Great Day at the Range

I got to spend some time at a shooting range today with my son and son-in-law. As usual, since we don't do this often (we live 800 miles apart), we shoot a variety of firearms in a short time. Loads of fun, but not much for picking up in the accuracy department.

Winners: My Ruger MKIII Hunter with Bushnell Red Dot sight. Neither my son or son-in-law had done much with Ruger MK's other than shoot them. The Hunter has a VQ trigger/sear/target hammer upgrade. At a very short range (10 yards), tight groups around the center is easy.

Taurus PT1911 .45. Neither had fired it and, except for the grips, very positive response.

Walther P22: Very surprising since it doesn't match the accuracy you can get out of the Ruger. Both the kiddies like shooting it and shot it better than I expected.

Sig 226: Always a great pistol to shoot.

Springfield Armory Milspec: Nice shooting .45

GP100: Ruger makes nice revolvers and the 4" GP100 is a nice shooting pistol.

Time with the old man. Thoroughly enjoyed being out with the "young folks."

Taurus PT1911B

Another gun show sort of spur of the moment purchase. I was in the mood for another pistol and had looked at the Buckmark 5.5" target. At the weekend gunshow I saw a reasonably priced Ruger MKII GC. Wandering around trying to decide if I wanted to buy the Ruger, go to DeGoff's and pick up the Buckmark, I came across a dealer with a Taurus PT1911 for a good price.

The first box of .45 rounds from the Taurus ranged from reasonably good to not quite as good. I'm having some difficulty getting the proper two-handed grip on the pistol. Also, seem to be dropping my head during shooting. All-in-all, I wasn't disappointed with the first rounds.

The Taurus has an excellent trigger. I like the Heine figure eight sights. At my age, I have trouble with the standard .45 stights and need the dots. All-in-all, the Taurus is a worthwhile purchase and a good-shooting pistol. Now, if I could just learn to shoot.

Walther P22

In March, I succumbed to the temptation of buying a Walther P22. The pistol is relatively small, light and has a decided "cool" factor. If you read the forums on the Walther, it is a thoroughly unreliable pistol. Lot's of stuff breaks, jams and generally doesn't work. Mine hasn't had any mechanical problems. It has just been difficult to shoot accurately. I've tried several grip techniques and 10 to spray bullets all over the target area. Finally, I tried a higher left thumb, which seems to have settled me down. Group sizes went down to about 2" at 15 yards.

The Walther may be a keeper. It certainly won't be the one I go to to for my one ragged hole attempts.