Well finally got it today and put 40 rounds through it.
When they say "Widebody" they mean it! The gun's slide is the only "wide" part, and I'd guess it's at least as wide as my Colt .45's.
But for some reason, this mini-auto just "points" in my hand. Ergonomics seemed perfect, with my thumb easily able to snick off the safety.
Fit and finish seem great except for a couple of moderately sharp edges, one of them being on the rear of the safety.
Trigger movement is better than I expected, with the double action being very smooth and sweet, breaking a little earlier than the single action does. SA is a little on the heavy side and has a little creep before it goes, but when it does it's very crisp. Of these two characteristics, the creepiness bothered me the most.
But neither seemed to hinder the outstanding offhand and benchrest accuracy of this little pistol.
Oh, by the way, one criticism about the gun that everybody has is that the trigger (SA) must be darn near touching the frame before it breaks. I am absolutely in agreeance with this criticism, the darn thing needs a trigger stop or something. However, I found that this was easily overcome with technique (pressing the trigger with my fingertip, no big deal).
Sights are low and cramped, but usable, the rear amounting to a driftable blue notch and the front left shiny and stainless. I immediately blacked the front one out with a magic marker for target purposes. The gun shot 6" to the left, but the rear sight was easily drifted to a perfect point of aim - that is, I aimed right below an orange bullseye, and that's exactly where my bullets were hitting.
There were no malfunctions of any kind throughout the 40 rounds of shooting. I used UMC ball and CCI Blazer ball, since the HP's I ordered haven't arrived yet. Interestingly, the extra mag. I bought would not fall free from the gun at the beginning of the shoot, but at the end would fall just like it was supposed to when the mag. release was pressed.
Recoil was surprising for such a heavy pistol. It was every bit as sharp as my alloy-framed .38 with hot loads. However, there wasn't the near-uncontrollable muzzle flip that my .38 has; the .32 seemed to kick straight back into the web of my hand. I felt I could shoot it very fast if necessary. What may have made the recoil so painful may have been the slide possibly scraping the web of my hand, or perhaps it was the sharp little safety coming back so hard. Whatever the cause, it was very minor and more an annoyance than anything. But I was sure ready to quit after 40 rounds.
I was also surpised at how loud the .32 is.
Ejection was interesting. I tried to catch the brass in a hand-mounted brass catcher bag, but it seemed to go in every direction, so I quit. Probably won't be reloading for this gun, which is ok, since accuracy with ball was outstanding.
Offhand accuracy was impressive enough that I benched it at 30 feet just to see what I'd get. Worst groups were about 2.5 inches, and my best one was a 2 incher with the CCI ball, 3 going into one ragged hole and the 4th opening the group up. Oddly, I think I could do much better than this but both my hand and eyes were getting tired, so I'll try again soon.
Despite some of the quirks of the gun, I really like it. I'm thinking it will be reliable enough to bet my life on based on what I've seen, and it seems more accurate and shootable than my alloy .38.
Oh, and the tip-up barrel is a great idea. More later.
When they say "Widebody" they mean it! The gun's slide is the only "wide" part, and I'd guess it's at least as wide as my Colt .45's.
But for some reason, this mini-auto just "points" in my hand. Ergonomics seemed perfect, with my thumb easily able to snick off the safety.
Fit and finish seem great except for a couple of moderately sharp edges, one of them being on the rear of the safety.
Trigger movement is better than I expected, with the double action being very smooth and sweet, breaking a little earlier than the single action does. SA is a little on the heavy side and has a little creep before it goes, but when it does it's very crisp. Of these two characteristics, the creepiness bothered me the most.
But neither seemed to hinder the outstanding offhand and benchrest accuracy of this little pistol.
Oh, by the way, one criticism about the gun that everybody has is that the trigger (SA) must be darn near touching the frame before it breaks. I am absolutely in agreeance with this criticism, the darn thing needs a trigger stop or something. However, I found that this was easily overcome with technique (pressing the trigger with my fingertip, no big deal).
Sights are low and cramped, but usable, the rear amounting to a driftable blue notch and the front left shiny and stainless. I immediately blacked the front one out with a magic marker for target purposes. The gun shot 6" to the left, but the rear sight was easily drifted to a perfect point of aim - that is, I aimed right below an orange bullseye, and that's exactly where my bullets were hitting.
There were no malfunctions of any kind throughout the 40 rounds of shooting. I used UMC ball and CCI Blazer ball, since the HP's I ordered haven't arrived yet. Interestingly, the extra mag. I bought would not fall free from the gun at the beginning of the shoot, but at the end would fall just like it was supposed to when the mag. release was pressed.
Recoil was surprising for such a heavy pistol. It was every bit as sharp as my alloy-framed .38 with hot loads. However, there wasn't the near-uncontrollable muzzle flip that my .38 has; the .32 seemed to kick straight back into the web of my hand. I felt I could shoot it very fast if necessary. What may have made the recoil so painful may have been the slide possibly scraping the web of my hand, or perhaps it was the sharp little safety coming back so hard. Whatever the cause, it was very minor and more an annoyance than anything. But I was sure ready to quit after 40 rounds.
I was also surpised at how loud the .32 is.
Ejection was interesting. I tried to catch the brass in a hand-mounted brass catcher bag, but it seemed to go in every direction, so I quit. Probably won't be reloading for this gun, which is ok, since accuracy with ball was outstanding.
Offhand accuracy was impressive enough that I benched it at 30 feet just to see what I'd get. Worst groups were about 2.5 inches, and my best one was a 2 incher with the CCI ball, 3 going into one ragged hole and the 4th opening the group up. Oddly, I think I could do much better than this but both my hand and eyes were getting tired, so I'll try again soon.
Despite some of the quirks of the gun, I really like it. I'm thinking it will be reliable enough to bet my life on based on what I've seen, and it seems more accurate and shootable than my alloy .38.
Oh, and the tip-up barrel is a great idea. More later.
