Post by Hombre on Sept 11, 2017 17:59:50 GMT -7
Touched upon this 'favorite' topic in the Rifles section, so let's see what shakes outa the tree here in this section?
I began shooting at age 5, when my father tutored me with a J.C. Higgins 4" .22 LR revolver he purchased from our town's Sears Roebuck and Company store, 1952.
I'll list 2 'favorite handuns' here, which are the 2 that I've carried in the field the most over the years.
I've a few others, but for now these 2 shall take a front row seat.
In 1966 I became the keeper of a used Ruger Bearcat .22 LR single action, which I still have. In 1969 I put over 4,000 rounds through that Bearcat. I could afford to buy a brick of .22 LRs every 2 weeks on payday during the summer. I'd go to the local garbage dump (now they call 'em land fills!), then set up tin cans out behind the large piles of garbage (with a safe background area), load 5 rounds into the Bearcat, hold it by my side, then cock the hammer as I raised it to my front at waist level and point shoot at the tin cans. I didn't practice 'fast draw', but rather practicing bringing that lil' Bearcat up point shooting on target in a smooth and fluid motion.
I began with rather large #10 tin cans at about 8 feet distance. Going through a brick of 500 .22 LRs meant loading/unloading 100 times! I did this for 8 paydays straight and by that time I was down to shooting/hitting small soup cans at 15 feet with much regularity. As Elmer Keith once said, "Hitting your target at long range with a handgun is accidental...but the more you practice, the more accidents you have." I didn't practice 'fast draw', but rather practicing bringing that lil' Bearcat up point shooting on target in a smooth and fluid motion.
When I ventured to Alaska in 1972 I had 6 firearms with me: Ruger Bearcat .22; Colt Official Police 4" .38 Special; a 1958 Colt SAA .44 Special 5 1/2"; Winchester Model 55 take-down in .30 WCF; a Winchester Model 1895 .405 WCF and a short single barrel 12 ga.
After a few months hiking in the interior of Alaska, I rarely carried a rifle. Rather, I carried both the Bearcat and the Colt SAA .44 Spcl. The Bearcat accounted for many a grouse and Ptarmigan meal cooked over a campfire. I also used the Colt SAA .44 Spcl for grouse and Ptarmigan with factory 246 gr factory loads - doesn't hurt the meat, just a nice clean caliber hole.
By the end of the summer of '73 I'd fired over 1,500 rounds of factory .44 Special through that SAA, 95% of that was point shooting at #10 tin cans. My normal carry/field load in the Colt SAA .44 Spcl was a 250 gr hard cast SWC over a large serving of 2400 powder, launched around 1,100 fps. The weight of the loaded SAA (38 ounces unloaded) suited me for carry on the hip all day long over the tundra.
In the early 1970's, thanks to the Dirty Harry movie you could hardly find a S&W .44 magnum and if you did find one, the price had been often gouged much higher than suggested retail! In the summer of 1973 I did come up with a 6 1/2" S&W Model 29 .44 magnum and decided to give that a try while out hiking? Carried it for 3 days then sold it to a friend who just had to have a Dirty Harry .44 mag! The weight and bulk was(is) not suited for a handy 'packing pistol'. I went back to the Colt SAA .44 Spcl until in 1989 S&W introduced the Mountain Revolver .44 magnum in 4" (with the 2nd run of this model S&W began calling it the Mountain Gun) and it is generally my primary large bore hiking sidearm to this day.
Have not retired the Bearcat or Colt SAA, as they still travel many a mile in the hills of the lower-48 States these days...
I began shooting at age 5, when my father tutored me with a J.C. Higgins 4" .22 LR revolver he purchased from our town's Sears Roebuck and Company store, 1952.
I'll list 2 'favorite handuns' here, which are the 2 that I've carried in the field the most over the years.
I've a few others, but for now these 2 shall take a front row seat.
In 1966 I became the keeper of a used Ruger Bearcat .22 LR single action, which I still have. In 1969 I put over 4,000 rounds through that Bearcat. I could afford to buy a brick of .22 LRs every 2 weeks on payday during the summer. I'd go to the local garbage dump (now they call 'em land fills!), then set up tin cans out behind the large piles of garbage (with a safe background area), load 5 rounds into the Bearcat, hold it by my side, then cock the hammer as I raised it to my front at waist level and point shoot at the tin cans. I didn't practice 'fast draw', but rather practicing bringing that lil' Bearcat up point shooting on target in a smooth and fluid motion.
I began with rather large #10 tin cans at about 8 feet distance. Going through a brick of 500 .22 LRs meant loading/unloading 100 times! I did this for 8 paydays straight and by that time I was down to shooting/hitting small soup cans at 15 feet with much regularity. As Elmer Keith once said, "Hitting your target at long range with a handgun is accidental...but the more you practice, the more accidents you have." I didn't practice 'fast draw', but rather practicing bringing that lil' Bearcat up point shooting on target in a smooth and fluid motion.
When I ventured to Alaska in 1972 I had 6 firearms with me: Ruger Bearcat .22; Colt Official Police 4" .38 Special; a 1958 Colt SAA .44 Special 5 1/2"; Winchester Model 55 take-down in .30 WCF; a Winchester Model 1895 .405 WCF and a short single barrel 12 ga.
After a few months hiking in the interior of Alaska, I rarely carried a rifle. Rather, I carried both the Bearcat and the Colt SAA .44 Spcl. The Bearcat accounted for many a grouse and Ptarmigan meal cooked over a campfire. I also used the Colt SAA .44 Spcl for grouse and Ptarmigan with factory 246 gr factory loads - doesn't hurt the meat, just a nice clean caliber hole.
By the end of the summer of '73 I'd fired over 1,500 rounds of factory .44 Special through that SAA, 95% of that was point shooting at #10 tin cans. My normal carry/field load in the Colt SAA .44 Spcl was a 250 gr hard cast SWC over a large serving of 2400 powder, launched around 1,100 fps. The weight of the loaded SAA (38 ounces unloaded) suited me for carry on the hip all day long over the tundra.
In the early 1970's, thanks to the Dirty Harry movie you could hardly find a S&W .44 magnum and if you did find one, the price had been often gouged much higher than suggested retail! In the summer of 1973 I did come up with a 6 1/2" S&W Model 29 .44 magnum and decided to give that a try while out hiking? Carried it for 3 days then sold it to a friend who just had to have a Dirty Harry .44 mag! The weight and bulk was(is) not suited for a handy 'packing pistol'. I went back to the Colt SAA .44 Spcl until in 1989 S&W introduced the Mountain Revolver .44 magnum in 4" (with the 2nd run of this model S&W began calling it the Mountain Gun) and it is generally my primary large bore hiking sidearm to this day.
Have not retired the Bearcat or Colt SAA, as they still travel many a mile in the hills of the lower-48 States these days...
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