For more than 20 years, the SIG SAUER P226 has been the sidearm of choice for the world’s elite military forces. Now, the United States Navy has granted SIG SAUER permission to sell the new contract pistol, designated the MK25, to the general public.
The commercially available MK25 is identical to the firearm SIG SAUER delivers under contract to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). Built to the Navy’s demanding standards, the MK25 comes chambered in 9mm, with a phosphate finish applied to all internal components, providing corrosion resistance in even the harshest of saltwater environments.
The engraved gold anchor on the pistol’s slide hints at its military origin, while the UID code on the right side serves as a genuine badge of authenticity. The true mil-spec 1913 rail is machined into the hardcoat anodized alloy frame, providing a solid mounting point for lights, lasers and accessories.
A reliable double-action/single-action trigger and two-piece polymer grips are included in the NSWC-specification package. SIGLITE night sights, three magazines, and a card certifying authenticity come standard in the case.
The only other way to obtain an authentic MK25 pistol would require a Naval enlistment and training with elite forces. Learn more, visit www.sigsauer.com
MK25 P226 Specs
Caliber 9mm Magazine Capacity 15 Trigger Pull DA: 10.0 lb / SA: 4.4 lb Overall Length 7.7″ Overall Height 5.5″ Overall Width 1.5″ Barrel Length 4.4″ Sight Radius 6.3″ Sights SIGLITE Night Sights Weight w/ Magazine 34.4 oz Frame Material Aluminum Frame Finish Hardcoat anodized Slide Material Stainless Slide Finish Nitron Grips Black polymer MSRP $1,142
Weights and dimensions are approximate. Specifications subject to change without notice.
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Inside this issue:
Wilson Combat Recon 6.8 SPC
Hampton's Duck Guns
Browning A-Bolt Slugger
Collecting the 32.20
Gun shows, auctions, classifieds and more!
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A bombshell ATF email from 2010 that surfaced this morning shows that when it came to the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, all of the top officials of the ATF and the DOJ were fully aware of serious ramifications of the fallout. One of the guns found at the scene came from the agency's illegal ‘Fast and Furious' program.
This means that all of the top officials of the ATF and DOJ knew about the gunwalker scheme and that a murder had been committed as a result.
National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea states that the email shows that the Deputy Chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice had fully documented awareness of the connection between Terry's murder and Fast and Furious within a few days of the crime. So concerned was the Deputy Chief of the potential explosive nature of that connection that he recommended that the Phoenix Field Division of the ATF hire a media consultant to deal with the fallout.
Sources tell me that in any dispute between DOJ AUSAs, there is a “deconfliction process” that is “written in stone.” “All such disputes automatically get kicked upstairs,” said one source, and “certainly would be known immediately to the head of the Criminal Division.” Meaning, of course, Lanny Breuer. “Also, Holder would have been briefed about it,” said the source. Read more
Gander Mountain recently debuted, “Gun World by Gander Mountain,” a new 30,000 square-foot retail outlet featuring upwards of 5,000 guns of all kinds, and firearms specialists on duty. Located in Germantown, Wisconsin, Gun World celebrated its grand opening Saturday and Sunday, November 12-13.
According to a Gander Mountain press release, “Gun World features the largest and most impressive selection of firearms found anywhere, from shotguns, handguns and rifles to the most advanced sporting tactical firearms. The store has all levels of products to fit the needs and interests from beginners to the true firearms enthusiast, and offers rare and hard-to-find guns and ammunition. In addition, the store features a huge selection of used guns, and top-level expertise from associates who will walk customers all the way through the selection, purchase and registration process. Gun World also offers a wide selection of hunting clothing and gear designed with outdoor enthusiasts in mind.”
“Gander Mountain is already the major retailer of firearms in the country, but with Gun World by Gander Mountain we are taking the experience of shopping for firearms to an entirely new level of selection and service,” said David Pratt, CEO of Gander Mountain, “We are excited to bring this new retail experience and opportunity to the people of Wisconsin and we’re confident that our unmatched selection and the expertise of our specialists will make Gun World a premiere destination for those with an interest in firearms.”
Gun World was the second major new retail debut from Gander Mountain in 2011. The company has also opened six new Gander Mountain Academy locations throughout the country, offering the most advanced firearms technology and training available. For more information on the first Gun World store, visit the Gander Mountain web site, at www.gandermountain.com.
Colt's Manufacturing Company said it will introduce a new and improved version of the classic Colt Mustang. The new Colt .380 Mustang Pocketlite is small, lightweight and boasts enhanced durability, reliability and accuracy, making it an ideal handgun for personal protection.
The precise machining process, use of high quality materials and improvements in design make Colt's new .380 Mustang Pocketlite an excellent choice as a small backup gun.
The aluminum alloy receiver, stainless steel slide and barrel are CNC machined from solid bar stock for precise tolerances. “Machining solid stock is certainly a more involved manufacturing process,” said Joyce Rubino, Vice President of Marketing, Colt's Manufacturing Company, “But it is that process, combined with our engineering specifications, expertise and demand for perfection that allows Colt to deliver one of the highest quality products available to today's marketplace.”
With a loaded magazine, this handgun weighs less than one pound. It measures 5.5 inches long and has a 2.75-inch barrel. The minimal weight and length of the gun, combined with the short single action trigger, grip design, frame design and firing pin safety block, make this firearm ideal for personal protection.
The magazine holds six rounds. Improvements in powder and bullet design have increased the velocity and terminal performance of .380 caliber ammunition, adding to the viability of the Colt .380 Mustang Pocketlite for personal defense.
“Accuracy and reliability was a top priority as we looked at what improvements could be made to make this classic backup even better,” said Rubino, “Though the changes may seem subtle to the untrained eye, every Colt employee takes great pride in knowing that their dedication has helped bring a vastly improved and enhanced firearm to market.”
