Here are three of the four handguns I took to the range, all bought used, but new to me....
A Bersa 383-A .380, A Charter Arms Bulldog "Pug" 5 shot .44 spl, a Ruger P90 .45 ACP and just for the fun of it, a .45 “Philadelphia Derringer” (in another picture) which is a cute little muzzle loading cap-lock pistol that I modified by adding some sights to it
I like these targets! They cost abt 28 cents apiece online and show vital targets (organs, spine etc.) I buy them by the hundred, my shooting buddy and I split the cost and the targets.
I started at the head and worked my way down, smallest calibers first. Range is 15 yds with forearm support rest, I shot the derringer at a separate target:
The .380 first, a 7-shot clip-full. This Argentina-made Walther clone is a good shooter. Five shots in the brain! I'm an 'average' shot. A good shooter would do better. SA trigger pull breaks at abt 4.5 lbs, but feels lighter on this gun. I guess I pulled low on that 'chin' shot. I got rid of that stupid, cheap laser sight. Flimsy, and ruins the lines of a good gun.
The Pro-Mag extra magazine I got for the .380 started jamming, bad! I was thinking the mag was junk, but found that it only jammed with American Eagle ammo. Feeds my other stuff just fine.
Next, and working my way down, the Bulldog Pug. This is the only handload I tested... a moderate charge of 231, stoppered down with a 180 gn Hornady XTP HP. Recoil is very manageable with this mid-range load. This isn't a gun that you want to hot-rod, it's pretty light. I was lucky to get one that hits pretty close to POA. Even in double action shooting it's not hard to handle.
This is a "first generation" Bulldog...
Next, the Ruger. This is a 7-shot group, aiming for the bread-basket. During my first range session, it was grouping way high for me. I e-mailed Ruger and they sent me a lower rear sight assembly, free of charge! Now it's dialed-in pretty good. SA trigger pull breaks at 3.5 lbs. A good piece of modern ordinance with old-school .45 wallop! My Pro-Mag magazine for this pistol seems to feed everything.
Last was the “Philadelphia”, I’d never fired it at 15 yds before, but it surprised me by keeping 5 shots in the torso at that range. Three shots clustered into one ragged hole, with two shots dropping low. Might have been me having trouble with that short sight radius, but I can’t expect too much from this little relic. When it’s loaded with 15 gns of powder and a patched .440 ball, the projectile travels less than 2” before exiting the barrel!
Maybe not the best "Fightin' Handgun" for these times, but back-in-the-day, not the worst thing to have in your pocket...
That's pretty much the afternoon. These were my last four groups of the day and pretty well represent the accuracy that these guns were delivering. Maybe this post will motivate a couple of readers to go and do some shooting. I know that I was pretty well satisfied to have three new guns shooting this well for me.
You gotta' love good guns and cheap targets!
Skillet
