A Parting Presence

It was like any other day at the range. I had two new guns to shoot for articles. One was a custom-built five-shot .45 Colt Ruger Vaquero, and the other was Smith & Wesson’s newly released .44 Magnum Mountain Gun. Grabbing a few boxes of handloads for both shooters, I headed out the door.

Once there, I grabbed a target stand, stapled a blank piece of paper on the cardboard backer and placed nine U-Line florescent orange squares onto the blank paper in a 3×3 pattern; the squares turned 90 degrees to give them a diamond-shaped appearance. I set the target at the 25-yard line and walked back to the shooting line.

I have a 16” 6×6 standing on the bench, with a sandbag on top for resting my forearms to steady my hold. I’m evaluating how well the guns shoot, not myself. After putting on my earmuffs, for some strange reason, a sentimental feeling washed over me.

Shooting

The .45 Colt handloads consist of hard-cast Lee 320-grain WFNGC slugs loaded over heavy charges of H110 and sparked by CCI 350 primers. The velocity was a few notches under 1,300 fps. The other load consists of 305-grain slugs from MP Molds I cast and load over a stiff charge of 2400 and WLPP. Its velocity was 1,241 fps. Now, besides feeling sentimental, I felt a presence of sorts but wasn’t sure why.

My loads for the S&W Mountain Gun were a favorite, consisting of 10 grains of Unique loaded over MP Molds #503 Keith slug with a WLPP. Velocity averages 1,058 fps. The gnawing presence was really feeling stronger now, almost like the reassuring touch of a hand on my shoulder. So much so that I even looked behind myself but saw nothing.

The Custom

The custom five-shot chambered in .45 Colt is a dandy. The custom grip frame makes shooting heavy loads very comfortable. It was an accurate and smooth shooting gun, having extremely tight lock up. Its fiber optic front sight was very bright, even on a cold, cloudy day. After shooting, I always check the barrel for leading as a way of checking barrel smoothness. There wasn’t a speck of lead from my polymer powder-coated cast bullet loads.

The Smith

Looking down at the Smith & Wesson Mountain Gun, I admired the beauty of the well-figured bear hug style stocks Skeeter Skelton enjoyed so much. These were made by Bobby Tyler of Tyler Gun Works.

Also, the tapered lightweight barrel, with its sexy barrel rib gives it the looks of a 1940s or 1950s .44 Special. Add to it the brass bead front sight, black powder chamfered cylinder and round-butt — we have an instant classic N-Frame in the making. Shooting didn’t disappoint, either.

Watch Your Target

As you know, I’m a retired cop. I went through the police academy back in 1985. At the time, we were issued Ruger Service Sixes in .38 Special. Our issued street load was +P Winchester 158-grain hollow points — the famed FBI load.

We were taught to only shoot double action (DA), which is why I shoot DA sixguns 99% of the time. I think I even shoot better this way … most of the time. The bottom line here, the folks at S&W did an outstanding job! The action is smooth, and the accuracy is very impressive. I haven’t shot such tight groups with a revolver in a very long time.

Examining the gun after shooting, there wasn’t any leading in the barrel, only powder residue left behind. This gun rides in a Barranti Leather Hank Sloan shuck with basket weave stamping — a totally retro rig if there ever was one — which is perfect for this newly released Mountain Gun.

No Hole

One of the nicest qualities of this gun is the absence of the offensive side plate lock hole. Some refer to it as a Hilliary hole, as it was the Clinton administration that passed the senseless gun safety lock law. As if warning labels weren’t bad enough, these ugly, insulting lock holes are totally unnecessary for common sense shooters.

Smith & Wesson finally saw the light thanks to some well-applied pressure from industry people in the know and a new person in charge of revolver production who was willing to listen. They’ll no doubt sell more guns without the safety hole.

Seeing the Light

It wasn’t until loading my truck to drive home that it hit me. I learned about the U-Line fluorescent orange squares from the same person I got the 10 grains of Unique load with a Keith slug. I affectionately refer to the load as the “Taffin Load,” as I’m sure many others do as well. The mid-power load is as classic as the man who came up with it. He liked this load, especially for shooting in S&W guns, saying it saved both the gun and him from excessive wear and tear.

I used to use pieces of blue painter’s tape torn into jagged squares for targets. It was cheap and fit my frugal nature. John told me about U-Line and to order from them for a more professional looking target. Then, I thought about the guns I just shot. They were both pure Taffin classics he would have loved shooting.

John enjoyed shooting and admiring classic custom builds like the one I just shot. I’ll be writing about this one in GUNS Magazine, which is why I’m being kind of secretive about it. The Mountain Gun is also a fine representation of John’s “Perfect Packing Pistol,” a term as well known and associated with John as the #5 is with Elmer Keith.

Fond Farewell

I realized this was the root of that nagging sentimental feeling; It was my first shooting session since John died. For me, there’s no finer way of honoring his memory than shooting his handloads. Each puff of smoke is symbolic of John’s soul heading for the heavens, as we all know that’s where he is — shooting, talking and admiring sixguns from all the other great sixgun men that preceded him to the great range in the sky.

To say John Taffin will be terribly missed would be an understatement. By shooting the guns and loads he liked, we can all have a visit of sorts, remembering such a fine man and sixgunner.

Rest in peace, John. And thanks for the memories. Keep the bacon & beans warm until we meet around the campfire.

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