Went Shooting Today

Someone from church and I went shooting at a range a few miles up Harris Creek Road.  It has been almost a year since I have fired a gun, and it was gratifying to see that my memory of how to shoot a handgun reasonably accurately has not been lost, firing both right handed and isosceles stance with both hands.  The American Arms PX-22 had a number of failures to eject, perhaps because it hasn't been cleaned recently enough, or the ammo is old.  .22LR is just not that well sealed from the environment.  I thinkn it just needed cleaning.

The Colt/Walther M1911 .22:R functioned flawlessly, and while not the recoil of a .45 ACP or 9mm, function was similar enough that it will make a great practice gun for the .45 and Browning H-Power.  Pleasant to shoot, and accurate enough to be hitting a 3" diameter metal plate target at about 25 yards much of the time.

UPDATE: Gun cleaning turns out to be great therapy for my right hand: a liitle struggle, but it forces me to use my hand.

My off-the-cuff assessment is that the Colt/Walther is about as accurate as my Colt Government Model, perhaps slightly less than my Browning Hi-Power, so a good practice gun.

Cleaning the Colt/Walther was a little frustrating.  Disassembly is similar an M1911A1, but with a couple of gotchas that suggest the M1911 was left a little too long in the presence of a Walther PPK with Barry White playing in the background.  After removing the slide stop, turning the barrel bushing, and releasing the recoil spring plug; you remove the slide from frame by pulling back to rear of frame, and then lifting the rear of the slide up and off, much like removing the PP or PPK slide.  The only problem on reassembly is that you need to get the recoil spring plug and spring under the barrel bushing before trying to twist the bushing back into position