Snowdog
Member
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2002
- Messages
- 4,608
I had the opportunity to take the M57 to the range to see what kind of accuracy this old pistol is capable of. I was concerned the frosted barrel was going to impart its nastiness on accuracy, but it appears I was mistaken.
I had a limit of 25 yards at the indoor range, though that's all well and good as I'm not the best shot with a pistol at indoor ranges for some reason.
I had forgotten just how loud the 7.62x25 is, about as nasty as a .357 mag from a 4" barrel; not unbearable, but quite stout.
I also found the recoil to be quite a bit more mild from the Tokarev design than my CZ52, perhaps due to the better (for me) ergonomics.
I used both Romanian and Yugoslavian military surplus which worked wonderfully (despite multiple split cases with the Romanian fodder). There was not a single malfunction in the 200+ rounds fired. The Romanian ammunition seemed to have a bit more punch whereas the Yugoslavian ammunition appeared to be a bit more consistent (slightly better accuracy). I'll have to chronograph both these loads when I get a chance.
Though the tiny sights were difficult to pick up during rapid fire, they really seemed to help for slow aimed fire at targets further out. Due to this and absolutely lovely trigger, groups of 3" were doable at 25 yards (again indoors, something I'm usually not all that great at). This pistol is quite a bit more accurate for me than my CZ52 with the same ammunition.
Unfortunately, one of the magazines monkeyed up and refused to eject, requiring a good tug to remove it from the magazine well. I believe it was due to a mag follower that was a little torqued. I believe it's repairable, but I didn't use it after this malfunction. Thankfully, this pistol came with 2 magazines.
Here are a couple pictures of one of the better groups I achieved with the M57 using 80's military surplus fodder.
Now here's another surprise that I found rather pleasant: just about all the crap in the barrel that wouldn't come out with a bronze brush and BreakFree came out with 200 rounds of ammunition. The barrel is still a bit frosted, but far less than it was when I first cleaned the barrel... interesting to say the least.
I had a limit of 25 yards at the indoor range, though that's all well and good as I'm not the best shot with a pistol at indoor ranges for some reason.
I had forgotten just how loud the 7.62x25 is, about as nasty as a .357 mag from a 4" barrel; not unbearable, but quite stout.
I also found the recoil to be quite a bit more mild from the Tokarev design than my CZ52, perhaps due to the better (for me) ergonomics.
I used both Romanian and Yugoslavian military surplus which worked wonderfully (despite multiple split cases with the Romanian fodder). There was not a single malfunction in the 200+ rounds fired. The Romanian ammunition seemed to have a bit more punch whereas the Yugoslavian ammunition appeared to be a bit more consistent (slightly better accuracy). I'll have to chronograph both these loads when I get a chance.
Though the tiny sights were difficult to pick up during rapid fire, they really seemed to help for slow aimed fire at targets further out. Due to this and absolutely lovely trigger, groups of 3" were doable at 25 yards (again indoors, something I'm usually not all that great at). This pistol is quite a bit more accurate for me than my CZ52 with the same ammunition.
Unfortunately, one of the magazines monkeyed up and refused to eject, requiring a good tug to remove it from the magazine well. I believe it was due to a mag follower that was a little torqued. I believe it's repairable, but I didn't use it after this malfunction. Thankfully, this pistol came with 2 magazines.
Here are a couple pictures of one of the better groups I achieved with the M57 using 80's military surplus fodder.
Now here's another surprise that I found rather pleasant: just about all the crap in the barrel that wouldn't come out with a bronze brush and BreakFree came out with 200 rounds of ammunition. The barrel is still a bit frosted, but far less than it was when I first cleaned the barrel... interesting to say the least.
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