As ammo has been coming back in dribs and drabs, I found a supply of NormaUSA TAC-22 “High Performance Target” 40 grain lead round nose 22LR ammo at the local Academy Sports store. I’d picked up a few boxes a month or so ago and had only tried them from one 22 – it seemed a good summertime chore to see if they worked out in another gun
The other gun was the Ruger GP100-22-4, a limited issue 10-shot revolver with a slightly-over four-inch barrel. A Davidson’s Exclusive – for a short time available from their Gallery of Guns -- this sample is two ounces lighter than their standard 5 ½” GP100-22.
The Davidson’s Ruger in stainless steel is heavy and it features a ten-shot cylinder. The gun features the standard Ruger revolver adjustable sight. A green fiber optic front sight is slightly rear of the muzzle, in a dovetail. 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 trigger has no serrations; the face of the trigger is smooth. This makes me believe the makers 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.
It’s quite heavy, but is smooth.
While the NormaUSA ammo box was clearly marked “target velocity 1100fps,” this speed is likely measured only when fired from a rifle-length barrel. To explore the ammo’s potential while getting some much-needed trigger control practice, I went back to the shooting drill, popularized on the internet, called the “Rastoff Challenge.” The target to be used is an NRA B27 repair center, which has ISU scoring rings featuring an ‘X’ in the middle. The drill is four rounds at three yards; six rounds at five yards which is repeated at seven yards, followed by four rounds from ten yards. The object is to get all 20 rounds inside the “X” ring, with no time limit.
I shot it clean, but started to ‘wander’ in the “X” ring at ten yards. The gun is heavy, as is the smooth DA trigger – and, yes, it was all shot double action to get the most good from the exercise. It’s smart to end a practice session on precision.
Following up, at three yards, I shot one-handed single-action on the upper “9” figure -right hand, then followed up on the uppermost “8” left hand only.
I found that I tended to hit to the right when shooting left-handed.
I stepped back and worked the 6” steel paddles at twenty yards, five left-handed, five right-handed, all two-hands, shooting double-action.
I finished at 20 feet with five rounds on the right-side “9” number on the B27 repair center, shooting right-handed, with 2-hands, DA slow fire; then firing five on the left “9,” 2-handed, left-hand, DA slow-fire. I was still tending right with the left-hand, 2-handed DA too. I found that the load hits under the sights (low) at 20 feet.
The ammo is accurate in this gun. As a bonus, I noticed that even with a still, humid morning there was nearly no smoke. While the projectiles had some sticky lube that could be felt, that didn’t result in lots of smoke – as there is with some 22 Long Rifle ammo.
It was good practice with a great gun and competent ammo: that makes for a pleasant summer day.
-- Rich Grassi
