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Yesterday at the range...


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So yesterday I went to the club’s rifle range to sight in a Marlin 1895 in 45-70. It’s been trimmed to 16.5”, magnaported, refinished, and sports a compact Leopoldo Great brush gun. 
 

Anyway, we were all set up and waiting for 9:00am to go hot. I was the only non-black rifle on the line, which is not unusual any more. One guy came down and asked with all sincerity, “What is that?”

 

When realizing he was serious, I let him handle the gun and showed him the cartridge. He was sufficiently curious and impressed, especially after the first round. 
 

He pulled up a picture of the Henry tacti-cool 45-70 and asked if they were similar to mine. We discussed the slight differences, but I imagine he’s buying a Henry today. 
 

And then I pulled out the Sharps 1874, and another round of discussions ensued. 
 

It was one of those fun cross-cultural experiences that was enjoyable and enlightening on all sides. 

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I would love to get a Marlin 1895. I wanted their stainless model with the gray laminate furniture. Hoping Ruger gets Marlin going soon. 
 

Charlie, I had a similar experience recently with my Smith & Wesson model 25 at the range recently. A guy I would say was in his early 20’s came over to ask me “Is that the same gun as in the movie Dirty Harry?”

I explained the difference in the guns and let him check it out and then offered to let him shoot it. He grinned from ear to ear and I’ll be darned if he didn’t out shoot me with my own gun. :lol:

I think there is a new revolver convert in the world. 

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Took my Rossi 92 to the range Saturday, it cycled my 38 special and .357 magnum reloads, it didn't like my friend's .357 magnum reloads. His bullets meplat was bigger than the lee .358-125-rf I was using. Lee 358-158-2r 38 specials were quiet and hit point of aim at 100 yards, .357's hit with a 6:00 hold.  I'm glad both my mag and special loads cycle in this gun.

 

I had 4 caps with me so I decided to test my cci11's on my ASM remington to ensure they worked with my new slixshot nipples.  Surprised myself and my friend with a 100 yard gong hit.  The remmi is still over rotating but accuracy is nice.

 

Have to go shooting again soon as new spiller and burr should be arriving this week. 

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1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I would love to get a Marlin 1895. I wanted their stainless model with the gray laminate furniture. Hoping Ruger gets Marlin going soon. 
 

I can’t imagine Ruger buying Marlin and not bringing back the 1895/336 series and the 39 series of rimfires.  Those are iconic as well as being best-in-class rifles. 

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our cowboy shoot was canceled  for  NO good reason 

so I went to trap range and shot better than i have in 20 years 

I was asking myself how I can miss 12" target at 25ft that is not moving 

IMG_0616.JPG

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I was asking myself how I can miss 12" target at 25ft that is not moving ?”

 

Allow me to demonstrate.

 

:)

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21 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

I was asking myself how I can miss 12" target at 25ft that is not moving ?”

 

Allow me to demonstrate.

 

:)

I was sitting fake buckboard seat and took 10 rounds for 2 targets but I missed really fast 

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1 hour ago, Dirty Dog Doug said:

I was asking myself how I can miss 12" target at 25ft that is not moving 

Missing 18” targets at 20’ can be a real dilemma for some. :blink:
Of course, it’s no problem for me...;)

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16 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Missing 18” targets at 20’ can be a real dilemma for some. :blink:
Of course, it’s no problem for me...;)

I've managed to do that. I start by aiming, then pull the trigger, and get good solid hits on the berm.

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3 minutes ago, John Kloehr said:

I've managed to do that. I start by aiming, then pull the trigger, and get good solid hits on the berm.

Good solid hits. That is a good thing. Testing your ammo against the berm is a good way to know the integrity of your ammunition. :D

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5 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

I just sold an 1895. I couldn't take the recoil. It's too light. Replacement shoulder is OK with 45-70 Sharps but not it.

