I took my recently acquired 1966 era Colt Cobra .38sp snubby the range today. The Cobra was actually the first of the 'snakes', being offered as an aluminum framed Detective Special. These only weigh 15oz vs 23oz for the steel Det Sp....actually a half ounce lighter than the mod 442 Airweight J frame in my pocket.
This is an outdoor bullseye oriented range, so fixed targets at 25 or 50yrds, I went with 25. Ammo was HSM 158gr plated flat points, Magtect fmjfps and five Black Hills 148gr HBWC's left over from my last two trips here.
The Magtech has chrono'd right at 700fps in my other 2" revolvers, the Black Hills wadcutters low 600s in the LCR .357 and 442 Smith. Dunno about the HSM stuff, but it felt lighter than the Magtech by a bit.
I warmed up with the Ruger MkII before throwing some HSM plated reloads downrange on the same target in hopes of getting some idea of the POI before ceasefire.
It wasn't horribly consistent, but more or less 'on' with elevation and about 3" to the right POA. It didn't group especially well though, and the best six shot effort went 5-6" on one corner of the target.
I switched out targets at ceasefire and started with the Magtech 158gr. This ammo had more bark to it and some decent flash...but I couldnt consistently hold black with it at all. Normally that's not so big a deal given a lightweight snubby at 25yrds offhand, but after the last session with the LCR and 442 at this range, maybe I expected a bit too much...I dunno.
Mostly I was disappointed, but it did hold middle pretty well, mostly just strung up and down....but maybe it just didn't like jacketed ammo, which isn't unheard of with older revolvers- or my shooting sucks today.
It bugged me.
Last ceasefire, I put up a third target as a sort of clean slate and
put up a shoot n see sticker. I'd bear down with those last five BH wadcutters, thinking maybe they would be a little easier to hold something together since they are light shooting and don't torque stuff off center as much as the faster heavier loads.
I shot single action and made mental note to maintain the same POA regardless of where they went on the target.
I'm target #7
So I guess it likes the wadcutters.
I probably looked like an ahole taking the picture, but dammit this doesn't happen all that often at 25yrds with snubbies offhand.
Soooo, it does shoot.
Either I shot it poorly with the 158gr stuff, or it simply doesn't like the stuff... ammo picky, maybe.
I will say this gun has a nice DA trigger, despite what one might glean on the Internet about Colt DA revolvers. It does stage up before the break, unlike a typical DA S&W five shooter. But this one is smoother in take up and fairly light up to that stage, and the SA is very nice for such a gun.
Sights are also very good, bigger and deeper than even a recent J frame, no complaints about the sights.
Recoil with the 'stronger' Magtech stuff was still not objectionable, a good std pressure load like the Nyclad or a Bufflao Bore (non plus P) would be brisk I suspect, but not difficult to handle.
I'm gonna have to stock up on more BH wadcutters, I'm thinking....
(that's an even 2")
This is an outdoor bullseye oriented range, so fixed targets at 25 or 50yrds, I went with 25. Ammo was HSM 158gr plated flat points, Magtect fmjfps and five Black Hills 148gr HBWC's left over from my last two trips here.
The Magtech has chrono'd right at 700fps in my other 2" revolvers, the Black Hills wadcutters low 600s in the LCR .357 and 442 Smith. Dunno about the HSM stuff, but it felt lighter than the Magtech by a bit.
I warmed up with the Ruger MkII before throwing some HSM plated reloads downrange on the same target in hopes of getting some idea of the POI before ceasefire.
It wasn't horribly consistent, but more or less 'on' with elevation and about 3" to the right POA. It didn't group especially well though, and the best six shot effort went 5-6" on one corner of the target.
I switched out targets at ceasefire and started with the Magtech 158gr. This ammo had more bark to it and some decent flash...but I couldnt consistently hold black with it at all. Normally that's not so big a deal given a lightweight snubby at 25yrds offhand, but after the last session with the LCR and 442 at this range, maybe I expected a bit too much...I dunno.
Mostly I was disappointed, but it did hold middle pretty well, mostly just strung up and down....but maybe it just didn't like jacketed ammo, which isn't unheard of with older revolvers- or my shooting sucks today.
It bugged me.
Last ceasefire, I put up a third target as a sort of clean slate and
put up a shoot n see sticker. I'd bear down with those last five BH wadcutters, thinking maybe they would be a little easier to hold something together since they are light shooting and don't torque stuff off center as much as the faster heavier loads.
I shot single action and made mental note to maintain the same POA regardless of where they went on the target.
I'm target #7
So I guess it likes the wadcutters.
I probably looked like an ahole taking the picture, but dammit this doesn't happen all that often at 25yrds with snubbies offhand.
Soooo, it does shoot.
Either I shot it poorly with the 158gr stuff, or it simply doesn't like the stuff... ammo picky, maybe.
I will say this gun has a nice DA trigger, despite what one might glean on the Internet about Colt DA revolvers. It does stage up before the break, unlike a typical DA S&W five shooter. But this one is smoother in take up and fairly light up to that stage, and the SA is very nice for such a gun.
Sights are also very good, bigger and deeper than even a recent J frame, no complaints about the sights.
Recoil with the 'stronger' Magtech stuff was still not objectionable, a good std pressure load like the Nyclad or a Bufflao Bore (non plus P) would be brisk I suspect, but not difficult to handle.
I'm gonna have to stock up on more BH wadcutters, I'm thinking....
(that's an even 2")
