Cousin Mike
Member
I posted a thread not too long ago about this nice Colt revolver I found in a pawn shop for $100.00 – Well, it’s been a LONG week to say the least. Let’s just say that now I can speak from 1st hand experience what it’s like to fire a gun indoors (no, it doesn't make you deaf), and I also know a little something about wall penetration. Yep, I had a ND with the Colt. Shot a hole in my wall. Although I did just make somewhat of a small joke about it, believe me, the whole experience changed my life.
I thought about getting rid of all my guns. Once I calmed down, and had a chance to rethink things, I realized that it was all my fault. I was being stupid, and I broke one of the 4 rules. I had my finger on the trigger. Had I not, this wouldn’t have happened. Letting that sink in, I decided to keep my guns, and simply live with the fact that I had to learn safety the hard way – and now I have a much more healthy respect for firearms of any and every type, and the 4 rules. I’ve never had an accident in years of owning autos, so I guess I had a false sense of security about owning a revolver. It would be easy to, but I refuse to blame the revolver for my own stupidity.
I keep all my guns loaded. I forgot what was in my hand. I was in a hurry to get to work and wanted to show a friend my new pistol. Bad mix of events. That’s how it happened.
So after dealing with having had a ND, etc. - the damn thing broke on me - the cylinders refused to cycle. I knew nothing about revolvers. And, in full accordance with my usual luck, there isn’t a gunsmith anywhere in this city of 1.2 million people that I could find who would/could work on it within the next 2 weeks. Typical…
Well, I still don’t know enough to tell you what the problem was, but let’s just say that working with tools all day doesn’t necessarily make me hesitant to crack things open, and see what I can see. I found out how to clean it and strip it, and I found a spring in the cylinder release lever that was out of whack, and fixing it's position fixed the problem… I learned a lot about this gun and the way it works. The only bad thing was that it took me 2 days (and taking it apart about a million times) to find the damned spring, diagnose and fix the problem, and put it back together correctly.
This morning I knew that I needed to get this Colt to the range if I was going to keep it. This week has been crazy. Very frustrating, among other things. I had to replace a mirror and fix a wall. I had to fix the gun itself, with no previous knowledge of how to do so. My confidence, well… that won’t be so easy to fix. I know that after all this, I had to have some familiarization time with this gun. I ask the girlfriend if she’d like to go along, and as always she replies with an emphatic “Yes!”
That made me feel good for the first time in a few days.
So we’re off to Wal-Mart.
I hate Wal-Mart. Unfortunately for me, and anyone else who hates that wicked place of doom, the ammo that they DO carry (which ain’t much) is a tad cheaper than you can find it anywhere else. Wal-Mart is always a zoo. Today is no different. We hurry out and leave the city behind us to head out to our shooting place. It might have been 2 weeks since we’ve gone. It felt like forever.
We get there, one 50-box of Remington 130gr. FMJ, and one 50-box of Winchester 125gr. JHP to shoot, ear & eye protection ready. They’re out of my usual 25 yard silhouette targets. I pick another target, get 10 of them, and we find our lane. We won’t be here long, that’s not the point of today’s trip. This is homework. This is also therapy. This gun still makes me nervous. I need to get over that. It’s overdue, and I feel negligent. I need to know if this thing shoots straight, and if it's working properly.
I load her up, send my target downrange about 10 yards, pull back my hammer, and let one fly. I like it. She’s got a nice little flash and bang to her with the Remington loads, but she’s not any louder than the .45 going off 2 lanes over. Recoil is extremely mild compared to any of my auto’s. I like her. I pull my hammer back again, and get another single-action shot off. The next 4 shots I rapid fire, and pull back my target, staring at a 5” group, all high. This is not good.
The guys next to me with the .45 leave, and 2 new guys show up, and take the lane directly next to us. One’s wearing camo pants and a tight black T-shirt, and steel-toed boots. He’s a white guy in his late 30’s-early 40's with somewhat long hair. He’s cocky, and doesn’t return my nod. He's got 2 huge boxes of equipment. Great… Just what the hell I need. Commando the Tacti-coolguy is at my range with an apprentice he intends to ruin on the subjects of pistolcraft and marksmanship. His partner, a young latino looking kid with a sort of hard look about him, is polite, but looks nervous. This is interesting. They set up a huge target, and the kid sets it out to maybe 7-8 yards. Commando asks him, “You going all the way out to 75 feet?”
