I first read about the Seecamp .32 many years ago.
It was the smallest .32 available, and "in the know" shooters carried one.
They waited months, and ponied up $1000 or more to get one. :barf:
I figured right then that it would be a while before I got a Seecamp.
Fast forward about 10 years to now...
I see that Ron Gilstrap in Texas is selling them for $360 +shipping to your FFL.
That's a lot closer to my price range than $1000.
I made some calls, shipped off a money order and waited....
After about a week, Ron sends me an email. My gun has shipped!
Two days later I get a call from my FFL.
I headed to the range with my new gun, an extra mag and an assortment of ammo.
(Please excuse the crappy pictures. All I had with me was my cell phone.)
The ammo in the picture, from the left:
Gold Dot jhp
Fiocchi jhp
Fiocchi fmj
(Plastic box) Some Czech ammo that was selling for something like $50/1000 when I got my KelTec P32. (The good old days.)
Wolf jhp
Magtech jhp
The night before my gun came in, I had unpacked the ammo from Sportsman's Guide.
I was immediately struck by how long the Magtech and Wolf jhp rounds were.
You can't tell from the picture above, but the bullet is long and narrow at the tip.
They look like they could easily be 1/8" longer than the Gold Dots or Fiocchi rounds.
No way those rounds were going to feed in a gun rated for Gold Dots.
At the range, after reading the manual, I loaded up both mags with Gold Dots.
Both mags emptied with boring reliability.
After two mags, my trigger finger got a little numb from being struck by the trigger guard, so I wasn't looking forward to the rest of the evening.
But, after a few more mags and concentrating on my grip, the discomfort went away.
The gun ate Gold Dots and Fiocchi jhp like candy.
Could not get any of the fmj rounds in the mags, or the Wolf or Magtech.
After establishing that the gun would function with quality ammo, I decided to take out one of the mag spacers.
Without the spacer, the gun would feed Magtech, Wolf, and Fiocchi fmj.
The cheap ammo from the P32 purchase has a very wide front on the bullet and still would not fit in the mag.
I did all my shooting from 12 feet, offhand, and modified Weaver stance.
At first, I was getting paper-plate-sized groups, and pulling right in rapid fire.
By the end of the session, groups had shrunk to 2-3", at point of aim, when taking my time.
I'm confident that getting used to the trigger will improve my shooting more.
It was also easy to get hits when shooting one handed.
Observations:
1. The gun is very well made. The term "Swiss Watch" does indeed come to mind.
It was worth the wait.
2. Once I got used to the gun, it was not uncomfortable to shoot at all. I fired 130 rounds, and have no pain, blisters, bleeding, etc.
3. Putting the spacer in the mag was an ingenious move on Larry Seecamp's part. It allows you to shoot cheaper practice ammo, and still have a reliable gun with self defense ammo. It is a testament to his engineering that the gun would function with such a wide variety of ammo.
(I wish the spacer was easier to get back in the mag. )
4. Without the spacer the Wolf and Magtech ammo worked, but the Wolf ammo was a very tight fit in the mag. I only shot one mag of it because it was such a pain to load.
Both the Wolf and the Magtech felt very weak.
The Fiocchi fmj was snappy enough that it would be a better emergency ammo choice to me.
5. The gun is plenty accurate enough for a practiced operator to keep all shots in COM of a man-sized target at realistic defensive distances.
6. I carried a KelTec P32 for quite a while, and it was a very reliable gun. But because of it's construction, I just never really warmed up to it.
The Seecamp feels like a quality tool. Almost like the difference between hammer from the $1 bin at the gas station, vs. a $30 hammer from Lowe's.
(No offense to KelTec owners. If a family member hadn't needed mine more than I did, I'd still have it.)
Edited to add: Now I'm mini14justlikewildalaskajac.
It was the smallest .32 available, and "in the know" shooters carried one.
They waited months, and ponied up $1000 or more to get one. :barf:
I figured right then that it would be a while before I got a Seecamp.
Fast forward about 10 years to now...
I see that Ron Gilstrap in Texas is selling them for $360 +shipping to your FFL.
That's a lot closer to my price range than $1000.
I made some calls, shipped off a money order and waited....
After about a week, Ron sends me an email. My gun has shipped!
Two days later I get a call from my FFL.
I headed to the range with my new gun, an extra mag and an assortment of ammo.
(Please excuse the crappy pictures. All I had with me was my cell phone.)
The ammo in the picture, from the left:
Gold Dot jhp
Fiocchi jhp
Fiocchi fmj
(Plastic box) Some Czech ammo that was selling for something like $50/1000 when I got my KelTec P32. (The good old days.)
Wolf jhp
Magtech jhp
The night before my gun came in, I had unpacked the ammo from Sportsman's Guide.
I was immediately struck by how long the Magtech and Wolf jhp rounds were.
You can't tell from the picture above, but the bullet is long and narrow at the tip.
They look like they could easily be 1/8" longer than the Gold Dots or Fiocchi rounds.
No way those rounds were going to feed in a gun rated for Gold Dots.
At the range, after reading the manual, I loaded up both mags with Gold Dots.
Both mags emptied with boring reliability.
After two mags, my trigger finger got a little numb from being struck by the trigger guard, so I wasn't looking forward to the rest of the evening.
But, after a few more mags and concentrating on my grip, the discomfort went away.
The gun ate Gold Dots and Fiocchi jhp like candy.
Could not get any of the fmj rounds in the mags, or the Wolf or Magtech.
After establishing that the gun would function with quality ammo, I decided to take out one of the mag spacers.
Without the spacer, the gun would feed Magtech, Wolf, and Fiocchi fmj.
The cheap ammo from the P32 purchase has a very wide front on the bullet and still would not fit in the mag.
I did all my shooting from 12 feet, offhand, and modified Weaver stance.
At first, I was getting paper-plate-sized groups, and pulling right in rapid fire.
By the end of the session, groups had shrunk to 2-3", at point of aim, when taking my time.
I'm confident that getting used to the trigger will improve my shooting more.
It was also easy to get hits when shooting one handed.
Observations:
1. The gun is very well made. The term "Swiss Watch" does indeed come to mind.
It was worth the wait.
2. Once I got used to the gun, it was not uncomfortable to shoot at all. I fired 130 rounds, and have no pain, blisters, bleeding, etc.
3. Putting the spacer in the mag was an ingenious move on Larry Seecamp's part. It allows you to shoot cheaper practice ammo, and still have a reliable gun with self defense ammo. It is a testament to his engineering that the gun would function with such a wide variety of ammo.
(I wish the spacer was easier to get back in the mag.
) 4. Without the spacer the Wolf and Magtech ammo worked, but the Wolf ammo was a very tight fit in the mag. I only shot one mag of it because it was such a pain to load.
Both the Wolf and the Magtech felt very weak.
The Fiocchi fmj was snappy enough that it would be a better emergency ammo choice to me.
5. The gun is plenty accurate enough for a practiced operator to keep all shots in COM of a man-sized target at realistic defensive distances.
6. I carried a KelTec P32 for quite a while, and it was a very reliable gun. But because of it's construction, I just never really warmed up to it.
The Seecamp feels like a quality tool. Almost like the difference between hammer from the $1 bin at the gas station, vs. a $30 hammer from Lowe's.
(No offense to KelTec owners. If a family member hadn't needed mine more than I did, I'd still have it.)
Edited to add: Now I'm mini14justlikewildalaskajac.
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