Trigger Time

I slipped off this morning before chores to head to the range.  I haven't had any handgun trigger time in four or five months, and I wanted to start tuning up for the shooting season.  I took my duty Glock 22, and I took a couple of 1911s, and on a whim I took my Ruger Mark II.

Bill Ruger started his company in 1949 making a little .22 caliber pistol that he called the Standard Pistol.  Coming on the heels of WWII, Ruger wanted to manufacture firearms and the .22LR pistol seemed like a good place to start.  The fact that everyone wanted a Luger in those days, the German  P-08 was a much-prized war prize.  The fact that Ruger made his little pistol to have some of the same visual cues as the much-wanted German pistol evidently never entered into Ruger's thinking.  I'm sure that the little pistol had that front sight ad grip angle was just a happy coincidence.

Whatever the thinking behind the design of the little pistol, it's been a huge succcess and even in this current 21st century, they're still making the little pistols, with a few upgrades and production changes.Nowadays, it's called the Mark III, and it still looks like the old Standard.

So, this morning after I'd shot the Glock, and the 1911s, I took out a box of .22 ammo, posted a bullseye target at 15 yards and started working te little pistol.  Sight alignment, trigger squeeze, find the reset and do it all again.  Over an over, building musle memory with a little pistol that's economical to shoot and doesn't beat you up.  I've had this pistol for a dozen years and I've never adjusted the sights.  An old gunsmith told me last year that Bill built the little pistols with the front sight a little bit tall.  When you find ammo you like, you're supposed to file the front sight for the preferred ammo.

The little pistol shoots just a little low and to the right and I've never touched the sights.  Still, it shoots well enough for my purposes.  It is very satisfying to eat the center out of a target with that little pistol.