For me, it was mostly a couple of TC single shots handguns, mostly the Encore with a 12" 44 mag barrel I found at a gun show last week. Although I have a 44 mag barrel for the smaller and lighter Contender, that smaller and lighter part makes shooting a 44 mag in a Contender a little, uh, challenging, so I wanted to go with the heavier Encore platform. Scope is a 2.5-7x TC pistol scope.
I've also been searching for a more accurate 44 mag handgun and hoped going a TC single shot would do the trick. Oh, I'm very satisfied with my 44 mag revolvers accuracy, but figured a scoped single shot might get me a touch more accuracy in case I wanted to do some long distance 44 mag work.
Took me a few 5 shot groups to get the Encore with the 12" 44 mag hitting where I wanted at 50 yards, namely a touch low, before moving out to 100. Accuracy looked promising for those first few groups at 50 yards as I adjusted the scope, right there with any 44 mag revolver I've had. Finally settled in to shoot this last 50 yard group. Very pleased, so I called it good and will wait for another day to try at 100. Ammo was factory 240 grain Mag-tech. For average factory ammo, the Mag-tech has done pretty well for me in a variety of guns.
Guess I found my accurate 44 mag.
Getting a little tired after the 44 mag workout, but I just had to shoot this next one before I went home. It's another recently acquired barrel, a 12" octagonal 38 Special Contender barrel wearing a vintage and period correct Bushnell Magnum Phantom 1.3x scope. Mostly wanted to do an accuracy check and then a little sighting in for the next range session.
A note about 38 Special Contender barrels. Very hard to find 38 Special Contender barrels. Not many were made. Most shooters just shot 38s in their 357 barrels when they felt like shooting 38s. Kind of a shame to shoot 38s that way, though, if you want the best accuracy out of 38s. What makes this barrel even rarer is that it is a 12" octagon instead of the standard 10" octagon. It was a special order barrel made for TCA (Thompson Collectors Association) members. Doubt I'll ever see another one, so grabbed it when it came up for sale. Glad I did.
Meanwhile, Bill was plinking away with yet another one of our Winchester Low Wall rimfires, this one in 17 HMR. Yeah, we love these single shots. Hard to go the range without one. This one wears a Bushnell Elite 4-12x AO.
Not sure why he only shot 4 on this target, but Bill just shoots for fun. He not obsessed about shooting tiny groups the way I am, but he does pretty darn good all the same.
I really wanted to take a few shots with the Low Wall, but was getting a little tired, so will shoot one of the Low Walls on our next outing.
No, but sometimes I think I'm holding an artillery piece.
