Which revolver/pistol?

[MossRoad]

I'm particularly fond of my High Standard (discontinued) 9 shot 22 revolvers. I have 2 of them. One has a snubby barrel and the other (campers companion?) has a 6 inch barrel. What is nice about them is;

1. They are double action revolver.
2. Simple to operate and maintain.
3. 22LR is so affordable to shoot /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
4. Has interchangeable cylinders for 22 or 22 magnum. Magnums are about $7.00 a box while LR is about $1.00 a box.
5. 9 shots before a reload for a 22 pistol is pretty good.
6. If you think the 22LR has a sharp crack, the 22 magnum is just plain painful to the ears.

Fun guns to shoot.

 

[fishman]

Knucklehead,

I have Pachmayr Professionals on my S&W 681. They are thinner profile, and don't cover the backstrap, resulting in a fairly small grip on an L-frame. They are much smaller in diameter than the Hogue's or the factory grips. Incidentally, my gun came with them as it was a police trade-in, and I liked them so much I never changed them. The exposed backstrap has never been a problem, but for the recoil-shy it could be an issue.

 

[Egon]

Patrick:
You need one of "The Dukes" .45's. Never runs out of shells,never has to be reloaded and aims itself.

Egon

 

[knucklehead]

Thanks fishman - sounds like what I'm looking for - funny thing is, I had the rubber grips swapped to the magnas when I bought it because I liked wood better - but it points low, naturally, and I can feel myself pulling it up to aim, which gets tiring after only a few cylinders full. Mine was a trade-in, too.

 

[knucklehead]

Hawk - my son wants a .45 badly - around here we see Colts, Paras, & Springfields in the 1911 style, and of course many others like S&W, HK, Sig, etc.. You prefer the Para Ordinance? Is there a decent-shooting .45 out there that won't break the bank (we'd all like Kimbers, wouldn't we?)? I was thinking about starting with a 1991A1 or something and going through the exercise of customization - read lots of articles & such about .45's, and bought a couple books. We have info overload, to say the least.

I'd like to hear anyone's comments on 1911 or 1991A1 style .45's.

 

[RobertN]

My Blackhawk, that I sold some time ago, was terrible out of the box. I took it to the 'smith, and had the trigger done. While he was in there, I had him tune up all the cylinder lock mechanism stuff too. It shot very well after that. I, however, just could not shoot the thing except from a rest. The grip did not fit me at all. I tried Hogues grip, but still, there eas a big gap in my "gripping". I have a Walker replica. The grip is larger, but that style just does not fit me. I like the SA a lot, but it don't like me.

I really liked my Desert Eagle, before UPS stole it. It was a big gun, with big grips that really fit my hands.

It would not be hard to make your own grips. A friend of mine made a set for his Smith '29. They work really nice, and looki great too.

 

[Hawkflyer]

Since you already seem to know what it is, I won't bore you with the details of the Para, except to say it comes in all sizes to accomadate any specific needs. I carry the smallest one that fits my hand. I have large hands so this means the P12. These usually shoot well without modification (under 2" at 25 yards).As for others, Assuming you want something series 1980 or later. Springfield Armory makes a good platform from which you can customize a very good pistol. They are a little rough right out of the box, but you can tune them up with a few parts (try Brownells Inc. in Iowa). In fact a lot of folks buy the Para frame kit and convert springfields for carry and competition. Tanfoglio (Italian) makes a very good compact .45 designed after the CZ-75 pattern that is light, dependable, usually priced right, and has the added feature of double action first shot. It can also be carried cocked and locked. They also have a full sized version. The TZ models are are very reasonable, well made dependable, pistols. Fortunatly, they also shoot pretty well right out of the box.I have taught a lot of people to shoot, and most have a little trouble starting out on a .45. At first the recoil puts them off. Usually, I start them out on something easy and pleasant to shoot like a 6" .38 with mid range wadcutters. After they get comfortable with that, I move them up. Most will master even a sloppy .45 in short order. If I was to give you advice I would suggest either the TZ if you don't want to fool with mods right off (see Brownells for this as well). Or The Springfield. If the Springfield shoots well at 25 yards from a bench (under 2"), I would leave it alone and practice with it. Odds are the gun will shoot better than most people can. Now it goes without saying that 2" at 25 yards is not going to be world class accuracy, but it will do the job for utility purposes. If you decide later you want to trick it out, you can always do that.Hope this helps.

 

[CVHoss]

Mark,
You may want to take a look at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.pagunsmith.com/griffon1.html>one of these</A>. I bought mine from one of our local gun shops after talking with a couple of shooters that had them. Mine is very accurate out of the box. Functions flawlessly (so far). Feeds anything I've stuck in it to this point. Only two problems, as I see 'em. The trigger pull was way to heavy. About 10#. Had a gunsmith here work on it and got it down to 3.5#. The extended safety release had sort of a "sharp" edge on the bottom side. Stoned it a little and got rid of that. Don't remember for sure, but seems like I paid around $450.00 for it new. There's a link to the picture of mine in my post above.

Hoss

 

[patrickg]

Ozarker, You just never know when you might be suddenly attacked without warning by dope crazed Morrow indians. But seriously, if bigger is better why not a .50 BMG autoloading pistol? I think there is a threshold of stopping power and lethality that once achieved, more is not much better. In the concealed carry arena I too favor the .45ACP and think the .44 mag is a bit much along with the Casul .454.

It is entirely possible that you might be hit in the head by a meteorite while sitting on the couch watching TV (there is a documented case) but I don't advocate a steel pot or its kevlar replacement as a TV viewing accessory. Similarly someone can imagine scenarios where SUPER FIREPOWER is required for concealed carry or to kill mutant radio active rats (I just got back from MIB II) but in general a hot controlled expansion .45ACP load will be enough. If someone is in multi layer protective body armor or carries a gardall shield or has significant quantities of green cryptonite or tactical nukes, I guess I just won't be prepared.

If it gets so bad that you and I can't chance going out in the world with ONLY .45ACP then I will rethink my personal protection plans and the motivation for getting off of my own property.

Patrick

 

[patrickg]

Egon, Maybe in some of the early films the "Duke" got carried away with movie magic but Jim Steel (sp?), Hoot Gibson and others who predate Tom Mix had the highest capacity pistols I ever saw. Unfortunately most of the time there was maybe one hit for a few hundred rounds expended. Don't know if that was poor marksmanship or bad hardware or inconsistentoads.

And now for something completely different... Our blackberries are happening, largest size berries I ever saw for wild ones this season, great cobbler yesterday and good on cereal, icecream etc. which is why I must sign off for a while...

Patrick