Shooting Big Bore Handguns in Cody, WY

keithherrington · #1 06-30-2016, 05:47 PM

I just got back to Virginia from a shooting holiday in Cody, WY. I attended John Linebaugh's Big Bore Shoot that he puts on every year. This year it was held at Monster Lake Ranch, just South of Cody. The purpose of the get together is to shoot big bore handguns at full-sized buffalo steel silhouettes at 1000 yards. Other targets are available as well, such as the 55-gallon oil drums put up at 500 yards. Now, I'm 63 and a pretty good shot, but I've never learned so much about pistol shooting in such a short period of time in my entire life.

I took out my 4" Model 25-5 and 200 rounds of my go-to load: 250 grain Laser Cast RN FP over 8.5 grains of Unique. What I found was I could beat the **** out of the 500 yard drum, but at 1000 yards the round just couldn't keep up.

I also took delivery of my new Ruger Bisley Blackhawk that John Linebaugh had done for me. It now wears a 4.75" Wilson target barrel (.800" dia. its entire length), a superb action, a modified grip frame and large set of grips, and John took GREAT care in fitting the cylinder and the internal parts. The end result was a gun so finely fit it felt every bit as good as a Freedom Arms Model 83 or 97.

As you can see in the picture above the gun has a lined front sight for ranging targets. However, with my load the rear blade was so far down the barrel or receiver the lines were of no value. However, when I went to a proper long range load (355 grain Keith over 20.4 grains of H110) that all changed. The rear sight was now at the bottom of the front sight base. Still not on the lines (which helped at 200-500 yards), but a whole lot better.

Here are a few pictures of me shooting at Monster Lake. In the second shot the gun is in mid-recoil. With the heavy loads the gun ends up with the muzzle straight up. The grip design and the grips John made for my large hands allows me to control the gun very easily, while still rolling nicely in my hand to help mitigate recoil, which is pretty stiff. As for the buffalo targets you can see them in the second picture below. They are the two small black dots on the far ridge line. They were 9' long and 6' tall, the same size as a real buffalo.

So, did I hit the Buffalo? Yup, more than once. It was a terrific sensation to know you did everything right.

Keith

smokey04 · #2 06-30-2016, 07:11 PM

Boy, I've got to agree! I went to Colorado [Ft. Carson] in 1971 as I returned from my last trip to the "Orient". As a voracious reader of Skelton, Jordan, and Keith, I bought a Ruger Blackhawk .45 convertible and a thousand rounds of W-W .45 Colt ammo.
I studied Mr. Elmers' technique and soon discovered that the man KNEW what he spoke of!
It cost me some ammo[before I was set up to reload] two pairs of jeans and a set of leather "shields" for inside the knees.[ Cylinder gap is hard on britches]
So, I learned a great deal about LOOOOONG range revolver shooting[ actually, pistol shooting too] and I gained two sets of nifty denim shorts!Praise be! Nick

HARDWARE · #3 06-30-2016, 07:41 PM

Who's stocks are that on the 25-5???

keithherrington · #4 06-30-2016, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HARDWARE

Who's stocks are that on the 25-5???

Classic Diamond Checkered grips in presentation grade Ziricote by Jon Culina, culinagrips.com.
Keith

HARDWARE · #5 06-30-2016, 09:13 PM

Thanks. Those look fantastic. I have a 25-5 also and the 70's garbage has always offended my eye despite being a purist for original stocks.

M29since14 · #6 06-30-2016, 09:29 PM

Lucky you! I've known John for years but never made the time to visit during his holiday. Aside from being a great sixgunner, John is one of the finest people I know. Straight as an arrow, as the old timers used to say.

S&W ucla · #7 07-01-2016, 10:27 AM

Nice guns! I have always wanted to go to his class, bucket list for sure!. I thought it would be shooting over dust and rocks but that's a lot of green. How do you spot your shots?

keithherrington · #8 07-01-2016, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by S&W ucla

I thought it would be shooting over dust and rocks but that's a lot of green. How do you spot your shots?

It looks green but the grass was cut and it had been very dry for a while. When those big slugs hit they tossed up a huge amount of dust. Easily seen with the naked eye. Spotters helped some but I could easily see exactly where my shots were landing. The wind was such that from time to time you could not hear a hit. Spotters could see the impact splash but no sound ever reached the firing line. Most of the time however you'd hear a huge, deep "GONG!!!" several long seconds after firing. Getting the feedback seemed to take forever.
Keith

S&W ucla · #9 07-01-2016, 04:14 PM

BANG..........................................................................................DING
That looks to be a LOT of fun, Thanks for sharing!

Marshwheeling · #10 07-01-2016, 06:49 PM

That does look like fun. I don't think I have anything that will shoot that far, though.

RobertJ. · #11 07-01-2016, 11:06 PM

You'd have made Elmer Keith struggle to out-shoot you!

keithherrington · #12 07-09-2016, 09:53 AM

I had to do a bit of tweaking on the grips John Linebaugh put on my 45 Colt Bisley. So, I took some sand paper and a sanding block made from a large eraser and blended the grips.

After fine sanding, touching up the finish with Dem-Bart stock finish, and then waxing all surfaces with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax, the grips were perfect.

Keith