>>14 (OP)
More .22 than anything else. I have a Ruger 22/45 Mk. III that has a nice trigger and is laser beam accurate when I do my part, but how fast it gets dirty and starts malfunctioning is annoying me. I know, it's a semiauto .22. I have a lot of time on my hands lately. I got a range membership that includes unlimited range time Monday-Friday. Winter isn't over where I live, and it's still too cold outside for me to go into the garage and hose it down with brake cleaner after it gets so gummed up with carbon that the bolt won't cycle.
I have a Taurus TX22 that I bought based on the hype. It's a lemon. It's been back to the factory twice for locking the slide open every few shots with rounds still in the mag and keyholing, and no, they didn't actually fix it either time. I'm about to send it a third time because the slide is really battered and looks like it's about to crack. It's fun to shoot--when it runs, which requires it to be absolutely white glove clean and dripping with oil. I also had to put aftermarket extra-power springs in the mags, and keep the mags white-glove clean and coated with dry film lube if I want to get more than three or four shots off without feedway stoppage. I think the design is sound but I should have known better than to buy a Taurus product.
I got a Turkish Beretta 92FS copy last year and have been tinkering with it. The roll pin holding on the right side safety lever kept walking out while I was shooting, so I got a Beretta safety and some 1/16" by 1/4" roll pins on eBay, and that seems to have fixed it. I didn't like the looks of the wear pattern on the extractor when I took it apart, so I got a Beretta extractor and a Wilson Combat extra power extractor spring and stuck them in too. It has a really nice trigger now and it runs like a sewing machine, so long as I don't get ammo with super hard primers (Fiocchi "Range Dynamics," I'm looking at you) and it doesn't disassemble itself while I'm shooting any more. It does shoot really low, 2" or so at seven yards. It may be that it's set up for people who "drive the dots" but having to cover up what I'm shooting at with the front sight is really frustrating for me. I have an LPA "adjustable" rear sight coming. It's a shame the 92FS pattern slide doesn't have enough meat at the muzzle for a dovetail mounted front sight. I could have just put a lower one on.
>but why don't ya just grind down th' front sight?
Three dot sight picture. If there were a way to take metal off the bottom and leave its shape and the placement of the dot intact I'd do that instead.
I should shoot long guns more but my eyesight is deteriorating. I can see a pistol's front sight, but not a rifle's, not well enough to shoot it worth a damn.
Let's see. What else have I been playing with?