My recoil machismo is gone. I have met my match.

HardDrive · 12-03-2006, 08:19 PM

Scandium frame S&W .357. The thing seems to weigh about a pound. The grip is so small you are basically shooting one handed. It gives you a health punch in the palm, but worse is the trigger guard. Because you can't get a decent grip on it, the recoil throws the gun up and the trigger guard hits your finger.

Its doable, but its the point where, "this ain't fun anymore".

Other range notes:

-Shot an XD side by side with my Sig 226R (both .40). Its a nice gun, but the trigger is not as smooth as I would like. I generally dislike poly fram guns, and this did not change that.

-Shot a compact XD (.40). Nice. Damn accurate given the small furniture and short barrel. A bit fat for concealed carry.

-S&W 686 .357. I'm buying one. End of story. What a great revolver.

Best of the day?

Kimber Classic Custom. WOW. This thing was so accurate it was just insane. I fired an entire box through one target and ended up with a nice round hold about 3' around in the middle of the target.

BlueSkyJaunte · 12-03-2006, 08:31 PM

I have one of these:

And let me tell you, if you don't wear a nice thick glove that lovely trigger guard mashes the knuckle of your middle finger absolutely flat. I was bruised for a week following my first session with this beast.

tabs · 12-03-2006, 08:45 PM

Ouuuu a 629....BUT its not Pinned and Recessed!!!

Joeaksa · 12-03-2006, 08:49 PM

Aaron,

The .44 mag is one of the nicest pistols that S&W ever made. Which model is that? -2 or -3?

HD, the Kimber is a wonderful piece of art. You should get one. The 686 is as well, just a different style of gun.

Joe

LeeH · 12-03-2006, 08:51 PM

Aaron... what's all that green stuff in the pic? I sort of recall seeing something like that when I lived in Georgia.

tabs · 12-03-2006, 08:52 PM

U like S &Ws, I'll give U S & Ws.

on2wheels52 · on2wheels52's Garage

HardDrive
Lighten up your loads, try std velocity .38's. Just not enough mass for the mags.
Nice set of target models tabs. One of my favorites is a 1917 with British proofs, maybe some Lend-Lease thing?
Jim

Jeff Higgins · 12-04-2006, 05:43 AM

If you guys are bruising your middle fingers on the back of the trigger guard, you are simply holding the gun wrong. None of the revolvers you show have enough recoil to do that if you hold them properly. Work on your grip position, and firm up that grip. It should be about like a VERY firm handshake.

Joeaksa · 12-04-2006, 05:51 AM

Jeff,

Have you fired the m29? Firm handshake aint gonna do it with a .44 magnum. If its held that way the gun will make a dent in your forehead whilst going behind you in a hurry...

Its a monster and needs to be held on to very well.

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

get one of those hand-gripper exercisers..

ryan

HardDrive · 12-04-2006, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
If you guys are bruising your middle fingers on the back of the trigger guard, you are simply holding the gun wrong. None of the revolvers you show have enough recoil to do that if you hold them properly. Work on your grip position, and firm up that grip. It should be about like a VERY firm handshake.

Well, you are going to have to demo that for me at Wades sometime. I tried. You only have about 2.5 fingers on the grip, and there really isn't any frame to get a hold of with the other. I guess I could use the left hand to squeeze the right.

On the other hand, I'm not doing anything of the sort......

JTO · 12-04-2006, 08:00 AM

Just my $0.02 on the Kimber: don't buy one. I spent $1250 dollars and seven months trying to get Kimber to make their Team Match II function. It never did after three trips back to Yonkers. They finally refunded my money.
Troy

Jeff Higgins · 12-04-2006, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Jeff,

Have you fired the m29? Firm handshake aint gonna do it with a .44 magnum. If its held that way the gun will make a dent in your forehead whilst going behind you in a hurry...

Its a monster and needs to be held on to very well.

Yup; used to have an early 4" M29. By "firm handshake", I did mean that you should hold onto it very firmly. The grip shape isn't all that great for handling much recoil, so a very firm grip is all the more important.

