Substance-P
2nd September 2008, 12:17
This was my first chance to take my new Colt defender to the range. As described in a previous thread, my range session before this one was my one and only trip out with a different subcompact .45 from a different company than Colt. That trip was frustrating with failure to feeds on every other magazine. I am happy to report a MUCH better experience this time!
Initial thoughts: The Colt is very easy to disassemble and reassemble. My previous subcompact required additional persuasion by way of a tiny screw driver and a rubber mallet...the Colt was simple and only required my hands.
Additionally, I was surprised by how soft shooting this tiny lightweight gun is. Maybe its the houge grips, but I put 150 rounds through it in a relatively short amount of time with no discomfort (other than when a couple of bumblebees dive bombed me...but that wasn't the Colt's fault).
My current protocol for a first trip with a new gun is to first disassemble, clean, and lubricate the gun (by the way, Colt has to produce the easiest guns to clean for the first time...just a little bit of what I expect is oil to clean out...none of this grease or special preservatives that some other companies use that require a longer time to clean off). Then I take 150 rounds with me (50 Fiocchi, 50 Magtech, and 50 Sellier & Bellot) and shoot at a local outdoor range at about 20-30 feet (hard to tell). This time I forgot some targets and had to draw my own...at least I brought a pencil.
The first series was with the Fiocchi: three floaters, five on target but to the right of center mass, but the rest were in what would equate to center of a silhouette style target (my target ended up looking more like a giant teddy bear).
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefender1_50rdsFioc.jpg
The second series was with Magtech and I aimed at the smaller head region on Teddy. My shoots here were low and 4 ended up off the target
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefender2_50rdsMag.jpg
Lastly, I used the one target I could find at the bottom of the range bag and tried out 50 rounds of S&B. On the tenth round of S&B (110 rounds into the test) I had a failure to return to battery. The slide appeared to go all the way forward, but upon closer inspection was just slightly out of battery. This was in the middle of a magazine I was rapid firing...I think I am to blame for this one as I may not have maintained a tight enough wrist...does that sound accurate?
Once again, I was grouping a little low on the target, but as you can see, most of the rounds were within a hands breadth of one another and that is what I was hoping for out of a gun this small during a first range session.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefender3_50RdsSB.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefendert1_50RdsSB2.jpg
On a side note, I noticed these markings on the gun, right by the ejection port, after the session, I am sorry for the poor quality picture. Are these normal wear marks from the spent casings?
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderEjectionPort.jpg
Overall, I couldn't be happier with my new Defender. It may have taken two trades in less than a week to end up with it, but I learned a good lesson and wound up with a gun that is a keeper in the process :D
Initial thoughts: The Colt is very easy to disassemble and reassemble. My previous subcompact required additional persuasion by way of a tiny screw driver and a rubber mallet...the Colt was simple and only required my hands.
Additionally, I was surprised by how soft shooting this tiny lightweight gun is. Maybe its the houge grips, but I put 150 rounds through it in a relatively short amount of time with no discomfort (other than when a couple of bumblebees dive bombed me...but that wasn't the Colt's fault).
My current protocol for a first trip with a new gun is to first disassemble, clean, and lubricate the gun (by the way, Colt has to produce the easiest guns to clean for the first time...just a little bit of what I expect is oil to clean out...none of this grease or special preservatives that some other companies use that require a longer time to clean off). Then I take 150 rounds with me (50 Fiocchi, 50 Magtech, and 50 Sellier & Bellot) and shoot at a local outdoor range at about 20-30 feet (hard to tell). This time I forgot some targets and had to draw my own...at least I brought a pencil.
The first series was with the Fiocchi: three floaters, five on target but to the right of center mass, but the rest were in what would equate to center of a silhouette style target (my target ended up looking more like a giant teddy bear).
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefender1_50rdsFioc.jpg
The second series was with Magtech and I aimed at the smaller head region on Teddy. My shoots here were low and 4 ended up off the target
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefender2_50rdsMag.jpg
Lastly, I used the one target I could find at the bottom of the range bag and tried out 50 rounds of S&B. On the tenth round of S&B (110 rounds into the test) I had a failure to return to battery. The slide appeared to go all the way forward, but upon closer inspection was just slightly out of battery. This was in the middle of a magazine I was rapid firing...I think I am to blame for this one as I may not have maintained a tight enough wrist...does that sound accurate?
Once again, I was grouping a little low on the target, but as you can see, most of the rounds were within a hands breadth of one another and that is what I was hoping for out of a gun this small during a first range session.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefender3_50RdsSB.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefendert1_50RdsSB2.jpg
On a side note, I noticed these markings on the gun, right by the ejection port, after the session, I am sorry for the poor quality picture. Are these normal wear marks from the spent casings?
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/substance-p/ColtDefenderEjectionPort.jpg
Overall, I couldn't be happier with my new Defender. It may have taken two trades in less than a week to end up with it, but I learned a good lesson and wound up with a gun that is a keeper in the process :D