We went out to punch paper and bang steel yesterday. A friend and I have been working with his GF's 14 year old son on rifle shooting discipline. After settling down on the 200 yard range we got him running hits on the 4" plate. He managed reliable hits with multiple rifles before joining his grandfather on the pistol range.
That left the two of us alone on the rifle range. Feeling a bit froggy, I plopped the Contender handgun on my rest and dug out the 45 Colt loads. They were 250 gr Berrys plated over a modest charge of 2400. The bullets roll out of the 13" Match Grade Machine barrel a touch over 1300 fps. A Leupy 2.5 - 8 scope keeps me in line.
I held about 24 inches over the plate and let it bark.
The 4" round plate is inside a steel tube on the sandy backstop. Each shot was blowing dirt up inside the tube. Unable to hold the scope on target under recoil, I asked my friend to spot for me. He got down on his 18x scope and called the hits. Shot after shot went down range. Again and again he said the impacts too close to call. Dirt was flying immediately behind the target. After about a dozen rounds, 4 of which were the last shot at it, I still had no hits.
It was kinda frustrating but still fun. I knew the 8 x 10 plate was easy pickings at 200 but I was determined to thump the little guy. Next time we go out the real spotting scope will be along for the ride and I will make that thing ring with a handgun.
That left the two of us alone on the rifle range. Feeling a bit froggy, I plopped the Contender handgun on my rest and dug out the 45 Colt loads. They were 250 gr Berrys plated over a modest charge of 2400. The bullets roll out of the 13" Match Grade Machine barrel a touch over 1300 fps. A Leupy 2.5 - 8 scope keeps me in line.
I held about 24 inches over the plate and let it bark.
The 4" round plate is inside a steel tube on the sandy backstop. Each shot was blowing dirt up inside the tube. Unable to hold the scope on target under recoil, I asked my friend to spot for me. He got down on his 18x scope and called the hits. Shot after shot went down range. Again and again he said the impacts too close to call. Dirt was flying immediately behind the target. After about a dozen rounds, 4 of which were the last shot at it, I still had no hits.
It was kinda frustrating but still fun. I knew the 8 x 10 plate was easy pickings at 200 but I was determined to thump the little guy. Next time we go out the real spotting scope will be along for the ride and I will make that thing ring with a handgun.
