Michael Tinker Pearce
Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2016
- Messages
- 1,576
A pristine Model 732 Guardian came home with me today, but not before I took it to the range to try it out. The Guardsman has a 4" barrel, a full-size square butt and a rear sight that is screw-adjustable for windage. This one was made in 1965, and aside from a tiny bit of rust pitting on the bottom of the grip-frame it is in showroom-new condition.
Despite H&Rs rather famously bad double-action triggers, this one is alright. It's no vintage S&W, but it's not bad. I loaded some 90gr HBWCs over 2.5gr. of Unique with a Federal magnum Small Pistol primer to try it out, and after picking it up at the counter I went next door to their indoor range. Running a target out to seven yards I was easily able to produce a reasonable double-action group. The gun shoots a bit high at that range, but not bad. It's a comfortable and very pleasant gun to shoot with these target loads.
After this I decided to run a target out to 25 yards and have a go. Embarrassingly I loaded an empty case in one chamber... hey, they look just like the wadcutters... I was, uh, distracted. yeah, that's it. Since the gun shot slightly high at 7 yards I used a 6-o'clock hold at 25 yards, basically with the paper sitting on top of the front sight. I fired single-action,and the results were impressive-
That's a 1.9" group- pretty good for an 'economy' revolver! I love this gun; it may be simple and let's not deny it, a bit ugly, but it's an honest, solid and good-shooting little gun. Money well spent, and not much money at that! I paid $150 for this and a Davis D32 derringer. I'd feel like I got the best of that one without the derringer thrown in. This gun is going to getting a lot of range time.