I don't recall whether it's "Shooting Lever Guns" or "Shooting Buffalo Rifles", but in one of them Mr Venturino (y'all seen pictures of Mike Venturino ain't you? Great big old boy. Shoots great big hard kicking rifles.) says that he does not like to shoot the Marlin 1895, because it kicks too hard.

 

I was happy to see that statement, because I was starting to believe I was a wuss.

 

So I sold my Marlin and bought a Browning 1886, and have been much much happier.

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6 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

I just sold an 1895. I couldn't take the recoil. It's too light. Replacement shoulder is OK with 45-70 Sharps but not it.

 

29 minutes ago, Michigan Slim said:

I just bought an 1895. I can see how it will kick. I felt light loads kick.


I don’t like recoil either. To help with this gun we had the muzzle ported, and added a 1 inch thick soft rubber pad on the butt stock.  I also drilled out the butt stock and added about a pound of lead.
 

It is still stout but much more enjoyable to shoot.

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You guys are missing stationary targets?  I think you're leading them too much.

 

BTW Alpo.  My Browning '86 is one of my favorite "BIG CRITTERS" rifles.  SWEET shooter and even though I'm not  a great rifleman I just can't seem to miss with this one.

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I guess I have forgotten how much these rifles kick. I used to shoot my friend’s when we went shooting together in the desert. 360 grain hunting loads were darn stout. Darn Stout! :lol:

 405 grain “Cowboy” loads kicked but were quite tolerable. 

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I've only shot 405 gr and some 350gr lead out of my Marlin Cowboy at moderate velocities. No more then 1500fps for sure.

 

I can't imagine what some of the Buffalo Bore or Garrett ammo feels like out of a Marlin. They have various ammo but I know some of them are 400+ grns at 2,000 or more fps. They are light guns.

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Dear old Dad took his Ruger #1 Carbine to Canada in case a bear should disagree with him.
He'd put together some Bear Loads and he said I was welcome to try them, but he warned me, "One shot off each shoulder is just all I want!"
For the one and only time in my entire young life, I made the mistake of thinking, "Old man, you're getting old and weak," and so I upped that light little rifle and damned if the Grand Old Man wasn't right!
One shot off each shoulder is absolutely all I wanted too!

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3 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

BTW Alpo.  My Browning '86 is one of my favorite "BIG CRITTERS" rifles.  SWEET shooter and even though I'm not  a great rifleman I just can't seem to miss with this one.

Riffle-gun, or carabine?

1891509119_Browning188645-70.jpg.8d682c6ea654eaf4015e8538979b0682.jpg


Mine's a carabine. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We want the gun to hurt that which is in front of the muzzle, not what is holding the gun.

 

 I can’t understand why that is so hard for manufacturers to comprehend.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Alpo said:

I don't recall whether it's "Shooting Lever Guns" or "Shooting Buffalo Rifles", but in one of them Mr Venturino (y'all seen pictures of Mike Venturino ain't you? Great big old boy. Shoots great big hard kicking rifles.) says that he does not like to shoot the Marlin 1895, because it kicks too hard.

 

I was happy to see that statement, because I was starting to believe I was a wuss.

 

So I sold my Marlin and bought a Browning 1886, and have been much much happier.

 

Same reason I sold my 95 Marlin.  Found an 86 with the heavy 26" octagon barrel through a friend that was NIB for a really good price. Picked it up this afternoon today. Looking forward to shooting it Saturday. :)

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Several years ago I took my new to me 74 Sharps to the gun range to work up a load for Cody Dixon and sight in the rifle for said load.

I unloaded my SASS gun cart, put the rifle in it and was getting the rest of my gear when a couple of shooters walked up and started looking over my cart. As I was rather proud of my Sharps I though it was what attracted their attention. Turned out it was my jogging stroller gun cart.  They though I was the cleverest person at the range because I didn't have to make several trips to get all the necessary gear from the parking lot to the firing line.

