Today on the way to town I figured I'd stop off at the range and fire 20 rounds though my S&W New Model #3 (shipped in February, 1880 and letters with the 6" barrel). I was shooting 12.5 grains of Accurate 5744 under a 256 grain Elmer Keith cast bullet for 780 fps.
I will not even try to pretend that I'm a decent pistol shot so if there is a chorus of load guffaws when I post the target below, that's alright. I'm workin' on it! The range was 23 yards and I was standing up. The gun shoots about 18" high at that range, so I had to hold low. 18 out of 20 shots hit the paper. It was a lot of fun and I need to do this more often and improve my shooting. The old gunfighter's advice to 'aim for the belt buckle' really applies to this old six shooter. I will say that, dispite the wild array of shots all over the paper, my last 10 shots were all on paper and averaged closer to the center. A few more times and I might get the hang of it. Here's the results (the gun actually has a lot more nickel than it looks like ... the shiny surfaces were reflecting the dark underside of my deck:
I will not even try to pretend that I'm a decent pistol shot so if there is a chorus of load guffaws when I post the target below, that's alright. I'm workin' on it! The range was 23 yards and I was standing up. The gun shoots about 18" high at that range, so I had to hold low. 18 out of 20 shots hit the paper. It was a lot of fun and I need to do this more often and improve my shooting. The old gunfighter's advice to 'aim for the belt buckle' really applies to this old six shooter. I will say that, dispite the wild array of shots all over the paper, my last 10 shots were all on paper and averaged closer to the center. A few more times and I might get the hang of it. Here's the results (the gun actually has a lot more nickel than it looks like ... the shiny surfaces were reflecting the dark underside of my deck:
