Back home again...........

I got home today about mid day, off loaded about half of my truck and caught up on the goings on at casa W. the good wife reported all quiet so I sat a spell and composed in my head my joint AAR on the past weekends road trips.Here is what I came up with......

On the weekend of March 7-8 I took a quick trip to the Northern Neck of VA to spends some time with my good friends the Randalls. Miss Nancy who is a best buddy o' mine and a all around good egg, (She ain't too hard on the eyes either) has obtained her CCW permit and was still working out the best pistol/ holster combo to use. I tossed a bunch of my handguns and holsters in the car and headed north.

On that Saturday we went to the home of a mutual friends (who are also members of our reenacting unit) and did some shooting. First of all, I had worked out a plan in my head for a target frame of a size that would allow full sized silhouette targets to be used. I thought that it might be cheap and easy to turn out if I made it out of P.V.C. pipe. Well it worked out great and was very cost effective, considering that each stick of pipe cost about ninety-six cents each.

I didn't shoot as much as I wanted to, my knees just weren't up to it, but I had a ball with what little I did and mostly watching others and offering the occasional coaching. I broke out my Taurus "Gaucho" a Colt Single action knock off. She has a 5 1/2 inch barrel and is chambered in 45 Colt. I replaced the standard grips with some "faux antique ivory" grips from Ajax. I must admit that I was a bit of a snob when it came to "foreign" made weapons, but this Taurus has changed my mind. It handles well, has a gorgeous blued finish and shoots a lot better than I can hold it. Out of my first 5 shots I put three in the head of a standard police silhouette target at 25 yards. That my friends, is a good shooting gun.

I also shot my CZ-52 with the new ghost-ring rear site I put on it. I like the ghost ring, it allows these old eyes to pick up a sight picture much quicker than with the standard sights. My CZ is a old Czech military pistol made back in 1952. It is chambered for the 7.62X25 cartridge. This is a very hot cartridge moving out at close to 1300 feet per second but it is a small bullet, a 30 caliber that only weighs around 93 grains. So it may be in a hurry when it gets there, but it doesn't have much when it arrives.

Of course we shot my Glocks and wheelguns, and even unlimbered a old High Standard police shotgun for a few rounds of the Centurion ammunition that I wrote about in a earlier post. I can't say that I was very impressed with the load. The round consist of one 650 ball with 6 #1 buck pellets. At 25 yards there wasn't that much dispersal of the pellets. There was two large holes from the 650 ball and the wad and three pellet sized holes in the target. I guess that the other pellets went in with the larger ball. At closer ranges, I didn't see any sign of the buckshot striking the target, so I surmise that it went through the same hole that the 650 ball went through. I want to do a little more work on this but so far, again, I am not impressed.

I think all this shooting helped Miss Nancy figure out what would work best for her as a weapon to carry concealed. Miss Nancy while surrounded by gun cranks and "experts" has been very careful not to be stampeded by all their sage advice. She has done her own research and is taking this responsibility very seriously. I like the fact that she has decided to find what works for her, rather than to take what she has and try to make it work like so many other folks do.

The very best thing was the kids that we had with us while shooting. Of course, we had them wear the proper protective gear, and kept a close eye on them, but they seemed to enjoy being with the big folks. We ever took a break and let them shoot some air rifles at the targets. Ms. Susan, every bit of 3 and a half years old, (with a little help) managed to hit a target with a air rifle. She was so tickled that she announced that for her 4th birthday she wanted a handgun, like mommy's. Looks like we have started another one out right. -grin-

After shooting our fill, we then retired to the grill where we cooked out burgers, brats and dogs. A perfect end to a perfect day.

The next day, we drove up to Maryland and visited a living history market fair. It wasn't very big but there were a few odds and ends that were worth looking at and I did find a few books I couldn't like without. You know me and books. -grin-

All in all a good weekend.