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For 32 years—from 1954 until 1986—the best deal in the Smith & Wesson catalog was the Model 28, a revolver built on the N frame and chambered for the .357 Mag. cartridge. Before S&W assigned model numbers to all products, the maker called this gun the Highway Patrolman. Made with the user's choice of either 4- or 6-inch barrels, the Highway Patrolman had a matte-blue finish, with a very plebeian exterior. There was no grooving on the barrel rib or rear sight and no choices in sights, trigger or hammer. I have seen Target and Magna grips on them, almost always in oiled, checkered walnut. In other words, the Model 28 was a plain .357 Mag. revolver of the largest and strongest type. You got a lot of gun for your money and that made the Model 28 popular with cash-strapped police agencies and individual officers.
March 15, 2012
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By Iain Harrison
This week’s edition of Top Shot proved once again that a single brilliant performance isn’t enough to ensure a win. Instead, victory goes to the team that makes the fewest mistakes, even if you make a few mistakes of your own in the process.
March 14, 2012
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There’s an app for almost everything from checking spelling to determining where to aim for long-distant shots. And there is now an app for crime.
March 13, 2012
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Remember back in the 1970s when Smith & Wesson offered a series of beautiful die-struck belt buckles? A full collection of these handsome artifacts from a never-to-return era would be worth a lot more than what a 70s-era collector paid for them. Sadly, mine does not include every buckle in the series. It does, however, include the famed “gun box” buckle. This variation was a metal rendering of the top of the boxes found in the first few years of the Smith & Wesson partnership. The top of those boxes portrayed the tip-up revolver contained in the box. The original boxes are of course quite valuable, but the belt buckle is also collectible. Original boxes were made from a material known as gutta percha, a form of sap from a particular tree.
March 13, 2012
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Reader Question: Do you dress around a particular gun that you are most comfortable carrying or do you have different guns you would carry based on the season?
March 09, 2012
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By Iain Harrison
This week's show opened with Terry Vaughan employing the skills he uses in his everyday life to try and instill a little unity to the dysfunctional blue team (he's a motivational speaker, amongst other things, in case you missed his bio), which seemed to have a positive effect, at least in the short term. At the practice range, I have to fault the editing as neither of the teams appeared to hone in on the critical aspect of the challenge to come—that of cocking and loading the crossbow quickly and smoothly. The shooting aspect would have been familiar to everyone (stock, trigger, sights), but no one apart from Tim Trefren was used to getting the crossbow into action. Unfortunately for him, his acknowledgement of this fact meant he sat out the challenge.
March 09, 2012
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I love that old saying about “what goes around, comes around.” It means that history runs in cycles and what was once popular might be popular once again. We went through a long cycle of interest in larger, more powerful handguns for just about every use, including personal defense and concealed carry. The present conventional wisdom holds that the concealed-carry handgun must be small and light, but adequately powerful. To accomplish this, gunmakers have evolved both the conventional pistol and the even older revolver designs to new guns that fill the bill. All three of the major wheelgun makers now offer a light powerful snubnosed revolver with a polymer frame—Ruger LCR, S&W Bodyguard, Taurus 85PLYB2. The new designed automatics are so numerous as to be hard to enumerate.
March 07, 2012
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Q. I watch “American Rifleman Television” and hear Mark Keefe and Michael Parker pronounce the name “Garand” like “Ger-und” and in the same show someone else will pronounce it like I do, which is “Guh-rand.” What’s the deal? Are those two misspeaking every week?
March 05, 2012
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I overheard a gun store conversations the other day that set my mind to thinking about the process of getting all the shots into the center of the target. One guy was talking to an experienced gun salesman and complaining about the work of a well-known custom pistolsmith. The smith had done an accuracy job on a pistol by installing a premium barrel and meticulously fitting it to the frame and slide.
March 02, 2012
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There has been a lot of discussion on AmericanRifleman.org about Jim Wilson’s Carrying in the Car story, which made me decide to share a few of my own tips for keeping safe behind the wheel.
March 01, 2012
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By Iain Harrison
This week’s episode saw the welcome return of my friend Chris Reed to the fold, and I bet he got flashbacks as he walked up to the house. The competitors are shuttled around the property in blacked-out vans so that challenges in the process of construction are hidden from view until it’s time to go to work. So any time you get to see the process from the other side of the camera, it feels a little weird. The elimination challenge coach was 3-Gun phenomenon Taran Butler, and if you’ve never seen him run a Benelli, you’re missing one of the virtuoso performances of the practical shooting scene.
February 29, 2012
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In regard to my Unarmed Defense blog, questions were asked about my thoughts about pepper spray, and why I was not carrying any when visiting Las Vegas for SHOT Show.
February 28, 2012
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I live in the state of Nevada, a glorious place of open spaces and gun-friendly politicians. For a gun guy, you couldn't find a better place to live and work. Like all of the other states, Nevada does its best to maintain the streets and highways to be safe places for all Americans to use. That includes the signs that abound our roads, telling you where you are and other important things, like the distance to Las Vegas. Apparently, some citizens seem to feel that those signs are there for other reasons. Sadly some of these people have guns.
February 27, 2012
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Southwick Associates releases its 2011 brand and market share results.
February 27, 2012
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