Backyard range

One of the great things about living in the country again is the ability to go shooting at will, which is exactly what I did today. Now I have neighbors on two sides, but my property extends for about an acre straight out my back door (not to mention for several acres to the side of my house). Out back, beyond my acre-long stretch on which I have a wood and earth berm pushed up, is approximately a mile of pine tree farm. No one lives in that direction for a good long way, thus it’s safe to shoot (remember, be aware of your target, AND what’s behind it).

So I walked out back and set up a pistol range. There’s really not a good place for a rifle range due to geographical and man-made features, but hey, if I can shoot pistols out back, that’s something right? So, 2 targets were posted, and I shot 25 rounds into each target. 25 shots doing practice drills, and 25 just target shooting. The left-hand target is the practice drill target, in which I pulled the weapon from my pocket, acquired target, fired as quickly as I could using a proper sight picture and recovery. The practice drills take approximately 3 seconds. Looking closely, you can see 4 shots on the backer that didn’t hit the target. They were all second shots. I guess I need to work more on recovery.

I was shooting for more than just fun, however. I have a love affair with my S&W j-frame, but I am not enamored with the factory rubber grips. I was digging around in my dad’s shop the other day, and came across the factory wood grips that came on his model 60. I shamelessly stole them and mounted them up, with his approval. The gun now looks like a j-frame should, in my opinion, and after today’s field test, I’m happy with it’s performance too.

Also take a look at my grip. I use a weaver stance, and I have large hands. Combined with the relatively small size of the j-frame, I tend to get powder burns on my right (weak hand) index finger. Now, this causes me no discomfort, so I don’t think it’s actually powder burns so much as burnt powder, but it is a pain in the butt to get off my hands.

Maybe I should soak my finger in Hoppes number 9….