The new Colt .380 Mustang Pocketlite descends from a famed line of pistols, including Colt's Government Model, and improves upon the best that each had to offer.
For more information on Colt's Manufacturing Company visit www.coltsmfg.com.
How to hand stipple the stocks of your polymer-framed pistol for a better grip.
Gun owners usually fall into two camps: those who keep their weapons just as they come from the factory and those who do not. Those who desire to keep a firearm in its original factory condition do so for purposes including faithfulness to the original intent of the firearm’s designers or protecting the factory warranty.
Those who customize their weapons probably desire to improve it in some way — to increase its functionality or even to personalize it. One camp asks: Why would you permanently change a perfectly good factory gun? The other side asks: Why wouldn’t you? In the interest of full disclosure, I’m in the first camp.
For years, handgun owners have modified their steel revolvers and pistols — shortening barrels, porting chambers, changing stocks, and more. With the advent of the polymer-framed pistol, the opportunity to make changes has only increased. One of the most popular modifications to polymer-framed pistols is to add to or change the stocks to improve purchase (the firmness or quality of one’s grip of the stocks). Some handgun owners add a rubber grip sleeve such as a Hogue Hand-All.
The Kel-Tec PF-9 is a thin, lightweight, single-stack 9mm pistol offering excellent purchase right out of the box. Stippling the tops of each square made it even better.
Others apply a sandpaper-like skateboard tape. Of course, grip sleeves and skateboard tape don’t require physically altering the weapon; those add-ons are easily removed. Other gun owners, however, resort to more drastic measures, including stippling—broadly defined as “drawing, engraving, or painting in dots or short strokes.” In this context, “engraving” seems to fit best as it involves melting the polymer and re-shaping it to improve purchase.
While companies such as Robar offer custom stippling for polymer-framed pistols — at a cost, but with many advantages — many handgun owners have attempted to hand-stipple a polymer-framed pistol at home. In fact, the Internet abounds with stories, images, and videos of successful hand-stippling jobs as well as those that are, shall we say, less than successful.
After reviewing several positive hand-stippling reports, fanciful notions of “I can do that” started to run through my head. Moreover, I thought I could do a decent stippling job on a new Kel-Tec PF-9, a polymer-framed 9mm pistol, with just a hot soldering iron. Would I get a better grip on a pistol or did I need to get a grip on reality?
Since this was my first and possibly last hand-stippling job, I decided to start small in two ways: First, I chose a small, inexpensive weapon. The Kel-Tec PF-9 measures 4.3 inches tall, 5.85 inches long, and .88 inches wide and in a blued finish retails for $333. It would be an expensive lesson if I somehow managed to destroy it but not as expensive as some other polymer-framed pistols. This provided only a modest comfort to me.
Second, the Kel-Tec’s polymer frame offers stocks with a raised, checkerboard pattern (which, for the record, provide excellent purchase as is). Rather than attempt to stipple the entire grip area, I would only stipple the raised squares, borrowing from a design I had seen in an Internet gun forum. I figured the raised squares offered a little more depth of plastic and therefore greater margin for error.
A very short push into the polymer with a hot soldering iron yielded consistent craters measuring about one millimeter across.”
At this point, I need to insert all appropriate disclaimers: What I’m about to do might be unwise, if not downright stupid, and probably voids the pistol’s warranty. Regardless, don’t try this at home. In fact, don’t try this anywhere or at any time. Proceed at your own risk. Neither Gun Digest the Magazine nor Kel-Tec is responsible for your foolishness. Consuming raw or undercooked meat, seafood or egg products can increase your risk of foodborne illness. And so on.
Working in my professional stippling shop — in my driveway with an upside-down five-gallon bucket (the gun bench) and a broken piece of 12×12 ceramic tile (a safe surface to work with hot tools and melting plastic) — I plugged in the soldering iron and set up the camera. Either I would capture pictures of a successful hand stippling job or provide some emergency room doctor with images of my burnt flesh. This was the point of no return. As soon as that hot soldering iron tip touched the plastic, I was committed.
Questions raced through my mind: How would the plastic react to the hot soldering iron? How long would I need to hold the soldering iron against the plastic to melt it? Should I melt grooves into the plastic or just push in some round craters? Questions raced through the minds of the neighbors, as well: Who’s the idiot sitting in the middle of his driveway in front of a five-gallon bucket when it’s 32 degrees out?
A very short push into the polymer with a hot soldering iron yielded consistent craters measuring about one millimeter across.”
To test the effects of the hot soldering iron on Kel-Tec polymer, I swapped out the standard magazine floorplate for the extended magazine floorplate that was included with the pistol. Briefly touching the soldering iron to the side of the standard magazine floorplate as a test, the plastic melted instantly, leaving a small crater. I touched the soldering iron to it a few more times and was able to create a fairly consistent pattern of craters that measured about one millimeter in diameter. It took well under half a second for the soldering iron to create one crater in the plastic. Testing complete, it was time to stipple.
With the Kel-Tec lying on its side, I rested the heel of my hand on the tile while holding the soldering iron like a pen. I gently and briefly pressed the tip down into one of the squares. Just like the test, the soldering iron produced a neat little crater. I did it again, creating a crater right next to the first, and so on.
Following a pattern of creating rows of craters, I became proficient enough to complete an entire square in less than a minute. Once I completed one side of the gun, I continued to the other, this time stippling the outline of each square first and then filling in the middle. Stippling the stocks proved easier than I thought so I stippled a portion of the front strap as well. Total stippling time: 45 minutes.
While I would stop stippling every so often and pick up the pistol to see if I was creating any sharp or otherwise uncomfortable edges, I didn’t notice a major improvement in purchase until I completed the work. Using the magazine with the extended floorplate, the hand stippling job significantly increased purchase on the Kel-Tec PF-9. It felt great — rock solid, like no person or hot ammo was going to easily remove that gun from my hand.
