Got a last minute email from Todd last evening, might I be available for a shoot today. I was. It turned out to be a very, very interesting range date. Todd has been working with an electrical engineer at Medtronic on their campus. I have no idea what they're doing, doesn't matter. He introduced her to shooting on a previous day. She'd never shot nor even handled a handgun previous to that, shot notably well that time. Tall woman of about 40, slender, attractive if not a head-turner, soft-spoken, very pleasant personality, obvously bright since she's an EE. (ducking incoming...)
Not exactly a fragile flower, she climbed to the top of Devil's Tower at age 13. Her shooting today was spectacular. I offered my Springfield 1911A1 "loaded" to her, suggested she dryfire a couple of times so she'd know what to expect from the light crisp trigger. She did, said "oh, I see what you mean!" I then handed her a magazine loaded with 5 rounds. She inserted it. I think I racked the slide for her. Her five rounds made one ragged hole at 7 yards. First time ever with that pistol. Wow! I then asked if she might like to try Mary's "purse gun". She said sure. That was Doc, the stainless 686 in .357 with 6" barrel. I'd smuggled it to the firing point in a pistol rug. When she saw it, her jaw dropped followed by a huge grin. "Purse gun, yeah, right!" Todd said, "those are powderpuff loads, right?" "Uh, no, I don't bother with powderpuffs anymore, they're full magnum loads: 15.5 grains of W296 behind 158-grain bullets." He rolled his eyes. She drilled those suckers into a group only slightly larger than she'd shot with the 1911. The flash, smoke and chest-thumping bang didn't faze her a bit. This was her first encounter with either pistol. This woman is a natural. The other surprise: the Ruger LCR I glommed last week.
I've heard horror stories about airweight .38's, sprained wrists and so forth, and I'm not exactly hairy-armed man mountain Dean at age 68 so I was a bit leery. I fired, wearing a glove and expecting some snap from the featherweight revolver. It didn't happen! I heard a bang and saw a hole appear downrange, but recoil was absolutely unremarkable. Shot the rest of that cylinder with similar impression. Ooo-kay, so then I loaded one round of the buck-a-bang Hornady +P ammo wondering how much that was gonna hurt. One review described it as snappy but managable. When I read that, I imagined a young gorilla with hairy wrists like sinewed tree trunks. The +P pow was absolutely a non-event. It went bang, bucked a bit, and the hole appeared downrange right where I'd pointed it close enough as wouldn't matter. I'd have no problem shooting 50 rounds of that in a session if someone else bought the ammo. That is a rather amazing little revolver. The sights are essentially nonexistant and useless, which doesn't dismay me at all because I regard the LCR as suitable for point 'n shoot self defense at ranges of 25 feet or less. The LCP in .380 is easier to carry because it's flatter, a bit snappy but not objectionably so. LCR with +P ammo is about even with 9mmp in efficacy, is a bit bulkier than the LCP but weighs little more, is more powerful, and practice with it is quite enjoyable with target loads. LCP is definitely the easier pocket carry, but pocket carry of the LCR might be feasible. The trigger on the LCR is nearly as good as the trigger on my Ruger GP100 in double action which is exceptionally good. I'm not gonna strap on a gun as a routine part of getting dressed. Perhaps it would be prudent to do so if I lived in more dangerous environs. For now, I regard the risk of not doing so not commeasurate with the inconvenience of doing so. Having a pistol in me pocket helps timorous old me feel safe when out and about at times so I'm glad for the right to be able to defend myself if I might care to do so.