Monday, April 16, 2012

Gone Shooting - Finally


I finally went shooting yesterday. I didn't go much in 2011 and haven't gone at all in the last six months. I really had to get some practice in. I have several handguns and long guns that I need to shoot but I only took two with me, my "new" 9mm and my .45 Colt Commander. I was pretty rusty so I kept it simple, all shooting yesterday was from seven yards and using a Weaver stance.

First up was my BAG day gun. One word fits for the session - FAIL! I brought 100 rounds of Remington 115gr round nose to practice with but became so frustrated quit after only 50. The pistol had one failure to extract with the first magazine and got progressively worse from there. By the end it was failing to extract the case about every other time. I field stripped and lubed the gun when I bought it but didn't break it down completely. I will now. I'm hoping a thorough cleaning will cure the problem. But it wasn't all bad news. The 9mm does have a very good trigger for a service type pistol, just a little bit of take up and it breaks cleanly at five pounds. I was easily hitting in the A zone. As I tried to speed up my shots it started creeping upwards into the C though. If I can cure the extraction problem this one will be a keeper.

The next pistol up was my Colt Commander. I'm thinking about carrying this one and I needed to test it with self-defense ammunition. I brought along 100 rounds of Federal hollow points that it ate up (nearly) effortlessly. It did have one failure to go fully into battery. The gun did the same thing last time I shot it and with the same magazine too. I'm thinking it is the problem. It's my favorite mag for 1911 pistols, the Wilson 47D. I've used them for many years without an issue. Maybe I finally wore one out. The pistol performed flawlessly with a stock seven round Colt mag and another Wilson I had with me. I will test it again before actually carrying it though. I had the exact opposite problem with the Colt than with the Danshway. The faster I shot the lower I would hit. But every single one was in the A zone so I'm not complaining.

Despite the problems with the 9mm I had a good time. Any day shooting is a good day.

3 comments:

NotClauswitz said...

Nice Colt!! I have eight 7-round Kim-Pro mags with the (apparently) CheckMate follower, bought for my old GI Colt now in use with my Commander - the 7-rounders never fail but 8-rounders sometimes do.

Wilson said...

I've never had any problem with my 8rd Wilson mags, well not in my full size guns anyway.

Unknown said...

My bro has a kimber eclipse II (the nra gun of the year 2005 edition)I love it because the slide to frame fit is lock tight and it shoots right where you aim it. I love the old government model colts as well.