Yesterday, I decided that my range time was going to be of the “no fiddling, no hassles” sort — i.e. no adjusting sights, fiddling with scopes, etc., and definitely no malfunctions of the misfeed / bad ejection genre.
You know what that means, right?
Yup… that would be S&W Time, and only .357 Mag and .38 Special ammo needed for the trip, thank you.
And yes, I had an awful lot of fun and yes, it turned out to be a very long session. In fact, I had so much fun that I actually blew through every last round of my .38 Special practice ammo — I mean, there’s none left in Ye Olde Ammoe Locquere at all. (Ten guesses where I’ll be over the weekend…)
(I know, it’s not as cheap as buying online but then again, there aren’t any horrible $$$$hipping charges either. And I need a couple of odds and sods of a gunny nature anyway, so…)
Things learned while having fun:
1) I need to put some beefier grips on the little Model 10. When I tried some one-handed single-action drills, I damn nearly dropped the gun it turned so much in my hand. I’m looking for something in wood, like these:
2) I’m done shooting .357 Mag out of a 4″ barrel. Maybe it’s age, or maybe I’m just sick of being beaten up by a damn boolet, or both. So all the .357 Mag ammo has been banished to the back of the Locquere until I get a lever rifle thus chambered, or else a revolver with a 6″ or even 8″ barrel. Even the bedside gun (the shiny one) has been loaded with .38+P.
3) I really need to practice more with my revolvers. I’ve been spending so much time with rifles recently that I felt like a frigging amateur when at last I put a revolver in my hand: don’t even ask me how badly I shot the double-action drills. In fact, I ended up shooting more accurately and more consistently towards the end of the session, when I did the single-hand (left- and right) drills — because by then I’d re-familiarized myself with the trigger pulls of each gun. I was embarrassed b my performance; in fact, as I told Mr. Free Market, my target looked like somebody had been having blunderbuss practice.
So: gun show over the weekend, followed by MOAR RANGE TIME next week.
It could be worse; I could be living in Southern California or New York.
I have been loading some cast 145g SWC that are not quite magnum rounds but the are beyond 38+P’s. I found that was the most consistent and accurate load for my 4″ barreled model 65 for that bullet. My range time is mostly with a 1911 9mm and a Glock 10mm lately.
I do not spend much time with the rifle. Shooting a long gun skills do not diminish as quickly as pistol skills. I wish I could shoot as good as I did 20 years ago with the pistol.
The only bad time I have had with a revolver is when I run out of ammunition. Most of the revolvers I have owned fall closer to the 4″ barrel length. I’m not a fan of .357 magnum. Maybe that’s the reason. I do have a 6″ 686 I inherited that needs a range trip.
Grab some safariland Comp II speed loaders.
I’m right there with you on #2. While I carry a Sig C3 1911 in .45 ACP my wife can no longer rack the slide on pretty much any auto-pistol (even the “easier” ones in 9mm or .380). So her carry gun is a Ruger SP101 in .357 magnum. When we bought it I put exactly one (1) cylinder of magnum loads through it and made the decision to NEVER, ever do that again. Just a wee bit snappy with that tiny little barrel. Even though the stainless SP101 is built like a truck and is heavy for its size both the recoil and report were just terrible.
So we practice with .38 Special loads, and stoke it with .38+P (125-grain JHP’s) for social purposes.
I’ve got a .357 Taurus in stainless steel (back when they had just started making them on the S&W equipment) with a 6″ barrel; it looks like a clone of a Model 66. Shooting magnum loads in that big chunk-o’-steel is actually fun. It’s also got my favorite sights of any handgun I’ve ever had with a big red ramp front and a fully-adjustable rear with a white “U” outline. But it’s ‘way too big for a little guy like me to try to carry.
Each winter, I take a selection of hand guns south with me, a mix of center and rimfire. I have a membership at one of the local ranges. This year the theme was revolvers, 2 .22’s and 2 .357’s. I did most of my shooting with them. There were a couple of semi’s for “reasons”. I’m not sure why but my shooting felt more deliberate, perhaps because reloading took more time and action. My 22’s were a ruger sp101 and a gp100 my 357’s were a ruger gp100 and s&w 686+.
Thanks for the reminder. I need to do the same.
I’ve owned my S&W M67 for decades. It was a trade-in from some Fish & Game agency on the east coast. Very low mileage. Ordered it from Century Arms, of all places.
Some years later, a shootin’ buddy was helping out a family friend/widow by carting her late husband’s gunny stuff to a gun show. After the show, he happened to stop by my place for a visit. Still had some stuff that didn’t sell on board, one such being close to 1000 cast 38 caliber full wadcutters (not hollow base). He gave them to me. The M67 shoots them like a laser.
Also need to dust off my Cimarron Colt repro in 44-40 that you are so fond of.
A dozen or so years ago, I got a .327 Ruger SP101 and liked it. For some reason, it got traded for something I no longer have, yet I still had cases of .327 ammo. Because I am a problem solver, I ordered a Ruger GP100 with a 4.25-inch barrel. And because I can’t have a pistol caliber round without a long gun companion, I got a Henry Big Boy Classic in .327 too. See, no more problems.
I’m unassing all my .357 units and ammo as a result. I can shoot that SP100 all day long without a whimper. It also shoots .32 H&R Magnum, .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, and .32 ACP, one or more of which are almost always on sale SOMEWHERE. I would put the recoil at just over a hot 9mm, but I don’t give up much in the way of terminal ballistics on most .357 rounds.
I just pulled up my ammo log and saw that I purchased 3 cases of Prvi Partizan .32 ACP JHP back in 2021 for $300/case. I haven’t cracked that open yet and this could be the weekend if the weather holds up.
More fun.
We have a new generation of red Tree Rats in our neighborhood. I’m perfectly willing to live and let live, until one of the little bastards figured out how to come over our roof and raid dear wife’s beloved bird feeder. Snappy salute, “Yes dear. This means war”. Fortunately, I still have my trusty and long serving Daisy M850 Powerline air rifle. It proved to be the perfect solution for this same problem last summer. Yeah, it’s a glorified back yard safari, but you work with what you got.
This might prove interesting as well–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyfxinhOQxs