Recently in Range Report Category
Weebles wobble but they still shoot straight two weeks after a stroke. I left most of the pistols home and combined most of my rifles with Justin's arsenal of pistols and his 30-30.
My AR on the seat of course...we're at Range 14 on Fort Dix.
Left to right
My Kimber .45, Colt Trooper .357, and Mossy 12 bore, Justin's Ruger .22 SAA and Uberti .45LC SAA
My Ruger 1022 and Marlin 1894sc in .357, Justin's Marlin 336 in 30-30, My SKS in 7.62x39R...
Justin's Off-brand .357 SAA and Ruger SAA in 9mm/.30cal Carbine
No problems with strong side shooting. This is the first time I had shot the Mossy since I put the ghost rings on and had fun with it. It's still a cannon, but I wanted to make sure I could handle it...what a ball, I shot that more than anything. My left side is still missing fine motor control (but coming back slowly), but it was good enough for weak side support of pistol, rifle, and shotgun. Re-loading mags and revolver cylinders was shaky though...good rehab - I'll mention it to my neurologist.
Amanda spent most of her time with the 1894cs and Colt Trooper, Justin developed bruises shooting the 30-30 so much...
And I played mostly with my shotgun. No bruises, I've got more padding and weebles wobble to soak up recoil.
No weak hand practice yet. Strength isn't the problem...it's that my left hand still has a mind of it's own - not a good idea with a gun in it's fist.
I was finally able to get out to the range today with the P22. Amanda and J. Arlee were down. We traipsed off to the range with my Mac, the Kimber .45, my P22, my .357 1894cs, Justin's .45LC and his Ruger SAA in .30 carbine.
I had swapped out the original barrel and added the 5" length with counterweight. I also put on the Walther laser and wanted to try that out. I had also put HI-VIZ sights on the Kimber.
The 3 ½ P22 barrel is complete with chamber and feed ramp and is held tight against the receiver bridge by a covering tube and barrel nut. Simply loosen the nut with the supplied wrench and the barrel and covering tube slide out. The 5" barrel installs in the same way, but also has a counterweight fixed to the covering tube by 3 screws. This complicates the barrel removal process if you're using the 5" barrel instead of the 3 ½. The weight must be removed for complete disassembly of the pistol.
The laser snaps onto the integrated rail without set screws. It has a spring loaded key that pops into a slit on the rail when the unit is in the proper position. This unit was purposed designed for this pistol. The laser dot is small, well defined, very bright, and a steady beam. It was easily visible in daylight from my back door to my shed about 25 yards away. At the range, it generated a spot that appeared to be less than 1/4 inch in diameter at 15 yards. The on-off control is integral to the unit and operated by a straight trigger finger. In fact, a straight trigger finger naturally rests on the switch to the laser. The laser is adjustable for windage and elevation by the use of a small Allan wrench.
Even with the 5" barrel, the P22 is not a target pistol although it is accurate enough that at reasonable distances you wouldn't notice the difference. It's just cool looking and lots of fun. I did notice a dramatic increase in accuracy from the 3" barrel to the 5" you understand, but you still won't be taking this to the Olympics. You will, however, be taking this pistol every where else.
It's fun, fun, fun. Once I got the laser dot dialed in, it put the shot right on the dot every time. What a ball. I pasted 1" paint dots to Q targets and we could destroy them, or knock them right off the target, only aiming with the laser at 15 yards.
One of my complaints with this pistol with a 3" barrel was that it was very ammo sensitive...refusing to cycle unless it had high velocity rounds. The 5" barrel solved some of that, and the pistol was very reliable with a mixed box of .22s I was feeding through it.
I realized very quickly that the laser dot would be a good training aid. The shot went right to the dot...if you flinched, or shook, or pulled off the point of aim - it showed up instantly and you could see exactly where the shot was going. You could practice your hold and get feedback about where you should relax and where you should firm up. That was fascinating.
Another note: Man, those .45LC are smoky. Justin always says that if he misses with the first shot, he can always hide in the black smoke cloud. Amanda shot everything as always, but was particularly enamored of the lever gun. That's my girl - a revolver in her belt and a lever gun at her shoulder, a traditionalist. Oh, and the HI-VIZ sights popped right out of their sockets on the Kimber - the wussies couldn't handle the recoil. I'm going to have to break down and spend the money for Kimber factory white-dots.
The 3 ½ P22 barrel is complete with chamber and feed ramp and is held tight against the receiver bridge by a covering tube and barrel nut. Simply loosen the nut with the supplied wrench and the barrel and covering tube slide out. The 5" barrel installs in the same way, but also has a counterweight fixed to the covering tube by 3 screws. This complicates the barrel removal process if you're using the 5" barrel instead of the 3 ½. The weight must be removed for complete disassembly of the pistol.
The laser snaps onto the integrated rail without set screws. It has a spring loaded key that pops into a slit on the rail when the unit is in the proper position. This unit was purposed designed for this pistol. The laser dot is small, well defined, very bright, and a steady beam. It was easily visible in daylight from my back door to my shed about 25 yards away. At the range, it generated a spot that appeared to be less than 1/4 inch in diameter at 15 yards. The on-off control is integral to the unit and operated by a straight trigger finger. In fact, a straight trigger finger naturally rests on the switch to the laser. The laser is adjustable for windage and elevation by the use of a small Allan wrench.
Even with the 5" barrel, the P22 is not a target pistol although it is accurate enough that at reasonable distances you wouldn't notice the difference. It's just cool looking and lots of fun. I did notice a dramatic increase in accuracy from the 3" barrel to the 5" you understand, but you still won't be taking this to the Olympics. You will, however, be taking this pistol every where else.
It's fun, fun, fun. Once I got the laser dot dialed in, it put the shot right on the dot every time. What a ball. I pasted 1" paint dots to Q targets and we could destroy them, or knock them right off the target, only aiming with the laser at 15 yards.
One of my complaints with this pistol with a 3" barrel was that it was very ammo sensitive...refusing to cycle unless it had high velocity rounds. The 5" barrel solved some of that, and the pistol was very reliable with a mixed box of .22s I was feeding through it.
I realized very quickly that the laser dot would be a good training aid. The shot went right to the dot...if you flinched, or shook, or pulled off the point of aim - it showed up instantly and you could see exactly where the shot was going. You could practice your hold and get feedback about where you should relax and where you should firm up. That was fascinating.
Another note: Man, those .45LC are smoky. Justin always says that if he misses with the first shot, he can always hide in the black smoke cloud. Amanda shot everything as always, but was particularly enamored of the lever gun. That's my girl - a revolver in her belt and a lever gun at her shoulder, a traditionalist. Oh, and the HI-VIZ sights popped right out of their sockets on the Kimber - the wussies couldn't handle the recoil. I'm going to have to break down and spend the money for Kimber factory white-dots.
Click to Enlarge
I took the Kimber, the Colt Trooper, and the Smith mouse gun up to the range in Lakewood today.
I had mentioned (bragged? -ed) in a comment to a thread on Say Uncle that I could put all my shots from the mouse gun in a shirt pocket at 7 yards. Uncle was trying to decide on a Kel-Tec buy or a Snubbie. I voted Snubbie. He went for the little automatic, for good reasons, and followed up with several posts on how it worked out.
As for the shirt pocket, I can do it; but I hadn't in a while. I threw the Model 36 in the range bag along with a couple of house guns to give them all a try.
A mini-Q target at 7 yards offhand.
The Kimber Stainless II shot one hole (one big honkin' hole)
The Colt .357 Trooper with a 4 inch barrel shot a long hole with 5 and a sixth a bit away (my bad).
The Smith put all of it's shots in the space of a shirt pocket.
I've still got it. The Smith shot into a 2 1/4 X 1 3/8 group...easily a shirt pocket.
Maybe you think that 7 yards ain't far, but I do most of my off-hand pistol practice at 7 and 10 yards...cuz that's well within where the action is*. At rest the Colt and the 1911 are like rifles at 25 yards. If I just want to tear big holes in targets, nothing beats the CommieWeeniePistolTM for fun.
The couple at the next station were shooting a pair of Glock 23s (my son has one) and the young lady told me she had never shot a revolver....so, I let them shoot the Colt. She liked it. I have found that the younger shooters don't think wheel-guns are modern and cool. I think they are perfect. The only thing that I have that comes close to revolver reliability is the Makarov, but it shoots a round a bit weaker than I would like, and it's also a bit awkward (heavy for it's size) to carry on a light-clothes day...at least for me.
I'm not generally a Glock fan, I don't like its looks or its trigger; but I was pretty impressed with how fast they could get double-taps...altho the accuracy was so-so. Mr. Kimber was about 10 times more accurate (or I was) but there is no way that big .45 is going to get back on target that fast.
*The FBI study "In the Line of Fire: Violence Against Law Enforcement (1997) found that the majority of officer involved shootings happen at 10 feet or less and in the dark or under poor lighting conditions and are over in an average time of 7 seconds.
Woohoo...today starts my holiday weekend. I'm off to the Fort Dix range with the SKS. I want to sight in the holosight and shortie scope I installed. I'll double-check the iron and long scope while I'm at it. Williams rear peep sights have a tendency to loosen up...if they are off I'll resight them and freeze the threads with loc-tite. Pictures and report when I get back.
Hope it doesn't rain.
The Weather Channel: Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
130 rounds....120 of Wolf and 10 of Federal factory grade. The Wolf (still) sucks. I had three failures to fire with it. I never have any problems with the factory stuff. Although at less than $90 for 500, the Wolf is a bit cheaper than the Federal at $10 for 20.
I was able to sight in the iron and shorty scope with no problem. The Holosight had reverse verniers and I kept anti-sighting it in to the point I was ready to throw the thing in the garbage. Eventually I fixed the rifle to the bench, lined up the iron sights, and without shooting I dialed the holosight close while looking thru it. Then I was able to tweak it in. Much better.
The fellow at the bench next to me had a Garand and an 03 he had built from parts. They both worked beautifully. He has about 30 various rifles he got from the CMP...mostly Garands. He also had a couple of M1As from Springfield. He takes the best parts of them and builds shooters and sells them. The rifle he showed me today looked like it had just come from the Remington factory in 1942...literally NIB. He wanted $500. I got his number and will get one after I get a couple of paychecks from my new job. Its better than taking a chance with the CMP.
He shot the rifle off-hand at 100 yards and shot a beautiful group right away. Using mil-spec ammo he got from the CMP, the rifle was quiet. I love the 'ping' sound when the clip gets flung.
The young guy on the other side had a Springfield Armory Garand fitted out with a scope mounted to the back sight base. Interesting. It also sounded like a cannon with the hi-end handloads he was shooting.
Garands to the right of me, Garands to the left of me, volley'd and thunder'd. Storm'd at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well...
I got the SKS dialed in and was able to play with a piece of history...a good day at the range.
