quote:

Originally posted by rnovi:
Deck. Broke my right arm in a motorcycle accident this weekend and I haven't even finished the paperwork on the gun. That will be 4 months before I get the chance to shoot it.

Sorry to hear that...what were you riding?

quote:

Originally posted by rnovi:
Deck. Broke my right arm in a motorcycle accident this weekend and I haven't even finished the paperwork on the gun. That will be 4 months before I get the chance to shoot it.

Dang, Robert. I am so sorry to hear that.

Allin All, this is pretty small in the grand scheme of things. Although I'm pretty sure I'll be stark raving mad in a couple weeks of boredom!

So, smashed up body or not, I picked up my brand new Ruger this weekend. Couldn't fire it due to my forearm now healing froma few breaks and a few pins it it. Still, I was able to close my fingers around those lovely stocks. I didnt have the thumb strength to manage cocking and dry firing with my dominant hand but I did squeeze a few "dry fires" off with my left hand.

They are just such incredibly solid feeling guns, aren't they?

Post up some pictures, Robert!

Shoot it with the hand that works.

BTT -- Let's see some photos of your new aquisition, Robert!

Since it is the right/dominant arm that is out of service for the near future this seems to be the perfect time to practice "off" hand shooting.

One never knows when that other (off) hand may be the only one handy to use to shoot.

I have a couple of the Old Vaqueros in the Bisley frame in .44mag and two in 45 Colt. I just looked up my data sheet on 300 gr loads for both and found the .44 mag with a 5.5" barrel was pushing it 1,372 fps and best I could get out of the 45Colt with a 4.75" barrel was 1,223 fps. The 45 Colt did have a shorter barrel but the pressure signs prevented me from going any hotter. Both were obtained by generous amounts of H110.

Both rounds are not fun for a Saturday morning plinking session.

Everything's good w/ alot of H110! LOL.

quote:

Originally posted by kingd:
Everything's good w/ alot of H110! LOL.

A quote to live by!

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:
I have a couple of the Old Vaqueros in the Bisley frame in .44mag and two in 45 Colt. I just looked up my data sheet on 300 gr loads for both and found the .44 mag with a 5.5" barrel was pushing it 1,372 fps and best I could get out of the 45Colt with a 4.75" barrel was 1,223 fps. The 45 Colt did have a shorter barrel but the pressure signs prevented me from going any hotter. Both were obtained by generous amounts of H110.

Both rounds are not fun for a Saturday morning plinking session.

Either load sounds quite adequate for anything in the lower 48.

Ok Guys, stop laughing. I had to ask my wife to open the safe for me. Seriously, stop laughing.

My safe needs to have the "fire-stripping" replaced. I've actually got the replacement strip, just don't have the strength to actually do the job. In the meantime, the old firestrip has developed a coating of sorts on it that literally feels like some old bubblegum - it sticks the door shut! Getting it open takes a few hefty pulls on the handle - something I just can't do with the ribs.

Having said that, here's the new toy!



I'm seriously excited to shoot it, but I do not know if I can do it at all. Four ribs broken in six places - I'm 4 weeks out from my accident and I'm only now just starting to take normal breaths. I just don't know if my core muscles can even take the offset of 3# of weight in my offhand.

Some initial thoughts - I spent last night playing with it, shooting badguys on TV for giggles. (*for the record, I do not have one single shootable round anywhere in the house for .45 LC - empty gun? More like beyond empty!)

First, the trigger. I can't cock it at all with my dominant hand. No way. Left hand is just fine though, and I discover that I need a lot of work for off-hand practice - I'm holding the handgun tilted 10 degrees off center. I can work on that. Anyway, the trigger is heavy, but quite controllable. A decent trigger job or 1,000 dry fires would do this hogleg a high deal of good. I might replace the springs in it to something just a tad lighter, but won't compromise its ignition reliability: this gun has one primary purpose: sling bigger bullets in the back country for defensive and hunting reasons. Reliability is something I can't compromise here.

Interesting that cylinder doesn't stay centered when loading/unloading. It's spring loaded to shift one way or the other. Didn't know that. Not a big deal, just didn't know.

The sights: big, bold - I think the factory sights will work just fine for me without any modification. I might do a dab of orange nail polish on the front sight but that's about it.