Even though I consider the stippling job a wonderful success, I’m not going to be starting my own pistol customizing business. I’m just happy to have not ruined an excellent pistol, stippled my fingers, nor burnt down my house.
All in all, it was a good exercise, one that I hope is helpful to readers of Gun Digest the Magazine. After showing off the stippled Kel-Tec PF-9, a few friends have asked me why I would make permanent changes to a perfectly functional handgun. My response: “Why wouldn’t I?”
David Codrea's unregistered stockpile - for sale "off the books" to the highest cartel bidder. Chore Boy: the most trusted name in unregistered NFA firearms. Photo by David Codrea
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Firearms Technology Branch has deemed “Chore Boy copper cleaning pads, along with fiberglass insulation,” a firearm, subject to registration and a $200 transfer tax, an official letter obtained recently by Gun Rights Examiner reveals. The response to an attorney inquiry by John R. Spencer, Chief, Firearms Technology Branch, offers one of the more creatively restrictive assessments since ATF declared a shoestring to be a machinegun.
The rationale Spencer uses:
A silencer is a firearm per U.S. Code, subject to National Firearms Act registration and transfer tax requirements.
“[S]ound/gas absorbing materials manufactured from Chore Boy copper cleaning pads, along with fiberglass insulation, constitute a silencer…”
Therefore, it is illegal for an individual to replace deteriorated material within an already- registered suppressor without an approved ATF Form 1, ‘Application to Make and Register a Firearm,’” along with a “$200.00 making tax” and “a ‘no-marking’ variance…since there is no viable area in which to apply a serial number to the sound-absorbing material.” Read more
The Barrett MRAD .338 lapua (Multi-Role Adaptive Design) rifle brings big .338 punch to the party.
We’ve all heard the saying “it’s time to bring in the big guns”. Well the Barrett MRAD in .338 Lapua Magnum is one of those big guns, and the .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge seems to be an ideal round for those times in American civilian law enforcement when the .308 Winchester may not be enough (heavy barriers or reinforced homes or vehicles) and a .50 BMG weapon is way too much.
With 4352 ft/lbs of energy at 100 yards using a 285-grain Hornady BTHP Match Bullet, the .338 Lapua Magnum sits nicely at the lower end of the scale between the .308 Winchester — which has 2355 ft/lbs of energy using a 168-grain Hornady TAP bullet — and the .50 BMG which has an almost unbelievable 12,388 ft/lbs of energy using the Hornady 750-grain A-MAX bullet.
If you, my fellow law enforcement snipers, really stop and think about it, for urban or suburban police snipers whose shots average a distance of about 64 yards, the 50 BMG has way too much power for even the toughest law enforcement situations.
In fact, I bet that most agencies that have purchased the big .50 have found that it is rarely, if ever, actually deployed.
You can bet that the 5.56 SDMR, 6.8 SPC, .308 Winchester and even the .300 Win Mag do the yeoman’s share of work in stateside situations.
Speaking of the .300 Winchester Magnum it too is eclipsed by the .338 Lapua by more than 1000 ft/lbs at 100 yards even when loaded with a .30 caliber heavyweight bullet like the 180-grain. And yet, it is still about 1/3 as powerful as the .50 BMG, giving it a much higher level of general utility than that blockbuster round.
Gunmaker Mossberg has entered into partnership with Outdoor Adventures Worldwide LLC, to help hunters select, book and prepare for their hunts—as a free service through Mossberg Outdoors (www.mossbergoutdoors.com).
“Hunters and outdoor enthusiasts are more than valued customers to Mossberg; they are the ultimate conservationists,” commented Tom Taylor, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc. “Mossberg wants to give back to our customers and all outdoorsmen and women by providing this free, full-service travel agency.
With over 300 world-class destinations to choose from, Mossberg Outdoors can help you plan the hunt-of-a-lifetime.”
Mossberg Outdoors will customize an adventure to meet specific needs, with multiple options for hunting, fresh and salt-water fishing and general outdoor adventures including rafting, hiking/pack trips and photo safaris. Services include trip itineraries, up-to-date customs regulations, travel insurance and recommended gear lists.
The originator of the AR platform has turned its popular M-15 SPR Mod 1 system into what it's calling a “Family of Calibers.”
The originator of the AR platform has turned its popular M-15 SPR Mod 1 system into what it's calling a “Family of Calibers.”
ArmaLite’s Mod 1 carbine started as a .223/5.56mm carbine built around a one-piece upper receiver/rail system with exclusive detachable side and bottom rails.
This year, ArmaLite is introducing the SPR Mod 1 6.8mm SPC II and the SPR Mod 1 7.62X39mm
ArmaLite’s SPR Mod 1 6.8 is especially well-suited to hunting, according to the company. It is powerful enough to meet the minimum energy requirements of many states for taking medium sized game such as deer.
At the same time, the 6.8mm is lighter than the 7.62×51, reducing the weight of ammunition carried into the field. As part of the AR-platform family, this carbine is also more versatile and ergonomic than traditional hunting models. The Mod 1 6.8mm is built with the ArmaLite-developed mid-length handguard and gas system to provide the best in form and function.
ArmaLite’s SPR Mod 1 7.62X39mm provides all the flexibility of the Mod 1’s one piece upper receiver/rail system but now for the world’s most available cartridge. The original AK-47 was built to use this cartridge.
The ArmaLite designed mid-length handguard and gas tube technology provides an optimal gas pulse to power the 16″ system so reliability is never an issue.
More on the SPR Mod 1 Platform
The SPR Mod 1 is forged, one-piece upper receiver/rail system with exclusive detachable side and bottom rails. The SPR Mod 1's three o'clock, six o'clock, and nine o'clock rails are detachable. That's so you can change your 1913 rails to fit your changing needs for sights, lights, lasers, grips or swivels.
