During my misspent youth I would sometimes show off by dropping six shots out of an older Colt Detective Special into the center of a police silhouette target at a measured 100 yards. This might, or might not sound outstanding, but the truth is there were plenty of others I knew who could do the same thing. That old Colt had a bigger grip then today’s run-of-the-mill S&W “J†frames and was splendidly accurate. Yes, the short sight radius did make a difference, but thanks to the Army’s Small Arms Training School at Camp Perry I knew the basics, including the need to focus my eye on the front sight, not the target. In other words the sight picture had to be in sharp focus with the target image blurred. This is important in any case, but it is particularly true when one has a very short sight radius.
A lot of today’s shooters have not been as lucky as I was when it comes to marksmanship training. I believe that any quality snub-nose revolver with “controllable†ammunition (most likely not +P) will shoot into a 4-inch circle at 25 yards if the shooter does his or her part. Of course using a larger, heavier revolver with a longer barrel will help. But the “snubby†can be mastered – if and only when the shooter understands and practices the correct principals of handgun marksmanship. Otherwise simply practicing may make the situation worse.
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