http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/RSS.ashxAmerican Handgunner Nov/Dec 2009 PagesWed, 09 Sep 2009 01:07:40 +0200http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=1http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=1Bonnie & Clyde’s Final shootout $5.95 OUTSIDE US $9.50 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 ® REFINED POWER GRP/GRP RECON TauruS 4 . 5 1911 NIGHTHAWK CUSTOM ACP IS Special! Special The .44 Taffin: . Carbine Combo Guns What’s Hot: 30 Blades & lights raIl-Gun Turnbull Restoration: Metal Magicians Gunnysack Aluma Grips • Fail Zero LaserMax • QuickStrips2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=2http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=2Super Hawg.Super Shooter Super Hawg Pictured: Single-Action, Only the SUPER HAWG from Para delivers: You get more velocity and more sight radius with the six-inch match grade ramped barrel and less felt recoil. Our exclusive, patented Power Extractor™ has a 50% larger claw to make this 1911 run flawlessly every shot. You need to see your front sight even in low light conditions. The fiber optic front sights lets you zero in on your target. Get a grip that you can hang on to with front strap checkering. Hawg-tough all weather stainless steel is corrosion resistant. The Super Hawgs are the Best 1911s you can own and they come in either 8-round or 14-round .45 ACP models. (Also available in high capacity,) 10620 Southern Loop Blvd., Pineville, NC 28134 Phone: (704) 930-7600 www.para-usa.com/super2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=3http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=32009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=4http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=4Cover Photo: Chuck Pittman, Inc. Volume 33 • Number 6 • Issue 202 NOVEMBER • DECEMBER 2009 48 48 TURNBULL RESTORATION ROY HUNTINGTON Benchmark preservation, plus a bit of magic. FEATURES DAVE ANDERSON 52 THE .44 SpEcIAL IS STILL SpEcIAL! JOHN TAFFIN Can Duke be wrong about this? John investigates. 56 .30 cARBINE cOMBO GUNS MIKE “DUKE” VENTURINO Teaming up in a rifle/handgun shoot-off! 60 NIGHTHAWK cUSTOM Refined, accurate and reliable — what’s not to like? GRp/GRp REcON 68 DUTY TOUGH! PAT COVERT The working knives and tools of Rick Hinderer. 74 56 JOHN CONNOR 71 THE LIGHT BULB BUD JOHNSON Bud’s back with another old time cop yarn! 72 BRIGHT LIGHTS & BEAUTIFUL BLADES What’s new in bright lights — and bad blades. 74 DUTY-READY PAT CASCIO Taurus’ 1911 rail-gun: Affordable performance. 90 ALMOSTS: THE MAMBA This “original” hi-cap auto almost made it! J.B. WOOD 68 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 42009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=5http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=552 DEPARTMENTS 30 THE AYOOB FILES MASSAD AYOOB The death of Bonnie and Clyde. 42 BETTER SHOOTING DAVE ANDERSON Weak-hand basics. 46 THE SIXGUNNER JOHN TAFFIN “Dear Handgunner” — April, 1936 (Part II). 110 GUNNYSAcK ROY HUNTINGTON Aluma Grips, Fail Zero, LaserMax, and QuickStrips. COLUMNS 8 SpEAK OUT 22 WINNING EDGE DAVE ANDERSON 24 GUNcRANK DIARIES JOHN CONNOR 26 REALITY cHEcK CLINT SMITH 28 HANDLOADING JOHN TAFFIN 32 pISTOLSMITHING ALEX HAMILTON 34 cARRY OpTIONS SAMMY REESE 36 cOp TALK MASSAD AYOOB 38 TAFFIN TESTS JOHN TAFFIN 40 HANDGUN HUNTING J.D. JONES 44 SHOOTING IRON MIKE “DUKE” VENTURINO 122 THE INSIDER ROY HUNTINGTON 72 38 28 42 26 HANDGUN OF THE MONTH RESOURCES 91 114 116 118 119 cATALOG SHOWcASE cUSTOM cORNER SpOTLIGHT AD INDEX cLASSIFIEDS STEVE EVATT Check Out Web Blast For More Info, Videos WIN! 76 Win this SIG SAUER 9mm/.22 Combo! And Pictures About Articles In Every Issue. JUST CLICK ON THE WEB BLAST ICON! AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM AMERICAN HANDGUNNER® (ISSN 0145-4250) is published bi-monthly by Publishers’ Development Corp., 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, CA 92128. Periodical postage paid at San Diego, CA 92128, and at additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: One year (six issues) $19.75. Single copies $5.95 (in Canada $9.50). Change of address: four weeks notice required on all changes. Send old address as well as new. Contributors submitting manuscripts, photographs or drawings do so at their own risk. Material cannot be returned unless accompanied by sufficient postage. Payment is for all world rights for the material. The act of mailing a manuscript constitutes the author’s certification of originality of material. Opinions expressed are those of the bylined authors and do not necessarily represent those of the magazine or it’s advertisers. Advertising rates furnished on request. Reproduction or use of any portion of this magazine in any manner, without written permission, is prohibited. Entire contents Copyright© 2009 Publishers’ Development Corp. All rights reserved. Title to this publication passes to subscriber only on delivery to his address. SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS: For immediate action, write Subscription Dept., 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, CA 92128. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to AMERICAN HANDGUNNER®, 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, CA 92128. WARNING: Firearms are dangerous if used improperly, and may cause serious injury or death. Due to the inherent variables in the reloading of metallic cartridges, verify all published loads with manufacturer’s data. Consult a professional gunsmith when modifying any firearm. Be a safe shooter! WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 52009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=6http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=6board of directors Thomas von Rosen, CEO; Thomas Hollander; Randy Moldé; Marjorie Young PUblisher & editor Roy Huntington Managing Editorial Assistant Stephanie Jarrell Editorial Assistant Kerin Van Hoosear Design Director Lisa Stahlhut Production Manager Kevin Lewis Web Site Manager Lorinda Massey Promotions Coordinator Elizabeth O’Neill Advertising Sales Director Anita Carson Advertising Sales Assistant Dana Hatfield Staff Photographer Joe Novelozo John Morrison Jeremy Clough Mike “Duke” Venturino John Taffin Sammy Reese, BCP Massad Ayoob Dave Anderson Mark Hanten Dave Douglas Clint Smith J.D. 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Gillaspey e-mail: . sng@g-glaw.com CuStoMEr SErviCE ProDuCED iN tHE u.S.A. 6 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=7http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=72009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=8http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=8SPEAKOUT liars YOUR FORUM TO PONTIFICATE, PONDER AND PROBE So the truth finally comes out. I knew in my gut there was no way 90-percent of weapons seized from drug cartels in Mexico were coming from the US, as repeated over and over by Clinton, Pelosi, et-al. Turns out Fox News did some actual research with the Mexican Attorney General’s office and 83-percent of guns traced did not come from the US. This type of Orwellian deception is common among anti-gun liberals and mainstream media. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth. So tell your friends, write your House and Congress reps, and see if they will ever acknowledge this propaganda. Mike Moreno Pleasanton, California Planets Aligned dude who cut his eye teeth on those dinosaurs which work just as well as they ever did and are, as Clint Smith refers to them — “Old Guy Guns.” Imagine my joy to find an article in about a custom 5-shot J-frame S&W pocket rocket (“An Ultimate J-Frame,” Perverse Plastic? July/Aug 2009) that had a less-thanUsually I avoid gun magazines veiled knock against the current trend unless they have articles about the 1911 of 9:04:18 catering to the tactical tupperwarPACT_postxmas_09_fixed.pdf 12/16/08 AM or revolvers. After all, I’m a crusty old istas. Ye Olde Editor Roy was writing Obama is president. Ruger has a polymer revolver. The end is here. Joe Schiros Via e-mail about a Gemini Customs J-frame made on a steel-framed S&W and he said, “It feels like a real gun,” and made another veiled comment about drastic plastic that might easily be construed as distaste? Finally, somebody in the gun-hawkeing industry hath SEEN THE LIGHT! Can I get a hallelluja, brother! Like many a heretic to the true faith, I too swayed from the path and dallied with the products of the prostitutes of 8 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=9http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=92009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=10http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=10SPEAKOUT polymers, but now my feet are back on the path of the rightious as my polymers gather dust and my wheelguns collect wear and tear! And I predict as more and more people actually start carrying and actually shooting guns instead of buying what looked good in the last action movie they saw, they will rediscover the joys of those wonderful S&Ws, the 1911s and those delightful Hi Powers. Any one of which will usually shoot circles around the half-cocked and unlocked mushy-triggered plastic play pretties of the Mall Ninja and Chairborn Ranger crowd. Big Jim Charles Via e-mail Jim, I wish you weren’t so shy. Tell us how you really feel the next time. And just so the record’s straight, I do own some plastic pistols. And they are useful. Um, uh, let’s see … ah, er … oh wait, I know, you don’t have to wipe them off as much as steel guns. There, that’s a pretty good thing isn’t it? -RH The Whinery Lying Hysteria EQUAL Reliable Feeding Reduced Penetration Excellent for Close Quarter Security Perfect For Civilian Use Are Not Created ALL BULLETS I can no longer believe anything I will ever read in your garbage magazine again. Venturino’s trash about the .44 Special (“The .44 Special Ain’t,” July/ Aug 2009) proves he doesn’t know anything about guns. I don’t subscribe and never will, and I know the .44 Special shoots so well because Skeeter Skelton said it does, and that’s good enough for me. Reading that article made my blood boil and I can’t believe the editor allowed such disgusting work to appear. Vernon Bloodsworth Via e-mail Yup, that’s me, allowing disgusting work to appear. Vern, I gotta’ ask — did you take the time to even read the article? Duke never said there was anything wrong with the .44 Special, he simply said that it’s no better than many other cartridges. Anyone can get virtually any cartridge to shoot good groups if they try long enough. There’s no magic with the .44 Special, but there’s no evil either! The Marine Premier Products from 605.347.4544 • 800.626.7266 corbon.com In a recent article (Ayoob Files, July/ Aug 2009) you mentioned the citizen who defended himself was a Marine. I think it’s even more relevant he was a retired pilot. Pilots, particularly professional pilots, are usually detached, 10 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=11http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=11No, Probably Not. Witness the destructive power of the Taurus Judge 3” MAGNUM. The most overwhelmingly successful revolver in recent history. Capable of firing .410 GA 3-inch MAGNUM shotshells. .410 GA 2.5-inch shotshells. And .45 Colt ammunition. It’s personal protection in a class by itself. FREE one-year NRA membership with the purchase of any new Taurus firearm. Check out the new ‘Melon Head’ video at TaurusUSA.com. www.TaurusUSA.com2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=12http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=12SPEAKOUT controlling, problem-solvers. They have to be to maintain flight safety. These characteristics are developed through training and practice over years. In the event of an emergency the pilot suppresses any fear he may feel and becomes focused in order to begin devising ways to cope with the situation. The best pilots have the highest ability to solve problems under great stress, while avoiding incorrect responses. A high standard of detachment is the norm among pilots. A flight that terrorized the passengers will be referred to by the pilot as “interesting.” In my opinion it’s this kind of personality that makes pilots very dangerous opponents. Please keep those great articles coming, Steve Hawley Via e-mail Handgunner’s done it again. I just finished your article, (Insider, Warts and All, Sept/Oct 2009) and your story about your brother and that old Smith & Wesson tore into my heart. I too have memories about loved ones who are too-soon gone and memories revolving around our shared love of good guns — usually the most personal of firearms, the handgun. What you write tells our shared story. You understand our heart, and your instinct is toward the common things we all value — our family, our country, our honor and our willingness to defend those things. Thank goodness there are men like you unafraid to speak up. Sometimes, in an “Obamafied” world, it seems that all is lost, but then there is American Handgunner, and you remind us there are others out there who feel as we do. Thank you, you guys have done more good than you can ever know, and you will stay in my prayers. Les Bingham Via e-mail Warts Old Iron I just got through reading the Sept/ Oct issue of American Handgunner that arrived in today’s post. Another great issue. I especially enjoyed your “Warts And All” in the Insider column. I too have fond memories of old iron I have, and have had. For instance, the old Colt O.P. in .38 spl. I gave to my brother when he got on the Brazoria Co. Sheriff’s Office in Texas and needed a sidearm. I had gotten it from a friend in Winslow, Arizona whom I had spent many an evening with talking guns and sharing margaritas 12 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=13http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=132009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=14http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=14SPEAKOUT with in his “Gun Room.” That old Colt served my brother well and for a long while. He was the only deputy in the county packin’ a sixgun he told me. The younger lawmen would come from other patrol districts just to see the old Colt. It now proudly hangs in his home, replaced by a more modern, issued auto as he continues to keep the peace. But none will be as fine as that old Colt Official Police revolver with its still deep original blue and 6" barrel. A true Lawman’s sidearm. I could go on but just wanted to thank you for sharing, and for bringing back some memories of gun ghosts in my past — and present. Anyone for a tequila and a cold Pacifico? Please pass the salt and le’mon, por favor. Happy trails. Mike La Pine, Oregon Us? Classy? Thanks for representing the gun culture in a classy and mature way. Paul Brimhall Monte Vista, Colorado 1933 Returns AH_HotNewV6f300.pdf 1 11/1/07 11:21:42 AM Excellent! No . Outstanding! Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed John Taffin’s letter “dated” May 2, 1933 (Sixgunner, Sept/Oct 2009). Let’s see, 1933 … I thought you were four or five years older than me, but I didn’t realize you were that much older! Seriously, the letter was a bit reminiscent of the Dobe Grant/Jug Johnson/Skeeter exchanges, and the Bill Jordan/Skeeter Skelton tongue-incheek exchanges. By the way, you seen ol’ Jug lately? Ken Via e-mail And … I thought your May, 1933 “Dear Roy” is a gunzine tour de force. The reader must be a bit long of tooth (or missing most of them), or a long-time student of handgunning history to really appreciate this walk back into a past that can never be recreated, let alone topped. And somehow, I think it’s only Chapter One. Some more letters coming down the road? Peter Tomaras Via e-mail To see the entire line of Woolrich tactical apparel or to find a retailer near you, visit www.woolricheliteseriestactical.com Yup, check out the Sixgunner in this issue to see what John has to say in his “next” letter to me. When I asked John if he “remembered” anything from the old days and could he “write me a few letters to get caught up” he took to it 14 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=15http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=152009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=16http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=16SPEAKOUT immediately. I remain convinced, while the hardware can be interesting, without knowing the people and the stories surrounding themthey are merely pieces of wood, metal and now, plastic. It proves once again there’s more to reading about guns then gun tests, eh? -RH A Soldier Speaks Out Al Mar Knives Our Sere Operator knives are handmade to exacting standards, assuring the highest quality in the industry. Excellence m o r e Mini SERE Operator™ 4” Blade SERE Operator ™ 5” Blade l e a r n @ w w w . a l m a r k n i v e s . c o m I read with much interest the two articles (Shooting Iron, “.44 Ruskie” and “The .44 Special Ain’t,” July/Aug 2009) regarding the .44 Russian and .44 Special — bravo! I too have come to enjoy shooting both .44 cartridges. Of late, I have come into the .44 Russian as an adjunct IDPA/IPSC cartridge for my revolver. I shoot a customized S&W Model 21 Classic I had a fullmoon conversion performed using TK Custom full moon clips. I find this combination is close to replicating the .45 ACP revolver’s full-moon capabilities in both utility and speed. The utility of this modern retro DA revolver is further defined by the use of the .44 Special cartridge. I can load it hot (1,000-1,100 fps) or at a more sedate 850 fps. My Model 21 is currently “under the knife” at my Denver-area gunsmith while I’m serving my year in Afghanistan. When finished, it will be, to my mind, an extension of the original Thunder Ranch .44 Special revolver. In addition to it’s Spegel Cocobolo extended boot grips, it will have a series of mods I feel will make it a top-notch fighting and competition revolver. Among them will be a stipled backstrap, Big Dot front sight, bobbed hammer and contoured trigger, “black powder” chamfer of the cylinder face and a DAonly pull of 8-10 pounds. I too have found the gun/cartridge combination doesn’t give match-grade accuracy without much in the way of handload development. I’ve been trying to get the mythical 1" group for some time with all–manner of bullet weights and powders, with no avail. The .44 Russian, in my mind’s eye, is a much better alternative to the Special, as its short case is easier to load (I use RCBS Cowboy dies in the Russian and Lee in the Special) and my pet load is comprised of a 240 grain Berry’s Truncated Cone with Unique or Bullseye housed in nickel Starline cases. I usually get 850-875 fps with groups in the range of 13/4" at 25 yds with the Russian. As Clint Smith would say, “You only need Minute-of-Paper Plate at 21 feet.” The .44 Special/Russian round more than satisfies this requirement. In summation, I agree with you 110-percent the Russian is perhaps a more “efficient” cartridge than the 16 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=17http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=17Special. The thought of shooting a cartridge that was the “pet” of folks like Skeeter, Elmer and other notables is the best part of the Special. For utility, I have to give the nod to the Russian, especially in the guise of the full-mooned Model 21. Properly done, it is a fast shooting/reloading big-bore sixgun. Lastly, the Special is right at home with the load that is my homage to Skeeter Skelton: The 250 grain Keith-style hardcast LSWC over 7.5 grains of Unique for about 900 fps. Great load for almost “ … anything needing to be shot with a handgun” as Skeeter was so apt to say. Keep up the great work you guys. I also enjoy Duke’s articles about his new Class III hobby. I always wanted to shoot a Ppsh (“Pappa-Sha”). Semper Fidelis. Gregory R. Topp Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Marine Corps MALS-40 Camp Bastion, Afghanistan Greg, thanks for your thoughtful and detailed note. I shared it in its entirety since there was great information there, and to thank you for your service. Get home safely so you can enjoy your revolvers again! -RH Heresy Finally, someone had the courage to come out and say what has become verboten. It seems Mike Venturino simply told the truth: There’s nothing the .44 Special will do that other cartridges won’t do also, sometimes better, sometimes not (“The .44 Special Ain’t,” July/ Aug 2009). Vintage Handgunner if you ask me, and one of the reasons I buy the magazine. Keep it up. Now … what does Taffin have to say? Ellis Brown Via e-mail Read Taffin’s riposte in this issue on why the .44 Special — is. Duke sure got ’em wound-up though. A reader sent me a link to a forum and I found over 16 pages of postings on the article. Some were near hysterical while many simply agreed with Duke saying they didn’t know what all the fuss was about. I doubt if many of the whiners actually read the entire article. But, my father once told me, “If you don’t stir the pot now and again, a scum will begin to form.” We stirred it this time, didn’t we? Now, if those forum-thingies could only devote all that anger/angst and energy in a more positive direction! -RH Ever Own One? Duke has some legit complaints about the .44 Special. I wonder if any of those who write in defense of the 17 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=18http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=18SPEAKOUT cartridge ever owned a .44 Special? I own a S&W 696 and it’s a neat little gun, but it doesn’t get out much. My .44 Mags see more .44 Special ammo than that little L-frame ever did. My own charge in the .44 Special is 7.2 grs of Unique (an RCBS Little Dandy rotor is why) with a 240 gr. cast bullet. It clocks at 850 fps through the 3" 696 and shoots very well. It is almost a .45 ACP snubby, and that’s not a bad thing. My favorite .44 Specials all shoot .44 Mag. so maybe that’s why the S&W 696 is a homebody. Mike Iyall Washington State Brave Dude Mike, I read your article about the not-so-special .44 special (you’re a brave man dude). I thought maybe I just had the bad luck of buying .44s that somehow slipped through quality control. They are alright shooters, but not the tack driving laser beams I was expecting after reading the firearms press. I bought a USFA SAA in .44-40 (which of course I ordered with an extra cylinder in .44 special). When I first shot it, I was using one hand and standing because I wasn’t expecting much out of those those tiny fixed sights. I was amazed as those .44-40 pumpkins grouped much better than my .44 specials, which I shot seated at a benchrest, using both hands. I never have switched it out to .44 special. Why would I? I was relieved to get vindication from your article and to hear someone say “The emperor has no clothes!” Now, if you can just escape the torches and pitchforks crowd. Be well. Rick Bell Via e-mail I have been an American Handgunner reader for a while and just discovered the Web blast feature. I really like the feature, and I watched about a half-dozen and am going to go back to watch the rest. The Web blasts from Clint Smith’s videos were great, I’m going to suggest logging on to my friends and co-workers. Carlos Omar Garcia Via e-mail If you haven’t bothered, get off your duff and log onto www.americanhandgunner. com and click on any of the Web blast features. You’ll either get some more pics and thoughts from an article appearing in the pages of Handgunner, or you’ll get some video with a writer going 18 Visit www.birchwoodcasey.com or call: 800-328-6156 4826SA121208KF/JD Web Blast-Blast WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=19http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=19“live” with their thoughts about a test gun, hunt, competition — or you just never know exactly what you might get! I’ve even badgered Duke into sending us some footage of him making empty brass with his new machinegun habit. -RH The Whinery Smoke A Joint I’m a proud, red-blooded American liberal from California. I love guns and freedom, but I think your opinions of liberals in general and California in particular are just flat out wrong. Okay, yes, the gun laws here are restrictive, but I’m free to do pretty much whatever else I choose: ride a motorcycle across the state doing double the speed limit just about everywhere, smoke a joint in public or tell people I don’t believe in God and not have to worry about them trying to cram religion down my or my kids’ throats. The only freedom you guys worry about is having a gun. We just got rid of a president who believed in warrantless wire taps, torture, breaking the Geneva convention, locking people up without due process and you are worried about what Obama might do to your freedoms? No American president could ever get rid of guns in this country, period. As for getting big government off your back and other meaningless platitudes from 25 years ago, you need to wake up and realize that government provides us with many freedoms. One of which is the freedom from the tyranny of born-again, country-fried Okies like you and the one we just got out of office. I might buy your magazine again, but I’ll do my best not to read it. Joshua Stern El Cerrito, California I rest my case. In the future, should the topic of California liberals come up, I’ll simply refer to Josh’s letter. It’s not often your opponent wins your argument for you, so thanks Josh. I don’t recommend you move outside of California, by the way — it may be a rude awakening for you. We say “no” sometimes to bad behavior “out here.” I especially enjoyed the part about “ … smoke a joint in public.” Priceless. -RH Don’t Dismiss Allow me to check in from Outer America. I am happy for Editor Roy Huntington and wish him nothing but the best in his new home in rural middle America. I also appreciate the follow up comments that came from Real America and our “heartland,” but perhaps you have been too quick to dismiss all of us out here on the far west coast as the Republic of California. This 19 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=20http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=20SPEAKOUT state stretches for hundreds of miles north to south and the changes along the way are dramatic. I will grant you that Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley are more like foreign countries than true American cities, but then there is northern California. North of Sacramento the farm land and forests dominate the landscape and the population density really thins out. I live in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Up here we measure our property by acres, do our gardening with tractors and chainsaws, get around in four-wheel drive trucks, and treasure our 2nd Amendment rights. We’ve got the firearms and skills to both protect our families and put food on the table. We are veterans and patriots who would be happy to cut this state in half and let the lower portion drift off as far left as they wish. Up here in the upper half we are about as American as it gets so please do not write us off. Tom Cole Paradise, (Northern) California Tom, you’re officially not written-off! Now, if you could only secede from that lower half! Keep a sharp eye on them until you can though. -RH Connor Again First and foremost, I want to thank you for an outstanding magazine. Like most of your readers, I read your magazine from cover to cover not once but several times until I have read every article, ad and word. The recent piece by John Connor (Guncrank Diaries, “Dark Moon Rising,” July/Aug 2009) was without a doubt one of the most important articles you have ever published. I just want to make a preemptive strike on the nay-sayers who are bound to write you to say politics should not be part of a gun magazine. My comment to them is, “Wake up and face reality.” In country after country, citizens have seen their rights to own and use firearms taken away. We have not faired much better in this country with the reams of Constitutionally illegal gun laws now on the books. Each of these laws and regulations chip away another small piece of our 2nd Amendment rights. There is absolutely no question the current administration would like nothing better than to make it illegal for we “commoners” to own any type of firearm. The loudest voice in America today for the defense of the 2nd Amendment is the National Rifle Association. Yet, because they disagree with one thing or another Live: 7" 20 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 Live: 7"2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=21http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=21the NRA has said or done you will hear some people say they will not join. This is incredibly shortsighted. There is only one thing gun-grabbing politicians fear and that is the strength of the NRA lobby and it’s ability to rally it’s members to vote them out of office. The more members the NRA has the better our chances of needing a fine gun magazine such as yours. You clearly understand this as you are offering free NRA memberships to new subscribers and gift memberships to those who renew their American Handgunner subscriptions. I want to personally thank John Connor for his fine article. I also want to thank you for your efforts to increase NRA memberships. Keep up the good work and, to quote a strong civil rights advocate, “We shall overcome.” Dale Athanas Old Lyme, Connecticut .44 Hysteria I enjoyed Mike Venturino’s article about the .44 Special. I have never bought into the idea of one round being more accurate than another. With all the things that can vary between one handgun and another — headspace, throat size, etc. — I have always thought it was the firearm and not the caliber that mattered most. Maybe I am just not a big believer in the cult surrounding the .44 Special? Thanks for clearing the air. William Self Via e-mail A Brit Speaks Out I read JR’s letter (“Keeping Sane,” Speakout, July/Aug 2009) and Roy Huntington’s column (“Shame On Us,” Insider, same issue) with a sense of both disappointment and confusion. Disappointment for JR’s experience of not feeling welcomed into the community of shooters, but fortunately, confusion as well, because I too am a relative newcomer to shooting and I have to say I absolutely don’t recognize the hostile environment JR and Roy describe. My experience has been the absolute opposite. I live in the UK where as you will be aware, our gun ownership laws are draconian by US standards. Although not yet a gun owner, whenever I travel to the US I’ve been shooting at walk-in rental ranges and occasionally with co-workers, for the past seven or eight years. I’ve never felt intimidated by the shooters around me. On the contrary, folks have been curious to see my choice of rental pistol and always happy to show off their own guns. We’ve chatted during reloading, and complete strangers have even offered me their personal guns to try. Just because I don’t walk in carrying a tricked-out 1911 or a personalized AR-15 doesn’t stop me Continued on page 95 21 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=22http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=22WINNINGEDGE Dave Anderson SOLID ADVICE TO KEEP YOU AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION A HisTory LEssoN he city of Liége, Belgium has long been an armsmaking center. Rich deposits of high grade iron ore and abundant supplies of coal gave it natural advantages, to go with an educated and industrious population. For centuries, going back to the manufacture of swords and armor, most of these armsmakers were small independent operations. In the late 1800s the Belgian government needed a large order of military rifles. A number of individual gunmakers joined forces in an organization which became Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre (FN), located at Herstal, a suburb of Liége. Almost from the beginning FN had strong ties with America. Large military orders are a great thing, to be sure, but once an order has been met there’s no need for more production. By the end of the 19th century FN had a superb plant, the most modern equipment, skilled workers and nothing to make. A Connecticut-born American named Hart Berg was part of FN FNP The FNP .45 is a full size, traditional DA pistol in .45 ACP. Polymer frame keeps weight to just over two pounds empty, 44 ounces when loaded with 15 cartridges. THE T The polymer frame of the FNP .45 has an integral rail for accessories such as this combination white light/laser aiming device from Insight Technology. management, helping develop ideas for products to manufacture. In spring 1897 he was checking out prospects for bicycle manufacture. A native of Hartford, he happened to pay a visit to the Colt factory. There he met John M. Browning, who happened to be looking for a European manufacturer for an automatic pistol he had designed. Berg returned to Liége with Browning’s prototype. On July 17, 1897 FN signed a contract for production. A few years later, in February 1902, John Browning showed up at the factory with another prototype, this one an automatic shotgun. In a very short time the idle factories were humming with activity. FN established itself as one of the world’s great armsmakers, a reputation which has never wavered. In 1914 the Director General of FN, M. Andri, at a ceremony in which John Browning was knighted, said, “It was a fortunate day for all of us when this tall American came to our country … It is largely due to Browning that the factory owes its prosperity. Moreover the community of Herstal has shared in that prosperity … ” (John M. Browning, American Gunmaker by John Browning and Curt Gentry). To the citizens of Herstal, Browning was simply known as “Le Maître” — The Master. The association with America continues to this day. Currently 70-percent of the weapons used by American armed forces carry the famous FN trademark. FNH (Fabrique Nationale Herstal) has two US operations. FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC manufactures a wide range of firearms, including such military mainstays as the M-16, M-249 and M-240. FNH USA is located in Virginia and looks after sales, marketing and product development. Production is not limited to military arms. The Columbia plant also manufactures firearms for civilian police forces, and personal defense and sporting arms for private citizens. The current Winchester 70 hunting rifles are made at Columbia by FN. All operating controls are ambidextrous and well placed for easy