Sunday, September 4, 2011

If It Ain't Rainin'...

Went to the range after work yesterday, just in time for a monsoon.  I had checked the radar before hand, and it looked like a quick storm that would be over before I even made the 20+ minute drive, but instead it lingered over the area just as I got there.  Thankfully I found a paperback buried in the car and decided to wait it out.  After an hour or so it had died down to a dribble and I grabbed the pistols I'd brought and the steel target and a "raincoat."

At least two things were learned.  First, said "raincoat" was not, in fact, waterproof.  Just a little water resistant.  Thankfully it was warm out, so hypothermia wasn't an issue.

The other, and more important thing, is that M&P9 magazines are dang slick when you're hands are wet.  I'm rather proud that I only fumbled one reload because of this, but one's enough to have me wondering if only carrying one reload is good enough.

I never would have noticed this had I simply given up and went home.  Now, I don't usually go out of my way to shoot in the rain, actually I kind of hate it.  If I hadn't gotten the little Salute Products target I wouldn't have yesterday either (as it is, I still didn't get to pattern the 20ga for buck yet.  Cardboard and rain don't mix well.)  However, once in a while it's good to get out and shoot in that crap, and find out how your stuff works.  I know Cane & Derby will be getting an order from me soon as well after yesterday, and I'm going to do some thinking on the magazine issue.

On a positive note, the little P-64 went through a full box of Brown Bear FMJ without a single hickup.  It's snappy, as expected, and the Wolff springs can't get here soon enough.  I fired one shot double-action, and my hand was so tense from that, the next shot broke almost instantly (nearly felt like it practically bump-fired...) that needs to be fixed.  Also, Brown Bear still smells like crap.