Each SPR Mod 1 comes with extra rails standard, at no extra cost. You get a 1913 rail with quick detachable sling swivel hole. Each rifle comes with a low insert for when you need a bare rail with a low profile. There's also a plain insert with a quick detach sling swivel hole. And there is a half plain, half Picatinny rail as well. Changing your rails and add-ons of the SPR Mod 1 is as easy as turning a torx wrench.
Another good thing: Its one-piece construction offers you a continuous optic platform (COP). There's no gap to bridge between receiver and upper rail when you're installing your scope or sights. This one-piece construction also gives the sighting platform extra rigidity. It's a good, strong backbone. That means your sights will stay zeroed in the most trying conditions. Visit Armalite to Learn More
SPECS FOR THE SPR Mod 1 6.8mm SPC II
Semi-Auto Caliber: 6.8mm SPC II Barrel: Free Floated 16″ Double Lapped, Chrome Lined\Chrome Moly Vanadium MIL-B-11595-E, Threaded 5/8-24 Rifling Twist: RH 1:11″ 110-115 Ammo Grain Muzzle Device: Flash Suppressor Front Sight Base: Gas Block with Picatinny Rail Top of gas block is .293 (+/-) lower than top of upper receiver Upper Receiver: Forged Flattop with Picatinny Rail & Laser Engraved Rail Numbering, 7075-T6 Aluminum w/ 8″ Hand-guard Lower Receiver: 7075-T6 Aluminum (forged) Trigger: Tactical Two Stage, 1st Stage 3.5 lbs – 2nd Stage Approximately 5-6 lbs Overall Length: 36″ with stock extended, Approximately 32.75″ collapsed Weight: Approximately 7.4 lbs Finish: Anodized Aluminum Upper/Lower Receiver, Manganese Phosphated Steel Barrel Accuracy: 1.5 – 2.5 MOA Included with Rifle: One 10 Round Magazine, Sling, Black Case, Owner's Manual, Limited Lifetime Warranty
The semi-automatic has the following features going for it as a concealed weapon: flatness, greater number of rounds between reloadings, faster reloading (when spare loaded magazines are available to hand), the potential for better accuracy in average hands (although that point is more or less moot at average man on man confrontation distances) and enhanced reliability when neglected or subjected to dirt.
The revolver has the following features going for it as a concealed weapon: less ammunition sensitivity, simplicity of operation and less physical strength required from the operator.
Looking first at the revolver, although double action revolvers are more complicated, watch-like mechanisms in their operation, nothing else is usually required – assuming the gun is loaded, which is simpler than loading an automatic – than to point the weapon and pull the trigger.
Certainly, most double action revolvers can be manually cocked and, if not fired, the hammer must be lowered. But, if the operator is taught to use the weapon properly in the defensive context, most of the time the weapon will – hopefully – never be manually cocked unless at the target range. So, to make the gun go bang, the cylinder is swung out, cartridges are loaded into the cylinder (they can only be loaded bullet end first) and it’s usually pretty obvious if a cartridge is too big, small, long or short for the cylinder’s charging holes.
The cylinder is closed (even flicking the cylinder closed, a potentially damaging practice in which some movie private eyes of old were wont to indulge, would have to be done a lot in order to render the revolver inoperable) and the gun is pointed and the double action trigger is pulled.
If the operator changes his or her mind while squeezing (more like pulling) the trigger, easing trigger pressure will let the hammer down with insufficient force to ignite the primer; and, anyway, hopefully the revolver was originally pointed at something or someone that needed to be shot. When the gun has been fired five or six (or more, these days) times, it will click, just like in the movies, but no bullets will come out and there will be no noise other than the click. Our inexperienced operator realizes that the weapon is empty and elects to reload or leave the gun empty.
The double action revolver is simple.
No great level of physical strength is required – especially hand strength. If the operator has trouble with recoil from something as mild as a standard velocity .38 Special or a .32 S&W Long, .22 Magnum revolvers exist. Even a .22 Long Rifle double action revolver can serve, when needed. So perceived recoil becomes a non-issue, one way or the other.
As long as the operator can lift the double action revolver into a firing position, even an extremely weak person who could not successfully complete a double action pull can, out of necessity, cock the hammer of the typical double action revolver and exert the miniscule amount of finger pressure required to pull the single action trigger and fire a defensive shot. In short, double action revolvers are a no-brainer to operate and can be successfully manipulated by almost anyone, regardless of sex, age or physical health. And, under normal circumstances, they are ridiculously dependable, despite their greater degree of mechanical complexity.
A partial reload of a revolver can be accomplished by working the ejector rod only part way, so spent cases can be plucked out and replaced by hand or from a Bianchi Speedstrip. The revolver is a Smith & Wesson Model 681, no longer produced.
Whenever I am asked, for example, what sort of weapon I would recommend for a woman (not someone sufficiently experienced or knowledgeable to select her own firearm), I always suggest a S&W two-inch J-frame .38 Special (not .357 Magnum) with a steel frame. The 640 in .38 Special (which means finding one on the used gun market) is, unequivocally, the very best choice of all. After that, any good S&W or Taurus would be an excellent choice.
Although I carry semi-autos almost exclusively, I keep a .38 Special Model 640 with Crimson Trace LaserGrips handy at all times when I am at home (and I work from home). I acquired one of these for our daughter as her 21st birthday present and got one for Sharon, as well. Both of their revolvers have Crimson Trace LaserGrips, as an aftermarket accesssory. One of the most well-known semi-automatic pistol designers in the United States keeps a Crimson Trace LaserGripped two-inch J-frame .38 as his bedside handgun.
First among the semi-automatic’s attributes is flatness. Even my pet Model 640 S&W is five-rounds chubby at the midsection – its cylinder. With five rounds, it is almost identical in thickness – side to side width – to a .45 auto matic. A gun like a Walther PP series auto is thinner still. Not only thinness, but size overall is a consideration when discussing the relative virtues of revolvers versus automatics.
