Some of you may remember this https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/women_and_firearms/138260-two_new_guns_for_wifey_40_a.html where I got two $20 handguns for my wife...
Well the stars aligned this weekend and we met at the range after a Rifle Shooting merit badge class.
I think this was her third time shooting.
First up, she shot the Ruger 22/45 with the Cocobolo grips... this one she likes a lot. She went on and on (for her - not a gun person at all) about how well it shot and how little recoil there was. At 20ft she kept eveything on a paper plate, and when she did everything right was hitting in the center -- we're still working on the mechanics, and and 15-20 minutes at a time is as long as she cares to shoot. I think she might have shot 20 rounds. My oldest son then shot it too, and he shot a baseball size group. FWIW he's the one that isn't interest in shooting. I put 15 rounds through it... Nice trigger, no malfunctions, good balance, good sights. Better than the Buckmark? Not quite. I think the deciding factor for me is that the Buckmark has less felt recoil and "flip". The steel framed Rugers don't do this.
Next up was the Bersa Thunder .380... Her feelings about this gun are "meh", but that isn't the point of this range session.
Then out came the Pink Lady, loaded with 125gr LTC mid-level hand loads. She did not like it from the first shot. Too much recoil. She asked me if these were the "cat sneeze" loads she shot before (3.3gr BE/158gr SWC). No they weren't. "Well, I don't like that," she said, referring to the gun.
"That's why we have the SP101," I replied. And next time maybe I'll load up some 148gr WC.
I had spent some time prior to this trip "dry firing" this Charter .38 SPL. The trigger from the factory was quite... gritty. I disassembled it as far as I dared as I can't find good instructions and Charter sent me a diagram (same one as in the manual) but wouldn't answer my questions about disassembly. I wanted to take off any "burrs" on the metal, which literally felt like steel on aluminum, but leave the sear alone. Without good instructions and weighing the fact that it's put together with plastic and aluminum, I decided I would lubricate it and dry fire it smooth. I've dry fired it probably 500 times or more and the trigger is pretty darn nice now.
The Good: I shot 10 rounds through it and the feel, accuracy, and recoil might be a tad better than a S&W Airweight, though I don't expect the durability to be equal. I fired all shots double action, and they all went right where I aimed. For a light, accuracte carry piece with a low ($300) price tag, I like it a lot. This is a bit of a surprise.
The Bad: One caveat, ejecting brass was an issue. The design of the grips is such that one sometimes two pieces of brass are pushed into the grip by the ejector causing a condition similar to "short stroking" the ejector. The ejector rod on snubbies is already too short but this complicates it further. I'm going to find some time to investigate this issue some more.
Was the recoil really that bad? No, not at all, the grip on the Charter tames the recoil just fine, but dealing with the recoil takes trigger time. Wanting her end on a positive I pulled out the S&W M19 and she shot maybe 10 rounds. So did I.
Lesson: the typical almost automatic recommendation of a lightweight 38 Special for the beginning lady shooter usually isn't the right one, IME.
Well the stars aligned this weekend and we met at the range after a Rifle Shooting merit badge class.
I think this was her third time shooting.
First up, she shot the Ruger 22/45 with the Cocobolo grips... this one she likes a lot. She went on and on (for her - not a gun person at all) about how well it shot and how little recoil there was. At 20ft she kept eveything on a paper plate, and when she did everything right was hitting in the center -- we're still working on the mechanics, and and 15-20 minutes at a time is as long as she cares to shoot. I think she might have shot 20 rounds. My oldest son then shot it too, and he shot a baseball size group. FWIW he's the one that isn't interest in shooting. I put 15 rounds through it... Nice trigger, no malfunctions, good balance, good sights. Better than the Buckmark? Not quite. I think the deciding factor for me is that the Buckmark has less felt recoil and "flip". The steel framed Rugers don't do this.
Next up was the Bersa Thunder .380... Her feelings about this gun are "meh", but that isn't the point of this range session.
Then out came the Pink Lady, loaded with 125gr LTC mid-level hand loads. She did not like it from the first shot. Too much recoil. She asked me if these were the "cat sneeze" loads she shot before (3.3gr BE/158gr SWC). No they weren't. "Well, I don't like that," she said, referring to the gun.
"That's why we have the SP101," I replied. And next time maybe I'll load up some 148gr WC.
I had spent some time prior to this trip "dry firing" this Charter .38 SPL. The trigger from the factory was quite... gritty. I disassembled it as far as I dared as I can't find good instructions and Charter sent me a diagram (same one as in the manual) but wouldn't answer my questions about disassembly. I wanted to take off any "burrs" on the metal, which literally felt like steel on aluminum, but leave the sear alone. Without good instructions and weighing the fact that it's put together with plastic and aluminum, I decided I would lubricate it and dry fire it smooth. I've dry fired it probably 500 times or more and the trigger is pretty darn nice now.
The Good: I shot 10 rounds through it and the feel, accuracy, and recoil might be a tad better than a S&W Airweight, though I don't expect the durability to be equal. I fired all shots double action, and they all went right where I aimed. For a light, accuracte carry piece with a low ($300) price tag, I like it a lot. This is a bit of a surprise.
The Bad: One caveat, ejecting brass was an issue. The design of the grips is such that one sometimes two pieces of brass are pushed into the grip by the ejector causing a condition similar to "short stroking" the ejector. The ejector rod on snubbies is already too short but this complicates it further. I'm going to find some time to investigate this issue some more.
Was the recoil really that bad? No, not at all, the grip on the Charter tames the recoil just fine, but dealing with the recoil takes trigger time. Wanting her end on a positive I pulled out the S&W M19 and she shot maybe 10 rounds. So did I.
Lesson: the typical almost automatic recommendation of a lightweight 38 Special for the beginning lady shooter usually isn't the right one, IME.
