New Pardini first impressions

Ok.  The new Pardini finally arrived, and I have shot enough different guns to kind of give it a review although I may be adding stuff in the next few weeks.  

First thing I did was try and mount the scope with the machined Pardini rings.  They got a lot of nerve calling that divot on the sides of the dust cover, a “European dove tail”  I’m going to assume that some lock tight will need to be applied to the ring screws.   Will be doing that today.  

Been a long time since I shot a gun with the magazine forward of the trigger.  It went well.  Used left over CCI SV.  Gun functioned perfectly.  However, the mag has some very sharp corners.  Felt like I needed to knock those down a bit to avoid cutting myself.  

I found the balance on the gun and the weight to be pretty perfect with just the irons.  When I put the scope on it seemed just a tad heavy.  And just a bit muzzle heavy. 
Not that I can’t shoot it, just cuts down my loiter time on the target.  Been lifting weights to correct that problem.  
I was wondering about the possibility of having Vladimir machine a base of one of the micro knock offs.  Don’t feel like springing for an aimpoint with their insane prices.  Does anyone have any suggestions of a scope that has a base that could be machined to fit that European dovetail?

Regardless I will be calling Pardini and asking these questions Monday.

The factory grip was ok.  Kinda ugly compared to the rest of the gun.  I can live with it, but i can see why people buy the Rink.  Or a Horton.  That may be coming.  

All in all I like the gun.  Will give it a few more days of just 22 before I switch the barrel and see how 32 goes.

You are aware you can remove some of the muzzle weights to improve balance, right?

Kodiak Machine makes a Pardini aimpoint micro base. Should work with a dot that has the same mounting pattern.

You will be surprised how well the dustcover holds a scope. Burris mount and Ultradot Micro mounts went in all wiggly and weird, but when screw was secured it ended up tight as a rock with no locktite. Kodiak mount goes in well. You can also sand down ring posts to skinny up the claws on any other mounts that are not sharp to begin with. But yes, initially I was also like wtf is this?
That grip, ughhh. Medium is small, large is barely medium, all uncomfortable after Nills and Rinks.

picture of dovetail please.

I have 4 Pardini sp/hps. The Kodiak mount is amazing.

As was said, the weights in the front can be moved/removed in a number of variations for the balance/recoil impulse you prefer.

mspingeld wrote:You are aware you can remove some of the muzzle weights to improve balance, right?

Yea,  but I have learned lessons in the past about only changing one thing at a time.   Once I shoot the gun for a month, including a couple of matches, I might consider doing that.   I like the recoil as it is, and need to see what happens with the 32 barrel on it.

james r chapman wrote:picture of dovetail please.

Don’t know if my phone will do it justice, but I will try.

Am I the only one who mounts their dots on the Picatinny rail on the barrel? I love the balance and there is any recoil

Schaumannk wrote:They got a lot of nerve calling that divot on the sides of the dust cover, a “European dove tail”  I’m going to assume that some lock tight will need to be applied to the ring screws.

IMHO you are mis-judging the micro grooves. Yes, it is tricky to get rings on to the grooves initially. I was using Warne Maxima horizontal split sintered steel rings to get some extra "bite" because I had similar reservations, but I now realise that our concerns are unfounded - those grooves are fine as long as you install almost any rings carefully. No need for loctite in my experience, but check the tightness of the screws each time you clean the gun (before every match). I've put a LOT of ammo through both my SP22 and my HP32 during the past year since I got them - never had a problem with rings loosening.

However, I did have reliability problems with the 1" Ultradots I was using, nothing to do with micro-groove. I have now switched to 4moa Aimpoints on Kodiak mounts - those mounts are very nice. Pity - the UD's still have the clearest, roundest dot of any sight I've tried - to my eyes the Aimpoint dot is slightly inferior, but, hopefully, they will be reliable.

Deciding on grips is much more subjective - took me several goes before I settled on the Rink "upright" grips I now favour.

James Hensler wrote:Am I the only one who mounts their dots on the Picatinny rail on the barrel? I love the balance and there is any recoil

So, I’m assuming the profile picture on your post is not the current set up?  

I considered that, but as an older woman,  a big pendulum weight on the end of the barrel, would be the kiss of death for my hold time.  Then or course, I would need a second sight and mount to go on the 32 barrel configuration.

Schaumannk wrote:

James Hensler wrote:Am I the only one who mounts their dots on the Picatinny rail on the barrel? I love the balance and there is any recoil

So, I’m assuming the profile picture on your post is not the current set up?  

I considered that, but as an older woman,  a big pendulum weight on the end of the barrel, would be the kiss of death for my hold time.  Then or course, I would need a second sight and mount to go on the 32 barrel configuration.

Yeah I need to update it

Something to think about. For most of last year I used the Pardini Milled Rings on the rail and placed the dot just in front of the hole for trigger adjustment just like the pic in my avatar. When going from 22 to 32 I just removed the tops of the rings and replaced the 22 dot to the 32 dot and the Zero was always within a click or 2 of being spot on

Aimpoint H1 2 MOA with shades and Kodiak Mount is the best (and most expensive) set-up.  If I was going to skimp on the Aimpoint, I would grab a red dot optic from Primary Arms.

ssauer2004 wrote:Aimpoint H1 2 MOA with shades and Kodiak Mount is the best (and most expensive) set-up.  If I was going to skimp on the Aimpoint, I would grab a red dot optic from Primary Arms.

KC just mentioned in an email that the Primary Arms was the one he knew about that would fit his base.   I can afford the H1.   Just feeling cheap at the moment.  I will look at the specs.   Thanks,  Kate

ok, here's a suggestion.
https://www.bullseyeforum.net/t13892-offset-aimpoint-mount-for-11mm-dovetail-fit-xesse-trailside-etc?highlight=Xesse+mount

These work on Benelli's with the euro rails. Might work on the Pardini full rail. They use any aimpoint mounting system including Holosun/primary arms by removing the 4 screw basemount.

ssauer2004 wrote:Aimpoint H1 2 MOA with shades and Kodiak Mount is the best (and most expensive) set-up.  If I was going to skimp on the Aimpoint, I would grab a red dot optic from Primary Arms.

I think the H1 is discontinued.    What is your second choice in the current Aimpoint line?    Other recommendations?  Thinking right now about trying the primary arms.

primary arms works fine. that base I posted will probably work on the Pardini also

The H1 is discontinued, but I'm told that Aimpoint will continue to offer their lifetime warranty. Several vendors have new stock of both 2moa and 4moa available. I got 4moa units from Shoot Straight in Florida https://www.ebay.com/usr/shootstraightinc. Despite major problems with Fedex, they were a pleasure to deal with.

Another cheaper option is the SIG Romeo 5. It is 2moa and will fit the same mounts.

I prefer 4moa so after testing most of the others I went with Aimpoints.

All of these need shades. An easy and cheap option is to buy 30mmOD/28mmID carbon fiber tube from eBay which will fit quite snug on the ends of all of these micro sights. Cut to desired length with a Dremel wheel. Retain in place with green loctite, clamp and allow it to set overnight. Or you can get excellent shade tube and aperture sets from PhotoEscape which is now the solution I've adopted.

Ok.   Let me get some clarification here.   If I buy either the Sig Romeo or the Primary Arms,  I can remove the base, then  the scope itself will fit on the Kodiak mount? 
I don’t have to buy an additional Aimpoint base?  I think I have one in my Gun parts drawer anyway.

The Romeo 5 comes with the mount that fits a Picatinny.  Some models have a low and a high mount included, and I seem to recall seeing one with a high mount only.