I finally got to the range to try out my new to me Astra 2000 .22 short mousegun.
I gave it and its magazine a good cleaning and lightly greased the slide.
I practiced shooting it one handed (strong and weak side) rapid fire at 7 yards with standard velocity Winchester lead .22 shorts. Using the sights which are very small I was able to group it 2"-3" maybe an inch low and left from my POA. For comparison I shot my Beretta 71 at the same range and grouped less than 1".
The trigger pull was good and surprisingly clean at around 5-6 lbs and with a high grip I did not experience any slide "bite".
Over the first 120 rounds it functioned flawlessly both slow fire and rapid. After that it started to occasionally (1 out of 5 magazines) fail to chamber the second round from the magazine. It would fire and eject the first round but the second would fail to enter the chamber and sit loose in the magazines feed ramp. To clear it I'd have to remove the magazine and shake it clear. Definitely a pistol that needs to be kept clean.
While it was clean I also tried some CCI CB shorts. As I had read before, they were surprising loud from the mousegun and you need to wear hearing protection with them. At the short range the POI was the same as the standard velocity ammo. Function wise, only 1 CB short round in 6 would function normally ie. fire, eject and feed a new round with the hammer cocked. Most of the others failed to eject so I had to manually cycle the action like a Semmerling.
Overall, given the noisy report from the very short barrel, I don't see any advantage to the CB shorts in this mousegun - no big surprise.
For fun I tried hitting a popcan at 50 yards and while I did hit it occasionally it was more of a fluke than anything else.
In summary, it is a very well made little pistol and functions well for its intended design purpose. You would have to keep it clean but if you did, it would be very reliable. It could be carried in Condtion 1 with a pocket hoster. If carried in Condition 3, I'd leave the hammer cocked as it makes it much easier to quickly rack the tiny slide.
It only came with one magazine and I am having problems locating the 2 or 3 more that I would like.
I gave it and its magazine a good cleaning and lightly greased the slide.
I practiced shooting it one handed (strong and weak side) rapid fire at 7 yards with standard velocity Winchester lead .22 shorts. Using the sights which are very small I was able to group it 2"-3" maybe an inch low and left from my POA. For comparison I shot my Beretta 71 at the same range and grouped less than 1".
The trigger pull was good and surprisingly clean at around 5-6 lbs and with a high grip I did not experience any slide "bite".
Over the first 120 rounds it functioned flawlessly both slow fire and rapid. After that it started to occasionally (1 out of 5 magazines) fail to chamber the second round from the magazine. It would fire and eject the first round but the second would fail to enter the chamber and sit loose in the magazines feed ramp. To clear it I'd have to remove the magazine and shake it clear. Definitely a pistol that needs to be kept clean.
While it was clean I also tried some CCI CB shorts. As I had read before, they were surprising loud from the mousegun and you need to wear hearing protection with them. At the short range the POI was the same as the standard velocity ammo. Function wise, only 1 CB short round in 6 would function normally ie. fire, eject and feed a new round with the hammer cocked. Most of the others failed to eject so I had to manually cycle the action like a Semmerling.
Overall, given the noisy report from the very short barrel, I don't see any advantage to the CB shorts in this mousegun - no big surprise.
For fun I tried hitting a popcan at 50 yards and while I did hit it occasionally it was more of a fluke than anything else.
In summary, it is a very well made little pistol and functions well for its intended design purpose. You would have to keep it clean but if you did, it would be very reliable. It could be carried in Condtion 1 with a pocket hoster. If carried in Condition 3, I'd leave the hammer cocked as it makes it much easier to quickly rack the tiny slide.
It only came with one magazine and I am having problems locating the 2 or 3 more that I would like.
