An Old Friend Comes Home

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
S&W Model 586 x 6", 1987-made. It has been on long-term loan with a relative. Since they are fleeing the Pipple's Respoobleek soon, they wanted to make sure to get this back to me before emigrating to the USA. Very nice.

It got very little firing or carry wear during its sojourn. It wasn't neglected--it got good care. I can't wait to get re-acquainted with this one. It can REALLY shoot.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Sounds fun, hope you'll share the results after the honeymoon.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
It will need to be a long honeymoon, I haven't fired much of anything since June so I am likely VERY RUSTY. I know, "It's like riding a bicycle", but I am NOT a 'natural shot'--I need skill set refreshment with frequency when it comes to handguns. My 'shotgun eye' is a lot less perishable than my sideiron ability, and the rifle sharpness returns pretty readily. My first handgunning will involve the S&W 617 x 6" and Ruger 22/45 x 5.5" HB, both known tackdrivers with ammo they like. Then the K-32 (Model 16-4 x 6") and the SIG P-226 x 9mm. Those should put the edge back on the blade with an afternoon's work.

A larger question in the short-term will be my walking ability with the prosthetic. I am '7 days in' with the walking start-up, and things are proceeding slowly but well. Rome wasn't built in a day (I keep telling myself......), and I am sore as h--l from muscles unused for 3-1/2 months letting me know they miss being on hiatus. I can enter and exit Marie's Jeep pretty easily now, but haven't tried driving--nor have I tried getting my big nalgas into my F-250.

No doubt about it--people are leaving CA en masse. Most are leaving with cash in hand from sales of homes and businesses either pending or closed, and realtors in the destination states are cutting a fat hog with every sale to a California family that moves. AZ, NV, UT, ID, and TX have hot real estate markets exploiting these opportunities, which I am sure upsets long-time residents of these places who don't make enough money to afford homes in this hyper-inflated market. Maybe there is a two-tiered market--one price guideline for local folks, another for carpetbagger Californians. Today's return of the 586 was taken up with extended discussions of their 2-year search for housing in AZ, and the pitfalls encountered throughout that process. Not pretty, at all--a lot like finding 22 LR ammo during the recent shortage--a milieu of strippers, flippers, grifters, and victims. Not a buyer's market, by any means. I might have been born at night--but it wasn't LAST NIGHT.
 
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Pistolero

Well-Known Member
My newer model 586+ 6" is a really accurate handgun, one of my best, with zero changes,
a good shooter as she was born. Lots of 1 1/2" groups and better at 25 yds. And seven shots
is kinda cool, too.
One of the better $477 that I ever spent - new price about 10-12 years ago.

Working with your Ruger 22/45 is a good plan by itself, but bringing the 617 along will be
good for overall feel.

Glad you are walking better. As to muscle atrophy, it is horrendous. I was bedridden for 3 months
when I was a young man and the loss of leg stength and muscle mass was shocking. Came back in
about a year. You have not been entirely down, so should be less severe, I would think.

Bill
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Al, I think you're right about the two tiered market. We see that here. For the retirees moving in from Jersey, downstate NY, Conn., Mass, they just see a place they can buy 3-800 acres for under $500K, or a nice house on 25-100 acres for well under $200K. We've had 3 somewhat decent houses on acrage sell for under $20K here in my town! But for the locals it's the game of watching what was a $50-75K house on a lot or few acres turn into a $175K house in a few years. But wages didn't make that same jump and taxes in many towns have risen dramatically. Actually, we have a lot more leaving than staying, I mean hey, it's NY! But their kids are trying to buy the family home and can't do it. We just had a zinc mine reopen here and it's been an absolute godsend. But that's one mine out of 3 or 4 and other plants and large businesses in the area have gone under since then. Makes me wonder what it's like to live somewhere where things are growing and not dying.
 
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462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
"Al, Michael, and Rick T. are about all that's left."

Our souls still reside in Western Montana, though we sold the property we were going to build our dream log house on. We determined that five months of Winter was more than we wanted to endure, and the snowbird thing never materialized.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
their leaving Cal and coming to Utah caused me to move to Idaho.
they just inflated the price and competition for everything.
 

Ian

Notorious member
So we can live where it's too hot or too cold for...we all know whats. I'll take the tough weather any day over the alternative climate.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I did take a couple hours today to clear off the work tables and get re-acquainted with this Model 586 x 6".

Tale Of The Tape--throats will JUST pass a .357" pin gauge (-.0002"), .358" pin was a no-go. Bore will JUST pass a .346" pin gauge, with no loose ot tight spots along its length. VERY NICE. Small wonder that the revolver shot so well for me in years past.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Yessir--bore diameter, over the land tops--as opposed to groove diameter. I don't have a V-block or tri-poise micrometer to get 5-groove diameters from a S&W slugging with. The biggest goal here was to determine presence or absence of "thread choke" where the barrel and receiver are joined, and there appears to be none in this example.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
And.....cylinder face to forcing cone clearances are a fat .003" to a skinny .004", per feeler-gauging. My 686 x 4" has .004" clearances, and runs the 125 grain Federal #357B loads (The Famous But Indictable 357 Magnum K-Frame Eaters) very close to catalog velocity--mean is 1425 FPS/claimed is 1440 FPS. Same loads might make 1500 FPS in this snug 6". This will be fun.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Thats interesting Allen. I have yet to see any factory loads out of a short gun come anywhere close to advertised velocity. I haven't shot them all of course, but the super duper 9mm stuff of the 90's was pathetic in my limited testing. I wish I'd written all that stuff down. Made the Smith 19 with handloads look really swell.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Now, Bret--do you mean to say that ammo makers fudge the numbers on velocity just a bit? That would be SCANDALOUS of them! HORRORS!

That #357B got so close to claimed numbers in my 686 was surprising to me as well. Maybe the spread of affordable/easily-portable chronographs has had the consequence of prompting more reliable info from the factories--the chronograph as polygraph, if you will.

I have always thought that the 357 Magnum was a first-rate goblin stopper, and with the right bullets is no slouch as a deer-taker also. I don't think there are any "bad" 357 loads when it comes to felon repellent. The 125 grainers seem to have a bit less recoil than did the 158 grain service loads we once carried.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I think at one time they did make those numbers or come right close to them.

I still find it somewhat amusing that a 35 cal rifle is a bit big while a 35 cal handgun is too small.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I still find it somewhat amusing that a 35 cal rifle is a bit big while a 35 cal handgun is too small.

Lamar touched upon one of my pet rants, specific to the 9 x 19 pistol and all of the ballistic gymnastics that FBI and ammomakers have gone through to "Make The 9mm More Useful". MEGO.......and a classic example of what you get when the people making ammo selections for other people getting shot at aren't getting shot at themselves. No skin in the game. I could REALLY burn up some bandwidth on this.
 
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RBHarter

West Central AR
My favorite is the guy that goes on and on about how balistically superior it is to the 38 Special ...... Yeah ok how much faster it the 147 than a 158 again ......

I like the unloved 40 myself . Wish I had that 38-40 RBH with the 40 or 10mm cyl .