Tough Day

Tough day yesterday. I spent the morning at the gun range, then played a round of golf in the afternoon (it's good to be retired).

The round of golf was forgettable, but I thought I'd pass along my notes from the range session.

First of all, I'm not a handgun expert. My (limited) military experience was with an M-16. I'm a also a long-time hunter. That means most of my 'expertise' is with a small selection of long guns. I'm a casual plinker with handguns. I do, however, have my CHL. I generally tote along a Springfield Armory XD .45, but that's a fairly large and weighty piece of iron (well, actually, polymer and steel, but it's still big and heavy regardless).  Since it gets pretty hot down here, my standard attire is usually shorts and a T-shirt. That makes the XD difficult to conceal, so my SOP is to keep it in my truck rather than on my person. However, given the latest shoot-out in Walmart, I've decided it makes more sense to have my weapon closer to hand (hey, if you're not safe in Walmart, you're not safe anywhere). So I rummaged around in my gun safe and came up with some candidates for everyday carry.

(Side note: for someone who's not a handgun aficionado, I seem to have a lot of them. I bought my first one way back when, during the gun-control debate leading up to the Brady Bill. I bought my most recent one when obama was elected president. I bought several in-between, sometimes in response to more threatened anti-gun legislation, sometimes when I spotted a bargain. I figured they were an investment, either monetarily or for protecting my family.)

I took three to the range: a Rossi snubnose .38 revolver, a mid-sized Taurus .38 revolver, and a Taurus Millineum 9mm.

Starting with the smallest, I tried out the Rossi. Like most revolvers, it was simple to operate and reliable. It went "BANG" every time I pulled the trigger. However, it felt ergonomically uncomfortable (my hands are on the large size, and the Rossi felt tiny), and shot way high (see below). In fact, the first few shots were almost off the paper. Some of that is no doubt operator error, but even when I shifted my point of aim lower it still shot too high for my taste. If I wanted to hit a bad guy center mass I'd need to aim at his crotch. Not a bad idea, but hard to remember when the adrenalin is surging.

Rossi .38 snubnose

Next up was the Taurus .38. This one felt much more comfortable, and was the most accurate of the bunch (see below.) It still shot a little high, but some practice would fix that.

Taurus mid-size .38

One thing that both revolvers had in common was plain iron sights. They shared two problems. One, they were not adjustable. Two, they were dark in color, which made them very difficult to see against the black background of the target. I think there's a little dab of luminescent paint in their future.

Finally, I hauled out the 9mm semi-auto. I had high hopes for this one. The size makes it practical for concealed carry. I test-fired a friend's a few weeks ago, and really liked it. Ergonomically it felt good. Sights were of the three-white-dot variety, with good visibility. Results, however, were disappointing. The trigger pull was smooth, but loonnngggg, with no staging. It was hard to hold the sights on target during that never-ending pull. The trigger is DA-only, which IMO is part of the problem. (My friend evidently had the more recent G2 version, which is SA/DA.)

The shot pattern was a little low and a little to the left (see below). That's fixable, either by adjusting the sights or by me learning to shoot better. But the biggest issue with this weapon was consistent feeding problems when I used an extended magazine. It worked flawlessly with the factory mag (10 round capacity), but when I inserted a 'high' capacity magazine (12 rounds - not much of an increase) it jammed when feeding a new round into the chamber. I think the added weight of those two extra rounds was just enough to pull the magazine down slightly, getting it out of position relative to the feed ramp. Bottom line - this one needs a trip to the gunsmith, and even then I'll still be stuck with that DA-only trigger. Not so good.

It was fun, however, to snap off a three-round string of rapid fire, with decent results.

At the end of the day, the Taurus .38 revolver is the leader in the clubhouse. However, I'd still like the extra rounds that come with a semi-auto, so I guess my quest will continue.