Range Report

I finally made it to the range, with youngest daughter in tow. She and I had talked it over, and she's not quite ready to pull a trigger, but she did serve as photographer.

It was about 14 degrees and breezy, with bright sun when we arrived at opening time. There were rather more shooters there today than I've seen before, probably because it's not as cold as it has been.

The firing line is sheltered from the breeze, so things aren't too cold. My daughter positions herself, behind and to the left - I warned her about standing where spent casings might rain around her.

We set up at about 10 yards, give or take. I'm still fighting a tendency to squeeze the trigger at an angle, causing the shots to group to the right. The pistol itself shoots low, and I wanted things close enough that I could compensate & bring it back up.

Safety glasses in place, earplugs inserted; it's time to shoot.

It doesn't take long to go through 100 rounds, which is what I'm usually willing to expend. With ammo being so dear and increasingly hard to find, I'm a bit more miserly with it than I used to be.

I started out aiming dead on at the bull's-eye, and observed that the shots were about 2 1/2" low and to the right. I walked the placement back up toward the center, and the last 30 rounds were going more-or-less where I wanted them. Still hitting to the right, though.

I thought momentarily about placing a new target for the last 20 shots, to get a clean target for including in this post. By this time, there were enough folks along the firing line that I decided it wouldn't be too popular to stop them for target replacement, and then stop again only a few minutes later to retrieve the target.

My daughter's photos turned out pretty well and as usually happens, the hard part is deciding which pics to include. These will do.

I'm not thrilled with my accuracy yet, but I'm improving. I need to talk to someone about the adjustment for height; horizontal adjustments aren't that hard. I'm not going to be truly happy, though, until I'm as accurate as I used to be. The 1911 is a lot different from the large single-action revolver I used for 15 years, and I'm just starting the retrain the muscle memory.

I took this picture from the firing line, using the zoom.

The last shot has faded into memory, and pistol is cleaned, reloaded, and resting comfortably in the holster once more. The smell of Hoppe's No. 9 Solvent lingers in the room, and I've removed all the black spots & oil from my hands.

I'm enjoying the shooting more with each trip to the range, and getting more reluctant to leave each time. I'd nearly forgotten how much I like it.

The temp is up to 27 now, and it's still bright and sunny. I can get used to this, too. Have a great day!