Two ultimate cop guns, one European, one American. The Walther PP .32 saw considerable law enforcement use in Europe, while American plainclothes officers often carried an old style Smith & Wesson J-Frame .38 Special. This is a Model 640, modernized with the addition of Crimson Trace LaserGrips.
Everyone who follows my writings, whether magazine articles or Sharon’s and my novels, knows I’m a fan of the Detonics CombatMaster. The basic S&W two-inch J-frame, regardless of model, is about the same length and thickness as the CombatMaster, which is a .45 capable of six rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber (I only carry 5+1, stripping the top round from the magazine into the chamber), as compared to five rounds in the cylinder.
Those rounds – in my CombatMaster – are 230-grain Federal Hydra-Shoks, as opposed to five 158-grain lead semi-wadcutter .38 Special +Ps. I would not volunteer to be shot with either, and the .45s will not realize their full potential out of a three and one-half-inch barrel. Suffice it to say, you can pack more into a semi-automatic, when it comes to size, than you can in a revolver.
There is a greater number of rounds between reloadings, even despite the flatness issue. Most knowledgeable handgunners would concede that, although somewhat an apples-to-oranges comparison, a .380 ACP is a close equivalent to the better standard velocity .38 Special rounds. Let’s take two of my favorite handguns, my S&W Model 640 .38 Special and my Walther PP .32 ACP. But let’s say the Walther is a .380, instead. In that chambering, the PP (or PPK/S) holds seven .380s in the magazine and one in the chamber. The S&W still only holds five.
Well, say I get into it hot and heavy with an arch-enemy or two and I burn through the five rounds in my 640. I have to open the cylinder, hit the ejector rod (with the revolver oriented properly for the empty cases to fall out), use a speedloader or manually load one or two charging holes at a time, close that cylinder and resume firing as needed. In an alternate universe, I blow my eight rounds of .380 from the Walther PP. In the properly functioning pistol and magazine combination, the slide remains open after the last shot has been fired and the last piece of empty brass is ejected.
If I have a typical PP-series weapon, it has a push button magazine release (rather than heel-of-the-butt as some comparative few runs of the Walthers had). I hit that button with my thumb and the empty magazine falls clear (if it were a Glock, the magazine might have to be withdrawn after partially ejecting, but I’d have lots more rounds). Assuming that I have a spare magazine previously loaded, I ram that new magazine up the butt of the weapon, draw the slide back just a tad and let it go. The slide strips the first round from the magazine and I’m ready to continue shooting for another seven rounds, with a nice, smooth, single action pull for the first and subsequent shots, I might add. If I don’t have a spare, previously loaded magazine, reloading is much slower than with a revolver.
When we turn to a more modern weapon than a Walther PP series pistol, we can have far greater firepower between reloadings. The Glock 26, for example, a 9mm Parabellum caliber pistol somewhat fatter than the Walther, but more or less the same size otherwise, holds ten rounds in its magazine, exactly twice the capacity of the J-Frame S&W, eleven rounds when carried with one round in the chamber and a full magazine. For a greater number of rounds between reloadings and faster reloadings, the semi-automatic is the obvious winner.
The revolver is always a little wider at least than an automatic, the automatic generally easier to conceal because of its flatness.
What about accuracy? Many people will say that, because of the grip shape of the typical semi-automatic, and in some cases the grip angle (the Luger, the Glock, etc.), semi-autos are more natural feeling in the hand and, because of this, point more naturally at the intended target than do revolvers. More to the point, though, is the fact that pinpoint accuracy – the sort of thing high-end target semi-auto pistols can produce with low-recoil-impulse target ammunition – is not important in the context of concealed carry. Certainly, it’s always good to strive for accuracy, but any quality handgun in proper working order, whether revolver or semi-automatic, is capable of better accuracy than the typical human being can achieve with it.
Defensive shooting from concealment can take place at contact distance and, despite those who claim one must always – ALWAYS – look across the sights when shooting, in self-defense scenarios there just sometimes isn’t the time or the distance. The wise concealed weapons carrier will learn the skills needed for hip level point shooting at seriously close range.
I am no terrific marksman and have never claimed otherwise. That said, what has always seemed practical to me has been this: Be prepared to shoot from the instant the weapon has cleared the holster and all the while you are raising the gun to eye level and firmly seating it with the support hand.
Note the very basic, yet effective, sights on the revolver.
The typical semi-auto is more of an enclosed system than the revolver. Because of that, it is more forgiving of the dirt and debris associated with everyday use. But, again, we’re not debating the merits of revolvers versus semi-autos under prolonged battle conditions in a harsh climate. If we were, there would be no contest; the revolver would lose because it has more moving parts and is, typically, less robust. We are, instead, considering what to carry under our clothes for use in an emergency.
The real concern with a semi-automatic is reliability. In years gone by, there was great worry over magazine spring failure. Then, as now, if the spring is properly heat treated, the magazine could well be loaded for years without the spring taking a set (i.e., failing to spring back) and no longer functioning. This assumes, however, quality magazines.
If you fit your weapon with cheap magazines of questionable construction, you should not be surprised when the magazine fails. Some of the things that can happen, besides the spring taking a set, include the follower getting jammed on a rough spot in the body or on the follower itself, the magazine becoming compressed on the sides and jamming the follower, the follower nose diving because the magazine spring has the wrong tension, etc. With original equipment magazines or aftermarket magazines from purveyors of high quality components, encountering such difficulties should be rare, indeed.
When you first get a magazine, take a dowel rod or unsharpened pencil and depress the follower fully, letting it rise, then repeating the procedure several times. If the follower doesn’t stick, you’re probably okay. But, of course, the ultimate test is to shoot your weapon and observe how the magazine performs. If all goes smoothly and you take decent care of your magazines, even cleaning them periodically, you shouldn’t experience any difficulties.
