I got the chance last week for a little range time, so I took out some old .45 Colt and .44 Special revolvers. Beautiful day, calm and warm and sunny. My .45 Colt load is a 255gr semi-wadcutter over 5.8gr of Trail Boss, and the .44 Special is a 240gr round nose flat point over 5.2gr of Trail Boss. I haven't chronographed them so I don't know exactly what the velocity is but according to the Hodgdon site, the .45 Colt should be about 727fps and the .44 Special 763fps.
I decided that in order to get the best test of the guns that I could I would shoot a group Creedmore style, as I used to do when shooting IHMSA metallic silhouettes. That was 30 years ago but I can still assume the position. Then I'd shoot a group standing, just to see how wobbly I really am. Turned out not to be much difference so apparently I'm wobbly while shooting Creedmore now, too. Distance was 60 feet for all shooting. All of the .45 Colt targets are six shots and most of the .44 Special are five shots (all I had ammo for).
Click on the pics for a larger version.
This is the Triple Lock custom target revolver from the April 2014 Tulsa Wanenmacher show that I posted about here: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...t-conversion-not-king-tulsa-april-2014-a.html The Creedmore group was low and to the right and I thought maybe the gun was bouncing off my leg to the right a little. However the standing group was about the same so I guess not. The X'd out hole on the right target is where the paper overlapped the left target.
Next was a 2nd Model Hand Ejector originally in .455 that had been converted to .45 Colt. I picked it up at the Wanenmacher show in November 2013: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/344064-tulsa-finds.html#post137538228 It originally had fake stag grips and no lanyard ring, which I replaced with parts from Numrich Arms. Trigger on it was heavy compared to the Triple Lock, but clean. And of course the round, fixed sights were harder to get a sharp sight picture with, and the service stocks don't do me any favors for shootability. Again six shots in each target, although it doesn't look like it on the left one.
Although not a S&W and not from the same time frame, I included a custom Ruger Bisley that I bought at the same show as the Triple Lock. Sharp clean sights and nice hand-filling grips. The trigger was not a sharp, instantaneous break as on a target gun but had noticeable movement – a clean, smooth slide as opposed to gritty creep. Probably a better trigger for what is meant to be a hunting handgun.
Since it is a Ruger and considerably more stout than the Smiths I tried one of my heavier .45 Colt loads, a 240gr jacketed hollow point over 16gr of 2400. Again I haven't chronographed it but I think it's about 1000fps. Not a load that I'd want to put through 100 year old guns but not possible anyway, the overall length is too great and the bullet nose sticks out of the cylinder on the S&Ws. It shot well in the Ruger and had some pleasing thump to it. Six shots each.
Then I switched over to the .44 Specials. First up was a Triple Lock Target that I posted about here: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...lock-target-2629-updated-grips-post-12-a.html I didn't even try it with the massively oversized grips that came on it but used some prewar custom grips that I had put on the gun, as noted further down in the thread (post #12). They are just a little thin for a .44 but fit my hand ever so much better.
After shooting the first group Creedmore with six rounds, I realized that I only had enough .44 ammo left to shoot five rounds for each group. So all the rest of the targets have five shots instead of six.
Next was my 2nd Model Hand Ejector Target that I had posted about here: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-couple-2nd-model-he-44s-target-standard.html I had also shot it before in this post: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-range-session-octet-pre-war-target-s-ws.html Skinny service style stocks, not my favorite. Trigger was very nice though. Again, only five shots in each group.
Last was a Model 24-3, again not from the same time frame but I thought it'd make an interesting comparison. The old pre-war guns are nifty and all that but frankly the 24-3 was the most pleasurable to shoot, even though my groups weren't great. Nice target sights, smooth action and super clean trigger break, loved the big checkered hammer for single-action shooting as opposed to those skinny little pre-war hammers. The stocks are duplicates of the ones on the .44 Triple Lock Target, except schofieldkid81 made them a touch thicker, juuust right. Five shots each.
