Transitioning from One Target to Another...

[revchuck]

Folks - I recently picked up an almost unfired S&W M10-5 4" for $150. I didn't need it, but for that price, couldn't pass it up. It's over 40 years old, but the blue on the recoil shield was cherry.

The -5 version has the tapered barrel. I naturally took it to the range to see how it shot - the recoil shield is no longer cherry - and worked doing Mozambiques. I usually shoot a M13 in IDPA. My transitions from the body to the head usually add about .2 seconds to my splits, but shooting the tapered barrel gun, that difference just sorta went away.

Anybody else find something similar happening?

[wlktheduk]

According to a 1988 Shooters Bible, a 4" (heavy) barreled Model 13 weighs in at 34 ounces, and a 4" (skinny/tapered) barreled Model 10 weighed in at 30 1/2 ounces.

So, depending on the grips used, the difference is about 3 to 4 ounces, with the heavy barreled Model 13 being more muzzle heavy (since the additional weight is around the barrel)

Should that make a big difference...YMMV. All things being equal, a lighter gun recoils more then a heavier gun. Recoil could be effecting muzzle rise in the lighter revolver, and since for a Mozambique you want the muzzle to rise up onto the upper A/B zone anyway?????

Another thought might be that you are picking up the front sight of the Model 10 in your vision faster then the front sight of the Model 13. The front sight of a skinny/tapered barrel Model 10, while not actually higher then the front sight on a heavy barrelled Model 13, appears to be taller (viewed from the side) since it rises higher from the barrel.

Back in the day when the Model 10 was my agencies standard issue, some officers felt that they could see the sights on a skinny/tapered barrel Model 10 better then on a heavy barreled Model 10. Why?????

The quicker the front sight lines up in the rear sight channel, the quicker you should be able to break the shot. So far so good, but with a heavy barrel, if you let the front sight rise so that the top of the sight is high/over/out of the notch, the barrel begins to appear in your rear sight channel, blocking your view and sight picture.

With a skinny barrel, even if you let the front sight rise up high/over/out of the rear sight channel, the barrel does not appear in your view immediately, messing up the sight picture.

For quick, close-up work, a coarse sight picture focusing on the front sight will get hits. If you pick up the front sight faster....faster hits

Hopefully, I haven't confused you (or myself )

[Bob Hostetter]

Everything else being equal a heavier gun takes more energy to start and stop. And usually more time. So a lighter gun should take less energy and time. If the additional muzzle flip from the lighter gun is not a problem then the lighter gun will be quicker.

This holds true for all guns................

[revchuck]

Muzzle flip isn't a problem, since the PF is only about 131-132, and I've been known to shoot matches using the M13 with full power factory .357 ammo. ("Dude - what was that thing?" ) I think that the front sight theory might be it. Looking at the front sight helps - what a concept! If I could only remember that...