MacTech
Member
It's been a while since I had trigger time behind my two .45's, a Kimber Custom II 1911, and a Ruger New Blackhawk Convertible (.45 ACP and Colt)
I'd been spending most of my time on the trap range, but the trap range was closed today, thankfully, I had the foresight to bring my .45's along
I had a couple batches of my reloads (25 rounds of 5.0 Gn of W231 under a 200 Gn LSWC, and 25 rounds with 5.6 Gn 231, the max. charge on the Hogdon/Winchester website, as well as 50 rounds of Bullseye 230Gn LRN reloads to see how they compared
At 15 yards, I was shooting ragged "one hole" groups (all the shots were touching) with the 5.6 Gn load, groups opened up slightly with the 5.0 Gn charge, the Bullseye ammo was *NOT* impressive at all, a lot of vertical stringing, and no real groupings to speak of, lets just say I've found my "pet" load for the Kimber
I had a box of Bullseye new 250Gn cowboy loads for the Blackhawk, as I had never shot commercial loads in it before, and I had never shot the heavier bullets in it, it did okay with the Bullseye new ammo, groups were about 3/4" or so, I then swapped the ACP cylinder in it, and was quite impressed, the Bullseye ACP reloads shot nice groups in the Blackhawk, all five rounds touching (just for S&G, I was loading the BH in the old-style load-one-skip-one-load-four style, even though this is a new BH with the transfer bar)
The nicest thing about shooting ACP in the BH though was the negligible recoil, it felt like I was shooting a .22, just a .22 that made *BIG* holes in the target...
It's funny, every so often, I get to thinking "you know, I really don't use my Blackhawk all that much, it's more of a toy than anything, that 7.5" barrel makes it a little cumbersome for carry, the 1911 is far better for that, maybe I should just sell the Blackhawk...", then I go to the range, put a few cylinders of ACP and Colt through it and ask myself "why was I even contemplating selling this gun, it's accurate, smooth recoiling, stable, sights naturally, and is just a plain old *LOT* of fun", I always end up with a huge grin on my face when shooting the BH, and as an added side benefit, I don't need to chase down my brass after a session with the BH
I shouldn't have waited so long to play with the .45's again
I'd been spending most of my time on the trap range, but the trap range was closed today, thankfully, I had the foresight to bring my .45's along
I had a couple batches of my reloads (25 rounds of 5.0 Gn of W231 under a 200 Gn LSWC, and 25 rounds with 5.6 Gn 231, the max. charge on the Hogdon/Winchester website, as well as 50 rounds of Bullseye 230Gn LRN reloads to see how they compared
At 15 yards, I was shooting ragged "one hole" groups (all the shots were touching) with the 5.6 Gn load, groups opened up slightly with the 5.0 Gn charge, the Bullseye ammo was *NOT* impressive at all, a lot of vertical stringing, and no real groupings to speak of, lets just say I've found my "pet" load for the Kimber
I had a box of Bullseye new 250Gn cowboy loads for the Blackhawk, as I had never shot commercial loads in it before, and I had never shot the heavier bullets in it, it did okay with the Bullseye new ammo, groups were about 3/4" or so, I then swapped the ACP cylinder in it, and was quite impressed, the Bullseye ACP reloads shot nice groups in the Blackhawk, all five rounds touching (just for S&G, I was loading the BH in the old-style load-one-skip-one-load-four style, even though this is a new BH with the transfer bar)
The nicest thing about shooting ACP in the BH though was the negligible recoil, it felt like I was shooting a .22, just a .22 that made *BIG* holes in the target...
It's funny, every so often, I get to thinking "you know, I really don't use my Blackhawk all that much, it's more of a toy than anything, that 7.5" barrel makes it a little cumbersome for carry, the 1911 is far better for that, maybe I should just sell the Blackhawk...", then I go to the range, put a few cylinders of ACP and Colt through it and ask myself "why was I even contemplating selling this gun, it's accurate, smooth recoiling, stable, sights naturally, and is just a plain old *LOT* of fun", I always end up with a huge grin on my face when shooting the BH, and as an added side benefit, I don't need to chase down my brass after a session with the BH
I shouldn't have waited so long to play with the .45's again