Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range, Part II

A few days after we had tried the first lot of guns, my wife started asking when we'd go again. So we went back on a Tuesday - Ladies' Day, half off range time and rentals. 

Again, we took my Ruger P95 and Taurus 22PLY. And the first rental: the M&P Shield 9mm. It was assumed by the gun-store employee that I wanted her to try the Shield the last time we had been there, and I had denied the assumption. So this time, it was the first one for us on the range.

Credit: Smith-Wesson.com

My wife was not impressed by the M&P Shield. I thought that it was neat that it was so rounded, but with such a small grip the rounded contours were actually a hinderance to maintaining grip, even for my smallish hands. The safety was annoying to engage but relatively easy to disengage. The slide was easy to rack, and an empty magazine dropped free. The "single-stack" magazine is actually partially staggered.

Next up, the Ruger LC9s. It worked. I felt that the grip was too slim, but I had no problem holding on. My wife was not impressed. The safety was annoying to engage, but relatively easy to disengage. The slide was easy to rack, and an empty magazine dropped free.

Credit: Ruger.com

Next, the Kahr CW9. I was impressed. The grip was thin, but the texturing front and back really helped maintaining control easily. There is no safety, but I am relatively comfortable with the length of trigger travel to pretty much serve as a replacement. The slide was easy to rack, and an empty magazine dropped free. My wife was relatively impressed.

Credit: Kahr.com

Finally, the LCR .357 shooting 130-grain Remington range .38 Specials. My wife loved it. She liked the ability to see that it was loaded, and she liked how it felt to shoot it. The double-action trigger was smooth and seemed lighter than the one on the S&W 442. The empty cases did not all drop out easily because of a short ejection rod. That problem could probably be mitigated with technique.

Credit: Ruger.com

All firearms were 100% reliable, except for my Taurus 22PLY. It failed to fire with one round, but with a second strike from the DAO trigger the round ignited. My wife seemed to have difficulty extracting all the magazines. I especially noticed that she was not getting them to drop. She was having trouble reaching the mag releases, so she was holding the guns almost horizontally to do so. 

My wife confirmed that she wants a service-caliber firearm, and she has demonstrated to herself that she can handle it. She is concerned that a five-shot revolver might not offer enough rounds for a confrontation - and so and I.

A week later, she still says she liked shooting my Ruger P95 and the Ruger LCR .357. 

For myself at the time , I would choose the S&W 442 for my pocket and the Kahr CW9 for my hip. For my wife, it sounds like the LCR with a colored grip. Of course, this could all change with our next trip to the range.

PREVIOUS: Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range, Part I
NEXT:  Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range, Epilogue

Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range, Part I

About a week ago, after picking out a desk for our daughters, I told my wife that I wanted to stop by a nearby pawn store. There selection of handguns had continued to grow, since I was last in there. And my wife is interested in getting a concealed-carry permit, so guns for her were our main focus.

We looked at a variety of semiautos that I thought might be appropriate for her - and some revolvers. Her favorite was a Smith & Wesson 642 442 in black with a pink grip.

Credit: TheShootingWarehouse.com

And she said that she wanted an opportunity to shoot it, especially after the suggestion of the sales clerk. So as quick as we could (two days), we hightailed it over to a range and rented the closest thing they had. A S&W 637.

Credit: Smith-Wesson.com

 In the mean time, I had quickly research lower-recoil loads for the little .38, and I came to the conclusion that 130-gr range ammo from multiple manufacturers would be perfect for this exercise. 

My wife shot the 637 very well for a first try. She all five rounds of the first cylinder within a 4x6" area on a silhouette target at about 12 feet. On the other hand, I kept all of the rounds from my first cylinder with the equivalent of a pie plate. I've come to realize that the glasses I wear for distance makes the sights quite difficult to make out.

But she didn't like the little gun. The trigger guard rapped her middle finger with every shot. On the other hand, I loved it. I could see carrying one of those little guns in my front pants pocket (642 442 without the external hammer, of course) everyday. But we were there to see what my wife wanted to get, so we moved on.

Next we tried a Ruger SR9c. I've always wanted to try one, but I had been suspicious that the full-size SR9 was a better fit for my hand. I was proven right.

Credit: Ruger.com

My wife liked the compact Ruger SR, and she shot it well, too.

At the conclusion of our range session, she concluded that she liked shooting the Ruger SR9c and my Ruger P95. She was disappointed in the S&W 637, because she really liked the S&W 642 442. I wasn't sure that it was the best concealed-carry gun for her, because of the width of the cylinder (and her most-likely mode of carry) and the five-shot capacity.

