Joe Williams
Shooter
- Jun 26, 2008
- 10,431
- 38
We had told Sean earlier in the school year that if his performance in school (grades, attendance, conduct, etc.) showed an appropriate level of maturity and responsibility, he could have his first handgun. He maintained perfect attendance for the whole year, stayed on the honor roll all year, ran for and was elected to student council, was selected for the advance placement program next year, and joined the cub scouts. We decided he'd squeaked by, and told him he'd earned his gun.
The decision was a VERY tough one for him. His budget was tight, and he had conflicting wishes as to what he wished to do with his gun. He shot an ACT Instructional League match a couple months ago, did well for his experience level (namely, he shot safely, and hit his targets,) and that really whetted his appetite for competitive shooting. He was really leaning toward a centerfire handgun for a while for just that purpose. But, I also talked quite a bit to him about the advantages of a rimfire handgun. Good for training for those competitions, good for training for basic marksmanship, good for hunting small game when he reaches that skill level, and lots of fun to shoot cheaply. He really liked the idea of being able to shoot 500+ rounds for $20... especially after I told him he had to pay for at least a little bit of his ammo
I also told him about the steel matches where he could use a .22 to compete with. The decision was tortuous for him, he studied a bunch, handled a bunch of guns, and agonized long and hard, before finally settling on a Ruger MKIII 22/45 target model with 5 1/2" bull barrel.
We picked it up out of layaway yesterday, Sean and I gave her a good cleaning last night, and we hit the range this morning before I went to work. It rained a bit, range was muddy, but we can't let little things like that stop an important range trip, especially since Cathy's Mom & Dad are in town and Sean wanted to shoot with Pap.
Sean fired the first five rounds through his gun, and his ongoing doubts about whether or not he'd made the right choice were immediately dispelled. As the pics below showed, the gun is quite accurate, and Sean nailed a heck of a group. We all put some rounds through it, a total of 130 today. Fired a mixture of Blazer, Federal Red Box, and Winchester Xpert. The gun gobbled them all up without a single hiccup. Only malfunction was ammo related, one of the Winchesters failed to fire. Firing pin strike was deep, round just didn't work. I put it back in the gun and tried it again, and it fired. The gun displayed very good accuracy with all three brands of ammo, though we made no effort to see which was better today. The gun feels good in the hands, and is obviously pleasant and a ton of fun to shoot. The trigger is light and crisp, with some take up. The sights are clear and highly visible. Takedown for cleaning is a pain in the rear. Ruger's .22 semi-autos have long had a rep for being difficult to field strip, and I've never thought it was particularly well deserved. Do it one or twice and it's a breeze. The MKIIIs, however, have a magazine safety, and there is now a convoluted series of "put the magazine in, take the magazine out, put the maazine in, etc.," steps added to the takedown procedure. It's clumsy, and inexcusable that Ruger made the process so needlessly complicated and irritating. It's enough to make me wonder how hard the magazine safety is to remove or deactivate. This is the only blot on the gun. Otherwise, this is a sub-$300 gun that provides great accuracy, apparently good reliability, feels good, and delivers bucket loads of fun and useful training.
On a not so bright note, we also put 50 rounds of RWS ammo through our PT92. This is a gun that has delivered fantastic accuracy for us. It's put Hornady Critical defense 115gr ammo into 1" groups at 15 yards, some of my Remington 115gr JHP handloads into 1 1/2" inch groups, even crappy WWB into three inches. With this RWS ammo, it didn't shoot groups, it shot patterns. Neither myself, Cathy, or her dad were able to hit crap with the ammo. It felt "hot" when shooting, and gave us a spectacular lack of accuracy. I'll not buy it again.
