Henry Rifle Forums

Slid down to the range with my PPC gun, a Keefer Custom heavy barreled .38. I haven't shot this in a while, but NCG's post with the Competition Grade Smith made me want to give it a try. I set up a target at 25 yards and loaded six wadcutters. The first two shots weren't on the paper... I looked at the sight and realized I had it set at the 50 yard notch. The rear sight on this gun has three presets. The 50 yard setting on my PPC gun is set so that I can hold at the throat of the B27 man target and hit in the center of mass for a more consistent hold. So, holding in the center of the repair target the rounds were dropping off the bottom.

Switched to the 25 yard setting and the next round banged into the x-ring. Jerked one, then put two more in the x. The Keefer Custom is a dedicated competition gun and a joy to shoot. You wouldn't try and shoot Bullseye with it. It's massive. Looking at the pic above, note the bobbed hammer. This gun is fired double action only, even at 50 yards.

Look closely at the back of the trigger, the little rubber bumper helps in staging the trigger, pull until you feel the resistance, verify your sights and apply the last bit of pressure and BOOM, on the money.

Just below the sights on the side of the frame, you see the knob to select the preset. I usually had the #1 for 7 and 15 yards, #2 for 25 and #3 for 50.

A bull barrel? Yup, I'd say this would almost define the term. That heavy barrel keeps the gun stable when firing at longer ranges and ON target quicker in rapid fire strings. It also separates the men from the boys after a long day of shooting. This is a heavy gun. With wadcutters, it barely recoils though, and stays ON target.

I shot a string of rapid after verifying the sights, pull to staging the trigger, check the sights and squeeze, repeat. Six shots in about ten seconds. Not really pushing today. Not a great group by competition standards, but I haven't competed in a decade or more and I haven't shot the gun in two years.
But, if I scored that 10 shot target, it would be a 100-6x target.

I shot another twelve rounds, but the sun had come out and the sights were washed out, making them hard to see well. With that, there were a lot of shots straying into the 9 ring. I didn't have sight black and the sights on the competition gun are really tight, as they should be. I put the gun and equipment away and will order a couple cans of sight black. I have been meaning to anyway, for those afternoon shooting sessions. LOL. I'll shoot this gun again. It was nice to have an old friend back on the range.

I dug around in the shooting equipment and found my GunSmoke Smoker. It's a carbide smoker to blacken the sights. Needed to clean it up, but that's a story in itself. The various carbide smokers are actually pretty cool. They use a chunk of carbide and a drop or two of water to produce flammable gas to produce a smokey flame, which you use to blacken your sights. It produces a flat dark black soot. The spray sight black is actually a flat charcoal gray. The carbide sight blackener's are the same things as the miner's lamps. Some folks actually USE miner's lamps.

After blackening the sights, I fired two groups at 25 yards, and they were nice and tight with a flyer for each group. The upper group is from Preset position #1, and the second group is from Preset position #2. I added a couple clicks Right Windage, and then worked to set the elevation on Preset Two.
You adjust the presets by turning the allen screws on the top of the sight, each marked by a small number below them.
I'd make the adjustment then fire two rounds to check the movement of the shot impact. It had been a while since I messed with adjusting the presets. It didn't go smoothly.
Not far enough,
Not far enough,
Too far,
Back Too Far,
Not far enough.

Hey, I was enjoying the shooting.
I finally got the group into the x/10 rings when I ran out of ammo.

It was a decent day, I was shooting and not stuck in the house, and the gun is a joy to shoot. What can you say.
I'll get the Keefer Custom cleaned up and put away for a while. Tomorrow, I'll shoot again. Either the Henry Carbine or a .45. Maybe both.

There's nothing much to say, really, except ................ Wow!! That's a beauty!

It's hard for me to shoot too much these days... I used to shoot a couple hundred rounds or more during each practice session, and on match days, we would shoot around five to six hundred. Between the match guns, service auto and revolver, and snubby, the rounds added up fast.

Since I've had the last surgeries... hard to go past the fifty round mark.. Left shoulder, lower back, and both knees flare up pretty quick.

What a wuss.