I broke out of my troglodytical ways just enough to acquire my first laser sight. First I had to decide which handgun would wear it. That was a no-brainer since the sight designed to fit Smith K, L, and N square-butts would fit a whole slew of my battery. So the Model LG207 Crimson Trace got the nod.
The grips arrived today, from good ol' fast-shipping Midway. I could barely wait to try them out, so I installed them on my S&W M18 4" .22LR Combat Masterpiece— a gun I use a lot.
Installation was a snap. About a 2-minute process. The dot was almost perfectly lined up with my iron sights, but needed just a bit of tweaking. The first group fired was 6-shots at 7 yards, not going for speed. The first three shots went into a tiny lateral string in the center of the target, just above the staple. I thought I had completely thrown away the second three, but when I went up to the target they had fallen in among the first three. The whole group could be covered by a quarter. Say, I think, this is maybe a worthwhile gadget!
I took it over to the next range and worked out on steel for a while. Seemed like you could hardly miss the 5" swingers at 10-yards. On the 12" gong at 10-yards I was able to place six-shot groups in little smudgy clusters anywhere on the gong I wanted them.
In the picture, the targets clustered around the M18 are an informal comparison of iron sights versus the laser. (These are six inch paper plates, a favorite target of mine.) I tore the left one removing it from the staple, but you can see the holes from two rounds at 0630 and 0330. The sixth round is in about the middle of the torn spot. I won't get any awards for groups like these, but I sure am having fun.
It'll take me a while to learn to use this new sighting system up to its potential, but so far it looks pretty promising.
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2 comments:
I used to see those advertised on "The Shooting Show" that was on the Outdoor Channel. They looked pretty effective on the advertisements. I don't have any laser systems for any of my guns, but it might be useful to pick one up.
Hermit-
They are terrific for low-light. In broad daylight they are good for about 50 feet, then the dot can get hard to see depending on the color of the target. At dusk I had no trouble with 100Y, and after dark the dot was clearly visible at 200Y. Not very practical since the dot and the POI will be way off at such distances due to the displacement of the sight and boreline. But as a subdued light self-defense, anti-burglar tool-- can't be beat!
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