It was fall, my favorite time of the year. Here, fall can be defined as “winter in the morning, summer in the afternoon” as one internet meme alleged. As it was time to rearrange the brain-housing unit, I took a pair of rimfire sporting handguns, an autoloader and a revolver.
The auto is an early Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory, a gun I had some months before they were publicly announced. I’d installed an after-market barrel – the Volquartsen carbon fiber THM tension barrel – and a red dot sight, the C-More RTS2. I’d fired the gun before and the average of groups from a variety of rounds clustered about 1 ½” at 25 yards.
The SW22/Volquartsen has a just under 7” barrel with a trigger press that’s plenty good.
The revolver was the Ruger GP100-22-4, a limited issue 10-shot revolver with a slightly-over four-inch barrel. A Davidson’s Exclusive – available from their Gallery of Guns -- this is two ounces lighter than their standard 5 ½” GP100-22. The Davidson’s Ruger is heavy.
It features a ten shot cylinder, matching the magazine capacity of the Victory.
The rear sight is the standard Ruger revolver adjustable sight. A fiber optic front sight, green, is atop and slightly to the rear of the muzzle. The front sight is in a dovetail, not the older style front plunger of the original GP-100. The muzzle is recessed and crowned.
The stocks are of GP/SP style, rubber with hardwood inserts. The barrel has an ejector rod shroud but has no under lug all the way to the muzzle as some versions of the centerfire revolvers do.
The current GP-100 22 guns are fabricated of stainless steel and that includes this exclusive model. The trigger has no serrations; the face of the trigger is smooth. This makes me believe they want me to shoot it double-action.
The single action trigger breaks clean and is service weight. The double action trigger can be staged, drawing the trigger and hammer back to a “pause,” confirming the sights and pressing off as a single action.
Why go to the range and why with these guns? Well, to get your mind off of a troublesome – and unavoidable – situation, engage in a little problem solving. I was facing the loss of control and sought to reestablish it.