Some time back, I picked up a 4-1/4" FA round barrel 97 with adjustable sights in 45 Colt for $1000 or $1100. I had it a few days ... dont' think I even shot it before I sent it to FA to chop to 3-1/2" and round the butt.
This turned out to be an outstanding packin' pistol ... I usually loaded it with 200 gr Corbon JHP for factory stuff and a 300 gr WFN for a field gun. It was not that accurate with the former and not that pleasant with the latter. A little annoying in that you don't get full length case extraction and you have to remove the rod housing before you can remove the cylinder. But it was still the most compact big-bore single action imaginable, and there are acceptable trade-offs for that kind of size reduction.
I switched to express sights with this gun and did a good bit of work with a mild 45 Colt/225 gr or 250 gr SWC load. The thing that takes the most getting used to is the round butt for me. It points well if held right, but I have to spend a lot of time with it or I wind up taking a grip on it out of the holster that just doesn't work....at least for fast work. I shoot the 97's best with a very low grip, and I think with the round butt my hand is just not finding the gun grip quite right.
No bother ... that's a matter of practice and muscle memory. My hand has been screwed up for more than a year, but finally healed up completely and I have resumed serious pistol work.
Still, I don't think this little fivegun is "optimal" in any of the regular, barrel-marked chamberings. Handy, yes, and a darned interesting trail gun in .45 Colt loaded heavy ... but optimal, no.
So when I saw Bob in June, I sent it back to Wyoming with him for an ACP cylinder - thus avoiding freight up there, which went a long way towards paying for the cylinder itself.
It came back to me in about ten days, but I was busy with other projects through the summer (including sorting out some of the mysteries of the AR-15, but mostly not interested in staying out in the 105 degree heat for more time than critically necessary). So it has been only recently that I started tinkering with the little FA.
Now first, this is a gun that I just naturally tended to stuff behind my belt, either behind my kidney or just left of my belt buckle. It rides either place just fine, but I don't like going afield holsterless.
FA makes a version of their high-ride strongside or crossdraw holsters just for the 3-1/2" barrel ... excellent, and I like mine just fine, but sometimes it is more trouble to put on and take off than I want to mess with. I have a little "slipper" holster from a fellow in Sweetwater that is handy as well and just right for a short barreled gun like this, but is a crossdraw and not altogether secure unless the hammer thong is used. I had a real dandy little version of the Yaqui slide made by the same fellow, but sold it some time back to a friend....Mike Barranti is making me a similar replacement for it.
Still, the way I naturally tend to carry this gun is stuck in my waistband. So what better solution than to look for an IWB holster? I don't tend to like many of them, as with all those straps or leather they seem to be very bulky rigs, or seem to require wearing them in "just one" spot. I had a little thin suede clip-on IWB similar to those that Bianchi makes ... again, it works, but is a little annoying as it collapses on the draw and it is not altogether secure, since the holster comes unclipped more often than I would like.
Enter Ted Blocker holsters. I had one of that firm's Texas High-Rides for a 5-1/2" 97, and has seen a number of their holsters that Fermin Garza has, so knew the quality was there. They makes a Model 10 IWB holster for other types of guns that was just about exactly what I was looking for, and agreed to make such a shuck just for my 3-1/2" 97.
It turned out to be exactly the solution I had hoped for. It is molded to my gun, which sort of snaps into the leather the way a well-fit holster can. The belt strap is a sturdy piece of leather with a heavy snap on it, and the strap rotates. Thus, I can tuck the holster in pretty much any position in my waistband - behind my kidney, left of my belt buckle, over my appendix, or even out of the way behind my left kidney (the holster sometimes gets pushed around out of the way when I sit down) ... cinch up my belt, and it stays put. I will add a hammer thong to it for a little added measure of security, though it is probably not necessary.
So, finally, back to the gun.
