Choice of ammo and accuracy from 442?

[3502dav]

Hi everyone,

I've had my 442 out to the range twice in the past two weeks. I've always carried an auto loader (G27) as my off duty gun but want to start pocket carrying my 442. I've dry fired the 442 several hundred times with snap caps in an effort to improve my trigger control.

I am concerned about my ability to hit my target with the J frame. I could only put 3 rounds of 5 on paper, rapid fire at 7 yards. Can my choice of ammunition have any significant effect on my accuracy? If so, is it marginal?

Below is my best 10 round slow fire target at 7 yards. A good portion of the rounds hit a bit high left, but grouped well. I was using cheap $19 a box .38 special rounds. I believe they were PPU LRN.

Thanks

Dave




.

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[snubbyfan]

I did this;

From about this far away;

With this;

Most of the head shots were rapid fire, just dumping cylinders down range.
I was using WWB 130 grain fmj. It hits to the same point of aim as my carry load, Federal Hydro-Shok 110 grain jhp, just costs a lot less.

 

[Coastie762]

Nice shooting! Were you using the laser?

 

[J. W.]

I carry my 442 as a BUG and occasionally off duty as well. At 7 yards ammo selection is not going to effect your accuracy. Practice, practice, practice. You'll get there, these guns just take more time to master.

At closer ranges I can usually shoot sub 2" groups. I can consistently ring 12" steel at 50 yards. However, I've developed my ability over the course of about 20 years and thousands of rounds and dry fires.


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[John R]

Hi everyone,

I've had my 442 out to the range twice in the past two weeks. I've always carried an auto loader (G27) as my off duty gun but want to start pocket carrying my 442. I've dry fired the 442 several hundred times with snap caps in an effort to improve my trigger control.

I am concerned about my ability to hit my target with the J frame. I could only put 3 rounds of 5 on paper, rapid fire at 7 yards. Can my choice of ammunition have any significant effect on my accuracy? If so, is it marginal?

Below is my best 10 round slow fire target at 7 yards. A good portion of the rounds hit a bit high left, but grouped well. I was using cheap $19 a box .38 special rounds. I believe they were PPU LRN.

Thanks

Dave




.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wouldn't feel unsafe with that shooting, the're all on target.
More practice and you will get better

 

[kilo charlie]

In my experience with my 337 and 642, the Federal low recoil 110 grain loads allow me to shoot my best. I'm certainly no expert shot with a J frame so take that for what it's worth.

 

[mrrick]

148 grain wadcutters.

 

[SAFireman]

.. At 7 yards ammo selection is not going to effect your accuracy. Practice, practice, practice. You'll get there, these guns just take more time to master.

JW is right on the $$$ Practice, practice, and more practice is what will get you there. You can do a LOT of dry fire work for cheap...put a quarter on top of the barrel and dry fire until the quarter stays put. Trigger control with a small gun is difficult to master, but it help things a lot.

Good luck with your new pocket rocket

 

[kaaskop49]

attn OP

Nothing wrong with the target you showed us for defensive close-up shooting. I've found it preferable to shoot at blank sheets of typing paper. They're about the size of a human torso and they have no bulls-eye to make us too self-critical. Anyhoo, BGs don't have bulls-eyes on them. Treat the gun as tho it were a single-shot: each round must hit. Double-taps come later.

When you become fully comfortable, you can halve that sheet of paper and begin practice as before. I also use the advertising circulars of that size which have different colors and patterns. They make it more challenging to see the sights. A smidge more realistic.

Inexpensive $19/box practice ammo? Oh well...

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[45A]

I shoot a light 158 gr. LSWC reload for practice but shoot XTP 158 gr. factory loads for carry with the airweight. See no difference at short distance, 10 yds. or so. Felt recoil seems the same to me with my loads. XTP 's are standard pressure.

 

[scooter123]

1) Short Barrels are mechanically "stiffer" because they are SHORT. In actual physics the bullet has a shorter "lever" to work with to cause the barrel to deflect, so short barreled handguns can actually produce BETTER accuracy than a longer barrel when the firearm is mounted in a firearms vice.

2) Short Sight radii are a real challenge to shoot accurately with. Because it increases the magnitude of Sighting Error. With a really compact firearm it is actually more accurate to learn how to shoot the firearm by Point Shooting it than to use the sights. However, that opinion is influenced by my losing the ability to focus on handgun sights about 10 years ago. Those laughing at this half blind old fart should remember it will happen to you and you should see me Point Shoot.

