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Sometimes even the busiest days are pretty fun. We are finishing the July issue of American Rifleman after coming off an intense week of filming the third quarter of “American Rifleman Television.” We on the magazine staff already have full-time jobs, but we put in some pretty intense weeks on television production. But sometimes there is a lot of fun buried in that intensity.
May 14, 2012
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Between a time-tested company reputation that’s over 150 years strong and the classic J-Frame design, there’s plenty going for our very first Gun of the Week: The Smith & Wesson M&P 340.
May 14, 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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I have discovered the greatest distraction to awareness and, for me at least, it’s not a cell phone. It’s my little girl.
May 09, 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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By Iain Harrison
Chris Cheng is the self-desribed IT geek and winner of Top Shot Season 4 That self-deprecating description belies the fierce competitive streak that underpins his success on the show, despite his lack of formal training.
May 07, 2012
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Once again, a young punk thought being elderly meant being unable and got taken down because of it.
May 02, 2012
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By Iain Harrison
This week's finale opened with the competitors returning to the house to be welcomed by a pretty lavish spread. Up till this point, people cook for themselves or their team mates, but the final four get treated to a meal that's put together by the set caterers and a celebratory bottle of booze makes its way into the house.
May 02, 2012
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This is the view through the “American Rifleman Television” remote camera as we fired the most impressive gun of the season for the third quarter of 2012. Thanks to Jim Supica, Phil Schreier, Doug Wicklund and Matt Sharpe of the National Firearms Museum, I can now say I have shot what I regard as undoubtedly the coolest 18th century gun extant. The Nock Volley Gun is one of the most unusual service firearms of the Napoleonic era. It was a flintlock with seven barrels, one central barrel with six more surrounding the latter, sort of like a pepperbox. The difference, of course, is that all seven barrels fire at once with the Nock—it only happens to the extremely unlucky (or careless) with a Pepperbox. Think of a Nock as a deliberate chain fire waiting to happen.
May 02, 2012
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When the 19th Century rolled over to the 20th, a new type of handgun began to appear. It was the automatic pistol, so named because the gun reloaded its own (single) chamber. Previous repeaters rotated a series of chambers into alignment with the barrel—the revolver. The auto had great advantages in its faster reloading—with its pre-loaded magazine—but a series of problems came with the new mechanism. Most of them have long since been resolved to various degrees of success, but one has not. However, many shooters are unaware that the problem even exists. The problem deals with pistol accuracy and is sometimes called the first shot flyer.
May 01, 2012
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One of the easiest ways to be attacked when out and about is from behind. There are countless stories about blitz attacks coming from behind where the victim never sees the attacker’s face and is unable to identify the perpetrator.
April 27, 2012
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By Iain Harrison
This season of Top Shot has seen a gradual introduction of Point-of-View cameras to capture the action from the shooter’s perspective. Although not as impressive in their own right as the high speed Phantom cameras, these cameras have added another perspective to the show that illustrates what’s going on as the competitors press the trigger. One of the reasons the show is so expensive to produce is the size of the crew needed to service so many pieces of recording equipment, although it wouldn’t be anywhere near the same viewing experience without them. The footage this week of cases being ejected from the M1919 was a case in point, as was the exploding shaving cream can as it spun ribbons of white foam in a graceful arc during the elimination challenge.
April 25, 2012
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