Hi.
Yesterday I tried my P08 for the first time at the range. (Had already tried it at the gunstore prior to buying it)
While everybody at the gunclub was shooting their handguns at 15 yards, I immediately started out at 25 yards, the distance I'm most familiar with. (I'm new at this club; switching at the beginning of this year after 6 years at another club).
Already some eyebrows were frowned...... 25 yards? with THAT??
I had brought with me a box of Sellier&Bellot (S&B) 124 grs FMJ and S&B 140 grs FMJ (flatnose) Subsonic. The 124 grs are my favorites in my CZ 75.
A friend had handloaded some mild 9mm's for me, also 124grs FMJ's.
The 124 grs S&B's seem a little to hot for my Luger, although a lot of guys here in the Netherlands use them in their P08's. The handloaded rounds were indeed somewhat milder, but accuracy was not as good as with the 124 grs S&B's. With both sorts the pistol cycled flawlessly; no problem.
Then I tried the S&B 140 grs Sub-sonic's. The only experience I had with them is letting my friend try them first in his CZ75. Seemed very mild he said; so into the Luger they went....
What a surprise; very mild recoil and no trouble placing the hits 'on the black' of the target.
After 15 rounds I was able to produce what you can see in the picture; 5 shots in a 2" group. Single-handed and with my somewhat 'older' eyes (for the ones of you familiar with Mauser K98k sights; I had to replace mine with Mojo-sights because my eyes just weren't able to cope with the original sights anymore)
Even with my 80's-series Colt GoldCup NM I will have to try my very best to get the same result.
You will understand that I was impressed by the result of this first outing; so were a lot of fellow 'pistoleros' who were using the likes of Sig P226's, some Glock's, Colt Gold Cup and H&K USP. Not one was able to duplicate my score and they were all shooting at a distance of 15 yards, mostly using two hands as well. (Not a good sign; when the members of your club are shooting this bad, you'd better arange some training) The smile on my face even grew bigger when they gathered round to take a good look at my Luger. Although I'm no expert... I was at that moment. Cool.
Offcourse there is a (minor)downside to this succes; every now and then a round refused to chamber correctly. It was stripped from the magazine but got stuck; head sticking out pointing upwards. I think the flatpoint bullets are to blame, or the not so clean feeding ramp, or a combination of both. If it happened it was with the second round of the (new) magazine.
Not a big problem; I could live with that, but plan on solving it nevertheless. Just as I am planning on starting handloading even milder ammo. have experience handloading .45 ACP's and .357 magnums so finding the perfect round for this gun will be no problem.
So the first try-out was a great succes and I am confident that the results can only get better.
Greetings from Peet.