Found: One Troll

Two weeks ago I bought two new guns, a S&W Gunsite commander length 1911, and a Ruger MkIII 22/45. I meant to shoot both of them last weekend, but fun-time got called on account of wind and rain, so I resolved to shoot them this weekend. I managed to convince my good friend Agrise to come with me even though he’s not a gun person. Saturday morning we met at my place and I grabbed my 1911s (the Gunsite and my SA GI .45) and my MkIII and headed off to Ben Avery Shooting Facility. It was pretty quiet for a Saturday, maybe because it was Valentine’s Day. I didn’t see a whole lot of couples shooting, and even though we didn’t get there until 9AM there was no line for a bench.

Saturday was only the second time Agrise had been shooting. Last time he came out as part of a group of friends, but we didn’t have even one .22 caliber firearm among us. I admit that part of the reason he’s not into guns might be that the first time he ever shot a gun it was one of our .45s. After that he got to shoot my Fulton Armory M14 in 7.62NATO. I find the recoil of a .45ACP 1911 to be very manageable, but I understand now that it’s not always a good idea to introduce new shooters to the sport with high power weapons. Many people anticipate the recoil and develop a flinch that can seriously hamper their development as shooters. Others are put off shooting entirely because their first experience is painful or demoralizing. In my defense, I didn’t shoot a .22 of any sort until after I had also shot an 8mm Mauser, 20ga and 12ga shotguns, a .243 rifle, and a Ruger Redhawk in .44 Magnum. Maybe there’s a reason that I’m a recoil hog.

This weekend I started Agrise off with the Ruger 22/45. I shot one magazine through it to verify that the firearm functioned properly, and then handed it off to him. We went over the safety rules, the manual of arms for the pistol, and sight picture. I saved trigger control and grip for later in the morning after he had put a few mags through it. The grip tutorial was a bit interesting because I had forgotten that Agrise is left-handed, and I’m right-handed. He didn’t understand what I was doing until I changed my own example grip to match his southpaw grip. By lunch he was shooting the .22 better than I was.

Agrise is currently in the process of purchasing his first home, and after today he said he is considering buying his own gun and asked me where he can get a .22 pistol. Yay new shooters! Because the .45 is a bit too much for him, I impressed upon him throughout the day that the best gun for you is the one that fits you and that you have fun shooting. You don’t have to have the biggest gun. Of course, if he buys a 9mm I will mock him mercilessly, because that’s the kind of friendship we have.

While he was loading mags for the 22/45 I got some practice in with my 1911s. The S&W Gunsite is an amazing weapon. I’ve been practicing grip, stance, and trigger control with my SA GI.45 for the last couple of months, but I have never shot as well with that pistol as I did even with my first magazine through the Gunsite 1911. The Gunsite 1911 has a long match trigger with a crisp 3.5 pound pull. It feels much nicer than the GI1911′s 5lb short pull. The Novak Lo-Mount Carry sights are also much easier to acquire than the GI style sights on my Springer. By the end of the morning I was able to shoot two magazines through the S&W Gunsite through one (large and ragged) hole at 10 yards. I’m pretty sure that most of my accuracy with the new 1911 is attributable the much improved trigger and sights. I believe that the Gunsite is going to be my new carry gun.