enough density to handle small game. No one in town had Winchester ammo in smaller shot sizes, except for skeet loads in 2-1/2" hulls. Since I don't shoot skeet, but do handload, it seems like a good idea to shoot a few boxes of the new Winchester HS 3" ammo just for the empties, and look to acquiring a MEC for the .410.
Fit and function are flawless, and the trigger is quite good, better than many recent repeater .22s I've shot. The frame accepted an old Pardner stock and forend with no alteration, but neoprene O-rings slipped over the forend screw fitting helped even it out along the lines of the frame. The little .22 LR case ejects past the shooter's ear, trailing pungent smoke and bringing back many good recollections of boyhood. I've come full-circle in the gun world, back to a single-shot rimfire, after all the bolt and lever and self-loading guns have gotten boring.
There is one quality the little combo gun has in plentiful supply -- it's a whole lot of fun to shoot!! Once again, it's hard to figure out why NEF dropped it from the catalog. We can only hope that Big Green decides to bring it back, made in the Kentucky plant to which NEF is supposed to move.
