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In the years immediately following World War II, there was a great deal of developmental effort in the field of handguns. This included radical revolver makeovers, but even more with the semi-autos. Here, we saw a great deal of action or lockwork improvements, but also upgrades in style or appearance changes. In plain terms, the automatic pistol began to take on a new sleek and modernistic look. No pistol I can think of was any more modernistic than the Whitney Wolverine. This .22 plinker was an effort to build an inexpensive rimfire for light varminting or informal fun shooting. While it did not become a perennial favorite and saw only some 14,000 units sold in the 1950s, the Wolverine had features that caught the eye of none other than legendary handgunner Rex Applegate.
July 13, 2012
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Recently, I saw an old copy of a movie poster from the 1980s. The film was called “The Grey Fox” and starred the late Richard Farnsworth—a wonderful actor in an off-beat western set in Canada at the turn of the century. That poster, a small triumph of the graphic arts, showed a dour Farnsworth in period dress with a big revolver stuffed in his waistband. It was the gun that caught my eye and intrigued me into seeing the movie when it was originally released. The film is a movie-go-er’s delight, but I have to chuckle about why I was personally attracted to it. As a life-long so-called “gun guy,” I was enthralled with someone using a Bisley Colt.
July 10, 2012
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A couple of years ago, I mentioned the Action Safety Bullet, and several readers responded with their observations. Since then, I have been made aware that limited quantities of this ammo have been imported in the last five to eight years. If you came in late, a brief explanation of the bullet is in order.
July 03, 2012
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I had a small incident the other day and, while there were no lasting repercussions, it kind of got my attention. Several young men followed me and I don’t think they were up to any good. The following was conducted from their vehicle but I was able to elude them. Since none of the group presented anything like a professional or businesslike appearance, I believe they were going to victimize me in some way—or try to. Everything came out OK, and I am very happy about that. The point to remember is that I did not have a gun.
June 27, 2012
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It’s fun to play off the title of a great book by Robert Ruark—“Use Enough Gun.” Ruark was writing about Africa and dangerous game hunting, and when you are facing some humongous beast that can kill you in an instant, it is wise to use all the gun you can manage. Most people never get to fire one of those big .470 doubles, so they nod wisely at the title and agree. The key element in the equation is “all the gun you can manage.” I believe that most defense shooters never really determine what they can handle. Further, I’m guessing that they can probably use a lot more gun than they realize. Guns are mysterious things to most people, having been formed by the chronic mis-use of firearms on TV and in the movies. Most new shooters choose a firearm for personal defense on the basis of a brief conversation with an enthusiastic young man at a gun store counter. While it is logistically difficult to pull off, a beginner really needs to shoot a variety of calibers, styles and models of guns before choosing. Unfortunately, this is probably not going to happen.
June 25, 2012
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In the 1870s, an interesting phenomenon burst on the firearms scene. Cartridge firearms had been in use since the mid-50s, but most of the early ones were small calibers that were plagued with problems. The first widespread use of practical and powerful metallic cartridges in handguns came with the Peacemaker Colt and the .45 Colt cartridge in 1873. Both gun and ammo are still manufactured and are well known as milestones in firearms history. The big breakthrough was in the centerfire design. The big ol’ .45 Colt case was straight-sided and worked perfectly in the revolver’s cylinder with the rod extractor. In the same year, Winchester introduced a new rifle also destined for gun hall of fame—the 1873 Winchester rifle, chambered for the equally new .44 Winchester Center Fire (.44 W.C.F. or .44-40) cartridge. This cartridge was properly designed for the complicated lever-action feeding and extraction system. Since that mechanism had relatively low camming power and produced considerable cruddy residue, the new .44 cartridge came with a sort of tapered, semi-bottlenecked shape. It proved to be a very workable solution. Then, Colt realized that the new Winchester rifle cartridge could also be made to work in the Single Action Army revolver. Within a short time, the .44 WCF was available in Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles. Thus began the tradition of a cowboy using the same ammo in both carbine and revolver.
June 18, 2012
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Once in a while, a gun-savvy young man comes along with a better idea (or ideas) and Nat Stevens is just that guy. For a couple of years now, I have watched his product line, website and general success grow steadily. Nat makes simple and clever accessories for handguns through his company Tuff Products. I haven’t seen a thing in his line that doesn’t make sense, and some of it is pretty original.
