Respect for the Old Ways

I went to the range yesterday afternoon. It had been a while since I'd been shooting and even longer since I'd shot on the outside range. I brought three pistols with me for the day's shooting goodness, my SigSauer P226, my Glock G30, and my Colt Official Police .22LR. I wanted to do a little defensive practice with the G30 - as well as shoot a .45 of some sort, as it had been a while. I also had a bunch of Sig 15 round magazines that needed emptying - and what better way to empty a magazine than downrange?

I try to bring a .22 pistol with me every time I go to the range. It's cheap shootin' for starters - a $13 brick of copper-plated Federal bulk ammo will last several range sessions compared to the $10 box of 50 9mm rounds that's gone in three magazines in the Sig. It's good practice for double-action shooting - knowing there won't be a loud bang when the round touches off allows me to concentrate on smoothing my trigger pull. For that same reason, it's good for when I start flinching too much - switch to the .22, shoot a few cylinders' worth through it, and work through the flinch.

The Glock continues to surprise me. I shoot it fairly well, all things considered - it is a subcompact with barely enough room for two fingers on the grip and a short barrel. Even at that, it's good for COM work easy, and with a little concentration I can reliably hit a 3" stick-on target at 25' in a predictable manner. The Sig groups extremely well, a testament to the fine piece of engineering that it is; however I shoot it somewhat low most times. I think it might be time to benchrest it and see if it's the sights, or just me.

The Colt, though, is something else. It's got fixed sights: a simple rounded blade for a front sight - the only concession to target shooting being a small gold bead on the leading edge - and a simple groove carved in the top strap for a rear sight. But even with these simple sights, this revolver is frighteningly accurate. I was picking off parts of orange clays - which are 4" across when intact - at the 25 yard berm with minimal effort. Even shooting double action is easy, the traditional Colt lockwork operating perfectly after nearly 75 years (the serial number, which is BARELY 5 digits, dates the gun to 1935 for date of manufacture).

For some reason, this gun and I just mesh. Even though the grip isn't the most ergonomic and the sights are rudimentary, I can put all six shots in a tight group with alarming precision. I've tried to figure out why it's such a good fit for me, and as near as I can tell, it's got to be the Colt mystique... Maybe it's the age of the gun - maybe they were just made more accurate back then. Maybe I feel more at home shooting a wheelgun - for a long time, all I shot were revolvers, and seem to do better with a manually-advancing arm. Maybe it's the single-action trigger of the Colt - it's smooth, light, and breaks like a glass rod. Maybe it's the .22LR chambering - knowing that there won't be a loud BANG and snappy recoil means better concentration on the front sight.

In any case, this is the one gun that I can utterly rely on to shoot well. The S&W Model 17 is a close second - on a good day I can outshoot the Colt with the Smith. But for day-in, day-out shooting, for some reason this Colt just gets the job done. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I suspect that the craftsmanship of this fine old revolver, combined with my love of the wheelgun and the smooth shooting of the diminutive rimfire all contribute to the perfect storm of shootie goodness.

Plus there's a certain "old school" appeal to shooting a handgun made during the Great Depression...

That is all.