130 rounds....120 of Wolf and 10 of Federal factory grade. The Wolf (still) sucks. I had three failures to fire with it. I never have any problems with the factory stuff. Although at less than $90 for 500, the Wolf is a bit cheaper than the Federal at $10 for 20.
I was able to sight in the iron and shorty scope with no problem. The Holosight had reverse verniers and I kept anti-sighting it in to the point I was ready to throw the thing in the garbage. Eventually I fixed the rifle to the bench, lined up the iron sights, and without shooting I dialed the holosight close while looking thru it. Then I was able to tweak it in. Much better.
The fellow at the bench next to me had a Garand and an 03 he had built from parts. They both worked beautifully. He has about 30 various rifles he got from the CMP...mostly Garands. He also had a couple of M1As from Springfield. He takes the best parts of them and builds shooters and sells them. The rifle he showed me today looked like it had just come from the Remington factory in 1942...literally NIB. He wanted $500. I got his number and will get one after I get a couple of paychecks from my new job. Its better than taking a chance with the CMP.
He shot the rifle off-hand at 100 yards and shot a beautiful group right away. Using mil-spec ammo he got from the CMP, the rifle was quiet. I love the 'ping' sound when the clip gets flung.
The young guy on the other side had a Springfield Armory Garand fitted out with a scope mounted to the back sight base. Interesting. It also sounded like a cannon with the hi-end handloads he was shooting.
Garands to the right of me, Garands to the left of me, volley'd and thunder'd. Storm'd at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well...
I got the SKS dialed in and was able to play with a piece of history...a good day at the range.
I was finally able to get my modified SKS out to the range today. I trucked out to Ft. Dix Range #14 early to take advantage of their 9:30AM opening...it's been packed out there lately. As it was, I got the last available table.
The weather was in the mid-50's, windy, but dry and sunny.
Range Report - Colt Trooper III built in 1976 Nickel plated 4"bbl .357 Magnum.
I purchased this Colt last Monday from Ray's Sport Shop up in Plainfield for $250. I was able to check all the fit and finish items, but wasn't able to take it out for function testing until today.
The cylinder to barrel gap miked out to .004, cylinder rotation at lockup was less than .006 at each position, and there was no cylinder movement from front to rear. In lockup the hammer could be wiggled without detaching from the sear, and the firing pin bushing was tight. I found no apparent forcing cone bulges or marks. My only question with this gun was if the barrel had been shot out. The lands and grooves were clear and sharp, but appeared shallower than my .38 Smith & Wesson.
The nickel finish is awesome. Not a mark, scratch, or de-plating anywhere on the gun.
I used 38 Special 148 grain wad-cutters to test function. After shooting off a dozen rounds to check that it wasn't going to blow up I got serious. The following picture is 10 yards off-hand. An inch and a half group. Woohoo, the barrel was fine.
After playing for a while, I moved the target out to 25 yards and shot 6 rounds from a rest. A two inch group from a 4 inch barrel. Double Woohoo.
This is a heavy duty revolver and fun to shoot. Two guys came over to admire it and I had them shoot a cylinder full...I'm a sucker for gun praise. One of them was blasting away with a 8" SA 44 Magnum with a scope. He came over after watching me eat up a target at 25 yards using iron sights. I'm such a tease. My new shooting glasses are working very well, and you notice I've been using orange targets to help with the problem of loss of sight picture on black targets. It's hell getting old...but now and then I can still hit what I aim at.
Now if I can just convince the goblins to wear orange and wait until I get my shooting glasses on...
I've found my new house gun.
I purchased this Colt last Monday from Ray's Sport Shop up in Plainfield for $250. I was able to check all the fit and finish items, but wasn't able to take it out for function testing until today.
The cylinder to barrel gap miked out to .004, cylinder rotation at lockup was less than .006 at each position, and there was no cylinder movement from front to rear. In lockup the hammer could be wiggled without detaching from the sear, and the firing pin bushing was tight. I found no apparent forcing cone bulges or marks. My only question with this gun was if the barrel had been shot out. The lands and grooves were clear and sharp, but appeared shallower than my .38 Smith & Wesson.
The nickel finish is awesome. Not a mark, scratch, or de-plating anywhere on the gun.
I used 38 Special 148 grain wad-cutters to test function. After shooting off a dozen rounds to check that it wasn't going to blow up I got serious. The following picture is 10 yards off-hand. An inch and a half group. Woohoo, the barrel was fine.
After playing for a while, I moved the target out to 25 yards and shot 6 rounds from a rest. A two inch group from a 4 inch barrel. Double Woohoo.
This is a heavy duty revolver and fun to shoot. Two guys came over to admire it and I had them shoot a cylinder full...I'm a sucker for gun praise. One of them was blasting away with a 8" SA 44 Magnum with a scope. He came over after watching me eat up a target at 25 yards using iron sights. I'm such a tease. My new shooting glasses are working very well, and you notice I've been using orange targets to help with the problem of loss of sight picture on black targets. It's hell getting old...but now and then I can still hit what I aim at.
Now if I can just convince the goblins to wear orange and wait until I get my shooting glasses on...
I've found my new house gun.
Range Report:
Makarov 9x18 Arsenal Bulgarian built in 1995.
Location:
Shore Shot indoor range in Lakewood, NJ
Fit and Finish:
A heavy well-made medium sized automatic. A minimum of moving parts. An excellent blue-black finish with just a hint of holster-wear at the left side of the muzzle. Grips appear to be a hard rubber with a thumb-rest on the left. The pistol came with one blued magazine with a serial number matching the pistol. Mags seem to be stampings...functional but not fancy. The pistol weighs 24.6 oz empty. I am told finish varies widely on these pistols.
