Fill in the Rest

I took the new old .357 to the range, along with some backup guns, in case my reloads failed. And fail they did, in a big way. I shot a total of 5 rounds, and all were undercharges. They left the gun barrels, and four actually managed to hit the target, but the holes weren’t clean. The target tore, as if the bullets were moving at BB velocity. I have no idea what I did wrong. I used about 8 grains of Unique, small pistol primers (not magnum), and 125-grain truncated cone Laser-Cast bullets. I am going to have to take 95 rounds apart and check them. The documentation said to use small pistol primers. Maybe there was a misprint, and it should have been small pistol magnum primers. Or maybe the powder measure acted up.

I bought two overpriced boxes of PMC .357 ammunition (158 grain) and put the reloads away.

The 27-2 is wonderful, but the grips have to GO. The front of the grips is so big, it pushes my middle finger against the trigger guard. I can’t get a good two-hand grip on this thing. Maybe it was never meant for two hands. I need to get some Pachmayrs or something. Too bad. I like the Eastwoody look of the original grips.

The trigger is remarkable. I thought the 686+ had a nice trigger, but this one is better. You can’t feel a thing until the bullet goes off.

Here are my first fifty shots, not counting the undercharges, which I covered. The shots in the center are from the 686+. The others are from the 27-2. The first three shots from the 27-2 went into the same hole. And I don’t mean a ragged hole. I mean the same HOLE. Kind of freaked me out. You can see that there is a small area where the bullets really like to go. But I still have a flawed trigger pull, so the bullets danced around it. These are all double-action shots.

Seems like I don’t shoot to the left as much as I used to. On the other hand, I’ve had the 686+ for 8 years, and I may have adjusted it.

Here are 25 shots at 50 feet. I adjusted the sights a little. I thought these would be better than they were, but the grips were starting to get to me. Maybe that was the problem. Still double action.

I decided to get out the SW1911. I seem to be turning into a 1911 man. The other day, one of the range guys watched me shoot it, and he said, “The gun shoots itself.” That was kind of insulting, but I am getting good results. Here I shot from 7 yards. I started with the 27-2 in the center of the target, single action, and then I moved to the 1911, which suddenly seemed very tame.

After that, I shot the 1911 at 50 feet. I was very happy with these shots, because while they make a big spread, they divide cleanly in two groups. I believe the crap on the left was caused by a trigger pull problem, and that if I can master it, I’ll start shooting more like the stuff on the right. Which is not bad at all.

Finally, I fired 50 shots with the Glock 22 (.40 S&W) at 50 feet. These were disappointing. I used to shoot this gun better than this. I’m wondering if it hates the ammunition I used.

Scored some free .45 brass. That’s always nice.

Am I turning into a 1911 nut? I love the 27-2, but man, those .45 reloads feel sweet.