hand cannons

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Griff

Master Chef
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
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5,564
Location
Anchorage, Alaska
I went to the local firing range with a buddy who was kind enoung to offer to let me try out his hand cannons. I shot a .44 mag S&W, a .454 Casull made by Freedom Arms in Freedom, WY, and a .50 S&W 500. That .50 Smith is powerful pistol. A guy next to us was teachin his 12 year old kid to shot a .22 revolver. When the .50 went off the first time the kid's head snapped around with big eyes and said "Is that a cannon?"

The .454 Casull is on the left, the .50 in the middle and the .44 on the right.
 
You total sure that .44 is a SW? Looks mighty similar to a Ruger. If it is a SW that a new model which I aint seen before. Used to do a little Metallic Silhouette shooting. Lots of fun. Had an old chum who was shooting a .44 Mag and happen to miss the ghianias at 25 meters and hit the railroad iron they was sitting on where it was stuck out of the dirt a bit. Knocked all 5 chickens over with one shot. Course that count as a mis score or similar but it gave him some great bragging rights. For precise slow motion work like that I prefer a Thompson Contender. Shot one in .30 .30 one time. Now that make a racket. I want one in 7mm O8 one of these days. Like a nice scope on it and have a good sniper pistol. Fine looking array. Hide em from Prez Osama and Nancy Pelosi. They want em too.

bigwheel
 
James, you're correct. The Casull is on the left. I went back and fixed the post. BW that is indeed a S&W on the right. Perhaps I confused you by stating that the Casull was also on the right.
 
I sold a few of my big hand guns when brass got so high. Man we could burn up a ton of money on bowling pins in a after noon. :LOL: But "the dirty Harry gun was fun!"

Pigs
 
That guy must be pissed at his wrists. :LOL:
I used to compete in Long Range Hand Gun matches; 50, 100, 150 & 200 meters. Using a Ruger .44mag (my own hand loads) I blew a 3/8" plate steel target into 3 pieces at one match. They were pissed at me on that one.
One of the Thompsons I used was chambered for .223 brass necked out to accept 7mm bullets. It was a wildcat called 7mmTCU. The bitch barked in a 10" barrel and hustled down range with a wallop.
I love big bore.
A little side story. Before I got into that sport and it was just starting out, the guys would have trouble knocking down the heavy steel targets out at 200 meters. They were using .45's & .44's; close up guns. Being creative hand loaders, some would drill a pocket into the tip of the bullet and seat a primer with glue. The result was the primer blowing when it hit the target. I doubt it had much effect, but it was a cool trick.
 
Not to change the subject but as far as LOUD goes, I inherited a 30cal carbine from my Grandfather. That little rifle hits pretty hard and it is very very loud. There is a pistol that shoots 30cal bullets. I can only imagine what the db output of that thing must be.
 
Had an old chum many moons ago who had a 30 Cal. Ruger Blackhawk (thinks that the model anyway it an old single action thumbuster type design) will assure you come whistling outta that thang in a hurry. We did some comparisons with .22 mags cuz that was either whut I was shooting or maybe the other fella. It was a long time ago. Anyway that .30 arrived on target quickly and made a powerful sounding impact. I would say it makes a good pistol bullet and a lousy rifle bullet.

bigwheel
 
Uh now I see. You want to get him tangled up with a Polar Bear or Drunk Esikmoe lady armed only with an M1 Carbine. That is krewlish and unusually punishement. Now my old Uncle Jim who kicked a lot of booty in the South Pacific back during the Big War..WW II of course. He say this sewercidal jap was headed toward his fox hole with a grenade. He emptied the carbine into the jap and the jap kept on coming. He finally grabbed a .45 and shot him once and knocked him down. Now my Daddy liked them fine cuz he say mostly all you do is carry it and it beat the heck out of a 9 lb. Garand. He did not see much battle. He was stationed in England as an MP in the Army Air Corps. His job was to take fliers who missed their missions to the Prison Camp for six months while the guards was beating the *hit out of em. They took that war purty serious.

bigwheel
 
Well I thought you was trying to say the old thumb buster design on my far left was the SW. Most of the .44 mag SW's I have seen nearly always had longer barrells on em. Maybe that added to the cornfusion. I was trying to pick out one with a long snout and it coulda been the way the light was shining on it.

bigwheel

Griff said:
James, you're correct. The Casull is on the left. I went back and fixed the post. BW that is indeed a S&W on the right. Perhaps I confused you by stating that the Casull was also on the right.
 
Hey Rag..think I was in the one down a notch or two from that. They called it the NRA Hunter's Course. Pistol could not be altered on the outside and no magnifying scopes allowed. We only went out to a hundred meters on the Rams and started with chickens at 25. They also had a .22 course at much shorter range and smaller targets. I had a .357 barrell for the centerfire stage and could switch over to a .22 right quick with that Contender. Sounds like an interesting wildcat round. Just wondering with that limited case capacity on a .223 a person might have to use a fast burning powder. I reloaded the .357 with 1200 powder (forget the brand right now) which is real slow burning and would toss a 160 grain soild point about a thousand fps I think..or that whut the book say anyway. Did not have near the muzzle blast of the factory rounds but performed just as well if you get the barrell out to about 10." Know it nearly filled the case plumb up. I could imagine the bulk it would take to get a 7 mm bullet going out of a .223 case using a slow burning powder. Or am I maybe looking at it wrong? Thanks.

bigwheel

Rag said:
That guy must be pissed at his wrists. :LOL:
I used to compete in Long Range Hand Gun matches; 50, 100, 150 & 200 meters. Using a Ruger .44mag (my own hand loads) I blew a 3/8" plate steel target into 3 pieces at one match. They were pissed at me on that one.
One of the Thompsons I used was chambered for .223 brass necked out to accept 7mm bullets. It was a wildcat called 7mmTCU. The bitch barked in a 10" barrel and hustled down range with a wallop.
I love big bore.
A little side story. Before I got into that sport and it was just starting out, the guys would have trouble knocking down the heavy steel targets out at 200 meters. They were using .45's & .44's; close up guns. Being creative hand loaders, some would drill a pocket into the tip of the bullet and seat a primer with glue. The result was the primer blowing when it hit the target. I doubt it had much effect, but it was a cool trick.
 
bigwheel

I've had some experience with metallic silhouette; however, it was as a coach. My oldest son while in high school wanted to try out for team Alaska in the Arctic Winter Games. This is a competition of winter sports among circumpolar nations. His event was .22LR metallic silhouette. We went to the range every Saturday in November, December and January. Did I mention it was an outdoor event and outdoor range. The thing that impressed me the most was how one brand of ammo would group tight at 25* and all over the place at -20*. My son kept a good logbook and knowing the right ammo for the temperature worked out. He won the gold ulu in the .22LR his his score gave team Alaska the gold ulu in the team event as well. He was shooting an Anschutz .22LR bolt action with a Weaver T10 scope. That was the '86 games in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The finals were shot in a snowstorm at -10*.
 
Bigwheel, I'd have to look at my handload records for what powder/load I used. I had a chronograph to record velosities while testing different powders, primers and bullets. I never had to watch abeint temps like Griff. Man, that would suck.
I shot IMHSA which limited big bore production guns to 10" barrels and the unlimited class to 14"; all with iron sights.
The .22 course (25, 50, 75 & 100 yds) was more difficult for me than big bore. My scores improved when I switched to a Browning auto silhouette model and an Auschwitz bolt action hand gun.
That was a great sport that I think has faded.
 

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