We also took my Model 64 out, and it delivered the same ole superb performance these guns always do. I just love shooting it Reckon there's not much exciting to tell about shooting the K-frame .38s. Smooth, crisp, light triggers, a fun to shoot cartridge, and a gun and cartridge combo that is known for superb accuracy makes for some VERY ego-boosting shooting
Sean putting some rounds through his new gun:
The first 5 rounds he put through the 22/45:
More Sean and his new baby. He's proud as can be of his gun, and the work he did to earn her
Checking targets:
Me and my baby:
A couple of our targets:
The decision was a VERY tough one for him. His budget was tight, and he had conflicting wishes as to what he wished to do with his gun. He shot an ACT Instructional League match a couple months ago, did well for his experience level (namely, he shot safely, and hit his targets,) and that really whetted his appetite for competitive shooting. He was really leaning toward a centerfire handgun for a while for just that purpose. But, I also talked quite a bit to him about the advantages of a rimfire handgun. Good for training for those competitions, good for training for basic marksmanship, good for hunting small game when he reaches that skill level, and lots of fun to shoot cheaply. He really liked the idea of being able to shoot 500+ rounds for $20... especially after I told him he had to pay for at least a little bit of his ammo
I also told him about the steel matches where he could use a .22 to compete with. The decision was tortuous for him, he studied a bunch, handled a bunch of guns, and agonized long and hard, before finally settling on a Ruger MKIII 22/45 target model with 5 1/2" bull barrel. We picked it up out of layaway yesterday, Sean and I gave her a good cleaning last night, and we hit the range this morning before I went to work. It rained a bit, range was muddy, but we can't let little things like that stop an important range trip, especially since Cathy's Mom & Dad are in town and Sean wanted to shoot with Pap.
Sean fired the first five rounds through his gun, and his ongoing doubts about whether or not he'd made the right choice were immediately dispelled. As the pics below showed, the gun is quite accurate, and Sean nailed a heck of a group. We all put some rounds through it, a total of 130 today. Fired a mixture of Blazer, Federal Red Box, and Winchester Xpert. The gun gobbled them all up without a single hiccup. Only malfunction was ammo related, one of the Winchesters failed to fire. Firing pin strike was deep, round just didn't work. I put it back in the gun and tried it again, and it fired. The gun displayed very good accuracy with all three brands of ammo, though we made no effort to see which was better today. The gun feels good in the hands, and is obviously pleasant and a ton of fun to shoot. The trigger is light and crisp, with some take up. The sights are clear and highly visible. Takedown for cleaning is a pain in the rear. Ruger's .22 semi-autos have long had a rep for being difficult to field strip, and I've never thought it was particularly well deserved. Do it one or twice and it's a breeze. The MKIIIs, however, have a magazine safety, and there is now a convoluted series of "put the magazine in, take the magazine out, put the maazine in, etc.," steps added to the takedown procedure. It's clumsy, and inexcusable that Ruger made the process so needlessly complicated and irritating. It's enough to make me wonder how hard the magazine safety is to remove or deactivate. This is the only blot on the gun. Otherwise, this is a sub-$300 gun that provides great accuracy, apparently good reliability, feels good, and delivers bucket loads of fun and useful training.
On a not so bright note, we also put 50 rounds of RWS ammo through our PT92. This is a gun that has delivered fantastic accuracy for us. It's put Hornady Critical defense 115gr ammo into 1" groups at 15 yards, some of my Remington 115gr JHP handloads into 1 1/2" inch groups, even crappy WWB into three inches. With this RWS ammo, it didn't shoot groups, it shot patterns. Neither myself, Cathy, or her dad were able to hit crap with the ammo. It felt "hot" when shooting, and gave us a spectacular lack of accuracy. I'll not buy it again.
We also took my Model 64 out, and it delivered the same ole superb performance these guns always do. I just love shooting it
Reckon there's not much exciting to tell about shooting the K-frame .38s. Smooth, crisp, light triggers, a fun to shoot cartridge, and a gun and cartridge combo that is known for superb accuracy makes for some VERY ego-boosting shooting Sean putting some rounds through his new gun:
The first 5 rounds he put through the 22/45:
More Sean and his new baby. He's proud as can be of his gun, and the work he did to earn her
Checking targets:
Me and my baby:
A couple of our targets:
