Ayoob: 2 Dead What Went Wrong? — $5.95 OUTSIDE US $9.50 MAY/JUNE 2010 ® ! E V I S U L C Ex s&W A Fletc custom her 19 PAckAge11 W
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Cover Photo: Chuck Pittman, Inc. Volume 34 • Number 3 • Issue 205 2010 MAY • JUNE Photo: Roy Huntington 42 i gotta be me FEATURE
58 DEPARTMENTS 22 the ayoob files MAssADAYOOB TheOkaloosaCountyCop-Killings. 30 the sixgunner JOHNTAffIN Reloadingwitholdpowders
board of directors Thomas von Rosen, CEO; Thomas Hollander; Randy Moldé; Marjorie Young PUblisher & editor Roy Huntington Managi
SPEAKOUT YOUR FORUM TO PONTIFICATE, PONDER AND PROBE DRUNKEN SAILORS ItakeexceptiontofolkssayingthatObamaandPelosiarespendinglik
SPEAKOUT handguns not appropriate for what they need. And it’s pretty common to see people who know nothing about handguns being
THE MOST ADVANCED GUN CARE SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD! ® OTIS TECHNOLOGY The Otis Breech-to-MuzzleTM cleaning system has revolutionize
SPEAKOUT they’re not accurate like a Gee-Wizz 90 from Custom Accuracy 1000!” And I usually just look at them and wonder how they
P226 USP SA P226 U ainl A St SPS ess World Champion Speed Shooter, Max Michel, knows performance and a perfectly balanced winner
SPEAKOUT All is not lost though, now I have five of them to choose from. The look on your dad’s face says it says it all. Bob Jo
A LASER THIS SMALL IS HUGE. upset over the pending divorce from his military wife, took his young son to the base hospital where
SPEAKOUT you to buy new equipment. I recommend you go online to do some research and to reach out to local gun stores to find ac
write about them, test them, shoot them, figure them out, wring them out and help readers sort through the maze to help them mak
SPEAKOUT at times. We welcome anyone who is willing to engage civilly and with an honest attempt at being open to hearing from a
Since 1986.The Standard For Reliability McCormick 1911 Mags A Big “PLUS” In Performance For Serious 1911 Pistol Shooters! $32.95
PISTOLSMITHING Alex Hamilton THE INSIDE SCOOP ON PISTOLSMITHING TECHNIQUES Keeping Yourself ATF-Legal e are all aware of what is
Power ed b y Wolf f! ered by olff For over 50 years Wolff has been the name you trust for precision gunsprings - Recoil Springs
Massad ayoob The OkalOOsa COunTy COp-killings: The inside sTOry situation: Twoveteranofficersconfrontawife-beater,not realizingh
Ruger ® SR9c™ Pistol-Brushed Stainless 9mm Luger Ruger ® SR9c™ Pistol - Blackened Alloy 9mm Luger Perfectly sized to be comforta
J.D. Jones HANDGUNHUNTING TIPS, TECHNIQUES AND POLITICALINCORRECTNESS Bison Big Boys A hat’s sort of what I got caught up in dur
The Team Match II™ is chambered in both .45 ACP & 9mm. Slide & frame are machined from stainless steel to exacting dimensions. H
WINNINGEDGE Dave Anderson SOLID ADVICE TO KEEP YOU AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION Here’s the magic, and it’s easy to see. Red dot on t
Double Trouble T Clint Smith REALITYCHECK TM FIRST-PERSON THOUGHTS ON SURVIVING IN THE REAL WORLD The X300 SureFire light easily
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THE SIXGUNNER hen I became deeply interested in sixguns, I wanted to know the experiences of earlier shooters. I had often read
John Connor GUNCRANKDIARIES TM EXCUSES, ALIBIS, PITHY OBSERVATIONS & GENERAL EPHUS Tale of A Roamin’ Pony A gunfighter’s grail:
FMG AmericanHG.ai 10/7/08 8:51:25 AM The Future of Pepper Defense PepperBlaster™ is better than ordinary pepper sprays. With a r
TAFFINTESTS was the same age as my youngest grandson is now when I first started hooting the 1911 using a $15 military surplus .