access. The safety lever can be used as a hammer drop and can be engaged at any time. BROWNING LIVES R ecently I’ve been shooting the FNP .45 pistol. It was a recent Handgunner cover feature so I won’t rehash all the details, but a few thoughts are important. The FNP is made in the USA and the quality of materials and workmanship is superb. Functional reliability has been perfect, The pistol is accurate, with 2" groups the norm at 25 yards, and the fixed sights hit dead center for me at that range. Continued on page 100 22 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=23http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=232009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=24http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=24John Connor GUNCRANKDIARIES TM EXCUSES, ALIBIS, PITHY OBSERVATIONS & GENERAL EPHUS f American nurses are our “Angels of Mercy” — and they are, believe me; especially military nurses — then our candy-striped teenage hospital volunteers must be the cherubim, God bless ’em. They’re pretty much restricted to fetch-and-carry work in hospitals today, but still, I think their mere presence has more than a dollop of medicinal benefit. Sometimes, just pulling smiles, even an occasional painful laugh, out of badly hurt patients seems to be their sole duty, and they’re certainly good at it! One such candy-striper we’ll call Candy here, almost caused me to split my stitches. I could describe her more, but let’s just say with her red hair, freckle-flecked face and baby-blue eyes, I mistook her for one of my own Red Squad girls when I came out of a morphine fog and peeped her for the first time. On one of Candy’s many “hangin’ out” visits, my surgeon had left my medical records on a side table in my room. The cherub was leaning on it when she commented that my file was the fattest she’d ever seen. I told her it was sort of a chronicle of “Life’s Lessons Learned”; representing the curriculum of the University of Hard Knocks. She smiled impishly, worth sixty mg’s of morphine, easy, patted it and said, “Gee, you musta learned a ton, Mister Connor! Can you graduate now?” I splurted, ’sploded, knocked something over and people came runnin’. Good question, though … can I graduate? A Little Bit of Learning I & A PhD From The U Of HK BUGS BOLT-CUTTERS eah; I’ve learned some things, both esoteric and mundane, and the learning, while free of the usual tuition and lab fees, often came at the cost of blood, pain and/or embarrassment. Here’s one: If you lose blood an’ suffer pain from any given social encounter, at least try not to embarrass yourself too! Not in front of your mates, anyway. That does nothin’ but make the sting of a wound worse. The sorta-corollary is, if a deadly incident ends with you bein’ deeply embarrassed but not grievously wounded, don’t give it a second thought — as long as you learn rom it. In a fight for your life, You don’t shoot a man until you think he’s dead — You’ve got to shoot him until HE thinks he’s dead. Please hold any sanctimonious complaints about this one until you have fought men who, despite wounds which ought to drop a grizzly like a box ’o rocks, keep on determinedly killing your comrades and tryin’ their dangdest to kill you. I’ve learned there are millions of men who are absolutely, crazily willing to shed blood, draw blood and die for their cause, however weird, ridiculous and twisted it is. But thank God, there are very few of them willing to put the necessary effort into the training it takes to be proficient at that enterprise. About 24 Y training, I’ve learned that Amateurs train until they get the drill right; professionals train until they can’t get it wrong. I’ve learned that real fights rarely resemble fighting scenes filmed by Hollywood, but lotsa times you’ll wind up fighting guys whose only weaponshandling training apparently came from the movies. If you go up against a guy who shoots using the “Gangsta Grip” — over his head, gun horizontal on its port side, sorta pushing his rounds toward you with jerky arm movements — just thank Hollywood for his poor technique right after you ding him. I’ve learned the currency of some countries makes much better toilet paper than their toilet paper, and using it that way actually costs less than buying their toilet paper, if there is any available. Usually, there’s not. Continuing on this pottypath, I’ve also learned that when mortar rounds have you bracketed and the only hole in the pool-table plain you’re on is a pit toilet, Yes, you can do it … Just jump in. See “embarrassment” above. This naturally leads to what I’ve learned about digging in under fire. Did you know that anytime you think you’re excavating at peak efficiency, your digging speed can triple2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=25http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=25“Rewrites the small-frame revolver book.” American Handgunner, May/June 2009 (Roy Huntington) “In the world of revolvers, this gun can only be described with one word - innovative.” Combat Handguns, June 2009 (Dennis Adler) “That gun had what could be called a perfect trigger pull for a pocket revolver; a smooth and light double action.” Gunblast.com, January 14, 2009 (Jeff Quinn) FEATURES: • Monolithic Aluminum Frame • Patent Pending Friction Reducing Cam • Patent Pending Polymer Fire Control Housing • High-Strength 400 Series Stainless Steel Cylinder SPECIFICATIONS: • Capacity: 5 • Length: 6.5'' • Height: 4.5'' • Weight: 13-13.5 oz. • Barrel Length: 1.875'' ©2009 Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. WWW.RUGER.COM/LCR2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=26http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=26Big SightS & S recall the blasphemy at the introduction of the seven shot .38/.357 handguns. Old guys freaked, and the tactical types cherished the thought of finding an opponent who counted the fired rounds and then attacked on the designated seventh “empty” click only to be dropped in their evil tracks by the now-in-place lucky seventh round. Then came the 8-round guns and so on and so on. I like wheel guns, with my icons being the Model 19 and the Model 29 S&Ws. I didn’t think much of the other stuff until I got a Model 327 5" barreled .357 to test a few years back. I have tested it a lot, as in I’ve had to have it factory rebuilt twice so far, so I like it and am going to keep it. The cheesy moon clip things are okay but require a class in sensitivity to make them work well. You can auger-out the cylinder charge holes to make the eight cartridges all wiggle and eventually fall into place for expedited reloads, but there had to be a better way. In my opinion the moon things are very susceptible to damage in hard-use environments and I am a bit skittish about packing them in a pocket as a potential reload for a gunfight. The reload issue was the only flaw in the whole 8-shot gun thing. As I grew fond of the guns I approached the leading speed loader guys and they scratched their collective heads and said n. So we’ve muddled along until now. Albert and Ms. Myra Burstein are special friends and Ms. Myra favors the 327s and has shot them for years. Albert is a very smart guy and shooting together as we quite often do I was whining like a school kid the 327 guns are great but the reload sucks. Well, after loading and bending moons clips for a while, Albert agreed this loading thing is a pain. The catch is Albert has the ability to make things happen on a CNC 26 Clint Smith REALITYCHECK 8-SHOT LOADER I o “you can’t hit nothin” with a 2" Smith and Wesson? In reality the gun needs to be shot by people who practice in order to make the guns viable much beyond arms length. When boredom or the quest for excellence — the two are probably close cousins — allows us to push the envelope a bit, we often get some cool stuff out of it. This is especially the case in the quest if you include Hamilton Bowen in the mix. Hamilton told me about a new sight for the S&W 2" guns and for me, it instantly solved two problems. The first and best is it makes for a sight I can see for a change. Second, the sights can be adjusted to give maximum sight performance, and can even be set to a pet sport or defense load. In their always-expert way, Bowen’s shop mills the barrels and installs a replaceable front sight. The rear of the frame is milled and a small sight is set in place. Both sights are a lot larger and much easier to see and properly align than originals, and mine has a white bar on the front and a white outline on the rear. The front goes .125" and the rear opening comes in at .140". In case you wondered, the gun still fits all my holsters, including my preferred ankle holster. Hamilton being Hamilton, he has several different height and width sizes available to help set the sights up to be as effective as possible. The idea of sighted fire with this gun makes for an opening in the door of complaints that this sight is not logical. I agree to a degree, except for the subtle nuance it is pretty stunning to whack steel plates at 50 yards with a gun I most often plan on using at less than five feet. Think about it. 8 ShotS TM FIRST-PERSON THOUGHTS ON SURVIVING IN THE REAL WORLD - machine, and more importantly realized the value of having a good Model 327 speed loader without having some marketing deal involved. This evolution has allowed for Albert’s new 8-Shot loader. The 8-Shot loader body is made from anodized 6061 aluminum with all other internal parts made of stainless steel. The loader has a large notched counterclockwise release knob (the direction speed loaders should release) and the outside has two tapered sides to allow the shooter to ind2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=27http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=272009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=28http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=28John Taffin HANDLOADING SAGE ADVICE FROM THE HANDLOADING GURUS Hornady, Sierra, and Speer all offer excellent jacketed bullets for use in .44 Magnum sixguns and leverguns. Sixgun/Levergun Combinations: .44 Magnum n December of 1955 S&W began providing test sixguns chambered in the new .44 Magnum to such well-known shooting personalities as Maj. Hatcher of the NRA and the man most directly responsible for the advent of the new big bore sixgun cartridge, Elmer Keith. It wasn’t long before shooters wanted a .44 Magnum levergun and they were accommodated by an Arizona gunsmith, Ward Koozer, who converted .44-40 Winchester ’92s to .44 Magnum. I wanted one! The only problem was there was no way I could afford one. By the mid-1960s both Winchester and Marlin were at least advertising .44 Magnum leverguns and I well remember an article at the time by John Lachuk, who I was later to meet and be able to call friend, in which he said if he had his druthers he would just as soon grab his Marlin and a companion .44 Magnum sixgun and head for the hills. That really captured my imagination and I ordered a Winchester .44 Magnum as a companion to my 4" S&W and 45/8" Ruger Flat-Top .44 Magnums. Two things changed my mind about the Winchester. Remember, this is now post-1964. When I went to the gun shop to pick up my Winchester I was not at all happy about the finish and sitting next to it was a Marlin 336 which look so much better. I left the shop without the Winchester but with the Marlin. Nearly 45 years later I still have the Marlin, which was used to fire many of the test loads for this article. Above: John purchased the Model 336 Marlin .44 Magnum in the mid-1960s. It matches up nicely with a pair of custom Ruger .44 Magnum Bisleys. John has been using #2400 for loading the .44 Magnum for more than half a century. I Excellent cast bullets for use in .44 Magnum sixguns are the 260 grain Keith bullet, 255 grain Thompson GC, and 295 grain NEI GC; the latter two will also work in leverguns if crimped over the front shoulder. ince those first two .44 Magnum leverguns, several others have been offered. Marlin’s offering is now the Model 1894 with an action more suited to the .44 than the original Model 336; Winchester chambered their Model 1894 and .44 Magnum offering 16", 20" and 24" versions before closing their plant in 2005; Browning offered their Model B92 in a 20" lever action carbine for a short time; Rossi still offers both blued and stainless steel replica Model 1892s; and Ruger’s original semiauto Deerstalker carbine is long out of production but it has been replaced by the excellent Deerfield. Leverguns chambered in .44 Magnum are not near as picky about bullet choice as the same guns chambered in .357 Magnum. The latter almost demands a gas checked cast bullet while at least some .44 Magnum leverguns work fine with plain base cast bullets. However, many of the best loads for sixguns are too long to chamber in most .44 Magnum leverguns. We are speaking here mainly of those sixgun cartridges prepared with the use of Keith-style SWC cast bullets. The microgroove barrel of my Model 336 Marlin does not like these at all, however they will Continued on page 78 Choices S 28 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=29http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=292009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=30http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=30Massad Ayoob “SLow DAnce on The KiLLing grounD”: The DeAThS oF Bonnie AnD cLyDe Situation: Made celebrity criminals by the Depression-era public, and despised by cops, two dangerous fugitives are gunned down by the police in a well-orchestrated ambush. Lessons: Over the years, many versions of this incident — and many personae of the slain — have emerged. History was different from the movie … and some unanswered questions remain three-quarters of a century later. rpt fro m “The of Bonn Ballad Bonnie ie and Clyde ” by Parker “Some d go downay they’ll togethe r And th e y ’l l b them si u de by s ry ide To few i t ’ll b to the law a re grief, elief But it’s d eath Bonnie and Cl for yde.” Exce Many reading this saw Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde, and felt the ending sear itself into the collective memory of a generation of movie-goers. Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker and Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow, pull over at the roadside to help Malcolm, the father of their friend C. W. Moss. Clyde steps out of the car to help Malcolm change a tire. Suddenly, he and Bonnie realize something is wrong. They exchange a look of mutual horror, and then, everything erupts into a sustained roar of automatic gunfire. The movie stars writhe in helpless agony, with no weapons visibly available to either of them, as bullets tear into them and their motionless Ford. It is a scene that will become one of the most famous in the history of cinema, “The slow dance on the killing ground.” At last, the shooting stops and they lie still. Three men emerge from the bushes across the road, all carrying Thompson submachine guns. They are led by Captain Frank Hamer, who has been captured and humiliated by Bonnie and Clyde earlier in the film. Then the movie closes and segues to the credits, in which the character Dunaway called “Malcolm” is now named Ivan Moss. Dynamic as it was, that scene was a profound deviation from documented history. The Fictionalization The trailer for the movie Bonnie and Clyde blared, “They’re young … they’re in love … and they kill people.” That much, at least, was true. But there were six men behind the police guns, not three, and there wasn’t a Thompson within miles. Frank Hamer, already a living legend among the Texas Rangers, was indeed there and probably acted as the de facto leader of the mixed, if not well blended, law enforcement team. However, though he had memorized their many photographs, he had never seen Bonnie Parker or Clyde Barrow in the flesh until seconds before the shooting. After the movie came out, Hamer’s widow sued the producers for defamation of her husband’s character, and the Hollywood folks settled out of court for a sum that allowed her to live out the rest of her life in comfort. There was no one present named Malcolm, or Ivan Moss, or for that matter C.W. Moss. The latter character was, for movie purposes, a fictionalized blend of long-time Barrow Gang members, such as W.D. Jones from their early days, and Henry Methvin, who accompanied them in the last part of their long and violent run. The latter’s father, Ivy Methvin, had indeed set up Barrow and Parker for the ambush, as correctly depicted in the movie. The young couple died heavily armed. Bonnie Parker (according to the Hamer family) Continued on page 104 30 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=31http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=312009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=32http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=32PISTOLSMITHING BUILDING FROM Start with a good quality basic gun for your dream project (like this Springfield Armory model), rather than a box of assorted parts. Alex Hamilton THE INSIDE SCOOP ON PISTOLSMITHING TECHNIQUES Mark Morganti’s work on this stunner is what you can expect from an accomplished pistolsmith, especially a Guild member. Those Wicked Grips speak for themselves! SCRATCH I will ruffle a few gunsmith’s feathers, but my business has always been oriented to, “What is best for the customer” and “What is the best value for the customer.” We are all on limited budgets, especially today when the pseudo intellectual Washington elite are squeezing every possible dollar from our earnings. Many customers request to have a model 1911 pistol built from scratch using the best components available. They have the belief they will have a better, higher quality pistol in the end for a lot less money. However, that is not always the case. Building a pistol from the ground up is something like attempting to construct an automobile using parts from an auto parts store. A car with a showroom price of $20K will end up costing around $150K or more if you use OEM parts. Starting out with a working car or handgun is always the most economical way to begin your dream project. Having a custom pistolsmith create a scratch, high quality super accurate pistol with all the bells and whistles will carry a price tag of $2,500 and up, which puts it out of the reach of most shooters. If you have to wait many months or years for your dream pistol to be completed your financial condition could change for the worse and your discretionary money may no longer be available. I have started custom pistol jobs for customers who at the end of a six month or more wait have lost their job, divorced or have had catastrophic medical expenses. End result? I have to eat the job or sell it for a loss on the Internet and the customer loses his deposit. A BAse GUn U nless you have lots of money and just have to have a pistol you can say was built to specifications just for you I always advise the customer to either use a quality pistol he already owns or buy something basic such as a Springfield Armory “WW” or Mil Spec model. The Springfields are good quality pistols with proper heat treatment of critical parts and will serve well as a basis for a match grade competition pistol or beautiful custom carry sidearm. My all time favorite platform for a custom carry pistol is the Springfield Champion model, but they are increasingly hard to find as Springfield is having trouble keeping up with the demand for their fine XD models. Of course the best basis for a custom pistol or revolver is the one you already own, be it a Colt, Springfield, Rock Island or any high quality low priced pistol. I would not advise using any of the old battle warriors such as the Remington Rand, Ithaca and others. These fine old pistols have reached collectors status and if they contain all original parts and have been well cared for will bring high collector prices. Besides, the old military pistols are very poor candidates for custom guns as they were manufactured in high production quantities requiring elimination of important quality steps such as proper heat treating and tight fit. High percentages of slides and frames are lost to warpage in the heat treatment stage so, in many cases, that costly step was eliminated. I have personally seen only a few failures of MIM (Machine Injected Molded) parts, but many gunsmiths tell me they have seen lots and I hear the Internet gun forums are abuzz with shooters bad-mouthing parts manufactured by this cost saving production method. If you have a good basic pistol with MIM parts you can always change those parts out for quality forged or steel ones and still be well within budget. The S&W Custom Shop changes out MIM parts in favor of forged or bar stock parts as standard procedure, just so you know. exactly what you want. My friend and president o2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=33http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=33Pure Adrenaline from Smith & Wesson. Burn through all the ammunition you want with the new M&P15-22. The authentic Military & Police™ .22LR design accepts most after-market mil. std. accessories, plus costs a lot less to feed. Get your hands on one for some serious fun. Engineered and built in the U.S.A. smith-wesson.com NASDAQ: SWHC2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=34http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=34CARRYOPTIONS Sammy Reese FROM CLASSICS TO CUTTING EDGE IN CARRY METHODS Lawman Leather hen I was growing up there was nothing cooler than a shoulder holster. Every cop show had the detectives wearing them, and the ultimate tough cop, Dirty Harry, carried a really big gun in his. My brother and I would make our own for our cap guns out of old belts and we would ride around on our bikes thinking we were the coolest guys in town. We may not have been the coolest, but we were packing heat — sort of. Fast forward a few years and I found myself wearing one under my flack jacket to hide a real gun I wasn’t technically supposed to have, but I did anyway. A few years later I used one while rolling around in a “cool car” watching dopers ply their trade. When I told his Editorial Eminence I was doing my column on the Original Dirty Harry holster and the newer STU shoulder holster, he told me he carried a 6" Model 29 in one during the early days of his police career. He said he did other silly things too. I believe him. The Real Deal W The STU is a tough-guy rig, built to be used in the harsh environments cops and soldiers populate — so it’s just the ticket for anything the rest of us civilian pukes could ever throw at it! A The Original hile talking with Jerry Ardolino, Founder of Lawman Leather Goods, I told him about my life-long obsession with holsters, and specifically the mystique the shoulder holster held for me. I was preaching to the choir since Jerry feels the same way. His passion was evident during our conversation about the pain staking attention to detail going into every holster made in the Lawman factory. I was focused on the Original, but Jerry suggested I check out the newer STU (Severe Tactical Use) shoulder holster as well. I can’t describe how cool I felt when I put the Original on. The holster has so many adjustment points, it only took a few minutes to adjust it to fit. When I added my 4" Model 29, it took some minor adjusting to get the large revolver to ride just right, and I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was to wear. With the appropriate cover shirt or jacket I was able to hide the fact I was packing a really large roscoe. Funny, I didn’t feel the slightest bit outgunned with only six .44 magnum 240-gr. JHPs. The tight-on-the body design of the Original also lends it to being a great holster for a handgun hunter, or for carrying a backup gun when on the home turf of critters who are bigger and meaner than you are. No matter what handgun you choose to carry, Lawmen can make a holster to fit it. Their proprietary Vex system allows them to make a mold of any handgun. W The Original is just that: THE one Dirty Harry wore. It’s comfortable, virtually infinitely adjustable, and the workmanship is excellence. s the name implies, the Severe Tactical Use Shoulder Holster is designed for the extremist conditions you and your gun may find yourselves in. The concept was born during Jerry’s days as a street cop. The “stuff” cops get on themselves during the course of some shifts would win any gross-out contest you could imagine. To combat the elements and hazardous materials cops and military guys come into contact with, the leather is treated to resist the elements by bleeding out slightly. This keeps whatever you come in contact with from impregnating the holster. According to Jerry, with the STU beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s not as eye-catching as the Original, but it will hold up to the harshest environments and not let you down. Keeping in mind the intended use for the STU, I quickly adjusted it and spent some time wearing it over my old Tac vest with my Les Baer TRS securely strapped inside. The secondary retention strap left me with no doubts the gun would not come out unless I wanted it too. If your profession or passion puts you in extreme conditions, the STU is the holster for you. Currently only available for semiautos, I foresee the potential production of STUs for large frame revolve2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=35http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=352009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=36http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=36COPTALK Massad Ayoob AnAlyzing A few days before writing this, I stood at the site where two law enforcement officers had been shot and mortally wounded three weeks before. I’ll ask you up front to forgive me if a little anger seeps in to what you’re about to read. In April of 2009, two uniformed deputies of the Okaloosa, Florida Sheriff’s Office made contact with one Joshua Cartwright, 28, in the dirt parking lot of the the Shoal River Sporting Clays gun club in Crestview. Deputies Warren “Skip” York and Burt Lopez were there to arrest him for domestic assault and battery on his wife Elizabeth earlier in the day. They knew from the complainant that the suspect was planning to be at the gun club that day, and obviously would have firearms with him, but Cartwright was not visibly armed when they made contact with him. The situation quickly degenerated, and when suspect Cartwright made it clear he would physically and forcibly resist arrest, one of the deputies applied his Taser. Cartwright fell down on his back. As all the Taser-certified cops reading this know from their own “ride” in training, when the five-second burst of electricity ends, the debilitating effects of the device end with it. It was at that moment that Cartwright went for his hidden gun. Eyewitness Nathan Bell, 19, told me Cartwright drew the gun from somewhere on the right side of his body: perhaps pocket, perhaps waistband. It was the left side of Cartwright’s supine body that was presented toward Bell as the latter watched the shooting go 36 No matter how good a cop you are, no matter how experienced, dropping your guard once is enough to make you toast. ne Arrow indicates where supi killer lay as he shot the two officers. Photo from nearest position on range shows that shooters would not have had a line of sight on the perp. OPINION AND FACTS FROM THE MEAN STREETS Photos: Gail Pepin Nathan Bell, right, eyewitness to the shooting, shows Mas where the deputies fell. Cop-Killing A down from the gun shop/ clubhouse window. Bell said Cartwright began firing immediately at the deputy in front of him, standing closest to the downed offender’s feet, the deputy who had applied the Taser. Bell said he saw this uniformed deputy then run for the cover of one of the two patrol cars present at the scene. Then, said Bell, Cartwright (still down on his back) reached his right hand up and over behind him, firing over his left shoulder, as he shot the second deputy who was standing more toward the downed suspect’s head. Bell told me the deputy then attempted to take cover behind a parked car in the lot. At that point, Bell moved away from the window to take cover, and saw no more directly. However, investigation shows so far that Cartwright then jumped into his Chevy Silverado pickup truck to make his escape. By now, one deputy was down and out of the fight. The other, believed to be already wounded, ran to the truck and attempted to enter the cab to stop the fleeing gunman. At this point, Cartwright shot this deputy at point blank range. The lawman fell to the dirt of the parking lot, and the perpetrator roared out of the parking lot, turning east on Route 90 as he fled. Thirty miles down the road, after crossing into neighboring Walton County and into the town of DeFuniak Springs, Cartwright evaded stop sticks and was then rammed off the road by one of the local lawmen. The gunman opened fire on police from his overturned truck, then emerged, still firing, to get a better shot. He died in a hail of some 50 to 60 bullets without being able to hurt another officer. Okaloosa County deputies Lopez and York were rushed to a trauma center by helicopter. Their wounds, inflicted outside the areas of protection of their body armor, proved fatal to both. Early Lessons I ’ve spoken with the acting high sheriff of Okaloosa County, Ed Spooner, and he’s amenable to talking with American Handgunner about it. He knows the importance of sharing these tragic lessons. However, he has to wai2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=37http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=372009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=38http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=38TAFFINTESTS John Taffin Guncrafter Industries chambered in .50 GI (left) and .45 ACP. Note the heavier barrel in the .50 GI. THE SIXGUNNER HIMSELF: GUNS, GEAR AND MORE Guncrafter Industries .50 GI (left) and .45 ACP American right proved to be rugged, reliable and among the top 1911-style pistols John has ever tested. GUNCRAFTERGOODIES S ad to say and painful to admit I’m no young buck anymore; in fact if I was a Texas whitetail I would have been culled long ago. So when I get a pistol that performs incredibly my first thought is almost always: “What could John tested the Guna young, clear-eyed, totally crafter .45 American with a wide range of unshakeable, invincible shooter factory ammo and really get from this gun?” This it liked it all! pistol which has stirred my emotions so much is the latest offering from Guncrafter Industries, standard sized Model 1911. Semiautos their 1911 American .45 ACP. Actually like the Desert Eagle and the LAR this is the third offering from Guncrafter Grizzly have been offered in cartridges Industries, which started first by offering more powerful than the .45 ACP such the Models 1 and 2 in .50 GI and then as the .357, .41 and .44 Magnums as a .50 GI Conversion Unit for the Glock well as the .50 Action Express, while Model 20 or 21. Let’s take a look at the AutoMag and Wildey have offered the .50s before we look at the latest creation. .44 AutoMag and .475 Wildey. All of Guncrafter Industries was the first these heavy-duty cartridges require a company to offer a larger cartridge in a large heavy pistol. Guncrafter Industries .45 American proved to be predictably accurate. John thought the Guncrafter Industries .50 Glock Conversion Unit was more comfortable to shoot than a .40 S&W on the same frame. The Guncrafter Industries .50 GI is not a Magnum and in fact works at the same pressure levels as the .45 ACP. The cartridge uses the same head or rim size as the .45 ACP, with brass made by Starline and is ever so slightly shorter than a standard .45 ACP. The “GI” in .50 GI has two meanings, the obvious connection to the government issued 1911, as well as being the initials for Guncrafter Industries. The Model 1 .50 GI is a basic 1911 design with external dimensions the same as a standard 1911 and will fit in holsters I have made for the .45 ACP 1911. Although the .50 GI is the same size externally, the .50 top end will not fit on a standard 1911 frame as other modifications have been made to the 1911 to accept the .50 GI barrel and slide. The .50 GI weighs in at an easypackin’ 40 ounces, and the trigger pull is a creep free 41/2 pounds while the 5" Match Grade barrel has a 1:18 twist and is matched up with a heavy-duty stainless-steel seven-round magazine. Sights are easy to see Heinie Slant Pro Trijicon with a square rear blade matched up with a front post, and a secure feeling is afforded by olive drab colored and checkered aluminum grip panels (My heart wept until I replaced them with Herrett’s fancy stocks!) mated with 20 LPI checkering on the front and back straps. An extended Tactical Thumb Safety is standard equipment as well as a beveled magazine well. In keeping with the original GI .45 Continued on page 108 38 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=39http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=392009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=40http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=40electing barrel length is often a major problem for the average shooter. The vast majority select middle of the road length barrels but the trend of questions about length often revolve around extremely long barrels for both pistols and rifles. The expectation of what a long barrel will do versus a short barrel is often unrealistic in both velocity and accuracy. Having spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars with a large variety of calibers and chronographs, I’ve come to some general conclusions. The final assessment? The the more I know the more unanswered questions I have. For example, in revolvers, single shot pistols and rifles the length of the barrel is of little or no consequence ballistically in hunting guns. The barrel length will not make any difference to anything you shoot. Excessively long barrels may be counterproductive to accuracy and velocity. Yes, there are “fast” and “slow” barrels and in some cases I can see the reason, but in most I can’t. Types of rifling, chamber dimension, throat and other factors all contribute. As an example I had a .308 in a M-70 with a hammer-forged barrel 20" long and developed a few excellent sub-sonic handloads. Putting that ammunition in an Accuracy International cut-rifled barrel 26" long stuck the bullets in the barrel about 16" from the bolt face. Testing one ammunition through a half dozen .308 rifles with new or nearly new barrels I found about 340 fps difference between the fastest and slowest barrel. One ammunition gave its highest velocity in a 16.5" Ruger. As I understand it, SAAMI bore dimensions define the minimum “swept” area of the bore, which is the minimum area of the bore, but not the maximum. Any type of rifling matching the minimum swept area is acceptable. The bore and grove dimensions for a micro-groove barrel and a cut-rifle barrel will vary quite a lot. All factory loaded ammunition should be safe in any factory barrel. Not so with handloads. A load “worked up” in one gun may be dangerous in another. 