i stopped by shooter’s world for ladies night the day before yesterday as the range time is free. i had recently purchased a brick of remington cyclone 22 long rifle hollow point ammo and was curious as to how it performed. my advise – don’t bother. this was the dirtiest ammo i have ever had the displeasure of using. with every single 10 round clip, at least one round was a dud, and about every third clip the dud round got stuck in the chamber. after about 10 clips – half of what i usually shoot – a round got so stuck, i couldn’t dig it out. so i just came home and spent the next 2 hours cleaning my very dirty smith and wesson 2206. it was way dirtier than any other time i’ve gone to the range, during which i usually shoot twice as many rounds. and just handling the ammo, like loading up the clips, left a gray residue on my fingers requiring the use of lava soap to clean.
so the next time you see this on sale at the store:
put it down, and walk away.
my local chapter of the pink pistols hosted our saturday shoot yesterday, and i decided to try some different ammo this time. and while it’s a bit more expensive, i found the cci mini-mag ammo a lot cleaner, and perfectly reliable. every single one of the 100 rounds fired, not one jammed, and my pistol hardly needed cleaning when i got it home. i even came in second in our shooting contest, so it seems to be pretty accurate. i’ll try it a few more times to be sure.
i’ve used federal ammo in the past with varying results. it’s usually very inexpensive as i’ve paid as little as $10.00 for a brick of 500 or 525 rounds (as a comparison, the cci mini-mag ammo was $7.99 for 100 rounds at the range, and the remington ammo was $19.95 for 500 rounds on sale at big 5 sporting goods). and while i’ve tried a few different varieties, i’d still get a few jams with it. i should probably start to keep more accurate records of each ammo’s performance.
one of the pink pistol members (hi john!) bought a new smith & wesson .38 revolver (a model 442, i think) in a pretty black satin finish. it’s one of those super light aluminum alloy futuristic models that operates double action only – the hammer is not accessable. he let me fire off a few rounds, and i’m glad i did. it seems a .38 is just too much gun for me. i had trouble maintaining control of the recoil, and it actually hurt my hand after just 5 rounds. and to think, i was considering a model 60, a .357 magnum, for myself. i’m now totally reconsidering what i want for personal defense – perhaps a .32, or even a .22. my 9mm doesn’t nearly have the kick that the s&w revolver did, though granted, my 5906 is a much bigger and heavier pistol.
after the shoot, we met at our favorite hangout, copper star coffee and discussed our plans for the phoenix pride phoenix pink pistols booth. see ya there!
[...] black satin finish. We each tried shooting it, here’s what Nexy had to say about it on her blog: target practice: he let me fire off a few rounds, and i’m glad i did. it seems a .38 is just too [...]
Pingback by February Monthly Shoot | Phoenix Pink Pistols — February 17, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
Don’t discount the .38 round or something bigger, especially for personal defense! I don’t know if you plan on concealed carry or simply home defense, but using a .22 or .32 and expecting it to stop a determined attacker is not realistic (at least without emptying an entire large magazine into him/her). Handguns, by nature, are not man-stoppers; they are last ditch defense. Of those who die of wounds inflicted by handguns, almost all die of prolonged bleeding, rather than any sort of instant incapacitation. This is why the military and law enforcement practice double and triple taps. So anyway, if you are planning on personal defense, don’t go any smaller than a .380 at the very least if you’re going to carry on body (I definitely understand the limitations of concealment with female clothing if you are going to carry on the body and there are a few .380 options (Seacamp, Keltec, NAA) that may be the biggest you can carry (though Rohrbauch makes a rather expensive 9mm of equvilent size (though no more expensive than the Seacamp))). Personally, I am a trans woman of small stature and I carry a .40 S&W Springfield XD subcompact. It is small enough to conceal and it will fire every time, no questions asked (never had a misfire, passed more torture tests than Glock). It is a bit snappy, but with a little practice it is easily manageable on double taps. So just my two cents: don’t take a chance about stopping an attacker, get something big enough to have a chance at doing the job.
Comment by GunnyGal — February 21, 2008 @ 12:32 am
my original plan was an ankle holster carrying a .357, perhaps one of those small and light framed s&w revolvers. i usually wear boot-cut jeans, so it would be easily concealable. for home defense, i use a 12 gauge remington 870 shotgun.
i have a 9mm, which i find controllable, but it’s a rather large frame (s&w 5906) which absorbs much of the recoil. and for personal defense, my inclination is toward a revolver. i’ve had way too many misfires and jams with auto loaders.
and yes, i am also concerned about the lack of stopping power with smaller calibers. perhaps a .38 that’s not a +p will be easier to handle.
thanks for your input and insight
Comment by nexy — February 21, 2008 @ 10:03 am
[...] is pretty similar to the gun my friend john bought in february, and i blogged about it here. i fired his s&w 442 a few more times since then and decided that it wasn’t as bad as i [...]
Pingback by » i love a sale — March 29, 2008 @ 7:43 pm