Finally made it to the range today with the stainless guide gun. Took a box of the Hornady LE ammo and a box of Federal 300 HP ammo. I quickly found out that the adjustments on the Leupold M8 3x scope are VERY touchy, just a friction adjustment (no clicks) and it's not marked as to how much an adjustment will move bullet impact.
It was supposed to be zeroed with the Federal ammo, and it probably was. For me the Federal shot dead on for elevation at 100 yards, but about 4 inches left. The LE ammo was the same amount left, but shot about 4 inches higher. I made what I thought was a small adjustment and my next 2 rounds barely hit the paper, low and to the right. I don't like the old friction adjustment scopes and I burned up most of my LE ammo getting it zeroed. But she's dead on now.
Because of all the fiddling with the scope I used up more ammo than I intended, so I didn't shoot for groups. But the LE ammo would put two shots touching or nearly touching at 100, then I would make an adjustment. It's currently dead on at 100 with the LE ammo, and the Federal shoots about 3-4 inches low.
My Uncle Mikes hammer extension parted company after the first round. I hope I didn't have it installed correctly.
I'm planning to shoot a couple of Kansas whitetails with it later this week. After the hunt I'll probably sell the M8 3x scope, I hear they are bringing good money. I will install a VX-III 1.5-5x 20mm Leupold that I'm not using at the moment. I wish I had installed it before going to the range today.
The recoil was surprisingly mild, the LE ammo had a bit more bite than the Federal stuff, but neither was bad at all. Between the ported barrel and the Limbsaver pad, it wasn't bad at all.