1873 .45 Colt Chrono Drivel . . .

¶ . . . Here is the chrono account of the first outing with my '73, for you number crunchers. The one thing of particular puzzlement to me was the high velocities on "the virgin string." Error on my part or just an anomaly? Go figure! Weather was partly cloudy, cold (for here!!) about 50 degrees . . .

. . . First up: Hornady Cowboy Loads, 255 grain Lead Round Nose Flat Point.The claimed muzzle velocity, from the box, is 725 FPS:

                  S1                     S2                     S3
High:    962.7              902.8                909.4
Low :    911.1                877.0                 887.5
Avg. :    943.0              889.6                898.5
E.S. :       51.58               25.83                 21.86
S.D. :       14.49              7.0                    7.28
Total:    10 Shots          10 Shots           10 Shots

Shot#       S1                     S2                     S3
01:          934.0              898.9                903.1
02:          938.5              884.1                889.9
03:          955.2              885.8                895.7
04:          932.4              890.1                907.1
05:          948.4              887.3                909.4
06:          950.9              902.8                887.5
07:          962.7              877.0                893.5
08:          947.0              890.4                901.9
09:          911.1              890.1                900.2
10:          950.3              889.2                894.2

. . . Next, Winchester Cowboy Loads, 250 grain Lead Round Nose Flat Point. Claimed muzzle velocity for these (Winchester website) is 750 FPS:

                  S1                     S2                     S3
High:    903.0              908.5                  899.6
Low :    878.7              880.9                  880.2
Avg. :   892.1               895.8                891.6
E.S. :       24.31              27.57                 19.42
S.D. :       7.81               10.86                    5.91 (!!!!)
Total:    10 Shots          10 Shots           10 Shots

Shot#       S1                     S2                     S3
01:          888.2              901.5                887.2
02:          889.2              907.1                890.9
03:          903.0              890.1                898.0
04:          893.3              881.0                890.6
05:          889.7              908.5                893.5
06:          890.5              880.9                880.2
07:          878.7              899.6                898.8
08:          902.4              903.2                899.6
09:          886.1              902.2                887.2
10:          900.1              883.7                890.1

. . . Hope that's scientific enough!! It took me longer to write this than it did to shoot it!! For a real look at someone who doesn't know what they are doing, look at "View Source" for this entry to see the convoluted way I laid this out!!

The "Current Read" . . .

¶ . . . Not American History or firepower prose, but it's caught my attention. I've always been intrigued by mysterious medieval topics, secret societies; things like the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail, the Spear of Destiny, alchemy, and such. The programs run by The History Channel on these subjects are always real entertaining. Being a Roman Catholic myself I naturally think the "carnal" suppositions about Jesus Christ are bunk, but this not being a "theo-blog", that's all I'll say about that. I guess one might say the book could be historical fiction, as there are many interesting factoids written into and mentioned in the story . . .
¶ . . . The recent appearance of a Gospel by "alleged" uber-traitor Judas Iscariot has also piqued my interest, but one kind of wonders about something "found" in the desert near the Nile after many centuries . . . National Geographic Channel to run a program on this subject tonight . . .

I'll Get One Of These . . .

¶ . . . I forget where I saw this link, but after I read it I decided to go for it!! It describes the process of obtaining an 03 Federal Firearm License, Collector of Curios & Relics, and what it is good for. I just wanted to say I had one and get the dealer discounts from Brownells and Midway. Well, it was pretty simple. I requested the paper work from the ATF via the Internet and then sent the completed forms back and one copy to the Chief of Police and I received it. It took about six weeks from the time I dropped the forms in the mailbox. They send a bunch of stuff, like a big book of states regulations and the best of all, a booklet listing eligible weapons. All of the '73 Peacemaker commemoratives listed are like a history of the United States. If you think, "You never know when I'll come across a cheap Luger," or what have you, check it out. The money you might save on your first parts order will cover the $30 fee right off the bat . . .
. . . Yeah, the Nebelwerfer is in the C & R booklet!! Might make a nice lawn ornament . . . !!

  GET SOME!!

Shooting Report . . .

¶ . . . That is semi-Geek-style in length (Jerry The Geek for the uninitiated!!) Fellow Gunblogger Marc might well be happy I'm posting up a Range Report of the first outing with my '73. He so shames me, as do the rest of you guys, with your frequent posts . . .
. . . The week before I went out I had to get some Shooting Swag, the front rest in the foto from last post was one piece. Here's more:

. . . The new front rest and its rear bag mate . . .

. . . and some Shoot N C's . . .




   . . . and of course, some ammo! I got some Hornady and Winchester Cowboy Loads . . . Man, this stuff costs! I'll be ordering-up some Dillon dies right quick!!

Some new ammo boxes were in order, also . . .

             

. . . Some new gun care products were also on the shopping list . . .

. . . All this before I even fired a shot out of my new rifle. I gotta say, a big part of the fun (And makes all the overtime worth it!! Not like I've been digging trenches or anything!!) of gun ownership is purchasing all the neat goodies "in support of your mission." Like we all didn't already know that . . .!!

. . . Had to reorganize a range box/chest:


¶ . . . Well, as I wrote previously, I made it to the range to try my rifle and chrono the Cowboy Loads, research if you will (Those nuts and bolts in a later post.). This in preparation to "roll my own." My first order of business was to sight in and see how well it may be sighted right out of the box. Mind now, I only had time to shoot 30 rounds of each load and my camera crapped out,preventing me from showing target fotos (How convenient!!) The Uberti '73 has a drift-adjustable front sight, locked down with a slotted set screw. Even from the rests, with my abilities all guns shoot better than I can!! However, the windage at 25 and 50 yards seemed OK, with both the Hornady and Winchester loads. At 25 yards, both loads shot 2-3" high, rear sight at lowest graduation. At 50 yards, they were about 2-3" low, but moving the sight up to the next graduation brought it up into my "aim-point." Keep in mind, my group size is about fist-sized around the "aim-point." This is all not very scientific and the most important thing I learned is I need more practice. I think Brian Enos says you should be able to shoot as good as the gun, but I ain't there yet!!
. . . The trigger on the '73 feels a little heavy, but we'll see about that later and get the opinions of some that are versed in the matter. The recoil is quite light, a pleasure to shoot, but the lever is quite rough on my right hand. I put some gloves on after I shot the first tube. I also found out I cannot just nonchalantly stroke the action to chamber a new round; the bullet will hang up on the breach unless I work it with "authority." Don't know if this is because the gun is new . . . or I didn't lube it up before I shot it!! I wonder if a short-stroke kit is one of the hot mods . . .
. . . I'm real happy with it so far. I still need to take it out to 100 yards, but my time got short before I could trek on over to the rifle range area at the club. I was planning on heading up tomorrow to do just that, but it looks like rain. I want to be able to shoot a silhouette match this month up at Angeles. I went up there as a spectator a couple of weeks ago to check it out. Here's a look at that range:



. . . You might be able to just make out the silhouettes. The top berm is 200 meters (yards?) . . .
. . . Some better fotos should be in the offing: I just bought a new camera (another "promised" posting!!). So if I'm rained-out on the range tomorrow, I'll cruise around trying it out . . .
. . . H/T's to all the frequent posters.