Cowgirl Corner: working out with a target Smith, now edited
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:44 pm
I've had a great week with the Contenders, shooting some of my best ever offhand groups, but I did take some time to shoot an excellent, gently used S&W target 357 revolver which we got at a good price. Groups with the Smith were not as good as with the Contenders (Contenders are a world of their own), but the groups with the new Smith were no slouch and fall in the more normal range for handgun work, so are at last believable. I am comfortable with sharing them.
This very gently used S&W revolver is one we financed by selling off our set of 45 Colt single actions. Those USFA Colts were purebred cowboy action tuned guns and I just didn't feel that my style of shooting could do them justice. An action shooter I am not and though the guns were decently accurate, they just didn't lend themselves to punching paper. That, and they were just too expensive to shoot, now that we no longer reload. (45 Colt factory ammo is very expensive.)
This S&W 686 Competitor, though, is very much a gun designed with an old bullseye shooter like me in mind. It's pure target gun all the way and, also, we can afford to shoot 357. Did not care for the factory rubber grips for target work, so changed them out for wooden Hogue's, which I much prefer.
What makes this Smith an awesome bullseye gun? For one, it's a Performance Center model with an outstanding SA and DA trigger and butter smooth trigger. For another, the barrel features a system of removable weights that allow you to change the weight and the balance of the gun to suit. For yet another, it features an outstanding LPA rear target sight that makes the otherwise good standard S&W rear sights look crude.
Very comfortable and easy to shoot 357.
Another feature on the 686 Comp is that barrel mount scope rail. I don't care much for barrel mount scope rails because they can be fussy about the kind of handgun scopes that can be used, but those barrel mount rails are ideal for a red dot, such as this Bushnell Trophy. A red dot on a revolver like this makes it even easier to shoot and it can tighten up those 50 yard groups.
Yup, pure target revolver.
This very gently used S&W revolver is one we financed by selling off our set of 45 Colt single actions. Those USFA Colts were purebred cowboy action tuned guns and I just didn't feel that my style of shooting could do them justice. An action shooter I am not and though the guns were decently accurate, they just didn't lend themselves to punching paper. That, and they were just too expensive to shoot, now that we no longer reload. (45 Colt factory ammo is very expensive.)
This S&W 686 Competitor, though, is very much a gun designed with an old bullseye shooter like me in mind. It's pure target gun all the way and, also, we can afford to shoot 357. Did not care for the factory rubber grips for target work, so changed them out for wooden Hogue's, which I much prefer.
What makes this Smith an awesome bullseye gun? For one, it's a Performance Center model with an outstanding SA and DA trigger and butter smooth trigger. For another, the barrel features a system of removable weights that allow you to change the weight and the balance of the gun to suit. For yet another, it features an outstanding LPA rear target sight that makes the otherwise good standard S&W rear sights look crude.
Very comfortable and easy to shoot 357.
Another feature on the 686 Comp is that barrel mount scope rail. I don't care much for barrel mount scope rails because they can be fussy about the kind of handgun scopes that can be used, but those barrel mount rails are ideal for a red dot, such as this Bushnell Trophy. A red dot on a revolver like this makes it even easier to shoot and it can tighten up those 50 yard groups.
Yup, pure target revolver.
