PeteT
Member
Greetings, all!
Actually this is not really a "range" report- it's more of a "go out in the desert a few miles South of town and shoot" report.
I finally located some ammo for the .32 top break I purchaced a couple of weeks ago (Remington 88 gr. RN R32SW- $40/box), so I put it through it's paces. The more I handle this thing, the more convinced I am that it was never fired- just put in a drawer and forgotten about. The reason I say this is because:
a). It seems the latch was never properly fitted to the gun- the shop keep used a screwdriver between the latch and the frame to pry it open- there was no way in the world anyone could have opened it bare handed. I had to stone quite a lot of metal away to get it to where I could force it open and closed without resorting to a hammer. I know the latch hasn't been replaced because the serial number on it matches the rest of the gun.
b). Once open, there were no traces of powder residue anywhere. A Q-tip applied to the tinyest cracks and crannies came up white.
c). There's very little handling wear on it- there are even still traces of bluing around the muzzle.
I can't help but wonder if this didn't leave S&W unfinished in somebody's lunchbox.
So- I finally got a chance to fire it... and I'm impressed! I thought my flatulance was going to have more knock-down power than this .32 Short- but it's kinda snotty out of such a small gun! According to the chronograph, these Remington factory 88gr. were doing an average of 684 FPS, and were amazingly consistant-the slowest of the string was 680 and the fastest 692. I would not want to be on the recieving end of it!
Accuracy? Better than I can shoot. It was hitting about 6" high at ten yards, and about a foot high at 20. Once I got the feel of it, it was better than "minute of pop can" at 10 yards- far better than needed for "across the card table" shooting. Very impressive for something this tiny.
If my wife decides to use it as her purse gun, I'll need to handload it back to 500 FPS or so. It doesn't need to be loaded as hot as the factory ammo is. (I didn't think I'd ever say this about a load pushing an 88 grain lead bullet at less than 700 FPS, but those are the facts!).
One thing I noticed- after shooting a couple of cylinders full, it started to break in a little. The latch is now opening and closing without nearly as much of a fight. Another few dozen rounds and it should be just about right.
PeteT.
Actually this is not really a "range" report- it's more of a "go out in the desert a few miles South of town and shoot" report.
I finally located some ammo for the .32 top break I purchaced a couple of weeks ago (Remington 88 gr. RN R32SW- $40/box), so I put it through it's paces. The more I handle this thing, the more convinced I am that it was never fired- just put in a drawer and forgotten about. The reason I say this is because:
a). It seems the latch was never properly fitted to the gun- the shop keep used a screwdriver between the latch and the frame to pry it open- there was no way in the world anyone could have opened it bare handed. I had to stone quite a lot of metal away to get it to where I could force it open and closed without resorting to a hammer. I know the latch hasn't been replaced because the serial number on it matches the rest of the gun.
b). Once open, there were no traces of powder residue anywhere. A Q-tip applied to the tinyest cracks and crannies came up white.
c). There's very little handling wear on it- there are even still traces of bluing around the muzzle.
I can't help but wonder if this didn't leave S&W unfinished in somebody's lunchbox.
So- I finally got a chance to fire it... and I'm impressed! I thought my flatulance was going to have more knock-down power than this .32 Short- but it's kinda snotty out of such a small gun! According to the chronograph, these Remington factory 88gr. were doing an average of 684 FPS, and were amazingly consistant-the slowest of the string was 680 and the fastest 692. I would not want to be on the recieving end of it!
Accuracy? Better than I can shoot. It was hitting about 6" high at ten yards, and about a foot high at 20. Once I got the feel of it, it was better than "minute of pop can" at 10 yards- far better than needed for "across the card table" shooting. Very impressive for something this tiny.
If my wife decides to use it as her purse gun, I'll need to handload it back to 500 FPS or so. It doesn't need to be loaded as hot as the factory ammo is. (I didn't think I'd ever say this about a load pushing an 88 grain lead bullet at less than 700 FPS, but those are the facts!).
One thing I noticed- after shooting a couple of cylinders full, it started to break in a little. The latch is now opening and closing without nearly as much of a fight. Another few dozen rounds and it should be just about right.
PeteT.