Mechanical Operation:
Quite a handful to rack back. The pistol is a blow-back design with a 17# recoil spring as received. I have a 19# Wolff spring on order. The slide stays back after the last shot is fired, or can be held back with a frame mounted button. The hammer automatically de-cocks when you move the slide-mounted safety from fire to safe...I like that feature. The firing pin is of the free-floating variety and the hammer is the rebounding type. This gun could be carried loaded with the hammer down and safety off. The magazines are problematical to load...without a decent button on the follower, only a small sharp piece of metal. I ordered a loading device from as well as Wolff springs and extended floor plates for the magazines.
Shooting Comfort:
The slide nicked my thumb the first time I fired this pistol. I naturally grabbed a two handed grip that I use on my Kimber 1911 and got caught. I repositioned my left hand and had no more problems, although the thumb-rest on the grips interfered a bit. I also experienced some bite in the web of my right hand the first couple of shots. I must have unconsciously corrected this, because this wasn't a problem after the first magazine. The grips are hard, hard rubber...and not very comfortable. I will have to look into getting one of the many aftermarket grips available for this thing.
Recoil was a bit more than I anticipated, but less than my 2" Smith .38 snubby. I also noticed that the felt recoil was much less when shooting off-hand then when supporting the pistol in a bench fixture. The recoil wasn't bad, it's just that for some reason I was expecting less - but I guess I'm always an optimist. After shooting a couple of mags, I didn't even notice. I was shooting 95 grain FMJ Federal American Eagle: the stats for this are a 95 grain bullet at 990 ft/sec muzzle velocity with 220 ft/lbs of energy. For comparison, my 124 grain 9mm Parabellum has a muzzle velocity of 1050 with 350 ft/lbs while a 95 grain .380ACP has a muzzle velocity of 960 with 190 ft/lbs of energy.
I think I would like to find something less powerful for practice, and something higher powered for carry. Well, that's part of the fun of owning guns.
Performance:
My eyes are getting weaker, and it is difficult to see both the sights and the target past 15 feet or so. I have gotten used to taking off my glasses, getting a sharp sight picture, and shooting at a blur. I shot all of the following with my glasses off. I'm 20/275 in both eyes, so I pretty much can't see distance without my glasses...but I don't need them for reading. I have a specialty pair of shooting glasses coming...ground to focus at 10-15 yards rather than infinity.
And the little tiny black stinkin' commieweeniepistol sights don't help.
We were pleased. Here is my first mags' worth of shooting...5 yards off-hand, nicked thumb and all. I think I got my elevation there buddy, but what about my windage.
After playing at 5 yards for a while, I pushed the target out to 10 yards and
held off-hand at the bottom of the bullseye...marked with a magic marker.
Just for grins I pushed the target out to 25 yards. I could hardly see it. My eighth shot was just off the paper to the left of the number 8. I held at the bottom of the target. I don't think the 9x18 drops at all. Man, this gun cries out for better sights.
Alrighty, by this time I had burned up about a box of ammo, and wanted to try some drills. The following are a couple of point-and-shoot speed drills. Pull the trigger as fast as you can pointing (the pistol chest high) at a target at 5 yards. FBI statistics say the average gun fight occurs at 10 feet with a hit ratio of 18%. The (PMA) Police Marksman Association calls out 20 feet with a hit ratio of 62%. This is a favorite drill of mine, and I've gotten my Walther down to about 1" x 2 1/2" ovals. The target on top was my first try, and the target on the bottom was my last...starting to tighten up. Stare at the target...hit the target. Best I could do this time out was about a 2"x 5" oval...takes about 3 seconds. I always do this drill to see how well a gun points. My Luger makes one hole, my snubbie is lucky to hit the black, and everything else falls in between. I'm satisfied if I can get all shots quickly into the black without aiming. The general requirement is to hit an 8x11 piece of paper at 7 yards. The Mak points better than my Kimber and much better than the Smith, and not as good as the Luger or Walther. I was taught that I could hit a target out to 15 yards without aiming if I could see the sights in my peripheral vision...it works, but you have to practice.
Mozambiquing Drill
The last drills I did were double-tap drills at 5 yards with one of those mini-Q targets. Two shots as quick as I could pull them off in the chest...pause...one to the head. The first drill saw one low, one in the chest, and a miss to the head. All the other drills were center of mass and head-shots.
This thing would be an excellent defensive weapon. It points well enough for fast close-in work, and has the innate accuracy to hit much farther out if it had better sights. The de-cocker and rebounding hammer make it safe for loaded carry. This is obviously not a target gun. This is a down and dirty, kick in the ass, work every time, military grade belly gun...period. You could easily put 1000 consecutive shots into a man-sized target without a jam at 25 yards...what more do you want. Next time I'll take this baby out to the Ranges at Dix and see how the sights do in the daylight.
Plus Points:
The biggest plus has to be the price/quality ratio. This is an excellent pistol for (way) less than $200. It is powerful for it's size, accurate within the limitations of the shooter and sights, mechanically safe, and very well made. Much more in the way of accessories are available for the Maks than are available for my Walther. Ammunition can be cheaply had on the internet for about $6 /box. Defensive loads are available as well as lighter powered target/practice ammunition. Parts are cheap. You can get extended threaded barrels (although barrel replacement is helped greatly by buying a $30 jig.). I bought two mags, various parts and Wolff spring sets from www.makarov.com. For whatever reason, this pistol was much easier (and more fun) to shoot off-hand, rather than at the bench. The pistol can be converted to .380 (even extended or ported) for the price of a barrel..$45. Nothing else need be changed...even the mags are good.