Indeed, the ultimate reliability issue with a semi-automatic pistol concerns ammunition. Revolvers will generally function with any ammunition of the appropriate caliber. It is difficult to make them jam. Assuming no harsh field conditions, either an extremely heavy amount of powder residue is needed on the cylinder base pin – heavier than I’ve ever seen – or the primers were not seated deeply enough and they block cylinder rotation. This I have seen, but with hand loaded ammunition.
The Kimber SIS is one of the best looking .45 automatics on the planet and proof that looks don’t have to be only skin deep. The pistol is also a great shooter.
Semi-automatics, on the other hand, can be very sensitive when it comes to ammunition. A different bullet shape may alter feeding characteristics or a different powder charge may slow down or speed up the slide, thus producing anything from a “stovepipe” on the way out to a feeding jam on the way in. It is important that the ammunition which will be in the weapon when it is carried is the ammunition with which you do at least some of your practice. If, let’s say, you can get some really inexpensive ammo and you want to burn it up for practice, fine.
Just make certain that you have run enough ammo through your semi-auto of the type that will be carried on the street. The popular wisdom – and I wouldn’t dispute it – is that a minimum of two hundred failure-free rounds should be put through the weapon before carrying the weapon for defense.
A removable magazine, erroneously called a “clip” by some, even some who know better, is the ammunition delivery system for a semi-automatic pistol. They are called “automatics” because they “automatically” load the next round into the chamber in the barrel until the supply in the magazine is exhausted.
In brief, if you are a gun knowledgeable person of satisfactory adult strength, either a revolver or a semi-auto will get you through.
The final question is, however, which type is more easily concealed? Because the semi-auto is flatter and the grip doesn’t flare outward, the semi-auto wins over all revolvers except the five-shot snubby .38. Full size revolvers are rarely concealed at waist level, these days; if carried concealed at all, they are more likely going to be worn in a diagonal shoulder holster. Full-size semi-autos, on the other hand, are worn concealed at waist level by droves of concealed weapons carriers.
Earlier in this chapter, we compared the two-inch J-frame with five shots to the Detonics CombatMaster with six or seven rounds. Comparing my old six-shooter version of the Smith & Wesson Model 686 .357 Magnum to a full-size 1911 with seven round magazine plus one in the chamber, we see that both handguns are a nominal 8.75 inches long, the 686 revolver 5 inches in height while the 1911 runs about 5.25 inches. The 686, measured at the cylinder (the widest part of the revolver), goes 1.5 inches. The 1911, measured at the ejection port, is under 7/8 of an inch wide. The 686’s barrel is only 4 inches long and the 1911’s barrel is 5 inches in length.
I like a good revolver as much as the next guy – and maybe more. But in a package not much over half as wide as a revolver, I can have two more rounds, reload lots faster and still have an extra inch of barrel for enhanced cartridge performance and accuracy, all while being able to hide the gun on body more easily and more comfortably. If I shift to the slightly fatter large capacity semi-auto, regardless of manufacturer, I can have twice as many rounds as even the more modern seven-shooter revolvers.
If I were to compare capacities between a six-shot revolver loaded with light .357s or moderate .38 Specials and an ordinary Glock 17 9mm with the best possible ammo choice, the Glock would have three times the capacity and, depending on loads chosen, not identical but comparable useful oomph on the target. The facts speak for themselves.
Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the controversial tactic that allowed illegal guns to be smuggled to Mexico “should never have happened, and it must never happen again.”
In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder hit hard at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives practice that has tainted his tenure at the Justice Department and led to some Republican calls for him to resign.
“I want to be clear: Any instance of so-called ‘gun walking' is unacceptable,” Holder said of weapons smuggling, later adding: “This operation was flawed in its concept, and flawed in its execution.”
Holder acknowledged what critics have been saying about the long-term consequences of “gun walking.”
“Unfortunately we will feel its effects for years to come, as guns that were lost during this operation continue to show up at crime scenes both here and in Mexico,” Holder said. “We are losing the battle to stop the flow of illegal guns to Mexico.”
Holder defended his own actions, reminding the panel he called for the inspector general to examine the so-called Operation Fast and Furious and issued a directive that “gun-alking” was illegal and should never be repeated. The resulting report may be concluded before the end of the year.
However, Holder stopped short of laying blame for the flawed operation. Read more
During an internal technical review, Smith & Wesson determined that some of the sears used on Venture rifles produced from August 1, 2011 to October 28, 2011, may not have been manufactured to specification. Because the sear is an important part of the firing mechanism, we are asking that all of the rifles produced during this time period be returned to Smith & Wesson so that the firearm can be inspected by our technicians to ensure that the rifle operates in a safe and appropriate manner.
This recall applies only to Venture rifles manufactured from August 1, 2011 to October 28, 2011. To determine if your rifle is affected, please reference the serial number list located at the link below or by calling Smith & Wesson directly at 1-800-713-0356. If your serial number does not fall within the list of affected serial numbers, your rifle is not part of this recall.
Any unintended discharge of a firearm has the potential to cause injury, and we ask that you stop using your rifle until we have an opportunity to inspect the sear to make certain that there is no condition which will allow the rifle to fire without the trigger being pulled.
To facilitate the inspection and repair, if necessary, of your rifle sear, please contact Smith & Wesson’s customer service department to receive instructions and a prepaid return label for the return of your rifle to Smith & Wesson.
When you return your rifle to Smith & Wesson, be sure to attach the completed information card received from Smith & Wesson, so that your sear can be inspected and repaired, and returned to you as quickly and efficiently as possible. Read more
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If you enjoy fine firearms, says Ayoob, you’ll enjoy reading “American Beauty” by Tim Mullin. NM’s gorgeous finish is evident even in this “photo of a photo.”
