Just got back from the range with a pair of my S&W .357 snubs .....
When I got there, a guy was shooting his S&W M29 and .500 S&W with horrendous loads of 2400 and heavy plated bullets - using a rest. His targets were at a whopping 15m!
During a ceasefire, I posted my fresh targets at 25m and 50m; IPSC "Item" targets with the 'B' zone and 6" x 11" 'A' zone. I would have preferred the IDPA target with the 8" down "0" circle, but didn't have any at hand.
The .44 magnoon shooter had been eyeballing my snubs and said - "You're kidding, right?" "Nope", says I, "I'm not." Now I'm under the gun and have to produce for the sake of my ego and my little guns. There was no doubt in my mind that I'd hit the targets, but how well .... ?
I shot a box stock M19-4 (pinned & recessed) and a M19-6 that has been well tuned; the former at 25m and the latter at 50m. Conditions were overcast, 8C with intermittent light rain. Load was 3.2 Tite Group/158 RNFPs, not a defense load by any means, but a good practice load.
I shot DA "cold" at 25m offhand, as would happen in a match. Doing multiple warm up runs would prove nothing, like "El Presidente" shot "cold" is a good indicator of your relative skill level, according to the late Jeff Cooper.
The magnoon shooter walked down range with me to check my target. He never said a word, but his wife said - "Wow!"
On the 50m target, I "cheated" in that I used the tuned gun, went prone and shot in single action mode, as I would in a match, conditions permitting.
Again, the magnoon shooter had a look, said nothing and packed up his gear to go to the rifle range.
OK - so how did my little snubs do? Both groups were well centred in the 'A' zone.
The 25m 6 shot group printed 5 rds in 4" horizontal x 2-1/2" vertical, a low flyer 1/4" outside the 'A' zone widening it to 5-1/2".
The 50m 6 shot group printed 5 rds in 4-1/2" vertical x 1-3/4" horizontal, a high flyer widening it to 6-3/4", but all within the 'A' zone.
Both groups would have been well within the IDPA 8" down "0" scoring circle.
Bottom line: you don't want someone shooting at you at 25m and 50m with a .357 snub. Under match pressure, I'd expect those groups to expand, but I believe I'd have 6 scoring hits.
Now that I've done this, I'm going to step up to a +P load as my experience is that most guns shoot better with a faster load, the .357 being one such calibre.
When I got there, a guy was shooting his S&W M29 and .500 S&W with horrendous loads of 2400 and heavy plated bullets - using a rest. His targets were at a whopping 15m!
During a ceasefire, I posted my fresh targets at 25m and 50m; IPSC "Item" targets with the 'B' zone and 6" x 11" 'A' zone. I would have preferred the IDPA target with the 8" down "0" circle, but didn't have any at hand.
The .44 magnoon shooter had been eyeballing my snubs and said - "You're kidding, right?" "Nope", says I, "I'm not." Now I'm under the gun and have to produce for the sake of my ego and my little guns. There was no doubt in my mind that I'd hit the targets, but how well .... ?
I shot a box stock M19-4 (pinned & recessed) and a M19-6 that has been well tuned; the former at 25m and the latter at 50m. Conditions were overcast, 8C with intermittent light rain. Load was 3.2 Tite Group/158 RNFPs, not a defense load by any means, but a good practice load.
I shot DA "cold" at 25m offhand, as would happen in a match. Doing multiple warm up runs would prove nothing, like "El Presidente" shot "cold" is a good indicator of your relative skill level, according to the late Jeff Cooper.
The magnoon shooter walked down range with me to check my target. He never said a word, but his wife said - "Wow!"
On the 50m target, I "cheated" in that I used the tuned gun, went prone and shot in single action mode, as I would in a match, conditions permitting.
Again, the magnoon shooter had a look, said nothing and packed up his gear to go to the rifle range.
OK - so how did my little snubs do? Both groups were well centred in the 'A' zone.
The 25m 6 shot group printed 5 rds in 4" horizontal x 2-1/2" vertical, a low flyer 1/4" outside the 'A' zone widening it to 5-1/2".
The 50m 6 shot group printed 5 rds in 4-1/2" vertical x 1-3/4" horizontal, a high flyer widening it to 6-3/4", but all within the 'A' zone.
Both groups would have been well within the IDPA 8" down "0" scoring circle.
Bottom line: you don't want someone shooting at you at 25m and 50m with a .357 snub. Under match pressure, I'd expect those groups to expand, but I believe I'd have 6 scoring hits.
Now that I've done this, I'm going to step up to a +P load as my experience is that most guns shoot better with a faster load, the .357 being one such calibre.
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