Tuesday, I went to the range to try out the new shootin’ iron, my Charter Arms Pug in .357. I took along both my M&Ps, the .380 and .45.
The range seemed crowded, but since I have a membership, I flew right to the shooting lanes, more or less. I had to get a few targets. 11:00 am is a good time to go. Mostly older, experienced men, with a sprinkling of the unwashed. No matter when I get there, there’s at least one that just wants to biggest boom and doesn’t care too much where the round lands.
There were two such in my line. The rest were old men like me.
I got three targets, and planned on one per gun. First at five yards, then at seven. I’m not target shooting as much as practicing aim fast, shoot.
First up, the .357 Pug snub nose:
Took a minute to get used to the sights. .357 has a kick, not unlike my .44 special. With .38 special loaded, it wasn’t bad. First five rounds were Hornady .357 ‘critical duty’ rounds, the rest, Remington .38 specials. The trigger on this, while not as smooth as the Pythons I’ve shot, it wasn’t bad on double action. It had a nice break where you could hold it and tighten your aim.
I’m super happy with it.
Next up the .380, an M&P Bodyguard 2.0, shooting the rest of the Magtech FMJs I bought last time I shot there.
Those flyers to the left of the neck were one handed, with my left hand in my pocket, Olympic Gangsta shooter style. With both Smiths, I have a problem shooting to the left. I think it’s my trigger finger placement. I think my press pushes to the left when I squeeze the trigger. It doesn’t do that when I concentrate on trigger placement.
You can’t do that when shooting in a real life situation. I have to sort that out.
Last, the .45 M&P Shield, shooting Winchester FMJ. Basically like with the Bodyguard, the rest of the box I had in my range bag.
I wasn’t trying as hard, simply pulling the gun up and busting a cap. More hits to the left like before. Those on the face and center guts were me concentrating. The flyers, notsomuch. For whatever reason, it was having issues cycling the ammo. Seemed to be catching on the ramp. Maybe a bad job loading the magazine. Who knows.
Compared to the revolver, both S&W guns had triggers that felt “crunchy”. The Pug as pretty smooth.
I think I need to work on my trigger placement.
Inspected By Pat 