Round count now: 140
Today my wife had a one hour, so I dropped her off and hit the indoor range with fiddy .45's from Sportsman's Warehouse because I FAILED to get my reloads done due to not getting the taper crimp correct. I knew this hour was coming, so I wanted to have fifty of my own. But these are things that should not be rushed, reloads.
I'd read in
Handloader where dangerous pressure levels could be reached quite easily in the .45ACP with just a small, too-deep seat. I was quite wary. With my revolvers I'm experienced, but this is my first center fire semi auto pistol. I figure it pays to be careful. After all, there's no screeching hurry to get any reloads done. No saber toothed zombies prowling round needing this specific pistol to dispatch them when the .357 is loaded and ready at a moment's notice. So American Eagle it was again, one box in about thirty or forty minutes.
Still shooting one handed from 15 yards, the last trip I had kept my right thumb straight along the body of the pistol. But I researched since then and found the curled, more natural, thumb to be the way this pistol was taught to be fired. I did it this time. Last time I hooked quite a few more shots to the left. This time not so much. Also this time I did not shoot lower than the black, and I got all fifty within the 5 ring. Actually all but two within the 6 ring in this 25 yard slow fire pistol target from Downrange Chico, if you count that one on the border between the 5 and 6 as a 6. Which I would--wouldn't you? All holes appear in the scan below, where the top of the target is on the right, with the words right side up. I put it this way in my dinky scanner.
As you can see, the majority of the rounds hit above center. I was holding the top of the sights around the eight ring low at six o'clock, so I think next time I'll hold at six o'clock at the bottom of the black. Now, the curled thumb had an ancillary advantage in that I did not get some small discomfort in the web of my thumb, on the left hand side, as I did last time--remember last time I shot 90, so there's that. But I think an added 40 rounds would not change the situation in that thumb web. I think I was holding strongly against the grip with the thumb pressing right, where with the curled thumb this is not necessary. It's more "natural," which I think in this instance is a good thing.
The trigger snaps a bit better than last time, but it's still not as crisp as, say, my Vaquero or as the GP100 in single action. Now, both those guns have had several thousand rounds through them. This one, 140, so I'm not yet going to do anything. After 5 or 600 I can consider whether I want to polish various surfaces or what not.
I'll shoot the Bullseye 14 with this, and with both other center fires, and with the MKII. That way I can begin to gather decent data. I have no idea what that will show, but you gotta have data before you interpret it.
All in all a way better way to kill an hour waiting for my wife than dinkin' around on the internet and drinking beer--which is what I'm doing now.
CDFingers