A Good Day at the Range

[whitworth]

Lee and I had a great session on his private range this afternoon, where we flogged a couple of new revolvers for the first time: my .500 Maximum, and my newly acquired .45 Colt Bisley. We also dragged out my .50 Alaskan, my Bisley Hunter in .429 Magnum, and my .454 Redhawk.



We shot up a couple hundred rounds of heavy .45 Colt, .44 Mag, and .500 Maximum (110 rounds of Maximum).

Here is video of Lee shooting the .50 Alaskan -- these loads clock nearly 1,600 fps from this revolver (525s):



Here is a video of Lee shooting my Huntington .500 Maximum:

[Lee Martin]

Whit...thanks for posting the videos and an even bigger thanks for letting me shoot your customs.

I should add that the .50 Alaskan and .500 Maximum are by Jack Hunington. The fit, finish, and timing of these guns is world class.....and what they do on paper is even more impressive. All I can say is every aspect of the conversions are "spot on". And the top photo and video don't do the Max justice. Jack spent a lot of time perfecting the finish and what Whit ended-up with is a Grade I gun. I don't plug many smiths, but I will say you can't go wrong with Mr. Hunington.

BTW, I'm ordering 8 pounds of AA1680 this week and we have a few hundred 525 WFNs on order. More .500 Maximum updates to follow.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time"

[whitworth]

Thanks for hosting, Lee!

Here's a photo of my new .45 Colt:



Shot it for the first time today and was able to squeeze this group out at 25 yards -- will stretch it's legs out next time out.

[Lee Martin]

Whit....remember what I said about checking the throats?? After today, screw that idea. I don't care what the pin gauges say, we're not touching that gun. Some of the best "out of box" shooting I've ever seen from a Ruger.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time"

[whitworth]

Yeah, it's dead nuts! I couldn't be happier!

We burned a lot of powder today! ;D

[Lee Martin]

Today was just the kick-off Whit. I want each of us to put 1,000 rounds of 525's through our Maxs by year end (no joke). For so long I've heard how these guns are physically draining and hard to master. We need to change that.....with patience and practice these guns can be some of the most accurate "hammers" going.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time"

[hairy]

Nice looking lot of shooting irons there! They sure are pretty.

At 6'4" and 334 pounds, I am not exactly the runt of the litter. After watching Lee getting rocked around in that video, I now understand why my spine surgeon will not let me drive, shoot or do anything else that might jar me from the waist up. Shooting those big boys might just shake loose the titanium parts he put in my neck. Although I refer to it as a new head gasket.

Nice shooting!

[tek4260]

Hey Lee, it looked like you flinched a bit on that first shot from the Alaskan

Hell I would have went ahead and closed my eyes before I cocked the hammer!

[whitworth]

Nah, he is the first person I've met who I didn't worry about shooting that gun! Seriously. That thing is a horse.

[Snyd]

Excellent! Thanks for posting the videos. Ya, the 45 Colt looks dead nuts. What were you shooting for a load? A few years back I was looking for one of those Bisleys and happened across my SBH Hunter in 45 Colt right here in town, couldn't pass it up. I thought buying one anyway but as you know I am now headed down the fifty road. I liked the looks and sound of the 500 Max. What was that load? Dang, that 50 Alaskan is one heck of a hand cannon that's for sure.

[whitworth]

Snyd, that .500 Max load was a 420 grain bullet over 38 grains of 4227. The .45 Colt load that I shot was a load from Grizzly Cartridge which we tested recently and it features a 335 grain bullet that we chronographed at 1,365 fps if I can recall correctly.

It was a good day! ;D

And another note, the .500 Max, even with the 525 grain loads (over 38 grains of 1680), never once made contact with my middle finger (trigger guard). The mods Huntington does to the Bisley grip frame really work.

[dougader]

Awesome you guys! It looks like the porting on the Alaskan tames the flip down a bit. I see a lot more flip on the 500 Max. I can't imagine I'd handle either one very well.

I shoot 335's @ 1200 in a 5.5" Bisley. That's plenty for these pretzel wrists of mine.

Very cool stable of firearms there. Is that Lee's 218 Bee on the bottom of the top pic? Did you get around to shooting that one too?

[whitworth]

No, the flip is much worse on the Alaskan. The video makes it seem like that is the case. Lee had a death grip on the AK, and had to work to keep the barrel down. That one will get away from you if you are not careful. I have shot it extensively off of the bench and it is brutal. Beats the daylights out of you. While the recoil of the Max is heavy, I never found it objectionable despite the number of rounds we put through it today.

Yeah, that was the .218 Bee you saw! We didn't shoot it, though (no ammo!). We were strictly big-bore today!

[Deleted]

Good looking set of customs. I like how nonchalant Lee looks shooting those monsters. You can tell by how his arms are flexed though that he's wrenching down. Also looks like he spends a lot of time in the gym which probsbly doesn't hurt in contolling 'em.

[subsonic]

This is a video I took of me shooting my .500JRH BFR a while back. I thought it would be a good comparison video. Load was 350gr Speers over 33gr of H110.