Jeff Hoover
Blackhawk
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2009
- Messages
- 919
I know "Doc" Barranti is getting tired of hearing me say it, but every time I come back from the range, I just can't believe how well those darn PC cast bullets shoot. I find myself shaking my head, with a smile on my face, thankful that I had a smidge of curiosity in me to give them a try. Today was .44 spc day. I had a large freezer bag sack full of Skeeter loads. They consisted of Lyman's version of the great Keith slug, 429421, PC in a nice shade of grey, over 7.5 gr. of Unique. They were ignited by an old supply of CCI large pistol primers I had on hand. Of course, I had them stuffed in callshot brass. Sixshot thinks they may be on the tight side. Some have found them thin skinned with a wide mouth, but I've had pretty good luck with them. Even after numerous squeezings thru the carbide die, the callshot brass still crimps pretty good.
Today I would be shooting my classic Skeeter gun, a 7.5" Old Model Flat Top 3 screw and a 7.5" Ruger New Model .44 spc Blackhawk. Some call these mistake guns, but they are anything but! I always get kinda sentimental when handling my Skeeter gun. Having had the great fortune of shooting the real Skeeter gun this spring, it reminds me of the good old days and memories past. Shooting the same kind of gun and loads Skeeter had a hankering for is pretty cool. Though I feel I am one up on him in a few ways. First, he never got to try PC bullets. Many cringe at this statement, but I would be curious to know what he would think of them. Skeeter had no problems going to gas checked slugs, shooting his beloved 358156 dual crimped bullets by the bag full that Ray Thompson designed. I still call it the Skeeter bullet, as he was the one who popularized the famed projectile. I think if it improved his accuracy, kept his guns cleaner, and was easier all around to process and handle, he'd have joined the PC band wagon too. The other thing I feel I had one upmanship with is that Skeeter never got to shoot callshot brass. So in my own weird, warped way, I am bringing them together.
So I'm at the range, everything all set up, I get my Skeeter gun at half cock, grab a handful of rounds, load one, skip one, load 4, shut the gate, cock and lower the hammer on an empty chamber. My target is at 25 yards. I am shooting off a sandbag. I acquire sight alignment, go to sight picture, front sight on bottom of my piece of blue 1.5" painters tape, start my trigger squeeze, and POW! This is repeated 4 more times. Not bad.
I continue to shoot a few more cylinders and then switch to my Ruger NM BH in .44 spc. Same thing. Load, shoot, repeat. I shot both guns over 30 times each, at their own piece of tape. I like doing this to see how the gun and load will shoot as it heats up, and the bore fouls. As I said in the beginning, I am forever impressed with these PC bullets. Both bores were pretty clean. Just a bit of powder fouling, nothing else. Both guns grouped well, and my confidence continues to grow with these special slugs.
All in all a good day and something I wanted to share with you. What could be better than shooting with old friends?
Today I would be shooting my classic Skeeter gun, a 7.5" Old Model Flat Top 3 screw and a 7.5" Ruger New Model .44 spc Blackhawk. Some call these mistake guns, but they are anything but! I always get kinda sentimental when handling my Skeeter gun. Having had the great fortune of shooting the real Skeeter gun this spring, it reminds me of the good old days and memories past. Shooting the same kind of gun and loads Skeeter had a hankering for is pretty cool. Though I feel I am one up on him in a few ways. First, he never got to try PC bullets. Many cringe at this statement, but I would be curious to know what he would think of them. Skeeter had no problems going to gas checked slugs, shooting his beloved 358156 dual crimped bullets by the bag full that Ray Thompson designed. I still call it the Skeeter bullet, as he was the one who popularized the famed projectile. I think if it improved his accuracy, kept his guns cleaner, and was easier all around to process and handle, he'd have joined the PC band wagon too. The other thing I feel I had one upmanship with is that Skeeter never got to shoot callshot brass. So in my own weird, warped way, I am bringing them together.
So I'm at the range, everything all set up, I get my Skeeter gun at half cock, grab a handful of rounds, load one, skip one, load 4, shut the gate, cock and lower the hammer on an empty chamber. My target is at 25 yards. I am shooting off a sandbag. I acquire sight alignment, go to sight picture, front sight on bottom of my piece of blue 1.5" painters tape, start my trigger squeeze, and POW! This is repeated 4 more times. Not bad.
I continue to shoot a few more cylinders and then switch to my Ruger NM BH in .44 spc. Same thing. Load, shoot, repeat. I shot both guns over 30 times each, at their own piece of tape. I like doing this to see how the gun and load will shoot as it heats up, and the bore fouls. As I said in the beginning, I am forever impressed with these PC bullets. Both bores were pretty clean. Just a bit of powder fouling, nothing else. Both guns grouped well, and my confidence continues to grow with these special slugs.
All in all a good day and something I wanted to share with you. What could be better than shooting with old friends?
