Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Well Dang, Nighthawk

Many thanks again for posting Pacecars, i asked Wife if i could learn to post pics with my iphone, the look she gave meant it would be a major undertaking LOL!

Damn fine looking shooting irons there LD, never heard of Bul, i'll look 'em up ; ]

Second pic is pistol laying in the middle of the spent brass, i was sitting to the left of the wheel on Wifes little 6 foot bushpig, right knee was braced against tail wheel bracket.

Third pic shows a bit of sloppy shooting, this load is more accurate than the others, was shooting a bit faster today, 50 yard shot is a joke, but may have hit a pig anyway.

Fourth pic shows a piece of brass right at the leading edge of rear sight on pistol, about 5 feet away, 1151 fps.

These bullets mic .357 inch, but being coated are very slick, a loaded round will drop in and drop right out of the chamber, N105 is a very slow powder for 9mm, have three pounds of it, so hoping this is just a safe +P load.

Those mammoth grips are stunning! Guessing they cost more than many factory 1911s do?

Gunner congratulations! Got a link to the holster maker you are using?

Damn, what a busy afternoon, went and voted TRUMP in the OK primaries, went looking for more N105 powder and found it had been discontinued, well, building a load with a non available powder is no help to anyone here, so, grabbed the Longshot and worked up to the very same velocity of 1150 fps with 5.7 grains under the coated 147's, same primer, same col, brass landed in the same place and primers looked the same too, didn't have time to shoot on target but know it'll be more accurate than me anyway.

2ndwind, Thanks, iirc you're in NC, if so the holster builder is right under you in SC, i.t. idiot here and can't post a link, but if you'll google "The Southern Trapper" i bet it'll pop up, i went with The Avenger crossdraw holster as it has a tight loop for your belt dead center in the back of the holster, absolutely no sag out with that one, plus, i can't think of a better solution being seated in a vehicle or church/restaurant than to simply reach into a partially buttoned coat and yank it out.

Of course being aware of muzzle sweep getting it out and ready, but still, none quicker or quieter for me.

BTW, the steel core 30dollargunbelts for around 50 bucks shipped still kick butt.

Also, couldn't sleep last night and was researching powders, ordered some 137gr hammer bullets, they're a cup nose solid design, should really wreak havoc and go deep, guess i'm trying to build faith in the cartridge, damn it's little ; ]

Thanks! They’re proud of the mammoth, but I figure you can’t take it with ya…

Jerry, you and I REALLY need to finish those adoption papers we talked about

Congrats on one heck of a 2011

I had a night hawk talon and it was one of the nicest, sweetest shootings semi-custom 1911s Ive ever owned. Was light years ahead of the Wilson cqb I had at the same time. Extremely accurate. Would easily hit steel between 50-100yds. That said, the Les Baers and Dan wesson Valors did the same for a good bit less. They werent quite as pretty, but they were the equal in shooting and accuracy

Very sweet pistol Gunner!!!! Like I was telling you in a text, my buddy recently bought a Staccato 1911/2011 9mm. He wanted me to go shooting with him, to do some testing with it, right after he got it. I will say these 1911's have some damn nice triggers. Made my other pistols feel like they are severely lacking. I'm sure your Nighthawk is superior to my buddies new pistol, but I'm wondering how they compare? I don't know much about 1911's, but all of my buddies tell me I need to have one. Kind of like a 30-06: It's un American to not have one!!! Here's my buddies. Or at least it's one of these in the pic:


No pictures of the targets we shot, but it lives up to its accuracy claims. His is only a single stack 9mm though. I'd rather have the double stack, like your Nighthawk. Pretty sweet pistol buddy. Thanks for sharing!

LOL Thanks Big G, if we do, you'll make the fourth son i have here at the campfire, no worries, i have enough guns to go around, funny stuff, i did embarrass myself back in 1986, went to a clinic in Houston, put a load in a cup for a sterile bud of mine and his wife, they have four sons too ; ]


Thanks 1911A1, it's a great little pistol, 137 Hammer bullets came off the truck last night, soon as the rain leaves today i'll be out at the load shop and chrono, will be looking for 1200+ fps with Power Pistol powder.

Gunchamp, agreed old buddy, i have Les Baer in 45 ACP and DW in 10mm, both shoot WAY better than i ever will, great guns bud.

BSA, very nice my friend, that Staccato looks great, have heard about them, but never fired/seen one, agreed on 1911 triggers, none better i've felt on any semi auto, i'll take all the help i can get that a good clean trigger gives, across the weapons spectrum, Thanks for the pics Bud.

9mm??? Most of your rifles use PRIMERS larger than 9mm :-)

That's funny Biebs old buddy, speaking of the little 9MM and drill bits:

Power Pistol powder didn't like compression with the long 137gr Hammer bullets this morning, good old Longshot is more compact and doesn't mind a bit of mashing on, second extrapolated shot with 6.3 gr Longshot, CCI 550's and COL of 1.160" ran the 137 Hammers 1198 fps, probably could have got more, but that's more than enough for my intended purposes, accuracy check later.

Could nearly reach over and grab empty cases with butt parked on shop back porch slab, maybe 4 feet, i think it's going to be a great load.

This 137gr Hammer bullet load over Longshot is the most accurate to date, i fired braced off knee this time at 20 yards and put 5 into a 2 x 2.5" circle with combat hold on bullseye, just shot lengthways through five metal 3LB coffee cans full of water, Thanks god for the sixth 2lb can sitting on it's butt i put on the back, still enough power to pop the lid off, the bullet was laying on the ground.

You can see from the pics that Pacecars is going to put up in a bit that the nose just started to open, hit those cans at less than 6 yards, near 1200 fps impact velocity.

Bullet drilled a straight hole in the very last can at the end of it's travel, i would have no problem busting the biggest boar hog through the shoulders out to 35-40 yards with this Hammer cup nosed solid load.

Thanks in advance for posting pics again Pacecars.

Anytime sir!

Thanks again Bud!

If you get the chance, try some of Hornady's 115gr. HAP bullets. They're a "match hollowpoint" bullet that shoots extremely well. They are NOT made to open up, or expand at all, just HPs for accuracy's sake. That, they do in spades. I haven't shot their 124/125 HAPs, but the 115s cluster into nice little groups without much heartache (or load development). Supposedly, they're made to hold together when shooting steel targets, like for the Steel Challenge matches. I know my 9mms really like them.

They're sold in bulk boxes of 3000, too, so you a substantial break in price if you buy by the case.

one of these days I need to save up my pennies buy me a Nighthawk I guess help support companies it's fairly close to home.. not to mention they're arguably the best 1911 money can buy according to most. I guess that battle would be between Nighthawk and Wilson?
okay I just looked and it would appear Nighthawk and Wilson are made in the same factory? I'm going to start a new thread to get some education on this..