40 The LongVs. Short Of It S Cartridges in photos are .300 “Whisper,” .308, .30-'06, and .300 Win Mag. J.D. Jones HANDGUNHUNTING TIPS, TECHNIQUES AND POLITICALINCORRECTNESS Any Consistency? I i n checking dozens of .44 Magnum revolvers I have yet to find a S&W 8.375" barrel to give any more velocity than a 6" S&W. And, assuming reasonable barrel-cylinder gaps some 4" guns may even be faster than some 6" guns with some ammunition. In the .300 Whisper, generally the same subsonic ammunition will be about the same velocity in a 10" and 16" barrel with the 14" length being slightly faster and 20" substantially slower. In high velocity ammunition the velocity keeps increasing past the 20" point. n testing 17 different .308 factory ammunitions through a Encore 15" barrel and a middle of the road in velocity Winchester 22" barrel on the same day, the velocity difference in 150 grain was 5.29-percent; in 165 grain 5.13-percent and 180 grain 4.18-percent. The highest velocity difference recorded was a 180 grain at 7.03-percent (186 fpd, with most between 100 and 150 fps) and the lowest a 180 grain load a -.56-percent. In 150 and 165 grain ammunition the extreme velocity spread was less in the 15" barrel. The reverse was true in 180 grain ammunition. In general a .30-'06 in the same comparison will show a little more difference and a .300 Win mag a little more difference. The greater the case capacity, normally the greater the difference. But, a 10-percent difference will include most of it. Lets say you have a rifle with a realistic 400 yard maximum killing range. Deduct 10-percent velocity going to a 15" length in a pistol and you have a 360 yard gun. In the .50 Peacekeeper with 650 grain bullets and a 110 grain powder charge, the velocity difference per inch between 24" and 30" was an average of 17 fps per inch — not much to worry about in anyone’s book. For more details on the load charts, go to www.americanhandgunner.com and click on “Web Blast2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=41http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=41“America’s Choice in Recoil Reduction, Tools and Accessories” Taming Tough T/C Recoil. Upgrade the comfort, style and performance of any T/C handgun with Pachmayr’s popular, no-gunsmithing grips & forends. 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You’ll also find magazines, cleaning supplies, holsters and more, all at www.GunBroker.com. CLIENT: GunBroker.com PRODUCTION: RANDY2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=42http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=42BETTERSHOOTING Dave Anderson WEAk HAnd? n shooting parlance the “strong” hand is the hand in which you normally hold and fire the gun. The “weak” hand is, well, the other hand. It is the support hand in a two-handed grip. A trained handgunner should be able to shoot with either hand, unsupported. Many shooters don’t practice weak-hand shooting. It takes time and effort. Results are always going to be mediocre compared to two-hand shooting. But it’s a skill that can help win matches. It’s a skill that can save your life. I spoke with four top shooters on weak-hand shooting. Here’s what they have to say. In this posed picture Mark helps Tasha hone her weak-hand stance. I Shooting weak hand only, Tony Holmes uses a bullseye style stance, angled to target and with shooting arm fully extended. Tony says trigger control, not stance, is the key element. HoLMEs T Pad of trigger finger is placed squarely across face of trigger, so trigger can be pressed straight back with no side pressure. HAnnIsH M ark Hannish is a USPSA Grand Master and firearms instructor Bruce Piatt “street” stance: Police officer and at the fabulous Scottsdale Gun firearms instructor Bruce Piatt teaches officers in his department to make the upper body Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. one rigid unit, face pressed against upper Mark notes the first step is arm, to absorb and counter recoil. making a smooth transfer of the gun to the weak hand. ruce Piatt has won multiple Basic safety rules apply as Bianchi Cups and is one always: finger out of triggerof the all-time great comguard, control the muzzle, gun petitive shooters. Bruce is also a under full control at all times. full-time police officer and police “If a precision shot is called firearms instructor. For competition for I keep the gun vertical, shooting Bruce’s key points are the focus on the sights, and concensame as these other top shooters; trate on a clean trigger break. hold the gun vertically, focus on I’m not too concerned with recoil. The gun is going to lift the sights and press the trigger smoothly straight back. more in recoil but that’s okay, it’ll come back.” In training the officers in his department Bruce teaches a If there’s a target array to be engaged at close range, more rigid, “locked-up” stance. For many officers, shooting Mark may cant the gun a bit; not the “horizontal gun” is just one of many skills needed to do their job. Most likely position often seen in movies, but a few degrees off they are not going to fire the thousands of rounds needed to vertical. It’s not a deliberate choice, more an issue of not learn recoil management. being concerned so much about keeping the gun vertical. Bruce teaches an aggressive weight-forward stance, face On close targets the focus is on seeing an acceptable sight pressed firmly against the upper arm, so the entire upper body picture and making a fast, smooth trigger break. forms one rigid shooting platform. While shooting, the upper Tasha Hannish, Mark’s wife, is a Master class shooter. body rocks back as a unit to absorb recoil, then rocks forward Tasha noted a common error she sees: “A lot of shooters again to bring the gun back on target. have the trigger finger too far into the guard. Instead of Bruce doesn’t consider this a competition technique. Rigpressing the trigger straight back with the pad of the finger idly locked muscles aren’t compatible with a smooth trigger they put sideways pressure on the trigger, and pull their break. Consider the circumstances in which an officer (or prishots to one side.” vate citizen) needs to shoot with the weak hand. The situation Tasha’s comment illustrates an advantage of regular has deteriorated badly and we’re not concerned with 25-yard training in one-hand shooting. It can improve your overall head shots, but with getting hits on target fast. shooting technique. A strong two-hand hold can cover a mulAll these top shooters stressed the importance of training titude of errors, such as sloppy trigger control2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=43http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=432009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=44http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=44Mike “Duke” Venturino SHOOTINGIRON TM Photos: Yvonne Venturino THUMB BUSTIN’ MUSINGS FROM THE DUKE A Writer’s Worst full time writer’s worst nightmare is (or should be) boredom. If he becomes bored, his writing will be boring. At best, what a writer has going for him is not especially his knowledge, it’s his enthusiasm and the ability to infect a reader with it. And one thing is for sure, enthusiasm can be a fleeting thing. Even the most ardent passions can become dimmed. For instance, take me and the Colt SAA. That revolver was my first true love. I bought my first one, a 2nd Generation .45, in 1968, and I’ve owned scores in the ensuing 41 years. At one point I owned 36 in a wide variety of calibers, but now I’m down to about a third of that number in only four calibers. The first book I wrote was titled Shooting Colt Single Actions; In Duke’s only pr etending here — he’s actually not bo red. Okay, may be a little when it comes to SAAs . NightmAre A dukE WAs Young? All Styles, Calibers and Generations and it has been a great success for me. Yet in the last couple of years I’ve not taken any Colt SAA out and shot it except for use in an article. In fact as I started writing this column I noticed that in my gun vault where my Colts set on an open shelf many are dusty. I’ll clean them someday. ticipated in cowboy action matches we both shot single actions fairly well. People call and write to ask me what their Colt SAA or N-frame S&W is worth. I have to say, “To be honest I don’t have a clue because I haven’t kept up with them for a while.” The last gun show I spent any time at did I pore over the many tables holding Colt SAAs, or big bore S&W magnums? Nope, when I finally spent some money that day it was for a 1943 vintage German P38 9mm. How many .45 Colt, .44-40 or .44 Magnum cartridges have I handloaded recently? Nary a one, although I’ve assembled thousands of 9mms. They are not only for a couple of World War II vintage submachineguns I bought in 2008, but also for the P38, a 1938 vintage Luger and three 9mm Browning Hi-Powers also made circa 1943/1944. B ack in my youth when I spent time riding around Montana’s mountains on horses I usually carried my pre-Model 29 .44 Magnum with 5" barrel. It’s as dusty as those Colts. But perhaps that is a clue to this boredom/ enthusiasm thing. That could be defined as purpose; as in having a purpose for a handgun or type of handgun causes enthusiasm to be generated. During the time I carried that .44 Magnum into grizzly bear country, I fired it often and even if I do say so myself, I was pretty good with it. Likewise with the Colt SAAs. When Yvonne and I actively par- Duke’s enthusiasm led him to this Inglis Hi Power 9mm with wooden shoulder stock/holster. At the same time he searched out and bought this FN-made Hi Power with Nazi markings also made during World War II. hat’s my purpose with these 9mms? To learn; because I knew virtually nothing about P38s, Lugers, Hi Powers and World War II submachine guns. Aside from having an actual shooting purpose for a gun, which generates enthusiasm, personally for me ignorance generates enthusiasm. Hence with the purchase of the Luger there also came purchases of books on Lugers. Along with the vintage German MP40 submachine gun several books were searched out about them. Now I quest for literature about Hi Powers and STENs. When I told my mother-in-law so far I’ve written about 1,500 columns and articles for gun magazines she replied, 44 W Hi Powers And Stens Oh-My “How do you keep coming up with ideas?” Well, it’s that enthusiasm thing again. If I have enthusiasm then I will dig into the history of certain guns, along with shooting them, and reloading for them. Within each of those facets there are article and column ideas. When I came aboard this magazine the only direction His Editorship Roy gave me was, “Don’t be afraid to step outside the box, Duke.” I don’t know that “stepping outside the box” is the right phrase to describe what I do. P2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=45http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=45! W E N A stunning breakthrough in personal defense ammunition design. Concealed carry and personal defense ammunition is redefined with the introduction of Hornady Critical Defense ammunition. You may have never thought about the effects of fabric and clothing on the performance of personal defense ammo. But clothing — especially heavy clothing — has a lot to do with how the bullet expands upon impact. Conventional hollow point bullets clog with fibers and fabric as they pass through clothing which diminishes expansion and causes unreliable bullet performance. Hornady Critical Defense ammunition eliminates clogging with the use of their patented Flex Tip® bullet. Upon entering soft tissue, the tip swells and imparts equal pressure across the entire circumference of the bullet cavity. The result is UNRIVALED bullet expansion and performance EVERY SINGLE TIME! Hornady Critical Defense ammunition is available in these calibers: PO Box 1848 Grand Island, NE 68802 308-382-1390 www.hornady.com2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=46http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=46THE SIXGUNNER April 3, 1936 Roy Huntington, Editor American Handgunner Magazine John Taffin Dear Roy: ell I was wrong! When working with the .38/44 I said I didn’t see how anyone could want more power in a sixgun. At the time I believe I wrote to you in my last letter about Phil Sharpe working with Winchester and Smith & Wesson to come up with a newer more powerful cartridge. As you know it is now here along with a grand new sixgun, with both being called the .357 Magnum. Magnum means big as a Magnum bottle of champagne and this new cartridge certainly is big on power. I won’t be wrong again! T his time we really have reached the apex of sixgun power. hil Sharpe is the main person responsible for the .357 Magnum. I have had considerable correspondence with him over the past couple years, he certainly writes a nice informative letter, so I pretty much know what went on to get from the .38/44 Heavy Duty to this new Magnum, which by the way gets the .357 part of its name from the groove diameter of a .38 Special. So it really uses the same bullets as a .38 Special, only the loads and the cases are different. To come up with the .357 Magnum case, they simply lengthened the standard .38 Special from 1.155" to 1.290" to preclude the more powerful round from being dropped in a .38 Special revolver which could result in a disaster for the shooter or any one standing close by. The longer .357 Magnum case will not fit a .38 Special cylinder, however the shorter .38 can be shot in .357 cylinders. I will share some of the information concerning the development of the .357 Magnum Phil Sharpe has shared with me: “The .357 Magnum cartridge was born in my mind several years ago. On a hunting trip with Col. D. B. Wesson, VicePresident of Smith & Wesson, a pair of heavy frame Outdoorsman model revolvers were used with a large assortment of handloads developed and previously tested by myself. In the field they proved entirely practical, but Col. Wesson was not content to attempt the development of a Magnum .38 Special cartridge for ordinary revolvers, and set to work on a new gun planned in the field.” He went on, “It might well be mentioned that the Smith & Wesson .357 cartridge is loaded by Win46 W P P “ P T here apparently is little love between them as Elmer calls him “Little Phil Sharpe” which is strange, as he is taller than Elmer. chester now at a working pressure of 35,000 to 38,000 pounds per square inch, the greatest pressure of any handgun cartridge and approximately twice as heavy as any other revolver cartridge. For more than a year before the release of this gun, Col. Wesson manufactured a few pilot models, building and rebuilding each one, redesigning this and that until he found a suitable combination. I am not connected with any arms or ammunition maker and desire this fact clearly understood. I did not design the gun or the cartridge, however a number of my ideas were incorporated in the design of this gun, tested through an understanding of handloading problems, and a number of weak points in ordinary revolvers were quickly corrected.” So it is easy to see a lot of preliminary work led up to the .357 Magnum sixgun and cartridge. In fact Sharpe shared with me the fact he had worked with Winchester, Remington, Dupont and the Hercules Experiment Station in testing more than 100 different Magnum handloads with assorted bullets including the 146-grain Sharpe Hollow-Point and 156 grain Sharpe solid bullets which were designed for the new cartridge. Sharpe continues, “More than 10 different powders were tested and rejected before Winchester undertook ” Continued on page 96 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=47http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=47Khaki Digital Foliage Camo Khaki Main compartment and hydration compartment can accept CCW accessories #0431 SITKATM GEARSLINGERTM NEW Main compartment and hydration compartment can accept CCW accessories TM #0432 KODIAK GEARSLINGERTM NEW Khaki Foliage Green Digital Foliage Camo Foliage Green Black #MX0413 S-TYPE JUMBOTM #MX0412 JUMBOTM Better for left-side carry Better for right-side carry Khaki2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=48http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=48Turnbull Resto ration Benchmark Preservation And Craftsmanship: plus a bit of magic Roy Huntington 48 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=49http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=49An abject lesson in finishes. The top right photo is the factory hot blue job. The top left photo is Turnbull’s color-case hardening and rust blue. Get it? Turnbull’s “Open Range” SAAs (here, a 5½" on the left and 4¾" right) are arguably the finest SAAs on the market today. Note the stunning color case hardening on the guns — and the Bowie blade! Is it or isn’t it? Doug’s logo may trample a certain rampant Colt. That’s 3¼" without the flyer and only 4" if you include it — at 50 yards! Black Hills .45 Colt cowboy ammo. Insurance — so you don’t sell a gun. Roy always wanted a SAA with his name on the back-strap, so warned his checkbook beforehand. Elegantly done in true old-west style. Bat Masterson would have been proud. M any people — most? — feel restoring or finishing old or classic guns is an act synonymous with homicide. Taking the original patina off a cowboy-era Colt SAA or daring to rebuild and create an as-new S&W Triplelock might cause the white-coats to be called out on you. But does that actually make sense every time? Doug Turnbull, head honcho and guru at Turnbull Restoration, pretty much re-invented most of the classic finishes, especially color case hardening. His shop’s work has been a feature on custom and “spare no expense” art guns and factory work done for some of the big names out there. Over 20 years ago, Doug set out to learn all there was to learn about the workmanship, polish, finishing and craftsmanship of the old guns and since then his shop’s work restoring and rebuilding classic Winchesters and Colts has attained near legendary status. If you think color case hardening these days, the name Turnbull just naturally comes out. On his Web site, Doug has this to say about restoring old guns: “When someone asks if restoration will affect the value of the firearm, remind them The Statue of Liberty, The Washington Monument, The Star Spangled Banner and The Charter of Freedom (Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence) have all undergone restoration efforts. Does restoring these pieces of American history diminish their value 49 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=50http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=50The only magic in these pictures comes in the form of craftsmen at the Turnbull shop, there’s no “photoshop” involved. The photo on the left really is the original rifle, while the one on the right is, well — stunning. The lesson continues. At top is the original hot blue receiver, lever, hammer, etc. while the bottom is magic as applied at the Turnbull shop. One is warm and inviting, while the other is, um, uh … simply black. The 5½" is a clone of the shorter version, and both exhibited the same stunning workmanship and finishwork. or significance in our country’s history?” I think most of us would demand these important places and documents be attended to with the greatest of care. So why is it so many of us short-out when it comes to restoring old guns? Indeed, we restore classic cars, and their values are often enhanced ten-fold or more. Old buildings are restored, priceless paintings cleaned and even touched-up. All done to both honor the artists and craftsmen who created them, and to assure future people can enjoy them in their original grandeur. Perhaps Doug says it best: “Turnbull Restoration is committed to honoring the original gun makers by returning these guns to their original beauty. Restoration of firearms involves a great deal of knowledge, skill, patience and a keen eye for detail. When done correctly, restoration can provide a look into the past — as well as preserving an important piece of history.” I couldn’t agree more. And that “look into the past” part is important. There are many people who have never seen what an “as-new” 1873 Colt SAA actually looks like, and their impression of one of those guns is a worn and loose parts-gun on a gun show table. It’s like seeing black and white photos of WWII and then seeing them in color. You realize things actually were in color in “those” days. According to Turnbull Shop Manager Peter Koppmann, “The Colt 1911 pistol actually has five different polish Details 50 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=51http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=51It’s not just about handguns. Here is a trio sure to warm you up. A Turnbull customer’s Ruger No.1 after their magic, and Roy’s 1886 “Browning/Winchester” and 4¾" SAA. Beauty may only be skin deep but that’s as far as we can see! Grips are basic walnut and fitted to perfection. If it’s a working gun, they may be just fine, but Turnbull offers exotic woods, ivory and stag among other options. Roy couldn’t feel a ridge where the frame and the trigger guard/grip frame met. It was smooth as polished glass. variations from the beginning of production in 1912 to the end of production in 1919. Each variation in polish is very subtle, but unless you know what the correct polish is, and what direction it was applied on each part, the pistol will not look correct when it’s complete.” The terms refinishing and restoration are sometimes used interchangeably. It’s important to understand there is a vast difference between the two. Refinishing is just what the name implies — applying a new finish to an existing piece with little or no concern for the underlying surface. This would be your basic quick polish on a bench-top buffer and a dip into a hot blue tank. Save that for the beat-up Model 10 you keep in the bass boat. Turnbull’s work, on the other WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM hand, is meticulous, obsessively historically correct and almost compulsively detailed. If a screw head should be facing a certain way — it is. If the bluing should be a “certain” blue — it is. I have no doubt if John Browning handled one of Turnbull’s restorations of an early 1911 he would assume it was a factory gun. And he’d be nearly right. This attention to every minute detail is what separates a correct restoration from a “gun store” refinish. We’ve established Turnbull’s attention to truthful originality, craftsmanship and quality. You only have to visit his Web site to gaze on the photos of finished guns to assuage any doubt you may have about both the shop’s skillsets and their integrity when it comes to authenticity. In chatting with Peter a while ago, we were talking about these very things — how beautiful their work was — and I Continued on page 86 512009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=52http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=52Many of Taffin’s .44 Specials are even older than he is; this is a 1926 Model. The is special! John 52 sTill John Taffin . 44 Fires Back WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=53http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=53r Ranch .44 Special Smith & Wesson’s Thunde un. sixg se fen -de self is a superb This Triple-Lock .44 Special left the factory 100 years ago. It is still an excellent sixgun. Dear Friend Mike: the stainless Smith & Wesson offered Model 24-3 ed blu and 624 steel Model . in the mid-1980s p lease accept my apologies, I messed up! I consider you a friend and friends are supposed to help friends when they see problems. I knew something was wrong as far back as 2005 when you proclaimed The .45 Colt Sucks. I couldn’t understand how you could make such a statement when just a few years earlier you had said if you could only have one sixgun it would be a 43/4" Colt Single Action .45. My first thought was you were going through the change of life and not thinking clearly. I rebutted your article and then neglected my duty when I saw other signs. By the time you started wearing Hawaiian shirts, I should’ve stepped in but I salved my conscience by thinking it’s just a phase. Then you started wearing a helmet. I still held back! By the time you were selling off some of your classic sixguns, instead of intervening I took advantage of you by buying one of your .44 Specials. I kept telling myself you would be okay. I was sitting here waiting for Buckhorn Gun & Pawn, my FFL holder, to call me and let me know my latest .44 Special had arrived; I won the auction for a Colt New Service 71/2" Target Model. The mailman got here first with the July/August issue of American Handgunner and I immediately Groups fired with Ruger’s new .44 Specials. El Diablo. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 532009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=54http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=54men South Western law the especially preferred .44 Special in such sixguns as these Smith & Wesson Models 1926 and 1950. Handloaders greatly improve d the .44 Special by replacing the original roun d-nosed bullet with a Keith SWC. This USFA .44 Special Single Action exhibits superb accuracy; ramshorn stocks are by Roy Fishpaw. “ so let’s take a look at some of your arguments about why you think the .44 special isn’t. saw THE .44 SPECIAL AIN’T! on the front cover. My first thought was who on our staff would write such a thing? When I saw it was you I was totally perplexed. Has your helmet been screwed on too tight? Have you been sniffin” too much cosmoline from those World War I and II artifacts? Has shooting those newfound machine guns shaken something loose? Perhaps all those years of sniffing black powder had somehow gotten to you? Maybe you were snowbound in your Shooting Shack too much this winter? I looked for all kinds of excuses for you; friends shouldn’t do that. I read up on it and it’s called enabling. Right now you don’t need that. What you need is tough love. I simply cannot ignore your cries for help any longer. So let’s take a look at some of your arguments about why you think the .44 Special isn’t. I feel more than qualified to do this. Lotsa’ Guns ” Both of us have written several books and my latest was dedicated to all the .44s, with a large section on the .44 Special, so I think I know something about it. You said in your article you have owned a total of 21 .44 Specials since 1966. I go back a little further. It was 50 years ago I purchased my first .44 Special, a Smith & Wesson 1950 Target. It was a terrible disaster three years later when I had to sell it. I was in my second year of college, Diamond Dot was a stay-at-home mom, and I had college tuition to pay plus three little kids under the age of three to feed. The .44 Special, along with a Colt .45 SAA and a Winchester .30-30, had to be sacrificed; Dot cried and said I would never have to do that again and I have definitely been blessed as it has never been necessary to repeat it. You count 21 .44 ilt this re-creation of Hamilton Bowen bu #5SAA .44 Special. s Elmer Keith’s famou Smith & Wesson reached the apex of .44 Special sixgun development with the 1950 Target. 54 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=55http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=55Colt New Taffins latest .44 Special, a well. Service Target Model, shoots Heavy duty 4" .44 Specials from Smith & Wesson from bottom clockwise: 1950 Military, 1926 Model, and Thunder Ranch Special. Three .44 Special New Serv ice Models for different purposes : an easy to pack 41/2", a Target Model 71/2", and a Pocket Pistol. When Elmer Keith’s 1955 Sixguns was released the best double action .44 Special available was the S&W 1950 Target. Specials all of which are now gone except six of them; a look at my record shows 85 in the past half-century. Other than the 1950 Target I have only sold one .44 Special, a 1928-era Colt SAA marked “RUSSIAN AND S&W SPECIAL 44". I traded that one to a collector for two Colt Single Actions plus the original purchase price. Looking back I wish I had held onto it. Only one other .44 Special has left me and that one was given to a special friend. Specials are totally special to me. I hold onto them and hope my grandsons will eventually do the same. I probably load and shoot more .44 Special cartridges than all the rest combined. At my age I even shoot more .44 Specials in my .44 Magnum sixguns than Magnums; it makes life just that more pleasant. This past year a friend and I of more than 40 years decided to commemorate our friendship; we ordered matching USFA 43/4" Single Actions with one-piece ivories. The chambering? What else but .44 Special with the barrel marked RUSSIAN AND S&W SPECIAL .44. Shooting Pleasure You said “In regards to the criterion by which revolver and their cartridges are judged, the .44 Special can’t do a single thing many others do just as well — or better.” You are right about this, but so what? Neither you nor I can do a single thing many others do just as well, or better. Does that make us worthless or any less valuable? The .44 Special can do one thing, at least for me, better than any other cartridge/sixgun combination and that is give me pure shooting pleasure. I guess I’m an emotional sort of sixgunner as I have copies of every article Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, John Lachuk, Brian Pearce, and a whole bunch of others, including yourself, have written about the .44 Special over the past century. If Hillary could connect with Eleanor Roosevelt I can certainly connect with other .44 Special sixgunners every time I shoot. I hope I never lose that feeling. You’ve gone to great pains to attack the idea of “inherent accuracy” as to the .44 Special. The .44 Special is definitely inherently accurate as is every other sixgun cartridge. Good Continued on page 102 The use of a 2X Leupold scope helps discover the true accuracy of a Freedom Arms .44 Special. e barrel Traditional Colt-styl SAA. FA US a d marking an WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 552009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=56http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=56.30 Carbine Duke also found the Ruger Blackhawk would shoot some cast bullets accurately. Trash Vs. Terrific? This is the array of .30 Carbine guns Duke has been firing. From left: M1 Carbine, M1A1 Carbine, M2 (select fire) Carbine, AMT pistol and Ruger Blackhawk revolver. The AMT .30 Carbine pistol didn’t like the new Speer 110 grain load as well as the M1A1 Carbine. This group was fired at 25 yards. Mike “Duke” Venturino Photos: Yvonne Venturino 56 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=57http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=57The AMT, while not up to Duke’s quality standards, at times delivered very creditable groups. This is the sort of group delivered by the Ruger Blackhawk if no taper crimp was applied and also when the firing pin blow was driving cartridges deeper into the chambers. he concept of matching rifles or carbines with handguns taking the same ammo makes more sense in theory than in actual fact. That’s especially true in the modern world because few handgun cartridges make good rifle ones and vice versa. Still they’re popular, but the ones I put together recently are a bit unusual. Those combinations pair semiauto and fullauto carbines with single action and semiauto handguns. All are chambered for .30 Carbine. The .30 Carbine is an “odd-duck.” Back about 1940 the US military was disgusted with pistols. Troops couldn’t T Combo Guns easily be trained to shoot the big Model 1911A1 .45 with any sort of proficiency. Therefore American military thinkers decided to replace pistols and submachine guns with “light rifles.” First they needed a cartridge, so they turned to W”ter to develop one based on their .32 W”ter Self-Loading (WSL) except it had to use .308" bullets. What resulted was a rimless, tapered round with case 1.29" long carrying a 110 grain FMJ bullet rated with a muzzle velocity of 1,960 fps. What that is in actual fact if not in name is a magnum handgun cartridge. Revolver knowledgeable readers will have already noticed that 1.29" is the same case length of the Duke shooting AMT .30 Carbine. Note the M1A1 Carbine slung over his shoulder. He considers it a better option than the AMT. (Editor’s note: Is the camera playing tricks or has Duke gotten skinnier? And where’s the Hawaiian shirt? Actually, we’re privy to the truth — he’s down 70 pounds or so and still going!) Ruger Blackhawk 7.5" AMT 6.5" M1A1 Carbine 15" LOAD VELOCITY VELOCITY VELOCITY LOAD CHART: .30 CARBINE 110 JHP Win. 110 FMJ Rem. 110 FMJ Fed. 110 FMJ DWM 1,479 1,485 1,484 1,473 1,570 1,615 1,575 1,504 1,521 1,397 1,947 2,011 1,954 1,901 1,989 1,718 110 Sierra JSP 1,452 14.5 GR. HODGDON H110 This is the .30 Carbine pistol made by the now defunct AMT company. Barrel length is 6.5". 