August Range Report

Went to the range.

Corky was supposed to come, but duty called and he got stuck. Chuckles came.

I brought the Smith and Wesson 686 revolver with a 6inch barrel, and a 150 .38 Special and .357 Magnum ammo from Magtech. I wanted to give the .45 a break. Here is some single action at 25 feet. Left 2 are .357, right 2 are .38:

Not too shabby. I love how the .38 feels like a .22 after firing the magnum. 2 fliers on that first target, and one off the paper on the lower left 3rd target. I can't see the target. It's blurry. I can see the front sight all nice and sharp. How do you do both?

Anyhoo, on to Double Action.. uh... action:

How you like that, huh? The four in the center chest were 4 in a row. Double action. Just pulling through on the trigger, no staging. (see WWTD?) Look at the front sight, hold breath, and steady squeeze. That set felt good.

Here is the 'scratch' target. I used this for flinching drills, loading less than 6 beans in the barrel and randomizing where the empty cylinder/s was. I flinch less these days. I still flinch. Not too bad:

Oh, that upper left hand corner, over the shoulder? That's Chuckles' silver dollar size holes in paper. He fired my revolver just to see. He was aiming for the barcode on the target. He's good. Much better than me. And he really likes my revolver.

Do you notice something? The flaws. There are just generally right of the bull this time. Not down and right as with the 1911. I'm not doing anything different with stance or grip. Maybe even high. It's just a different gun. That scratch target is mostly in the 7 ring, too. Not enough to win anything, but all on-body-target. Hmmm.

I got to shoot a couple of Chuckles' new guns. He has a S&W 686SSR now, too. He is less happy with it than with mine. The blades of the rear sight jiggle front to back for some reason on new S&Ws. Why is that?

He also has a brand new SIG. Model 229 SAS. Double action only. No safety other than the one you keep between your ears. There is a slide release and a take-down lever on the frame. And you don't NEED the slide release to operate the gun left handed, just the right hand to pull back on the slide. Still, a thumb release that is ambidextrous would be nice. 12 .40 caliber rounds in a double stack magazine. It works like a revolver; in other words, like a fork. You just pick it up and it works, pretty much. If there is a round in teh chamber. I was VERY accurate with this gun. I shot better with this than I did with Corky's SIG 226 9mm DA/SA. Good shots hitting a penny size bull. Then the next shot hitting it again. I am a much better shot with this than I am with the 1911. It just feels comfortable, hitting where I think it/will it. I even liked the sights, to my surprise. 2 vertical dots, foresight is tritium. And if Maryland ever gets shall-issue conceal-carry this is a slightly better carry arm, since it is de-horned and lighter, more compact. And the caliber still starts with a .4.

DAMMIT CHUCKLES! NOW I NEED A NEW GUN!

Recoil management was a breeze, exzpezially after shooting a bunch of .357.

Here's a target I shot. You can tell where I concentrated. I was aiming for the bottom 2 dots on successive partial mags. Where I didn't concentrate as well, the shots weren't bad either:

What a quandry. I feel like a blasphemer in the House of Browning. Why did I buy a 1911 again? I sorta had a feeling about this. Remember here? Double action can be good for the n00b shooter. So what to do? Rush out and buy a SIG? No. My next purchase is a rifle. I'm in no hurry to get a 'Carry Piece' because their is no carry in MD. So I can mull this over for a while.

Thinking on a Carry Piece, though, I always figured if I didn't carry a Government size 1911, I'd carry a lighter smaller Commander size 1911 or, maybe, an Officer size, all chambered in .45ACP. If I listened to my own advice, and I went with a gun I was good with and loved shooting, as of right now I'd sell the Springfield 1911 and run and get that SIG 229. It was that much of an impression on me. And that's why I need the serious mull-over time.

Before I do anything I am going to try to get some REAL training (WWTD? She say, "Get training and practice, stoopid!" in a snarky manner) this fall with the 1911. Fix the shooter before thinking about fixin' the shooting iron. I want some more borrow-time with that SIG. So I'll bring the 1911 and .357 to the range and make Corky and Chuckles play with those, while I put a lot more rounds down range with their XDs and SIGs. Need to research the SIG model. Maybe I'll find it jams like crazy when ever the sun sets or something. Or that it fall apart at the 500th round. Or breaks easy. Speak up you all in the peanut gallery if you have any info/rumors/trash talk for the SIG 229 SAS.

Maybe add that SIG to the tertiary list.....

And where do I turn in my "John Moses Browning Fan Club" badge? I think I violated the club by-laws by saying nice things about another pistol.