Monday, September 21, 2009

Range Report: S&W Model 34

I had a chance last weekend to take the new Model 34 out to the range to put it through its paces. One of the great things about having a range only 10 minutes away is that I was able to drive to the range, shoot the M34 enough to get a feel for it, and get home in under an hour. I also brought along my G30, wanting to put a few magazines through it to re-acquaint myself with the stubby .45. With the advance of fall and winter - and the return of cover garments! - the G30 will take a more prominent role in the carry rotation.

How did the Model 34 perform? Well, I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Rapid Fire

That's a "rapid" fire target (club limits shooting to one round per second, so double-tap practice is out (at least with company...) Taking the dropped shot at 10 o'clock out (which is 6 o'clock as the target was shot), that's 11 shots in a 2" circle...

How about slow-fire?

Slow Fire


Damn. Just damn. The biggest problem with this, of course, is that I no longer have an excuse for shooting my centerfire snubbies poorly... Any inaccuracy is coming from my flinching, not from the short barrel of the snubnose... That's a group of six shots at 25 feet that can (almost) be covered by a quarter... Now, granted, this came after a dozen or so cylinders through the gun, so I had started to get a pretty good feel for the snubbie by this time...

The model 34 is just a great little gun. It's all steel, so it's significantly heavier than the aluminum framed model 38 or the scandium framed 360 (weight comparison of the three guns later this week - I love having a postal scale!). Couple the heavier gun with the .22LR chambering and recoil is removed from the equation entirely. Not only that, but because it's a smaller gun overall than the model 17 or the Colt Official Police in .22LR, it's less fatiguing to shoot for longer sessions.



And just for s**ts & giggles, how did I do with the G30? Well, I'll preface this by admitting that I haven't shot the big bore compact in a while. I've concentrated on the snubbies and the P3AT in the summer months, as they see a greater roll in the carry rotation. Also with the price of .45 ACP climbing ever higher, it's more economical to shoot .38 reloads than factory .45ACP...

Anyways, I was surprised by how well I shot the G30:

G30 Rapid Fire

29 rounds (one nine round mag, two ten round mags), all COM as fast as the range will allow. I'd like to see the overall grouping a little tighter, but for defensive point shooting I'll take it. This is overlaid on an NRA B-34 target, which is a 25 yard target - all hits are 7 ring or better.

All in all, an excellent day shooting.

That is all.

5 comments:

Weer'd Beard said...

I've been wearing my 1911 the last few days.

I'm sad to see the warm days of summer end, and I'm sure its the harbinger for a LOT of snow this winter...but DAMN it's nice to have my .45 by my side again!

Ross said...

I don't care if it's only 10 minutes away - what jackass is responsible for the "one round a second" rule?

And why haven't you either joined the BOD and gotten RID of that stupid rule or joined another club?

Jay G said...

Weer'd,

No kidding. Even though 5 rounds of .357 Magnum goodness ought to be more than enough to settle any disputes, it's nice to have twice that amount of .45 ACP goodness tucked away...

Ross,

Time. Plain and simple. I wish I had the time to work to make changes.

The rule is in place mainly because of the neighbors. There have been a TON of developments that sprang up around my gun club. Each one contains at least one certified liberal yuppie scum who'd love nothing more than to shut down the gun range next door to his McMansion

Every few years we have some jackass claiming that he heard a bullet go by his house. We've taken some pretty extraordinary steps to prevent any round from leaving the range (you should come over sometime and see the complex arrangement on the pistol range!)

It's close by, inexpensive dues, and has an indoor range open 24/7. Those are the good points.

redleg said...

You should apologize for knowingly building a gun range where he near where he was going to build his McMansion years later.

Any additional thoughts on the M34? I've been thinking about a small .22 revolver to go along with my 442 and to be ..... aw heck probably just because I don't have one and haven't bought anything in a month.

Jay G said...

redleg,

I love it. I've only have occasion to take her out a couple of times, but both times she's performed flawlessly. She'll see a LOT more shooting time as the winter progresses, as the club's indoor range is lead-only (it's a steel plate angled 45ยบ to the ground, with a sand trap under).

I'm also hoping to get a .22LR conversion kit for the G30, and I'll be able to practice on 75% of my carry guns using .22LR only!