115 Cast RN 1,431 14.0 GR. WESTERN 5744 Chronograph readings taken with PACT Professional Model with start screen at approximately six feet. 57 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=58http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=58With some loads, usually the German made factory loads, the Ruger Blackhawk was capable of very fine accuracy. New Speer .30 Carbine factory load with 110 grain JSP bullet shot like this from Duke’s M1A1 folding stock carbine at 100 yards. .357, .41 and .44 Magnums. The government just didn’t put it in a handgun. It went into the M1 Carbine, as the “light rifle” became designated. Of course the M1 .30 Carbine was one of the most loved/hated military weapons of World War II. It was loved because at a mere five pounds it was a joy for already overburdened infantrymen to carry. It was hated by some because its little 110 grain bullet at that modest velocity lacked stopping power. However, I’ve never talked to a veteran who threw down their M1 Carbine in favor of a Model 1911A1 .45 pistol. In an unparalleled feat the Govern- ment prevailed on no fewer than 10 manufacturers during the 1941/1945 time frame to make a grand total of about six and a quarter million M1 Carbines. All were of a type: 18" barrels, peep rear sight with post front, taking 15-round magazines. At the very end of the war an M2 Carbine was adopted which was the M1 with a selector switch so it could go full auto. It was the reason 30 round magazines were developed. M2 Carbines saw considerable combat in the Korean War and Vietnam but were too late for much (if any) action in World War II. By the 1970s surplus military M1 Carbines were about the most encountered American military weapon on the used gun racks in stores. Also by this time several companies were making new M1 Carbines. There were tons of surplus military .30 Carbine ammo floating around in those days. Unlike other calibers America made during World War II and Korea, surplus .30 Carbine stuff had carried non-corrosive primers from day one. Since the .30 Carbine was actually a handgun cartridge it was natural then for some handgun manufacturer to chamber it in one. Some thinking person at Ruger looked at their large Blackhawk single action revolver and perceived it as a receptacle for the .30 Carbine. After all, working pressure for the .30 Carbine was in the 35,000 to 40,000 psi range as were pressures for .357, .41 and .44 Magnums. This began in 1967 and as said above that’s not surprising. What is amazing to me is Ruger has offered .30 Carbine Blackhawks now for 42 years. I never dreamed they were so popular. To the best of my knowledge all have been fitted with 71/2" barrels. An M1 Carbine was the first centerfire firearm I owned, starting at age 16. Perhaps I’m trying to return Pistol Caliber Too The Ruger Blackhawk .30 Carbine comes with 7½" barrel. Note black plastic checkered grips. The new Speer .30 Carbine 110 grain JSP factory load. Gold Dot .30 Carbine Load A s this article was being written a box arrived containing Speer’s new LE (Law Enforcement) .30 Carbine Gold Dot factory load. The fact new factory loads are still being introduced for this caliber nearly70yearsafterthemilitarydevelopeditatteststoitspopularity.Thisnewloadwasfiredboth frommyM1A1.30CarbineandtheAMT.30Carbinepistol.At100yardsitgave1,975fpsfromthe M1A1’s18"barreland1,533fpsfromtheAMT’s6½"barrel.GroupsfromtheAMTat25yardsranabout 3"-plus, which isn’t that impressive. Interestingly groups at 100 yards from the M1A1 consistently ran aboutthesame3"-plus,andthat’sgreat.Functioningwasperfectwithbothguns,andbetteryetthisnew ammoranthroughmyfullautoM2Carbinewithoutaflaw. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 582009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=59http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=59One of the problems Duke experienced in loading the .30 Carbine for the Ruger Blackhawk revolver was that occasionally the hammer blow would drive cartridges deeper into the chamber cushioning the blow to the primer. This resulted in poor accuracy and sometimes complete misfires. Duke has been using these Redding dies for his .30 Carbine handloading chores. He considers the taper crimp die necessary. Cartridges and bullets on box are from left: 115 grain cast from Redding/SAECO mould #302 and loaded round, 110 grain Sierra JSP and loaded round and 110 grain Sierra FMJ and loaded round. “ Duke, get a .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk and see what it does for real. An M2 is kind of the ultimate accessory for your Ruger .30 Carbine, so this works for me. suit it are limited. They are either very slow burning pistol propellants or very fast burning rifle ones. For example several reloading manuals recommend W296 and H110 as best for it. After a bit of load development and test shooting I must agree that to produce factory duplication ballistics indeed H110 or W296 are the optimum propellants. As for bullets the Ruger Blackhawk revolver can digest any shape with .308" jacketed bullets being the proper size. But if you’re looking for handloads that will also function flawlessly in the military carbines then forget anything but roundnose bullets. Also the revolver can use bullets lighter or heavier than the normal 110 grain ones factory loaded in the Carbine. With the carbines its best to stick to within about 10 grains to my childhood because in the past 18 months I’ve added another to my collection, plus a folding stock M1A1 and even a selective fire M2. Being of an impetuous nature and cognizant of the rifle/handgun combo thing things didn’t stop there. His Editorship said, “Duke, get a .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk and see what it does for real. An M2 is kind of the ultimate accessory for your Ruger .30 Carbine, so this works for me.” So, I got a brand new Ruger New Model Blackhawk and was pleased to see that instead of the usual ill-fitting Ruger walnut grips this sample has a set of checkered black plastic types such as the very early Blackhawks were shipped with. But I wasn’t done yet. I took Roy’s request to the next level. On an Internet firearms auction site I also found and bought one of the AMT .30 Carbine semiauto pistols. All I can say here the execution of their gun in steel did not match its concept. In other words — it’s not what I’d call a superb quality gun, if you get my drift. of the factory jacketed bullets. Very light ones may not cycle the action and much heavier ones can cause bending of the operating rod. I use both 110 grain FMJ and softpoint ones and a cast gas checked design from Redding/SAECO (#302). It weighs 115 grains cast of linotype alloy and I size them to .30". With that lead alloy bullet I decided to reduce velocities under factory levels. At about 1,740 fps the carbines still functioned fine. Western Powder’s 5744 gave that speed with 14.0 grains. ” Reality Sets In Ok, now let’s take a look at reality. The gun world doesn’t need me to tell them the .30 Carbine in carbines works great. All three of mine function perfectly with both factory loads and my Continued on page 101 Reloading What I also discovered is that all that fine and relatively cheap surplus .30 Carbine ammo has disappeared. No worry because I’m nothing if not an avid handloader. Besides, those long Montana winters give me plenty of time to spend at the loading bench. The .30 Carbine is an interesting little cartridge, considering that it can be reloaded for revolvers, semiauto pistols and carbines and even full-auto carbines. Because of its small capacity and bore size the powders that Duke has settled on these two powders for his .30 Carbine handloading for carbines and handguns. H110 is used with jacketed bullets; 5744 is used with cast bullets. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 592009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=60http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=60GRP Recon 60 GRP / WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=61http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=61Recognizing Quality niGhthawk custom N ighthawk Custom’s rapid success in earning a place among the top custom 1911 makers has been spectacular. This is a tough, highly competitive market. Although there are a lot of 1911 buyers, there are also a lot of manufacturers. Success comes from hard work, uncompromising high standards, topnotch customer service and absolute integrity. Even that is not enough. You have to understand 1911 people and their passion for this very special pistol. The only way to understand is to share it. In one of his many books (I think it was The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) author Tom Wolfe had a quote from Sonny Barger, the “Maximum Leader” of the Hell’s Angels. Someone asked Barger how the Angels picked new members. “We don’t pick ’em,” Barger replied, “We recognize ’em.” Back in the early 1970s, I owned three handguns: a little Beretta .22 pocket autopistol and two S&W revolvers, a K-22 and a Combat Magnum. I felt my handgun requirements were fairly well covered, as in fact they were. One evening in the classified ads of the local paper I saw a Colt 1911 .45 offered for sale. On the spur of the moment I decided to check it out. It turned out to be a like-new Series 70 Gold Cup National Match. Later I would learn the price asked was more than reasonable. At the time I didn’t give price a thought. From the moment WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM Dave Anderson Photos: Chuck Pittman, Inc. 612009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=62http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=62GRP Recon GRP / niGhthawk custom 62 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=63http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=63WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 632009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=64http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=64Five rounds at 25 yards with Nighthawk Custom GRP Recon, Black Hills Ammunition 230 gr. JHPs. Group measures just over 1" outside spread, under 0.6" measured center to center. the gun’s owner locked the slide back and handed it to me I was sold. I didn’t pick it. I recognized it. Worn Comfort I’m not one to claim all handgun development stopped in 1911. We’re going through an amazing time in handgun history, with many fine choices. There are plenty of handguns I would choose ahead of the 1911 for specific purposes. There may even be “all-arounders” as good or better, such as the old .357 Combat Magnum I’ll always have. But for over a third of a century the 1911 has been the handgun I’ve shot most, carried most, trusted most. I’ve hunted deer with 1911s, won IPSC matches with them, and on many occasions enjoyed “the worn comfort of the checked grip,” as Hemingway phrased it. A singlestack 1911 fits my hand like no other. To my eyes a modern 1911 is the handsomest of handguns. Appearance and appeal are personal things, largely subjective, not always easy to explain or even understand. Beyond appearance there is practicality. The practical purpose of a defensive handgun is to protect its owner from unexpected lethal attack. It does so through its ability to deliver a powerful blow, accurately and quickly. For this purpose there is no more coldly efficient tool than a well-made 1911. It provides a nearly ideal balance of size, weight, power and manageable recoil. Properly made and fitted it is as reliable as any pistol made and more accurate than most. Its trigger pull quality (again, when properly done) is unsurpassed, short, crisp, with a fast reset. Operating controls are ideally placed for fast access. Left-hand shooters need only an ambidextrous safety to achieve the same easy handling qualities (slide stop and magazine release button can be operated just fine with the left hand trigger finger). Durability is legendary. You can wreck a 1911 through deliberate abuse, but given reasonable care it is almost impossible to wear one out. Anyone who fires enough rounds through a 1911 to actually wear it out is mighty lucky, and likely one heck of a shot! The Nighthawk Custom pistols shown here are the GRP (Global Response Pistol) and GRP Recon. The Recon has an unobtrusive accessory rail integral with the front of the frame, otherwise the two are identical. Both are fine examples of the modern 1911. Pick one up, rack the slide a few times, press down on the barrel hood, operate the controls and the first impression is of the excellent parts-fit. There’s no movement of the barrel hood. The thumb safety, grip safety, slide stop and magazine release, all operate crisply and positively. The slide glides smoothly on Sum Of The Parts 64 64 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=65http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=65niGhthawk custom its rails and there is no perceptible play, yet, neither is it too tight. It’s right. One of the enduring myths of the 1911 involves parts-fit. To achieve accuracy, we’ve been told, a 1911 must be tightly fit, making it finicky and unreliable. For reliability a 1911 should have a sloppy loose fit so dirt can “sift out,” like flour being sifted through a blender. That’s how they were made in two world wars, and they worked, didn’t they? I probably used to believe the theory myself. What changed my mind was shooting hundreds of thousands of rounds through dozens of nicely fitted 1911s. I no longer believe there has to be a tradeoff between accuracy and reliability. Accuracy is a function of consistency. In the 1911 design, the pistol has to cycle the same way, and lock up the barrel the same way, for every shot. Consistency also leads to reliability. The loose fit of wartime 1911s wasn’t a design feature. It was just the best they could do with the technology of the era, under the pressure of wartime production. GRP /GRP Recon * Action: 1911 design Caliber: .45 ACP Height: 5 5/8” Barrel length: 5” Weight: 39 ounces (empty) Safeties: Extended, left side, beavertail grip safety Sights: Ramped post front, Heinie Slant Pro rear, Trijicon tritium inserts Finish: Perma Kote Accessories: Two 8-round magazines with base pads, soft case with Nighthawk logo. Price: $2,350 *Recon model has integral frame rail for lights or laser aiming devices. No Fitting With the tools then available, a precise fit could be achieved (as it was with pre-war Winchester 70s, S&Ws, fine double rifles, for example) only with a great deal of highly skilled hand labor. As the armed forces rapidly increased from thousands to millions the military didn’t have the time or money for extensive hand fitting. With a sloppy fit there is no consistency. The slide changes its position relative to the frame, the barrel changes its position relative to both slide and frame. Sometimes the firing pin hits the primer dead center, other times off to one side. Sometimes the extractor hook extends to the full depth of the extraction groove in the case, other times it barely catches the rim. Sometimes the ejector hits the case head squarely to spin it out the ejection port, other times it hits the edge of the case. None of this spells reliability in my book. I’d rather have everything work the same way every time. Consistency leads to accuracy, and it also leads to reliability. And as for dirt sifting out of the gun, I’d rather have it not sift in. The whole sloppy/reliable vs. tight/accurate 65 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=66http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=6666 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=67http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=67niGhthawk custom GRP /GRP Recon “ I no longer believe there has to be a tradeoff between accuracy and reliability. Accuracy is a function of consistency. groups over a rest at 25 yards. Both pistols consistently shot under 2". The GRP averaged around 11/2", while the GRP Recon did a little better, with an average closer to 1". The Recon’s average was helped by a couple of groups close to the 1/2" mark. These may have been a fluke (I wouldn’t bet on doing it on demand) but they do show the pistol’s potential. This was not with lightly loaded match ammunition, but with full power 230 gr. JHPs from Black Hills Ammunition. Another thing to watch with autopistols is the fired case ejection pattern. If the pistol is operating consistently empty cases will follow a fairly consis- business is a false choice. Don’t make it loose or tight. Just fit the parts right, the way Nighthawk Custom does. In my experience an accurate 1911 is also a reliable 1911. If it is accurate it means parts are fit right, and if parts are fit right the pistol will likely be reliable. I’m always disappointed when 1911 reviews omit accuracy results, though I sometimes admire the creative reasons given for the omission. After disassembly for parts inspection, I lubed the pistols (our online Web Blast feature has a video on how I lube a 1911) and started shooting, five shot WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM Do It Right tent path, as they did with both of these pistols. I don’t like it when one empty angles out forward, the next angles back, another goes straight up, and the fourth beans me on the forehead. I’ve had a “Commander-length” (not offered at present) GRP for a couple of years, with about 1,500 rounds through it. I fired about 250 rounds through each of the two full-models tested. I’ve never had a malfunction of any kind with any Nighthawk Custom pistol. Both of these pistols have steel frames and an aluminum frame is now available as well. Trigger pulls on both pistols are Continued on page 85 67 ”2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=68http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=68XM-18 Gen III C Pat Covert Photos: ChuCk Pittman, inC. Modular Kubaton Deluxe Set ustom knifemaker Rick Hinderer’s career has been all about shifting gears. When he first started making handmade knives 20 years ago he probably never envisioned he would be using the technology he uses today, but that’s probably a good thing because he learned his chops by making knives the old fashioned way. To quote an old Smith Barney television commercial, “He earned it.” Hinderer’s early knives were working fixed blades, simple edges for the outdoorsman. From there he graduated to folding knives, and by the early 1990s he was making highend art folders. At this time the linerlock, modernized by custom knifemaker Michael Walker, was taking root and the tactical knife genre as we know it today was posed for take-off. For a dozen years he produced top shelf art knives and a reputation for making darn good ones. But this, too, would change. It was time for Hinderer to shift gears. According to Rick, “After about 12 years making art knives I longed to get back to making using type knives. So I shifted focus again and started making and designing working knives for hunting, LE and military applications.” One big influence in changing directions at this time was Rick’s involvement with public service. “My interest in public service began 12 years ago when I joined our county volunteer Underwater Search and Rescue team, as a rescue diver. At the same time my wife Lori joined our volunteer fire dept. After a year on the dive team I decided to also join our fire dept and completed fire training up to career level training and also became a certified EMT-B. My wife then also joined our dive team as a diver. Rick HindeReR’s custom knives 68 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=69http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=69Flame This was in a volunteer organization so the knifemaking was still full time, even though because of the size of our dept. and training we did, the volunteer work was pretty much like a full time job.” Working with rescue and law enforcement personnel swayed Rick to change his center of attention to knives geared toward these applications. He began designing knives for diving, rescue, and tactical use and, once again, gained a reputation for producing excellent knives in this new arena. This led to design collaborations with manufacturers Benchmade and Gerber, further entrenching the knifemaker’s standing as a solid designer and artisan. While some knifemaker’s might consider sitting back and collecting accolades at this point, that would not be the story in Rick’s case. It was time to shift gears again. Next up, Hinderer added CNC (computer controlled machining) to his repertoire, which allowed him to add more precision to his knives and, at the same time, expand his line. Rick states, “A few years ago I invested in a small CNC lathe to use to make pens. This machine lead to a strong interest in CNC technology and how it could be used in making knives. I purchased a CNC mill the next year and started learning how to use it and meshing my hand skills and the CNC technology. I quickly learned of the extreme accuracy capable with a CNC mill and also of techniques and possibilities with design not possible to do by hand. For example the texture pattern I use on my handles and on my Modular Kubaton is done on the computer controlled mill using a complex program that would be impossible with a conventional mill. All of my knives and pens are made using this Continued on page 80 Folding Camp Extreme Duty Modular Pen Flashpoint Firetac and pens WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 692009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=70http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=702009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=71http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=71The C Bud Johnson ops have them. Old time retired cops have more and better ones. Not guns, but something almost as good — stories. War stories to be exact. All cops have them some but some just need to be pried lose with a glass of warm milk or other refreshing beverage. This is a true story about a light bulb. Not a lamp fixture type light bulb but the kind of light bulb everyone has inside their own heads. This is about the dimmest-witted, dumbest but most fortunate burglar in town on this particular night. It’s not even my story but rather one owned by two of San Diego’s finest patrol coppers working the graveyard watch in downtown San Diego. It was back in the early 1980s when San Diego truly was a navy town with a bustling navy trade in the area of lower Broadway. In years past it had been noted and frequented by legions of young tender sailors out for a good time on the town. It was full of dive bars, penny arcades with their pin ball games and souvenir shops in the days before video games and digital shows. This was a time when a buck would get you a watered down drink and some exposed skin at any of the bars on lower Broadway. It was a place where you could get a cold beer and a dental job without even being seated. It could be a rough place, especially after the sun went down. Cops back then worked one officer cars with cover pretty close. This is the story about two such patrol officers who were dispatched to a burglary call at a take-out pizza shop near the corner of Union Street and Broadway. Light Bulb The place closed around midnight, depending on the takeout trade for the evening. It was a small place, no seating or counter space for eating, take-out only. A long kitchen counter with the pizza oven behind and a very small entry for customers. It had a door leading to a stairway and loft containing the pizza supplies. The two beat cars arrived almost at the same time, each approaching from the opposite direction and each having a good view of the front of the pizza place. The officers slipped from their patrol cars, each keeping their backs to the store walls as they made their approach. Taking a look at the front door told them the whole story. The glass door had been shattered, and shards were on the ground — and the door was ajar. Radioing dispatch of a good burglary, they eased into the store as quietly as they could given the glass on the ground. A quick look showed no one was in the front portion of the store and quickly determined the door to the supply room had been opened. The game was afoot, as they say. They entered one at a time and immediately had to navigate a narrow stairway having five or six steps, then a small landing where the stairs turned back and went to the up-stairs supply loft. The first officer started up the stairs, with his cover officer remaining at the bottom of the stairs until the first officer made it to the landing. Both had their issue Smith & Wesson .38 Special Continued on page 83 .38s Ready “Something had made his little tiny internal light bulb turn on and he had to know.” WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 71 Sequoia Blankenship2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=72http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=72Bright Lights aNd JohN CoNNor www.safariland.com BeautifuL BLades What’s Not to Like? Left:CelebratedknifedesignerBobLumpassedaway last year but his elegant designs keep coming — likethisstunningmodel760LFTifrom Benchmade—asolidtitanium Monolock with a 4" blade of CPM-M4 tool steel; a lightning-quick bomb-proof beauty. Here’sBenchmade’s answer to thousands who love the great grip of the Mel Pardue-designed Griptilian:Differentsizes,blade profiles,steels,colors,finishes— theworks,doneadozenways,but all with the famed Griptilian grip and the smooth Axis lock function. www.888professional.com www.benchmade.com “Performance out of all proportion to their size” — that’s what I wrote in a review of these super-tough, cool little mini-cutters from TripleEightProfessional.Builtaroundabeefyaxleratherthanapivot,you’ll have to see the video demo to appreciate their opening and closing action. Gerry McGinnis is a young man to watch. He designed this slick pair of smooth,strongliner-locking folders (left) for CRKT whileincollege,hence their names: Summa and Tuition. Pair either of ’em with the Get-A-Way Driver,(below)and you’ve got a mini-tool box withabuilt-inLEDlight, andafineknife,both at bargain prices. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 www.crkt.com 722009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=73http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=73Left:Safariland’sRLS—RapidLightSystem—livesuptoitsname,comingoff abelt,pocketorstrap-clippedpositiontosecurelymounttoyourrail-equipped handgun fast and sure. It works just as wellasahandheldcompactflashlight,too. www.insighttechgear.com Insight Tech Gear’s Procyon weaponlight is just one of a family oftacticalsofferingmomentary, constant-on and disorienting strobe functions,intelligentlydesignedandbrutally overbuilt to survive any environment. AnotheruniquedesignbyMikeyVellelkamp— thisoneforBlade-Tech—iswhatyoumight calla“tacticalscalpel”:Light,thin,tough, scary-sharp and fast in the hand — availableasafolderorfixed-blade fromBlade-Tech. FirstLight,thesource ofthefirst“hands-free hand-held” tactical lights,theLiberator andTomahawk,now has several different accessories for securing it when it’s not in place onyourhand,butstill keeping it ready to shine exactly where you want it. www.first-light-usa.com www.blade-tech.com i t’s true and you already know it: I’m a Certified Knife Knut. I could tell myself they’re just tools of the trade — and they are — but oh, yeah; for me there’s much more to knives than their purely utilitarian value. For warriors, whether you are employed full-time as one or not, the truth is in your DNA. Knives are both cutters and cachet; implements and icons; fighting tools and fetishes; a niche in the spirit where the purely physical merges with the metaphysical. Knives can be bloody, brutal instruments of close combat, but they are also expressions of self — and an attitude that says, I won’t go down easy. Streamlight’s Sidewinder Compact is a “light for all seasons,”andmanyreasons,notallof’emtactical. Anyonepotentiallyfacinganyemergency, naturalorman-caused, would be well served by this multi-function package designed for hard military use. www.streamlight.com Now, tactical lights, I’m more pragmatic about, although I do have a couple of favorites which would now be considered obsolete, yet I can’t even bring myself to take ’em out of “first rotation,” much less retire them. They’re battered and worn, dinged and damaged, but they can still do the job — even if not as well as they once could. Whoa … wait a minute. I think I just figured it out: That line could easily describe me! You’ll find a couple of new tools here too. In my mind, perfect complements to knives and lights: Cut through to the problem, light it up and apply the right tool. There’s not enough space here to print all the fine features, metals and materials, sizes and styles, so check out any that catch your eye on the maker’s Web site, okay? Some, like Lone Wolf Knives and Triple Eight Professional, have videos demonstrating their knives in use and handling their very different locking mechanisms. Remember too, Christmas ain’t that far away, so casually bust out your highlighter pen and start markin’ the place in this issue where the right person can’t help seeing it. Now browse — and bon appétit! * www.surefire.com www.almarknives.com Aboveandaboveright:Here’saperfectpairforundercoverurbanwork:SureFire’sblazing-bright stoutlittleE1BBACKUPandAlMarKnives’SLB,StoutLittleBackup.Onegivesyou80blindinglumens,ora discreetfivelumens,andtheothergivesyou1.75"ofrazor-honedAUS8steel.One,orboth,couldsaveyourlife. SOG’s new PowerAssist has two fast assistedopening blades in addition to a pocketful of tough tools. www.sogknives.com Aboe:NamedforbothaGreekshieldandaUSmissiledefensesystem,SOG’sAegisfolderlivesuptoitsname. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 732009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=74http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=74Duty-ReaDy Taurus’ PaT CasCIo PT 1911 raIl-Gun The Taurus PT 1911 stainless steel model is ready for any activity, be it military, law enforcement or home defense. I ’m always excited whenever I get my hands on a Taurus firearm. Not only do you get a great gun at a great price, you also get a lifetime warranty on your gun — new or used. Additionally, Taurus is running a special — with each new firearm purchased from them, you get a one year free membership in the NRA. Great deal! Previously, Clint Smith did a review of the first Model PT 1911, which was a blued version, with no accessory rail. Clint ran more than 5,000 rounds through his test sample, and only had one problem — the extractor gave way around the 2,000 round mark. I don’t see that as a problem. An extractor can let loose at anytime on any semiauto. I’ve had brand-new 1911s, straight out of the box, that didn’t have an extractor properly fitted, and I’ve had ’em break on me inside of shooting a box of ammo. I’ve had three blued Taurus PT 1911s without the accessory rail pass through my hands, and I still have one The accessory rail easily handled the little BLACKHAWK! Products, Xyphos NT Night-Ops light. Note the Mil-Tac grips. Pat tried the LaserLyte FSL laser sighting system on the Taurus and found it fit like a charm and really aided in low-light aiming. 74 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=75http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=75BLACKHAWK! Target on left was the norm with most ammo tried. Target on the right, was 1.5". Gun is capable of match-grade accuracy with the right ammo and someone who knows how to shoot. of ’em. Seems like this latest PT 1911 sample, in stainless steel, is the best of the bunch I’ve had. Just seems like a really well put together pistol all the way around. I’ll tell you right off the bat, the one thing I don’t like on this gun, and all the others I’ve had, are the cheap black plastic grips. I honestly don’t see the point of putting cheap-looking plastic grips on an otherwise fine gun. Secondly, all PT 1911s come with an ambi-safety. I used to think all my 1911s had to have an ambi-safety. I’ve since come to my senses. I’d like to see the ambi-safety offered as an option. The Taurus catalog shows this particular model weighing-in at 39.4 ounces, but my scale shows it at 42. The Picatinny accessory rail on this gun is stout and there’s no fear of doing much damage to it, even under the harshest conditions. With that said, one other draw-back I’ve run across is it’s difficult finding holsters to accommodate this railed sample. I wasn’t able to locate any holsters capable of carrying the PT 1911 concealed. I did find a couple outstanding tactical thigh holsters from BLACKHAWK! Products, made of ballistic Nylon, that worked perfectly. One would work with the BLACKHAWK! Products Xiphos NT Night-Ops light attached, and the other with the gun sans the light. I also tried a LaserLyte FLS Laser Sighting System laser on the accessory rail and fit like a charm. However, the gun wouldn’t fit in the standard BLACKHAWK! tactical thigh holster. So, I had to use the other holster designed for a light. It’s one of those problems you have to face with any handgun you can mount some laser aimers or flashlight on. Luckily, I had two holsters to solve this problem. Were I still actively involved in law enforcement, these holsters would take care of my needs when carrying the PT 1911. Sights And Such I used To ThInk all my 1911s had To have an ambI-safeTy. I’ve sInCe Come To my senses. “ My sample came with the Novakdesigned, three-dot sights. The first PT 1911s came with the Heinie-designed, Straight-Eight sights. While I didn’t have any problems with the Heinie sights, I just find the Novak three-dot sights faster to line-up for some reason. All PT 1911s will come with the Novak threedot sights in the future. I couldn’t find much to fault with the gun as it came out-of-the-box. Trigger pull was right at 4-lbs even, but there Continued on page 88 “ Disassembly is pretty straight forward, even with the full-length guide rod. Loaded with good ammo from Black Hills or Winchester, it’s hard to beat a good ol’ 1911 for an all around self-defense gun. Col. Rex Applegate thought highly of the 1911 in his book, Kill Or Get Killed. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 752009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=76http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=76WIN! P226 9mm Pistol The P226 embossed on the grip assures the genuine product! HANDGUN OF THE MONTH SIG SAUER Conversion Kit! 76 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 • 22 LR PLUS A SIG SAUER2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=77http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=77The frame rail allows lasers, lights and accessories to be clamped on quickly and easily. Train with the .22 LR unit for cost-effective performance! The .22 LR conversion unit has an adjustable rear sight and uses the standard P226 frame. The P226’s grip is famous for comfort and usability. S The 9mm slide assembly can be quickly exchanged with the .22 LR unit. IG SAUER is the benchmark by which military and dutyfirearmsaremeasured.Whenashootersays theyhaveaSIG,itusuallymeanstheyareserious abouttheirequipment,trainingandcommitment toduty.TheP226maybethe“classic”SIGSAUERsemiauto. From the very beginning, it has shown to be a strong performer in police duty holsters and military operations. This has translated into an enthusiastic following in the civilian market by competitors, target shooters and anyone who valuesquality,reliabilityandperformance.Asaself-defense handgun,theSIGSAUERP226offersnocompromises. Withtheadditionofa.22LRconversionkitofslide,barrel, recoil spring and magazine, the P226 series has suddenly gottenevenmoreversatile.Fromeconomicalpractice,small gamehunting,targetshootingandplinkingtotrainingoptions, thiscarefully-tailored.22LRconversionkitdeliversthesame qualityandperformanceasanySIGproduct,andmakesany P226intoa“system”abletoperforminadutyrig—oras a trail pistol while camping. For more info: www.sigsauer.com. oVer $1,400! Custom Features • Fourpointsafetysystem • Adjustablesightson.22system • 15-roundmagin9mm • Framefinish:Hardanodized • Slidefinish:ProprietaryNitron • OverallHeight(9mm):5.5" • SA Trigger pull: 4.4 lbs (approx.) Photos: Joe Novelozo totaL VaLue: • Weight:34Oz.