First pistol purchase..plus pics.

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Being Friday the 13th, I was expecting to have a bad day....But I got out of work and headed up to Daves on 125 in Plaistow. Its about 2 minutes from my house. I was making my first pistol purchase. I used to shoot 3pos smallbore but have recently moved to the free state here in NH and my trigger finger has been itchy ever since.

I went with a .22 semi pistol. I had thought about a glock or such, but after a lot of thought, I wanted to just run some lead through a gun and get as much trigger time as possible. I like the idea of going through a 500 rounds of ammo and not even sweating the cost.

I went with a Ruger MkIII "Hunter". Its all stainless with a fluted barrel, adjustable fiber optic sights. It had a nice feel to it in the shop, pointed nicely, I liked how it looked for a target gun, so i went with it! It comes with 2 mags, 6 different fiber optic inserts for the front sightand a weaver stlye rail that i was pleased to see.

On my way home from the shop, i stopped by the police station and my pistol permit had also come in! Killed two birds with one stone!

I gathered up my stuff and headed up to manchester firing line. I am now a member at Plaistow fish and game but I am qualifying for indoor pistol on wednesday and cant use the pistol range solo until I can prove that I can hit the paper :)

Side note: MUST get my MA nonresident LTC....i had to pick my way through NH all the way to manchester befcause all the main roads pass through MA and I dont want to risk the hassle/problems that would come from being pulled over with it in the car in MA.

I went through 500 rounds of varying .22 ammo. I had a mix of old .22 and a few different boxes of new stuff. The gun didnt suffer a single misfire or mechanical burp the entire time. It was crisp and smooth from the first round to the last.

I hadnt shot a pistol in maybe 7 years so I had a great fast heartbeat session as I loaded up the first ten rounds. After that, all the muscle memory began to set in from smallbore and I was havin a blast!

Well without further ado...Heres a pic of the gun and one of my 50ft targets..i think theres 40 rounds in it...not too shabby for a first outing with a new pistol and 7 years off trigger time! I should be able to squeeze my group in considerably with some practice.

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Good looking gun and target!

Re: MA LTC - I believe MA has a peacable journey provision. I don't think you need it JUST for the scenario of driving through MA. Have your NH carry permit with you, and keep the gun locked in the trunk, don't advertise that you have a pistol in the trunk, and you should be OK if stopped.
 
Nice job! NH non-resident concealed carry is simple - just mail 'em a copy (front and back) of your Mass. LTC and their app. Took me not more than a week or so to get it by regular mail.
 
Nice job! NH non-resident concealed carry is simple - just mail 'em a copy (front and back) of your Mass. LTC and their app. Took me not more than a week or so to get it by regular mail.

Im the opposite. Im in NH and need to go through MA to get to most NH ranges because of the area where i live. Im .8 miles over the NH border.
 
Haha! Its up on "show pegs"...little plastic display case holders that I use for knives when i do shows. its actually suspended about 1"....im not crazy!
 
Nice!! that's a great pistol!

With targets like that, you should join in the postal match that is going on now (see my signature below)!

Congrats!
 
Being a custom knifemaker has its perks....heres a set of grips I whipped up this afternoon:

Stabilized buckeye burl. Was a bit tricky since the ruger has milled out sections below the lefthand grip for the slide release....

Ill end up checkering it as well, but wanted to see what it looked/felt like before i hit that process.

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Great gun!

Yours reminds me of the S&W 617 I've had my eyes on for a few years but haven't bought yet (its expensive). Its a .22LR revolver, 10 shot, with 8" barrel, VERY accurate. Fun to shoot... I always love close groupings.
 
Tiktock,

Those grips are GORGEOUS!!! Have you thought about doing a 1911-style grip? I'm sure half of NES would be interested in a pair!
 
I actually screwed these up. If you can see, they arent quite bookmatched. One flows dark to light the other light to dark from fron to back. I should have had the other side down to get the bookmatched look.

These sure do look nice but are a bit slippery. I am going to mirror finish them, then checker the palm areas.

I could do 1911 grips in a snap! These even with the milling and custom contoured to my hand, only took me a few hours. 1911 grips are much easier. I could do em in stag, mammoth ivory, Damascus steel, pretty much anything. Ill pick up a cheap pair and make a template, but i may need someone to be the guinea pig to make sure i get the holes right.
 
I actually screwed these up. If you can see, they arent quite bookmatched. One flows dark to light the other light to dark from fron to back. I should have had the other side down to get the bookmatched look.

These sure do look nice but are a bit slippery. I am going to mirror finish them, then checker the palm areas.

I could do 1911 grips in a snap! These even with the milling and custom contoured to my hand, only took me a few hours. 1911 grips are much easier. I could do em in stag, mammoth ivory, Damascus steel, pretty much anything. Ill pick up a cheap pair and make a template, but i may need someone to be the guinea pig to make sure i get the holes right.

Those are really nice looking... I never would have believed that those were made from wood. They almost have a woodland camouflage appearance (I wouldn't even want to ask how much or how difficult or expensive it would be to make a rifle stock out of the same stuff).

How do you get that high-luster (or the mirror finish you plan), like that?
 
Those are really nice looking... I never would have believed that those were made from wood. They almost have a woodland camouflage appearance (I wouldn't even want to ask how much or how difficult or expensive it would be to make a rifle stock out of the same stuff).

How do you get that high-luster (or the mirror finish you plan), like that?

You WOuldnt want to make a rifle stock out of burl. Burl is when you see a tree with a huge round growth on it, then you cut that off, cross cut it, stabilize it by impregnating resin into the voids, and then cut it into slices. Youd need a burl the length of a rifle, which arent common!

This particular piece of burl is very nice with lots of figure. I achieve a high finish by starting at 200 grit and working up through 800 grit, then buffing lightly with white compound on a loose wheel. Its an act of patience, but the wood works alot like plastic once its stabilized.
 
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