Archive for the 'Firearms' Category

Results are about as I expected they would be.  I still want at least one of each.

Outdoor Life.

The debate over inertia-driven autoloaders vs. gas-operated semiautos has been going around the shotgun world since the conclusion of World War II. For more than a century, inertia guns have been in the hands of hunters, thanks to John Moses Browning’s Auto-5, and a Danish gunsmith, Christer Sjorgren, who created the inertia system Benelli and other gun manufacturers utilize. Gas-operated guns came about after WWII with the development of the M1 Garand, the battle rifle U.S. troops used in combat. Starting in the 1950s, Browning, Winchester, and Remington all began producing gas guns. The arguments amongst hunters and competition shooters over who did it best—inertia or gas—have swirled around late-night campfires ever since.

One system isn’t inherently better than the other, but there are benefits and drawbacks of both. And honestly, you shouldn’t pigeon-hole yourself into shooting gas or inertia. My three favorite modern 12-gauge shotguns are the Beretta A390 Silver Mallard, Winchester SX3, and Benelli Super Black Eagle 2. The first two are gas-operated, and the SBE2 is an inertia gun. I like using the guns for different times of the year and different shoots. The Beretta is for clays, ducks, pheasants, and turkeys. The Benelli is my go-to dark goose gun because it patterns so well beyond the edge of the decoys on fickle/stubborn honkers that don’t like to finish in the kill hole. For spring snow goose season, I wanted an affordable, soft-shooting autoloader, and the SX3 fits that bill.

There are few modern inertia-driven shotguns that have unmanageable recoil. Yes, they are going to pound you harder than most gas guns, and if you shoot a 2-ounce 3.5” turkey load out of an A5, it might well rattle your bones. If you hunt and shoot a lot, and you’re an old or smaller shooter, a gas gun might be for you. Two to three months straight of shooting is a lot for one shoulder to bear, and a gas-operated auto will soften some of the felt recoil.

There is more at the link.

I’m not a shotgun aficionado.  But I do value lack of recoil would pay a premium for the pleasure of shooting a gun that has less recoil.

Readers who have more knowledge than I do may wish to weigh in on their favorite shotgun, and reasons why.

Outdoor Life.

One of the first things I noticed when I began firing a red-dot-equipped pistol was my trigger control and grip were not as refined as I thought they were. I noticed the dot would ever-so-slightly dip or slide to the left during my trigger press, ultimately resulting in some 9-ring hits instead of 10- or X-ring impacts on an NRA B8 bull’s-eye at 25 yards. Feedback from the sight allowed me to focus on these shortcomings and make adjustments to my technique.

Dry-fire is the best way to shorten the learning curve, all in the comfort of your home. With the sight turned off (and the pistol empty, of course), practice framing your target within the window of your red-dot sight. On press-out, level the pistol as soon as possible, pick up the target through the glass, and ride it out to extension. Next, try this from the low-ready position, and then from the holster. Once this feels comfortable, activate the sight, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you pick up the dot upon presentation. Speed and efficiency will come with practice.

I guess it’s like anything else – practice.  But first, must get guns that have mount for optic.  This means new guns in most instances.

And money.

Guns.com.

This is a great history of pistol cartridge carbines, and they have been around for a long time, longer than I had thought.

I commend the article.

Busting the myths.

Riflescope brightness is not as big a deal as advertising makes it out to be.

Differences in brightness from scope to scope are often undetectable to users.

Some features credited with brightness don’t even contribute.

Some high-end scopes aren’t as bright as some costing half that.

Maintaining a sharp image is as important as raw brightness. A sharp image at any brightness level looks “brighter” than a softly focused image. Resolution is a critical ingredient for making images seen through a scope appear brighter.

As for the wider main tube contributing to brightness, forget it. Doesn’t work that way. Regardless how much light enters the objective “window.” The higher the magnification, the less light that gets out. The amount of light that exits the scope at the eyepiece depends on the power level. Both objective lens and magnification work together to create the beam of light that exits the eyepiece. It is called the Exit Pupil (EP.) You can see it by holding a scope at arms length and pointed it at a bright surface. The little circle of light you see in the eyepiece lens is the EP. If you have a variable power scope, turn the power ring and watch the EP enlarge and shrink as powers goes down and up. The lower the power, the larger the EP and the more light that exits the scope.

While EP matters, extremely large EP does not because its effectiveness is limited by our own pupils. The human pupil opens (dilates) to about 7mm max. But this doesn’t happen until it’s nearly dark. In full daylight our pupils shrink to about 2.5mm. On cloudy days they might be opened to around 4mm. Place a 5mm diameter beam of light in front of your 4mm pupil and the extra 1mm rim just bounces off your iris. So why bother with a 50mm objective?

The magic hour for hunting is often the last few minutes of legal shooting light a half hour or more after sunset. Our pupils might then dilate to 6mm. They could use all of the 5mm EP and 1mm more. So step up to a big 56mm objective and what do you get? A 5.6mm EP. Not quite the 6mm you could fully use. You’ll need a 60mm objective at 10X to get the full 6mm EP. And if you want maximum brightness at the last minute or two of legal shooting light, you might need a 7mm EP scope. To get that, of course, you’d need a 70mm objective at 10X.

I’m not enough of a precision shooter, especially in dim light conditions, to nay say his observations.  Hunters can weigh in on this.  The most expensive scope I have costs around $600.

I’ve seen other interviews on this incident, but I learn something every time.

Why anyone would want to penetrate cinder blocks with small bore ammunition I don’t know, but for no other reason than interest, here it is.

I’ve always thought that 22LR was a little underpowered for a varmint round.  I’m not sure I’d keep the 5.7X28 by my bed either.  I prefer PD ammunition because of things like walls, people, and neighbors.

He seems to think it’s okay, whereas for me, being unable to shoot anything I want to put in it is a deal-breaker for me.

He also seems to like Colt, whereas I prefer my Dan Wesson and Smith & Wesson 1911s.  I’ve never had a single malfunction with either of them, and neither has had a hiccup of any sort regardless of what ammunition I feed it (including and up to 450 SMC).

I don’t do FTF/FTE drills with my 1911s because I’ve never had a failure in many thousands of rounds.  But as always, I learn something from Paul (watch his demonstration of the safety feature on the Colt that isn’t there with the RIA, another deal-breaker for me).

Vice quotes David Codrea on the rush to purchase guns.  It’s interesting to see what they’re buying.  As for MSRs, here’s the list.

1. Ruger AR-556
2. Smith & Wesson M&P Sport II
3. Smith & Wesson M&P15
4. Springfield Saint
5. Kel-Tec Sub-2000

The real telling statistic is shotguns.

1. IWI TS12
2. Benelli M4 Tactical
3. Armscor/Rock Island Armory VR80
4. Franchi Affinity
5. Kalashnikov USA KS-12

One legitimate bird gun in the bunch.  You think this says something about what people are thinking and why they’re buying?