For this session I picked a gun I had purchased for him 7 years ago, when he was 2 years old. I specifically had this day in mind.
The gun is an Uberti "Lightning", imported by Cimarron. It is roughly 2/3rds the size of a "normal" Single-Action Army frame. The gun is in .38 Long Colt/.38 Special caliber. I thought this would be perfect for him to move up to from a .22.
Here is the gun:

And here he is shooting it:


Well, he really enjoyed it a lot!

I had reloaded a bunch of mild "Cowboy-Action" loads with this session in mind - back in 2001! What can I say? I like to plan ahead. The recipe I used was a 125-grain LRNFP cast bullet over 3.2 grains of Hodgdon "Tite Group", mixed nickel cases, with Remington #1.5 small pistol primers. I used the .5cc Lee power scoop, reloading these in a hotel room while traveling on business! They were really mild - and very dirty - but perfect to start him off for a centerfire handgun. I did not have my chrony with me, so I can say how fast they were moving.
The gun groups really well - about 4 inches low at 7 o'clock on a pie plate at 21 feet - aiming dead center on the plate. I will need to work on the front site a bit, but will do that after I know where the gun shoots for him.
For comparison, here is the Uberti "Lightning" beside my 3rd Generation Colt SAA with an "artillery" (5.5-inch) barrel.

You get the idea on the size difference for the frame. Here's another shot:

Here it is beside it's cousin - my Uberti "Cattleman" bird's head grip model:

And another:

And lastly, beside the really "big dog" - my Uberti "Buntline" model!

Kind of paints a picture, doesn't it?

Life is good!