(9mm) • 10-roundmagin.22 • Accessory rail • Action:SA/DA • OAL(9mm):7.7" • Blackpolymergrips TO ENTER CONTEST:Useapostcard(noenvelopes,please)andfollowthesampleshown.SendtoAMERICAN HANDGUNNER,Dept.H11,P.O.Box501377,SanDiego,CA92150-1377.EntriesmustbereceivedbeforeDecember31,2009. Hom NoV/DeC 2009 REadER SuRvEy QuESTiONS: 1) i especially enjoy articles on: a) Classic handguns B) Competitive Shooting C) Handgun Hunting d) Concealed carry E) Handloading 2) i enjoy the articles on Knife Makers and Production Knives: a) yes B) No 3) when the ammo buying frenzy is over and ammunition is readily available again, i will: a) Sell the excess stock i bought B) Shoot up the excess stock i bought C) Hold on to the excess stock i bought d) None of the above, i never bought excess stock 4) in this weak economy, i think i might: a) Sell my guns for extra cash B) Hold my guns to protect my family C) Hide my guns from possible government intervention d) Other Name ___________________________________ Address_____________City,State,Zip____________ Email Address _______________________ CiRCLE aNSwERS TO REadER SuRvEy: Question#1: (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) Question#2: (A) (B) Question#3: (A) (B) (C) (D) Question#4: (A) (B) (C) (D) IfIwin,pleaseshipmyprizethrough: Dealer ___________________________________ Address_____________City,State,Zip____________ Phone ( ) ____ - ________ Store hours __ am __ pm samPLe Limit 1 entry per household. This contest is open to individuals who are residents of the United States and its territories only. Agents and employees of Publishers Development Corporation and theirfamiliesareexcludedfromentering.Contestvoidwhereprohibitedorrestrictedbylaw.Winnersmustmeetalllocallawsandregulations.Taxesandcompliancewithfirearmsregulationswill betheresponsibilityofthewinners.WinnerswillbenotifiedbyCERTIFIEDMAILonofficialletterhead.ATTENTIONDEPLOYEDMILITARY:USESTATESIDEADDRESS!Nopurchasenecessarytoenter. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 772009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=78http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=78HANDLOADING Continued from page 28 work in currently manufactured Marlin 1894s which are Ballard rifled, and they also shoot well through Browning’s B92. However, all is not perfect as with all of these rifles Keith bullets must be crimped over the front shoulder to feed reliably as well as having the proper length to feed at all. Two excellent SWC cast bullet designs work well in every sixgun and levergun I have ever used them in. They are the Lyman #431244GC, a 255 grain gas checked bullet designed by Ray Thompson in the 1950s, and NEI’s #295.429 GC, a 290+ grain gas checked bullet. The latter is basically a Keith bullet made 40 grains heavier and fitted with a gas check. While both of these shoot well in rifles they must also be crimped over the front shoulder for reliable feeding and proper OAL. The most accurate cast bullet design and load I have found for use in my microgroove barreled Marlin is the SAECO 240 grain flat point gas checked bullet designed for long-range silhouette shooting. Loaded over 20.0 grains of #2400 it clocks out at 1,674 fps and puts three shots in 5/8" at 50 yards. The downside is it is only of mediocre accuracy in the Winchester and Browning .44 Magnums. Jacketed When it comes to jacketed bullets all of the standard weight versions from 240-265 grains work just fine through .44 Magnum leverguns when crimped normally for use in .44 Magnum sixguns. Speer’s 240 JSP over 22.0 grains of #2400 clocks out at 1,672 fps from the Marlin with three shots in 7/8" and the Speer 240 JHP over 24.5 grains of WW296 is at 1,681 fps and a group of 3/4". If I had to choose one .44 Magnum jacketed bullet load to do absolutely everything in both sixgun and levergun it would be Hornady’s 265 grain JSP over 23.0 grains of WW296. Originally designed for the .444 Marlin, it shoots superbly in both my Marlin and a 51/2" Ruger Bisley Model clocking out at 1,621 fps and 1,317 fps respectively. It was also my sixgun silhouette load for several years back in the early 1980s. * For more info: www.marlinfirearms. com; www.ruger.com; www.laser-cast. com; www.lymanproducts.com; www. federalcartridge.com; www.hornady. com; www.speer-bullets.com; www. winchester.com; (Alliant) www.atk.com Check out the Web blast to see all of John’s loads. CLICK ON THE “WEB BLAST” LINK 78 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=79http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=792009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=80http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=80RICK HINDERER Continued from page 69 CNC technology and the latest in cadcam design technology. This enables me to hold extremely close tolerances in my knives and pens which helps me to make a product of outstanding quality.” The Kubaton is, in the literal sense of the Japanese term, a fighting stick. In Rick’s interpretation it is a dependable, heavy-duty writing instrument, but can be used for combat. Kubatons have become popular in recent years, and a growing group of knifemakers offer them. Few have produced as extensive a system as Hinderer. Rick’s tactical knives are attractive in design, but they are built for extremely hard use. He designed what he calls his first true tactical folder seven years ago and dubbed it Firetac. It’s still a mainstay in his line and he has made it even better since acquiring his CNC skills. The Firetac (3.5" blade) also has a feature his early folders didn’t. Instead of using a liner-lock, he uses a frame-lock which adds greater strength to the blade lock-up. The frame, as in all Rick’s folder, is made of top flight milled and textured titanium, which is offered inlaid with various colors of G10 synthetic composite for enhanced grip. Four blade styles are offered on the Firetac, the modified spear point being the most popular. Hinderer also offers his customers a variety of steels to fit their needs: Duratech 20-CV, CPM S30V, CPM 154 and D-2. “My favorite, and the steel I am offering now, is the Duratech 20-CV,” explains Rick. “This steel offers very high corrosion resistance, toughness and is very good in edge holding. Right now I am working with Carpenter Steel Corp. on some new alloys that show a lot of promise. These will most likely be offered this year.” The Hinderer Flame model (3.5" blade) has a curvaceous handle design with a pronounced finger choil and is offer in plain titanium or with G10 insets in the handle. The smaller Flashpoint model (2.5" blade) can be had with full G10 handle overlays and the model shown here features one of Rick’s favorite blade styles, dubbed the “Spanto.” According to Rick, “The Spanto blade, a blend of the spear point and tanto, is the best of both worlds with maximum cutting potential in a blade with a durable tip for prying.” Those wanting a larger blade can opt for Hinderer’s Folding Camp model. With its 4" spear point blade this is one folder that can handle both combat and serious field chores. Hinderer’s flagship folder is the XM-18. Rick states, “This is my most 80 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 Hi-Tech Bullies2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=81http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=81popular model. It’s also a frame-lock style folder and is built for extreme heavy duty use. The knife is offered in blade lengths of 3½" and 3". The 3½" blade is .165" thick and the 3" is .140" thick. The blade style is of my Spanto grind with or without the flipper option. The finishes I offer are a tumbled finish or blasted finish. I have a very wide variety of G-10 handle colors to choose from as well as select few in carbon fiber.” Hinderer definitely has his customers covered when it comes to a variety of models, and those wanting more upscale versions can choose from anything from custom anodizing on the titanium and optional handle inlays of more exotic materials, such as cocobolo wood or carbon fiber. Mightier Pens While personal defense pens are not a new idea, Hinderer has taken them to a whole new level. Rick has been making kubatons for years, but his CNC expertise has raised them up several notches. “Years ago when I was making Damascus art knives I had a customer who approached me about making a Damascus pen. I decided to try my hand at it and found I enjoyed working with this different medium,” says Rick. He adds, “As I graduated more into making tactical folders I found a genuine need for non-lethal self-defense items. I started making short defense sticks, or kubatons. Customers then told me of different styles of tips they would like to see on a kubaton, so I thought that instead of making many different styles of stick I would just make them interchangeable. Thus the modular kubaton was born. I sell these pens to a very wide diverse customer base. They include people who just want a good pen that can be used in a self defense situation, to law enforcement.” Rick offers his kubatons in three basic configurations. The Modular Kubaton is a pen only, that can be modified in several different ways. The pen attachment uses a Fisher Space Pen refill while other parts allow the user to configure the pen in ways more geared to self defense. Affordable aluminum or upscale titanium bodied models are offered. Next, Rick offers the Kubaton Deluxe Set, which includes the Modular Kubaton body, pen attachment, and two different end attachments that allow the user to configure it into a fighting kubaton if he wishes. Available in aluminum or titanium, this set is housed in a Pelican 1020 case with die cut foam insert. At the top of the line is the Extreme Duty Modular Pen. “I designed this along the same lines as the Modular Kubaton,” Rick said. “It has the same grooves around the body which aids in holding onto the pen during strikes and not allowing the hand to slip with impact. The differences are slight. I shortened the body to be more of a “pen” size. Also the front end of the pen is made to only fit a special nib which houses a large Fisher Space Pen refill. The front end or nib on the aluminum pens use a 17-4 stainless hardened nib which makes it very tough and durable. The back end of the pen allows the user to use any of the end attachments used on the Modular Kubaton, making this pen a truly modular design. I make these both is Titanium and Aluminum with MilSpec Type III hardcoat anodizing. These are offered in black, brown, green and blue. The pocket clips on all my pens are made of aircraft 6al4v titanium.” Hinderer’s kubatons can also be up-scaled with custom touches such as rainbow anodizing. To the delight of many, Rick’s knives and kubatons can be had at an affordable price. His knives start at $350 for basic models and go up from there, while the standard aluminum kubaton starts at just $20 plus $13 per attachment. Not a bad way at all for launching yourself into a hi-tech tactical lifestyle! For more info: Rick Hinderer Knives, 5373 Columbus Rd., Shreve, OH 44676, (330) 263-0962, e-mail: Rhind64@earthlink.net, www.rickhindererknives.com * At the ready when you are iTAC DEFENSE offers a complete line of innovative, polymer roto retention paddle holsters, standard paddle holsters, and magazine pouches. Our li2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=82http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=82COP TALK Continued from page 36 Cartwright was not visibly armed at the time the two deputies made contact. Why did they try to arrest him at a shooting range?!? Because — duh! — that was the one place where they knew they could find him; the complainant had said he planned to be there that day. Why didn’t the cops shoot as they moved to cover? Some accounts said that they did. Stay tuned for the real world answer born of deep investigation, and not what you read in the media. And, while thinking about it, bear in mind it’s generally harder for a running man to hit a standing target than for a statically-placed man to hit a moving target. Why didn’t the useless armed citizens on the shooting range drop this evil cop-killer, like us real manly men at Internet-connected keyboards would have? The “keyboard kommandoes” who posted that tripe had never been to the scene. The Shoal River firing line is downhill from the parking lot, the nearest shooting position some 43 yards from the gunfight scene. The supine killer who shot upward from the ground would not have been visible to even the nearest shooter on the firing line! Moreover, one deputy would have been between them and the killer, and the other would have been in their line of fire on the other side of him. Shooting Cartwright from where the armed citizens were would have been physically impossible. Only two staff people, inside the clubhouse, would have had any possible line of fire … and neither were armed. That situation has changed since. When a suspect becomes so violent “less-lethal” force such as beanbag rounds or, in this case, the Taser must be used, the backup officer must be instantly ready to “go lethal” if the situation escalates. This lies at the core of the successful “Contact and Cover” principle that John Morrison, a regular contributor to American Handgunner’s sister publication American COP, helped develop for San Diego PD 20-some years ago after a similarly-tragic multiple cop-killing. Once the investigation is complete and we know all the details, I am hoping we can do an in-depth study of this tragic incident in the continuing feature Ayoob Files in these pages. As said earlier, “Stay tuned.” This column is respectfully dedicated to the memories of Okaloosa County Deputies Burt Lopez and Skip York. May they rest in peace. 82 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 Lessons So Far *2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=83http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=83the light bulb Continued from page 71 revolvers out and their flashlights on and braced and ready for action. Both spotted the movement at the same time — a man stepped from the shadows in the up-stairs landing and stood at the top of the stairs. The suspect had been caught in the act, a pretty unusual occurrence given the ringing or audible alarm making such a racket. The first copper called to the suspect telling him they were San Diego police officers just in case he couldn’t figure that part out for himself, and commanded him to freeze,” the popular command of that generation of cops. At that moment the officer’s lights playing over the suspect shone on something long and skinny. It was an 8" kitchen knife the suspect had armed himself with. That changed the dynamics of everything. The second officer took a bead on the suspect’s chest, covering him as the first officer issued commands. Now, this was in the days before verbal judo became the rage. It was back in the days of well, let’s say, plaintalk communications. It was in the days before you received days off or were sent to a “communications workshop” for using vulgar language during an arrest. In fact, back then it was considered mandatory to use a number of popular, um, “street phrases” to gain the attention and compliance of a suspect. It just happens the first officer was a master of those communication skills and set to work. Remember, we didn’t have tasers or phasers or less than lethal shotgun projectiles. We had guns, saps (usually employed to the noggin of the suspect in direct violation of approved striking areas), straight hardwood nightsticks with leather straps for twirling; and sometimes progressive departments issued Mace, a chemical agent used to cause irritation to the eyes of the suspect, arresting officers and anyone within 27'. As a matter of fact, any officer pulling his Mace in the presence of brother officers was likely to have it ripped from his grasp before the irritating agent could be deployed, thereby sparing those around him irritation of several types. Verbal Skills Applied So, the contact officer launched into his diatribe with the usual commands. “Drop the knife. Drop the F*^&#ing knife. Drop the Mo*&^% F*&^%ing knife Mo*&er Fu*&er!” etc., etc., etc., blah, blah and blah. This diatribe continued for several minutes, getting more colorful with each rendition and repetition. The officer was giving it his, all but alas, the dumb burglar just hadn’t gotten the 83 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=84http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=843 New Grip Styles Prices per set range from $43.00 to $105.00 Para P-14 Caspian High Cap Springfield EMP point of it all. Not wanting to get any closer, the officer continued in a louder, shall we say, more aggressive manner. The cover officer maintained his position and had the suspect dead in his sights. Somehow this had to end. There was not going to be any SWAT callout a sole burglar with a knife, not in 1980. No negotiators either. Not even a sergeant on-scene to add to the confusion and issue meaningless orders. Nope, this would end right here in the dingy, little cramped stairway, as it should. Either dummy was going to give it up, or dummy was going to get lit-up pretty quick. Something had to give. But there he stood. Ten feet away from the first officer, with only a few steps and a very small landing separating the two — and a very long knife. Cop vests don’t do too well against stabbing instruments and you can bet both officers were thinking about that one quite a bit. The commands continued. Then the light bulb came on. Dummy’s eyes got as big as a bovine’s in heat and he stiffened his entire body as if he had been shocked. He dropped his knife and surrendered. The first officer stepped up, and after ordering dummy to turn around, cuffed him and led him down the narrow stairway in front of him to the bottom of the steps. Then out the door of the pizza shop to the waiting back seat of the squad car for a very short, three block ride to the San Diego grey-bar hotel, then located at 222 West “C” Street, a well known location and address for San Diego area cops for 30 years. Then it occurred to the officer, something had changed the dummy. Something had made his little tiny internal light bulb turn on and he had to know. Suspending Miranda for a moment the officer asked dummy if he had known if the officer was about to end the stand-off and shoot dummy at the precise time dummy dropped the knife and gave up. Dummy agreed he indeed did know he was about to be lit-up. The officer then asked how he knew. Was it the tone of his commanding voice that did it? No. Was it the loud vulgar language that did it? No. Was it looking down the barrel of my Smith & Wesson 6" .38 special revolver? No. Was it my uniform? My badge? No, and no again. What was it then? Dummy stated for all to hear: “It was when your partner put his fingers in his ears that did it”. Even the dumbest, slowest crook knows. And if you can’t use this as a training lesson for partners, then I’ve wasted our time — and the light’s still out. Bet you don’t get this kind of training at your agency, eh? Lights On * 84 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=85http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=85NighthAWK Continued from page 67 clean and crisp. Pull of the GRP Recon measured 31/2 pounds, the standard GRP just a whisker over four pounds. On a match pistol I like a lighter pull, but for 1911s intended for personal defense these pulls are excellent. Slides of these GRPs have both front and rear cocking serrations. The match barrel is hard fit with a solid bushing and no recoil spring guide rod. Front serrations and guide rods are issues which seem to exercise some people greatly. I have 1911s with and without both features and can’t say I worry about it much either way. I do like frontstrap checkering for a secure grip even when hands are cold, or hot and sweaty. Some of my early guns had 20 lines-per-inch checkering, which could get a bit hard on the hands in long practice sessions. Others have 30 lpi checkering which I like, though some shooters feel these fine diamonds don’t provide as secure a grip and are easily damaged. In one of those “duh” moments someone figured out we don’t have to choose; we can have 25 lpi checkering. Both GRPs are checkered 25 lpi, a style which seems to have become the most popular choice in custom 1911s. Quality of checkering is excellent, with straight lines and even rows of diamonds. The GRP slide stop is a nice feature. Usually the slide stop cross pin protrudes from the right side of the frame, so it can be pushed out for disassembly. Sometimes it can be pushed inadvertently while firing, locking up the gun. I’ve never had it happen but a friend who shoots PPC has had it happen with his 1911 while shooting weak hand barricade. Nighthawk Custom cuts the head of the pin flush with the frame, then recesses the frame around the pin to allow it to be pushed for removal. Two 8-round magazines with base pads are provided. The magazine well opening is beveled. Sights on these GRPs consist of a ramped post front sight, and Heinie Slant Pro fixed rear sight. The sights carry Trijicon tritium night-sight inserts in a three-dot pattern. These are excellent sights, tough and snag-proof. Another excellent and popular rear sight, the Novak with tritium inserts is available as an option. In The Details Detailing is a component of a custom gun. Some detailing, such as removing sharp edges, improves performance. Others, such as polishing out tool marks, are cosmetic and mainly improve pride of ownership. Detail work also increases value, at least among connoisseurs of the 1911. Chuck Pittman’s fine photographs show the detailing better than words. Note a couple of examples: how the edges of the slide stop are smoothly and evenly beveled to remove sharp edges, the absence of tool marks in the frame scallops behind the trigger, the fit of the sights to the slide. The pistols are finished in Nighthawk Custom’s proprietary “Perma Kote,” a very tough, rust-resistant, smooth matte finish. It’s available in several colors and can be mixed and matched if you prefer the two-tone look. I think it’s a handsome finish. Nighthawk’s Web site indicates the finish has withstood testing including 5,000 hours of salt-water immersion and 40 psi salt water spray. I like the appearance and handling of the grips with the Nighthawk logo. The Web site shows a wide range of grips in different styles and materials (cocobolo checkered with gold inlay, Crimson Trace Laser grips, or cristobal wood to give a few examples). Nighthawk Custom is a custom shop, so if you want something a bit different from their various packages they can accommodate. They can, for example, delete the front cocking serrations; checker the front or underside of the trigger guard; fit and blend a mag well; modify the grip to the Ed Brown Bobtail configuration and much more. The Web site has the full list of custom upgrades. On request they will fit an ambi safety. This is the one item not covered under Nighthawk’s lifetime warranty. The two sides need to be separated for disassembly, and the necessary connection is an inherent weak point. Personally I have2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=86http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=86turNbull Continued from page 51 There are many choices in clothing today. What do the experts wear? “If you need clothing to wear daily that looks good and yet at the same time supports and protects the use of your equipment for individual personal protection you would be well served to take a good look at EOTAC clothing.” Clint & Heidi Smith Thunder Ranch lamented the fact I had a nice Browning 1886 carbine but lord, how I wish I had a pristine early Winchester to send to them for restoration. It was a lifetime dream of mine to own a minty, early 1886. “But Roy, it can happen. We can turn that Browning into what it should look like,” he said, smiling at me. “We do it all the time. We re-shape the wood, finish it properly, color case harden the receiver and rust blue the other parts. It comes out looking as fine as any factory Winchester from the period. Or maybe better?” he added smiling again. The Process WWW.EOTAC.COM I was hooked. Especially when he talked about their new “Open Range” .45 Colt SAA revolvers in 43/4" and 51/2". All are color case hardened, hand-assembled from “parts sets” purchased from US Firearms, scrupulously polished and hand-fitted and then finished to match a post-1912 Colt SAA. Standard grips are one-piece walnut but custom grips such as fancy wood, ivory, stag and others are available at extra cost. The price is about $1,650 as of this writing, and considering you’re getting what is arguably the finest SAA around, built and finished in one of the best shops in the world, the price is very, very fair. It’s easy to drop $2500+ on a “factory” 1911 these days, so keep some perspective. I sent Peter my old “Browning” 1886 .45-70 and ordered a 43/4" SAA to go with it. I went ahead and jumped off the cliff too and asked my name be engraved on the back strap. I have always wanted such a gun and have never owned one, so now was the time. I sat back, glared at my checkbook, willing more money to magically appear — and waited anxiously. The revolvers arrived in due time. Both were, simply put, exactly what I had been hoping for. Tight, sharp, perfectly finished, with a stout action befitting a working cowboy gun. I ran my fingernail across the boundary of the frame and trigger-guard on the 43/4" gun and could feel no hitch — it was faultlessly polished. The cylinder was beveled and the front sight straight. Grips mated with the grip frame perfectly, and the simple walnut seemed businesslike, relevant on what was going to be a shooter, a working gun for me. And yes, there it was, my name engraved in an old style on the backs-trap. Simple pleasures, but significant to me, nonetheless. I know you understand. The 51/2" was a mirror of the shorter version and elegant in every way. When the long box arrived I readily confess my heart was pounding. I had The Guns 86 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=87http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=87spent hours on the Turnbull Web site looking at old Winchesters and simply could not imagine my rifle looking like that. But I was very wrong. It was, and is, stunning. I remembered hours in museums looking at early Winchesters, their stunning wood color, case hardening and bluing you could crawl into — and I was holding one. I racked the lever and everything snicked and clicked into place. The stock-work was exacting, correctly colored, checkered beautifully and shaped perfectly. I had no idea a few changes could have such an effect. The receiver, lever and hammer were colored immaculately and I had to sit down and collect my wits a bit after seeing it. If you’re familiar with old Colts and Winchesters you understand that subtle sense of feel those early finishes seem to transmit to you when handled. Most modern finishes are practical, durable and rugged, but stop just short of “that” feeling. The hand-rubbed lacquer on a Duesenberg imparts “that” feeling, and the robotically sprayed finish on a new Ford, well — doesn’t. Visions of buffalo hunters and dusty Dodge City streets dance in our heads when such guns are handled, and few understand that as well as the craftsmen at Turnbull’s shop. Shooting Yes, I did. The 43/4" was going to be a shooter for me, and the 1886 was going pig hunting for sure. I didn’t want to shoot the 51/2" since it was a “loaner” for pictures and to examine so courtesy dictated I wipe it off and re-box it. I fired “my” gun at 15 yards with Black Hills Cowboy .45 Colt ammo. It shot, essentially, a one ragged-hole group. Huh? It did it again, and it shot the same — again. I moved the target to 25 and shot about a 1.5" group. How’s that again? Another five-rounds, another 1.6" group. I kept thinking something was going to go wrong, but it didn’t. The gun dept shooting these nice groups. I have to work hard to get a good shooting S&W N-frame to deliver 1.5", and this was an ironsighted, “working” trigger SAA. What was going on? I moved the target out to 50 and put up a big bull. Then I put on my “good” glasses. I was getting serious. The center group in the picture is about 31/4" and even with the flyer (the trigger let off a bit soon and surprised me), the group was still an honest 4". This was stunning, attention-getting accuracy for me at 50 yards with any handgun, and with a “factory” SAA and iron sights something to behold. I knew the ammo was good. Jeff Hoffman’s stuff is always reliable and consistent, but this spoke loudly about the final fitting of the gun. With more practice, I’ll bet 3" would be easily attainable on a regular basis. And just so you know, at 100, from a rest, with the iron sights, the 1886 shot between 1.40" and 2.20" with factory Federal 300 gr. SP. I also shot 405 gr. lead reloads (I can’t recall the powder I used) but they dropped in neatly at around 3.8" or so. That’s how the rifle shot before Doug’s magic, and that’s how it shot after, and you can’t beat that. Although now it’s just so much better. You Too? Yes, you too. Sell a couple of those “almost-right” guns you own and buy one that’s right. Lusted after a SAA your whole life? Now may be a good time to get what I consider the “benchmark” SAA. And if you have an old Winchester, or, for that matter, just about any good quality rifle or shotgun, Doug’s shop can build a dream for you too. I like to showcase things like this to remind us all if we don’t do it now, we probably won’t do it later. Don’t let daily life get in your way, make it happen. Check out Doug Turnbull Restoration’s Web site to get your blood going and then — succumb. * For more info: Turnbull Restoration, phone: (585) 657-6338, e-mail: info@ turnbullrestoration.com, web: www. turnbullrestoration.com WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 872009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=88http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=88dutY-reAdY Continued from page 75 was a lot of take-up. This problem was easily resolved by taking the slack out of the adjustable trigger, and it was nice and crisp after I turned the setscrew inward a bit. I also locked the setscrew in place with some Loc-Tite so it wouldn’t move. I’m not going to rehash all the fine points of this gun since Clint Smith already did that in his article. Besides, if you want to read about all the custom features on this gun, you can go to www.taurususa.com. I just find some of this material dry-reading, and no sense boring you with it. Besides, according to our last reader survey, over 94-percent of you go to the Web after you read Handgunner, so go to it. Suffice to say, you are getting many custom features on the PT 1911 as standard, and at a cost that’s well below what you’d pay if you had these features added to a mil-spec gun. I need to find some magic ammo that always shoots great, no matter how much I mess things up. Winchester, are you listening? ATK? Are you tuned in here? How about a Speer Gold Dot “Never-Fail” load? “Always hits the target, regardless of how much of an idiot the shooter is.” I’ll take two cases. Any Changes? Since it’s a 1911 I have to change something on it, since that’s what I do with any 1911 I get. I’m not sure why, but why break the tradition? With the Taurus, I replaced the factory stock 16-lb recoil spring with a Wolff 18.5-lb extra-power spring. I also installed a set of Mil-Tac, G-10 black/gray diagonally grooved grips on the gun to get rid of the hideous plastic ones. I believe the Mil-Tac’s are some of the best grips being made today, all done by Craig Sword. They are being installed on some of the best custom guns as they come from various custom shops these days. Craig is having a difficult time keeping up with demand, The Picatinny accessory rail on this gun is stout and there’s no fear of doing much damage to it, even under the harshest conditions. The ORIGINAL DIRTY HARRY® Shoulder Holster From the ORIGINAL Makers! The beavertail grip safety does call for some mention, though. I like the way the grip safety is “scalloped” as it allows for a slightly higher-hold on the gun. Some beavertail grip safeties are so wide at the back, it actually makes them uncomfortable, and in my case, it’s hard to get the grip I really want to have. So, how did the gun shoot? Outstanding. I fired over 500-rds of various Black Hills Ammunition and Winchester ammo through it without a single problem. As for accuracy, with most loads at 25 yards, my groups were in the 2.5-3" range and that’s plenty good. One particular load, the BHA 200-gr lead SWC load cut a group of 1.5". This came as no surprise to me, as this load has always proven to be a top performer in any 1911s I’ve put it through. Thank you Jeff Hoffman and the crew at Black Hills. The Winchester SXT 230-gr JHP +P load proved a good one as well, with one group coming in at 2", if I did my part, which is always the issue with me. Well, Does It? and I highly recommend you take a look at his line of grips. It’s hard to find fault with the Taurus PT 1911 stainless steel model. It goes “bang” every time the trigger is pulled, and it’s more than accurate enough for our purposes. The few slight personal changes aside, this gun is good to go out-of-the-box. Oh yeah, I should mention Taurus is offering some of their PT 1911s with different grips — some made out of real wood, some out of Mother Of Pearl. Personally, I think Taurus should trash the cheap-looking black plastic grips on this otherwise great gun. (Editor’s official commercial: And of course, don’t forget, if you go online and subscribe to Handgunner, GUNS or American COP, you get a free NRA membership too; so buy a Taurus and subscribe and you get two. Makes sense to me.) For more info, www.taurususa.com; www.blackhawk.com; www.laserlyte. com; www.mil-tac.com 6 1/2” barrels or under: $219.95+ $18.00 S&Ins. (longer barrels are slightly higher) * Now Made For ALL 2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=89http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=89The Threat Stops Here. Bonded Lead Core. Preprogrammed Jacket. 