Minus Points:
I don't like the thumb rest grips, but they can be changed to something more comfortable...like a soft rubber Pearce grip. The mags are hard to load, but I have a aid coming for that. The sights are too small and dark...that can be helped cheaply or they can be replaced more expensively. The pistol fired doubles twice early in my trials. Unlike the slam-fires with my Kimber, this was my fault. I needed to get used to the trigger...after a couple of mags I didn't have a problem. I didn't even try and shoot the pistol double-action by the way...too long and hard a pull. The single-action trigger has a lot of slack and a short break...not exactly a target gun, but safer in a military setting. Local available ammunition is expensive at $15/box. New Jersey is not a state that makes buying guns or ammo easy.
Update: Col Sanders at the Makarov forum on ar15.com says that the occasional "doubles" occur when the sear spring is not properly seated at both ends...I need to strip the Mak to the bare bones anyway so I will check this out.
Conclusions:
Do it, don't be a wuss. Buy one of these. They are worth 3 times what they cost.
Would I buy more of these...yes. I would buy one for each of my children and all of my friends. Would I buy another for me...maybe one more. I don't collect flavors of guns...I shoot them. I have no safe queens. The Mak I have is too pretty to mess with. I expect I will buy another of these that's not in as good a shape...get it re-finished, coated, and get the milled sights. At that point I would never get my money back on a resale, but I'd have a great- looking shooter and sidearm. It would be worth spending $45 for a .380 barrel to try that out also.
Location:
Shore Shot indoor range in Lakewood, NJ
Fit and Finish:
A heavy well-made medium sized automatic. A minimum of moving parts. An excellent blue-black finish with just a hint of holster-wear at the left side of the muzzle. Grips appear to be a hard rubber with a thumb-rest on the left. The pistol came with one blued magazine with a serial number matching the pistol. Mags seem to be stampings...functional but not fancy. The pistol weighs 24.6 oz empty. I am told finish varies widely on these pistols.
Mechanical Operation:
Quite a handful to rack back. The pistol is a blow-back design with a 17# recoil spring as received. I have a 19# Wolff spring on order. The slide stays back after the last shot is fired, or can be held back with a frame mounted button. The hammer automatically de-cocks when you move the slide-mounted safety from fire to safe...I like that feature. The firing pin is of the free-floating variety and the hammer is the rebounding type. This gun could be carried loaded with the hammer down and safety off. The magazines are problematical to load...without a decent button on the follower, only a small sharp piece of metal. I ordered a loading device from as well as Wolff springs and extended floor plates for the magazines.
Shooting Comfort:
The slide nicked my thumb the first time I fired this pistol. I naturally grabbed a two handed grip that I use on my Kimber 1911 and got caught. I repositioned my left hand and had no more problems, although the thumb-rest on the grips interfered a bit. I also experienced some bite in the web of my right hand the first couple of shots. I must have unconsciously corrected this, because this wasn't a problem after the first magazine. The grips are hard, hard rubber...and not very comfortable. I will have to look into getting one of the many aftermarket grips available for this thing.
Recoil was a bit more than I anticipated, but less than my 2" Smith .38 snubby. I also noticed that the felt recoil was much less when shooting off-hand then when supporting the pistol in a bench fixture. The recoil wasn't bad, it's just that for some reason I was expecting less - but I guess I'm always an optimist. After shooting a couple of mags, I didn't even notice. I was shooting 95 grain FMJ Federal American Eagle: the stats for this are a 95 grain bullet at 990 ft/sec muzzle velocity with 220 ft/lbs of energy. For comparison, my 124 grain 9mm Parabellum has a muzzle velocity of 1050 with 350 ft/lbs while a 95 grain .380ACP has a muzzle velocity of 960 with 190 ft/lbs of energy.
I think I would like to find something less powerful for practice, and something higher powered for carry. Well, that's part of the fun of owning guns.
Performance:
My eyes are getting weaker, and it is difficult to see both the sights and the target past 15 feet or so. I have gotten used to taking off my glasses, getting a sharp sight picture, and shooting at a blur. I shot all of the following with my glasses off. I'm 20/275 in both eyes, so I pretty much can't see distance without my glasses...but I don't need them for reading. I have a specialty pair of shooting glasses coming...ground to focus at 10-15 yards rather than infinity.
And the little tiny black stinkin' commieweeniepistol sights don't help.
We were pleased. Here is my first mags' worth of shooting...5 yards off-hand, nicked thumb and all. I think I got my elevation there buddy, but what about my windage.
After playing at 5 yards for a while, I pushed the target out to 10 yards and
held off-hand at the bottom of the bullseye...marked with a magic marker.
Just for grins I pushed the target out to 25 yards. I could hardly see it. My eighth shot was just off the paper to the left of the number 8. I held at the bottom of the target. I don't think the 9x18 drops at all. Man, this gun cries out for better sights.
Alrighty, by this time I had burned up about a box of ammo, and wanted to try some drills. The following are a couple of point-and-shoot speed drills. Pull the trigger as fast as you can pointing (the pistol chest high) at a target at 5 yards. FBI statistics say the average gun fight occurs at 10 feet with a hit ratio of 18%. The (PMA) Police Marksman Association calls out 20 feet with a hit ratio of 62%. This is a favorite drill of mine, and I've gotten my Walther down to about 1" x 2 1/2" ovals. The target on top was my first try, and the target on the bottom was my last...starting to tighten up. Stare at the target...hit the target. Best I could do this time out was about a 2"x 5" oval...takes about 3 seconds. I always do this drill to see how well a gun points. My Luger makes one hole, my snubbie is lucky to hit the black, and everything else falls in between. I'm satisfied if I can get all shots quickly into the black without aiming. The general requirement is to hit an 8x11 piece of paper at 7 yards. The Mak points better than my Kimber and much better than the Smith, and not as good as the Luger or Walther. I was taught that I could hit a target out to 15 yards without aiming if I could see the sights in my peripheral vision...it works, but you have to practice.
