If you read my other thread titled "If I sit and listen closely, ghosts of the past whisper in my ear..." this is a range report for that gun.
A thank you to "clintbailey" for giving me some lead to load some black powder cartridges for this old pony.
Last night I loaded 35 .45 Colt black powder rounds with 24 grains ffg Superfine and some blue powder coated 250 grain Hardcast bullets. After that my powder measure broke, but I figured by the time I got to round 35 the gun would be good and fouled anyway. So today, after work, I stopped by H&H to make smoke. I hung the target out at 10 yards because this old of a gun with a modified barrel and front sight could easily miss any farther out. The rifling in the barrel is well defined for it's age, but there is pitting a plenty. So, with the target hung I loaded 1 round (remember, it IS 145 years old) and thumbed back the hammer. Holding the Colt out as far as I can with one hand, while holding my head back as far as I can, and making myself as small of a shrapnel target as I could, I pointed and pulled the trigger. BOOM sparks and smoke! I had forgotten what black powder sounded like. What a glorious sound! After a second for the smoke to clear, I checked to see if I still had a hand. YES! And the Colt was in one piece as well! Phew... check the target and we have a hit 8 inches high and 2 left. Not bad at all for aiming with my eyes closed. OK, load another one on the other side of the cylinder and repeat. BOOMsparksmokecoughwheeze... cool, still in one piece and another hit, 7" high and 1" right. OK, hard part over, time to put this old pony to work. I loaded 5 rounds (load one, skip one, you know the rest) and took aim at a new target. This was going to be fun. I thumbed the hammer back, and as I did the ghosts took me back to their time. I was looking out a window of an old prairie cabin, I could smell smoke and hear horses running. I could see Indian braves charging the cabin, screaming their war cries. I could hear gunfire and smell the burning powder. My nose was burning and eyes watering from the black powder, and then I was back at the range, staring at a target with 5 holes in and around it. Wow. What a rush! I unloaded the empties and stuffed 5 fresh ones in. Staring down another new target, I thumb the hammer and...Ok I'm still here. I focus hard on all 5 shots and get a 6 inch group centered about 6 inches above point of aim. A really decent group considering what this old Colt has been through. I continue on punching holes in targets with generally the same results, and then after 25 rounds the fouling starts causing the bullets to tumble. At 30 rounds I'm done and heading home to start the real fun... clean up.
A thank you to "clintbailey" for giving me some lead to load some black powder cartridges for this old pony.
Last night I loaded 35 .45 Colt black powder rounds with 24 grains ffg Superfine and some blue powder coated 250 grain Hardcast bullets. After that my powder measure broke, but I figured by the time I got to round 35 the gun would be good and fouled anyway. So today, after work, I stopped by H&H to make smoke. I hung the target out at 10 yards because this old of a gun with a modified barrel and front sight could easily miss any farther out. The rifling in the barrel is well defined for it's age, but there is pitting a plenty. So, with the target hung I loaded 1 round (remember, it IS 145 years old) and thumbed back the hammer. Holding the Colt out as far as I can with one hand, while holding my head back as far as I can, and making myself as small of a shrapnel target as I could, I pointed and pulled the trigger. BOOM sparks and smoke! I had forgotten what black powder sounded like. What a glorious sound! After a second for the smoke to clear, I checked to see if I still had a hand. YES! And the Colt was in one piece as well! Phew... check the target and we have a hit 8 inches high and 2 left. Not bad at all for aiming with my eyes closed. OK, load another one on the other side of the cylinder and repeat. BOOMsparksmokecoughwheeze... cool, still in one piece and another hit, 7" high and 1" right. OK, hard part over, time to put this old pony to work. I loaded 5 rounds (load one, skip one, you know the rest) and took aim at a new target. This was going to be fun. I thumbed the hammer back, and as I did the ghosts took me back to their time. I was looking out a window of an old prairie cabin, I could smell smoke and hear horses running. I could see Indian braves charging the cabin, screaming their war cries. I could hear gunfire and smell the burning powder. My nose was burning and eyes watering from the black powder, and then I was back at the range, staring at a target with 5 holes in and around it. Wow. What a rush! I unloaded the empties and stuffed 5 fresh ones in. Staring down another new target, I thumb the hammer and...Ok I'm still here. I focus hard on all 5 shots and get a 6 inch group centered about 6 inches above point of aim. A really decent group considering what this old Colt has been through. I continue on punching holes in targets with generally the same results, and then after 25 rounds the fouling starts causing the bullets to tumble. At 30 rounds I'm done and heading home to start the real fun... clean up.