I usually have a .380 height express blade in this gun. I was worried some that 230 gr ACP loads (there are no other weights in the 45 ACP worth having, in my opinion) would print way off the target, which would require me to switch sight blades to something lower. I did not really want to do that, since I also still use the 45 Colt cylinder for it ... a 250 gr Nosler Sporting Hollowpoing over a significant amount of IMR4227 in 45 Colt brass is still a pretty mean little round, and my 97's sighted for that with this sight blade and the rear sight bottomed out.
To the range with a very heavy sportsman's box of 45ACP loads. Great day in the mornin'! Two clicks up and the ACP loads are dead on at 15 feet (not much of a test) ... three clicks up and they are dead on at 40 yards. Recoil with these HP-38 loads and a truncated lead bullet ... minimal; significantly less than a 45 Colt similarly loaded to the same velocity. Good. While you do have to pull the rod housing off to change cylinders, the trade off here is that with the ACP cylinder, you get pretty much full length case extraction. Ideal.
Now, a bead front sight at 40 yards is a challenge, particularly with a short barrel. I am quite content to keep my shots within 3" of each other at that range, shooting offhand. The gun will do that, if you concentrate on the trigger. I am sure the gun would do better, but again ... a bead front sight is something of a challenge, at least for me.
Moving in to 15 feet, my skill with the gun obviously improved ... clustering them all together and directly under the front sight bead. Now, I have noticed that what a lot of people call 25 yards is in reality 15 feet or less, so I figure this is acceptable shooting.
The hum-drum accuracy work behind me, I then proceeded to the fun stuff ... fast work. I used to do a whole lot of point/hip shooting and sliphammer work with my FA 97's in 357 - the fastest single action revolver known to man, on account of the short hammer travel - but have since focused on getting the gun out in a hurry, and on target for one aimed shot. I also still do a significant amount of point shooting/hip shooting, but this takes up a fraction of the range time that it used to.
Now for speed, the gun I am most used to is the mentioned 4-1/4" FA 97 in 357. The balance of that gun, combined with the long grip and standard butt, all just feel "natural" and an extension of my hand ... though in 357, a caliber I really don't care for that much. Switch that to a 44 or 45, and things feel a little different. But in any event, I had "gotten a handle" on shooting for speed with that gun, out of an FA high ride crossdraw, snapped down or not.
The 3-1/2" gun has a slightly shorter barrel, and carries a little easier. My goal is to get to the same skill level with the shorter, round butt gun. I am not sure it will happen, but I am making progress. As mentioned above, getting the muscle memory in place takes a serious time commitment and a lot of dry fire presentations and a lot of range time.
But anyway, this is where the bead front/express rear start to shine ... well, really, it is the ONLY place they shine ... front sight acquisition. I have learned from experience that there are two ways to KNOW you are going to hit your target. Either shoot a gun enough that it is an extension of your hand, arm, and brain ... or see the darned front sight. We have all had those experiences where we bring the gun up ... then shift the muzzle up, down, left and right, trying to find that front sight. This is simplified with the bead front. See the bead, place it on the target, pull the trigger, hit the target. Probably not as precisely as you would have with a patridge front and square notch rear, but in my opinion precision is not that important at the ranges for which a gun like this is intended.
Now, away from the range and off to "nature." Lee Jurras says that the way he really learned to shoot a handgun at various ranges was to bang away at targets of opportunity til it was all second nature. Not a bullseye target at a known distance, or a big piece of steel, or even a soda pop can sitting out in front of you. But, rather, you pick a small rock out with your eye, off over yonder, and shoot it. Break the stick laying in the road with a bullet. I find the greatest challenge to be shooting the blooms off of prickly pear, in season. I can do that pretty well with the right kind of handgun ... not so much with something like this little booger. Instead, I mostly just wander around and shoot the prickly pear itself. Nice, reactive target in abundance.
So that is where we are. It would be interesting to commit to shooting at least 100 rounds a week out of this gun ... quality practice time ... and see how things compare in a year.
