Range Reports are one of my favorite things to read on our Henry Forum. With the guns I've been writing about recently, I always debate putting the specific gun in its Forum category, eg. this pistol might fit just fine in the Other FIrearms/sub-forum, Handguns. Then I end up once again here in the Range Reports.
So this is my next story, Range Report, and gun introduction from PT7’s Gun Cabinet. I’ve written about 3 of the 5 guns now in my gun cabinet and introduced the new firearm “residents” that have come in over the last eight months or so. Along with their “residency,” they’ve also provided a new focus for my range outings.
The Gun. This is a new gun to me, and my only semi-auto pistol. It is the latest release by Ruger in their Mark IV series, the “Mark IV Standard” in .22LR.
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- Mark IV Standard model.jpg (238.44 KiB) Viewed 2509 times
- Mark IV pistol and magazines.jpg (229.88 KiB) Viewed 2509 times
Also, back in 2013, I went through 3-Gun Competition training with my son-in-law, who is a police officer and owns his own shooting range. For the pistol component of 3-Gun, he let me train with his Ruger Hunter-model .22LR pistol. It was fun and easy to shoot. Then during last December 2017, I visited his range one warm winter day and he brought out his Ruger 22/45 Lite pistol, which I think was a Mark III model. Anyway, it was also a lot of fun, so when I got home I checked out the .22 rimfire pistols on Ruger’s website. Happened to learn that the Mark IV model I now have has an extremely simple take-down procedure compared to previous models. Before the Mark IV release, the take-down process was a real bear to handle. So, I checked this pistol out at my LGS, and then decided to get one. When my son-in-law tried it out, the very next day he bought this new model, too. And that was primarily for the take-down improvement! I’m posting one photo showing the pistol take-down. The bolt spring easily comes out, as well. The whole procedure, take-down or reassembly, takes only about 15-20 seconds. Extremely simple.
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Mark IV Range Report. I took my pistol to the range once per month starting in December, 2017. This report is from my fourth time out (early this March), and I had shot just over 300 rounds at that point. After the initial bolt repair, out-of-the-box the pistol was spot-on target, and needed no sight-in adjusts. It was also very easy to handle, didn’t have any feed or extraction issues, and only a very few ammo misfires (yup, it happens with rimfire bullets). So far, it has liked a good variety of .22LR ammo I’ve chambered through it. Everything works just fine on this pistol.
Ammo, target distances, and POI results. Went to an indoor range and purposed (again!) just to do some relaxed shooting. Range was pretty quiet since I went mid-week.
~~The targets are the telling of the POIs. I marked each target with distance and ammo. Only off hand shooting. Like I said, no focused goals, just some fun with the pistol. The three targets include: one displaying plain-Jane plinking; another shows a rapid-fire magazine group; and one where I shot left-handed. I did quite well with my left-hand, much to my surprise. Of course, that was only after I figured out how to correctly grip the pistol as a lefty! Unlike my revolvers, got to keep an eye on that whipping bolt!
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- FJ range_2.jpg (190.91 KiB) Viewed 2509 times
- FJ range_3.jpg (177.55 KiB) Viewed 2509 times
Short and sweet. This is my go-to, fun-at-the-range-pistol. I continue to be surprised how much I like shooting it. I guess someday I might consider using it to wabbit hunt; but going to stay right now with my Henry SGC in .22LR for those wabbit adventures!
Thanks for letting me show off my new and only pistol.
Have a great day, Everyone!
PT7
