Backyard Fun

[Netpackrat]

I put another box of reloads through the Beretta Stampede spaghetti western today. That makes 100 rounds since the gunsmith repaired it (timing was all #$*$ed up). He said they were known for breaking early and often, and recommended either selling it, or buying a bunch of spare parts while they are still available. I'm going to plan on shooting up all the ammo I have for it this summer, and then decide what I want to do with it if it survives.

[PawPaw]

I put another box of reloads through the Beretta Stampede spaghetti western today. That makes 100 rounds since the gunsmith repaired it (timing was all #$*$ed up). He said they were known for breaking early and often, and recommended either selling it, or buying a bunch of spare parts while they are still available. I'm going to plan on shooting up all the ammo I have for it this summer, and then decide what I want to do with it if it survives.

My cousin shoots a Stampede and prefers it over other revolvers in his bag. He says it was originally made by Uberti and marked for Beretta when Beretta wanted to get into the Cowboy Action Shooting craze. Uberti parts interchange quite nicely. He's become quite the local gunsmith for tune-ups on Colt clones in East Texas, and works on the guns for his local club when they need attention.

[PawPaw]

Practicing in the back yard today, I did it. Put one down the boot. Got the booger hook on the bang switch a little quick. The barrel hadn't cleared the holster and bang. Shot the bottom of the holster. Thankfully, with wax bullets and a deflector on the holster, nothing damaged but my pride.

I'm getting ready for the Southern Territorials in Odessa next month. Practicing daily, trying to get my accuracy to a dead-nuts certainty, and keep my speed under a second. Actually, if I could be hitting in the 90% range with speeds about 0.8, I feel like I'll do pretty good. I won't make the top 10, but I should be in the top 25.

[First Shirt]

Had a friend do that once, without the deflector. Interesting vocabulary, and it left a welt down his leg and a bruise on his sneaker'd foot.

[Old Grafton]

I have GOT to get back down to Louisiana!! How far are you from Mandeville/Ponchatoula?

[Steamforger]

I have GOT to get back down to Louisiana!! How far are you from Mandeville/Ponchatoula?

It's so weird seeing someone here mentioning Ponchy.

[PawPaw]

I have GOT to get back down to Louisiana!! How far are you from Mandeville/Ponchatoula?

I'm in central Louisiana, Pineville area. Four hours from the north shore of Pontchartrain.

[Old Grafton]

The "War Department" and I have spent several week-long sojourns in the Mandeville/Ponchatoula area before I finally had enough of the TSA goonsquads and airliner seats smaller than paint cans. Nowadays we pull a camper when we vacation which cuts our traveling radius to places which we can fit into a two-day travel time of 8 hrs max driving/day. We then orbit around that spot within about a two hr drive. That works for Georgia; I'm thinking of Louisiana again. As the grandchillen get older we can vacation a little more often. The parents can find alternative caring family minders for 'em more easily if they're out of diapers. (All four parents work.)

Louisiana is a favorite place.

[PawPaw]

Upgrade to the range today. I managed to snag some 12 gauge metal "drops" for scrap prices and used those to use as a target backdrop. This has two advantages. 1) we won't slowly destroy my cedar fence with wax bullet strikes, and 2) we can see misses. A thin coat of white lithium grease on the metal protects it, and shows when a bullet hits the metal.

I pressed a grandson into service, but he shoots here a lot. After installation, I notice some weird optical illusion, but the bottom of the metal is dead-nuts level. Something to do with how the ground slopes. Weird.



Scrap metal is great. At 30 cents per pound, I've got less than $50.00 in that backstop.

[PawPaw]

New video up from our Sunday Family Shoot. Second son Matt vs. Grandson Zachary.

LINKY!

We're using Fast Draw Cartridges so that Zachary can familiarize with what he's going to see in Odessa next week. That's .45 Colt blank brass, a standard primer, 3.0 grains of Hodgdon's Triple Seven, and a wax bullet. It gives spectators a puff of smoke and is more visually appealing.