The short (.327 Fed. Mag.) and the long (1894 Marlin .44)

Went to the range again today and shot the shortest gun I have, Charter .327 Federal Magnum 2.5" snubby revolver, and the longest gun I have, Marlin 1984SS .44 Magnum lever-action rifle.

Top photo is the Charter with its new Crimson Trace Lasergrips. First handgun I've owned with CT Lasergrips, and I like it. I see more in my future. The Charter is vastly improved since I had to apply Kentucky elevation for its fixed sights, which aimed about 4" high from the point of impact of most loads. Now I can put the red dot where I want to hit and let 'er fly.

It's also an improvement because my 61-year-old eyes have a hard time seeing short snubby sights in the first place, so now I can forget about the sights and keep my eyes on the target. I'm a bit fuzzy up close without glasses, but I can see crystal clear once I get beyond the length of my arms. So my pistol shooting will improve with the Lasergrips.

First I zeroed it with American Eagle JSP 100-grain loads, then had to zero it again with my carry loads, Speer Gold Dot JHP 110-grain loads. The second photo is the results of my zero work, sitting at bench rest at 21 feet, a reasonable distance for shooting a snubnose revolver.

Third photo is a closeup of the CT Lasergrips beaming brightly from my Charter Patriot .327.

I gotta say it's a real handful sitting at a bench rest. It's a totally different experience than standing offhand with a two-hand grip and sitting down you really appreciate what a nasty round the 327 Federal Magnum really is. I don't wanna get shot with nothing, .22 included, but I'd really hate to get hit with 110-grains of .327 sizzling at 1400 fps. That's .357 Sig or 9mm +P kinda speed, two of my favorite auto pistol rounds. And I read an article this week that FBI-standard gelatin tests are showing 13-14" of penetration and very impressive expansion with either .327 Fed. Mag. load.

I do believe a S&W 632 Carry Comp Pro Series is waiting out there for me in my near future.

When I got the Charter suitably zeroed for carry, I moved on to my new Marlin 1894SS Stainless Steel .44 Magnum lever-action rifle. I brought my sight-tapper to the range and a couple of boxes of .44s, .44 Magnum and .44 Special, both 240-grain. The rifle and ammo is the next photo, followed by a small redman 11x17" target at 20 yards.

The first couple of holes in the redman were shot at 50 yards which confirmed what I found the first time I shot the Marlin, off to the right. So I decided to take the work out of it and move the target in to 20 yards to finish the zero. One little love tap on the dovetailed sight is all it took.

I love this Marlin rifle. It's a tangent from my current plans for carry pistols, but a very nice one.

Charter Patriot .327 Mag gets an upgrade with Lasergrips

My Charter .327 Federal Magnum got an upgrade today. The gun shop where I work got in a set of Crimson Trace Lasergrips for Charter pistols and it just so happened I had a little surplus built up in the pistol fund.

So the Patriot is now laser-powered. Can't wait for Saturday to take her to the range and zero the fierce little bugger. My only complaint with the Patriot is that she shoots about 3-4" low from point of aim, forcing me to use Kentucky elevation with the fixed sights to hit what I'm aiming at.

The Lasergrips will solve that problem pronto. But with every solution comes another problem. For lo these 61 years I've been using these eyeballs, since the day I first fired a thunderstick, I've been taught to focus on the front sight, not the target. Lasergrips change that to focusing on the target, not the sights.

I've played around with my daughter's .38 Special S&W with CT Lasergrips, but was never serious about learning to shoot it well. Now I gotta get serious and teach an old dog new tricks.

It's a skill that has real-life application. I've never shot anybody in a real face-to-face fight, with the sorta exception of shooting 5-inch naval shells from a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam. But in a real gunfight, I strongly suspect all your focus will be on whoever the threat is, particularly if the threat is shooting at you or threatening your life. So I probably wouldn't see the sights anyway. And if someone isn't threatening your life, you don't want to shoot them anyway.