The history of the 1911 pistol’s design and the nature of its many uses and special-purpose modifications are far too broad to be effectively addressed in a single book chapter … or, indeed, in a single book. A substantial section of a firearms library could be devoted to 1911 books by Donald Bady, Dave Lauck, Tim Mullin, James Serven, Layne Simpson, Bill Wilson, Larry Wilson, et. al. Today’s Gun Digest listing of every variation of currently produced 1911 pistol might well exceed the entire section on semiautomatic pistols in a Gun Digest of the early ‘50s.
Thus, a treatment of the topic in article length demands a specific focus, and no 1911 is more pleasing to focus on than the Colt National Match.
1911 Colt National Match Review and Pedigree
Tim Mullin’s ode to this pistol, American Beauty, states boldly, “…no finer semi-automatic handgun than the prewar Colt National Match ever left the factory, and anyone who owns one of these American Beauties holds a national treasure in his or her hand.” In terms of appearance and workmanship, few would argue with him. There are more accurate pistols today, and more user-friendly ones, but none with the pure Quality with a capital “Q” that permeates this rare and storied handgun.
Those experts who knew the pistol during its short life had good things to say about it. Said Elmer Keith, “It was fitted with target sights, a match grade barrel and carefully honed action parts. Trigger pulls were carefully adjusted. These fine pistols were marked on the left side ‘National Match Colt.’ This was and is, a very fine match .45 auto…The Super Match was a fine target sighted and selected Super .38, but is no longer made. It was brought out soon after the introduction of the National Match .45 Colt.” Actually, most NMs wore that marking on the right side of the slide.
A contemporary of Keith was Charlie Askins, who used a Colt .45 automatic along with .38 Special revolver and .22 auto by the same maker to win the national pistol championship in the 1930s. He once wrote of the National Match .45, “This is the Government Model with target sights and a target barrel, finely fitted and finished. Heretofore the targetmen fell on this gun and felt they had the best. It is believed Colt halted the production of the National Match grade simply because it was too expensive to manufacture and it could not thereafter be offered to the public at a popular price. Hand labor is a costly proposition and a good deal of highly skilled hand effort had to go into the completion of each pistol.”
A Brief History
Born as an expensive gun in the depths of the Great Depression, the finely crafted National Match sold better than expected but was never destined to be a mass-market success. The addition of the Super Match, a .38 Super with the same treatment, differing only in markings, caliber, and cartridge capacity, did little to change the inevitable.
When production ceased with the outbreak of WWII, the epoch of the Colt National Match had come to an end. While Mullin notes that a few were assembled from leftover parts after the war’s conclusion, the company chose not to make it a catalog item. However, the concept was resurrected in 1957 with the Gold Cup. The first runs were marked only “National Match” on the slide, and later “National Match Gold Cup,” and finally just “Gold Cup.”
The legendary J.H. Fitzgerald had a lot to do with the National Match. He’s seen here adjusting a 1911 at Camp Perry circa mid-1930s in Tim Mullin’s American Beauty.
According to one of the great Colt authorities, James E. Serven, “The ‘National Match’ first appeared in the 1933 Colt catalog. In all general specifications it resembled the standard 1911 model. However, Colt workmen gave these pistols very special attention. The action was hand-honed, a selected, carefully targetted [sic] match barrel was used, the trigger was checked and of course there was the ‘hump-backed’ checked arched housing.”
As Serven noted in his updated 1964 edition of Colt Firearms, “In 1957 the Colt Company resumed manufacture of a deluxe .45 automatic target pistol, naming this model the ‘Colt Gold Cup National Match.’ Working parts are hand-fitted; the pistol is meticulously made and super-accurate for championship shooting. Slack between the barrel and slide is automatically eliminated. The very wide, grooved trigger is fitted with an adjustable, spring-loaded trigger stop…Finish is Colt ‘Royal Blue’ with sandblasted areas where glare might affect aim.”
To Mullin and many other purists, only the prewar guns are the true American Beauties, the original National Match Colts of legend. Whether or not the Gold Cup generation measured up is a matter of debate among 1911 enthusiasts to this day. Serven seems to have been impressed with the Gold Cup incarnation. So was Charles M. Heard, a popular gun expert of the day, who described it in 1960 as the “Colt ‘National Match’ .45 ACP, factory accurized and custom crafted for target. Trigger pull: 4 lbs., adjustable with trigger stop. Full target sights, straight back-strap. Has all other features of Government model. REMARKS: My tests only proved this gun to be all that is claimed for it and expected of it. May be used for match target, combat, or self-defense; still the most powerful semi-auto made.”
Today, the mantle of the National Match has fallen on the shoulders of the custom houses. Dave Lauck at D&L Sports built this “LFI Special” to the author’s specifications on a new 5-inch Colt. It will stay in an inch at 25 yards, and he can’t recall its last malfunction.
The argument over the Gold Cup’s right to wear the mantle of the National Match wasn’t entirely nit-picking. While the original National Match was a true heavy duty Government Model .45 or .38 Super finely polished and blued and then fitted with match barrel and altogether slicked-up, the Gold Cup was seen as a lighter weight, lighter duty gun. Circa 1949, Remington had come up with a factory target load in .45 ACP that captured the bullseye shooters immediately: a 185-grain semi-wadcutter loaded to a mid-range velocity of only 770 foot-seconds velocity. It did not reliably cycle a Government Model pistol with its heavy-duty slide and full power recoil spring built for a 230-grain GI hardball round at 820 to 850 feet per second.
Recognizing this, Colt lightened the slide of the 1957 series National Match/Gold Cup .45s. NRA’s technical staff writer for American Rifleman, M.D. Waite, “outed” this fact in his December 1957 review of the new pistol.
Waite wrote, “Our preliminary firing tests indicated uniform functioning with both full charge and mid-range ammunition. This puzzled us a bit until we noted that the interior of the slide is cut away somewhat to reduce its weight approximately two ounces. It is thus unnecessary to change recoil springs when using factory ammunition of differing recoil potential….”