1.5 Times The Expansion. learn more // www.winchester.com ©2009. Winchester Ammunition Eliminate the dark, eliminate the threat. Streamlight’s TLR-3 features a full-size beam in a subcompact light and fits more subcompact weapons than any other flashlight on the market. The TLR-3 has 90 lumens of C4 LED technology, is virtually indestructible and you’ll never have to put your hand in front of the muzzle to operate the light. With the TLR-3 from Streamlight, the dark doesn’t stand a chance— and neither does what’s in it. TM ©2009 Streamlight, Inc. GET A $10 REBATE ON YOUR NEXT TLR-3 PURCHASE!* *Rebate offer valid September 1-October 31, 2009. Details at www.streamlight.com/TLR3rebate Rebate form and proof of purchase must be postmarked by November 30, 2009 to Streamlight, Inc. 30 Eagleville Road, Eagleville, PA 194032009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=90http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=90almosts Designs that had some really good points, but for some reason didn’t catch on. Some had limited regular production, while some didn’t even get that far. All are interesting, and some even had features copied by later designs. Note the hooked trigger guard — a “combat” necessity in those days! J’s test gun came in from Navy Arms many years ago. The MaMba J.b. Wood he 9mm Mamba pistol had its beginning in what was then Rhodesia, around 1977 and was made there briefly by the Viper Manufacturing Company, a division of Sandock Austral. After the 1979 revolution, the company moved from Zimbabwe to Boksburg, South Africa. In design, the Mamba was like a larger FN Hi-Power, with several additions. These included a selective DA trigger system, ambidextrous manual safety and stainless steel construction. Note at that time, there was nothing else remotely like it. The comparable S&W in stainless didn’t come along until 1986. The Mamba had a 5" barrel and a 14-round magazine. And interestingly, the test gun I fired worked just fine. In a recent Blue Book of Gun Values note there was mention of a heat-treatment problem with the steel used, but I believe this must have been in reference to an early prototype. I know Navy Arms was interested in importing the Mamba, and ten pistols were initially imported from South Africa. One source gives the number as 25 and another upped it to 80. Regardless, there are very few in the U.S. and if you have one, it’s a rare bird indeed. It’s also been said a number of Mambas were made from imported parts by Classic Arms of Palmer, Massachusetts, but I wasn’t able to verify that. I do know after the move to South Africa, Sandock Austral began making the “Eland” vehicle for the government and apparently closed the Viper division. The Mamba pistol was interesting and in it’s time — unique. T * Left: While brawny, the Mamba still felt good in the hand and offered controls in all the normal places. Right: Simple to strip down to the basics, perhaps if it had been introduced a few years later it would have found a more open-minded audience? 90 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=91http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=91A.G. RUSSELL™ KNIVES Since 1964, A. G. Russell™ Knives has supplied the knife needs of customers worldwide. The A. G. Russell name means quality, dependability and knowledge. Catalogs and web site include most quality production brands and many handmade knives, some available only from A. G. Russell. 479-571-6161 www.agrussell.com FREE Dept GB1109C A. G. Russell Knives 2900 S. 26th St. Rogers, AR 72758 CATALOG INQUIRY #10 AMERICAN COP MAGAZINE A Magazine By Cops, For Cops. Cops need information they can trust. That’s why FMG Publications is bringing the “tell-it-like-it-is” reputation of American Handgunner into the police publication world. American COP will offer solutions to real-world problems YOU deal with every day. $19.95 US and $39.95 Foreign includes six bi-monthly issues. Plus FREE Tool Logic Magnetic Light with your paid subscription. Visit us online at: www.americancopmagazine.com CATALOG INQUIRY #11 Imagine a magazine with such detailed information that each issue makes you feel like you’ve fired the guns featured. Every issue provides the latest news on handguns and accessories in a tell-it-like-it-is style you won’t find anywhere else. Nothing prepares you for handgunning like American Handgunner. 1 year subscription $19.75 (outside the U.S. $39.75). www.americanhandgunner.com CATALOG INQUIRY #12 AMERICAN HANDGUNNER MAGAZINE Our catalog display allows AMERICAN HANDGUNNER readers to select literature on a wide variety of shooting product s. HOW TO ORDER Please check the boxes of the literature you’d like to receive on the attached order form. Enclose (in the envelope provided) a check or money order payable to AMERICAN HANDGUNNER for the total literature fees plus $2.50 handling charge. If paying by credit card, please include all information needed. OR: Send a list of the catalogs you want to request, listing the name and catalog inquiry number of each, with your check or VISA/MC/Discover # for the total catalog fees plus $2.50 handling charge. Mail to: AMERICAN HANDGUNNER, P.O. Box 509093, San Diego, CA 92150-9093 . Catalogs will be mailed directly to you by the companies making the offer. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. AMERICAN HANDGUNNER and Publishers’ Development Corporation are not responsible for unprocessed orders. Companies participating in this section have accepted full responsibility for filling reader requests. You can also download an order form online at www.americanhandgunner.com 2008 ANNUALS Special Savings! Two additional Special Editions available for 2008. Order our 2008 Special Editions individually for $9.95 US/$17.95 Foreign or order all six for $45.00 US/$75.00 Foreign. Visit us online for easy ordering. www.gunsmagazine.com www.americanhandgunner.com www.americancopmagazine.com CATALOG INQUIRY #13-19 2009 ANNUALS Order our 2009 Special Editions individually for $9.95 US/$17.95 Foreign or order all six for $45.00 US/$75.00 Foreign. The GUNS 2010 Special Edition and the American COP 2010 Special Edition are now available. $9.95 US/$17.95 Foreign. Visit us online for easy ordering. www.gunsmagazine.com www.americanhandgunner.com www.americancopmagazine.com CATALOG INQUIRY #20-28 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 912009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=92http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=92BENCHMADE KNIVES For two decades, Benchmade Knife Company has been committed to designing and manufacturing world-class sports cutlery and superior edged tools. We continually strive to provide high quality U.S. made products that will deliver unparalleled performance and exceptional value for our customers. FREE. BLACK HILLS AMMUNITION Black Hills Ammunition specializes in .223 and .308 ammunition. It’s the choice of the US Army, USMC, USAF and the US Navy Rifle Teams. We also have 14 different calibers in our Cowboy Ammunition Line, 10 calibers - 29 different loadings in our Black Hills Gold™ Hunting Line and superb but economical remanufactured ammunition in many calibers. $2.00. CATALOG INQUIRY #30 BROWNELLS INC. FREE! Brownells 1911 Catalog #5 includes more great products to build, maintain and shoot the most popular pistol in history. Nothing for rifles, shotguns or “other” pistols. Just the best 1911 goodies ever! Everything 100% Guaranteed! 1-800-741-0015 or order online at brownells.com. Dept. #BZF CATALOG INQUIRY #29 CATALOG INQUIRY #31 JONATHAN ARTHUR CIENER Preeminent Designer/Manufacturer of .22LR Conversion Units in the World. These allow the use of inexpensive .22LR ammo in your firearm. Products include models for 1911A1, Browning Hi-Power, Beretta 92/96, Taurus PT92/99, Glock 17/22 & 19/23 Pistols, AR15/M16, Mini-14/AC556. AK47/84 rifles, Thompson SMG. Catalog with info on purchasing direct - $5.00. www.22lrconversion.com CATALOG INQUIRY #32 CIMARRON FIREARMS CO. Cimarron Firearms offers the finest of the firearms used taming the frontier of Texas and the American West. Cimarron is clearly recognized as the leader in authentic high quality Cowboy Action Shooting firearms, supporting SASS since its start in 1987. Send $5.00 or your FFL to: Cimarron F.A. Co. P.O. Box 906 Fredericksburg, TX 78624 CATALOG INQUIRY #33 COMPETITIVE EDGE DYNAMICS Competitive Edge Dynamics has been leading the industry for over nineteen years, with professional shooting products, including CED timers, Chronograph, Digital Scales, Hearing Protectors, Range Bags, and so much more! Specializing in advanced design, technology, and function, CED products have become “the standard” in the industry today. FREE. Visit us online 24 hours a day at: www.CEDhk.com Phone: (888) 628-3233 • Fax: (610) 366-9680 Email: info@cedhk.com CATALOG INQUIRY #34 COR®BON/GLASER COR®BON has teamed up with Glaser™ to bring you the most complete line of ammunition available for self-defense, law enforcement and hunting. COR®BON offers high velocity hollow point ammo and DPX, while Glaser offers a pre-fragmented line and Pow’Rball. We are the original designers of the 500 S&W Magnum ammo. FREE (605) 347-4544 www.corbon.com CATALOG INQUIRY #35 DESANTIS HOLSTER Original gunny-sacks (patented), full line of law enforcement duty and plainclothes holsters and accessories in leather, nylon and synthetic tactical gear, belts, ankle and shoulder rigs, hunting holsters and rifle slings. Extensive selection of cell phone holsters. Catalog $5.00. EL PASO SADDLERY Since 1889 El Paso Saddlery has been making the finest holsters, belts and accessories in the world. Our products include antique and modern styles. So why buy a reproduction when you can have the REAL THING. $5.00. CATALOG INQUIRY #36 CATALOG INQUIRY #37 92 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=93http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=93GALCO GUNLEATHER 2009 Catalog Building on four decades of success, Galco continues to design and produce innovative products, the full line of which is shown in this year’s 40th anniversary catalog. With dozens of cutting-edge products, Galco will remain the serious shooter’s first choice in gunleather for another forty years! Galco, as always, “for those who demand the best…and know the difference.” 800-874-2526 or GalcoGunleather.com FREE GALLERYOFGUNS.COM GalleryofGuns.com is the ultimate online catalog that features a state-of-the-art consumer firearm purchasing tool called Gun Genie. Gun Genie allows you to conveniently purchase new firearms from one of the world’s largest inventories, with the convenience of shopping at home! Let GalleryofGuns.com do all the work for you. FREE. www.galleryofguns.com CATALOG INQUIRY #39 GUNS MAGAZINE GUNS Magazine makes the shooting sports more enjoyable. Read about the latest shooting trends and newest guns. Tips and test reports will help you buy better and shoot straighter. Discover why sportsmen all over the world have been shooting with GUNS Magazine for over 40 years. 1 Year Subscription $24.95 (outside U.S. $44.95). www.gunsmagazine.com CATALOG INQUIRY #40 CATALOG INQUIRY #38 HOGUE Hogue - for the finest OverMolded™ rifle and shotgun stocks in black, OD green & camo. Handgun grips in soft rubber, exotic hardwoods, G-10 and aluminum. Also HandAll® grip sleeves, custom grip screws, slings and swivels, recoil pads, Tamer™ pistol grip shotgun stock, PowerSpeed™ holster, firearm accessories & more. FREE CATALOG HOGUE® Inc 1-800-GETGRIP www.hoguegrips.com CATALOG INQUIRY #41 KAHR ARMS Kahr’s latest catalog has detailed information and specifications on Kahr’s line of 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP double action only compact pistols. Kahr’s products are made entirely in the USA at Kahr’s state of the art factory in Worcester, MA. FREE PEARCE GRIP Pearce Grip offers rubber grips and magazine mounted grip extensions for a variety of firearms. Check out our fine products on the web or send for your free product information. www.kahr.com CATALOG INQUIRY #42 www.pearcegrip.com CATALOG INQUIRY #43 PROMAG INDUSTRIES If there’s one characteristic about our magazines we vowed never to change, it’s the quality that goes into their manufacture. This dedication to only turning out superior products for dependable performance has held true since our conception. That’s why each and every one of our magazines comes with a lifetime warranty. What’s more, when it comes to selection, we carry magazines to fit most popular models – foreign and domestic. Each and every ProMag is made right here in the U.S.A. where pride and craftsmanship go a long way in ensuring your satisfaction. Visit us online to see our full line. FREE. www.promagindustries.com REDDING RELOADING EQUIPMENT The 2009 Redding Catalog features new die sets for the 30 Remington AR, 338 Marlin Express and 416 Ruger as well as a new Competition Seater for the 357 Sig. It also introduces a completely new die system to remove the bulge from 40 S&W cases fired in some autoloaders. For up-to-the-minute Redding information and helpful tech tips, visit our website. FREE. www.redding-reloading.com Redding Reloading Equipment 1089 Starr Road SPORTSMAN’S GUIDE The LOWEST Prices, the BEST Quality, GUARANTEED! Name-brand ammo, shooting and hunting gear and clothing at low discount prices for 32 years. Big savings on names you trust.Winchester,® Remington,® Browning,® Steiner,® Federal® and more. Fast shipping and 100% satisfaction guaranteed! Tollfree 1-888-622-4365. FREE. www.sportsmansguide.com CATALOG INQUIRY #46 Cortland, NY 13045 607-753-3331 CATALOG INQUIRY #44 CATALOG INQUIRY #45 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 932009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=94http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=94Thank you for trusting your business to Streicher’s. We understand you have a choice when purchasing the Law Enforcement and Public Safety equipment you rely on every day. That’s why our mission in 2009 continues: to become Your Professional Equipment Solution. We hope you’re as excited as we are about our 2009 product line-up. In this catalog, you’ll see that we’ve added some of the most innovative life-saving products ever made available in the industry. As always, you can check online at www.PoliceHQ.com and www.Streichers.com to research and purchase nearly ALL of the products and services we offer, as well as find the most upto-date information and exclusive specials. Your Equipment Solution is only a phone call (or mouse click!) away. $3.95 STREICHER’S CATALOG INQUIRY #47 CATALOG WILSON COMBAT The Wilson Combat 2009 catalog celebrates 31 years of gun crafting excellence. This catalog contains 52 pages of high resolution photos of our current line of firearms, as well as a complete, comprehensive overview of our product line. FREE. 800-955-4856 www.wilsoncombat.com CATALOG INQUIRY #48 Order Your Copy While Supplies Last! (outside U.S. $17.95) Mon-Fri 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. PST ONLY $9.95 A LOOK INSIDE: • Personal Protection for Spouses • The Tactics of Light • To Sight or not to Sight? WOLF has a great selection for the sports shooters. High volume shooters can still rely on WOLF Polymer coated cartridges like the: 7.62x39, .223 Rem (.55, .62 and .75 GR) as well as pistol rounds such as: 40 S&W, .45 AUTO, 9MM, and .357, Magnum. WOLF Gold Brass line includes: 33-250 Rem, .223 Rem, .75 GR Match HP, 30-30 Win, 308 Win and 6.5 Grendel (120 & 123 GR). All boxer primed and reloadable. WOLF .22 Match Target and Match Extra are excellent competitive rounds. WOLF Primers are making their place known among reloaders nationwide. 100% Performance Guaranteed on all WOLF Ammunition! FREE. www.wolfammo.com 888-757-9653 WOLF PERFORMANCE AMMUNITION Order at www.americancopmagazine.com P.O. Box 502610 • San Diego, CA 92150-2610 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 888.732.2299 Call Toll-Free CATALOG INQUIRY #49 942009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=95http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=95SPEAK OUT Continued from page 21 from making conversation with other folks in the shops and ranges I’ve visited. For a sport that, reduced to it’s core, essentially involves standing as still as possible and moving one finger, shooting has turned out to be a terrifically sociable activity. Over here in the UK handguns are essentially illegal, and semiauto rifles larger than .22 LR likewise. So no tack driver AR-15s or Steyr AUGs for us Brits. Nevertheless there’s a thriving community of shooting clubs using semiauto rifles in .22 LR. As you might expect customized Ruger 10/22s are especially popular, and bolt action hunting and target rifles of all calibers are possible here in the UK. After seven or eight years shooting in the US I recently discovered shooting clubs here at home in England. The folks I’ve met in the shooting community both here in England and when visiting the US have been as welcoming and generous as anyone could wish for. Dave Sattar West Sussex, England ered by olff Power ed b y Wolf f! For over 50 years Wolff has been the name you trust for precision gunsprings - Recoil Springs - Magazine Springs - Hammer Springs - Firing Pin Springs - Other Springs - Performance Kits For hundreds of Semi-Auto Pistols, Revolvers, Rifles and Shotguns. Like oil in your car, springs need to be changed from time to time. P.O.Box 458, Dept. 381, Newtown Square, PA 19073 Toll-Free at 800-545-0077 or 610-359-9600 Super Holster Guy We live in a time where people buy guns whose basic designs are a hundred years old, and a design 30 years old is the new kid on the block. It’s rare for a product to be new and most of the time the product is just slightly different from the original. This is where Mark Craighead from Cross Breed Holsters is a different kind of craftsman. His “Super Tuck” is a new class of holster all together. Mark decided not to just take a design and try to make it better, but designed a whole new holster for concealment, functionality, comfort and durability. What he came up with is, I feel, the best concealment holster on the market today. I have a Beretta 92fs I love, but the problem is there are not many IWB holsters for that gun. Existing ones are either cheap and not well designed, or are to bulky and expensive. Mark Craighead has not just made a different holster or a gimmick holster; he has taken the science of making an IWB holster and called it the Super Tuck. He is truly more than just a great craftsman, he is an innovator. John Strup Williamsburg, Virginia AmericAn HAndgunner ® welcomes letters to the editor. We reserve the right to edit all published letters for clarity and length. Due to the volume of mail, we are unable to individually answer your letters or e-mail. In sending a letter to Handgunner, you agree to provide Publishers Development Corp. such copyright as is required for publishing and redistributing the contents of your letter in any format. Send your letters to Speak Out, American Handgunner, 12345 World Trade Dr., San Diego, CA 92128; www.americanhandgunner. com; e-mail: ed@americanhandgunner.com. www .gunsprings .com www.gunsprings .gunsprings.com Isn’t it time to make sure your gun is Powered by Wolff! 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Available For: Beretta 92FS 9mm 18rd / 20rd Beretta 96FS .40S&W 13rd / 15rd Para-Ordnance P14 .45ACP 14rd SIG P226 9mm 18rd / 20rd SIG P226 .40S&W 13rd / 15rd Springfield X2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=96http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=96SIXGUNNER Continued from page 46 on its own initiative the development of this Magnum cartridge. Among the things which these makers definitely proved was that their long-accepted custom of manufacturing hollow or semi-hollow-base bullets was not practical for velocities such as were sought and which for the most part had been experimentally achieved with handloads. The Sharpe bullet was based on the Keith, designed by Elmer Keith of North Fork, Idaho. It is somewhat lighter, and different in every dimension from the Keith form, having been definitely engineered to fit the Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum. It has approximately 5/6 the bearing surface of the Keith. rib, a cylinder recessed for case heads, and special tuning and timing all topped off with a beautiful deep blue finish. Roy, our readers need to understand they cannot take this to mean a .38/44 can be converted to this new .357 Magnum; the cylinder of the former is not heat-treated as is the cylinder of the latter. Don’t even consider it. The first two .357 Magnums built in April of last year had 7" barrels, however the first production .357 Magnum bearing Registration #1 had a 83/4" barrel and was presented to J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI. Sending that first .357 Magnum was a smart move as many of the FBI agents under Hoover are now carrying 31/2" .357 Magnums. Phil Sharpe received #2, also with an 83/4" barrel, along with a letter from Col. Wesson giving full credit to him for demon- Col. Wesson must have the world’s greatest job. Not only did he spend much time working with Sharpe in developing the .357 Magnum he also was the first to actually test it in the field. “Winchester, in experimenting with this cartridge, rejected both the Keith and the Sharpe, adapting to a certain extent a number of the Sharpe engineering ideas, thus explaining why this bullet is called the ‘Sharpe type’ of contour. The Keith bullet cannot be given the velocity possible to other bullets of the same weight, because of its excessive bearing surface, although it is ballistically one of the best shaped bullets on the market.” Elmer would certainly take exception to Sharpe’s remarks about his bullet not being able to be driven to higher velocities! There apparently is little love between them as Elmer calls him “Little Phil Sharpe” which is strange, as he is taller than Elmer. Roy, you have certainly seen the advertising for the .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson in the pages of Handgunner proclaiming “The Worlds Most Powerful Revolver” and it certainly is this for several reasons. First, and foremost, is the extreme muzzle velocity which is well over 1,500 fps from one of the 83/4" Registered Magnums. Combine this with the flat-nosed Keith or Sharpe type bullet and maximum shocking power is achieved. Notice I said “Registered Magnums”; every .357 Magnum which comes from the Smith & Wesson factory is actually a custom hand built revolver and not only bearers a serial number but a registration number as well certifying to its superior care in manufacturing. It is basically a hand built .38/44 Outdoorsman with special heat treating, checkering of the top strap and barrel 96 strating the increased shocking power produced by the square-shouldered Sharpe bullet at such extreme velocity. Col. Wesson must have the world’s greatest job. Not only did he spend much time working with Sharpe in developing the .357 Magnum he also was the first to actually test it in the field. His first hunting trip found him after Pronghorn Antelope just outside of Cody Wyoming. He took an antelope at over 200 yards with a bullet going completely through, breaking both hip joints, and leaving a one-half inch exit hole. It was then over to the Jackson Hole area where he took an elk at just over 150 yards. Moving up the line in size moose was next. Col. Wesson shared in a letter to me, “I was again sitting in my favorite position with my back against one of the alder bushes, which was all of six-foot tall and of no earthly use for cli2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=97http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=97What’s in a name? History. John Taliaferro Thompson founded the Auto-Ordnance Corporation in 1916 with John Blish and Thomas Fortune Ryan to design and develop a hand held machine gun. The product of this collaboration was the world famous “Tommy Gun.” Since its inception, the “Tommy Gun” has become an American icon. Carried by G-men and colorful characters like Al Capone and John Dillinger in the 1920’s and 30’s and trusted by our soldiers in WWII. The Thompson was the coveted weapon among specialized troops such as Rangers, Marine Raiders, armored and parachute units. The “Tommy Gun” went on to see service in Korea and Vietnam. At Auto-Ordnance we take great pride in continuing General Thompson’s legacy by producing finely crafted semi-automatic versions of the historic Thompson submachine gun. Put a piece of history in your hands. Own a Thompson! ® Courtesy The National WWII Museum www.nationalww2museum.org Made with Pride in the U.S.A. ® KAHR ARMS: 130 Goddard Memorial Drive, Worcester, MA 01603 Sales Support & Service: 508-795-3919 Websites: www.tommygun.com / www.tommygunshop.com Introducing the New2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=98http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=98away, old Mr. Griz showed up. He stood with his paws on the moose carcass and looked directly toward us. I was holding on him and waiting for him to turn his head for a neck shot, as I knew a head shot would be a sheer waste of time and probably cause me a considerable amount of annoyance and even discomfort. When the bear swung his head to one side it gave me about an 8" bull to shoot at. Here, again, I did not remember hearing the gun when I shot but I did hear the bullet hit the bear. He went backwards a good four feet and lay down without a quiver.” Col. Wesson was now four for four and continued, “The following year I got very large ideas and went up to Alaska with Father Hubbard the Glacier Priest for an exploration hunting trip with brown bear in mind. For this trip I carried two revolvers for added power. We never did get to see a brownie, for which, in my more intelligent mode I feel sincerely thankful.” A smart man indeed! Remember my mention of Ed McGivern in my report on the .38/44? He got Registration #8 with a 61/2" barrel and I will tell what he shared with me shortly. When I was serving under Black Jack Pershing and chasing Pancho Villa all over Mexico I served under a young lieutenant by the name of Georgie Patton for a short time. General Pershing had placed Patton in charge of 14 men traveling in three 1916 Dodge touring cars to forage for food. We found more than food! You should have seen Patton in action! I watched him stand out in the open shooting his .45 Colt Single Action as three of Villa’s men charged at him on horseback. When we left San Miguelito, three bodies were draped over the touring cars. Georgie and I became good friends and have corresponded together over the past 20 years. He is now Lt. Col. Patton stationed in Hawaii and told me he just purchased a companion sixgun to his beloved .45 Colt. Roy, do you want to guess what it is? Yes, it is a 31/2" .357 Magnum which he calls his “Killing Gun.” For anyone watching Europe it is obvious war clouds are gathering; I wouldn’t be surprised but what we hear a lot from Georgie Patton if war actually breaks out. Remember Charlie Askins? I told you he could shoot! He won the Texas State Championship in 1933. He is still in the U.S. Border Patrol stationed in El Paso and serving as Chief Firearms Instructor for the entire Border Patrol. Wanna bet he is a bear on new recruits? He tells me they average a gunfight every 10 days or so and he also has taken up the .357 Magnum. He selected the 4" length and had it fully engraved, and now carries it in a BernsMartin holster. His witnesses say he is almighty fast and deadly; he apparently is at least emotionally related to Wild 98 Phone & Fax 1-406-388-1396 NEW! Big Game “PUNCH” Bullets P Belt Mtn. Enterprises, Inc. www.beltmountain.com Cylinder Base Pins Ruger, Colt, and Replicas T 59714 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=99http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=99Bill Hickok in that he never hesitates and has no fear. Elmer Keith wrote up the newest sixgun from Smith & Wesson in the American Rifleman last November in which he shared the same thing with the readers he had told me; in fact I had gone over to eastern Idaho to visit him with perfect timing as he had just received an 83/4" .357 Magnum. Meeting him back in 1925 was one of the best things I have ever done as I have learned so much about sixguns and sixgun loads from him. During my visit I accompanied him and another friend of his to the Pahsimeroi Valley in eastern Idaho where I watched Elmer and the other fellow kill over 100 jack rabbits the first day. Over a three-day period Elmer took over 125 jacks himself at distances as far away as 180 yards. His .38 bullet, Ideal’s #358429, is too long to crimp in a .357 Magnum case and still fit in the Smith & Wesson cylinder, so Elmer actually prefers his heavy .38 Special load using this bullet over 13.5 grains of #2400 in the .357 Magnum. Montana. Even 10 days on the road is a small price to pay to visit this grand old man. Ed is mostly known for speed shooting with both double action and single action sixguns preferring .38 Specials for this type of work. However, his emphasis on the .357 Magnum is not speed but power and long-range accuracy. He told me, after much shooting at long-range and also experimenting with many kinds of sights, “The results of our tests, as demonstrated by a few of the targets you have seen, would indicate that no man — outlaw, sheriff, hero or otherwise — in possession of anywhere near his right senses, would or could be ‘damphool’ enough to stay out in the open at any distance up to and including 600 yards. Any experienced modern-day revolver shooter could deliver three shots in his direction with deliberate effort to score a hit.” McGivern credits Elmer Keith with developing one of the best sights for long-range shooting which is a front post with gold cross-bars spaced at various intervals across the back of the His witnesses say he is almighty fast and deadly; he apparently is at least emotionally related to Wild Bill Hickok in that he never hesitates and has no fear. After three days of shooting that long barreled revolver, Elmer also decided it was more barrel than he needed and plans to have it cut to 61/2" which he feels will be a lot more manageable. In spite of the extreme velocity of the .357 Magnum, he believes his Keith load in the .44 Special is actually a better killer on game and plans to spend as much time and ink as possible promoting a factory loading to his specifications which is a 250 grain bullet at 1,200 fps. Since the ammunition companies are afraid of the older revolvers, he has suggested doing the same thing to the .44 Special as they did to the .38 Special, that is lengthen it approximately 1/8" so it would only fit in properly chambered new revolvers, and call it the .44 Special Magnum. It will be interesting to watch how this develops. Right now for most shooters I’m sure the interest will be in the .357 Magnum. You will remember I had visited Ed McGivern to witness his shooting of the .38/44 Heavy Duty when it came out. Now it was time to make another trip to do some work with the .357 Magnum. Believe me traveling from my place here in Idaho up to Lewiston Montana may be only a state to next state trip on the map but it takes five days; hopefully some day we will have some good paved roads in Idaho and WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM sight. For very precise shooting at longrange McGivern attached a rifle-style buttstock to an 83/4" Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum and then using the rib on the barrel attached a Lyman 438 rifle scope. This outfit has proven to be exceptionally effective out to 600 yards. Finally, I share my own results with both a 5" and 83/4" .357 Magnum. The original factory loading is 15.4 grains of #2400 under a 158 grain bullet. I have found these bullets to be softer then they should be causing excessive leading2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=100http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=100WINNING EDGE Continued from page 22 John Browning’s legacy lives on in it and features like the slide, the tilt-lock system and the location of the operating controls all date more than a century ago to Browning designs. The DA pull is smooth and consistent at eleven pounds, and the singleaction pull has some smooth take-up followed by fairly consistent creep before it breaks at about five pounds. As the computer geeks say, “That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.” For personal defense under high stress, a trigger pull requiring a positive, conscious intent to fire is not a bad thing. Currently 70-percent of the weapons used by American armed forces carry the famous FN trademark. Shooters with small hands will likely be happier with the FNP 9mm and .40 S&W versions. Many of the features were proven in competition: the excellent sights, ambidextrous operating controls, polymer frame, frame checkering and beveled mag well. It’s on the large side for concealed carry and is better suited as an open-carry duty gun. With its polymer frame, weight is just 325/8 ounces empty with magazine, 44 ounces loaded with 15 rounds, or about the same as a steel single-stack 1911 loaded with eight rounds. It has lots of neat little features I like. The way the front of the slide is machined at an angle for smooth holstering, the “fences” around mag and slide release to prevent unintentional activation, the trigger stop, the accessory rail and the fast and easy takedown. An included yellow plastic “barrel” can be installed making the pistol inert for activities such as demonstrations, dry fire and weapon retention training. There’s an arched backstrap (easily interchanged with the standard flat version), and any man with hands so large he needs the arched backstrap can probably halt any threat simply by glaring at it. This is an outstanding pistol, from one of the great names in the history of firearms manufacture, and well worth looking at to give you … well, a winning edge. Intensive personalized training in all aspects of practical shooting. Each course is designed to accommodate all levels; beginners, intermediate or advanced shooters wishing to increase their skill speed shooting. 