Mozambiquing Drill
The last drills I did were double-tap drills at 5 yards with one of those mini-Q targets. Two shots as quick as I could pull them off in the chest...pause...one to the head. The first drill saw one low, one in the chest, and a miss to the head. All the other drills were center of mass and head-shots.
This thing would be an excellent defensive weapon. It points well enough for fast close-in work, and has the innate accuracy to hit much farther out if it had better sights. The de-cocker and rebounding hammer make it safe for loaded carry. This is obviously not a target gun. This is a down and dirty, kick in the ass, work every time, military grade belly gun...period. You could easily put 1000 consecutive shots into a man-sized target without a jam at 25 yards...what more do you want. Next time I'll take this baby out to the Ranges at Dix and see how the sights do in the daylight.
Plus Points:
The biggest plus has to be the price/quality ratio. This is an excellent pistol for (way) less than $200. It is powerful for it's size, accurate within the limitations of the shooter and sights, mechanically safe, and very well made. Much more in the way of accessories are available for the Maks than are available for my Walther. Ammunition can be cheaply had on the internet for about $6 /box. Defensive loads are available as well as lighter powered target/practice ammunition. Parts are cheap. You can get extended threaded barrels (although barrel replacement is helped greatly by buying a $30 jig.). I bought two mags, various parts and Wolff spring sets from www.makarov.com. For whatever reason, this pistol was much easier (and more fun) to shoot off-hand, rather than at the bench. The pistol can be converted to .380 (even extended or ported) for the price of a barrel..$45. Nothing else need be changed...even the mags are good.
Minus Points:
I don't like the thumb rest grips, but they can be changed to something more comfortable...like a soft rubber Pearce grip. The mags are hard to load, but I have a aid coming for that. The sights are too small and dark...that can be helped cheaply or they can be replaced more expensively. The pistol fired doubles twice early in my trials. Unlike the slam-fires with my Kimber, this was my fault. I needed to get used to the trigger...after a couple of mags I didn't have a problem. I didn't even try and shoot the pistol double-action by the way...too long and hard a pull. The single-action trigger has a lot of slack and a short break...not exactly a target gun, but safer in a military setting. Local available ammunition is expensive at $15/box. New Jersey is not a state that makes buying guns or ammo easy.
Update: Col Sanders at the Makarov forum on ar15.com says that the occasional "doubles" occur when the sear spring is not properly seated at both ends...I need to strip the Mak to the bare bones anyway so I will check this out.
Conclusions:
Do it, don't be a wuss. Buy one of these. They are worth 3 times what they cost.
Would I buy more of these...yes. I would buy one for each of my children and all of my friends. Would I buy another for me...maybe one more. I don't collect flavors of guns...I shoot them. I have no safe queens. The Mak I have is too pretty to mess with. I expect I will buy another of these that's not in as good a shape...get it re-finished, coated, and get the milled sights. At that point I would never get my money back on a resale, but I'd have a great- looking shooter and sidearm. It would be worth spending $45 for a .380 barrel to try that out also.
After about two months of playing with this thing...including sending it off to the Kimber Custom Shop for 3 weeks, I have finally been able to use the Kimber like it should be used...to throw lots of metal down range.
Here it is...
As this is a range report, I will recap the problems I had with this baby.
I got 5 slam-fires (doubles) in the first 200 rounds I shot. I disassembled it down to the trigger, cleaned everything, coated all parts with break-free, reassembled it....and still got one slam-fire in the next 50 rounds.
After three weeks at the Kimber Custom Shop, the pistol was returned with the cryptic note that the "trigger group" was replaced. After about 250 rounds since I got it back...no failures.
The pistol was used and was supplied with three mags. The Kimber OEM mag has experienced no failures to feed. The other two mags were MEC-GAR 13-45 and 14-45 mags designed for the ParaOrd...and work like crap on the Kimber.
I took it out for some drills today. 5, 7, 10, 15, and 25 yard slow fire. 5 yard rapid fire, reload, repeat... a point and shoot drill that I like to do. I shot 5 shots at each distance, and 15 shots in the point and shoot drill.
The following targets were shot off-hand. The upper target was at 5 yards and the lower at 7 yards. I was not wearing my glasses and you will notice I had to stick an orange aiming spot on the target to have something to aim at. I am not thrilled with the flat-black sights on this gun, and will need to replace them with something I can see. The dead black gets lost on a black target. Then again, 20 years ago it wouldn't have mattered.
The next targets were at 10 (upper) and 15 (lower) yards, again off-hand. I wasn't as thrilled with this effort. I got one serious flyer on the 15 yard target...and I didn't call it.
I moved the targets out to 25 yards and covered the NRA-B8 with a spatter target so I could see where I was shooting. As the 15 yard target had started to print high, I held at the bottom of the target. I took my time, but I expect this is about the best I will be able to do until the purpose-ground shooting glasses show up.
