|
|
Actually, it's a lot more than the smell, but have you ever been in a shop that builds plastic holsters? I have and the smell of that solvent is revolting.
August 20, 2010
|
|
|
Actually, I do have a (very) few rounds left over from recent survey stories on .380 autos in both Shooting Illustrated and American Rifleman. NRA Publications Division received a great deal of feedback in the form of letters, e-mails and phone calls about these articles. The most persistent lament from readers is the lack of .380 ammunition on dealer shelves. Obviously, there is nothing that we can really do to resolve the shortage. But we can look at the situation and possibly get some kind of handle on what happened.
August 17, 2010
|
|
|
Back in the late 1980's, Smith & Wesson was in the midst of a radical update of the entire product line. This was the era of the Third Generation autos that ended up filling the holsters of the majority of cops in America. It was also the much-mocked “Gun of the Week” era when an absolute flood of new models hit the market with astounding frequency. The company's marketing was, to say the least, aggressive. Eventually, things calmed down and the product line firmed up. In this period, the old line Massachusetts gunmaker produced some of the finest firearms in their history. These weren't all the self-loaders, either. While not all that well known, the Model 629 Classic DX .44 Mag. revolvers of that era may have been the most accurate wheelguns the company ever produced. There weren't that many of them, but they earned their “DX” marking on the basis of objective evaluation. It makes for an interesting story.
August 13, 2010
|
|
|
In a lifetime of shooting, I have been involved in a number of forms of competition. My first pistol match was in Basic School at Quantico over 50 years ago. It was a bullseye match fired on the National Match course of slow, timed and rapid fire. Over time, I became an avid, if not spectacularly successful, bullseye competitor. Naturally, I had to have all kinds of specially modified pistols to shoot the course. Later, as a police officer, I was bitten by the PPC bug and traveled all over California to compete. It was a great time (particularly when I was driving a Volkswagen and gas was 30 cents a gallon) and I had the practical advantage of competing on the same course I fired for qualification. Literally, I was training as I was competing—great idea. Then, I became interested the IHMSA game, where we shot at silhouettes of game animals at great distances. This took a powerful and accurate handgun, but the basics of the game were still sight alignment and trigger management. In time, I discovered IPSC, IDPA and SASS and had brief flirtations with these sports. Yep, I have had a heck of a good time competing with handguns. In so doing, I have developed a huge fund of knowledge on how to lose a pistol match, because I have lost more than my share of matches.
August 09, 2010
|
|
|
One interesting gun that came out of California in the 1970s was the Thomas pistol. The Thomas was a light, mid-sized DAO gun with single-column magazine of .45 cartridges.
August 06, 2010
|
|
|
It must have been the last gallant battle of the Wondernine Wars, but after everybody developed a durable, shootable 9 mm pistol in the 70s and 80s, the ammo industry went into herculean efforts to make 9 mm hollow point ammo that would expand reliably and penetrate deeply.
August 02, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
I’ve always enjoyed my collection of vintage handgun books, particularly when I get the chance to turn my friends on to a book of which few have heard.
July 23, 2010
|
|
|
One of the more logical concepts to ever come along was the 9 mm revolver. I am not talking about an extra cylinder in a Ruger Blackhawk, but rather a compact DA/SA or DAO defensive gun.
July 16, 2010
|
|
|
There's a new product on the market, one that's quickly wormed its way into my affection—QuickStrips.
July 14, 2010
|
|
|
Louis Seecamp was an ingenious gun designer from a family of gunmakers. Over the years, he worked on a lot of gun matters, but settled into double-action conversions for .45s in the days when there were no such things available on the open market.
July 09, 2010
|
|
|
As much as I am fond of old classic gun books, I also enjoy modern ones when they present themselves. One of the best I have seen in several years is Mike Bussard's “Ammo Encyclopedia,” published by Blue Books Publications.
July 07, 2010
|
|
|
I am endlessly fascinated with the .45 Auto Rim cartridge developed by the Peters Cartridge Co. during the 1920s. The cartridge was designed to be used in.45 ACP revolvers made during World War I.
July 01, 2010
|
|
|
Smith & Wesson grew very progressive in the 1960s, showing a willingness to try all kinds of things.
June 28, 2010
|
|
|
In one form or another, this question comes at me fairly often. For a gun buff, Paradise on earth would seem to be a steady gig writing about guns. I confess that it is pretty cool, but I can also tell you that getting such a position is largely dependent on being in the right place at an equally proper time.
June 22, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
