A couple of weeks ago I *barely* resisted the temptation to buy a stainless 6-7/8" tapered bull barrel MkII that was for sale on the S&W forum. Last weekend I stopped at a shop not close to my home and found a stainless 5-1/2" bull barrel MkII for what I consider a pretty fair price, although not an "OMG, I'd be the world's greatest fool to pass this up!" price. I'll be passing by there again this weekend, so I have one last chance to buy this gun. I already have a blued 10" gun, so this would give me the same collection seen in this post (minus the scope bases).
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...8&postcount=12
I suspect the 10" is heavy enough that I would shoot a lighter model better, but I've never had a chance to shoot another MkII.
My ability to judge these guns is not great. The thing looked to be in good shape. Frame/receiver fit was tight. No scratches on sight adjusting screws. Bolt not showing much wear (mine has more streaking from many cycles). Crown without nicks. My MkII's trigger has a huge amount of takeup and what I consider a fairly good break. This one had no takeup, and breaks at least as well as mine (to the poor limits of my memory; might be different in a side-by-side). Lands look bright and smooth. Grooves at muzzle show ladder-like tool marks when illuminated from breech with a small flashlight, which I don't remember seeing in mine (but maybe I just never looked closely enough).
Other than this model not being as pretty, in my opinion, as the tapered 6-7/8", this looks OK. Three questions:
1. Are tool marks in the rifling grooves standard procedure, and I just don't see them on mine since the steel is darker and shows less contrast between the high spots and the dirtier low spots, or is this a variable from barrel to barrel, or is it a sign of low round count that smooths out over use?
2. Is lack of takeup an indication that the trigger has been worked on, or is mine just screwed up somehow?
3. For a mediocre shooter, is the 6-7/8 generally going to turn in any better scores than the 5-1/2, or am I just biased by the looks? My problem with Bullseye shooting is REALLY based on my twitchy muscles (my "essential tremor" is worse than average) and my less-than-consistent trigger technique, not my ability to perceive the sight alignment.
Have at it, enablers.
What about another MkII?
1IMR4227: Zero to 900 in 0.001 seconds
I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.
I'm only killing paper and my self-esteem.