Archive for the 'Guns' Category

Here is a brief review.

A multi-reticle system with NV overlay where you can use it day or night. Very nice. Count me as very impressed with the design and features, and a bit disappointed in the price point of $1176.46.

Not again.

New Jersey officials can pry into gunmaker Smith & Wesson’s internal company documents as part of a long-stalled state fraud probe, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The three-judge panel rejected a challenge from the gunmaker in a 2-1 ruling, with the dissenting judge questioning New Jersey’s “novel” efforts to take on the gun industry in court.

It’s over how S&W markets firearms.

Hey, I want to know how household cleaning product manufacturers market their cleaners? After all, they kill more children than anything else.

I hope we don’t see another good gun builder go down the toilet because no one will force states to follow the law.

I like finding resources like this. Actually, reddit/Firearms is the source, and this comment was insightful.

Easiest way to check the forcing cone for wear is to put a straight edge on it (if you see light from a gap, it has some erosion – not necessarily an issue) and to run a q-tip around it to see if there are any burrs (the burrs will pull off strands of cotton).

Offhand, I would say that one looks pretty much new.

My first GP100 was bought well used and easily has 25k-35k rounds of handloads, including a ton of rapid fire (~900-1000 rounds in an hour and a half or so, barrel was literally too hot to hold) nuclear bear loads. Even with the forcing cone eroded a bit it will still shoot about a <4″ group at 100 yards.

The cylinder wear timing mark looks normal – GP100 / Redhawk / Security Six actions lift the cylinder stop pin into place relatively early to ensure it drops fully into the cylinder notch during rapid fire.

Pro tip to smooth out the trigger pull as a novice without messing with the sear:

1. Take the hammer strut and smooth & polish the top and sides to mirror finish, then lube with grease – many of the factory guns are under lubed and may have burrs left from the factory (giveaway in the gunshop is if you hear a squeak when cocking the hammer).
2. Deburr the trigger return spring / trigger guard latch hole and the trigger return plunger. These often have a burr.
3. Polish the sides of the hammer and frame window where the hammer pivots to remove burrs – you can tell if this is necessary if there are rub or scrape marks on the sides of the hammer.

Then later in the comments, located on Google drive, is a more complete description of revolver checkout. If you have any resources yourself, feel free to drop them in the comments.

At Outdoor Life.

It wasn’t too long ago that I didn’t see Spartan in the mix. Frankly, I don’t like the Harris or the Magpul.

It’s nice to see Spartan being mentioned among the best.

Spartan Precision Equipment

Of note: I received nothing for making mention of Spartan.

Shooting Illustrated.

Before I get into it, allow me the following disclaimer: Tactical gurus abound who discount any notion that clay-target shooting can be compared in any way to the act of using a shotgun to defend your life. I do not argue that the two uses are, of course, night-and-day different. But, in my view, the shotgun and the fundamentals of using it to hit whatever you are shooting at are inherently similar. Certainly, the pressure placed upon the shooter in a life-or-death situation compared with a silly clay game is not remotely similar, but if a shotgunner can consistently flip the safety, mount the gun smoothly and orient the barrel quickly and accurately enough to hit small flying objects, nearly any target encountered in any situation will likely be easier.

In other words, I’ve never witnessed a great wingshooter who couldn’t quickly be trained in tactical applications, because this person already has the fundamentals of shotgun shooting mastered. Of course, there are differences in technique—the main ones being stance and weight distribution—but these can be quickly learned. The shotgun, whether a Remington 870 pump with a short barrel and an extended magazine or a 32-inch-barreled over/under clays gun, remains similar in form, and, when used as intended, functions as an extension of the body to hit targets. Of course, in a defensive scenario you will need to aim the shotgun at the target in a manner similar to a handgun or rifle, whereas when shooting clays you move with the target and lead it, but ask yourself, which is harder: aiming at a stationary or slow-moving target a few feet or yards in front of you, or a fast-moving, small target flying on a path designed to be challenging?

On the other hand, I’ve seen plenty of decent tactical shotgunners who couldn’t use their shotgun well when they were removed from a static range with stationary targets and placed in more fluid scenarios where unpredictable, moving targets were encountered. Based on my experience, I believe it’s best to master the shotgun via practice until it can be effectively used at an almost subconscious level. One efficient way I’ve found to do this is via clay games that are challenging, yet enjoyable.

First of all, I don’t listen to “tactical gurus.” I have absolutely no use for such people.

Second, more shotgunning is better because shotgunning. Just because.

Enough said.

Go get some. Head to the range. Hunting upland birds is an awesome sport, as is just shooting clays of any sort, including unorganized practice if that’s what you like. Hunting quail is the most fun you’ll ever have.

And not only that, but we’ve also discussed chokes that will give 00 buckshot a pattern within 5 inches at 50 yards. What’s not to love about shotguns?

At reddit/Firearms.

I always think it’s slightly amusing when folks rediscover wheel guns. My favorite comment is this.

People have successfully defended their lives with snub nose revolvers for 100+ years. You can too.

I do carry pocket revolvers and I think they’re a wonderful alternative to either OWB (which is non-permissive at times) or IWB (which I hate), and more accessible than ankle carry.

But as with any weapon, you’re only going to be as good as your practice. I would rather shoot single action because the trigger is as tactile as a 1911, but if I carry a wheel gun to the range, I always make sure to shoot a couple of cylinders in double action.

I confess that I know little to nothing about the difference between thermal and night vision scopes. If some enterprising reader would like to give me a rundown of the advantages/disadvantages of each with the basics of operation, that would be welcome.

Also, in all of my [without a doubt several dozen] readers, surely someone has purchased and used an Arken Optics scope.

What do you think of them? Rex seems to like them, especially for the price point. I’m asking for a friend.

If Arken wants to send me one for review for my next deer and hog hunting trip, I’ll be happy to oblige.

Alloutdoor.com.

High End Defense has brought out an interesting new pistol optics mounting system at the 2024 NRA Annual Meeting. This new magnetic red dot mount allows users to add on a pistol dot onto a non-optic ready pistol easily utilizing the rear sight and magnets. So you no longer need to have any milling on the slide done, and no mounting plates or tools are needed for a pistol red dot. Instead, it locks into place using two components. The High End Defense rear sight first needs to be installed into place in the rear sight dovetail. Then the magnetic mount keys into place on the slide and the rear sight to lock into place.

Images at the link.

I wondered how long it would be before someone broke into this market. It made sense to me years ago. Slide a mount into the dove tail and you’re off to the races.

Apparently, the magnet doesn’t lose zero. It seems to me the only thing you lose without milling a slide is height over bore (if what you want is a sleek profile and low height).

They intend to do 1911s.

Cool CFD video. Based on the time of travel down the barrel (0.0006 s), I compute the lifetime of a barrel at 2000 shots to be 1.2 seconds.

h/t Wisco.

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of shooting a bullet from a rifle barrel using OpenFoam software.

[🎞️ BanuMusa R&D ]pic.twitter.com/7z9Edoglzt

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) May 23, 2024

I like Tim Harmsen and have talked with him before. Occasionally I disagree with him. This is one of those occasions.

Tim focuses on the fact that there isn’t a firing pin block on the CZ Shadow 2 Compact. I’ll let you watch the video for the details of his objections.

However, there are numerous videos where guys beat on the hammer with a mallet and cannot get the gun to fire. See here for an example. There are others like it.

The problem seems to stem from the use of an aftermarket firing pin, so the moral of the story is don’t use an aftermarket firing pin.

Frankly, I don’t think Tim did his research before posting this video.