Precision Pistol, again...
by Hobie 
, Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Tuesday, November 07, 2023, 17:37 (380 days ago)
edited by Hobie, Tuesday, November 07, 2023, 17:46
This past year, thanks to Blue Ridge Shooters Club member Paul "Gunner" Lahah, I had the opportunity to begin again with bullseye pistol (precision pistol). While our club matches were only at 25-yards and only with .22 LR I really enjoyed the challenge.
My handgun for this past season (we shot for 12-weeks this past summer) was a K-22 6" and I planned to shoot only this gun this next season as well. HOWEVER, yesterday provided me an opportunity to get a Smith & Wesson model 41 at a pretty good price. This is the optics ready, Performance Center, version built in 2014. I don't plan on using optics (like a 1MOA red-dot) but given my current eyesight and the aging process this might become more of a "necessity". Because I already had a 422 I already had more extra magazines.
We allowed shooters to do more than one 30-round course of fire each week last year and I'm thinking I'm going to shoot both handguns, sort of competing against myself. I am planning to shoot CCI Standard Velocity for practice (this is all that I shot last year) and CCI Pistol Match in the matches.
Is anyone else here shooting this discipline?
By the way, Paul leading college shooters to excellence at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.
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Sincerely,
Hobie
Precision Pistol, again...
by Paul , Tuesday, November 07, 2023, 19:17 (380 days ago) @ Hobie
Mark Godley let me shoot his Model 41 back in 2012 when we stopped at his place on our way north. What a lovely piece of machinery! I've no idea what vintage it was, but definitely pre-2012 since that's when we were there. I'd love to have an accurate cartridge gun here, but have to make do with a couple of Crosman 2240's (one modded to .177 caliber) and an IZH 46M that chas gifted me years ago. I've not taken much time for handguns this year, other than while up in the US.
Anyway, all that to say that I look forward to your experience in running two top tier handguns of different systems against each other.
Just learned this morning...
by Paul , Wednesday, November 08, 2023, 12:16 (379 days ago) @ Hobie
that our club will be acquiring a couple of PCP pistols. As "head of the airgun department" I should have a chance to play with them a bit. They're for 10 meters, but that's never kept me from shooting a gun at further distances. 
And these 10 meter pistols have a great reputation for accuracy.
I've shot 10-meter air pistol and it is a challenge,
by Hobie , Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Thursday, November 09, 2023, 09:51 (378 days ago) @ Paul
ESPECIALLY outdoors with a breeze!
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Sincerely,
Hobie
I discovered a trick you might consider trying.
by Miles , CIVITATES AMERICAE, Wednesday, November 08, 2023, 14:37 (379 days ago) @ Hobie
When I was on the pistol team the summer of '90, we once shot nothing but hardball .45 service pistol for two weeks. When we moved 'back' to the .22 I found I had increased my scores by nearly 30 points and they stayed up there.
It was surmised that the mental & physical concentration on control needed to shoot the .45 accurately was finally engrained deeply enough to positively affect shooting the rimfire.
Your results may vary.......
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Esse sine metu in facie inimici tui. Sit fortis et rectus quod Deus ut amo te. Veritatem dico semper etiam si eam ducit ad mortem tuam. Tuendam inops et facere no mali.
I've got ball, pistol and time, I'll try it!
by Hobie , Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Thursday, November 09, 2023, 09:53 (378 days ago) @ Miles
It is shooting so it can't be a waste of time, can it?
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Sincerely,
Hobie
I have not played in that game.
by Hoot , Diversityville, Liberal-sota, Thursday, November 09, 2023, 10:43 (378 days ago) @ Hobie
But I have both the arms you mention. I am probably the 2nd worst pistol shot in the world (please, oh please, let the be someone worse than me) so take anything I say with the proverbial salt. I shoot the S&W 41 (vintage 1970) better than I shoot the K-38 (vintage 1950). The 41 has a Burris FastFire which helps immensely but I shot it better than the K-38 even before the optic was mounted. I really, really want to shoot the revolvers well but it doesn't seem to be happening. Yep, I need to practice more.....
Clearly in the FWIW Department.
I have not played in that game.
by Paul , Thursday, November 09, 2023, 11:10 (378 days ago) @ Hoot
I'd encourage you to get a GOOD pellet pistol and work at it indoors. Winter's a good time to set up a carboard pellet trap and indulge in a bit of target practice. It doesn't take too much to make a good trap.
