Short but fun day at the ranbge

[Hatchdog]

Yesterday Mrs. Hatchdog and I made the drive up to the range. Home is at 2000’ and the range is at 2700’. Drove thru either ground fog or upper level fog most of the way up which was not very encouraging. As we started climbing in elevation the sky got brighter and brighter and then we were in full sun. Nice!

The line up for the day was the newly acquired S&W M/63 22lr revolver, the Ruger Single Seven, Mrs. Hatchdog’s Ruger American 22lr and my Marlin 39-A.

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First up was the S&W M/63. Mrs hatchdog took first shots and then I shot it to check the sight settings. At 15 yards rested it was hitting high so I lowered the rear sight. Only four clicks and it bottomed out. The group is lower but not much. So we moved on to the spinners and using a 6:00 hold got them spinning. Shouldn’t be a problem and when I move out to 25 yards next time it should be pretty much dead on. Super nice single action trigger and fine in double action too.

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Next up was the Single Seven in 327 Fed mag. I loaded some test loads using the Hornady 85 grain XTP over both 2400 and Accurate Arms #9. I’m not very impressed with MY shooting with this gun. In the groups below it seems like I was able to get two good shots off and then a flier. The 2400 had a pretty good muzzle blast and with the heavier charge was a flame thrower. The AA #9 was much softer shooting so I’m planning on using it for my loads. Still more work to do checking groups at 25 yards. Below is rested shots at 15 yards.

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Then we moved back to 25 yards and Mrs hatchdog shooting her Ruger 22lr rifle was dead nuts on. She shot all the spinners including the 1” and did not have a miss running a couple of mags thru it. Nicely done. Oh BTW, she’s not impressed with her handgun shooting and prefers her rifle. In fairness she does suffer from a minor tremors in her hands and also told me she needs glasses as the revolver sights were blurry and sometime double vision. Neither is an issue with her scoped rifle.


At this time we had to load up and head home. We waited to leave home hoping the fog would burn off and in addition to shooting I had some work to do to button up the place for winter. Knowing myself, I did the work first as I knew once we got to shooting I wouldn’t stop soon enough to get the work done. (part of the work was moving some stuff from the range to the shop) We had left the dogs at doggie daycare so were on a time limit as to when to leave. So I didn’t get to shoot me Marlin but that’s okay, I probably have a couple of thousand thru it to date.

[North Country Gal]

My kind of guns for a ranger session. Great selection. Love that 39.

Glad to hear your Model 63 is shooting so well. I'm hoping to get out to the range with my 63, soon.

I used to have a Single Seven and now wish I still had it. Yeah, a 327 in that gun can be a handful for sure.

[BigAl52]

Hatch
Does factory ammo do that in the 327?

[Hatchdog]

Hatch
Does factory ammo do that in the 327?

I haven’t shot enough factory in it to know. I intended to bring a box but forgot to. As I recall the only factory I have ever shot in it was the first shots when I got it and I didn’t do any group work with that ammo. Next time I’ll remember to bring a box along and give it a try.

I really feel the the issue with this gun is me. Even after changing the rear blade to a square notch I’m still not liking the XS Big Dot front sight. It’s just too big. The targets I used had (I think) 6” bulls and the front sight nearly filled the bull even at 15 yards. Shooting my S&W 22lr at the same range with the typical S&W sights I was able to get some acceptable groups. I’m not ready to give up yet but overall I have been pretty disappointed with my shooting of this fine revolver.

[BigAl52]

Hatch
Does factory ammo do that in the 327?

I haven’t shot enough factory in it to know. I intended to bring a box but forgot to. As I recall the only factory I have ever shot in it was the first shots when I got it and I didn’t do any group work with that ammo. Next time I’ll remember to bring a box along and give it a try.

I really feel the the issue with this gun is me. Even after changing the rear blade to a square notch I’m still not liking the XS Big Dot front sight. It’s just too big. The targets I used had (I think) 6” bulls and the front sight nearly filled the bull even at 15 yards. Shooting my S&W 22lr at the same range with the typical S&W sights I was able to get some acceptable groups. I’m not ready to give up yet but overall I have been pretty disappointed with my shooting of this fine revolver.

Is that the sight that came on the gun when new or an aftermaket sight? Rugers front sights dont impress me much to begin with and they are not easy to change out.

[North Country Gal]

I shot more 32 mag in my Single Seven than 327. It's such an easy gun to shoot with 32 mag. Give it a try.

[Hatchdog]

Al, it’s the factory front sight. This is one of those Lipsky’s specials and part of the Lipsky’s package was the XS big dot front. It’s supposed to work in conjunction with the V notch rear it had on it with the idea aligning different parts of the dot with the rear to compensate for elevation. Too much work for me, I like to keep things simple.

NCG, I did do some load development with 32 H&R. As I recall the original group test was at 15 yards and of course the groups were okay. Moving out to 25 yards I was pretty disappointed with my efforts so decided to pursue the 327 mags. So far I’m not impressed with them either but more work is pending. Here’s the 32 H&R data from my earlier efforts.

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