Danvers Desperados put on a great shoot today!

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

 

Well, I got back out to the range today.   There's a local area club that occasionally does a Wednesday shoot, and since I don't go back to work till July 5th, I decided to go today.

Pistols:  Second Generation Colt 7.5" and an Armi San Marco set up to "milspec" configuration.  I was shooting black powder, as I had about 162 rounds loaded with that stuff that I wished to get rid of.  I've shot with the smoky stuff before, and it's fun, but not these particular guns.  The recoil was a bit more stout that my normal smokeless rounds, but that's part of the fun!  BUT...  At one point I noticed that the cylinder pin screw on the ASM had backed out a bit so that the pin actually started to fall out.  Even more surprising, the 2nd Gen one actually had the cylinder pin fall out as the recoil was enough to cause the button to depress enough for that to happen.  I think maybe I'll reserve the dark stuff for my converted Walker and Dragoon, which seem to handle the heavier recoil with no problems for some reason. 

Rifles:  A new to me Uberti 66, and a brand new Uberti Burgess.  Both guns have nice smooth actions.  When empty.  As soon as you put ammo in, the 66 got very clunky.  So much so that I'll have to have a gunsmith tune it up a little.   Not interested in turning it into a race gun, just that it run as smoothly as a real 73 that I have.   (Same action, reasonable expectation.)  The Burgess, well, it got a little clunky when loaded as well, not as bad as the 66, but still noticeable.  But much more annoying was how the hammer spring is so light that the primers did not go bang more often than they did.  So it'll have to go be tuned as well.  Both are in .45 Colt, and going forward, I think they'll become smokeless only guns and I'll save the black stuff for my .44-40's.  (And the aforementioned big pistols)

Shotgun was my new to me, but 100 year old Parker 20 gauge.   The ammo I had previously loaded up and used to good effect in a Stevens pump my Grandfather bought at the start of WWII was a really painful shoulder thumper in the SxS.   Gotta figure out a lighter load for use in that gun!

I also had 2 rounds of 12 gauge loaded with black using the RMC all brass shells.  They worked just fine, but the loads were a little light.  I'll add more powder and take it from there.

Now, in spite of what seems like a train wreck of a day, I had a huge amount of fun.   Not been to the range since last October, and this what the first time I got out since my cancer diagnosis.  (Which I am done with treatment for and am happily now cancer free.)   Kudo's to the Danvers Desperados for putting on a great shoot, and to the 8 other pards show showed up to do the shooting.  A great group of shooters who made the day very enjoyable indeed.  And to be honest, I didn't feel bad for not having a "good" day performance wise.   Using three guns I'd not used before, I sorta expected there to be issues, and I'm glad I have identified them before I loan those 2 rifles out to friends to use.   And it's always fun to try something different, like shooting black powder.  Even if it's not my regular cup of tea, it can be fun to do once or twice a year for variation.

And that's about all I have to say about the shoot today.  It was fun, and I am looking forward to the next one.   But I gotta get a better load for the 20!   Need to save up the 12 Gauge for something special a few months from now.