Glenn E. Meyer
03-23-2016, 07:21 PM
Recently I took a class from Aaron Marcos (of p-f membership. great class) and with some of the P-F folks. I didn't shoot as well as I wanted. Distance was not my friend with my G17. I haven't been out lately - schedule, health, rain, etc. So today I went to a range that HCM said he went to. It was on Hwy 46 north of San Antonio - Ballistic Therapy. The name appeals to me and I told my wife I needed some controlled letting off steam.
I took my G17 and my SW 432. I wanted to practice with the former after class. So what is important - trigger control - what else along with grip. Concentrating on such, I shot decently again. Even at the longest distance, I manage decent hits on a B-27. Pay attention to such. Then some closer up double taps and Mozambiques. All good. Of course, that is by myself and like the fish that gets away!
One thing - I have cataract lens replacement and progressive glasses. I found that the longer sight radius of the gun was a little funky to get both sights in focus as compared to my shorter Glocks like the 26 and 19. Have to think about that. I have the factory sights on the 17 and been talking to folks about changing them out.
I also thought I would shoot my SW 432 - that's a 32 HR mag, 13.5 ounces and a 13 lb-ish trigger pull. I shot some of the Hornady Critical Defense and Federal 95 gr Lead Semiwadcutters. I just shot at 7 yards. Surprising fun and accurate. Good tight groups and tight double taps and easy Mozambiques. Yes, it's pretty close. My good technique - thanks to Claude's snubby class.
What I did notice was that Federal was pretty smokey. One shot let off a cumulus cloud. Also, the recoil is not trivial. In fact, it was a little sharper than the G17 with WWB. So when folks recommend these for the arthritic - they'd better have them test the trigger pull and recoil. Perhaps the SW Longs would be better. I found those trivial in a 632 (stainless 3 inch J frame).
The 432 is a good pocket gun - you hardly notice it. It shoots well and is six shots. It is what it is for a Bug or if dress requires it. Is it better for that than my G42? Empirical question. I like it also.
I took my G17 and my SW 432. I wanted to practice with the former after class. So what is important - trigger control - what else along with grip. Concentrating on such, I shot decently again. Even at the longest distance, I manage decent hits on a B-27. Pay attention to such. Then some closer up double taps and Mozambiques. All good. Of course, that is by myself and like the fish that gets away!
One thing - I have cataract lens replacement and progressive glasses. I found that the longer sight radius of the gun was a little funky to get both sights in focus as compared to my shorter Glocks like the 26 and 19. Have to think about that. I have the factory sights on the 17 and been talking to folks about changing them out.
I also thought I would shoot my SW 432 - that's a 32 HR mag, 13.5 ounces and a 13 lb-ish trigger pull. I shot some of the Hornady Critical Defense and Federal 95 gr Lead Semiwadcutters. I just shot at 7 yards. Surprising fun and accurate. Good tight groups and tight double taps and easy Mozambiques. Yes, it's pretty close. My good technique - thanks to Claude's snubby class.
What I did notice was that Federal was pretty smokey. One shot let off a cumulus cloud. Also, the recoil is not trivial. In fact, it was a little sharper than the G17 with WWB. So when folks recommend these for the arthritic - they'd better have them test the trigger pull and recoil. Perhaps the SW Longs would be better. I found those trivial in a 632 (stainless 3 inch J frame).
The 432 is a good pocket gun - you hardly notice it. It shoots well and is six shots. It is what it is for a Bug or if dress requires it. Is it better for that than my G42? Empirical question. I like it also.