Monday Gunday: Oleg at the Range

No, not that Oleg; this one. When I solicited my readership for names, no one suggested anything better and several agreed that naming my pistol after the man who helped me get it was very appropriate.

But I digress. I hopped over to my friendly semi-local firing range this weekend with my pistol and proceeded to poke holes in a target. Let me tell you guys, those Pearce grip extensions work really, really well! I had a bit of a problem getting the original floorplate off the magazine, but then I found this video:




As for the shooting, I went through about 6 magazines worth of ammunition in 15 minutes, and came out with this target.

A little low at first, yes. Please note that even though the first shots went low, if we consider the bullseye to be a man's chest, every one of them was a hit to the torso. See for yourself as the target is overlaid upon a freshly-laundered Men's T-shirt, sized Medium:

This was done at the closest range on their pistol course, which is 7 yards. Want to know what's interesting? The longest unobstructed path through my house is from the living room to the bedrooms, connected by a hallway. The distance from the furthest bedroom door to the far wall of the living room is also 7 yards -- I've measured it.

In other words, in the highly unlikely event of a home invasion -- in which case I have instructed my family to head back to my room where I maintain our arsenal -- I can retreat into the hallway, create a "fatal funnel", and shoot this accurately.  That's a comforting thing to know.

Of course, the bad guys probably won't be obliging enough to stand still, but that's why God invented practice and I have a yearlong range pass.

I like this gun. It fits my hand nicely, the recoil is manageable (better than the one I tested a few weeks back, actually) and the bullets go where I tell them to go. Now I just need to perfect my technique of telling them where to go.

Before I leave: This is Oleg's current configuration, with Pearce Grip extensions and a just-arrived-today Crimson Trace handguard. Badass, no?

Okay, yes, the laser is a luxury. It's also really useful in fast target acquisition, which is important in self-defense scenarios, so I felt the expense was justified.

The next thing for me to do is attend the mandated Concealed Carry course, and then it's just a matter of paperwork standing between me and full-time defensive carry.

Again, thank you all SO MUCH for helping me achieve this.