I went out to the range this morning to do some shooting. The gun of choice today was my Smith & Wesson Model 57. This is an interesting pistol because it is exactly the same size as the Model 29 (think Dirty Harry) but chambered for .41 Remington magnum rather than .44 Remington magnum. The difference in name is a little misleading because the former fires a .410 bullet and the latter a .429 bullet. The reason is historical having to do with the evolution of the cartridge over 150 years with the starting point the Colt Single Action Army (very famous gun) in 1873 which was a true .440 44 cartridge.

I had a great shooting experience this morning. It was the best I had done in years. The main reason is my improved vision since I finally got the correct prescription for my eyes. With my computer glasses I can now keep the front sight in focus which is what you want. I was shooting a 215 grain lead semi-wadcutter loaded to about 750 fps. That is an easy to shoot target load which is a lot of fun. A full blown magnum round is this caliber is downright punishing. I seldom shoot them, as a matter of fact I don't have any magnum loads on the shelf.

The sharp eyed viewer will notice that the cartridges are in groups of five and this is a six shooter. Why is that? The reason is that I spin the cylinder so I don't know which chamber is empty and I get a good indication of the amount of flinch I have. You want to minimize this.