OK guys I finally got out on the range with the new to me old S&W Model 14 with 8-3/8" barrel. All I can say is WOW, well OK I can say more and will.
Ya might recall the SA trigger pull is 1.75 pounds and DA pull is only 7 pounds. I was a little concerned due to the light pulls it might not fire 100% of the time. I no longer have that concern. It fired every time I pulled the trigger on a live round.
My first 5 shots were fired at 12 yards on paper just to be sure it was hitting close enough to back up further. It was. Group was 1.5" and about as dead center as you can get. Hopefully the first target photo I add will be this group.
I was using a load with the 140 Hornady Cowboy swaged lead bullet. I'm not sure the load at the moment, will add that later. It's just a mild middle of road .38 special load.
So I moved it out to 25 yards and shot another five shot group. This one was 2.75" and believe me I don't shoot that well these days. I used to but don't these days. Four of those five were in a 1,25" group, thus my comment, I don't shoot that well these days. Dunno which shot the flyer was. This group should be the second target I post, hopefully.
I'll also post a photo, OK a poor photo, of the revolver also.
I also fired some other loads to include a +P level load with 125 JHP over a healthy dose of Bullseye. Group at 12 yards was pretty much same as with the Hornady bullet but at 25 yards group opened widely and I only shot 3 of those on paper and then went to metal.
I shot 3 different loads on my metal targets at 25 yards, mostly with the Hornady lead bullet but also with the 125 JHP load and another with a 160 RNFP bullet I bought from someone thru the classifies years ago.
On steel all did well. I had no misses on my 12" gong or on the 8" falling plates. All are close enough to POA and accurate enough for the plates. So I tried a much smaller swinger target, about 4" in diameter I think, and using the Hornady bullet was able to hit 5 of 5. The other two loads just weren't up to it on that smaller target tho are fine on the 8" and 12" targets.
More shooting and more groups to see how accurate they are and where they are hitting is needed. I went thru prolly 50 rounds or so today.
This gun is just as amazing as I had hoped. Best trigger on any revolver I've ever owned, 100% reliability and way more accurate than I am.
Now I'll see if I can add photos of the two groups mentioned above. I'll have to make another post for the revolver and hope it doesn't flip it to some odd angle.