I took an apple box and filled it with sheets of cardboard recycled from other boxes. Cut to fit tightly in the apple box, vertical with the broad side towards the firing line (of the inner cardboard, I shoot the apple box small end towards me). Layered this way you've got a couple feet of cardboard behind the target you tape to the front. I've shot this with 38 spl, 7.62 ACP and innumerable pellets at all levels of power, and never had a shot exit the box. When there's a sizable cavity behind the bullseye I just stuff it full of shredded paper from the office shredder and tape a clean piece of cardboard over the face of the trap and have another go at it.
I also use a wide variety of targets I print out myself, different sizes for different holds or different airguns. I really should shoot more often, but this lets me set up fairly easily and quickly and using a low powered airgun in the house is possible without appealing to ear protection as the report is so low. I really need to get my IZH 46M out again and have another round of pistol practice, perhaps after the Field Target nationals next month.
I've shot newspaper filled boxes (airgun trap) and boxes
by Hobie , Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Thursday, November 09, 2023, 18:08 (378 days ago) @ Paul
filled with other stuff but the quietest and longest lasting was a box filled with rubber mulch. You do need to create a target face that is replaceable and the trap box doesn't need to be more than 6" deep.
I started handgun shooting with a Crosman 130 .22 cal pistol and shot so much in our basement that I "chewed" a hole through the 20" deep box packed with newspapers. I cast a lot of bullets with the lead recovered.
This might get lost in the thread for posting here but I took the model 41 to the range today but not all the magazines. I don't know why I did that... 
Anyway, one magazine won't seat but works fine in my 422 and another would fall out after every shot. More magazines will ordered shortly. I need enough to support both the 41 and the 422.
The range was "crowded" with muzzleloader trouble shooters so I did not begin the .45 ball training regimen.
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Sincerely,
Hobie
That's the downside to the autos...
by Paul , Sunday, November 12, 2023, 16:17 (375 days ago) @ Hobie
being dependent on a perfect magazine. Hope you get it sorted out. I REALLY enjoyed the 41 that Mark Godley let me shoot back in 2012. Other than the magazine troubles, how did yours shoot? Or was the frustration enough to put you off the game for the day?
It did throw me off but it seems to have potential.
by Hobie , Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Sunday, November 12, 2023, 21:16 (375 days ago) @ Paul
...
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Sincerely,
Hobie
I do have a steel bullet trap rated for rimfires.
by Hoot , Diversityville, Liberal-sota, Sunday, November 12, 2023, 08:26 (375 days ago) @ Paul
I do not have a "good air pistol" though. I am also without a decent distance to shoot. I can probably manage 20 feet or so which is better than nothing I suppose. I should work on that....
I do have a steel bullet trap rated for rimfires.
by Paul , Sunday, November 12, 2023, 16:29 (375 days ago) @ Hoot
The problem with the steel traps is that they tend to be noisier. I like the simple cardboard box trap for the relatively quiet "PLOP" sound the pellet makes as compared to PLONK on a steel trap.
As for distance, much of my shooting is about 20-30 feet, down the hall, across our bedroom and into the trap set in front of the bathroom sink. That's the longest safe shot I can make through the house, and usually only done when my dear wife's at work. She's fine with me shooting in the house, I just don't like to distract her from her office stuff when she's home, and the door to her office is where I station myself or the 30 foot shots.
As for air pistols, they've really gone up in price. I've been drooling on the idea of an Air Arms Alfa Proj for over a decade now, but they've gone up from $600 or so to nearly twice that. For just a bit more you could get a Hammerli AP20 PRO. The Alfa is built in the Czech republic, the Hammerli in Germany. The Air Venturi V10 Match can be had for about $270. The Beeman P3 will set you back for just a bit more or you could pick up a Beeman P17 for less than $50. It's pretty much a chinese copy of the P3 and sells for considerably less. A few years ago there were a bunch of them purchased for under $30 by denizens of the GTA when there was a Black Friday type deal offered, and they developed a kind of cult following.
The first two above are PCP, which carries the need to also invest in an air supply. The others are all single stroke pneumatic which makes them pretty much self contained. They all give fairly inexpensive handgun practice platforms.