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I have learned to be cautious about making positive statements concerning what gunmakers have or have not made in the past. This is particularly true in regards to the many models and variations made by Smith & Wesson.
May 26, 2010
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I was recently given a nice old .22 automatic pistol with an unopened box of ammo. The ammo was Remington's Mohawk brand, made in the late 50s or early 60s.
May 25, 2010
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In every decent-sized collection of handgun books, there are always a few that stand out. Many of these are accepted standards such Elmer Keith's "Sixguns" or Jordan's "No Second Place Winner." Others are relatively unknown-what I refer to as "sleepers."
May 20, 2010
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One of the hottest pistol cartridges ever conceived was the 7.63x25 mm Mauser. Known as the .30 Mauser on the American shores, this was a bottlenecked round that drove an 87-grain bullet to more than 1,400 feet per second.
May 14, 2010
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The Semmerling was a handgun that came out of the miniaturization craze of the late 70s and early 80s. A 4+1 .45 ACP repeating handgun, the little Semmerling bore a strong resemblance to many autos of the day. Indeed, it worked from a unique four-round, single-column magazine.
May 11, 2010
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Bisley is a place that gave its name to a gun. It is a range complex in Great Britain where many great matches were once fired. I am told that the range is still in use for some shooting.
May 07, 2010
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This interesting term was coined by my late buddy, Chuck Karwan. It really means the same thing as accepted fallacies. In other words—baloney.
May 05, 2010
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The first products of High Standard were not guns, but rather machinery and tools with which to make guns. That was in the 1920s, but by the early 30s, this old-time gunmaker offered a high quality .22 pistol.
April 28, 2010
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In another of those gun store counter sessions, I got into a discussion of accuracy with a couple of new shooters. One of them asked a probing question: “What's the most accurate handgun cartridge?”
April 26, 2010
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I handle guns all the time and sometimes find my attitude becoming a little overly-familiar. Since I know that familiarity breeds contempt, I periodically take a look at the sign above my working desk and reflect on the wisdom thereon.
April 20, 2010
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Old-timers from the 30s, 40s and 50s may remember the Berns-Martin holsters, but a couple of generations of handgunners have now come of age without this classic gun scabbard as an available product.
April 16, 2010
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We may be missing a bet with the new .327 Federal Magnum cartridge. It is being touted as a defense revolver round. OK, I'll concede that it whips up a fair amount of energy, but in my book, no cartridge that uses a 100-grain bullet is ever going to have enough smack 'em to stop fights.
April 09, 2010
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One of the great breakthroughs in modern revolvers of power is the S&W X-frame in.500 S&W Magnum. This monster of a gun throws huge, half-inch bullets that weigh as much as 450 grains. That's just over an ounce. When you consider that the extended length of the case permits a veritable sugar scoop of powder, you get lots of velocity and recoil in the extreme.
April 06, 2010
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Smith & Wesson, the legendary gunmaker, experienced a wave of innovation in the 1950s. Basically, it was adapt to modern methods and models or die a commercial death.
March 26, 2010
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This term applies to revolvers and is used to describe the bridge of metal running along the top of the main frame from the vicinity of the rear sight forward to the threaded portion of the frame that accepts the barrel.
March 19, 2010
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