That was me the other day. I had epic visions of starting off with the SIG Mosquito (I know, I know.. but this gun has been reliable with high velocity ammo.) then shooting the Wrangler .22, then the new-to-me S&W 36-1 3” that I just regripped with Pachmayr Grippers and a newly acquired S&W Model 18-3, then giving the S&W 66-2 a go with .38 and .357 loads, topped off with the Blackhawk flat top .44 Special.
I went through several magazines with the Mosquito, and true to form it ate up Blazer 40 gr loads just fine but wouldn’t fully cycle most shots using some off-brand standard velocity .22’s (Sterling Cross). I love the way that gun feels but hate it’s ammo sensitivity.
The Model 18-3 ate everything, shooting 70 of the Sterling Cross bullets into a decent sized DA group at 10 yds. I did have to brush the chambers once extraction became sticky, but I’ve found thats par for the course with all my S&W .22 revolvers (except my Model 17-3). The Blazer and Armscor .22’s went into similar sized groups in lesser numbers.
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The Model 36-1 is the gun I rescued from Bubbas polishing job. I dumped the wooden stocks for some grips that are more hand filling. Kinda defeats the belly gun purpose but the 3” barrel called for a bigger handle IMHO.
The first 15 on # 1,were a bit high then low as I tried to find POI with 148 gr DEWC over 2.8 gr Bullseye. Once I figured it out, it kept 15 on the target DA at 10 yds. with the WC load (2) and a pair of loads using 4.1 gr HP-38; a Berrys 125 gr LRNFP (4) and a 150 gr coated long-nose SWC from Brazos (3). I was pleasantly surprised at the consistency of the factory sight regulation, none of these three loads required any Kentucky Windage to hit in the black... all the flops are on me.
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As you can imagine the Bullseye load was soft on the hands, the ears and the gun. Compared to the guys thumping away with the AR-15s at the other end of the 10-bay range, this gun must’ve felt like a .22 to the others shooting between us.
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After about 100 through the 36-1 with zero issues, I went to the .357. The Model 66-1 has the 6” barrel target trigger/target hammer options, so I went out to 15 yds. DA firing the DEWC load and a 158 gr coated Eggleston SWC over 6.2 gr Unique. This gun liked the soft-magnum loads a bit better than the classic target standbys, but I was happy to keep them close to the black. (Shoots a tad high with both loads, the next time it’s going to be more of a 6 o’clock hold for me rather than putting center dot on top of the front sight.)
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By the time I got to this point I was just done. I never brought out the Rugers, I think the effects of the rifles rattling my fillings was enough to pack it in.
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The only solace was there were two fewer guns to clean. I guess I’ll have to make them the first ups next time so they don’t get an inferiority complex
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Stay safe.
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