Khaki Digital Foliage Camo Khaki Main compartment and hydration compartment can accept CCW accessories #0431 SITKATM GEARSLINGER
CARRYOPTIONS Sammy Reese FROM CLASSICS TO CUTTING EDGE IN CARRY METHODS DeSantiS Duke used to keep a .45-70 in the loops to let
What’s the secret to making the finest custom 1911’s in the world? There are two of them, really. First, we start with the very
BETTERSHOOTING Dave Anderson . 22 NirvaNa W hen I started shooting handguns, which was not the day before yesterday, it was take
Mike “Duke” Venturino SHOOTINGIRON TM Photos: Yvonne Venturino THUMB BUSTIN’ MUSINGS FROM THE DUKE GROUPING After a handgun is m
MEPROLIGHT. The right sight in any light. Meprolight night sight systems are 20% brighter than other brands and backed by the st
I Gotta Be Make Mine Custom! A much younger Taffin shooting a Mag-na-port Stalker. I 42 n the 1950s I discovered Elmer Keith and
Me John Taffin This .454 Freedom Arms has been customized by Mag-naport with the installation of an SSK T’SOB scope mount, Magna
Using a Colt New Frontier barrel and a Ruger Old Model .357 David Clements built this dualcylindered .44 Special/.44-40. Taffin’
the .44 Magnum arrived and instead of offering the .357 Blackhawk platform in .44 Special a larger framed model was offered as t
UsPsAProductionclassopenedpractical shootingcompetitiontoanyonewitha qualityduty-stylepistolandpractical holster.Anyofthesewould
WiththeInfinitytriggersystem,shootershaveanarrayoftriggerlengthandstylechoices.Ithasanovertraveladjustmentstop,andisavailablebot
RAGING BULLS! PAT COVERT T 48 he bulls not only run in Pamplona, Spain, they run in Clinton, Mississippi in the shop of custom k
BURkeS ON A BUdGeT here’s good news for those who wouldliketoownaJimBurkeknife but can’t quite afford the custom pricetag.Bothmi
50 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • MAY/JUNE2010
he mighty X-frame revolvers and the gorgeous handguns of their Performance Center notwithstanding, the single most popular handg
The 2.5" barrel affords much longer ejection stroke, seen here with a Pro-Ported Chief. Katherine Rutledge shows the effectivene
old-style stocks (or too weak a grasp) allow the gun to roll up in the shooter’s hand. In rapid fire, that can quickly allow the
S&W’S J-Frame
hand so high and the bore axis so low. Even with the super-light .357 Mags, which come back into the hand brutally, you can keep
perfect sights, they make huge sense. They’re now available as S&W factory options on many J-frame models. One shortcoming of th
A Special That Mike “Duke” Venturino Photos: Yvonne Venturino These are Duke’s current .38 Special revolvers, out of the dozens
IS Special grains with the same bullets. Smokeless powder loads came about in September 1899. Suydam says initial smokeless powd
Duke figures his S&W Model 442 .38 Special makes a fine hip pocket revolver. This is the .38-44 cartridge introduced circa 1930
These three large-frame revolvers were perfectly adequate for the hot .38-44 loads. From left: S&W Outdoorsman (aka Model 23), C
Where’s the shari leGate Grease? Shari did a bit of dry-firing with the test gun and found the trigger pull was crisp and reliab
Springfield’S xd SerieS een living under a rock? Don’t know anything about the XD series from Springfield Armory? Climb out from
rockS on SuB-compactS to tHe 3.8 xd(m) roy Huntington Above: The Sub-Compact .40 (top) wears the ultra-lightweight and uber-smal
GotalottaGlocksora scadofsmith&Wessons? ThisfourGunPistolPack fromElitesurvivalsystems isplentyroomy butperfectly compactand pro
There’samotleymessof“messengerbags”out there,butMaxpedition’sputtheirownunique features,stylingandstoriedstrengthintotheirnew Gl
COPTALK Massad Ayoob OPINION AND FACTS FROM THE MEAN STREETS MORE LESSONS FROM OKALOOSA COUNTY When cops die in the line of duty
John Taffin HANDLOADING The Garrett 310 grain Super Hard Cast Hammerhead. SAGE ADVICE FROM THE HANDLOADING GURUS Randy also load
WiN! Win ThiS HANDGuN oF tHE MoNtH Terrific ! Trio 3 UZi TacTical Fixed Blade FighTer 72 2 FirsT sTrike gUNleaTher scaBBard UZI
ENtEr oNliNE At AMEricANHANDGuNNEr.coM! Actual 25 yard target from this Fletcher Custom pistol! FleTcher cUsTom 1 ccW ichard fle
RAGING bULLS Continued from page 49 steel inserts matching the blade steel, and even all Damascus or Japanese Mokume Gane handle
Experience Counts. Issue 1 • January 1955 Issue 649 • January 2010 GUNS Magazine Celebrates 55 Years Early retirement — not an o
S&W J-FRAME Continued from page 57 the Performance Center but built in main-line mass production to reduce cost to the buying pu
A.G. RUSSELL™ KNIVES Since 1964, A.G. Russell™ Knives has supplied the knife needs of customers worldwide. The A.G. Russell name
BROWNELLS INC. FREE! Brownells 1911 Catalog #5 includes more great products to build, maintain and shoot the most popular pistol
GUNS MAGAZINE GUNS Magazine makes the shooting sports more enjoyable. Read about the latest shooting trends and newest guns. Tip
SPEAK OUT World’s Finest Magazines MEC-GAR is proud to offer “Optimum” - our new and unique series of high capacity flush-fit pi
Made with Pride in the U.S.A. What’s in a name? History. John Taliaferro Thompson founded the Auto-Ordnance Corporation® in 1916
I GOTTA bE ME Continued from page 45 Special. Hamilton Bowen has built .41 Specials for me on a Ruger Blackhawk, a Colt Single A
GUNCRANK Continued from page 32 fugitives; SWAT missions and stakeouts; drug lab raids and cornered killers; horrors, hostages a
AYOOb FILES Continued from page 22 Bust ’em! Barnes Busters™ drop bears, boars, Cape buffalo and other big, tough game—right the
Untitled-1 1 up and instantly recognizes a Taurus Millennium pistol. Immediately, Joshua Cartwright is shooting. The first fast
York lies dying from an execution shot to the head, fired from the Taurus pistol that lies near him in the dirt of the parking l
10-AmericanHandgunAd: 2/1/10 Federal 9mm rounds punch into Deputy Hall’s vehicle. Hall, no more than five yards away from the co
Gunsmithing DVD Video! "How-To " Being A Certified Gunsmith Professional Gunsmithing Course Introductory Lesson Robert Dunlap -
XD SERIES Continued from page 65 All BIG-BORES, All SUPER-BORES, All BARREL LENGTHS - Only One Choice. ost The MHolster ™ us Fam
And — I didn’t learn a thing. What I saw was exactly what I expected. The XD line seems to be inherently, predictably, accurate,
more? Better sights, better ergonomics and touches here and there to make shooting even more fun? The XD(m) (and the 3.8 in part