Well, I haven't been shooting my King Cobra much lately (I shoot the 65 so much more; prefer my gunsmith Sam Damewood's trigger to Colt's), and I haven't carried it in over a year (6" tube is too much for me). So, I traded it off.
Picked up a lightly used SIG-Sauer P239 in .40 with two extra mags. I've always liked the slimline 239s, but it took me a while to warm up to the American-made slide. Recently, I decided that the NH stainless billet slide is probably better than the Euro folded sheetmetal slide (I suspect this is why the P239s are able to be so trim), and it appears that they P239s are holding up better than, say, the P225s ever did. So, I figured it's time to pick one up.
The one I got was used and apparently never cleaned. I stripped it in the store and noted that the blueing had not even started to wear on the rails - I doubt 100 rounds had been fired through the gun. However, it was filthy, and it was
dry. I bought a couple of boxes of PMC 165-grain FMJs for the range and headed out.
Life wasn't so good. I shot the Chrony. Again.
This time I'm definitely going to need to buy some new rods and shades. Oh well. Oh, and I learned something though. I took the GPS unit and found that the Albuquerque City Range, which I've always guesstimated at about 5300 feet above sea level, is actually about 5950 feet above sea level. That might explain some of the zippier velocities I've recorded with relatively anemic handloads. Or not.
And the gun was having problems going into battery. I wondered if it was the short, truncated cone bullet of the PMC load. Then I remembered how filthy the gun was. I stripped it on the bench, and decided that the problem was that it was bone dry. I squoze a little Tetra grease onto the appropriate parts, and it started to run like a Bernina sewing machine. Nary a problem after that. I was pleased with the groups it produced as well as with the milder-than-expected recoil. The trigger is a crisp SIGarms trigger - not exciting, but heartening. The feel of the gun in my hand is not as friendly as that of the SIG-Sauer P232 that I picked up a couple of months ago, but the pistol itself is more accurate - and it sure can cook!
Here are a couple of shots of the gun on a 10-yard target. The velocity I was getting from the 3.5" barrel with the 165-grainers was just a touch over 950 fps. I was talking on the phone with a friend from online when I took the pics, so forgive me if they're less than artistic.
This morning I flipped the mag release to the RH side (since I'm a southpaw, the LH mag releases of my IWB semiautos sometimes inadvertantly get popped when I brush up against stuff - the switch should preclude this from happening) - thanks to the gents on the SigForum for the tips. It's a nice little gun.
