‘Tis a sad state of affairs I find myself in. I used to make fun of people who bought guns and never took them out to shoot. And, now, I have become that which I ridiculed. I have, at the moment, no less than a dozen guns that I have not yet taken to the range and function checked. That’s alot of guns sitting around in an existential state of limbo… can’t pack ’em away if I don’t know for a fact that they work just fine.
Im going to try and get my act together and pack up some range gear and head out tomorrow. I’m hoping the weather will be at least somewhat amenable.
What to shoot? I desperately want to get the .44 Redhawk and .44 Marlin on paper so I can clean ’em up, oil ’em down, and tuck ’em away. I also very much want to shoot the new Ruger 9mm carbine and see if it lives up to the hype. And, I think theres at least a couple 9mm’s that need to get a few hundred rounds through them before they get packed away for the Deep Sleep.
Fortunately, because of my enjoyment of shooting guns this will be more like fun than work. But…it does need to get done. I’ve been remiss in keeping up on regular range trips.
I traded a Remington Rand M1911A1 for a NIB Ruger Redhawk 44Mag (7.5″ bbl) 35 years ago; still miss that old auto but love the Ruger. I chose it over the S&W because the Smith frame was too big for my hands; the Ruger does fine. With my pet load of a Speer 225gr half-jacket HP (since discontinued, dammit!) on top of 22 grains of 2400, it will put six rounds into the end of a soda can at 25 yards all day long. The Ruger has a set of Uncle Mike’s neoprene grips and Paine sights; my big regret is turning down the one with scope rings. I disliked the look then, but 67-yr old eyes now wish I had been more forward thinking. My Redhawk has a forcing cone clearance less than 0.005″; I tried Blue Dot loads but unburned powder grains were getting caught and sheared in the gap.
I too find myself in your predicament. At the same time, having not browbeaten
those who’ve come before us with the challenge we now find ourselves in.
In this day and age, one must acquire all they deem necessary for the days ahead. While still making a living on top of all one’s other obligations…
Then one day you turn around to realize your purchases are beginning to pile up.
Papering those new items is just half the challenge. As there’s the cleaning too.
Then it all starts over again, for you have to replace what you sent down range.
Lifestyles / hobbies do have their challenges, how so ever delightful they may be.
My regular range trips have fallen off in the last 6 months. Life is busy and hitting outdoor ranges is hard when it gets dark so early.
I’m thinking I’ll try to make it a priority and go next week.
Really want to hear about the PC9. Picked up 2 before .WA said I needed a suicide class. With Glock or PMAGs they shoot great with minimal recoil. 100yds is a bit much but the cheap PRC scope I slapped on one works fine.
My Ruger 9mm carbine shot like I had put hundreds of rounds thru it to zero it in. Out of the box it was shooting 4 inch groups with the ghost rings at 70 yards.