 

By the time I actually got to the firing line I had a small crowd admiring the cart and wanting to know where I got the plans to make it. a few were astonished that I made it from scratch and that almost every CAS shooter had one. 

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12 hours ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

Dear old Dad took his Ruger #1 Carbine to Canada in case a bear should disagree with him.
He'd put together some Bear Loads and he said I was welcome to try them, but he warned me, "One shot off each shoulder is just all I want!"
For the one and only time in my entire young life, I made the mistake of thinking, "Old man, you're getting old and weak," and so I upped that light little rifle and damned if the Grand Old Man wasn't right!
One shot off each shoulder is absolutely all I wanted too!

I have a #3 in 22 Hornet and can’t fathom what one would be like in 45-70. 

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13 minutes ago, Charlie Harley, #14153 said:

I have a #3 in 22 Hornet and can’t fathom what one would be like in 45-70. 

 

Kills on one end and maims on the other.

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I have one of the original Marlin Guide Guns in 45-70 that came with the barrel already ported, which definitely helps.  The lead 405 gr at 1150-1200 fps are pleasant to shoot.  The lead 550 gr at the same velocity is probably the limit of what I find enjoyable and after about 25-30 rounds, my shoulder was sore for the next several days. 

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In keeping with the original post of this thread....

Sorry for the hijack Charlie...

 

A few months back when Emperor Newsom allowed indoor ranges to open I was at my indoor range to shoot my DA revolvers. 
As I was checking in the gent checking me in asked if lane 4 would be okay as there was “a group in there taking lanes 5 through 8”. The range is two sided, lanes 1-8 on one side divided by a wall from lanes 9-16.

I said it was fine and went on in to shoot. 
The group appeared to be a collection of young people in their late teens, early 20’s and there was a guy that I would say was maybe late 30’s. He appeared to be instructing them on how to shoot handguns. The group was mostly 6 or 7 young ladies and a couple of young men. 
The guy giving instructions was pretty loud as he talked. I was wearing plugs and muffs and had no trouble hearing him at all. He was talking about gun safety and range safety and everything he said I agreed with. He was relaying very good information. The young ladies were listening to everything he was saying while the two guys were seemingly paying more attention to the young ladies. I know this because “the instructor” berated them for being distracted and to pay attention. That and I saw them eyeing the pretty girls as the instructor was talking about what to do if they have a problem at the shooting line. 
 

Anyway, I went about my business and was getting set up and the group next to me began shooting at their targets. As I ran a target down range via the wonders of electrical motors and cabling I turned to go back to my bag to get something and noticed a very pretty young lady looking at my revolvers. 
I smiled, she smiled. She said “Neat guns...what are they?”

Being the brainiac that I am I said “Revolvers.”

The look she gave me told me that she knew what they were just not exactly what they were. 
I told her that they were Smith & Wesson revolvers and that 2 were .357 magnum revolvers and 1 was a .38 Special revolver. I pointed out the model 19, model 327NG and the model 10. I told her all 3 would shoot .38 Special ammo and that is what I was there to shoot. 
She thanked me and went back to her group. 
It seemed that every time I turned around she was paying more attention to my revolvers than what was going on in her “class”. 
At one point I noticed she was at the line firing what appeared to be a Glock. 
I was sending out another target when I heard the instructor say “Revolvers are a viable self defense gun but they lack capacity and speed during reloads...” I also heard him say he didn’t recommend revolvers to new shooters for home defense until they got more experience. I had the feeling that the young lady I was talking to must have asked him about revolvers. 
I must admit, I had a very hard time not going over and discussing my opinion of revolvers with the man but I decided that it was his group, not mind and quite frankly, it was none of my business. 
A few minutes had passed and I noticed the pretty girl watching me load my model 19. 
I motioned for her to come and shoot it. She politely declined. 
A little while later I asked her if she would like to try one of my revolvers as I was getting ready to leave. She smiled and thanked me for the offer but still declined. 
I said goodbye and left. 
 

