Gunsmithing Simplified; More Colt Gun Pron

In quest of  greater accuracy, I have successfully completed installation of  a trigger shoe on that Colt I couldn't shoot yesterday.   Yes, it,  too,  was in the junk box. Yes, the hardest part was finding a hex wrench small enough. No, I won't bet much that it will, by itself, substantially improve my groups, but I do like shoes.

(You can't  see it, but the shoe is stamped "Herter's," so you know I am not trying to mislead you with hokum.)

Mr. Jimmy regrets he's unable to shoot you today...*

Impromptu range trip this morning, and I am glad no one else was there to witness my humiliation writ large in .45 ACP.  Alibis galore are available and are  mostly true,  but nothing excuses  three magazines --- 21 rounds -- spread out over 11 or 12 inches at 50 yards.  The ammo was miscellaneous junk, but that accounts for only a little.

Yes, two-handed. Yes,  seated at shooting table.

This lad is resolved to shoot more.

---

--I do like the gun, the SS Colt Series 70 built after the company decided to tell the panicky lawyers to get lost. The action is still stiff and the recoil spring feels too heavy, but it handled everything I fed it, from some light semi-wadcutter target loads up to the muscle  stuff I loaded recently. I will do a little trigger work.

--The muscle stuff is a 230-grain lead round nose over 6.3 grains of Unique, and I am going to back off a bit for everyday shooting. It's under the recommended maximum but noticeably zippier than the military load and not a lot of fun for casual shooting.

--The jury is  still out on whether I keep the barrel collet. I had intended to go back to John Browning's (PBUH) bushing system, but, as I said,  this lashup gave me no trouble. We'll see after a few hundred more rounds.

---
*H/T Cole Porter

Colt Gun Pron

Breda doesn't even know I owe her a favor. She needed a few rounds of semi-oddball ammunition. I pawed through one of my junk boxes to see if I could help (couldn't, really)  and stumbled across a set of as-new walnut  "target" grips for the recently acquired Colt Huntsman.  They're the kind of quality guys like Gil Hebard used to sell.

I didn't know I had them, and if I had not been mining  .38 SW rounds it might have been months or years before I tripped over the grips.

They look and feel right, so I'll leave them on for shooting. The  plastic originals get cached  against the unlikely chance I'll want to sell or swap her to a Colt collector. Those guys are daffy for ponies.

.

Weekend Blog Bleg (3)

Another offering from the Camp J box of  gun-freak treasures  for which I have no use.

What have you for the grand old American sport of swapping?

This  gizmo is a new Lee Ram Primer. It lets you seat primers on the upstroke of your press. The good folks at Lee make all sorts of promises for  it,  stopping, however, somewhat shy of a pledge that it will take you to victory at Camp Perry.  For Lee presses only.

The rules  (simple as Hell) and earlier offerings are  here and here.
.