I went shooting today for the first time in a few months. I had been meaning to go for those months but things come up.
I brought 5 guns in total; both of my Ruger Mark III's (Target competition and Hunter), Beretta 92FS, CZ 75B (stainless special edition), and my S&W 686 with a 4" barrel.
As I may have mentioned previously, my Ruger Hunter has been nothing but completely reliable and dead accurate. My Competition Target model on the other hand has been back to Ruger to have the grip frame replaced. I'd like to say again, Ruger was exceptionally good about repairing the gun! They have top notch customer service in my book!
The Smith and Wesson also had been back to their facility for a cracked/chipped firing pin bushing. Smith and Wesson was also exceptionally good about taking care of this repair. I hadn't fired the revolver since it had been returned.
The last time I had both of the Rugers taken apart for cleaning, I decided to restake all of the pins (which is what caused the grip frame replacement to begin with). During this process the rear site on the Competition model had come loose. I expected that I'd be sighting in the gun at the range.
I had bought the CZ75B after reading a number of good reviews. I like stainless guns so the Special Edition was right for me. I also liked the sights on it better than the stock models which had some poorly applied paint on the sight blade that was more egg shaped than round.
The Rugers performed exactly as expected. The Hunter is far more accurate than I am and the Competition model needed to be sighted in. Other than that, there were no problems.
The Smith and Wesson performed better than I expected. I fed it the remaining box of American Eagle .38 Special (which is what caused the firing pin bushing to crack) as well as a few rounds of Fiocchi .357 Magnum 142 grain FMJ.
I must say, I REALLY like that Fiocchi ammo! I also have Sellier and Bellot 158 grain FMJ .357 Magnum which I also like. But seeing as I didn't take any with me to compare the two against each other, I can only comment on the Fiocchi through the 4" 686. It didn't add all that much more kick to the gun and it was dead on every shot! Too bad I only have 1 box of it (and it is half gone now).
I spent some time with the CZ75B as well. It is one of my newest guns and I haven't quite bonded with it. I shoot it well enough, but I am not comfortable enough with it to start carrying it over the Beretta 92FS.
The grip on it is much more comfortable than the 92FS and it holds one more round. Despite this, I feel like I shoot the Beretta a lot better. It also weighs more than the Beretta but feels like it kicks more. The Beretta is already pretty heavy to walk around with.
The CZ definitely has an advantage in the trigger pull. I find the double action to be very smooth and comfortable. The single action is probably not much different between the two.
The Beretta on the other hand is kind of big and clumsy but all of my shots stayed in the 10 and X ring at 7-10 yards shooting pretty rapidly while my shots with the CZ were in the 8 and 9 rings as well.
The Beretta was my second gun and my first semi automatic pistol so I guess it is true that you should shoot what you are comfortable with. I'm sure had I bought the CZ before the Beretta, I'd be a much better shot with it. But for now, the Beretta is going to continue to be my primary carry weapon.