3) Ammunition of any real Quality will likely exceed the ability of 99.999% of the handgun shooters out there with one of these compact firearms. Seriously, when you combine the heavy trigger, short sight radius, and small grips on these guns you end up with a handgun that only a Terminator Robot could shoot well enough to notice a difference in the accuracy potential of a particular ammunition.

4) You won't ever be a Terminator Robot but if you PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE a lot you can get a whole lot better.

Tips.

First, you aren't doing that bad at all considering all the challenges brought on with the small size and heavy trigger. However, I would suggest upping your practice to twice a week for a bit and limiting the length of each session. Because the recoil of that pistol can and will cause flinching if you shoot too long at each session. BTW, shooting left is normal with a grip as small as these and you can either aim right a bit or train yourself to use less finger on the trigger.

Dont Stage your trigger. Yeah, it's easier to shoot accurately by staging the trigger but it's not how you would shoot in defense and you need to train the way you'll need to shoot in Defense. Pull the trigger in one complete motion and work to speed up the rate of pull as your shooting improves.

Finally, Point Shooting doesn't become easy until your vision "ages" enough to make it difficult to see the handgun sights. However really dark sunglasses can help with this in the rather dim lighting typical in the booths of an indoor range. Start at 10 feet and point the pistol at the enter of your target. As needed make adjustments to your Point so you hit center. As you improve move the target back. Once you get to 30 feet or so you can call it good but I like to challenge myself with longer distances at times.

 

[71velle]

Put a 12 or 13 lb rebound spring in and a little red paint on the front site. Those 2 things will tighten you up.

 

[Shorty 45 MK2]

Welcome to the Forum!

As much as I love the little buggers the J-frame is a harder gun to shoot well you really need to practice to shoot them well.

The advice of dry firing with a coin on top is very good, as well as using the typing paper. I tend to use paper plates or take a flap from a pizza box and put an old t shirt and shoot at it instead but that's just me.

How fast was your rapid fire? One shot every second or .5ish splits?

Painting the front sight should also help in you being able to pick it up faster.

 

[indiandave]

Your choice of grips have a lot to do with how you shoot. Try grips that cover the backstrap. It can really help to tame the recoil.

 

[PA Guns & Ammo]

Anyone here carry with wadcutters? I tried some semi-wads out of mine and I did not do so well. But those were my buddy's hand loads so maybe that has something to do with it. It seems I was a little better with the FMJ. I was shooting at 10 yards. I know for a fact I need more practice. I was shooting a 442 as well.

James

 

[M3Stuart]

You're doing fine. The more you practice, the better you'll get.

the lightness of the airweights, combined with the shortness of the barrel, exaggerates any tendency you have to pull the shots off target.

 

[3502dav]

Thanks for all the replies. My rapid shots were probably half a second. I was just trying to simulate that "oh ****" moment to see what would land on target. I will continue to practice and try the quarter on top of the barrel trick.


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[exdetsgt]

I've got a 442 and I think the trigger is awful. Been using snap caps and dry firing (with both hands, until my fingers give out) in an attempt to smooth out the action. The first time I fired it I tried shooting two-handed as with a Glock 17 but gave that up as my old eyes couldn't see the sights. Then I tried point-shooting; no real improvement. So I started reading forum threads such as this one and learned. The single most important lesson was: Practice, practice, practice, and twice a week at that. Also, the quarter on the barrel. Can't do that, barrel's too short. But on top of the frame just where the barrel exits the frame seems to work.

As I carry for purely defensive reasons I'm completely uninterested in shooting at targets 25-50 yards away (I have other hand guns for that). If the threat is that far from you it probably isn't a threat and you might have a hard time proving in court that it was. However, hitting at 6 yards is my shooting goal with a snubby, especially an airweight. I've got a gallon pickle jar full of wadcutters. Might as well use them up.

 

[M3Stuart]

+1 on the trigger. My 642 trigger is, well, unpleasant.

 

[Rick_A]

Practice.

In slow fire I can shoot mine as well as any handgun I own.

At speed I can keep within a pie plate at seven yards which is good enough.

Mine has a good trigger. They tend to be ok unless one is lacking in hand strength.