Isn't this just friggin great. The kid isn't even halfway to max distance. Why me? I want to scream, “This is a 50’ pistol range, you jackass!” This is gonna be one hell of a day.
I try not to laugh. Then, as if on cue, a laser pops up on this target and starts going haywire. My girlfriend mouths the words “Oh my @#%&*!? God…” and puts her face in her hands. She’s shaking violently, hiding in the booth, trying not to laugh out loud. I sigh in disbelief. Commando is barking off all sorts of advice on how to point with the laser, how to aim, etc. I have to put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. The kid starts plowing away with his 9mm. At this point, the .38 is down on the table and we’re just watching our new neighbors.
I’m being pelted with casings. It’s so funny I don’t even care.
The laser is bouncing everywhere – it’s obvious to me just watching that this kid couldn’t have possibly fired a gun before today… and of course, Commando thought it would be a good idea to train him on a laser. I look over and he’s got this kid shooting one handed in some weird stance. Commando is encouraging him. I feel bad for this kid, it’s obvious he thinks this guy knows what he’s doing. They’re shooting at a target literally 10x the size of ours, and even with a laser, the kid cant put a shot thru the middle of it. From 7-8 yards no less. He pulls his target back, and he’s excited. I notice his shots are about 2 feet low and to the right. I feel kind of bad for him. I find myself hoping that this kid gets a real instructor sometime soon, or even teaches himself how to shoot. Anything would be better than listening to this guy.
Then he hands Commando the gun. The moment I’ve been waiting for. First shot, laser sight equipped and all, Commando hits the clamp on the top of the target and sends the target swinging back and forth wildly, and the target falls out of the clamp and onto the floor. I look over, and give him a crooked smile. He has a stupid look on his face. People are quietly snickering. I’ve seen enough… The disgust I feel is indescribeable. Back to my shooting.
I take my speedloader, drop in another 6, and plow away at the target with double-action pulls. My shots are all over the place. I’m pissed. That stupid laser bouncing around is distracting me. I give the gun to my girlfriend, and reassure her that there’s nothing to be scared of. She seems to appreciate that. It’s actually a kitten compared to her pistols (she likes compact 9’s, which kick a little harder to me). If you read my first thread, you know my girlfriend had never fired a six-shooter (or any other revolver for that matter), and was intimidated by the idea of them. She said she “imagines the recoil would be somewhat like holding a small cannon,” given that there’s no moving parts to soak up recoil. She takes ahold of the gun, points downrange, and takes her time… pulling the hammer back, waiting for her shot… all single-action pulls. Somehow, she’s able to ignore the light show next to us. She pulls back a nice tight group, and has a big grin on her face. I think she likes it.
Okay, it’s not the gun. We put up a new target, and I load up the cylinder and speedloader, and try again. I take aim, and notice just before I shoot that for whatever reason, I’m aligning the sights with my LEFT eye. Why? I have no idea. I’m right handed. I re align the sight picture with my right eye, pull the hammer back, take a breath and hold it. I find my sight picture. I squeeze. BANG! I see a little paper fall from the target. Nice. I let the other 5 go rather quickly, and caught myself still wanting to use my left eye to align the sights. This is something that I’ve never experienced with my autos. Also, I found it hard to keep track of how many rounds I fired. I almost always went to fire it a 7th time. I figure these things will work themselves out as I get more and more used to shooting wheelguns.
I pull back this target. Not too impressed, but it’s better than before. Center to center, this group measures 2 ¼”. Not my best ever, but not the worst I've ever done with a pistol I've never fired before either.
Through all 100 rounds, she hiccupped once. One FTFire, with a primer strike that was very off center. This was with the Remington ammo. All my Winchester ammo shot fine, regardless of off-center primer strikes. It was a tad louder, and had less flash than the Remington. When I put the failed round back in the cylinder, it fired the 2nd time. Other than that, nothing significant to speak of, other than how much we both loved shooting this gun. I was more accurate with the Remington 130gr. than I was with the Winchester JHP's, but not enough to be concerned.
My girlfriend wants a revolver of her own now. I can’t wait to get my .357 or .44 Magnum, but now I REALLY can’t decide which caliber I want to go with. I'm thinking .44.
