onemancoyote

I'm glad DOMA is on the way out. Now if we can just get Tennessee to lift it's ban. We need to go back to being a country of life, liberty, and the pursuit. And if your happiness hinges on denying someone else the right to be happy maybe you should reevaluate your life.

First range report.

My drill fixture vise at work has parallel smooth stainless jaws and a massive box thread screw. It did the job easily. I just didn't think of using it first and used the bigger vise. I have a gold bead on my GP 100 also. It was originally for a redhawk and came in a pack with the v rear that I used for the single six. Perfect fit. My problem with most of the fiber optics I looked at is that they are equally as huge.

I was already aware of the barrel size issue, which is why I intend to shoot 22 mags out of mine. Hopefully I will get to show some groups today.

Your opinion has been noted.

Installing dovetail sights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do8sHBDfIGk

I want to use my single six for varmint hunting, but the sights that Ruger put on the gun from factory are horrible for, well, everything. They are too wide in my opinion. So I found this article, http://www.chuckhawks.com/sight_improvements.htm , but it was kind of confusing as to what I should order. So I did more research and ordered my stuff from midway. You will need this base, http://www.midwayusa.com/product/928082/marbles-front-sight-ramp-100-height-375-dovetail-slot-for-625-barrel-steel-blue?cm_vc=S014 Marble's stock #072310 And this sight, http://www.midwayusa.com/product/432350/marbles-front-sight-290-height-340-width-steel-blue-1-16-gold-bead?cm_vc=S014 , Marble's stock #502921 or a different bead on this if that is what interestes you. I wanted a small gold bead. Edit! This sight was too low for my use, I ran out of adjustment on the rear sight. I used a .375" instead! You will reuse the stock sight screw. The one they ship with the base didn't work for me. The factory screw will have to be shortened. I did mine with a table top grinder. I installed the base for fit, took it back off, used locktite and then reinstalled the base. I had to file the screw head down with a small file to get it flush. You will then need to install the sight on the base. I copy/pasted Marble Arms instructions for this. GO SLOW. YOU ARE NOT IN A HURRY. If things get frustrating walk away. "If the front sight or the dovetail slot blank will not start or is a very tight fit, the dovetail may need to be modified slightly. Use a parallel side, three corner, safe file designed for this work. A safe file has only one side that cuts, with the other two being smooth. Make a very light pass with the file and check the fit. Remember, you can’t replace metal after you remove it, so work very slowly and check often. Finish by turning the file at an angle to put a very slight bevel on the edge to help start the sight or dovetail slot blank." Most people I think us a hammer and brass/aluminum punch to drift the sight in. Youtube has a lot of videos on installing dovetail sights. Watch them. My stupid butt had to be different. I tried pressing mine in with a large shop vise. I marred my new sight and scratched my barrel. I wouldn't recommend it. My gun was already beat up when I bought it, so I don't care. Such is the price of experience. I wound up doing the best with a small parrallel jaw vise with a set of smooth jaws installed. Most people won't have access to these though. I pity the poor soul who tries to remove my sight without this tool. I don't think a hammer and punch will get it out. If you are uncomfortable let a pro (not me!) do it for you. From now on I will do it the correct way, the way marbles recommends. The rear blade is a v-notch for a Ruger Redhawk. My Blackhawk, Single-six, Redhawk, and GP-100 all use the same sight blade. I think it fits best with the now small front sight. ^^^ Crappy cell phone pic.^^^ RANGE REPORT #1 POI was several inches too high and I ran out of adjustment. The new front sight is the same height as the factory front sight, but the new rear sight blade is taller than the factory blade. I'm going to switch back to the factory rear sight blade and try again. If this works out fine I'm going to file my v notch lower on the redhawk sight. If it doesn't I'm going to push the new front sight out and go with a taller insert. My friend who is a retired gunsmith has several different heights. The sight picture was a big improvement over the old sights, though. RANGE REPORT #2 I used my gunsmith buddy's Williams Sight Press and it made removing and reinstalling a new front sight easy! I went with a .375" front sight insert and everything lines up great. Sadly it's hard to find 22mag around here right now, but I will get those pictures of groups I promised. After the sight in I had 6 left. I stepped out of my cool house into the sun to get a picture of the gun and the condensation formed instantly. I think it looks good for a gun that wasn't 'designed' for anything but shooting cans. ;)

Ruger P95DC, 45 ACP. My hands are so large that I would thumb the mag release while shooting, dropping the magazine. About the third time I sold it.

I own several 'specialty pistols' for long range shooting. They are all contenders and one striker, but I have 44 mags, 30-30win, 243win, 32mag, etc. The 454 will do 200 yds easy with surprising results if the gun and shooter are up to it. Get a good pistol scope. If you can't see it you can't hit it. I dis-like the red-dots because of the lack of magnification and parallax. The Nikon Monarch 2x is a good choice for the price. If you want higher mag look into a Burris. Don't under-estimate the power of a handgun at range. They may be slow but the slugs are still heavy and damaging. Study up on IHMSA techniques.

Mike, I've heard of people using 460 or 9.3x74r brass, loaded down to 45 colt pressures, in order to bring the bullet closer to the rifling with good results.

I've got a 10" 223rem. It's a flamethrower. lol

I collect T/C pistols. For the rimfires and anything up to, but not including the .308, consider the older Contender or the newest version, the G2. You can select between rimfire and centerfire directly on the hammer and do not need a conversion as you do for the Encore. They are also lighter. The biggest you can get would be a 45/70 or 375 JDJ in the Contender/G2. Factory Contender barrels give good accuracy and there are a few companies still making custom barrels for these guns. I own 8 or 9 complete guns so far. Any questions just ask.

I've got several Tenders, an Encore, and a Striker in 243win. The striker is a lot of fun. The xp bolt is on the wrong side.

I was tied up and was not able to attend. I was hoping someone else would take up my slack. Sorry. We should set another date and try again.

I'm open for suggestions.

This is still on, but I'm going to be about an hour late. I should be there at 11:00 Eastern/10:00 Central. I'm chairman of the parkboard and I have to attend a meeting. We need a way to distingush ourselves so does eveyone want to wear blaze orange? Any other suggestions? If you can't make it to this one we are going to do another one next month, so no worries.

I argued with a guy over an old set of RCBS .358 Win dies for a few minutes. His friend, who wasn't there, wanted $25 dollars for them. They were old and crusty, but still functional. I offered him the going rate of $15 dollars. He refused to call his friend and extend my offer. I gave up. I can buy them new for $30. No crust. That is about the extent of my shopping. I looked at a lot of reloading stuff that was priced higher than Sportsman's. What were they smoking when they priced this stuff? It was disappointing. I saw nothing of interest at a decent price.

I'll be there in the AM on Saturday.

7mm-08. It's a baby. Its just very loud and launches a HUGE fireball.

My new 'hand Howitzer'

I'm coming on the 12th.

Morisster, how about me, mousegunner, and a few others that live close by plan to meet on another day. I'm fine with running up there because it is only 10 minutes from the house. Pick a weekend and I'm probably free.

I drove by at 9:00 Sunday night to check and see if the sign was up and it wasn't. I came back on Monday morning and it was. Doh. I'm going this Friday. I have a backlog of guns to get sighted in. I'll let ya'll know what time if anyone wants to hang out.

Sorry Morrisster. I didn't mean to cut you out.

I should have a rifle scoped .257 Roberts pistol for you to play with. !!