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There are two basic types of automatic pistol mechanisms, known as actions. One is the blowback; while the other is known as recoil operated. Both accomplish the same thing: The breech is held closed until the bullet exits the muzzle before using the residual energy to extract and eject the spent case, load another cartridge and close the breech.
November 07, 2011
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Handguns can be intimidating to a complete beginner trying to get over the fear of injury that comes with handling what can be a deadly tool. After teaching him or her The Fundamental Rules of Gun Safety, it becomes time for the student to learn the operating drill for the particular handgun with which he or she will begin the training cycle. In my opinion, it is unwise to present a new shooter with more than one gun at a time. Ideally, the first gun should be a DA/SA revolver, but that is not always possible. Whatever the selected handgun is, make sure the beginner has a thorough understanding of how the gun works. Then you can move on to using the gun to its full potential.
November 01, 2011
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Developed in 1954 and '55 and announced in January of 1956, Smith & Wesson's .44 Mag. has been a consistent favorite of the shooting public for over half a century. It came some 20 years after the company's first Magnum revolver—the .357. This earlier gun and cartridge were enormous trend-setters and got American handgunners thinking about really powerful revolvers because the added power offered two major advantages. The first was increased practical range, while the second advantage was plain smashing power that could harvest the largest game animals at closer ranges. The .357 did all of these things, but it was the .44 Mag. that took hold of the American consciousness and never let go. It was a bread and butter gun for the Massachusetts firm, with a little help from Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry.
October 21, 2011
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For the first half of the 20th Century, one of the bread and butter mainstays of the revolver line was the New Service. A double-action sixgun of generous size, the New Service was big enough to take all of the big cartridges of the day—.476 Eley, .455, .45 Colt, .44-40, etc.—as well as .38 Spl. and other milder calibers. Made from just before the turn of the century until the beginning of World War II, the New Service was used primarily by police and military personnel. Variations included adjustable-sighte “Target” models, as well as the legendary Shooting Master of the 1930s. The gun's greatest use was in World War I, when the government bought a total of 151,800 5 1/2-inch barreled 1917s, all chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. That was the most numerous variation of the many New Service models. It is a big, rugged gun that could (and often did) take a lot of abuse. But, for reasons I have never understood, the New Service has never drawn the same interest as other contemporary handguns.
October 14, 2011
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There was a 1950s-era trend in American handgun making that is still alive and even growing. It received its start because post-war handgunners suddenly awakened to the fact that handguns were really heavy to carry.
October 05, 2011
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Latter day students of gunfighters and their gear probably know about the Tom Threepersons holster as currently made by El Paso Saddlery and other custom makers. That rig is named for a legendary peace officer of the early 20th Century. There is some confusion surrounding him because of the fact that another famous westerner wore the same (almost) name. Threepersons was born in the Indian Nations in July of 1889. A Cherokee Indian, Tom grew up on the reservation and was educated in Indian schools and at the Carlisle Institute in Pennsylvania. Early in his adult life, Tom became a well-known and successful rodeo cowboy in the Pacific Northwest. I suspect that this is where things might have started getting confusing for latter-day researchers. Another young man named Tom Three Persons (note different spelling) was born in March 1888 in Alberta, Canada, and grew to adulthood as a cowboy and competition horseman. He also competed in rodeos and the great similarity in their names and early careers may have contributed to the confusion as to who did what. It is certain that Three Persons spent his life as stockman, while Threepersons became a lawman.
September 27, 2011
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When I took up the subject of a magnum semi-automatic pistol a while back, I must have failed in my efforts to get one point firmly established. The only way to create an automatic pistol that provides the same kind of performance as the magnum revolvers is to build a bigger auto. This has been done with the Coonan, Desert Eagle, Wildey and Grizzly pistols. While all of these guns met with varying degrees of commercial success, they were all so big that they were difficult for most handgunners to carry and shoot comfortably. Readers have commented in such a way that I believe what they are asking for is a handgun the size of a conventional 1911 that delivers at least .357 Mag. performance. Some have asked for a .45 loaded up to higher levels of pressure and velocity performance. In my view, this is not a good idea.
September 14, 2011
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I am old-fashioned and still cling to the idea that a handgun is primarily for personal defense and that every shot should be aimed and hit something. I know that there are handgun competitions where a high volume of fire is acceptable. This has led to gun modifications that are not really a good idea. Trigger pull weight is one such modification. By far, the most common handgun type you'll find in my hands is the 1911 pistol, followed closely by DA/SA revolvers. Both types of guns have SA or DA trigger systems that lend themselves to modification.
August 22, 2011
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Shoot as much as you can. In doing so, you learn more about the techniques and equipment involved, enjoy the company of other gun folks and help preserve the precious rights to do so. In this economy, shooting can be an expensive proposition, so anything that productively burns powder has at least some merit. For a gadget that's perfect for this line of reasoning, check out J&G Sales in Prescott, Ariz. You will find a new product that strikes me as a good idea. It's a conversion kit for most 1911 pistols in 9 mm Luger or .38 Super that permits the use of 7.62x25 mm Tokarev ammo. Please note the large quantities of this stuff that is currently on the surplus market.
August 15, 2011
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At the 2011 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, I looked at most of the new handgun models that were being introduced. With a few notable exceptions, sights on these guns follow the modern trend of three painted or imbedded white dots. The idea is that the shooter aligns the three dots in an equally-spaced row. I believe that this pattern of sights started to appear on some European models in the 1970s, quickly achieved popularity and is now a virtual standard. As a matter of fact, when I suggested to a gun company executive that he should leave the dots off of a particular model, he looked horrified and assured me that a pistol would not sell without three dots. In truth, this guy probably knows more about selling guns than I ever will, but we are in a situation where the dots are there because they have always been there. I firmly believe that the three-dot system commonly used on most modern service pistols does not add anything to the gun's utility value.
August 03, 2011
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Rows and rows of perfect pyramids run down the frontstrap of your pistol, all of them aligned with the precision of 8th & I Marines on Parade. It looks sharp, but it is also practical for assisting in handling the gun under stress. When your hands are wet with sweat, water, grease, mud or even blood, and you still need to shoot, those little pyramids bite into the skin of your hand and give you a solid grip on that life-saving tool.
June 14, 2011
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At the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Pittsburgh, a great many members stopped me to say hello and chat for a few minutes. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job. Conversations of this sort are fun, develop new gun information and provide a lot of data on what shooters might really want to read about. But I fear that some of those who approached me may have come away with a wrong idea about my responses to their questions that was not a reflection of any kind of bad attitude on my part. The truth is I have a pretty severe hearing loss and I may have not understood correctly, if I heard at all. It is also an entry to one of my pet rants—the need for effective hearing protection for anyone involved in the shooting sports.
June 01, 2011
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There appears to be a modern misuse of gun terms in magazine articles, on the web and even conversationally that is causing some problems. In some quarters, it has become popular to describe certain objects incorrectly, because some folks regard this as kind of cute. It's akin to saying “ain't” when you really mean “am not.” What do you load into a modern handgun? Is it a bullet or a cartridge? It is probably a cartridge, but if that's true, the cartridge contains a bullet. Confused?
May 25, 2011
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Trigger-cocking is a term first used in the Frontier era and almost never used today. It describes a form of trigger action where pressure on the trigger cocks a hammer from the down position all the way through to full tension and release to fire. Modern terminology for this system is double action.
May 16, 2011
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NRA members have their choice of either American Rifleman, American Hunter or America’s 1st Freedom as a benefit with their membership. All are fine books, but those of you who opt for the legendary first-ever gun magazine—American Rifleman—got a special treat in November.
May 04, 2011
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