Most pleasant surprise?

L

lockedcj7

New member
What handgun has surprised you the most with how accurate, smooth, reliable etc. it has been?

Mine has been a S&W 457. It was in the "value line" but I think its value far exceeds the price, especially since I bought it used for a song. Mine is light, accurate, smooth and actually fits my hand. I also love that it's a DA/SA with a de-cocker thumb safety and magazine disconnect.

I know not everybody appreciates some of those features but they work for me.
 
My S&W Model 64 police trade in from J&G Sales, $299 and basically brand new, pre-lock. Very smooth DAO trigger, very accurate and perfectly reliable. It was a steal, to say the least.
 
My Model 929. Came from the factory with an 8 lb double action and 3 lb single action. With my current loads it prints one ragged hole at 25 yards, 135 grain bullets with 3.2 grains of VhitaVhorie N 320. Use at your own discretion.
 
Sig X-Five. It's the one gun that from the very first time I shot it, I was amazed at how good I was with it.
 
ruger single six 5.5" 22lr/wmr. i got a 20yr old used one for $220. it had pachmayr grips but was missing the 22wmr cylinder. i bought an 8 shot 22wmr drop-in replacement cylinder from midway for $100 and can hit 2" groups at 50' standing onehanded. i dont deserve such consistent, easy accuracy at my age with my eyes. it resides permanently in my bob with 200 rds of 22lr and 100 rds of 22wmr speer gold dot for defense.
 
I paid around $135 plus shipping and FFL for a Ruger Single Six recently. Apparently no one else bid on it because the finish was rough and it was missing the cylinder pin release button. A bottle of cold blue and some elbow grease helped the finish. $20 or so paid for the missing parts. There was nothing at all wrong with it mechanically. It functions perfectly and is a joy to shoot.
 
S&W 638 snub-nose J-frame. Most of my collection consisted of large/heavy range revolvers and compact/sub-compact semis for carry. For me, overall accuracy, fun, and shoot-ability seemed directly correlated to the size/weight of the gun.... until the J-frame. That tipped the scale toward revolvers for me. Despite being significantly smaller, I shoot it as well as my semis in DA, and better in SA, and it really disappears on me (AIWB), not to mention is more comfortable. Course I had to get over the capacity/reload issues for carry, but I guess I'm just a wheel gun guy.
 
I could pick a few different for differing reasons but immediately coming to mind is a Star Model 30-MI "Starfire" that I found at a gun show. The price, the odd look of the pistol and the fact that it had three mags sparked my interest - but picking it up, feeling the slide move on the frame and then just a couple of single action dry-fires absolutely made the sale.

I can't say the "pleasant surprise" came at the range -- the surprise was at the gun show table. At the range, it very much delivered what I had hoped: accurate, extremely easy & fun to shoot, mostly because it is an extremely HEAVY handgun with a very, very nice trigger for a stock production gun.

10 minutes before I bought it, I had no idea that there would be a dedicated place in my safe for a Star. Now, 400rds in, this is just one very cool handgun to own and shoot!
 
S&W 638 snub-nose J-frame. Most of my collection consisted of large/heavy range revolvers and compact/sub-compact semis for carry. For me, overall accuracy, fun, and shoot-ability seemed directly correlated to the size/weight of the gun.... until the J-frame. That tipped the scale toward revolvers for me. Despite being significantly smaller, I shoot it as well as my semis in DA, and better in SA, and it really disappears on me (AIWB), not to mention is more comfortable. Course I had to get over the capacity/reload issues for carry, but I guess I'm just a wheel gun guy.
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I came here to post about my 638. I love that little gun. The trigger has broke in very nicely and is so smooth. After I put the hogue monogrip on it so i can get all my fingers on it, my accuracy has only improved. I shoot it better than any semi auto I have shot. I surprise myself how well I shoot that snub.
 
I could pick a few different for differing reasons but immediately coming to mind is a Star Model 30-MI "Starfire" that I found at a gun show. The price, the odd look of the pistol and the fact that it had three mags sparked my interest - but picking it up, feeling the slide move on the frame and then just a couple of single action dry-fires absolutely made the sale.