June 14, 2012
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With some exceptions, the majority of common automatic pistols have a feed ramp. They have to have one because the ammo is fed from below and behind the barrel and its chamber. In the feeding and chambering cycle, the fresh cartridge moves forward and up to its place in the chamber. This is a simple invention that has been used since the very first pistols. More often than not, a small portion of the chamber mouth has a radius to form this feed ramp. This creates a small crescent of surface of the cartridge that is not supported by steel chamber walls. In firing, this area takes the full pressure for just an instant. But it takes the pressure at the head of the cartridge where the brass—a wonderfully elastic material—is thickest and strongest. Literally, billions of rounds of ammunition have been loaded, fired, extracted and ejected from typical pistols since the first one was fired.
June 11, 2012
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Every time I do class at Gunsite with a pistol, the top-notch instructors repeat the techniques of performing both speed and tactical reloads. For the uninitiated, a speed load is when the shooter in an ongoing gunfight has fired several rounds, ejects the magazine onto the deck and inserts a fully loaded replacement. Contrast that with the tactical reload, where the shooter drops the partially expended magazine into the palm, then inserts another with the same hand. The partially expended one goes into a designated pocket or pouch.
June 06, 2012
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One of the things that stands high on my “to-do” list is shoot and write about a particular pistol that seems to be running under the radar. It is a Walther, sold in the United States by Smith & Wesson under a strategic agreement with the legendary German gunmaker. Most shooters are aware that this agreement has resulted in a number of the very popular Walther pistols becoming available in the United States at competitive prices. The particular pistol to which I refer is the Walther PPS, which stands for Police Pistol, Slim. As a guy that has looked at all of the current genre of small, single column 9 mm Luger pistols in detail, I found the PPS in 9 mm to be a very appealing personal defense package. Best of all, it was reliable.
May 31, 2012
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The above photo is a Federal Hydra-Shok hollow point.
May 29, 2012
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One of the earliest automatic pistols enjoyed a pretty healthy service life. Mauser's exotic C96 is often called the Broomhandle because of the distinctively shape of the butt. It is a very strong, recoil-operated auto that is laid out a lot differently that most other autos. The integral box magazine is forward of the trigger guard, so the butt doesn't have to be shaped to accept a detachable magazine. On most C96s, the shooter uses stripper clips to load an integral magazine well. The magazine follower and spring are a part of the gun, not the magazine. This is not true of the Schnellfurer (full-auto) version made in the 1930s, which has a detachable magazine. Made in many variations, the Mauser-made broomhandle was produced until 1937.
May 21, 2012
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When I reminisced about Smith & Wesson's grand magnum—the Model 29—a heck of a lot of readers chimed in with their recollections and impressions. I wish I knew how many of these guns have made their way from Springfield and into the holsters, hands and, I guess, hearts of American shooters. Controversial at the time of its introduction, the .44 Mag. has enjoyed steady sales for over half a century. Lots of readers commented on their favorites and preferences seemed to be equally divided between 4- and 6-inch guns. Oddly enough, no one mentioned the special edition gun that has its own cult following.
May 17, 2012
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Various systems exist by which handgun barrels have holes cut into them that run from the top outside surface all the way through to the rifled bore. It’s called porting and it’s done for specific reasons. In the process of firing a shot, some of the propellant gas that is working so hard to drive the bullet down the barrel takes a shortcut through the ports, flowing upwards and in so doing, tends to drive the gun down. This partially reduces the tendency of the handgun to twist back and up in your hand, which is distracting and sometimes uncomfortable. Porting is most commonly used on high-speed “race” guns used in action shooting games. It is common to hear people say that the ports reduce recoil. Close, but no cigar.
May 10, 2012
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After I wrote about about +P ammunition a while back, there were several reader responses. For that reason, I have dug into the matter again to come up with more data on the subject. The term +P is associated with certain handgun cartridges. It essentially means “loaded to greater pressure.” In the strict sense of the word, the term belongs to SAAMI─Small Arms Ammunition Manufacturer's Institute. SAAMI technicians have determined that four pistol cartridges─.38 Spl., .38 Super, 9 mm Luger and .45 ACP─may be loaded to a certain higher pressure levels and sold, as long as they are marked “+P.” Note that .45 Colt is not a SAAMI-sanctioned +P cartridge. Some readers have mentioned that a popular internet information source says that it is, but the latest listings from the SAAMI are to the contrary.
May 07, 2012
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