My best target of the day was this one… This group, center to center, measured out to 1 7/8”. This was shot at about 15 yards.
As you can see I’m still aiming a little high, but I am still getting used to the sight picture of this thing.
So, I’m keeping it. I wouldn’t hesitate to carry it either. I’m looking for a pair of the original wooden grips, because mine are chipped on the bottom left side - and I think I might refinish the bluing on it. Those grips are proving to be a challenge to find, but someone, somewhere has them. I think in the meantime I’ll look for some aftermarket grips to put on it for range trips, carry, etc. I’m looking forward to purchasing more 6-shooters very soon, and my girlfriend also can’t wait to accumulate her own revolver collection.
Oh, and by the way, she outshot me with it. Yeah, I know… but I’m being a man and admitting it. Honestly, I think it’s cool that she outshoots me sometimes, since I’m the one who taught her to shoot. It boosts her confidence, which is always a good thing. Her first time with a revolver, and she shot it better than I did. I’m proud! Her best group of the day measured out to 1 3/8”, center to center @ 10 yards, with 3 in the x-ring. I only accomplished hitting the x-ring in the midst of some pretty bad groups. Women are amazing.
All in all, I'd have to say the whole experience of buying this pistol has not only been life changing, for obvious reasons - but I am a big fan of revolvers now. I'm starting to get over the ND, and I realize I'm not the only person it's ever happened to. I will always remember how terrible it was to cook off a round in my house, and I will always be more careful with them - but to want another one right after having an accident... Does that make me nuts?
I have a new toy I like, and although I have to accept that I learned true firearms safety the hard way, I think this thing will always have a spot in my home. It seems to shoot pretty straight. It’s also got one hell of a story attached to it now, and I dunno if I could get rid of it if I wanted to.
I don't know if I like them as much as auto's yet, simply for capacity. I still feel somewhat safer carrying an auto, but once the initial shock of having an accident wears off I'm sure that will probably change. It will also probably change as I become more familiar with them. I would carry this revolver. I'm getting pretty quick with a speedloader. I love the concealability of these things.
I'm sorry for the length of this, but it has been somewhat therapeutic to talk about, and the part about the coolguy at the range today was just too funny to leave out. I hope you enjoy the crappy pics I took with my cell phone, and my Sunday range report about my new Colt .38 - Thanks for reading.
I thought about getting rid of all my guns. Once I calmed down, and had a chance to rethink things, I realized that it was all my fault. I was being stupid, and I broke one of the 4 rules. I had my finger on the trigger. Had I not, this wouldn’t have happened. Letting that sink in, I decided to keep my guns, and simply live with the fact that I had to learn safety the hard way – and now I have a much more healthy respect for firearms of any and every type, and the 4 rules. I’ve never had an accident in years of owning autos, so I guess I had a false sense of security about owning a revolver. It would be easy to, but I refuse to blame the revolver for my own stupidity.
I keep all my guns loaded. I forgot what was in my hand. I was in a hurry to get to work and wanted to show a friend my new pistol. Bad mix of events. That’s how it happened.
So after dealing with having had a ND, etc. - the damn thing broke on me - the cylinders refused to cycle. I knew nothing about revolvers. And, in full accordance with my usual luck, there isn’t a gunsmith anywhere in this city of 1.2 million people that I could find who would/could work on it within the next 2 weeks. Typical…
Well, I still don’t know enough to tell you what the problem was, but let’s just say that working with tools all day doesn’t necessarily make me hesitant to crack things open, and see what I can see. I found out how to clean it and strip it, and I found a spring in the cylinder release lever that was out of whack, and fixing it's position fixed the problem… I learned a lot about this gun and the way it works. The only bad thing was that it took me 2 days (and taking it apart about a million times) to find the damned spring, diagnose and fix the problem, and put it back together correctly.
This morning I knew that I needed to get this Colt to the range if I was going to keep it. This week has been crazy. Very frustrating, among other things. I had to replace a mirror and fix a wall. I had to fix the gun itself, with no previous knowledge of how to do so. My confidence, well… that won’t be so easy to fix. I know that after all this, I had to have some familiarization time with this gun. I ask the girlfriend if she’d like to go along, and as always she replies with an emphatic “Yes!”
