38Special Wadcutter Shootoff!
- Thread starter JohnnyMac
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Still alive
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Ah, the old days where no one worried about trigger reset! I've been shooting for 30yrs and just learnt about reset 2 years ago. Breaking a life long habit of releasing the trigger after every shot is very difficult but I'm learning!
Just want to congratulate you on very nice guns and very good tastes! I hope I get to shoot a M52 and a 210 someday!
Now go put more rounds down range. We want to see 2-3" groups at 25 yds out of these guns!
Still alive
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Well thanks for that, I do appreciate a fine firearm and love every moment I get to spend at the range with them. With four kids under the age of 8 I don't currently get as much range time as I used to (as you can tell by my groups) but that will change with time.
Still alive
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Well, Happy Father's Day to you! I hope your kids grow up to appreciate your hobby and your fine collection. Please do not sell these guns if you can at all help it! They will make a great heirloom for your children.
Still alive
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Rainy mosquito infested part of BC
Sell the Norincos first!
Do your RESPs and make sure the kids save a portion of their summer job incomes! That might save a coupler nice guns!
RESP's for sure. Jobs will be better and actually saving money from their jobs will be great! As for Norinco's, to each their own but I only have so much storage space and as a result can't afford to buy Norinco's. They'd just take up valuable space that could be devoted to colt's and smith and wessons.
sillymike
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Look at it on the bright side... When they're old enough, you'll be able to form your own shooting team!
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CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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I hear ya! I don't own Norcs either.
It's a bomar rib, apparently they were popular with bullseye shooters back in the day. To be honest I don't know much about them and it was installed prior to me purchasing the gun. It does have a nice sight picture and apparently the added weight is supposed to help with recoil and shot follow through. This gun is a super soft shooter but then again so is the Colt and it is stock.
I've been shooting some one handed bullsey style sessions at my Chilliwack club's indoor range. One of the fellows did some league level bulleye competing way back when bullseye was pretty popular among the local clubs. I've got a lot of hints from him on how to improve accuracy and how to avoid becoming over tired.
First off is rest your arm between shots. This involves setting the semi on safe or not cocking the hammer on a revolver and just lower the gun and rest it on the bench and relax your arm and hand without moving your grip. When ready raise the gun and #### the hammer or take it off safe and gain your sight picture. Oh, and you are using a proper match target and a bullseye style six o'clock hold, right? The optimum sighting picture is a "lollipop" made up of your front sight just touching or showing the slightest of slivers of the background paper colour between the top of the front sight and the black spot on the target. Anyway you'll find that it takes about two seconds for your arm to settle down and get as stable as it will be. Then you have a roughly 3 second window before your muscles start to shake from the weight. Good upper body fitness can increase this steady period to more like 5 to 7 seconds. At that point your muscles start to shake more and it's better to set the gun to safe and lower it and rest again.
Another trick that I'd never have thought about is your body angle. My "coach" suggested that I hold the empty gun at my side with my eyes closed. Relax then raise it to the shooting position and open my eyes. If the gun isnot pointed at the target then alter your feet to adjust the angle of your torso. Do NOT twist at the waist. This is all about finding your naturally relaxed body position. Repeat with adjustments to your feet until you find upon opening your eyes that the gun is pointed at or darn close to the target three times in a row. For example sighted on one edge of the paper, then the other edge then the black ball is "good enough". I was surprised at the difference this made. It also explained the multiple rest and raising that he does at the start of a target with the empty gun before he loads and begins. I just missed seeing the closed eyes.
These two gems are the two big ones I've learned. If you folks aren't doing one or both already give them a try. These things really do help. Oh, and so does trading eyes with some eagle eyed kid.....
I have been a Colt fan for years and had the opportunity to pick up a GCNM 38Mid Range. I jumped at the chance and was intrigued by the idea of shooting a 38 special wadcutter from a 1911. A short time later I discovered that Smith and Wesson also put out a semi-auto that fired the 38 special wadcutter and soon realized that there were many opinions out there that feel it is superior to the Colt. I had previously owned a Smith and Wesson 1066 and was very disappointed in the ergonomics and gritty trigger (sold that one a week after I bought it) so I was hesitant to try the 52, but when a model 52-1 came up on the EE I thought I’d give it a chance. When it showed up I could tell it was in a whole different league than the 1066. The slide to frame fit was super tight and the trigger was dare I say it "the best trigger I have ever felt"!
I’ve been meaning to compare the two side by side and finally got the chance today. Using Bullet Barn’s 148gr WC, I brought a few different loads (seating all projectiles backwards) using Trail Boss and Titegroup. The Trail Boss was all loaded to 2.2gr and there were two different loads made up with Tite Group, one with a charge of 2.8gr and another with 3.1gr. This was my first kick at the cat using these powders for this caliber so I am guessing there is much more accuracy to be squeezed out of these guns with a bit of load tuning. However I was anxious to compare the accuracy of the two and since this is the first time I've had them both at the range I figured I'd just roll with it.
I set up 2 targets side by side at 25 yards and fired one group of 10 with each gun from the bench (I was short on time as I was shooting over my lunch hour). This was done outside and conditions were breezy with the occasional heavy gust. At times my targets were moving slightly and to take pictures I had to put the roll of tape on the bottom of the targets to keep the bottoms from blowing around. Anyway here are the results:
Trailboss:
2.8gr Titegroup:
3.1gr Titegroup:
Based on this tiny sample i would say in general I think the Colt shows that it is less picky around the loads it is fed. The 52-1 was starting to tighten up with the Tite Group at 3.1gr and I would be interested to try some loads around 2.9-3.2gr of Tite Group to see if there is a sweet spot for this 52-1. I would also like to do the same type of shootoff using loads with Bullseye and possibly W231 to see if there is much difference.
As a bonus I also brought a couple wheelguns as well and was able to test the Trail Boss load and happened to have 11 rounds of a Tite Group load at 2.7gr (you’ll see 6 shots for the 10-5 and only 5 shots on the 14-3 target). Here are the targets:
Trail Boss:
2.7gr Tite Group:
I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with the accuracy of the 10-5 (besides the flyer on the second target which was obviously my fault).
Overall a pretty fun day at the range. I'm hoping to get out and do some more side by side comparisons with some different powders, anyone have some favourite loads for 38 special wadcutters?
Nice pictures. Love the Model 10-5. Think I will buy it.... no wait just did.LOL Thanks John I now can tick off that must have on my list. Now time to start saving for a Dlask 45acp and I will have completed my list.
Take Care
Bob
Oh, and so does trading eyes with some eagle eyed kid.....
Good one. I used to be able to shoot bullseye quite well at one point a long time ago. Not so anymore with these eyes and decades added on them. Time does nasty things to your body.
As for the other two techniques you described, I have used these myself with success. There used to be an old guy at the handgun club who had competed in Europe and gave some good advice. That was so long ago I won't even tell you when.
CD
Just an personal observation. Most semi-autos in 38spl shine with HBWC swaged bullets like the Hornady version. The double ended ash cans are just ok for short range practice.
My early S&W M52 really shows a preference for them.
My early S&W M52 really shows a preference for them.
- Location
- West Quebec
Just an personal observation. Most semi-autos in 38spl shine with HBWC swaged bullets like the Hornady version. The double ended ash cans are just ok for short range practice.
My early S&W M52 really shows a preference for them.
I'd love to have a 52 if the opportunity came around..
