NHC & Briley with 46 year old ammo

[TonyW]

Did some blasting today with my Liebenberg Briley and NHC Talon - together for the first time. I was using some of my hand cast lead reloads, 230 gr. SWC and Bullseye, dating from 1962! Thought it was about time to get rid of some of this ammo - and to see if it still went bang. It has been lugged all around the US for these past 46 years, and sometimes has been kept in a hot garage - but in sealed GI cans. It went bang every time.

As for the two guns, two big differences. The NHC has a 3 lb. trigger pull and the Briley a 4 lb. pull. This doesn't seem like a lot, but it is when shooting the guns side by side. The other big difference was when it came to cleaning the guns. Now both started out clean, and I fired the same number of rounds through both -- but the Talon was filthy compared to the Briley. Not sure why, unless there is more space inside the Talon for the gasses to blow around.

As for accuracy, with my aged eyes and shaky arms, I couldn't tell any difference at either the 15 yds or 7 yds that I fired the guns-- not withstanding the targets below from 7 yds. I fired the Briley last and 25 rounds at its target whereas the NHC had only 15. Both targets fired as fast as I could, 2 handed. The first 15 at the Briley target looked identical to the NHC one - then I got either sloppy or tired.

The Briley is on the left, Talon to the right. I can see I tend to pull down and to the left.

7 YARDS RAPID FIRE 2 HANDED

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k225/TonyW_01/Briley-1.jpghttp://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k225/TonyW_01/NHC.jpg

[BT2012]

TonyW,

It's still tight groups and on the bright side you're still on target if you go head to head in a self-defense situation.

[pa_guns]

Hi

The only thing that *might* make a difference on dirt would be chamber pressure. One pistol may have a tight barrel. Tight barrel = higher pressure = cleaner burn.

Bob

[d90king]

Nice shooting and also nice pistols.

[TonyW]

Hi

The only thing that *might* make a difference on dirt would be chamber pressure. One pistol may have a tight barrel. Tight barrel = higher pressure = cleaner burn.

Bob

Bob, That is probably it. But another thing is that the Liebenberg/Briley frame is unique to them - it is forged by Briley. I don't know if the inside dimensions are different from the original 1911 specs or not, or at least different than the Caspian frames which are used by most makers. There have been many posts about what is the cleanest burning powder - with lots of answers. Until now I never realized that the gun itself can make quite a difference!

There was a major, major difference - it took at least twice as many patches to clean the NHC - and these patches were really black!

[TonyW]

BTW, looking at the shot analysis target, www.targetshooting.ca/docs/Pistol_Shot_Analysis.pdf
I think what I am doing is pushing down on the trigger - especially on the Briley with its harder trigger pull.

[jfrey]

Why don't you send your PD/B back to Claudio at Briley and have him adjust your trigger weight to 3 lbs? My Versatility has a 3 lb. trigger and he just worked on my father-in-laws trigger to get a slight bit of creep out of it, and it is set at 3 lbs. Claudio works wonders on stuff like that.

[TonyW]

jfrey - I might just do that. Claudio was going to change the sights to what I had ordered, but I still haven't decided if I want to change them. Whereas I am unlikely to ever carry this gun, if I ever do, then the 4 lbs would be safer, so that is another consideration.

[jfrey]

TonyW I understand your concern with the trigger for carry use, but I carry mine all the time with the 3 lb. trigger and I normally don't even think about it. Of greater concern is being able to hit where I point and be confident about it. It looks like you could carry either of yours and settle that concern with ease.

[pa_guns]

Hi

The odds of ever having to use your carry weapon are pretty small. If you do use it the whole process will be gone over in detail. There is know what the specifics will be. There is also no way to know which way things will be brought up.

Like it or not, a "normal" trigger is 5 pounds. A three pound trigger is significantly lighter than that. Control of that lighter trigger will indeed be questioned in the "aftermath". I believe it would be very hard to make the case that you need a 3 pound trigger to hit a person sized target at defensive ranges.

Bob

[dogdollar]

Good shooting Tony !!
DD

[jfrey]

Well, it seems that what is normal for some, may not be normal for others. What ever weight your trigger is set at, and you are happy with, is the main thing. Anyone with a minimal amount of gun knowledge could rebuke a flimsy lawyer on the issue. Good shootin anyway TonyW