Backyard Fun

[PawPaw]

My gal bought a new revolver yesterday, NIB Traiditons, Frontier series, Liberty Edition. Nice looking cowboy revolver with laser-etching masquerading as engraving. Still, it's a good looking hogleg.

Write-up at PawPaw's House.

[PawPaw]

New Video pf backyard shooting on the wax range. This time, it's grandson Ethan shooting with his grandma.

Ethan is my eldest grandchild, and I knew that he was a "different" kid for several years before he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. But, he's safe with firearms and I've taught him to run a Colt revolver. He's slow, but he's learning, and he enjoys it.

LINKY HERE

That's how we roll on Sunday afternoons.

[First Shirt]

As you told me, some time back, "You love the ones they bring you."

Looks like you're following your own advice. Good job!

[Denis]

New Video of backyard shooting on the wax range. ...
That's how we roll on Sunday afternoons.

That looks like fun! Whats the deal with the (flashing) lights on the targets?

[PawPaw]

That looks like fun! Whats the deal with the (flashing) lights on the targets?

The targets are electronically wired to timers. When I call SET, I push a button that starts the timer. The timer gives a random 2-5 second delay, then turns on the light. That light is the signal for the shooters to go. If a shooter hits the target first, the light flashes and I get a time displayed on the timer, down to the thousandth of a second.

If both shooters hit the target, then the fastest time gets a flashing light and the slower hit simply turns the light off.

It is a lot of fun.

[Denis]

The targets are electronically wired to timers.

Aha. Thanks. Do you have/recommend a source for the gadgetry? Is there an element of accuracy tested, or just first bullet on the plate?

[PawPaw]

Aha. Thanks. Do you have/recommend a source for the gadgetry? Is there an element of accuracy tested, or just first bullet on the plate?

There are two main sources of timers that have stood the test of time.

The Shooting Sports Timer, as sold by Bandit Shooting Supplies, and the Gunslinger Timer, sold by the Cowboy Fast Draw Association.

The sport is about evenly divided between those two timers, with each type having their pros and cons. You pays your money, and you takes what you gets. The Shooting Sports Timer is a little less expensive for the package (about $200 less for a two-lane range), but the Gunslinger timer seems to be a little more user-friendly. I went with the Gunslinger for my personal set, but I often second-guess myself if I made the right choice. Oh, and the two systems won't interface.

If someone would come up wiht a system that would run from a standard PC (I'm pretty sure a laptop has all the clock necessary to run a 6-lane range), it would bring the cost of a 2-lane range down from $700 to about $200 and he's make a killing. The only thing that is behind the target is a piezo hit sensor and a light. The rest of the package is up at the rangemaster's table. There is no reason why someone couldn't come up with a device that lets me tie targets to my computer and run the entire range from the laptop. Hoever, no one has come up with that system yet. The market simply isn't big enough.

[PawPaw]

Grandaughter Layla expressed an interest, so after a short basic safety course, we talked about the Single Action Revolver. Every young lady should know how to run a revolver (and a semi, for that matter) but with a new shooter, it's best to get to shooting as soon as safely appropriate. We'll go over the finer points later, but for today we worked on sight alignment and trigger squeeze. Wax bullet ammo is good for familiarization, and at seven yards is sufficiently accurate for our purposes.



I think that she did okay. She seemed to have fun, and it looks like I'll have another minion pawing through by gear bag.

[toad]

I don't think enough young'uns understand how effective the single action revolver can be. They've been brought up on movies that just show semi-autos and weren't around when the fast draw crowd were speed firing at social ranges using the recoil to speed cock the .45 Colt Army. A .357 magnum single action with Gold Dots in it might make an interesting purse gun?
IIRC a guy named Weaver developed a two handed stance when he was shooting single action on a paired water balloon course.

[First Shirt]

If you want to see what a single-action revolver is capable of, watch some of the old videos of Thell Reed shooting at some of the early (pre-IPSC) combat pistol matches. IIRC, he won two or three of the old Big Bear Leather Slaps, shooting a SAA Colt. The only way they could be him was to add enough reloads to slow him down.