Q: What comes in quarts?
A: An elephant.
There was much laughter all the way around the table. A joke like this would have gotten me slapped and grounded as a child. Unfortunately, this is the best I could muster for my little social experiment. I'll certainly keep my eyes out for another situation that I can say something horribly inappropriate for the setting.
And now, on to the main course! Behold this pic:
The gun on bottom is my engraved, Smith & Wesson Model 29. She's a .44 Magnum with a 6.5-inch barrel, sporting cocobolo, fingergrooved, tactical stocks made by Kim Ahrends, and modified by yours truly so as to not cover the beautiful engraving. I purchased this gun on January 1, 2008. So far I have put several hundred rounds through it. This Summer, I plan on sending it back to Smith & Wesson to have the action tuned, and generally have it hot-rodded. I'm thinking of replacing the red ramp sight with a bead sight. I haven't really decided that I want to do that yet, but I would like to improve upon the red ramp.
The gun on top is my new one. This is a Smith & Wesson Performance Center 586 L-Comp. This is a 7-shot .357 Magnum in matte blue steel with a ported 3-inch barrel. I have not shot this one yet. The action is super smooth, and wonderful. In this picture, it is wearing the Altamont, dymondwood, checkered, boot grip that came with it. It also came with a small, rubber, Hogue grip. I don't think I'm terribly fond of either grip. I may have to go back to Kim Ahrends for this one. Other goodies that were included with this one are a tritium front night sight, and three moon clips. I will be shooting this one this evening for the first time. A range report will follow.
When Jenni's granddad died last year, and her nana started giving away a bunch of his stuff, it brought the thought to mind about the inevitable circumstances under which our parents will be deceased and we are to divvy up their estates. I began to speak with my brother about such matters. As it turns out, we could agree on the future ownership of almost everything our parents have except for one thing. That was Grandpa's 6.5-inch S&W .44 Special. As we talked and thought about it, a solution came to mind. Why not just buy a similar gun so we could each have one? What I wound up purchasing was this brand new, engraved .44 Magnum instead of the 50-year-old .44 Special. Different? Yes. Do I love it? You bet!
This gun is BA, and also quite beautiful. If Beauty and The Beast had an offspring, this is it. 1,200-foot per second hollow-point rounds weighing in at 240-grains will shatter a melon in quick order. Full-power loads will sting the hand. If you aren't ready for the recoil, you will likely have a red-ramp shaped bleeding mark on your forehead. It is a brutal, killing machine. And does it look classy? Absolutely. Even anti-gun people have commented on how beautiful this one is.
I'm really excited about shooting the little one. You may think that I have a somewhat warped perception on what a "little" gun is, but the 586 looks and feels little to me. Granted, it's beefy. But it's a whole lot less cumbersome than the aforementioned hand-cannon. Here's the entire arsenal as it stands right now:
Now, here's a little flame-fuel for both of my readers. Jenni and I are some of those weird people that tend to name inanimate objects. We have named our cars, musical instruments, etc. Needless to say, we have named our revolvers. From left to right, these are Lust, Envy, Wrath, and Pride. I've already given you the skinny on Lust, my .44 Magnum, and I'm sure that you are tired of reading about her for now.
Envy would be Jenni's S&W Model 627-5, Performance Center 8-shot .357 Magnum in stainless steel. This gun shoots like a dream. It's so nice that it will nearly ruin you on shooting anything else. I think that everyone should have two of these. If we could get the liberals to go pro-gun, they could start a program to make sure that happened.
Wrath is my new 586 that I will try out for the first time tonight. This will be my carry gun once I get my CCW license. If it shoots as nicely as I believe it will, I may change my mind about the previous paragraph and edit it to: "I think that everyone should have one 627PC and one 586PC." We shall see. I'll let you know what happens.
Pride is our WWII-era S&W M&P in .38 Special. This gun is just fun to shoot. It cost less than half of either of the other three, and holds its own in the entertainment department. I'm expecting another set of grips to come in on Snail Mail probably today. This should make it an even more pleasurable experience.
Anyway, that's probably enough rambling for now. I hope you enjoy my rantings, and I will be looking forward to both of your comments! Until next time!
3 comments:
Some nice stuff there Michael. My dad collects guns and he has built up quite a nice array of old west pistols and rifles including a Colt peacemaker and a Sharps rifle, not sure what years but they are amazing :D
Me, when it comes to pistols I go for the automatics more than the wheel guns. I want to get a nice 1911 .45 and for carry I'm thinking a Walther PPS or maybe a P99. Small, slim and still carries 7-10 rounds depending on which one I get.
If you have looked into ammo for the .44 special, you are even more happy that you went with the magnum. A friend fell in love with my Ruger Super Blackhawk and HAD to get himself a pistol. He bought a S&W .44 special at a gun show because it was a .44, and had grips that fit his hand well. Later he had to sell it and get a magnum because the special rounds cost TWICE as much, and were hard to find.
So how did the snub do?
LL,
The Super Blackhawk is a wonderful gun. I hope you enjoy it. The S&W 24 is a sweet gun, and it's a real shame that ammo is so scarce. I hope your buddy likes his new .44. They are a lot of fun. As far as ammo is concerned, it's all expensive. That's why I'm learning to reload. I'm loving the 586. I didn't shoot it as accurately as I would like, but I was good enough to get the job done this weekend.
--Michael
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