Ah, the Kframe. I wish I hadn't sold my first, a Model 10-5 or -6, can't remember.
Lesson? Never sell a gun you like, or that shoots like a lazer beam, unless you absolutely have to have the money. And absolutely never trade it for a much lower quality compact concealment pistol just because it's smaller. Save up and get it when you can just pay for it.
My second one, which I rarely shoot but is very sentimental to me, is a gun that was surplus from my Dad's department. He may have used this one when he used to qualify top of the department every year, for all I know.
This old girl was born in 1930 and served for about 70 years. Got a tiny bit of cylinder drag on the forcing cone, but still shoots like a dream.
And now, to reminisce a bit.
My first K frame, that model 10, I bought in California. I went shooting with a friend of mine on many occasions, and after I bought that model 10, suddenly my shooting improved. Dramatically. I remember one day shooting some very nice cluster groups, and then comparing our targets. His SIG looked like it wasn't even rifled in comparison. An old guy who ran the range was walking by while we were shooting, and he just smiled at me when he saw my groups.
Of course, having shot several hundred rounds through that revolver, I then embarrassed him with his own gun by shooting nearly as well with it -- because the revolver actually taught me a lot about shooting well.
The best pistol shooter I ever met (until very recently, when I ran into a Border Patrol instructor who schooled me on some things I was screwing up) was a little old grandma... who worked for Pinkerton's security on an armored truck. She carried a model 13 with a bobbed hammer, and that lady could SHOOT. That was her only gun the first time I saw her, but the second, she had a new 1911 that she'd added as a toy. She told me that she spent 2-3 hours at the range every Saturday morning, and it showed. She could hit anything, dead center. It was very inspirational, and again, embarrassed my buddy. That was before I bought my model 10, and after shooting her 13, I was inspired to move over to the round world and ditch the somewhat crappy auto I was using then.
Within a few weeks, I was making head shots, from the draw, on demand out to 10 yards. Could never do that with anything but my .22 before.
One final one. I was at that same range, shooting with my wife. She prefers my Ruger .22 for some reason to every other gun we've ever tried. There was a young lady in the next lane over with a brand-new stainless S&W .357 with a 4 or 6 inch barrel, can't remember, but I think it was a 4 inch model 65 or 66. She wasn't hitting anything at all, rounds were randomly appearing at the bottom, side, top of the B27. She was alone, and very frustrated. She asked the gun range guy if there was something wrong with her gun, and he checked it mechanically and said it was okay, but didn't help her shoot. We were getting ready to go, and I stepped back to watch as my wife fired her last magazine through the .22. I happened to glance over at the lady in the next lane, and saw that she was "snatching" the trigger all the way through the whole double action pull, every round. My wife got done, and I asked her if she minded if we spent a few more minutes while I talked to the lady next door. She agreed and sat on the bench behind the line. I stepped over to the lady and asked her if she minded if I gave her some advice. She said she didn't mind, and I then got my .38 and showed her how to roll through the trigger stroke smoothly. We talked about target shooting vs defense shooting, and I told her to not worry about speed for now, that after she learned to shoot correctly, she could work on speeding up. I told her about dry fire practice at home, and had her do that a few times. I fired two head shots, to show her how the gun would stay on target all the way through the trigger stroke.
Her next six rounds were all within the 9 ring. I felt like a master firearms instructor.