A couple of weeks ago I was at the range with my Ruger New Vaquero with my new conversion cylinder trying out some .45 ACP loads. 

(Side note: wearing a wrist brace one would think single actions are easier to load and unload - not so.)

Anyway, I was turning to go back to the counter behind me to get another target when I noticed the pretty young lady that I had seen months ago. She recognized me, smiled and gave me a little wave. 
She was there with another young man and they had 2 blue bins on the counter behind them thst indicated they had 2 rental guns at the line. 
I walked over and said “Hello” to her and her friend and what I saw sitting in the shooting bench made my heart swell a little bit. There on the the bench were 2 revolvers. 
She told me they decided to come and try shooting revolvers before they made a decision on what kind of guns they really wanted to buy. 
 

That made my week. :D

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41 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

In keeping with the original post of this thread....

Sorry for the hijack Charlie...

 

A few months back when Emperor Newsom allowed indoor ranges to open I was at my indoor range to shoot my DA revolvers. 
As I was checking in the gent checking me in asked if lane 4 would be okay as there was “a group in there taking lanes 5 through 8”. The range is two sided, lanes 1-8 on one side divided by a wall from lanes 9-16.

I said it was fine and went on in to shoot. 
The group appeared to be a collection of young people in their late teens, early 20’s and there was a guy that I would say was maybe late 30’s. He appeared to be instructing them on how to shoot handguns. The group was mostly 6 or 7 young ladies and a couple of young men. 
The guy giving instructions was pretty loud as he talked. I was wearing plugs and muffs and had no trouble hearing him at all. He was talking about gun safety and range safety and everything he said I agreed with. He was relaying very good information. The young ladies were listening to everything he was saying while the two guys were seemingly paying more attention to the young ladies. I know this because “the instructor” berated them for being distracted and to pay attention. That and I saw them eyeing the pretty girls as the instructor was talking about what to do if they have a problem at the shooting line. 
 

Anyway, I went about my business and was getting set up and the group next to me began shooting at their targets. As I ran a target down range via the wonders of electrical motors and cabling I turned to go back to my bag to get something and noticed a very pretty young lady looking at my revolvers. 
I smiled, she smiled. She said “Neat guns...what are they?”

Being the brainiac that I am I said “Revolvers.”

The look she gave me told me that she knew what they were just not exactly what they were. 
I told her that they were Smith & Wesson revolvers and that 2 were .357 magnum revolvers and 1 was a .38 Special revolver. I pointed out the model 19, model 327NG and the model 10. I told her all 3 would shoot .38 Special ammo and that is what I was there to shoot. 
She thanked me and went back to her group. 
It seemed that every time I turned around she was paying more attention to my revolvers than what was going on in her “class”. 
At one point I noticed she was at the line firing what appeared to be a Glock. 
I was sending out another target when I heard the instructor say “Revolvers are a viable self defense gun but they lack capacity and speed during reloads...” I also heard him say he didn’t recommend revolvers to new shooters for home defense until they got more experience. I had the feeling that the young lady I was talking to must have asked him about revolvers. 
I must admit, I had a very hard time not going over and discussing my opinion of revolvers with the man but I decided that it was his group, not mind and quite frankly, it was none of my business. 
A few minutes had passed and I noticed the pretty girl watching me load my model 19. 
I motioned for her to come and shoot it. She politely declined. 
A little while later I asked her if she would like to try one of my revolvers as I was getting ready to leave. She smiled and thanked me for the offer but still declined. 
I said goodbye and left. 
 

A couple of weeks ago I was at the range with my Ruger New Vaquero with my new conversion cylinder trying out some .45 ACP loads. 

(Side note: wearing a wrist brace one would think single actions are easier to load and unload - not so.)

