Rusty

Arms In Sunlight:

Spurred by the recent range reports by Plainsman and the Geek, I decided to head out to the range today. I took along my Winchester 94, and my Smith & Wesson 629. I probably haven't shot it in a year, but the recent chat Plainsman and I were having on wild boar hunting caused me to want to get it out of the safe and work it out.

Like the Geek, winter has left me rusty. After shooting up a practice target (which you can see here, if you want), I took a second target and put six .44 slugs through it.

That target, my "proof of concept" target for the .44 as a defensive firearm, is here. The first four were the ones closest to the center. I can't tell you how disappointing that fifth round was -- the flier off to the lower left. Still a pretty good shot, I guess, for the fifth round of sustained fire out of a .44, and "close enough for gov't work" in a defensive situation. Still, it messed up a fine group. I was able to adjust fire back a bit for the sixth round.

I tried some offhand shooting with the Winchester, and it's given me a sore left shoulder. Not terribly accurate stuff, either. Still, it's good to practice in different ways.