I saw the Ruger SR9c as a non-starter, because she really wanted to get a slim gun. For me, I did not like how the slide felt when you pulled it back, but my wife was not phased by it.

We looked at some guns in the showroom before leaving, and she expressed further interest in Berettas (she had a Beretta 92 years ago) AND small, cute, colorful pistols.

The way my wife handle the recoil of the two guns that we tried gave me a moment of pause. Her desire to carry a gun with enough cartridge and her ability to handle what we shot (though with the .38 we used light recoiling rounds), has made me lean toward 9mm for my advice for her.

Once away from the range, I did further research into small, cute Berettas, grip solutions for the S&W 642 442, single-stack 9mms and .380s. I was intrigued by Tyler Manufacturings T-Grip Adapter, but I held my knowledge from my wife until a later date.

Credit: T-Grips.com

In the end, this is her choice. I can only advise. I later apologize for trying to steer her away from the truly diminutive guns, like the .380ACP Ruger LCP in Lady Lilac. 

Though from our range session, I have a feeling what her criteria really are:
1. Decent sights.
2. "Service" caliber.
3. Decent capacity.
4. Slim.
5. Girly color.
In that order.

PRIOR: Recoil Reduction, Cartridges .22 LR
NEXT: Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range, Part II

Recoil Reduction: Cartridges, .22 LR

Recoil Reduction for the Sensitive

There has been much blogged, podcasted, journaled, and generally published about the necessity to accommodate recoil sensitivity and how to do it.

Well, I have a dog in the fight. My wife is recoil sensitive. We've gone around a few circles looking at defensive handguns for her. And people generally shoot better with less recoil.

So, where to begin?

Cartridge

From the halls of infinite wisdom, for self defense, one must carry a service cartridge such as 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .38 Special - and now, recently admitted into the pool of acceptable, we have TADA: .380 ACP.

But also from the halls of infinite wisdom we find: "The number one way to win a gunfight is to ... have a gun!" Well for the recoil sensitive, having, practicing, and using falls under the same stricture.

So, what cartridges are available for the recoil sensitive in a defense handgun? How how do the measure up, when minimizing recoil and distributing enough energy to stop an attack?

.22 LR (.22 Long Rifle)
.22 Long Rifle is everyone's favorite entry-level cartridge for new shooters. It's great for kids, it helps adults master the fundamentals without having to deal with significant recoil in a handgun, and it is traditionally cheap and available.

Pluses:
Low recoil.
Lightweight.
Cheap (though in the recent ammo shortage, it did reach 9mm price levels).
Available in a wide-range of handguns, including pocket pistols, revolvers, full-size pistols, rifles, and replicas of centerfire handguns.

Minuses:
Low delivered energy.
Less-reliable rimfire ignition system.
Dirty powder.

The .22 LR works best in double-action revolvers for defense, because a faulty round ("experts" say about 1 in 100 for quality ammo) can be skipped if it doesn't ignite. In a semiauto, you would have to try to strike the primer or clear the faulty round. But double-action revolvers are usually about as expensive as their centerfire cousins.

Stats (sample averages, source Ballistics By The Inch):

Credit: SportsmanGuide.com

Muzzle Velocity:
2.5" barrel, 851 fps.
5" barrel, 1052 fps.
Muzzle Energy:
2.5" barrel, approx 65 ft-lbs.
5" barrel, approx 95 ft-lbs. 
Available New-Production Handguns: Vast array of revolvers, pistols, pocket pistols, and derringers.

NEXT:  Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range

Service Lives

I saw on some show about cowboy guns that a drover might carry his guns for 20 years and never go through a box of 50 cartridges of .44-40 for a lever rifle and a Peacemaker. Well, that explains - in a round about way - why period-accurate pump shotguns have to be rebuilt by cowboy-action shooters.

I wonder what are the service lives of other arms. And what about parts' lives?

Cheap Gats: Evaluation, Taurus 22PLY

The Taurus PT-22 Poly (22PLY)  is a small, lightweight .22 LR pistol. It holds 8+1 rounds, has a hand-filling grip for its size, and is relatively cheap.

1. Low Price? I surveyed 5 gun stores, distributors, and metasites online for the price of this weapon online on December 14th of this year. They were Buds Gunshop, Impact Guns, Gallery of Guns, Hyatt Guns, and Grab A Gun. Because Galley of Guns (Davidson's website) features prices from gun stores all over the country, I selected the lowest price in my area. The average was $226. That is 13% above the maximum allowable price - for this exercise.

2. New Production? This gun is currently being produced in the United States.

read the rest @ Cheap Gats