Anyway, I was turning to go back to the counter behind me to get another target when I noticed the pretty young lady that I had seen months ago. She recognized me, smiled and gave me a little wave. 
She was there with another young man and they had 2 blue bins on the counter behind them thst indicated they had 2 rental guns at the line. 
I walked over and said “Hello” to her and her friend and what I saw sitting in the shooting bench made my heart swell a little bit. There on the the bench were 2 revolvers. 
She told me they decided to come and try shooting revolvers before they made a decision on what kind of guns they really wanted to buy. 
 

That made my week. :D

If she'd fired that K-frame, there wouldn't be many doubts.  As far as I'm concerned a 4" K or L frame Smith .357 is the most versatile pistol made. 

 

You can load it heavy and make meat with it, load it light and teach a new shooter with it or load it somewhere in between and carry it for self defense.   It ain't too big for most hands to safely use but it's also big enough to have the mass to cut some of the recoil.

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Back right after I picked up my '73, I went to the local National Forest range to have a 'Get To Know You' session with it.  I also carried my '94 Trapper since it's also in .45 Colt and brought along some CorBon 'hunting' ammo to run through it over a chornograph.

 

The '73 drew rubberneckers like flies to honey, of course, but the little '94 Trapper didn't even draw the least interest- until I started shooting them CorBons through it. 

 

Apparently, the other group- all college age guys- dismissed it at a glance as a .22.  The first 300gr JSP that I sent down range made them think that I'd blown the thing up. 

 

One guy was rather dismissive of it until I pointed at the results on the Chronograph and explained that they are pretty close to identical to the 300 gr BP load that the US Cavalry used in their Trapdoor Carbines- except my little Trapper held 9 of them.

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25 minutes ago, Pulp, SASS#28319 said:

A busy indoor range will become very quiet when I touch off my Walker.  Several “What was that?” will soon be asked.

Yep. Same thing happened with my S&W 327 NG loaded with full house .357 Magnum loads. A 2.5” barrel makes for noise and light and 8 rounds fired quickly pretty much shut the place down for a few seconds. :lol:

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My local indoor range will see me do the same with my short barreled .44 magnums and 45 Colt revolvers shooting full house loads. Nothing wakes the place up like 6 rapid fired magnum 300 grainers from 2 and 3/4 inch barrel. My Ruger .357 mag GP100 is quite the daisy too.  The last ammo I found for it was 125 grain 357 magnum. I don't own any .38 Special for that revolver so I just keep making  obnoxious noise. :D

 

That whole exercise is especially gratifying when someone on the range next to me opens up within AR and I get HIS attention! ;)

 

Sometimes people will come by my lane and ask what I am shooting. I point to the pile of revolvers I  usually have and they just can't quite comprehend it. But this is opens up some interesting discussions about Ruger grip frames being that I am a Bisley guy  and those single action Ruger Bisleys seem to capture people's attention. 

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On 4/13/2021 at 7:13 AM, Sedalia Dave said:

Several years ago I took my new to me 74 Sharps to the gun range to work up a load for Cody Dixon and sight in the rifle for said load.

I unloaded my SASS gun cart, put the rifle in it and was getting the rest of my gear when a couple of shooters walked up and started looking over my cart. As I was rather proud of my Sharps I though it was what attracted their attention. Turned out it was my jogging stroller gun cart.  They though I was the cleverest person at the range because I didn't have to make several trips to get all the necessary gear from the parking lot to the firing line.

 

By the time I actually got to the firing line I had a small crowd admiring the cart and wanting to know where I got the plans to make it. a few were astonished that I made it from scratch and that almost every CAS shooter had one. 

 

I get the same reaction with my gun cart. It's a plain jane cart, I think it was sold commercially as a Rockin K cart because of the brass plaque on it, but I bought it from a fellow cowboy between my first and second match.  Every once in a while folks are interested in the guns, but it's usually the cart that they comment on first.  I always tell people about the many commercial carts available.  Anyway, I have a yul lose custom cart coming soon and I can't wait to see their reactions to that.  Imagine if the first gun cart you ever saw was one of his. 

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