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For the first time in its history, Winchester has combine two different calibers into one box to satisfy the need a particular type of revolver.
August 06, 2013
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Centennial denotes a period of 100 years. When those 100 years are identified as a specific period, such as 1901 to 2000, it’s called a century. The 20th century was a milestone time in history, both in general and in the history of arms and their use. We witnessed enormous changes in guns and ammunition in the 20th century, from the U.S. Army riding to battle on horseback to Marines using Osprey VTOL airplanes in the Gulf wars. Similar changes occurred in police and civilian arms. It struck me the other day that there are a few significant items that literally span a century, being popular and meaningful throughout. Take the revolver cartridge, for example. At the beginning of the century we had two that merit our attention.
April 12, 2013
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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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Derringers have filled the small handgun role for many years, and Bond Arms Ranger II is a modern version of this iconic firearm.
September 23, 2011
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The Taurus Millennium Pro.
July 23, 2009
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