Hi folks. I've been a member for a while, but not active as a poster the last year or so 'cause i didn't have a pup to brag on or complain about -- sold my original R9 to a buddy who really did want it a little bit more than i did at that point.
anyhow, i'm up in the big city of anchorage (i live in juneau, alaska) for the week. business doesn't start 'til tomorrow so i've been visiting my sisters and hitting every single gun shop in town.
i popped into wild west guns -- really a nice shop -- and really nice folks. well, they had a couple of stealths in stock and it took me about 3 minutes to talk myself into one of them.
got a couple of "factory boxes" -- remington 115 i think and maybe some american eagle or something -- all round ball, nothing the least exotic yet. went home and thought it over, decided i was going to reintegrate the pup into my carry regimen, so i broke him down and wiped him up and down and counted all the parts and made sure the hole went all the way through the barrel.
next day i went down to the rabbit creek range and set up my little targets at 7 and 10 yards (guy next lane over was shooting a 454 with bumped up hand loads -- chronning every shot and writing it down and, for some reason looking unhappier and unhappier) . . . i just knew you'd want to know that.
so, i load up and slide 'er in. take a deep breath. rack the slide. bonk! half feed. tight jam until you drop the mag, then it cycles out just fine. to make a long story short, i ran 50 and 50 (but the ammo, though from different manufacturers, was essentially the same). every time i'd reload and feed in the mag i'd get that first round jam.
after having a cup of coffee and thinking about it i concluded i was probably being a little sloppy with the first round -- knocking him flat while putting the mag in or something. so, next time around i loaded carefully and took my little pinky and cocked the nose of the first round "just so." made sure i didn't knock him out of alignment on the way in. functioned fine every time i was careful about "seating" that first round.
as to shooting? i had an R9 before. i owned a R9S in SS and for some reason didn't like it -- the sights seemed both too prominent and too unusable . . . just a subjective thing i guess. these black sights on the black slide, on the black body look more . . . organic, or something. they look nice. i used them. they helped with accuracy. it shot essentially to point of aim -- i wasn't being too careful and i was pushing them a little low i think, but hey, at least i was consistent.
in short, very enjoyable. glad to be back in the fold. today i bought a guardian .380 and after shooting it i am kicking myself. it shoots straight and functions well (in its limited first test), but man! that little guy barks louder and stouter than the pup. i mean, my rohrbaugh is very pleasant to shoot (grip tape). the NAA is a sharp little recoil and i found myself noticing it more than the pup after a mere 50 rounds. still, there's something kind of likeable about the guardian -- seems kind of a sturdy fellow. i'm going to grip tape him, switch to a finger-extended magazine and see if i like him any better.
but, i'm happy to report that 100 rounds in, stealth model R9S serial number R256X (why do we do that?) is alive and kicking reliably. i've got him pulled apart over on the table and will probably do another 100 before i leave for home on saturday.
good to be back.