That made me feel good for the first time in a few days.
So we’re off to Wal-Mart.
I hate Wal-Mart. Unfortunately for me, and anyone else who hates that wicked place of doom, the ammo that they DO carry (which ain’t much) is a tad cheaper than you can find it anywhere else. Wal-Mart is always a zoo. Today is no different. We hurry out and leave the city behind us to head out to our shooting place. It might have been 2 weeks since we’ve gone. It felt like forever.We get there, one 50-box of Remington 130gr. FMJ, and one 50-box of Winchester 125gr. JHP to shoot, ear & eye protection ready. They’re out of my usual 25 yard silhouette targets. I pick another target, get 10 of them, and we find our lane. We won’t be here long, that’s not the point of today’s trip. This is homework. This is also therapy. This gun still makes me nervous. I need to get over that. It’s overdue, and I feel negligent. I need to know if this thing shoots straight, and if it's working properly.
I load her up, send my target downrange about 10 yards, pull back my hammer, and let one fly. I like it. She’s got a nice little flash and bang to her with the Remington loads, but she’s not any louder than the .45 going off 2 lanes over. Recoil is extremely mild compared to any of my auto’s. I like her. I pull my hammer back again, and get another single-action shot off. The next 4 shots I rapid fire, and pull back my target, staring at a 5” group, all high. This is not good.
The guys next to me with the .45 leave, and 2 new guys show up, and take the lane directly next to us. One’s wearing camo pants and a tight black T-shirt, and steel-toed boots. He’s a white guy in his late 30’s-early 40's with somewhat long hair. He’s cocky, and doesn’t return my nod. He's got 2 huge boxes of equipment. Great… Just what the hell I need. Commando the Tacti-coolguy is at my range with an apprentice he intends to ruin on the subjects of pistolcraft and marksmanship. His partner, a young latino looking kid with a sort of hard look about him, is polite, but looks nervous. This is interesting. They set up a huge target, and the kid sets it out to maybe 7-8 yards. Commando asks him, “You going all the way out to 75 feet?”
Isn't this just friggin great. The kid isn't even halfway to max distance. Why me? I want to scream, “This is a 50’ pistol range, you jackass!” This is gonna be one hell of a day.
I try not to laugh. Then, as if on cue, a laser pops up on this target and starts going haywire. My girlfriend mouths the words “Oh my @#%&*!? God…” and puts her face in her hands. She’s shaking violently, hiding in the booth, trying not to laugh out loud. I sigh in disbelief. Commando is barking off all sorts of advice on how to point with the laser, how to aim, etc. I have to put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. The kid starts plowing away with his 9mm. At this point, the .38 is down on the table and we’re just watching our new neighbors.
I’m being pelted with casings. It’s so funny I don’t even care.
The laser is bouncing everywhere – it’s obvious to me just watching that this kid couldn’t have possibly fired a gun before today… and of course, Commando thought it would be a good idea to train him on a laser. I look over and he’s got this kid shooting one handed in some weird stance. Commando is encouraging him. I feel bad for this kid, it’s obvious he thinks this guy knows what he’s doing. They’re shooting at a target literally 10x the size of ours, and even with a laser, the kid cant put a shot thru the middle of it. From 7-8 yards no less. He pulls his target back, and he’s excited. I notice his shots are about 2 feet low and to the right. I feel kind of bad for him. I find myself hoping that this kid gets a real instructor sometime soon, or even teaches himself how to shoot. Anything would be better than listening to this guy.
Then he hands Commando the gun. The moment I’ve been waiting for. First shot, laser sight equipped and all, Commando hits the clamp on the top of the target and sends the target swinging back and forth wildly, and the target falls out of the clamp and onto the floor. I look over, and give him a crooked smile. He has a stupid look on his face. People are quietly snickering. I’ve seen enough… The disgust I feel is indescribeable. Back to my shooting.