I can't say the "pleasant surprise" came at the range -- the surprise was at the gun show table. At the range, it very much delivered what I had hoped: accurate, extremely easy & fun to shoot, mostly because it is an extremely HEAVY handgun with a very, very nice trigger for a stock production gun.

10 minutes before I bought it, I had no idea that there would be a dedicated place in my safe for a Star. Now, 400rds in, this is just one very cool handgun to own and shoot!
Click to expand...

Stars are freekin addictive...

On the upside, after you fire off your 15+1, due to the weight,
and if still needed, it can be a lovely skull-crusher :D

It actually isn't all that heavy, if you compare it to older handguns...
hitting the gym on a regular basis makes it feel considerably less weighty ;)
 
Stoeger Cougar 8045. Very soft shooting, comfortable, accurate, and relatively inexpensive.

Actually, I wasn't too surprised since I already owned two Beretta mini-Cougars, (one made in USA, the other in Italy) when I bought it. But of course, I didn't know for sure if the quality of the Turkish-made pistol would be as good. It has been.
 
most pleasant and least....

I found an old Stoeger Luger 22lr quite some time back at a local pawn shop that was pretty rough to say the least. The owner said he found it just thrown in a cardboard box of junk, had no clue how long it had been in there. I was in the habit of picking up odd misfit 22 pistols for my sons to enjoy on range days, and the price was right so I bought it.
It came with a magazine with no follower in it so I used a follower from a Ruger Mark II magazine and it worked like a champ. After cleaning up the cruddy little mess it proved to be one heck of a smooth, scarily accurate shooter. That toggle action I had not really been familiar with and it is really a nifty little fun-gun to shoot. As crazy as it sounds it is not far behind the Mark II that I've had for years with a 10" bull barrel in accuracy, and shoots circles around it's smaller cousin I own that's a standard 4 something inched tapered barrel.
The least part when I got it home was the cockroach carcass that fell out of it when I started rinsing the internals with some cleaner spray after removing the grips! :eek:
Never had that happen before!
I did say it was a cruddy little mess when I bought it right? ;)
 
The very worn looking S&W 19-5 that followed me home a few years ago for a screaming price. I still remember, $325 OTD with a Milt Sparks holster, a Hogue monogrip (it's goncalo alves or similar wood) with what look like Millett sights on it. The action is smooth, lock up tight and does it SHOOT! Any group at 25-yards bigger than my palm is completely my fault. It's a bit of handful with full-power .357 loads but an absolute kitten with any .38 Special load.
 
My first Bulgarian Makarov.

I bought it just to see what Maks were all about. The gun was an old police gun rated as "good", meaning essentially that it was mechanically good with noticeable wear.

The gun looked pretty rough, but it was all just dirt and crud, and a lot of holster wear. Gun cleaned up and shot extremely well. I liked it so much that I made it a carry piece and have since added eight other Makarovs to my collection.

Makarovs are rugged, super-reliable, and shoot very well. I think that they are under-appreciated pistols.
 
S&W SD9VE and SD40VE.

Low cost, entry level guns. The 1st Gen SW9/SW40 Sigmas were real dogs and gave these guns a bad reputation. However, the 2nd Gen SD9/SD40 and 3rd Gen SD9VE/SD40VE are really great guns.

The ergonomics are very good, accuracy is great, and they have a reputation for excellent reliability (mine have had no problems).
 
This is my gun that goes back into my shooting bag right after it's been cleaned. It started out as a Ruger 22/45 Target Model with a 5 1/2" barrel. I call it my 22/45 Short. The barrel has been shortened to 3" and the bolt lightened. I shoot it as well as I do my 5 1/2" version or Lite version. Took a while to tune and break it in so it was rerialable with SV ammo. A costly but worthy investment for me. Anyone who shoots it is really surprised at it's performance. The balance and weight work as a great combination with the short barrel and Volquartsen frame.
Now a friend has me working with him to build an exact copy of mine for him.


 
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