This pistol has a polymer grip as is noticably lighter than an all steel 1911. It is heavy enough to mute any recoil however, and is comfortable to shoot. I experienced no "bite", and the mags drop out with a push of the release. As with most classic 1911s, it has a grip safety as well as a thumb safety. Take down was the same as any other 1911 I have seen with the minor exception of not having grip panels to remove. The stainless has a matt finish and I removed some 'stick-on' grip panels the previous owner had installed.
The fixed sights are right on at 25 yards, but too dark. The fit and finish is what you would expect of a Kimber. The trigger is adjustable, but I left it where the Custom Shop set the thing.
I let one of the range-rats shoot the pistol...just cuz he admired it (that always works with me). He's got a 9mm, always shoots 9mm, and is buying a new SIG 9mm for his darling daughter. I thought I'd give him a chance to shoot a real pistol.
With my last 15 rounds, I loaded up 3 mags with 5 rounds each. At 5 yards (glasses off), I tried a point-and-shoot drill. 5 shots as fast as I could pull the trigger, reload, repeat. As you can see, I am getting the same oval group that I get with the Walther...with the bottom edge in the X ring. The only difference is 10 22's in a 3" oval, and 15 45's in a 5" oval. Practice, practice, practice.
All in all a simple, well-made gun. Not very fancy but a classic design with several modern and custom features...built to take punishment. New they go about $850. These models have 5-inch barrels with stainless steel match grade barrel bushings. The Kimber Tactical Extractor is standard on every ten pistol. Other features include stainless steel slide, polymer beavertail grip safety and mainspring housing. The polymer frame is almost identical in dimensions to a standard single stack. Kimber frame inserts are machined from the finest aluminum and steel, then molded into a polymer body.
Pre-ban 14 round magazines are also available. They are offered for sale (where legal) through Kimber Master Dealers and the Kimber Custom Shop. They have the same overall length as the standard magazine included with each Stainless pistol, and fit flush with the bottom of the grip.
I like it...its a cannon. It's also much more accurate than I am right now.
As this is a range report, I will recap the problems I had with this baby.
I got 5 slam-fires (doubles) in the first 200 rounds I shot. I disassembled it down to the trigger, cleaned everything, coated all parts with break-free, reassembled it....and still got one slam-fire in the next 50 rounds.
After three weeks at the Kimber Custom Shop, the pistol was returned with the cryptic note that the "trigger group" was replaced. After about 250 rounds since I got it back...no failures.
The pistol was used and was supplied with three mags. The Kimber OEM mag has experienced no failures to feed. The other two mags were MEC-GAR 13-45 and 14-45 mags designed for the ParaOrd...and work like crap on the Kimber.
I took it out for some drills today. 5, 7, 10, 15, and 25 yard slow fire. 5 yard rapid fire, reload, repeat... a point and shoot drill that I like to do. I shot 5 shots at each distance, and 15 shots in the point and shoot drill.
The following targets were shot off-hand. The upper target was at 5 yards and the lower at 7 yards. I was not wearing my glasses and you will notice I had to stick an orange aiming spot on the target to have something to aim at. I am not thrilled with the flat-black sights on this gun, and will need to replace them with something I can see. The dead black gets lost on a black target. Then again, 20 years ago it wouldn't have mattered.
The next targets were at 10 (upper) and 15 (lower) yards, again off-hand. I wasn't as thrilled with this effort. I got one serious flyer on the 15 yard target...and I didn't call it.
I moved the targets out to 25 yards and covered the NRA-B8 with a spatter target so I could see where I was shooting. As the 15 yard target had started to print high, I held at the bottom of the target. I took my time, but I expect this is about the best I will be able to do until the purpose-ground shooting glasses show up.
This pistol has a polymer grip as is noticably lighter than an all steel 1911. It is heavy enough to mute any recoil however, and is comfortable to shoot. I experienced no "bite", and the mags drop out with a push of the release. As with most classic 1911s, it has a grip safety as well as a thumb safety. Take down was the same as any other 1911 I have seen with the minor exception of not having grip panels to remove. The stainless has a matt finish and I removed some 'stick-on' grip panels the previous owner had installed.
The fixed sights are right on at 25 yards, but too dark. The fit and finish is what you would expect of a Kimber. The trigger is adjustable, but I left it where the Custom Shop set the thing.
I let one of the range-rats shoot the pistol...just cuz he admired it (that always works with me). He's got a 9mm, always shoots 9mm, and is buying a new SIG 9mm for his darling daughter. I thought I'd give him a chance to shoot a real pistol.
With my last 15 rounds, I loaded up 3 mags with 5 rounds each. At 5 yards (glasses off), I tried a point-and-shoot drill. 5 shots as fast as I could pull the trigger, reload, repeat. As you can see, I am getting the same oval group that I get with the Walther...with the bottom edge in the X ring. The only difference is 10 22's in a 3" oval, and 15 45's in a 5" oval. Practice, practice, practice.
All in all a simple, well-made gun. Not very fancy but a classic design with several modern and custom features...built to take punishment. New they go about $850. These models have 5-inch barrels with stainless steel match grade barrel bushings. The Kimber Tactical Extractor is standard on every ten pistol. Other features include stainless steel slide, polymer beavertail grip safety and mainspring housing. The polymer frame is almost identical in dimensions to a standard single stack. Kimber frame inserts are machined from the finest aluminum and steel, then molded into a polymer body.
Pre-ban 14 round magazines are also available. They are offered for sale (where legal) through Kimber Master Dealers and the Kimber Custom Shop. They have the same overall length as the standard magazine included with each Stainless pistol, and fit flush with the bottom of the grip.