After I was all done I was about to pack it up when I thought about the .45 Colt Triple Lock, and how it had shot low and right. Hey, it's got a nice readily adjustable post-war sight on it (as opposed to the pre-war by guess and by gosh) – why not adjust it? So I did and shot this group standing. Not a tight group, but well centered. Six shots, since I had plenty of .45 Colt ammo.
All in all, a nice day at the range.
I decided that in order to get the best test of the guns that I could I would shoot a group Creedmore style, as I used to do when shooting IHMSA metallic silhouettes. That was 30 years ago but I can still assume the position. Then I'd shoot a group standing, just to see how wobbly I really am. Turned out not to be much difference so apparently I'm wobbly while shooting Creedmore now, too. Distance was 60 feet for all shooting. All of the .45 Colt targets are six shots and most of the .44 Special are five shots (all I had ammo for).
Click on the pics for a larger version.
This is the Triple Lock custom target revolver from the April 2014 Tulsa Wanenmacher show that I posted about here: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...t-conversion-not-king-tulsa-april-2014-a.html The Creedmore group was low and to the right and I thought maybe the gun was bouncing off my leg to the right a little. However the standing group was about the same so I guess not. The X'd out hole on the right target is where the paper overlapped the left target.
Next was a 2nd Model Hand Ejector originally in .455 that had been converted to .45 Colt. I picked it up at the Wanenmacher show in November 2013: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/344064-tulsa-finds.html#post137538228 It originally had fake stag grips and no lanyard ring, which I replaced with parts from Numrich Arms. Trigger on it was heavy compared to the Triple Lock, but clean. And of course the round, fixed sights were harder to get a sharp sight picture with, and the service stocks don't do me any favors for shootability. Again six shots in each target, although it doesn't look like it on the left one.
Although not a S&W and not from the same time frame, I included a custom Ruger Bisley that I bought at the same show as the Triple Lock. Sharp clean sights and nice hand-filling grips. The trigger was not a sharp, instantaneous break as on a target gun but had noticeable movement – a clean, smooth slide as opposed to gritty creep. Probably a better trigger for what is meant to be a hunting handgun.
Since it is a Ruger and considerably more stout than the Smiths I tried one of my heavier .45 Colt loads, a 240gr jacketed hollow point over 16gr of 2400. Again I haven't chronographed it but I think it's about 1000fps. Not a load that I'd want to put through 100 year old guns but not possible anyway, the overall length is too great and the bullet nose sticks out of the cylinder on the S&Ws. It shot well in the Ruger and had some pleasing thump to it. Six shots each.
Then I switched over to the .44 Specials. First up was a Triple Lock Target that I posted about here: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...lock-target-2629-updated-grips-post-12-a.html I didn't even try it with the massively oversized grips that came on it but used some prewar custom grips that I had put on the gun, as noted further down in the thread (post #12). They are just a little thin for a .44 but fit my hand ever so much better.
After shooting the first group Creedmore with six rounds, I realized that I only had enough .44 ammo left to shoot five rounds for each group. So all the rest of the targets have five shots instead of six.
Next was my 2nd Model Hand Ejector Target that I had posted about here: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-couple-2nd-model-he-44s-target-standard.html I had also shot it before in this post: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-range-session-octet-pre-war-target-s-ws.html Skinny service style stocks, not my favorite. Trigger was very nice though. Again, only five shots in each group.
Last was a Model 24-3, again not from the same time frame but I thought it'd make an interesting comparison. The old pre-war guns are nifty and all that but frankly the 24-3 was the most pleasurable to shoot, even though my groups weren't great. Nice target sights, smooth action and super clean trigger break, loved the big checkered hammer for single-action shooting as opposed to those skinny little pre-war hammers. The stocks are duplicates of the ones on the .44 Triple Lock Target, except schofieldkid81 made them a touch thicker, juuust right. Five shots each.
After I was all done I was about to pack it up when I thought about the .45 Colt Triple Lock, and how it had shot low and right. Hey, it's got a nice readily adjustable post-war sight on it (as opposed to the pre-war by guess and by gosh) – why not adjust it? So I did and shot this group standing. Not a tight group, but well centered. Six shots, since I had plenty of .45 Colt ammo.
All in all, a nice day at the range.
