Harry O
07-17-2012, 08:55 AM
One of those new revolvers that shoots through the lowest chamber instead of the top one. They are also one of the ugliest revolvers around and are fairly expensive, too.
The local firing range got one in and put it in their rental display case. I had to try it. Renting is not the hard part. They require that you use factory cartridges that they sell you. The cost of factory .357 Magnum ammunition was the hardest thing to get over.
The gun had a 4" barrel instead of the 2" that I normally see. It does what their advertising says it is supposed to do. The barrel rise is considerably less than any of my other .357 Magnums. The muzzle flash seemed to be a lot more than I am used to, but that was probably caused by the ammunition, not the gun.
The biggest problem was with the trigger. It is a strange combination of primarily DAO with occasional SA allowed. When used in DAO, the trigger was entirely too heavy to shoot accurately. That completely negated the advantage with the lower barrel rise. The Ruger composite revolver has a MUCH better DAO trigger right out of the box. Even ordinary S&W and Colt revolvers have a lighter and better DA trigger pull.
It does not have a real hammer, but there is something that looks like a hinged hammer that can be used to cock the firing pin. Unfortunately, it takes both hands to actuate and is so small, that it could be easy to slip while cocking it. This is not a solution, but the gun was plenty accurate while shooting SA.
Anyway, I am very happy that I rented the gun to try. I won't be tempted to buy one (at fairly expensive prices) to try.
The local firing range got one in and put it in their rental display case. I had to try it. Renting is not the hard part. They require that you use factory cartridges that they sell you. The cost of factory .357 Magnum ammunition was the hardest thing to get over.
The gun had a 4" barrel instead of the 2" that I normally see. It does what their advertising says it is supposed to do. The barrel rise is considerably less than any of my other .357 Magnums. The muzzle flash seemed to be a lot more than I am used to, but that was probably caused by the ammunition, not the gun.
The biggest problem was with the trigger. It is a strange combination of primarily DAO with occasional SA allowed. When used in DAO, the trigger was entirely too heavy to shoot accurately. That completely negated the advantage with the lower barrel rise. The Ruger composite revolver has a MUCH better DAO trigger right out of the box. Even ordinary S&W and Colt revolvers have a lighter and better DA trigger pull.
It does not have a real hammer, but there is something that looks like a hinged hammer that can be used to cock the firing pin. Unfortunately, it takes both hands to actuate and is so small, that it could be easy to slip while cocking it. This is not a solution, but the gun was plenty accurate while shooting SA.
Anyway, I am very happy that I rented the gun to try. I won't be tempted to buy one (at fairly expensive prices) to try.