I like it...its a cannon. It's also much more accurate than I am right now.
The Lovely Dot™ volunteered my side yard and me for a neighbor’s yard sale today. I was able to weasel out of the “me” part but only if I cut the lawn (again), put up signs, and helped buggy lug stuff around at 7am.
The upshot was that by 10am I was on the road for an un-interrupted couple of hours at the Fort Dix ranges. It’s a 45min drive, so I only truck out there every couple of weeks or if I am hit with the need to practice my evil sniper skills.
As it turned out, it was too windy to play sniper…but I tried anyway. Any target stands I pounded into the sand held their ground. My freestanding targets kept falling over…must have been made in France.
I have wanted to check out the MOA at 100 yards on the rebuilt Ruger 10/22, but between the targets falling over, the wind buffets, and the bone-shaking roar of the 50cal next to me…I couldn’t quite get it done.
After tweaking the scope (I had sighted it in originally at 25yards) I could hit bright orange “midi” sporting clays (about 3 ½ ”) at 100 yards with one shot. All of my splatter "sight-in" targets showed easily in the center diamond at that distance, with some tantalizingly small MOA groups…but nothing I could do consistently. The cannon going off next to me would shake the ammo boxes off my table, and then the wind would blow them 10 feet in front of me. At better than three bucks a shot, I knew he wouldn’t be shooting long.
On the other side a guy was shooting an AR with a Zeiss scope that cost twice what his rifle did. He was putting all of his shots in the forehead of a body target at a little under 250 yards (the max at Range 14). I’ve got a 8x36x50 spotting scope that saves me running out every 20 minutes to look at my targets…and I can snoop on other guys.
The Walther has adjustable sights, so I figured after about 1000 rounds it was time to adjust them. I had lowered the front sight previously and after rear sight adjustment the little 3-½ inch barrel would put ten rounds into a 3” diamond on the splatter target from a good at 25 yards. It's a plinker after all, but I've gots to git that 5" barrel.
Taking a cue from discussions I had seen on the web, I used my dremel to put a ‘ramp’ on some ears that stick up off the trigger assembly. They had been gouging out the soft metal underneath the slide. No failures of any kind with 100 rounds of CCI Stingers.
All in all a good day.
I do very much want to pick up an evil assault rifle before the elections. Something in .308 would be nice, but there is still that AR15A4 down at Tips.
Reach out and touch someone.
These are some shots I took out at Dix a few weeks ago. The Range Office, the Pistol Range, and a couple of shots of the Rifle Range...The last one was at my table when I was sighting in my slug-gun with a red-dot. That target stand was too flimsy and got stiffened up...but it still won't hold the wind. Generally I use metal "for sale" stands with 2'x3' wooden inserts that I can staple targets to...and the metal legs can be hammered into the ground.
I was able to get to the range twice this weekend...sweet. It was a strictly .22 caliber affaire. I brought my new Ruger and the Walther P22. The range master put me on the 25 yard pistol range each time.
A couple of notes:
Neither the Ruger nor the Walther like the PMC ammo. The Walther becomes a single shot needing the slide to be jacked after every shot, and the Ruger stovepipes. Neither weapon shows any problems with the Thunderbolts, Stingers, Winchester Hi Powers, or even some old Sears ammo I had around. The PMC is crap, but it's gone now.
The Ruger is pretty accurate for a carbine. I was shooting at 25 yards from a rest with iron sights. You could cover the group with a quarter. I expect it shoots about 2 MOA, but I'll need to try it out on the longer range. I bought an extra mag for $17 and ordered a trigger/upgrade kit. It's got a stiff heavy trigger out of the box that affected accuracy badly. The trigger kit should smooth things out and pull at just under 4lbs. I'm also getting a bolt buffer to quiet it down and a couple of other little things.
I was also plinking tin cans, metal spinners, and various bits out to about 50 yards. The Ruger is FUN. I know you can get hi-cap mags for it; I just need to find me some. Except for smoothing out the trigger, quieting the bolt, and putting an optical sight on it, I’m leaving it as is for the time being.
My pistol permits showed up this weekend also. That means my Kimber can come home from the dealer.
That leaves me one permit good until mid October. Let’s see. A Model 29 4” stainless .357 or a SIG 232? And I still haven’t decided on a new rifle.
So many guns, so little money.
I took SHE (seen in her normal street clothes) to the range today. It is "National Buy Ammo for Michael Moore" day today, as well as the 25th anniversary of the Jonestown Koolaid Party. Seemed fitting.
WildGirl did pretty good for her first time out shooting in years. After about 50 shots with a Ruger 22/45 she was grouping into about 4 inches at 21 feet. Not bad for her first time with an automatic. She was getting some "limp wrist" jams with the .22 that I didn't see when I shot it. She wants to go again AND even asked me to get some snap caps so she can practice her grip and trigger pull at home with my .38 or 9mm. She was bothered a bit by some 9mm shooting at the next booth. The .22 sound and recoil didn't cause her any problems. She even found a nice little SIG 230 .380 in the gun case that she liked, but that will take working up to. Next time we go I want her to use a revolver to get around those limp wrist problems. I need to get her to where she feels comfortable with a higher power revolver or automatic.
I rented a HK USP .45. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet! After 30 rounds I was tearing big ragged holes out of the target at 21 feet, this with a gun I touched for the first time. Solid, tritium sights, low felt recoil. The only thing I didn't like was filling the magazine...that was rough. No mechanical problems at all. You could "press" down onto the target with the USP and the shots would go where you wanted them to. What a joy to shoot...gotta get me one of those....bring money!