Quote:

Originally posted by HardDrive
Well, you are going to have to demo that for me at Wades sometime. I tried. You only have about 2.5 fingers on the grip, and there really isn't any frame to get a hold of with the other. I guess I could use the left hand to squeeze the right.

On the other hand, I'm not doing anything of the sort......

Maybe Saturday? It sounds like a bunch of us are heading over to Wade's after breakfast at the XXX.

BlueSkyJaunte · 12-04-2006, 08:14 AM

Joe, Tabs, Lee...not my gun, that's just a pic of a 29-2 I scoured Google for. There are pics of my pinned and recessed 29-2 around here somewhere.

And Jeff, Joe is right, these things need a serious grip. What he didn't mention are my ham-like hands. There's no way to fit my hand on the grip otherwise. I should probably get a smith to make me a custom grip but I'm lazy...and cheap.

Jeff Higgins · 12-04-2006, 08:39 AM

Maybe my "firm handshake" is firmer than most. Probably easier to demonstrate than explain anyway; but I'm sure we all agree we need to hang onto these things.

I do shoot these quite a lot. I go through well over a thousand rounds a year in my .44 mag and various .45 Colts. My standard load in the .44 mag is a 300 grain long flat nose cast from wheel weights in an LBT mold, over 23 grains of W-W 296 with a CCI magnum primer; this approaches 1300 fps in my 6" Virginian Dragoon. My standard .45 Colt load (for the Ruger Blackhawk only) is another 300 grain flat nose out of an LBT mold, again over 23 grains of W-W 296 with a CCI magnum primer. This one gets just about 1200 fps from a 4 3/4" Blackhawk.

One of my carry guns is an old 2 1/2" Charter Arms Bulldog Pug; a five shot revolver in .44 Special. Standard load is the RCBS .45-250K, weighing about 260 grains when cast from wheelweights. Loaded over 8.0 grains of W-W 231, it's good for about 840 fps from this stubby 2 1/2" barrel. It's about the size of that little Scandium S&W but, being all steel, somewhat heavier. The bullet is about twice as heavy as any .38 caliber as well, though. You want recoil? I'll show you recoil. This little guy is a handful.

Joeaksa · 12-04-2006, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JTO
Just my $0.02 on the Kimber: don't buy one. I spent $1250 dollars and seven months trying to get Kimber to make their Team Match II function. It never did after three trips back to Yonkers. They finally refunded my money.
Troy

Glad that they worked with you. I have a good friend who has had a Custom for years now. It was accurate OUT OF THE BOX and never had an issue since new.

They should have given you a new gun but thats life.

onewhippedpuppy · 12-04-2006, 09:19 AM

I also shot an XD40 this weekend. Seemed like a nice gun, but I felt the recoil had a lot of flip to it, which I didn't care for. The Glock 21 .45 that I shot felt much more controlable.

Eric Coffey · 12-04-2006, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JTO
Just my $0.02 on the Kimber: don't buy one. I spent $1250 dollars and seven months trying to get Kimber to make their Team Match II function. It never did after three trips back to Yonkers. They finally refunded my money.
Troy

The series II Kimbers did have issues (external extractor), but the old series I's and the new models are great, IMO. Like Joe said: Damn accurate, and match-grade tolorences right out of the box.

JTO · 09:57 AM

Yeah, I have a Kimber manuf. in '96, a Custom Carry II that is great. THat's why I bought another Kimber for IDPA. But, they are not made as they once were. Now I shoot a Glock 20 for IDPA and it is kick ass. Kicks up a lot of dust when shooting prone though...

Just a side note; I have a Kahr PM40 for concealed carry. It shoots full house 40 S&W with ease and is very accurate for a 3" barrel, short grip gun. It carry so well I can wear it anywhere. It is stout in the recoil department but as some of you know, I'm not recoil sensitive!
Troy

Schrup · Schrup's Garage

My ex-wife carried a S&W model 65 with a tiny rubber grip & a 2.5" barrel. It was uncomfortable to fire, especially following my Glock. I wouldn't care to try that Scandium frame .357, no thanks.