Don't get me wrong - I try to get better every time, and a crappy target is disappointing. But my idea of a good target is two rapid rounds of .357 on a three by five index card at 25 feet out of the double action only SP 101. I'll tack up five cards, fire off five rounds, reload, and fire five more. If all ten are on the cards I'm happy - not satisfied, but happy.
So two weeks or so ago, Breda and I met her friend the gun guy at the range for some fun. The gun guy is one of those rare folk who fortune seems to favor - at least in the firearms department. He is also one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. And the gun guy likes to share his toys - he showed up at the range with two arm loads of rifles and pistols in various cases. The gun guy has a collection that frankly makes me envious.
We got to try the Kel Tec PF 9 (verdict: recoil is too sharp for Breda's liking and there were two failures to eject and one light primer strike -- would it clear up after break in? Maybe), and the Walther P99 in .40 cal. (not bad, but it has one long trigger pull), and finally the above mentioned Python.
Colt Python Stainless steel six inch barrel - the gun guy bought it in Florida back in the eighties from a dealer who was going out of business - got it for around five hundred (serious money in those days). It is a beautiful gun.
I loaded it up with six .38 specials and let fly...dear god
twenty five feet off hand - oh my. I read the gun magazines and see the groups they shoot and figure that's what years of shooting experience and a ransom rest will get you, but now I know what the finest handgun ever made will do for you. The one flyer was because I aimed at the hole left by the first shot. After I brought it back to my original point of aim shots three through six all touched.
It's funny, I always thought the gun didn't make all that much difference. A good pistol was a good pistol and it's mostly up to the shooter, but the Colt's trigger operates by thought and the sights seem to know what you want. Damn, I see how it happens that shooters get obsessed with accuracy.
I find myself noodling around on Gunbroker - you know, just looking. Colt Python ... $1500.00 I wonder if Breda would notice if all the furniture suddenly went missing?
5 comments:
The furniture she would miss, look for something she never noticed before in a remote area of your life, that would be easy to get rid of... but that would likely be your favorite set of tools, an engine for that hot rod you are going to build one day or... you get the idea. One pistol that always shoots better than I can is all I ever asked for... I have two.
Smith and Wesson model 19, of almost any variation as long as it has a longish barrel. That will shoot as nicely, for about the $500 the Python brought back in th eighties.
I agree though.... you have it 100% correct. A really good pistol can make a shooter better at what he's doing.
Sell the furniture Mike. It's worth it. Breda will understand.
I have never met anyone who has sold a Python who did not speak of the act with derision and lamentation.
In Belgium we face severe gun laws and registration is long and painful. My "gun guy" offered me, as my first hand gun, a used stainless Python .357
Rather impulsive, and because I find it such a handsome gun, I bought it for around 1.000 USD. I did some practising on the range. It is so smooth and accurate and fun to use, that I can imagine this type has a lot of addicts, including me. Is there a revolver, still in production, with the same benefits?
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