Perfect Packin’ Pairs
The Long & The Short Of It
The little homemade single shot .32 Mag shooting the same
wadcutter reloads plopped them into 1.25" at 50 with a Skinner
Peep sight. Roy can’t do that with a revolver!
At 20 yards, Roy’s Stallion .38 SA delivered a satisfying 1.25"
group using target wadcutter loads. The gun can even do a bit
better at times due to his giving it a target crown and re-cutting
the forcing cone.
With apologies to our own John Taffin, after stealing his “Perfect Packin’ Pistol” concept, we covered “Perfect Plinkin’ Pistols” and “Perfect Plinkin’ Rifles” in the GUNS Magazine Podcast. We also kept the momentum going by covering “Perfect Packin’ Pairs” not long ago, and I think the idea deserves a visit here.
The idea piqued my interest after I built a string of short, single-shot rifles in various pistol calibers. My first, a .32 H&R Magnum, weighs in right at 3.5 lbs. and takes down into two handy pieces. It not only gave me an appreciation for that versatile cartridge, but it also shoots like a rifle should shoot. Suddenly, that modest but deceptively powerful cartridge could hit at 100 or 150 yards. Sure, a revolver can do pretty good work out to 25 yards, but asking for really tight groups at 50 just isn’t within the ability of most revolver shooters.
With a bit of practice, I found I could hit a 6″ steel plate at 100 yards off-hand way more often than not with that little .32 rifle. What’s not to like about that? After completing two more rifles, a .357 and of all things, a 44-40, I found I could do the same thing. The .357 can deliver a 158 at about 1,300 fps and nail that same plate using a Skinner aperture sight and post front. That, as they say here in Missouri, is “Deer killin’ power.” I can’t do that with a .357 or .38 revolver, at least all the time.
Roy’s home-build single shot .357 accomplished this tidy 1.5" group
with the same target .38 wadcutter loads.Roy said the red dot actually
made aiming more difficult due to the 5 MOA size of the dot and knows
the rifle can do better.
The Bowen custom Ruger Blackhawk with .44-40 cylinder
put four Black Hills cowboy loads into an orderly group just
over 1" but spread to about 1.35" since he can’t see anymore!
Big Bore
The .44-40 is a real hoot too. Shooting a 200-grain bullet at about 1,000 fps from the rifle really clangs that plate. It’s just heavy enough to have little recoil but small and handy enough to not want to put down once you pick it up. I have a nice Bowen Custom Ruger Blackhawk in .44 Special with a 44-40 cylinder, and the darn thing shoots like crazy at 20 or 25 yards. But hitting that same 6″ plate at 100 is iffy at best.
Around my property here, I always have some sort of handgun along, even if it’s just the Ruger LCP MAX in my front pocket. But now and again, I want to “reach out there” for something, and a handgun isn’t always the best. I’ve taken to slinging that little .32 Mag. rifle I built when I’m doing chores in the E-Z-Go or taking a stroll to check the walnut grove. Suddenly that unexpected coyote or groundhog at 100 is in serious trouble. And I can’t tell you how many dangerous dirt clods, pieces of wood and pinecones who tried to sneak up on me died at the hands of that little .32.
Here’s 2.25" at 50 yards with the home-built single shot .44-40 rifle.
Roy knows it can shoot better but this is about what the Black Hills
cowboy loads do at that range. Still much better than he can do
with a revolver with iron sights!
The Concept
So while I like these little single shots, maybe your “Perfect Packin’ Pair” is something completely different. In your truck all day around the farm? Maybe a Ruger single action .22, paired with a bolt action .223 would handle your chores. Hiking a long trail? How about a light .22 LR single shot rifle lashed to your pack, paired with a bigger bore revolver on your hip? I have a neighbor here who favors an old Model 94 in .30-30 with a beater Ruger Standard Auto .22. Everyone’s “job” might be different, so different guns would be the norm and there’s no right or wrong combo in my mind.
The .32 H&R Mag. Charter Professional at 20 yards with Roy’s
98-grain Wadcutter loads. Call it 1" without that pesky flyer!
Shooting
To prove a point, I shot a Charter .32 Mag. revolver (their new Professional with a 3″ barrel and 7-shot cylinder) at 20 yards and my .32 rifle at 50. I did the same with an SA .38 Special “Stallion” (3.5″ barrel) from Taylor’s & Company and my single-shot .357 rifle (shooting .38s). The Bowen Custom .44-40 did the work at 20, and my single shot .44-40 took on the 50-yard chore. I used 50 yards since that’s outside the range most handgunners can place truly accurate shots. So what happened?
While all of the revolvers did well at 20, the rifles excelled at 50 yards, shooting groups most people could only dream about shooting with a handgun. Can some people shoot 2″ groups at 50 yards with a good revolver or auto? Sure. But the rest of us mere mortals can’t usually.
Either way, the idea of being able to “reach out and touch something” out of reach with a side-arm is appealing. We don’t all need this, but even if you’re just afield on a hunt, the idea of a Perfect Packin’ Pair makes sense. Plus, it’s fun to think about and can give you no-end of interesting things to talk to your shooting friends about. But be prepared for conflicting ideas!
