Gunner Quinn
Shooting
Gary supplied our sample gun with one of his limited-edition field holsters and I found it to be well-made, lightweight and perfect for a trail gun. The barrel on this one is 5.5″ long, but keep in mind these are true custom guns so you can have any length barrel you like. Decisions, decisions, eh? The trigger was a crisp 3 lbs., which is light enough to help accuracy, but not scary-light as some custom single action triggers tend to be.
I shot it with six different .22 Magnum loads. Most of the loads had the rifle-length velocities on the boxes and they seemed to hover in the 1,885 fps range. From the 5.5″ barrel of the Trail Gun, I got 1,1196 fps from the Armscor 40-grain JHP, 1,046 from Federal’s 40 FMJ, 1,068 from Norma’s 40-grain JHP, 1,135 from CCI’s Maxi Mag 40-grain JHP and 1,401 fps from Federal’s 30-grain Sierra JHP (a vintage box I had). The moral is you take a good velocity loss from a pistol-length barrel with the .22 Magnum and indeed, some .22 LR loads can manage these velocities from a shorter barrel. But bullet weights are usually lighter in the faster .22 LR loads so, score one for the .22 Magnum.
An interesting side note was the Speer Gold Dot 40-grain GDHP SB (Short Barrel) load. It’s specifically designed for short defensive handguns. I shot it out of a .22 Magnum rifle and it delivered a surprising 2,065 fps. The same load out of the Trail Gun managed 1,163 fps. I think a bullet specifically designed for defensive use, delivering 1,160+ fps is significant. Indeed, any of the 40-grain bullets, especially the FMJ ones, would penetrate deeply and offer some level of protection against critters and miscreants intent on doing harm.
I targeted the Trail Gun at 25 yards assuming that’d be about the range a gun like this would be used. A sitting rabbit or squirrel? Go for it. Groups averaged in the 1.75″ range with some a bit smaller and some a bit larger. But any would get the job done. I think if you found the right load your particular gun enjoyed and wore your really good shooting glasses, you could chase 1.25″ to 1.5″ or so. Time to experiment!
According to Gary Reeder, “We build them on the customer’s base gun. A gun similar to one you have is right at $1,995 and are all pretty much full custom guns. The customer picks the caliber, barrel length, grips, finish and any engraving they might want. Delivery time is about six months right now.”
If you’ve never journeyed down the path toward a custom gun, when entrusted to the right hands, it can be an exciting, enjoyable and satisfying trip. Exchanging ideas with a fellow like Gary allows you to create something uniquely yours. In the case of the Reeder Trail Gun, you can bring your own ideas of what a “Perfect Packin’ Pistol” needs to be, then have Reeder create it just for you.
I promise, once you have a custom gun, you’ll enjoy it each time you handle it, share it and shoot it. It’s always been money well-spent for me and I suspect it’d be the same for you.
ReederCustomGuns.com
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