Does look good.

I wouldn't have guessed that the stock swap wouldn't fit.

 

The left one fit perfectly, the stud hole on the right was off just enough to keep it from fitting correctly.

 

@Wryfox and @Waltesefalcon There's an auction in San Antonio this weekend that will feature a number of Colts. Thought it may be of interest.

 

Hubba Hubba! Man I wish I still lived in SA to see them in person.

What stands out is the Colt 1905 he mentions right at the end. If it's all original, it's a rare bird for sure.

 

Here's the entire list of items with description: https://vogtauction.com/auctions/firearms. I'm going to the preview on Thursday or Friday. There are a couple of Mausers I am interested in.

 

Sadly the online pics are too small to see the detail I'd like. Still going to follow a few items. Thanks for the heads up!

 

It's a shame I'm totally gun broke for the next month or two.

 

I was searching through files this morning and came across an old folder from one of my 1000yd shooting days a few years ago. Its hard to find 1000yds in Florida. This is across a pasture, and we can only shoot when the herd is on another pasture for the week. This was at a gun club that leased part of a 2000 acre ranch for the club, but to get a 1000yds we had to go outside the bounds of the club to the pasture next to it. We set our own mini club for the long range folks, about 12 of us. We later built up a full 15ft shooting stand and were able to achieve line of sight for a full 1 mile. At the time I didn't have the equipment to shoot that far but it was fun to watch the other guys. Anyway, the following year the club was sold, and the new insurance company put an end to the long range shooting. It is now primarily a pistol training facility.

1st pic is from the 3ft elevated shooting platform to clear the grass. The 1000yd berm, 50ft wide, is behind the thin tan strip in the center in front of the treeline. 10ft high berm. The next 2 pics are my gongs. The first is a 10" round plate(3 shots), the 2nd a 8x14" rectangle(5shots, just barely). I had been shooting 1000yds for a bit over 10yrs at various locations. I remember I was merely 'satisfied' with the results. Two different rifles were used. For the round gong I used an M24 I bought from a retired scout sniper from FT Benning, GA that he built out of 'spare parts' The second was a newer custom GA Precision rifle I hadn't quite sorted out the right ammo. Both 308Win. The trick about hanging gongs is that you have to wait for them to settle back down after each shot, so if you're trying to take advantage of a calm wind period, you're eagerly waiting for the gongs to stop moving. So many more variables come into play at long distance. Spin drift is a surprisingly tricky one.

 

Yeah boy!

I'd like to try 1000 yard shooting.

I never shot on a range longer than a measured 600 yards and that was in High Power Rifle competition.

I have informally shot "From Here To Eternity" on many occasions, just for fun .



Once sand bagged in and set up section of washing machine crates with large bulls eyes painted on them and shot from off of a mesa out to a mesquite flat that was across the Colorado River in northern Coke County, Texas. Thought I was a stud duck since I was shooting the M1 out to 600 yards. My eye ball range finder "estimated" that they were between 500 yards and 600 yards. i anticipated ranging my pre-64 Winchester Model 70 .30-06 with a view to taking deer at long range during the season that year.

I discovered that I wasn't going to reliably put shots into to a deer's boiler room at 600 yards with the rifle and its 6X Leupold M8 scope even if it is a sub-inch grouping rifle at 100 yards. So, gave up the notion as a bust of an idea.

Photo taken from the spot on another occasion when we were on a February rattlesnake hunt.

 

OHHHH! Now that's some country to stretch out a rifle!

I think the only tricky part is getting to the target through the scrub brush with all those Nope Ropes

 

I like to dabble in long range shooting as well. Typically, only in the 500 - 800 yard range though. Sadly I don't seem to have any photos of my Model 70s or my rolling block handy. I guess I'll have to go and get some photos Saturday.

Your shooting at 1000 yards is truly impressive Wry.

 

I am Jealous, my last property I could just stretch out to 160 meters unobstructed as my range, new property cant even do 60 meters. I need buy another Farm/ lifestyle block. I really miss the challenge of long range shooting from my own property.

 

Decided today to have a check thru my long rifles for rust and have a re oil as they haven't seen the light for at least a year.
Last night I had decided to pull out one of my custom Katanas and found some small rust spots on the edge so panic set in and today I pulled all the rifles out for inspection.
My last home had room for a gun room, here unfortunately not.
All of you lucky enough to have a gun room need to count your blessings. I really need to either build or buy a bigger house, 2400 squares just does not cut it for a comfortable life of collecting and enjoying your hobbies.

 

Damn.

 

That a lot of rifles, and hence it looks like a lot of work!

 

If you reload your ammo, only holy powder will do. Ad found in an old reloading book.

 

My interest in antique firearms is primarily rooted in history and technology, ie the ability to do extraordinary things with far more primitive tools and techniques. It's why I marvel at a well made Colt Sixgun, designed 150yrs ago but made as brilliantly and artfully as anything today, in some cases more so....because sadly much of these old skills are now lost to time. A machine cannot do better than artful hand craft(and I say this as an Engineer for 40yrs). But sometime its just about the ability to do humanly amazing things. I think because at the time they didn't know what they couldn't do. Here's a great example. When I was young I first read about Morgan's Sharpshooters in the US Revolutionary War. Some argue it was that rifle technology and new skills that changed the face of the conflict, resulting in the USA becoming independent. A patriotic and romantic tale to a young boy. So I love the old books about history, the ones that tell stories about heroes and their use of new found talents to persevere.

Below is one such tale. It's the reason I challenge myself, like in my recent post on the 1000yds. I went on a lark with an invitation to spectate at a long range match 25yrs ago. Never in my life would I have believed it was possible to do what I saw that day. I couldn't even SEE the 1000yd line!

Read the below, and I hope you marvel like I did at what was possible 160yrs ago with crude blackpowder and muzzleloaders made from water wheel driven iron crafting tools.

(and yes, this is the same Berdan who invented the centerfire primer)

 

Yea Wryfox!

Well stated!

We must be kindred spirits in our thoughts on this topic.

 

Re the idea of rifle scopes in the 1800s..I'm betting most don't realize how good some of these were back then. I'll give a personal description of a technology that is related, as this is where the rifle scopes were born from. Naval telescopes. Sea distances were pretty far, more than a typical land battlefield. Naval chases and battles were in the order of miles vs yards. Telescopes were considered very high tech back then, and often made the difference in preparation for battle...who can see who first.

So here's a French Naval Telescope I recently found at an estate sale. From the mid 1800s. It is a 40 POWER telescope.

I took it apart and cleaned it up. Now after 170 years, I didn't expect much, but luckily I live on a golf course(as everyone does here in Florida), and I have a long distance in which to see the true acuity of the scope. I put my smartphone up to eyepiece as best I could, and held the long scope(all 40inches) as steady as I could and took these pictures. Now mind you, I'm holding a smartphone in one hand and the scope in the other at the time I took these. AND the truck and person were *moving* when I took the pictures. The fuzziness in the pics is some vegetation in the foreground near my house. I was truly shocked at the clarity.

I did some research on these scopes and found that the nice high power ones like this one sold in the order of 50 pounds sterling, which 170yrs later is equal to about $10,000US today.

The distance of these images is 710YARDS, almost half a mile. The last pic is of the distance. That small purple circle in the middle is the frame for the pictures.

 

Optics rule. That is so cool.