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Handguns for .30 Carbine are more problematic for several reasons. One factor is primers. The small rifle type is standard for .30 Carbine. Neither handgun would set them off with 100-percent reliability. In fact I ran some of my small stash of military surplus LC71 headstamped loads through both handguns. The AMT’s hammer would not set them off at all. Most probably because mil-spec primers are more stoutly made than commercial ones. The Ruger Blackhawk fired those loads but get this: velocity variation in five rounds was 199 fps, whereas from my M1A1 Carbine it was 37 fps. That indicates poor ignition in the revolver. A remedy could be using small pistol primers in .30 Carbine handloads because small pistol and small rifle primers are identically sized. Large pistol and large rifle differ slightly, though. But, being made with softer cups small pistol primers could give problems by extruding back around the firing pins of the carbines. Remember, military weapons are generally made to looser tolerances than commercial guns. Then again they might not, so it would be up to individuals to check their own guns before loading up vast quantities. Another problem area specific to the .30 Carbine in revolvers is headspacing. As a cartridge developed for an autoloading mechanism, the case is rimless. It’s meant to headspace on the case mouth as with pistol rounds like the 9mm and .45 ACP. However, different from them, the .30 Carbine case is tapered instead of straight. From just ahead of the case’s extractor groove to the case mouth it tapers .020". Headspacing on the case mouth means a roll crimp is precluded. No crimp at all can be used, or a taper crimp. A taper crimp seems to make no difference with the autoloading mechanisms but it did give problems with the Ruger Blackhawk. Occasionally with the revolver a cartridge was pushed forward by the hammer strike; meaning the case mouth was pressed past the headspacing ledge in the chamber. The result was the primer did not ignite and then the cartridge was wedged tightly in the chamber. A stout blow to the ejector button with a wooden mallet was required to extract those rounds. Another bit of evidence of this ignition problem with the Blackhawk was in the shape of the groups. Many were strung vertically. Never does this happen with the AMT pistol or any of the three carbines. My theory there is their extractors hold the rounds tight enough to prevent the firing pin driving them deeper in the chambers. The AMT was downright accurate with some loads. Now, with all that said, the .30 Carbine can be a good magnum handgun cartridge. It was awesomely accurate with some German made DWM factory loads that Editor Roy gave me a few years ago. When a handload was found that was both reliable and accurate, the bullet traveling at about 1,500 fps was authoritative — albeit very loud. A jacketed soft nose bullet at that speed is devastating on varmints. Still I have to say the idea of long guns and handguns taking the same cartridge is better in theory than in practice. The bottom line is .30 Carbine handguns can be great and .30 Carbine handguns can be lousy. It all depends on how much time the shooter/handloader wants to invest in them. Personally, I think I’ll just let my M1A1 folding stock carbine serve instead of actual .30 Carbine handguns. Its just about as handy, holds a lot more ammo, and can be shot with far more accuracy with the stock extended. So? * WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 1012009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=102http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=102CALL 1(800)SA2-1911 “the MAG GUIDE people”™ when only the BEST will do! ORDER DIRECT and SAVE! $78.95 Government Model/ Officers’ Model Mag Guide Available: Flat/Arched SS/BL 20 LPI NEW: Flat now available in Smooth Also Available: Grizzly Flat-SS/BL $89.95 .44 Is spECIAl Continued from page 55 AL $36.95 Mainspring Housing Available in: Gov’t Model, Officers’ Model, all Para-Ordnance. 20 LPI Flat/Arched-SS/BL (P10/P12 flat only) (flat smooth available for all of the above) AL $95.95 Full Para Mag Guide (For P14/P16 only) Available in: Flat/Arched-SS/BL 20 LPI AL $99.00 Ambidextrous Magazine Release Gov’t Model, Officers’ Model & Para-Ordnance. 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Box 299 • Copeville, Texas USA 75121 (800) SA2-1911 • Fax (972) 853-0526 www.smithandalexander.com Hours: M-F, 9am-5pm CST One of your attacks on the .44 Special is due to the fact “From the ammunition factories it’s never been loaded to any sort of ‘special’ ballistics either.” Again I say so what? That’s what handloading is all about. I have bullet molds dropping virtually every style of .44 bullet ever designed. For the past halfcentury I have enjoyed endless hours of load development and shooting pleasure with .44 Specials from Smith & Wesson, Colt, Great Western, Texas Longhorn Arms and Freedom Arms to name a few, as well as the new .44 Special Ruger Flat-Tops and more than a dozen custom Ruger .44 Specials. I’ve used bullets ranging from 180 grains up to 275 grains and muzzle velocities as low as 600 fps and with some loads, twice that or even more. You can bet I’m very careful about which sixguns receive my more powerful loads. I can’t believe you actually tried to shoot Keith’s Heavy Load in an old TripleLock! Not once, but twice! I have three Triple-Locks and I wouldn’t even consider trying such a thing. Actually you’re not quite right about ammunition companies never offering special .44 Special ballistics. Currently Buffalo Bore offers a 1,000+ fps 250 grain SWC load; even Keith said the ammunition companies should bring out this load more than 50 years ago. Well, now we have it. You also bemoaned the fact it took so long for factories such as Black Hills and Cor-Bon to offer more powerful factory loadings. At least they have done so now, and those who wish to carry a .44 Special defensively have factory chamberings to choose from. I don’t know of any more easy to carry big bore sixguns than the S&W .44 Special Mountain Lite and the .44 Magnum 329PD. Loaded with any of these .44 Special factory offerings they make superb self-defense revolvers. I have been collecting articles on the .44 Special even longer than the sixguns. I have come across some very interesting quotes in these articles. This one goes back to 1990 in an Still Tops 102 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=103http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=103article entitled “.44 Special Still A Top Big Bore:” “Accuracy apart, the .44 Special is still one of my very favorites. It combines the big-bore aura, exceptional accuracy if you search it out, ease of handloading, and, perhaps best of all, some extraordinary handguns in which to fire it.” This one is a little earlier, 1988: “Hardly anything bad is ever said about the .44 Special. Indeed there is hardly a reason for saying anything negative about it. For 80 years the .44 Special has been so well regarded by serious revolver shooters that it might be tantamount to professional suicide for a gunwriter to give it hammering in print. There are reasons for the homage paid to the .44 Special by handgunners. It is an accurate cartridge. It is easy to reload. In full-size revolvers it is a sweetheart to shoot.” I couldn’t agree more with both of these statements. Here are a couple from 2004. “Skeeter Skelton considered the .44 Special one of the all-time most accurate revolver cartridges … Skeeter was right about the .44 Special.” And finally: “As I write this column, I am one extremely happy shooter collector. Just a few days ago I was able to buy a revolver I’ve wanted for almost 40 years. As many of you know, I am a fan of the .44 Special cartridge … ” Mike I could have chosen quotes from several writers from Elmer Keith way back in the late 1920s all the way up to right now. However I chose these quotes, all from the same author. All of these words were written by you! What in the world has happened to change your thoughts about the .44 Special? Whatever it is it can’t be good. You must simply get rid of that helmet, those awful shirts, and get out of the snow more often. You’ve told us why you think the .44 Special isn’t all that special; let me add a few more thoughts why I think the opposite. The .44 Special is Special with a capital “S”! It has never been the most popular sixgun cartridge nor even been in the running for any of the top spots, but rather it has always been the true connoisseur’s cartridge and a favorite among True Believers. The .44 Special is now 100-plus years old and in many shooter’s minds has been replaced by the .44 Magnum in its many forms. Why bother with a sixgun chambered in .44 Special? One can certainly shoot .44 Special loads through a .44 Magnum and enjoy not only less felt recoil but often even equal or better accuracy than the magnum loads as well. But there is something else about the .44 Special and it is most difficult to explain — it simply must be experienced. Whether it is a Model 1926 or Model 1950 from Smith & Wesson, a Single Action from Colt or USFA, a totally WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM custom-built .44 Special on a Ruger Three-Screw, or even the Freedom Arms Model 97, something mysterious and inexplicable takes place when shooting a .44 Special. Its stirs the sixgunner’s mind, heart, soul and spirit as few things in this life are able to accomplish. What is really perplexing to me is you also felt this way not so long ago and have now, alas, lost it! Hunting & Shooting The .44 Special with heavy loads in Smith & Wesson and Colt revolvers was the first true hunting sixgun cartridge and remains an excellent choice today for deer-sized game at reasonable ranges. I have used virtually every sixgun cartridge for hunting, however after taking two 500+ pound feral hogs cleanly and quickly with the .44 Special I can say I could easily spend the rest of my life very comfortably with nothing but a .44 Special. As an everyday working load, my standard choice is a 250-260 grain Keith bullet over 7.5 grains of Unique (or Universal or 8.0 grains of Power Pistol) for around 950 fps; I got this load from Skeeter who got it from Elmer. All of these loads are both accurate and exceptionally economical. A pound of Unique will yield nearly 1,200 rounds of easy shooting standard velocity .44 Specials. The .44 Special, as well as the .44 Russian before it, have long held the reputation as being among the 2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=104http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=104AYOOB FILES Continued from page 30 had a Colt Detective Special .38 snubnose taped to her thigh, a Colt auto pistol in her lap, and a Remington Model 11 20-gauge semiauto shotgun sawed off at both ends within easy reach as the confrontation began. Clyde Barrow, who never got out of the driver’s seat, was at that time armed with another Colt .45 auto in his waistband, and a leveraction Winchester Model 1887 sawedoff 10-gauge shotgun and a Browning Automatic Rifle within reach when the bullets began crashing into the car. In the depths of the Great Depression, the young lovers were widely perceived as romantic rebels who robbed from the rich and were kind to the poor. Like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, they were seen by a bitter public as Robin Hoods. The couple had indeed made a point of asking patrons in the banks they robbed whether the money in their hands was theirs or the bank’s, and if it was theirs, allowed them to keep it. A bit star-struck at their own notoriety (they had crime magazines and news clippings about themselves in their car at time of death, and had left more of them behind at various hideouts), they were acutely conscious of their public image. It was easy for the public to forget they had gunned down innocent people they’d had neither right nor reason to harm. Not for nothing did writer Joseph Geringer describe them as “Romeo and Juliet in a Getaway Car.” Two new non-fiction books about the couple, published in 2009, have renewed public interest in the flamboyant 1930s robbers. The one that has received the most publicity is Go Down Together: the True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn, but there is also much of interest to be found in Bonnie and Clyde: the Lives Behind the Legend by Paul Schneider. There is lots more in the “crime literature” about the pair. Some of it was written by fellow travelers: Blanche Barrow, Clyde’s sister-inlaw, and former accomplice Ralph Fults. Other Parker and Barrow family members were heard from. One book was written by one of the cops who hunted them down and killed them: Ted Hinton, who wrote about it in his aptly titled book Ambush, published in 1979 shortly after Hinton’s death. Frank Hamer himself reluctantly discussed it, as recorded in his biography I’m Frank Hamer by H. Gordon Frost and John H. Jenkins. The shooting went down on the turf of Henderson Jordan, the high sheriff of Bienville Parish, Louisiana, who was reportedly a relative of the great latterday gunfighting expert Bill Jordan. Henderson opened up about it toward 104 the end of his life, and the sheriff’s perspective can be found in the 2005 book Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker died at or just after 9:15 on the morning of May 23, 1934 on a narrow, rustic road about eight miles south of Gibsland, Louisiana. They were killed by a fusillade of gunfire from six peace officers who represented three different law enforcement agencies. Historians note that while they came together with a common purpose, these half-dozen heavily armed men came from three different law enforcement entities, and represented three distinctively, almost tribally different sets of attributes. Sheriff Jordan and his chief Deputy, Prentis (or Prentiss, or Prentice; spellings vary) Oakley, were the ones with primary jurisdiction at the scene. Jordan had apparently been the first to contact Ivy Methvin and feel out the possibility of him trading Bonnie and Clyde for his son not being prosecuted for murders in Texas. Henderson had tried to bring in the Feds, but couldn’t get them there on the fateful day. He needed Texas Rangers because only they had state authority to arrange for murder charges in Texas to be dropped against Methvin’s son, and he needed Dallas County deputies there too, because only they could positively identify Barrow and Parker by sight. Reinforcements New Interests Captain Frank Hamer was brought back from retirement and a lucrative security job to chase the deadl2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=105http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=105off with Barrow. Reading between the lines of what Hinton wrote or dictated, one gets the distinct impression he had a crush on her. Deputy Ted Alcorn from the same department also knew them both by sight, and indeed, they had once shot it out with Barrow. The .45 ACP slugs from Hinton’s Thompson sub-machinegun had failed to penetrate Clyde’s vehicle, a lesson both would learn from. Both Hinton and Alcorn worked for Sheriff Smoot Schmid, who had been publicly humiliated in the local press for his failure to capture the Barrow Gang. Schmid had assigned them both fulltime to hunting down Bonnie and Clyde. Alcorn and Hinton hung tight together, but knew they needed the Bienville Parish sheriff and the Texas Rangers for reasons cited above. gunsight, though his car is still moving. Suddenly, Alcorn’s deep bellow ‘HALT!’ arouses him. Alongside him Bonnie screams, and I fire and everyone fires, and in the awful hell and noise Clyde is reaching for a weapon, and the wheels are digging into the gravel as he makes a start to get away. My B.A.R. spits out 20 shots in an instant … ” Those first moments of the shooting are described differently by Frost and Jenkins in I’m Frank Hamer, and they attribute the following words to the famous Ranger: “We recognized Bonnie and Clyde, and knew there was no mistake. The speed continued to slacken under the brakes and the car came to a full stop at the exact spot that we had previously decided it would. When Barrow brought the car to a standstill, he pressed the clutch and slipped into low gear with the engine idling … At the command, ‘Stick ’em up!’ both turned, but instead of obeying the order as we had hoped, they clutched the weapons they either held in their hands or in their laps.” The Hamer biographers continue, “Clyde grabbed his 10-gauge shotgun. Bonnie brought up her sawed-off shotgun. Hamer said that when Bonnie stuck her gun at him, it was ‘like looking down the Holland Tunnel.’ Hamer was completely in the open. He stood in the road just a few yards from the killers. When they turned their guns on him, he realized he could never take them without a fight. He opened fire with his .35 caliber autoloading Remington rifle, with a special 20-round magazine. ‘When the firing began,’ Hamer recalled, ‘Barrow’s foot released the clutch and the car, in low gear, moved forward on the decline and turned into the ditch on the left. I looked at my watch and it was 9:20.’ Hamer’s first shots hit both Bonnie and Clyde. ‘Bonnie,’ one of the officers recalled, ‘screamed like a panther.’ When the car jerked forward, the other officers jumped up and fired, riddling the car and raising a thick cloud of dust.” The Hamer account has Barrow coming up with the 10-gauge lever action Winchester, and Parker raising the little sawed-off 20-gauge Remington auto. However, Ted Hinton recalls that in the seconds after the Ford came to rest and the band of officers approached it, “I reach over Bonnie to pull a pistol from Clyde’s hand, and the weapon is cold. I know it has not been fired without looking at it because it has the cold feel of gunmetal, and the hand that had clutched it is still and growing stiff and slate gray against the crimson of the blood, which is everywhere. On the floor in front of Bonnie is a pistol that is streaked with the rose color of blood. Her right hand has been shot away … Clyde’s B.A.R. was at his knee, he had lifted it up to the window, for it was 105 Different Accounts The Actual Shooting All but Hinton would later recount they had set the ambush the night before, and stayed in the foliage behind a blind they had built alongside the road, miserably swatting mosquitoes for hour upon hour. Hinton alone would later say they had spent two nights there. The plan was that Ivy Methvin, whose rustic home had been a frequent shelter for the pair and who knew they’d be coming down that road to meet him on the morning in question, would park his old logging truck in the road to force Clyde to come2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=106http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=106seen there. But it was not fired. Now we could see why it was not fired. One of our bullets had struck it. He had put the larger weapon aside and had reached for a pistol to fire in one last defiant act. But he never pulled the trigger.” The Guns On Both Sides Hinton wrote he had four guns with him and fired them all in those hectic seconds, running three of them empty. In his own words, “My B.A.R. with a full clip of 20 steel-penetrating rounds in it, my shotgun — a deadly automatic with five rounds at the ready — and two .45 caliber pistols with full clips of ammo were ready for whatever happened in the next few minutes.” After immediately emptying the B.A.R. on full automatic, Hinton wrote, “… a drumbeat of shells knifes through the steel body of the car, and glass is shattering. For a fleeting instant, the car seems to melt and hang in a kind of eerie and animated suspension, trying to move forward, spitting gravel at the wheels, but unable to break through the shield of withering fire. I see a weapon go up; Clyde’s head has popped backward, his face twisted at the shock of pain as the bullets strike home. No shots are firing from inside the car, but I do not notice. Now my shotgun is in my hand; the tan car seems to rock as it absorbs the blasts, but the car is moving forward, it is thirty feet away, thirtyfive, it is getting away — the shotgun blasts seem to be urging the car onward … The shotgun has used up its automatic five shots. My ears are ringing, there is a spinning and reeling in my head from the cannonade of bullets and the clank of steel-jacketed metal tearing steel. Without thinking, I am chasing after the car, firing my first pistol until it has emptied, and I am squarely between the officers who are firing from above me … Alcorn is at my side now, and I fire again at the sickening bloody forms inside the car … ” Researcher Guinn is convinced the lawmen were in a different array than what Hinton described. From left to right, facing the downrange roadway, he has Hamer, Alcorn, Hinton, Jordan, Gault and Oakley. Guinn’s assignment of weapons also differs. He has Gault and Oakley carrying .35 Remington Model 8 semiautomatic rifles, Jordan a lever action Winchester, the Dallas County deputies both B.A.R.s … and Hamer, a Colt Monitor, the commercial version of the Browning Automatic Rifle. This last, as we shall see, is jarringly discordant with other accounts. All the officers were carrying handguns as well as long guns. Hinton, above, claimed to have had two .45 autos in addition to his B.A.R. and shotgun, and fired them all, running at least three empty. Frank Hamer probably had two Colts as well. It’s an article of faith among Hamer fans that his engraved Single Action Army .45 revolver was with him, if only for luck — he in fact called this gun “Old Lucky,” and it now belongs to a collector who paid a deep six figures for it — but it is also virtually certain he was also carrying a 1911 Colt. According to Hamer’s biographers, it was like this when the possemen cautiously advanced on the riddled Ford after it had come to a stop: “With his .45 Colt automatic pistol on the ready, Hamer approached the car. The dust began to settle, and Hamer looked in. Bonnie and Clyde had fought their last gun battle. Hamer stuck the pistol in his belt, leaned the Remington rifle against the car, and opened the front door. Clyde fell to the ground. His shotgun and Hamer’s Remington fell across his body. Bonnie slumped forward, her head between her knees.” Another source, from Hamer ’s nuclear family, reportedly confirms the Ranger was indeed carrying a 1911 Colt on that day, but it was a .38 Super, not a .45. This is entirely plausible. The .38 Super had earned a reputation for punching through auto bodies that stopped other handgun rounds of the day, and was used on both sides of the law. To a biographer who wasn’t a gun guy and was looking at Frank Hamer’s gun collection, it would look like the already iconic .45 that had bee2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=107http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=107gradually rolled to a stop in the ditch beside the road, Hamer hustled down the hill, brandishing his powerful Colt Monitor Machine Rifle. He was taking no chances. First, he fired a burst into Bonnie through the rear passenger window. Then, when the car had completely stopped, the six-foot, three-inch Hamer walked forward, leaned his towering frame over the front seat where Bonnie was slumped, and fired a final series of shots down through the window and windshield directly into her.” I just can’t accept that. It’s wrong on too many levels. Just on the hardware side, virtually all accounts have Hamer using his Remington Model 8, caliber .35 Remington, which he had fitted with a 20-round magazine made by Remington especially for law enforcement use, and bought from a police supply house in the Midwest. Hamer was famous for his trick-shooting exhibitions with Remington Model 8s, had been presented with such guns by the factory, and in a previous documented incident in Texas had used one chambered for .25 Remington to kill a copkiller. The collective accounts indicate two B.A.R.s on the law enforcement side, and the records show that through the influence of the Texas Governor who brought Hamer out of retirement, the Texas National Guard had issued him two B.A.R.s to use at his discretion in the hunt for the Barrow Gang. While Dallas Sheriff Smoot Schmidt had also accessed at least one B.A.R. for the same purpose, used in the previously-mentioned shooting in which Hinton’s Thompson had failed to pierce the Barrow car, but Alcorn’s B.A.R. succeeded, wounding Bonnie and Clyde in one leg each, perhaps with the same bullet. Nonetheless, outside of Guinn/ Jones, I can find no indication of a commercial Colt Monitor having been at the scene. I’ve kicked this around with gun-savvy novelist and critic Stephen Hunter, who believes a researcher not very familiar with guns may have confused the photos of Hamer’s long-magazine Remington with a curved-magazine B.A.R. made in a European caliber and pictured in a weapons book. Beyond that, though, there were lots of competing egos among the six men who fired, and a lot of jealousy possible after Hamer reaped the lion’s share of the credit. If he had hosed a helpless, dying woman with machinegun fire from close range, it would have come out sooner. It didn’t. Frank Hamer died with the universal respect of Southwestern lawmen. Those proud peace officers would not have given that great respect to a man who had ever acted as a coward, no matter how many gunfights he’d won before. Some critics to this day call all six of those lawmen cowards, for not giving Bonnie and Clyde a fair fight. At the WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM time of their deaths, the Barrow Gang had murdered some nine police officers, several of them from ambush. There was absolutely no reason to believe they could have been talked into surrender, considering their past histories. Besides, there were no witnesses I can find who didn’t say that Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were reaching for guns when the posse opened up on them. With a crack investigator’s understandable desire to protect his informants, Frank Hamer did not discuss the incident in detail with reporters. Perhaps the last lesson is that he should have. An authoritative press conference at the time, by the leader of the police team, might have prevented three-quarters of a century of speculation and misunderstanding about the six public servants who, that morning in rural Louisiana, ended a two-year spree of wanton murder. If the history of such matters tells us anything, it is that nature abhors a vacuum. If the truth is not soon put forth to fill that vacuum, bizarre allegations and false accusations most certainly will be. We see that classically here, where historians have been slowly dancing on this particular “killing ground” for 75 years. * 1072009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=108http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=108TAFFIN TESTS Continued from page 38 the .50 GI has a parkerized finish. All of the factory loads shot well, and one of my handloads using the factory 300 grain FN over 7.0 gr. of Hogdon’s Universal gave a muzzle velocity of 837 fps with five shots cutting one ragged hole at 20 yards. Readers are probably wondering what about recoil? Felt recoil was much less than I expected. The factory 300 grain loads at 700 fps can best be described as very soft shooting with minimum recoil, while the top end 875 fps loads are on the same level as .45 ACP +Ps when it comes to actual felt recoil. The Guncrafter Industries .50 GI Custom 1911s are not cheap, retailing for $2,895 (they are worth it!); however Guncrafter is now offering a much less expensive way to shoot the .50 GI with their conversion unit for the Glock Models 20/21. This unit sells for $595 which when added to the price of a Glock results in just over one/third of what it costs to shoot the 1911 .50 GI. The .50 GI Conversion Unit consists of a complete top end, slide, barrel, recoil spring and guide rod. The slide and barrel are machined from stainless steel forgings. This unit is designed for drop-in installation, and the test unit installed easily on my Glock 21 taking about one minute to remove the stock barrel, slide, and recoil spring and replace them with the .50 GI Conversion Unit. It fits nicely with very little slide to frame movement and functioning has been 100-percent reliable. The Conversion Unit not only installed easily it is also quite attractive with its stainless steel finish contrasting with the black polymer frame of the Glock 21. Going into virtually any gun shop and asking for components or loaded ammo for the .50 GI will probably get you a dumbfounded look, but not to worry as Guncrafter Industries also offers loaded ammunition, Hornady and Lee reloading dies, as well as .50 GI brass and bullets. Being a low to medium pressure cartridge and in spite of the large caliber and heavier weight bullet than the standard .45, the .50 shoots quite softly in the Conversion Unit mounted on the Glock; much more pleasant to me than the .40 S&W from a Glock. .45 American Now we come to the latest offering from Guncrafter Industries, the .45 ACP American. With dozens of companies offering 1911s what could Guncrafter Industries do differently? I find this factory 1911 to be so incredibly well built and so accurate with virtually every type of ammunition tried that it can easily be described as the Freedom Arms or Holland and Holland of semiautos. Alex Zimmerman of Guncrafter Industries says “The American is intended for real world, hard use. It is the ‘civilian’ version of a 40 pistol contract we filled for a northeastern state police tactical unit.” Like its counterpart in .50 GI, the American features a Parkerized finish. Sights are the same Heinie Slant Pro as offered on the .50, however the .50 has the standard 1911 round top slide, while the slide of the .45 American is squared off on top with striations running from in front of the rear sight to the back of the front sight. And like the .50 GI, the .45 American slide is perfectly fitted to the frame with absolutely no play whatsoever. As tight as these pistols are one might think it would be difficult to operate the slide or there may be some problems with ejection and feeding. Not so! Both pistols worked flawlessly. The American also differs from the Model 1 .50 GI by having a very unobtrusive one-slot rail machined into the bottom of the frame in front of the trigger guard for attaching a tactical light. The thumb safety is ambidextrous and matched up with a beavertail grip safety, just as with the .50 the American features a skeletonized hammer, however the trigger on the .45 follows the pattern of a standard 1911 instead of the lightened trigger on the .50 which has three holes drilled through it from side to side. The extended button magazine release is on the left side and there is a channel in the left grip2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=109http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=1092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=110http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=110GUNNYSACK QUICK STRIPS I Roy Huntington t looks like Natt Stevens of Tuff Products did it again. Not only do they offer their sorta plastic/rubbery Quick Strips for .44/.45, .38/.357 and .500/.460 revolvers (we’ve mentioned the before), they’ve raised the bar now with more goodies. In the little box from Natt recently, I found Quick Strips for .327 Federal, .22 Rimfire (any load) and a 5-shot one for .38/.357 (look for them as standard issue for some models of S&W J-frames from the factory!). There was also a nifty nylon pouch that slips onto your belt holding two Quick Strips, if you’re so-inclined. I put them through a quickie test and found them to all work just fine. The nylon pouch is so light and convenient I carry my reload in it now on my belt under my shirt. I now carry a .22 strip loaded with Magnums, along with my tiny NAA .22 Magnum revolvelator, which is my “always in my pocket” gun around the ranch here. First two shots are .22 Magnum CCI shot loads and the others are standard .22 Magnums. There’s usually something more significant nearby, but this takes care of those “little surprises” that pop up when you least expect them. I didn’t have any .327 Federal handy so some .32 Long Colt worked fine, along with .32 S&W, .32 Magnum and even the lowly .32 S&W in the .327 strip. As an aside, I regularly shoot that .32 S&W in an old Charter Arms .32 H&R Magnum I have. Great fun, and now I have a way to tote some extras along easily. By the way, did you know you can shoot .32 ACP in that gun? There’s a tiny rim on it and they shoot great in the Charter. Any .32 ACP HP is deadly on those pesky squirrels around here and makes the “hunt” much more interesting than 100 yards with a .22 Magnum rifle. That 5-shot .38/.357 strip is for all of you fussy types you just hate to think your loading strip has six rounds while your gun only has five. Rest easy, Natt has solved the problem and now your pocket strip and your J-frame match-up nicely. You can sleep soundly tonight knowing everything is properly aligned. About $8.50 for the strips for a two-pack and about $20 for the pouch. A steal if you ask me. www.tuffproducts.com, (877) 883-3776 Improve your shooting with one of our shot timers or chronographs, used by top shooters and trainers worldwide. “The Pocket Pro is the fastest way to see results at the range.” Todd Jarrett ProChrono Digital Chronograph $119.95 Part # CEI-3800 Measures the velocity of your loads to verify their performance, a must when you need to shoot accurately! Accuracy- within 1%. Range of operation- 25 to 7000 ft/sec. Mounts on a camera tripod. 9 volt battery powered (not included). Review of shots, high, low, extreme spread, and standard deviation. Accessories available. See our website for more fine products and special offers. $129.95 Part # CEI-4700 (blue) Part # CEI-4705 (tan) Records draw, reload,and shot interval times. Easy to use menu system. Backlit graphics display can be configured 3 ways. Large sturdy belt clip. Low frequency buzzer. Ergonomic design. 