I was planning on taking the camera to the range today but I forgot it.  I went to our "private range."

I started with some factory PMC loaded with 158 grain JSP (jacketed soft point).  Recoil was pleasant but not intimidating, and it turned out that this was by far the most accurate (as in, already zeroed--no sight adjustment required) load for the range at which I was shooting, which was 50 yards.  The rifle was probably as accurate as it could be with me doing the shooting.  Although I would not have been able to drive nails with it, if my dad had been there I'm sure he would have said, "that'll drop a deer."

I had only 10 rounds or so of the PMC stuff left from previous handgun shooting, so it didn't take me long to finish it off and start on the various handloads that I have.  I didn't load them, but the person who did gave me all the details about them for my future reference.

The first batch was shooting 158 grain JSP's with 13.3 grains of Hercules 2400.  Maybe that means something to you reloaders, but it didn't mean much to me.  Until I shot it, that is.  These were some serious reloads.  The recoil even punched me pretty hard a couple of times when the butt wasn't seated in just exactly the right spot of my shoulder.  These loads shot high, but grouped well.  Next time I might try some 100-yard shooting and see how these work.  These might turn out to be good 100-yard loads, and judging by the recoil, they would easily drop a deer.

Also, our backstop is made of a couple of layers of heavy metal sheets angled to deflect the bullets downward.  The PMC factory loads just clanged and ricocheted into the dirt.  These reloads were hitting so hard the bullets were exploding into puffs of lead dust upon impact.  They were both loaded with the same kind of bullet.  Like I said, these were some serious reloads.  I'm amazed that I've actually used these in the SP-101 before.

After that I tried two other reloads, one a very lightly loaded .357 magnum and the other a plain old .38 Special.  Both were made to be very easy-recoiling target practice loads for snubby revolvers.  Shooting them in the rifle was an anticlimax and sort of disappointing after the first two loads.  The .38 Special was so wimpy they almost felt like squibs, but weren't.  Both of them shot very low.  I still have quite a few of these left, and will save them strictly for snubby practice.

Next step is to figure out exactly how the PMC factory stuff is loaded so I can duplicate it.  I think I may eventually start reloading just to keep myself supplied with .357.

As far as function, the rifle functioned well.  There were no serious cycling problems, only a few minor ones because I was sometimes ejecting carefully to keep from losing any brass.  When I worked the lever like I was supposed to, it worked perfectly.  The trigger is light and crisp, although I have no way to actually measure it.  One quibble is that although this is supposed to hold 10 rounds in the tube, I can't get more than 9 rounds in it.  Still, 9 rounds of .357 magnum from a rifle is some pretty good firepower, especially if you have another one or two .357 magnum revolvers nearby to back it up.

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