The Halloween Gun

…was not the Vampire Kit Gun, as you might have thought.

Instead, as it happened, California’s stupid waiting period ended for me on October 31, and I was able to pick up a new member of my little specialty pistol family.

In this case, it’s Uncle Bud’s (well, Uncle-in-law Bud’s) T/C Contender. It was a steal: an original Contender in excellent condition, with two barrels with mounts and rings, a Burris 1.5-4x scope, and a snazzy (and huge!) hunting holster — all for about $500.

I wanted it because one of the barrels was in .223 Remington, and I was looking for a .223 for the 1000-yard Specialty Pistols prairie dog shoot in October 2008, put on by the same guys who ran this year’s Bower Clinic. That barrel was pretty much the whole reason I bought the gun. I’ve already ordered Bower forends for the Contender and my Encores from Marc Sheehan at Bower Shooting Products, LLC.

The second barrel was in this obscure wildcat caliber that Bud had used for deer. 7-30 Waters, what the heck was I gonna do with that? I’d vowed I’d never get into reloading — with my combination of perfectionist and completist tendencies, it would probably bankrupt me — and I haven’t gotten into hunting big game, so I figured that second barrel was just an extra I’d toss in the safe until I figured out what to do with it.

Then I read an article — and then a bunch more — about how wonderfully accurate the 7-30 Waters could be at long ranges. WTF??? The thing’s basically a 30-30! But 3 shots in 31/32″ at 500 meters is nothing to sneeze at. Oh my…. With the new ultra-high-BC 7mm boolits coming out from Berger, Sierra, and the rest, it’s looking like this barrel may finally be the thing that starts me reloading.

I’m so screwed….