Читать книгу The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery онлайн

33 страница из 158

Though pitted and ugly with its badly worn finish, this S&W Model 15 was clean inside and tight. It would shoot 1-inch groups at 25 yards with match ammo.

Some gun shops have a shooting range attached. With a used gun, you can normally pay a reasonable rental fee, take the gun right out to the range, and give it a try. If you don’t like it, you paid a fair price to try a gun. If you do buy it, most such dealers will knock the gun rental off the price, though it’s not fair to ask them to knock the range fee off, too.

The thumb rotates against the muzzle of an empty 1911 with the slide closed to check for sloppy fit.

Checking the bore without bore light. A white card or paper is held at the breechface and a flashlight is shined on the white surface, lighting up the bore so the interior can be easily seen from the muzzle end.

Universal Examination Points

As a general rule, a gun in pristine condition outside has probably been well cared for internally. This is not written in stone, however. Accompanying this segment are photos of a vintage Smith & Wesson Model 15 Combat Masterpiece .38 Special. It was found for sale among several others in a North Dakota gun shop in 1998, bearing a price tag of $130. Externally, what blue hadn’t been worn off had been pitted. It looked as if someone had left it out in a field for the last couple of years. However, when the buyer examined it, he found the bore to be perfect, and the action so smooth and in such perfect tune it felt as if it had just left Smith & Wesson’s Performance Center. He cheerfully paid the asking price, took it home, and discovered that it would group a cylinder of Federal Match .38 wadcutters into an inch at 25 yards.