For the short term, I figure a 255 gr. bullet at 1,000 fps will be more than enough to play with off-hand for a long time.

Side notes:
I may be going under the knife again in the next couple days - don't know yet as I'm waiting for approval on a CT scan. My collar bone doesn't look like its healing right and may have to have it broken and pinned again. I'm quite ok with this, even though I don't like it. It should have been done right the first time. Then again, I'm quite happy to be alive in general...

Worst case is that I lose 4 weeks of healing time. Not that big of a deal in the big picture.

As it stands, my collar bone appear to have healed very short - over an inch short. Just looking at it in the mirror, that seems to indicate problems shouldering a rifle and getting the butt into the pocket. It could be quite limiting.

Here's the silly thing of all of this - some of you may relate: I was born left handed. My parents "trained" me to be right handed. Left eye dominance, right handed effectively. Now I'm relearning to be left handed. I can't sign my name for crap, but maybe I can learn to shoot better as a lefty!

Either way, the painful process of recovery goes on. I have an incredible wife and a positive work situation going on so I'll just say the Good Lord's blessed me in my recovery.

Robert, that's a beautiful revolver!! Congratulations on the score!

I hope that your recovery goes smoothly, quickly, and with the least amount of pain.

Very nice revolver, good luck with recovery! Take it slow!

Yes, speedy recovery!

You might try the Poor-Boy trigger job to start with. Take the grips off and take one leg of the trigger spring off of it's pin and just let it hang free. Put the grips back on and your ready to go.
I read in an old gunsmithing book about a trick to get the trigger sear broken in faster. Basically, cock the hammer, put forward pressure on the hammer then pull the trigger and repeat 20-30 times. If there are any small machining burs this will help to smooth them out quickly.

Here's a pic if it makes it any clearer.

Lar -- check your PMs.

I recommend taking a pair of needle nose pliers and bending the springs a bit to relieve some tension over taking a leg off.

July 1st update:

Good News!  Well, for the most part.  First, take a look at the CT Scan from this morning.



There are three things of note here:

 1. The collar bone:  it's reduced 1.65 cm or so, and relocated behind itself.  
 2. The front broken rib - the first rib at the top of the sternum.  Nice, huh?  I have a lovely knot there...
 3. The right lung - like, where the fuck is it???

Yep, I freaked out.  Saw the CT, printed, and promptly freaked out and begged the Dr. for a quick opinion.  And here's the results:

 1.  Collar Bone:  appears to be less than 2.5cm!  That means no additional surgery - just gotta get used to some new steering geometry.
 2.  "Yeah, broken ribs suck, don't they?".  /sigh...
 3.  The Lung:  "Ahh, that looks like fluid in the chest.  Right, there was no pneumo-thoracic penetration, right?  (ie:  no punctured lungs) - nope.  Yep, looks like fluid." - My Bro-In-Law in TN is an x-ray tech and thought the same thing.  His comment was very welcomed - "Yeah, they fix that with pills.  You pee it out."

That last bit of news has made my day.  

I'm 4.5 weeks into this process and moving forward with a positive attitude.  My wrist motion is better than 50% (far better than expected) and the Therapist expects full recovery (95%+) w/in 4 months.  

I seem to have one issue of note:  my thumb doesn't quite extend fully - appears a tendon is trapped by scar tissue.  This should be able to be worked and freed over time.  

I'm also very pleased to say that I'm 100% off painkillers with the exception of Soma Muscle Relaxer to sleep at night.

Good Times...   :bigok:

Some questions about the Ruger .45 Bisleys...

I'd like to find someone to make me a set of grips which would have an integral "filler" in between the back of the trigger guard and the front of the grip-frame all the way down to the bottom of the trigger guard. I have very large hands and if my fingers get into that space, the back of the trigger guard just hammers them 'cause I can't close my hand small enough to hang onto the factory-type grips..

Who would you guys suggest to do that? As an alternative, if I could find someone to inlet some really fancy walnut blocks I have for the frame, I could shape & finish the external contour to what would fit me.

2. I'm also looking for some moderate Blue Dot .45 Colt loads for a 300 grain Very Wide FP GC bullet.... a "plinking load", if you will. Any charge weight suggestions you find particularly fitting for that combo?