Due to some job related financial setbacks over the last few years, it's been a looonnnggg time since I have been to the range (measured in years, not weeks or days). It may be a while before I get to go again, which is a shame, because today I stunk up the place.
Since the last time I have shot a handgun it seems I have become old. I can't see, I have no hand strength plus I have a little arthritis coming on (my hands were curling up by the end of the range session). My shoulders are weak, especially the one I dislocated 1 1/2 years ago, and did I mention I can't see in those dimly lit ranges.
I shot three guns that I have never fired before and my carry gun. My carry gun is a 642 and it beat my hand like a rented mule. I remember it having some stout recoil, but this time it hurt a little. Most of the shots were low and left.
The next gun was a Glock 26. It ran like a top but, again, everything was low and left. I'm sure it was my fault and not the gun. Recoil was easy to handle as expected.
Next on the agenda was an LCP, which I had heard would smack your hand pretty good. On the contrary, I thought it was a powder puff with not much recoil at all and it ran like a top also. Again, most of the shots low and left (anyone sense a pattern here).
Last was a cheap ATI 5" 1911. I now know why they sell these things cheap. Out of the 50 rounds I put through it I would say better than 1/3 were FTF. I tried the supplied ACT magazine and a Wilson Combat with the same results. Sometimes the first round would fail to feed, sometimes it was in the middle of the mag. When it did fire, I was little more accurate with it but still, say it with me, I was low and left.
I still had fun and the only thing that made it less frustrating was the fact that most of the other people on the side of the range I was using were as bad as me or worse. I used to be a pretty decent shot, but as Archie Bunker used to sing "Those were the days".
Since the last time I have shot a handgun it seems I have become old. I can't see, I have no hand strength plus I have a little arthritis coming on (my hands were curling up by the end of the range session). My shoulders are weak, especially the one I dislocated 1 1/2 years ago, and did I mention I can't see in those dimly lit ranges.
I shot three guns that I have never fired before and my carry gun. My carry gun is a 642 and it beat my hand like a rented mule. I remember it having some stout recoil, but this time it hurt a little. Most of the shots were low and left.
The next gun was a Glock 26. It ran like a top but, again, everything was low and left. I'm sure it was my fault and not the gun. Recoil was easy to handle as expected.
Next on the agenda was an LCP, which I had heard would smack your hand pretty good. On the contrary, I thought it was a powder puff with not much recoil at all and it ran like a top also. Again, most of the shots low and left (anyone sense a pattern here).
Last was a cheap ATI 5" 1911. I now know why they sell these things cheap. Out of the 50 rounds I put through it I would say better than 1/3 were FTF. I tried the supplied ACT magazine and a Wilson Combat with the same results. Sometimes the first round would fail to feed, sometimes it was in the middle of the mag. When it did fire, I was little more accurate with it but still, say it with me, I was low and left.
I still had fun and the only thing that made it less frustrating was the fact that most of the other people on the side of the range I was using were as bad as me or worse. I used to be a pretty decent shot, but as Archie Bunker used to sing "Those were the days".