I take my speedloader, drop in another 6, and plow away at the target with double-action pulls. My shots are all over the place. I’m pissed. That stupid laser bouncing around is distracting me. I give the gun to my girlfriend, and reassure her that there’s nothing to be scared of. She seems to appreciate that. It’s actually a kitten compared to her pistols (she likes compact 9’s, which kick a little harder to me). If you read my first thread, you know my girlfriend had never fired a six-shooter (or any other revolver for that matter), and was intimidated by the idea of them. She said she “imagines the recoil would be somewhat like holding a small cannon,” given that there’s no moving parts to soak up recoil. She takes ahold of the gun, points downrange, and takes her time… pulling the hammer back, waiting for her shot… all single-action pulls. Somehow, she’s able to ignore the light show next to us. She pulls back a nice tight group, and has a big grin on her face. I think she likes it.
Okay, it’s not the gun. We put up a new target, and I load up the cylinder and speedloader, and try again. I take aim, and notice just before I shoot that for whatever reason, I’m aligning the sights with my LEFT eye. Why? I have no idea. I’m right handed. I re align the sight picture with my right eye, pull the hammer back, take a breath and hold it. I find my sight picture. I squeeze. BANG! I see a little paper fall from the target. Nice. I let the other 5 go rather quickly, and caught myself still wanting to use my left eye to align the sights. This is something that I’ve never experienced with my autos. Also, I found it hard to keep track of how many rounds I fired. I almost always went to fire it a 7th time. I figure these things will work themselves out as I get more and more used to shooting wheelguns.
I pull back this target. Not too impressed, but it’s better than before. Center to center, this group measures 2 ¼”. Not my best ever, but not the worst I've ever done with a pistol I've never fired before either.
Through all 100 rounds, she hiccupped once. One FTFire, with a primer strike that was very off center. This was with the Remington ammo. All my Winchester ammo shot fine, regardless of off-center primer strikes. It was a tad louder, and had less flash than the Remington. When I put the failed round back in the cylinder, it fired the 2nd time. Other than that, nothing significant to speak of, other than how much we both loved shooting this gun. I was more accurate with the Remington 130gr. than I was with the Winchester JHP's, but not enough to be concerned.
My girlfriend wants a revolver of her own now. I can’t wait to get my .357 or .44 Magnum, but now I REALLY can’t decide which caliber I want to go with. I'm thinking .44.
My best target of the day was this one… This group, center to center, measured out to 1 7/8”. This was shot at about 15 yards.
As you can see I’m still aiming a little high, but I am still getting used to the sight picture of this thing.
So, I’m keeping it. I wouldn’t hesitate to carry it either. I’m looking for a pair of the original wooden grips, because mine are chipped on the bottom left side - and I think I might refinish the bluing on it. Those grips are proving to be a challenge to find, but someone, somewhere has them. I think in the meantime I’ll look for some aftermarket grips to put on it for range trips, carry, etc. I’m looking forward to purchasing more 6-shooters very soon, and my girlfriend also can’t wait to accumulate her own revolver collection.
Oh, and by the way, she outshot me with it. Yeah, I know… but I’m being a man and admitting it.
Honestly, I think it’s cool that she outshoots me sometimes, since I’m the one who taught her to shoot. It boosts her confidence, which is always a good thing. Her first time with a revolver, and she shot it better than I did. I’m proud! Her best group of the day measured out to 1 3/8”, center to center @ 10 yards, with 3 in the x-ring. I only accomplished hitting the x-ring in the midst of some pretty bad groups. Women are amazing.All in all, I'd have to say the whole experience of buying this pistol has not only been life changing, for obvious reasons - but I am a big fan of revolvers now. I'm starting to get over the ND, and I realize I'm not the only person it's ever happened to. I will always remember how terrible it was to cook off a round in my house, and I will always be more careful with them - but to want another one right after having an accident... Does that make me nuts?
I have a new toy I like, and although I have to accept that I learned true firearms safety the hard way, I think this thing will always have a spot in my home. It seems to shoot pretty straight. It’s also got one hell of a story attached to it now, and I dunno if I could get rid of it if I wanted to.
I don't know if I like them as much as auto's yet, simply for capacity. I still feel somewhat safer carrying an auto, but once the initial shock of having an accident wears off I'm sure that will probably change. It will also probably change as I become more familiar with them. I would carry this revolver. I'm getting pretty quick with a speedloader. I love the concealability of these things.
I'm sorry for the length of this, but it has been somewhat therapeutic to talk about, and the part about the coolguy at the range today was just too funny to leave out. I hope you enjoy the crappy pics I took with my cell phone, and my Sunday range report about my new Colt .38 - Thanks for reading.
