In college I used to shoot a lot of trap and plink with a .22. For the last 15 years I've shot very little.
For several years I've thought about buying a handgun for target shooting, but never got around to it (ya know tha argument: I don't really need it, I won't shoot it much, yada, yada, yada). With all the recent HC proposals I started to consider it more seriously. And then somebody broke into my house. On a sunny Sunday afternoon. When I was only gone for an hour and there was a pick up in the drive way.
I live in the country and frequently wouldn't even bother to lock the door. I know most of the people on the gravel road and while I'm not friends with any of them, there aren't any "bad neighbors", no touble making teens around. there aren't that many strangers.
The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that the folks who broke in did not care if I was home or not. I had my old .22 and a very loooong 16 ga single shot, but these did not seem like ideal home defense weapons, so I about 3 months ago bought a Mossberg 500 w/18.5" barrel and pistol grip. This past Monday I bought a Ruger .45 P97. Today I picked up an S&W 686 4".
So anyway here are a few first impressions:
Mossberg: At 20 feet I can pretty much hit what I want firing from the hip. 9 shot heavy target loads blow a 5 inch hole through 1/2" particle board. I've fired it aiming it (i.e holding it up) with 6 shot heavy upland game loads with no problem. I was a little leery because I kept reading about people smacking themselves in the face doing this. I haven't tried 00 or anything real heavy so that may be it. If you've got one of these and want to aim it, use birdshot. It'll still hit hard at home defense ranges and won't bite you. I put a Choate top folding stock on it to make it versatile. Its well made and you can fire it folded or not, but I was suprised at how much weight it added.
Ruger: Picked it up Monday. Shot 15 rounds at a paper plate from 25 feet. Only hit the target 6 times, all low and left. Tried it from 15 feet and hit 10 out of 15. Still low and to the left, but not as bad. Tuesday shot nother 30 rounds from 15 feet. I did much better putting 24 in the target and not shooting low and left.
Tonght only fired it 3 times - from 25 feet. Put them all in the plate, maybe a 5 inch group (I didn't measure it). I was suprised by:
How lousy a shot I was;
How much I improved in such a short time. I mean I know I'm a lousy shot and its going to take a lot of practice, but still it seemed like a major improvement for only 63 round;
How mild the recoil was (230gr FMJ) and how "non-loud" it was. I used EAR foam plugs which I use on the motorcycle.
Tonight I shot the 686 12 times from 25 feet. 9 .38spl.130gr, FMJ and 3 .357, 158gr swc. I put 11 of the 12 in the plate and grouped them much closer together and closer to the center than with the Ruger. I was suprised by:
How much easier it was to shoot the Smith accurately than the Ruger;
How mild it recoiled (less than the .45);
How little difference in noise and recoil there was between the .38's and the .357's.
I've been reading about people being bother by recoil and noise. All I can say is shoot a short 12 ga a bunch. It's much, much louder and recoils a whole bunch harder. BTW I'm not a huge, muscle bound guy by any stretch.
I will probably continue to lurk more than I post since I'm not all that knowledgeable.
BTW I also joined the NRA
For several years I've thought about buying a handgun for target shooting, but never got around to it (ya know tha argument: I don't really need it, I won't shoot it much, yada, yada, yada). With all the recent HC proposals I started to consider it more seriously. And then somebody broke into my house. On a sunny Sunday afternoon. When I was only gone for an hour and there was a pick up in the drive way.
I live in the country and frequently wouldn't even bother to lock the door. I know most of the people on the gravel road and while I'm not friends with any of them, there aren't any "bad neighbors", no touble making teens around. there aren't that many strangers.
The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that the folks who broke in did not care if I was home or not. I had my old .22 and a very loooong 16 ga single shot, but these did not seem like ideal home defense weapons, so I about 3 months ago bought a Mossberg 500 w/18.5" barrel and pistol grip. This past Monday I bought a Ruger .45 P97. Today I picked up an S&W 686 4".
So anyway here are a few first impressions:
Mossberg: At 20 feet I can pretty much hit what I want firing from the hip. 9 shot heavy target loads blow a 5 inch hole through 1/2" particle board. I've fired it aiming it (i.e holding it up) with 6 shot heavy upland game loads with no problem. I was a little leery because I kept reading about people smacking themselves in the face doing this. I haven't tried 00 or anything real heavy so that may be it. If you've got one of these and want to aim it, use birdshot. It'll still hit hard at home defense ranges and won't bite you. I put a Choate top folding stock on it to make it versatile. Its well made and you can fire it folded or not, but I was suprised at how much weight it added.
Ruger: Picked it up Monday. Shot 15 rounds at a paper plate from 25 feet. Only hit the target 6 times, all low and left. Tried it from 15 feet and hit 10 out of 15. Still low and to the left, but not as bad. Tuesday shot nother 30 rounds from 15 feet. I did much better putting 24 in the target and not shooting low and left.
Tonght only fired it 3 times - from 25 feet. Put them all in the plate, maybe a 5 inch group (I didn't measure it). I was suprised by:
How lousy a shot I was;
How much I improved in such a short time. I mean I know I'm a lousy shot and its going to take a lot of practice, but still it seemed like a major improvement for only 63 round;
How mild the recoil was (230gr FMJ) and how "non-loud" it was. I used EAR foam plugs which I use on the motorcycle.
Tonight I shot the 686 12 times from 25 feet. 9 .38spl.130gr, FMJ and 3 .357, 158gr swc. I put 11 of the 12 in the plate and grouped them much closer together and closer to the center than with the Ruger. I was suprised by:
How much easier it was to shoot the Smith accurately than the Ruger;
How mild it recoiled (less than the .45);
How little difference in noise and recoil there was between the .38's and the .357's.
I've been reading about people being bother by recoil and noise. All I can say is shoot a short 12 ga a bunch. It's much, much louder and recoils a whole bunch harder. BTW I'm not a huge, muscle bound guy by any stretch.
I will probably continue to lurk more than I post since I'm not all that knowledgeable.
BTW I also joined the NRA