One-and-a-half-inch groups at a quarter-mile — with a handgun

This year’s Boomershoot was my first long-range shooting event, and practicing for Boomershoot was the first time I’d ever picked up a rifle. So I was pretty much the ultimate newbie and way over my head (as the Analog Kid found out — he suffered the effects of my novice spotting with grace and good humor).

What on earth led me to think that even I could hit little Boomers way out there? It was inspiration I’d been carrying around since I read a 1995 article about Don Bower.

Schwarzenegger’s told of how as a kid he was inspired by the sight of bodybuilders pressing hundreds of pounds, where his friends were intimidated. Well, I had a similar reaction in 1995 when I read John Eaton’s astonishing (to me) article in American Rifleman about Don Bower.

Bower had sent a critical letter-to-the-editor of American Rifleman in 1993, complaining that:

“Since 1981 I have been successfully rechambering existing T/C Contender 14″ barrels to unprecedented achievements. I shoot consistent 1-1/2” center to center 3-shot groups all day long at 500 meters. … Yet after years of trying to get the news out I have been shunned….

Then-editor Ron Keysor didn’t believe it, and sent a representative to check Bower out, presumably expecting to find a kook or a blowhard. He didn’t. The rep reported that Bower’s claims were true, and done with multiple calibers and hunting bullets. Eaton’s 1995 article was Bower’s vindication.

Here’s the article, go see for yourself: http://www.softgreenglow.com/music/BowerArticle.pdf

UPDATE: well, the pdf seems to have vanished from the server; here’s jpg image files of the five pages instead:

Now, I like a challenge. Back in 1992 when I was looking for my first gun, an article on double-action revolver shooting helped me decide on a S&W 940 Centennial snubbie in 9mm — “double-action-only,” that is, with the long trigger pull and no exposed hammer. Why? Because, as the article said, accurate and fast double-action shooting was hard to do — but enough practice could pay big dividends. And sure enough, after all these years stroking the trigger of that little gun, more often than not I shoot it — well, let’s say less inaccurately than I do my wife’s Beretta 92.

Reading the article about Bower in 1995 raised the bar. To that point, I’d been happy to make nice groups at 15 yards. 500-plus yards was unreal. But I was a student in 1995 and buying another gun was out of the question financially for several years.

So now I’m scratching that old itch. I’m bringing my Boomershoot rifle back next year, with a couple of new friends. And one of them will be a Bower-style handgun. No, I can’t shoot to Bower’s level of accuracy — yet. Hell, I can’t yet do that with a rifle. But I know it’s possible with practice and the right rig, and I’ve got nowhere to go but up.

Next time I post I’ll put up some pics of the rig so far, and point out a major difficulty in assembling it here in California…. Below is a teaser of an essential part of the rig: