Finally got to take my new Winchester Trapper .45 Colt carbine to the range yesterday. Since I bought the thing I’ve installed a full set of Marble’s sights, (1/16″ ivory bead front, a folding rear, and a tang mounted peep.), bore-scoped the barrel, slugged it, and got to working up loads.
Along comes Hurricane Katrina and puts 9 feet of water onto the range, pretty well wrecking the facilities.
Finally, weather, family duties, and health come together to allow me a chance to shoot. So with Lady Beth riding along, I headed to the range. First thing to do was to work on the folding rear sight. I double checked my measurements with a micrometer to assure I had everyting centered in the slots on both front and rear dovetails, loaded up with factory-equiv. 255gr. Beartooth RNFP, and took a shot at 25 yards to see where we were…
The first ever shot hit one half an inch to the left off dead center. Now that is lucky! Fired two more to check. These two tore the bullseye out of the paper. No adjustments needed here! I figure the folding blade will be used in the brush and in close on hog hunts, (if I ever get back into the woods…). Dead on at 25 yds is just dandy. Five more rounds didn’t do much but make the hole in the middle a tad bigger, so I thought it was time to fold down the rear blade and flip up the tang sight.
This needed a bit of adjustment - and a new target. Took seven rounds to get the 25 yd point of impact to be 3 full inches above dead center. Once it was there, I didn’t bother to move the target out further. The bloody “no-see-ums” moved in off Bayou Heron and made life miserable on the bench. So, I moved into the open and started getting a feel for the carbine at various ranges and on “targets of opportunity”. Geez!! I love this carbine - and those Marble’s sights!! I began popping the semi-permanent long range gongs right and left. Even at 200 meters a 12 inch gong was in serious danger. Remember, this carbine is chambered for the .45 Colt pistol cartridge. That’s pretty impressive performance in my book.
For such a maligned action (among the Cowboy crowd) and a 100+ yr old cartridge, I’d say they perform pretty dog-gone well. Can’t wait until I can get back out there, (with bug spray this time), and do some measured bench work with that tang mounted peep sight. Then, it will be time to try those 280gr Beartooth WFNGC slug loads!
Omar, out! 
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3 responses so far ↓
What version of the Marble’s Tang sight and front sights did you get? I’m looking for item numbers, if you’ve got’em. My .357 Trapper will be the new tang-safety version, which I assume your .45 is, too.
Thanks in advance for any assistance and enjoy your Trapper! I’m planning to take my Colt .45 Trapper out to the range in a couple of days.
Dave
Great site! Question, what size Marble’s front sight did you get….height and width ? I have a Trapper and need to replace the front Blade with a bead.
Thanks
Dave Wheeler