S&W 686

Found used at a price I didn't turn down. Based on one range trip the plusses for this revolver is feel, balance, sights and, with reservations, accuracy. The minus is the trigger is not as good as I had hoped.

The 686 4" has a good balance and reasonably good grips, although I prefer either the Pachmayr grips on the 65-4, better still, the grips on my GP100. The red front sight and the white outline on the rear sight makes it easy for me to acquire them and to get on target. I did, however have some trouble adjusting windage on the rear sight.

The 686 fired 158gr lswc w/4.5 gr universal very well. However, it started a bit left of the target and a smidge low. I was able to adjust elevation but did not do enough adjustments to move the POI enough to the right. Grouping was good.

The trigger is slightly heavier in single action and decidely heavier in double action than either the GP100 or the M65. I had no problems firing two hands and one hand with SA. I'm going to have to either work on the trigger or the shooter or both with the one-hand DA. Overall, this is an excellent revolver. However, I like the GP100 better.

Ruger SR9

After saying that one 9mm was enough, I bought a Ruger SR9. The pistol has excellent feel, the sights are easy to acquire and the barrel is low enough that you get good recoil and accuracy control. Out of the box, the pistol was quite accurate with lower velocity (~1040 fps) 125gr lrn bullets. However, it wanted to stovepipe every time. It did better from the stovepipe standpoint with 125gr lrn at ~1150 fps. Accuracy was terrible and the barrel seemed to want to lead up quickly. The pistol seems to do quite well with 115 gr FMJ (Montana Gold) loaded with ~5.0 gr Bullseye (~1150 fps).

Out of the box, the trigger was gritty and heavy. I did some polishing on the trigger bar and removed the mag safety. This smoothed out the trigger and made my shooting a lot better. It didn't lighted the trigger much. Instructions for this can be found at Ruger Forum.net

S&W 65-4

Picked this one up as a "Police Trade-in" Overall finish was quite good. Not much sign
of wear. Trigger is excellent and accuracy is quite good at 25 yards. The only downside is that the sights don't adjust so I have to adjust when the load changes. Good with .357 mag and .38 special.

Reloading

The only way I can afford to shoot. Lee Pro 1000 set up for 9mm, .38 special, .45 ACP and .45 colt
The partner press is for factory crimp. About 100 rounds per hour. Maybe 150/hr if the reloading gods smile

William T. Greene

The card says it all.

Ruger 10/22

Bought this 10/22 a while back. With the scope and from a rest, it is boring at 25 yards. A bit less boring at 50 yards. It has taken a back seat because of the Henry and my other .22's. I need to look at a different stock. As usual, Ruger makes fine weapons and this one is a keeper, even if Henry is getting most of the attention.

Winchester 69 Still the best

I've finally moved to get the Winchester 69 out to shoot. This was my first gun and the one I learned to shoot. Shoots a bit right, and I haven't been able to move the sight. It may take some penetrating oil to loosen some age. Still the best shooting .22 I have.

Hello, Henry

I'd been looking at lever-.22's for a while and finally decided to get this Henry H001 the same day I bought the Ruger Standard. This is a great little shooter. Loads of fun and I do pretty well at 25 yards off-hand with it. Being a klutz, I dropped the rifle in a concrete floor butt first. Cracked the butt plate and made a couple minor chips in the wood. I emailed Henry RAC for information on a replacement buttplate. Three emails later, Mr. Imperato sent a new buttstock. I was willing to pay for the butt plate and was going to play with patching the stock. You can't beat that for customer service.

Now for some levergun shooting.

Ruger Standard

Picked up this 1973 standard from the used gun rack at Green Top. Some rust, lots of wear on the finish and the receiver grip frame was very loose. A bit of time with oil and 4-0 steel wool took care of the rust. A couple pieces of shim made from a beer can took care of the loose fit. The magazine needed work. It was replaced with two MKII mags. MKII and MKIII mags will fit and work in the pistol.

Shoots reasonably well. I need to get accustomed to the pistol. Next mods will be to replace the trigger and sear with a MKII VQ trigger and sear. Just love these old Rugers.