9 volt battery level indicator. Settable delay, stop tone, sensitivity, shot dead time, clock, backlight. Pocket Pro II Shot Timer Our products are backed by a 30 day money back satisfaction Pocket Pro Carry Case guarantee, 2 year warranty, full service and support. $10.95 Part # CEI-4707 815.874.8001, 815.874.8181 fax www.competitionelectronics.com WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 1102009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=111http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=111GUNNYSACK FAILZERO KITS W Roy Huntington e usually approach these sorts of things with a jaded eye, whatever that means. Nonetheless, usually, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. But after having a kit in test now for more than 2,000 rounds with no lube and no cleaning, we found this actually works. The process treats the metal surface using something FailZero calls “EXO Technology” which is apparently a patented treatment creating a permanent dry lubricity on metal surfaces. They say it eliminates the need for grease or oil for the life of the part. According to their own press release, “ … firearms treated with FailZero upgrades perform dramatically cleaner, wear far longer and require less maintenance than those with traditional wet-lube parts.” The 1911 kit consists of a slide, frame, hammer, disconnector and trigger assembly all coated with the EXO technology. Our own Handgunner reviewer said all she had to do was wipe the gun off with a clean rag and the surface fouling came right off. There was no solvent, etc. needed. The kits have a lifetime warranty and are guaranteed 100-percent, and they are compatible with any 1911 pistol commonly encountered. I’d look at this as more of a parts- kit for a custom gun than an add-on to your existing gun. They also make an AR15 upgrade kit. This drop-in replacement kit has a mil-spec bolt/carrier and hammer featuring the same EXO metal treatment. It’s guaranteed to fit your existing AR from any of the big makers. We have not tested it, but the concept seems sound. If there’s no oil to attract the crud in your gas system, it stands to reason you won’t make mud in your AR action. And the lubricity should help to keep it running smoothly. With the success of the 1911 kit we’ve been testing, we’ll round-up an AR kit and see if it works as well. According to FailZero, you should “Grease bad guys, not guns” and they’ve even trade-marked the saying. At least they think like we do, eh? Handgunner will have a more thorough report on the FailZero test 1911 in a future issue, but at this time, we feel it’s worth a hard look if this sort of thing appeals to you. www.FailZero.com, (888) 214-6926 LULA. The fastest, easiest way to load & unload your magazines. Load up to 30 rounds of stripper-clipped .223s in 12 seconds, and drop ammo in a rifle or pistol magazine with the ease of flipping a switch – nothing saves time, or your fingers like LULA. Choose from three styles, then hit the range with a new rate of fire. LULA® Speed Loader & Unloader For AR-15/M-16, AK-47/GALIL, MP5, Colt 9 SMG, UZI, M1A/M14 and FN FAL magazines. Strip LULA® Speed Loader & Unloader For AR-15/M-16, Mini-14 magazines and strip clip ammo. Unload Load UpLULA™ Pistol Speed Loader One size fits virtually all 9mm, 10mm, .357, .40 and .45-caliber mags – both single and double stack. ©2009 See the demo video at www.butlercreek.com Magazines not included. 09BOA5268_LULA_Loaders_hp_AH.indd WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 1 5/13/09 5:46:20 PM 1112009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=112http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=112GUNNYSACK ALUMAGRIPS S Roy Huntington ince around 1986, owner Chris Lynch has been producing a unique product and frankly, he is the benchmark by which this sort of thing is measured. If you think Mercedes Benz, Cadillac, Packard or Rolls Royce, you can add AlumaGrips to the list because of their quality. Yup, if Mercedes needed grips for something, they’d probably simply order AlumaGrips — they really are that good. Made of an extra-high strength aluminum and anodized for additional hardness, they come in a wide variety of styles and a cross-section of basic colors. Believe it or not, Chris uses CNC technology to make the grips and each one fits perfectly or they don’t go out the door. While “old world craftsmanship” has its merits, a CNC delivering absolute consistency from product to product has merit too. Especially when you’re dealing with metal. If a lone craftsman made these grips by hand they’d cost $450 and would take two years to deliver! The models for the Para P14, P16 and the P18 list for $64.95 for smooth and $79.95 for checkered. The Caspian Hi-Cap model (which also fits the Les Baer Hi-Cap .40) are $49.95 for smooth and $64.95 for checkered. The nifty 8/12/09 7:48 AM Page 1 ones for the Springfield Armory EMP cost the same. Slim and trim, they feel cool to the touch for sweaty palms, but are aggressive enough to keep your gun where it belongs when you’re shooting. There are lots of options available, and keep in mind models fit virtually any 1911-style gun. A very unique feature is the fact you can go to their Web site and actually order a set of custom grips by following a simple tutorial, then hitting the “order” key. They also offer custom logos and other goodies, but you should call to find out more about that. Got a business, and would you like to gift your guntoting employees with grips with your company logo? Chris is the fellow to call! www.alumagrips.com, (602) 294-2390 Project1:Layout 1 112 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=113http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=113GUNNYSACK LASERMAX UNI-MAX RAIL MOUNT LASER Roy Huntington he dust has settled some since the explosion of laser manufacturers a decade or more ago, and there is a rare handful of companies who are actually doing it right, with high quality products serving real world needs. These are not toys (we’re not talking $20 Chinese lasers, here), but rugged, reliable, powerful tools designed by end-users and the engineers who serve them. LaserMax is one of the companies who were not only there near the beginning, but remain today, stronger and even more innovative. Founded by scientists and engineers, PhDs collect after their names like moths to a bright light. I confess, while I consider myself a friend and industry peer with the founders of LaserMax, I’m still just a bit in awe when I sit down and realize if I didn’t call the president of the company Susan, I’d more than likely call her Dr. Houde-Walter. As I recall, Susan has her doctorate in optical engineering, and I don’t have a clue as to what that actually means. Suffice to say they are all real smart and stuff. After their ground-breaking Internal Guide Rod Laser T systems, LaserMax has gone on to develop an entire range of products focused on the LE and military market. Of course, as is the case with such things, they cross-over into our market too. Enter the Uni-Max Rail Mount Laser. When I first saw this it was one of those “duh, of course!” moments. Tiny and feathery-light (it weighs about as much as a single .45 ACP round!), it quickly clamps onto any standard rail. With the integral Picatinny rail below, the Uni-Max still allows a light or other goodie to be clamped on too. So you can have your light and your laser. We’ve attached Streamlight’s new TLR-3 Polymer laser to show you what we mean. The Uni-Max has windage and elevation adjustments to zero it, can withstand up to 350 degrees of temperature (can you say hot muzzles?), can live up to 66 feet under water and has survived multiple drops onto concrete. You can choose pulsating or stead-on modes. To give you some perspective, it’s about as big as a matchbox. It can fit anywhere there is a rail, so you could mount it on your rifle, shotgun or handgun or anywhere you’ve got the moxy to mount a rail. Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. About $189.00 or so. www.lasermax.com, (800) 527-3703 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 1132009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=114http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=114Custom CORNER J.B. Custom, Inc. Custom Manufactured Firearms Mare’s Leg Lever Action Pistols, 1894 Winchester Lever Action Rifles and Parts, 1911 Pistols, 1873 Single Action Revolvers and More! See our Web Site www.jbcustom.com Phone: 260-338-1894 Fax: 260-338-1585 E-mail: jabjim@comcast.net 16335 Lima Rd. #5, Huntertown, IN 46748 Custom Corner features paid listings by the identified pistolsmiths. Many are members of the American Pistolsmiths Guild and the American Handgunner Club 100. Advertising information is available from: AmeriCAn HAndgunner,Adv.Dept.,12345WorldTradeDrive,SanDiego,CA92128;(858)605-0218. Powder River Precision, Inc. www.powderriverprecision.com WWW.DLSPORTS.COM Custom AR15’s, 1911’s, Precision Rifles, Accessories, Training, ITRC Competition Extreme Duty AR15 Magazines Now Available! Quality and timely pistolsmithing Specialized in: Springfield XD/XDM, 1911’s, Glocks and the Browning Hi-Power. 307.686.4008 D&L Sports, Inc. PO Box 651 Gillette, WY 82717 (541) 403-2998 (541) 403-2999 PISTOLSMITHS www.tusseycustom.com e-mail: ttussey45@aol.com 775-246-1533 owder_River2.indd 1 114 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2009 3/30/09 1:52:45 PM 6/16/09 7:27:12009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=115http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=115JRJ CUSTOM PISTOLS Specializing in M1911-A1 James R. Jimenez - Pistolsmith La Verne, CA. 626.422.0721 james@jrjcustompistols.com www.jrjcustompistols.com Order Your Copy While Supplies Last! ONLY $9.95 (outside U.S. $17.95) A LOOK INSIDE: Symbol of honest, competent, quality workmanship “LOOK FOR IT!” Member list $2.00 1449 Blue Crest Ln. San Antionio, TX 78232 888.732.2299 Order at www.americanhandgunner.com 115 Mon-Fri 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. PST Call Toll-Free WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=116http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=116: Safariland SPOTLIGHT IWB HolsteR Safarilandannouncesitsnewest InsidetheWaistband(IWB)concealment holster, expertly designed for improved grip, holstering and concealability for plainclothes or civiliancarry.TheModel18IWBholsterismadewithdurableSafariLaminate and its open top design enables users to efficiently access their firearms inanysituation.Checkouttheentire SafarilandlineontheWebatwww.safariland.com .223 100gRaIn sRt ExtremeShock ExtremeShockAmmunition,knownforproducing advancedAmmunition,hasaddedthe.223100grain ShortRangedTactical(SRT)toitslineofhuntingand tacticalammo.Thisspecificroundwasengineered forCloseQuartersCombat(CQB)applicationsand trainingpurposes.Learnmorebycalling(276)9266772orseetheentireline-upontheWebatwww. extremeshockusa.net onIX 350 gps Bushnell tItanIum gRIps HalpernTitanium,Inc. Ifyou’relooking foranewfeelfor your1911pistol, the Ultra thin .100" thicktitanium1911gripsbyHalpernTitaniummightbe youranswer.Theseversatilegripsarethinenoughtocarry, yet the distinctive aggressive pattern guarantees a solid hold withnoworriesaboutslippage.Alsoavailableinbeadblast finish,thesegripscomecompletewithspecialtitaniumslimlinehardware.ProudlymadeintheUSA!Learnmoreabout thisnewadditionbyvisiting www.halperntitanium.com model 13150-1 mInI-HaRdtaIl Harley-DavidsonKnives With its large 3.5"color LCD screen, thenew ONIX350 GPSreceiver provides a bigviewofthe greatoutdoors.Theabilityto downloadhighresolutiondigital satellite photography and topo mapsletstheONIX350bring navigationtolife.Toseethis andtheentirelineofBushnell Outdoor products, go to www. bushnell.com BasketWeave paddle HolsteR 5ShotLeather Thetraditionofoldworldcraftsmanship andinnovationisaliveatJohnRalston’s5 ShotLeather.Ralstonisproducingexceptional concealment holsters and accessories and the products from his shop are time-tested designs, hand-crafted to perfection.Theendresultisprovenconcealmentgearyou’llbeproudtoown.To learn more, visit www.5shotleather.com Benchmade,theManufacturerofHarley-DavidsonKnives announcesthereleaseoftheModel13150-1MiniHardtail.Valoxhandlescalesreduce theoverallweighttojust2.5ozon the Mini-Hardtail that sports the Axis Lockmechanism,ambidextrousdual thum-studs,abladeofD2HighGrade ToolSteel,andabladelengthof 3.25".Tolearnmore,visitwww. harley-davidsonknives.com sIgHt Install tool StoneEngineering StoneEngineeringintroducesanewSight Insallation/AdjustmentToolforGlockPistols. ThistoolisCNCmanufacturedintheUSAfrom solid6061aluminumplateandstainlesssteel guaranteedtolastmanylifetimes.Youwillbedelightedtoownoneofthese tools.Thereare3models,auniversalmodelforallGlocksandsinglemodels forthenarrowandwideslidePistols.SeehowitworksontheWebatwww. stoneengineeringco.com WoolrichEliteSeries elIte WateRpRoof paRka Usingits178yearoldexpertiseinappareltechnology,WoolrichEliteSeriesdesignedtheElite WaterproofBreathableParkatowithstandtheworstweatherMotherNaturecanoffer.Inaddition toadurable,waterproof,breathablemembrane,theparkahasthetacticalfeaturesthatoperativesandofficersdemand.Formoreinformation,callWoolrichat(570)769-6464orvisitthem on the Web at www.woolrich.com 116 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=117http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=117For more information on seeing your product featured in Spotlight contact, Steve Evatt (858) 605-0218. tBt-001 lIneR-lock stI sentInel pRemIeR STIInternational Buck/TOPSCollaboration Craftedwithclassic1911design,theSTI SentinelPremierisatraditional1911 built to modern highest-end standards for an exceptional competition, duty and self defensepistol.STIInternationalInc.isaworld-renowned manufacturerof1911and2011stylepistolslocated inGeorgetown,TX.STIoffersover30differentmodels of1911and2011pistolsinmultiplecalibers.Formore informationpleasecallthemat(512)819-0656orvisit them at www.stiguns.com BuckKnivesandTOPShavejoinedforcesandproducedtheirfirstCollaboration KnifetheTBT-001Liner-LockFolder.TheG-10handleisavariation ontheBuckBravoandBravoRescueModelswhilethe TOPSdesigned31/2"bladeisamodifiedTanto, madeof0.175"highgrade,ATS34stainless steel.Seemoreatwww.bucknives.com fn fIve-seven FNHUSA tHe HunteR GordonGrahamKnives Roto-stand BATIndustries,LLC NewfromknifemakerGordon GrahamistheHunterwitha 4.5"Damascusblade,madeof 1084and15n20toolsteel.The hardwareis416stainlesswith blackfiberspacers.Thehandle iselephantivory.Thisknifewas designedandmadefamousbyJerryFiskandisone of Graham’s classiest pieces. Carefully tempered to not onlylookgoodbutperformwell.Takealookatallof Gordon’sknivesontheWebatwww.gordongrahamknives.comorcallhimaboutyourneedforcustomwork at(903)293-2610 TheRoto-Standwasdesignedasa sturdyuniversalworkstandtoaid in the cleaning and maintenance of your pistol. Just remove the magazine,slideyourpistolon,flip thelockinglever,andfeelthespeed and maneuverability unmatched by anythingonthemarkettoday.By grippingtheinsideofthemagwell theRoto-Standprotectsyourpistol from outside pressures caused by yourstandardbenchvise.Visitthem online at www.roto-stand.com FNHisnowshippingtheFNFiveSeveNStandardsinblackmatte finishandolivegarbgreenwithU.S. madethree-dotfixedsights.The gunsarechamberedin5.7x28mm and feature textured, ergonomic polymerframeswithcheckered panelsforenhancedgrip.Theguns havereversiblemagazinereleases and ambidextrous manual safety levers.TheMSRPfortheFNFiveSeveNStandardis$1316.56.See this and the entire line of Fine FN guns at www.fnhusa.com mRds legend ultRa Hd BInoculaRs Bushnell InsightTech-Gear TheInsight Tech-GearMRDS MiniRedDotSightis alightweight,rugged, reflex sight that mounts to many existing optics aswellasMIL-STD1913 Picatinny and Weaver-style rails usingwidelyavailableaftermarketmounts.Formore informationabouttheMRDS and the full line of Insight Tech-Gearequipment,please call(877)744-4802orvisit www.insighttechgear.com WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM Huntersandoutdoorsmenhavealwaysvaluedthe LegendseriesofbinocularsfromBushnellfortheir ruggedness,performanceandvalue.NowBushnell introducestheNewLegendUltraHDBinocularsthatcombine highqualityopticsandpremiumEDPrimeGlasswiththenewUltraWide CustomCoatinglenstechnology.Tolearnmore,visitwww.bushnell.com 1911-a1 fIXed Blade MartinKnives MartinKnivesModel1911-A1fixedblade wasdevelopedtocomplimentAmerica’s favorite, and most popular semiauto handgun.NewtMartinoffersitinmany variationstomatchyour1911,from removableGovt.sizedgripstomanyfinishoptions,andhecanevenmatchthe knife’sserial#toyourgun’sserial#.Learnmorebycalling(956)490-6208or visit them on the Web at www.martinknives.com 1172009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=118http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=118INDEX OF ADVERTISERS A.T.CustomGunWorks AlMarKnives Alpha Precision AlumaGrips AmericanCOPSubscription AmericanHandgunnerSubscription ArntzenCorporation ArredondoAccessories,Inc. Bar-StoPrecisionMachine BeltMountainEnterprises,Inc. Benchmade Berry’sManufacturing BirchwoodCasey BLACKHAWK! BowenCustomClassics ButlerCreek Caspian Arms Ltd. ChipMcCormickCustom,LLC. Competition Electronics Cor-Bon/Glaser CrawfordKnives,LLC CrimsonTraceCorp. CrossBreedHolstersLLC Cylinder&Slide,Inc. D&LSports Deathgrips.net DeSantisHolster 114 16 114 84 31 70 100 96 104 98 9 78 18 87 114 111 107 23 110 10 100 20 80 29 114 98 78 DiamondMachiningTechnologies 86 DillonPrecision 88 DoubleStarCorp. 82 EMGear 39 EliteOperator 86 EliteSportsExpress 6 EliteSurvivalSystems 84 European American Armory 13 FobusUSA 85 FMGSpecialEditions 94,115 GalcoGunleather 6 GaryReederCustoms 114,115 GhostInc. 98 Glock,Inc. 37 GSIInternational,Inc. 16,17 GunBroker.com 41 HallmarkCutlery 99 10 HiVizShootingSystems 14 Hogue Grips HornadyManufacturing,Inc. 45 InsightTech-Gear 12 IronMind 96 114 J.B.Custom,Inc. JRJCustomPistols 115 KahrArms 18,97 112 KershawKnives Kimber 124 KnifeMart 19 KonusUSACorp. 15 LambertKnives 108 LawConcealmentSystems,Inc. 82 LawmanLeatherGoods 88 LesBaerCustom,Inc. 123 LightfootKnives 106 LockSaf 100 41 Lyman Products Mag-na-port International, Inc. 104 MaxpeditionHard-UseGear 39,47 Mec-GarUSA,Inc. 95 MTMMoldedProducts 113 NighthawkCustom 43 OneStopKnifeShop.com 98 OregonTrailBulletCo. 29 PactInc. 8 ParaUSA 2 Para-Cord 82 101 Pearce Grip PowderRiverPrecision 114 ProMagIndustries 19 17 RickHindererKnives 100 Rio Grande Custom Grips S.W.A.T. 118 Safariland 83 99 Shooter’sChoiceGunCare SIGSAUER 81 SingletaryCustomGunsmithing 114 Smith&Alexander,Inc. 102 Smith&Wesson 33 SpartanBlades 102 SpringfieldArmory 3,35 SSKIndustries 98 STIInternational,Inc. 97 Streamlight 89 SturmRuger&Co.,Inc. 25 SureFire 27 TaurusInternational 11 Technoframes 21,84 TenRingPrecision 114,115 ThunderRanchTrainingDVDs 109 TOPSKNIVES 101 102 TrauschGrips TusseyCustom 114 UniversalShootingAcademy 100 79 USAShootingTeam VolkmannCustomInc. 80 W.C.WolffCompany 95 7,12 WilsonCombat Winchester 89 14 Woolrich, Inc. XSSightSystems 107 118 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=119http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=119AMERICAN HANDGUNNER ACCESSORIES CLASSIFIED Classifiedads$2.00per-wordperinsertion.($1.50per-wordperinsertionfor3ormore)includingname,addressand phonenumber(20wordminimum).Minimumcharge$40.00.Bold words add $1.00 per word. Copy and rerun orders must be accompanied by PAYMENT IN ADVANCE. NO AGENCY OR CASH DISCOUNTS ON LISTING OR DISPLAY CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING.AlladsmustbereceivedwithadvancepaymentBYNOLATERTHANTHE1stofeachmonth. Adsreceivedafterclosingwillappearinthefollowingissue.Pleasetypeorprintclearly.PLEASE NOTE*** NO PROOFS WILL BE FURNISHED.Includename,address,postoffice,city,stateandzipcodeascountedwords.Abbreviationscount asonewordeach.MailtoAmeriCAn HAndgunnerCLASSIFIEDS,12345WorldTradeDrive,SanDiego,California92128. NOTE: WE NOW HAVE DISPLAY CLASSIFIED ADS IN BOTH GUNS MAGAZINE AND AMERICAN HANDGUNNER. ASK FOR OUR NEW RATE CARD, Or call (858) 605-0235. ACCESSORIES ACCESSORIES FOR SALE INSTRUCTION E-mail: OKEEFE1@QWESTOFFICE.NET KNIVES & SWORDS LEATHERCRAFT MISCELLANEOUS WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 1192009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=120http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=120insider ADD IT UP 2007firearmsproductionbyS&W. the insider Continued from page 122 523,554 521,833 463,996 33,756 17,833 2007firearmsproductionbyRemington. Little Stabber D 2007firearmsproductionbyRuger. o you need one? I doubt it. But still, the CDI Factor (chicks dig it, factor) is high. And I was thinking, in a “fight on the floor over your gun” situation, it’d be hard to get a-hold of your gun if you had this nifty cutter on the end. “Ouch, yikes, damn! What the hell is that?” Watch, now they’ll be a new video out soon called “Gun-Cutter Defensive Moves, Part 1” and I’ll have to blame myself for it. Still, for the fun factor, you can’t go wrong. Made by Ka-Bar for LaserLyte (known for their cool gadgets), it’s actually very good quality. Is my sample still on my M&P? Um, er, ah … maybe. Okay, yes. www.laserlyte.com, (928) 649-3201 Just Because 2007firearmsproductionbyColt. S 2007handgunproductionbyColt. 2007handgunproductionbySIGSAUER. 111,653 302,623 ometimes you just have to share. Handgunner’s esteemed photographer, Chuck Pittman, sent me this picture of a D&L-modified S&W revolver he had photographed. Dave Lauck is known for his elegant work in both fighting guns and some guns leaning a bit more toward having a bit of art in them too. This one definitely qualifies as a working art-gun, I suppose. Simply marvelous, and if you need one, give Dave a shout. Tell him we sent you? www.dlsports.com, (307) 686-4008 2007handgunproductionbyS&W. c 1,607,813 2007totalhandgunproduction byU.S.manufacturers. olt has called for an immediate recall of the following models, sold since March 2007. The Colt 1911 WW1 Replica, 1918 WWI Replica, Combat Elite, New Agent and Defender models and the TALO Night Defender may all be subject to improper hardness in their safety and/or guide pad. Colt recommends you do not load or fire them until they are retro-fitted with new parts. Go to www. coltsmfg.com for info on serial number ranges and how to send your gun back. You can also send an e-mail to: Recall@colt.com or call (800) 962-2658 and press “option 2.” colt Recall Never miss a good chance to shut up. M Free Guns? 120 ark Muller of Max Motors, in Butler, MO, is offering a coupon worth about $400 when you purchase certain models from his dealership. You have the option of using it to upgrade equipment, use it around town to buy stereo equipment, or just about anything. Or … you can use it for your very own AK-47. “Virtually 100-percent of the buyers have opted for the AK option,” Mark told me on the phone. “Hey, we’re just trying to sell cars here, Roy. I had over one million hits on our Web site when this story broke on national news. And that’s good for business!” Mark seems like a savvy businessman, and he’s not afraid to support the Second Amendment while he’s at it. Mark assures me all laws apply when it comes to owning an AK, and all state and federal laws are followed to the letter. www.max71.com, (660) 679-3124 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER20092009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=121http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=121was photographing some compact revolvers and .380 autos the other day and had a Springfield Armory Sub-Compact 9mm XD nearby — and I noticed something. I stuck the XD on the table next to a J-frame and realized it was nearly the same size, yet held 13, 9mm rounds and offered the ability to manage a full-sized mag as well. While certainly a bit blockier than most compact .380s or .38 revolvers, it still left me thinking: Are we too-ready to compromise comfort for performance at times? Off duty cops, detectives Something To Think About I and some Sam and Suzi Homeakers out there might think about this. I’ll be looking into this in a future issue and we’ll see where the dust settles. Still, it begs some experimenting with pocket holsters, methinks. A Knife-Gun Guy G ary Reeder makes some interesting and unusual guns, indeed. Now this ner-do-well has left his comfort zone and gone into knife-making. Don’t tell me you get tired of seeing knives in a gunzine, since you gun-guys guys are making them these days, and readers keep asking me for more. Gary’s “Predator” caught my eye since it’s a bluff-bladed, brawny “knife for all reasons” if you ask me. This one has a 5" blade, but you can get ‘em with a 6" version too. Handles are Mongolian stag, it comes serial numbered, and you can have your name engraved on it at no extra charge. Around $300, and it’s a lot of custom knife for the money. www. reedercustomguns.com, 928-527-4100 Dog Vs. Glock ooks like there is something tougher than a Glock. It’s named “Diablo” and it’s the rare Rottaglockweiller. Robbie Barrkman, guru at Robar (famous for doing Glock grip reductions) sent me this picture of a customer’s gun. “He sent a note asking if there was anything we could do,” laughed Robbie. “I told him we can fix it, but to not let his Glock piss off his dog again!” L lady-Business a few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Wilson’s better half, Christine. She was a young, enthusiastic woman and had just started her own “business” then, working alongside Ryan, famous for his Wilson Tactical brand. She was weaving paracord key fobs and lanyards for knives and what-not, one at a time, and selling them one at a time. A few years passed, and it seems things have changed. Christine’s “little business” has gotten much bigger. She’s expanded her line, has sold “thousands” now, and after looking at the sample pack she sent, I’m impressed with their quality and design. She can do custom colors if you order enough, and delivery is fast. Those knobby-things are monkey fists, and are just the thing to pop some miscreant on the head with. Well done, Christine! Support this lady-entrepreneur. www.para-cord.com, (870) 423-3319 e recently hosted our Shooting Industry Masters event, a three-gun “fun” shoot bringing out industry members for two fun-filled relaxing days of shooting simply because it’s, well, fun. Most in our industry are so busy running companies, attending trade shows and the like, they rarely get out to get some strictly fun shooting done. Since its inception some years ago, the Masters has sort of “made” them get out. They pay their own way to the event, and monies made are donated to the NSSF’s “First-Shots” programs, put on to introduce people to shooting. The Masters is attended by company presidents, marketing people, dealers, distributors and others, and a host of volunteers from all parts of the industry help out. While working the event, I had something interesting happen. I was driving a golf cart to the club house doing errands during the day and I saw a gentleman walking the long walk back. I stopped and offered a ride. Who was it? None other than Dick Heller (Yup, that Dick Heller), of Washington, D.C. lawsuit fame. Dick and I exchanged pleasantries and I found him to be a regular Joe, just like us. At the club house I found Buzz Mills, owner of Gunsite visiting and introduced him to Dick. Buzz was recently elected to the NRA’s board, so this was a great coincidence. This2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=122http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=122THE Roy Huntington “Minor-calibers” like the .380, .32, .25 and .22 are likely dicey propositions. Reserve them for back-up — or plinking. INSIDER TM Perfect Self-DefenSe Ammo? I get regular inquires from readers asking about the “perfect” ammo for self-defense. I’m honestly glad you’re asking, I’m not even sure I’m the fellow you should be asking, but I have good help here so I can at least ask around if I’m stumped. I’d like to address some things to think about here, but keep in mind, please, please, don’t believe everything you read in the forums, or even in this esteemed magazine’s pages, Full-caliber rounds like these are decent choices for self-defense. without double-checking at least one other reliable reference source. Now, to answer the question, there are certain things I’ve found to be consistent — and bear tiate from caliber to caliber. However, if you insist on using mentioning when it comes to self-defense ammo. a “minor” caliber (think .380 or smaller in my opinion) then There are no magic bullets and all bullets fail some of you’re on your own. No guarantees in my opinion, and the the time, so you need to be able to place any bullets you fire amount of damage they usually don’t do is often frightenas accurately as possible. As Clint Smith would say, “Train ingly noticeable. to be marvelous, because during a gunfight you’ll probably Basically, if someone gets shot with a good quality only be mediocre — if you’re lucky.” expanding bullet from any of the “major” calibers listed Bullet performance is full of myth and hyperbole, from — and the bullet performs as advertised — you’ll get the the old “Hit a fellow in the thumb with a .45 and he’s going best “stopping” power you can expect from a handgun. And down” to “.223 bullets tumble when you fire them.” Don’t unless you hit someone in a central nervous system point believe any of them unless you know otherwise for sure. (head, spine, etc.) there really isn’t any shock or “stopping” There are no certainties when it comes to bullet performance power, they simply bleed to death, some faster, some slower. and anyone who tells you otherwise (manufacturer or mythThis lowering of the blood pressure (due to loss of blood maker) is guessing, at best. volume) eventually shuts off the brain. It might take three I have personally been to the autopsies of many gunshot seconds, or it might take ten seconds or longer. You just victims during my tenure as a cop. I was fortunate to be good never know. It’s a crap-shoot, so hit them well if you have to friends with Gene Wolberg, a world-renowned forensic fireshoot. And, as Connor says, “It’s not enough to shoot them arm’s criminalist who worked at our lab, and Gene took me until you think they’re dead, you have to shoot them until under his wing. Gene has regrettably passed away, but he left they think they’re dead.” me with a legacy of science- and fact-based information, and It’s actually simple. Use a good gun, good ammo and praca tendency to ask for proof before I’ll believe anything I hear. tice with it. What’s a good gun? Probably the one you have. I can tell you first-hand it’s virtually impossible to tell Like ammo, there is no magic gun, just good and bad ones. the difference between gunshot wounds among the “major” Oh, and the likelihood of you needing a fire extinguisher is .38/.357/.40/.45 calibers. Even the big guys like the .44 only about a thousand times more probable than your ever Magnum can usually be lumped in here. And the internal needing a handgun; so make sure you have extinguishers damage inflicted is also virtually impossible to differenaround the house too. You do have some, right? Right? insider n our last issue we ran a letter from reader Glenn Dawn, who was complimenting us on our new online digital edition. He could no longer afford a subscription due to losing his job because of a disability, and his social security checks could only stretch so far. Glenn Rock I ReadeRs was excited about still being2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=123http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=123What’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 best parts machined from the finest materials, from the all-important foundation components including frames, slides and barrels to the smaller parts that ensure unmatched accuracy and perfect function such as sights, safeties, hammers and triggers. Each and every one of those fifty-three parts is produced on the finest CNC machining centers available to guarantee absolute precision, consistency and superior quality. Then there’s the other half of the equation: Hand fitting and assembly by skilled artisans. Each of our master gunsmiths carefully files, hones, fits and finishes with his own two hands all fifty-three of those parts into a perfectly fit, exquisitely built and tuned custom 1911 that fulfills our promise of delivering the most breathtaking out-of-thebox accuracy and the most reliable operation in the world. 1804 Iowa Drive • LeClaire, Iowa 52753 Ph: 563-289-2126 • Fx: 563-289-2132 Office Hours: 9am-5pm Central Time Email: info@lesbaer.com Looking for a superior semi-auto rifle on a par with our 1911 pistols? Prepare to be amazed by Les Baer Ultimate AR Rifles in .223, .204 Ruger and new 6.5 Grendel. Several sporting and law enforcement models available, all guaranteed to shoot 1/2" MOA. www.lesbaer.com2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=124http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHND09/?Page=124Ultra CDP II™ pistols in .45 ACP & 9mm have 3-inch barrels & weigh just 25 ounces. The Best Defense. The Custom Defense Package–CDP–from Kimber. The Pro CDP II™ .45 ACP has a 4-inch barrel and full-length grip. At just 28 ounces, it is easy to carry & conceal. CDP pistols are powerful, accurate and absolutely dependable. Built in the , they feature night sights and 30 lines-per-inch Kimber® Custom Shop™ checkering on the frontstrap and under the trigger guard for a positive grip. , Slides are machined from stainless steel and aluminum frames wear KimPro II™ a premium finish that is self-lubricating and extremely resistant to the elements. All have a match grade barrel, chamber and trigger. Adding these features during production reduces their price by over $500, giving them incredible value. See them in action at www.kimberamerica.com. Carry the best. Carry a Kimber. The Custom CDP II™.45 ACP has a 5-inch barrel and weighs only 31 ounces. It is the nest full-size 1911 carry pistol available today. CDP pistols feature match grade barrels, night sights and a Carry Melt treatment that rounds & blends edges to prevent snagging on clothing or holsters. The Choice of America’s Best. www.kimberamerica.com For information on products and dealer locations please send $2 to: Kimber, Dept. 259 One Lawton Street, Yonkers, NY 10705 Information is also available at (800) 880-2418 ©2009 Kimber Mfg., Inc. All rights reserved. Kimber names, logos and other trademarks may not be used without permission. Names of other companies, products and services may be the property of their respective owners. Kimber firearms are shipped with an instructional manual and California-approved cable lock. Copy of instruction manual available by request.2009-09-09T01:07:40+02:00