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May 17, 2010
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10-2-2010
Well I have always wanted to try my DW in the arena for
which is it so famous. So today, I strapped on some speed loaders and headed
for the range to participate in the Renegade Outlaw Steel Challenge. First it
was a real hoot, even if I was extremely nervous. The whole group was broken up
into two smaller groups so it wouldn’t take so long between shooting.
First I got separated from my group before they ever started
shooting and then got lost looking for them! But got that sorted out. My
shooting style is really pretty poor for this sport. I like to draw the hammer
back for each shot… and I do that with my right hand and so I have to re-sight
each time. Actually, I was told that all
in all my style could use some improvement. I “tea-cup” and I do not lean into
the gun to reduce re-coil. So it goes.
The first set, I was real nervous, more so than I would have
thought. There are a lot of safety rules ( not breaking the 180 and 360
planes), not having the muzzle cross any part of your own body(feet and hands).
So, I was dealing with that and wondering what I was doing with the time, given
that I drew, cocked ( right handed) then fired, coked (right handed) for each
shot. I also had the least rounds of anyone available to be for each set up.
There were four revolvers, three smiths with 8 rounds and my DW. One Smith was
.380, one was .38, and one was .45. The .45 was almost magical in that you
could follow that big slow moving slug as it glided through the air…. 2 less
FPS and it would have had to be subsonic. Since I couldn’t pick up but one
miss, I simply had to count on not missing, and on “acquiring the target
quickly”. I actually think I did pretty good both, not on par with the best,
but better than the worst, even though they could make up for misses while I could
not.
Set three was “run and gun” set up. While it held the
greatest potential for “fun” , it was difficult enough to just be a pain. 5 plates, then 5 large “poppers” (looks like
4 foot people) then 5 small poppers, then 5 large poppers, then the simply evil
Texas star. The Texas star is 5 plates on arms. The arms are attached to a
central hub. Once a plate is hit it will fall off, and lighten the weight on
that side causing the whole thing to spin in that direction. Not a fun thing
when you are single actioning! The one bright spot for me. Everyone (except me) used both hands when shooting
the small poppers, even though we had to do so from behind barricade the setup was
set so that you REALLY had to lean around it for the left most popper. As for
me, I just stuck my right hand around, and cocked and fired as usual all with
one hand. We had to run set three twice!
(that’s 50 rounds if you don’t miss any at all!)
By set four, I was exhausted. It had started as a nice cool
morning, but the coolness had long passed. I had on both a long sleeve and
short sleeve, but I could not remove the long sleeve because I had to use the
shirt pocket for the first 5 rounds of each set as each was 5 rounds of 5 and I
only had 4 speed loaders. The other “unfun” thing was that since I did not have
moon clips, I had to stop and pick up my brass after each set ( the autos just left
theirs, except for one guy that had a little roller thing ( pecan picker-upper
style) that worked pretty well.
Set five, the final set. My gun felt funny… and no not ha-ha.
The cylinder was so gunked up from powder residue it would barely turn even
when NOT latched in the frame! The barrel was getting loose, but rules said you
had to go back to set 3 and the “safety table” to unholster, so I couldn’t
tighten it. This set had the last “stop
plate” at 35 yards.. 5 out of 5 I never missed that plate. Start to finish was seven hours.
Cleaning my gun that afternoon, yes the barrel had shot loose. The gunk
(powder) that was messing with the cylinder was between the cylinder and the
crane at the front. It was not lead build up at the gap, even though I used
mostly all lead hollowpoint wadcutters ( 158gr). I did have a good time, but I
am not sure it’s the type shooting I want to do for fun.
Soap Box, Ballot Box, Ammo Box
in that order.
4 Monson Model 15's
1 Palmer FB 15
1 Rossi 357 Model 92 (lever)
1 CZ 75B
February 11, 2010
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Sounds like an awesome competition. 
I would like to try something like that.
-Blacktop
January 22, 2008
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Great write-up! Sounds like an interesting experience even if you decide not to do it again. Thanks for sharing.
DWF Supporters
Dans Club
Moderators
November 17, 2008
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Sounds like a blast! Good report.
LB
Wisdom is merely the realization of how little one knows, therefore I am wise.
November 4, 2008
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Sounds like the fun to stress ratio is tilting towards the stress side too much to me. Great experience though!
Were you using 158 gr. Hollow point WCs or SWCs? At first I thought I read hollow based wad cutters which prompted me to want to find out where you bought them in 158 gr, that would be nice!
May 17, 2010
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palo said:
Sounds like the fun to stress ratio is tilting towards the stress side too much to me. Great experience though!
Were you using 158 gr. Hollow point WCs or SWCs? At first I thought I read hollow based wad cutters which prompted me to want to find out where you bought them in 158 gr, that would be nice!
hollow point Wadcutters
From here but now I dont see the hollowpoints:
Soap Box, Ballot Box, Ammo Box
in that order.
4 Monson Model 15's
1 Palmer FB 15
1 Rossi 357 Model 92 (lever)
1 CZ 75B
November 4, 2008
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Back in the day I used to flip my hollow based WCs so the hollow base was out, shot that through my model 52 S&W, man did that thing mushroom, pretty accurate to. Would like to see a pic of what yours looks like, never came across one before.
Dans Club
March 2, 2008
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Back in the day I used to flip my hollow based WCs so the hollow base was out
I did this too, with the most spectacular visible results on particularly agressive predators like gallon jugs of water, pumpkins and watermelons, etc. Never recovered any lead to assess expansion, but since then I have never felt threatened by large fruits or vegetables 
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
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