Rumors spread that this made the gun weak. It certainly did not make it inaccurate, and the Gold Cup worked as advertised. Added Waite in that seminal test of the budding Gold Cup, “When machine-rest tested at 50 yards, our gun shot possible-size groups with commercial wadcutter ammunition but did not perform quite so well with government-loaded Service ammunition.” The very top champions kept on using Government Models that had been accurized by Chow, Clark, Dinan, Giles, Shockey, and other master pistolsmiths of the period.
Adding to the Gold Cup’s bad rap for fragility were its sights. Crude by today’s standards, the Stevens National Match adjustable rear sight of the prewar years at least did not break or fly off the gun. A relatively large number of original National Match pistols had sturdy fixed sights that offered a larger sight picture than the standard service pistol, the best of these being the excellent high visibility sights manufactured by the King Gun Sight Company and for some time available on the NM pistols from the Colt factory. King made a practical sight that was adjustable for windage but not elevation.
Alas, Colt management in the latter half of the 20th century manifested some truly egregious short-sightedness and loss of institutional history. The Gold Cup generation of the National Match series was never offered with fixed sights. Instead, it came with the Elliason adjustable rear sight and an undercut Patridge front. The front sight was not properly staked and would often depart from the slide within 500 rounds of hardball, though it lasted longer with the “softball” target loads.
A contemporary ad for the Colt National Match, reproduced in the Mullin book.
The Elliason rear sight proved to be superb on the Python revolver, where Colt offered it as an extra-cost option, but it did not stand up to the rocketing slide of a 1911, particularly with full power .45 ammo. Secured with hollow pins, the Elliasons often came loose when the pins cracked.
All this was a shame, because the Gold Cup was beloved by handgunners including cops of the Sixties and Seventies who wanted a gun that would feed the jacketed hollow point ammo that was becoming popular but didn’t want to send their Government Model to a pistolsmith to throat its feedway for the high performance rounds. A Government Model or Commander of the period was “mil-spec” in that regard. It would feed fine with the 230-grain round-nose full metal jacket military cartridge (or, from its introduction in the early 1970s to this day, with the Remington 185-grain JHP whose nose duplicated the ogive of hardball), but would often balk at hollow-cavity projectiles with wider mouths. The Gold Cup, designed to feed the softball round, with its strangely shaped button nose and short overall length, was much more amenable to the hollow points once Lee Jurras’s pioneering Super Vel ammunition company got the ball rolling in that direction in the Sixties.
Unfortunately, many of the people who wanted beautifully made Colt .45 automatics with the gorgeous Royal Blue finish, which gave the deep, rich blue-black of the prewar National Match pistols a solid run for the money, wanted heavy duty fighting handguns. The Gold Cup’s reputation for fragility, to whatever degree it may or may not have been deserved, got in the way of that. By the time Colt started using the same heavy-duty slide dimensions as the Government Model, it was too late to change the Gold Cup’s image. Sales of the Gold Cup were long disappointing. Colt briefly offered the Combat Elite, in essence a Gold Cup with fixed sights but without the gorgeous finish and without the advertising it should have had, and it went by the wayside. Colt produces in dribs and drabs a pistol they call the Gold Cup Trophy today.
In everything but glassy finish, Wilson Combat CQB equals National Match in quality and exceeds it in accuracy. The author bought this one after shooting multiple one-inch 25-yard groups with it in testing.
In time, with the big resurrection of the 1911’s popularity, new manufacturers came along to fill the void. The Kimber pistols, particularly the Gold Match, and the upper lines of the Springfield Armory 1911A1s, especially the TRP (Tactical Response Pistol) with fixed sights and the Trophy Match with sturdy BoMar or equivalent adjustable sights, are today’s heirs to the National Match concept. They will not have the lustrous, captivating finish of the best Colts of yesteryear, however, though they’ll be proportionally more affordable than the NM was when Colt introduced it in 1933.
Production pistols of fine quality, like the Bill Wilson and Ed Brown lines, come closer. Perhaps most in keeping with the NM tradition are the top-line pistols from Rock River Arms and Les Baer. The latter two brands are the only out-of-the-box 1911s likely to take you to the winner’s circle today at Camp Perry without aftermarket custom work. More accurate than the Springfields or Kimbers, each can be ordered in a super-tight version that guarantees accuracy on the order of 1.5 inches at 50 yards. That’s more than the Colt National Match in any of its incarnations could offer. But even these fine pistols will not come with a finish that matches a prewar Colt National Match, or the best of the Gold Cups in Royal Blue.
The few thousand National Match pistols shipped out of Hartford in the less than a decade of their epoch also presaged the “combat custom” 1911 so popular today. The best of the current craftsmen, Mark Morris and Dave Lauck and Dick Heinie and a handful more, will give you today’s equivalent of a National Match for several thousand dollars after a considerable wait. These guns will be much more user friendly, with lighter and cleaner triggers, beveled magazine wells, beavertail grip safeties and other amenities. But, geared for heavy duty, they will come with a finish that cannot equal the beauty of that old National Match.
The Colt National Match is a timeless pistol. Here Justine Ayoob, then 19, shoots her dad’s with .45 hardball.
Shooting the National Match and Its Successors
Way back in the Fifties, Jeff Cooper said that all the Government Model really needed was a lighter, crisper trigger; throating to feed high efficiency ammo; and more visible sights. Given that hardball was about all you could buy over the counter for a .45 auto before WWII and the NM fed it just fine, the National Match pistol had anticipated the Colonel’s needs and delivered them amply when Jeff was a youngster. It is a formula that has stood the test of time.
Some say that the Gold Cup generation of National Match pistols raised the bar with its slanted slide grooves and flat top slide.
Whether these truly enhance performance is an unresolved debate, but I for one just like them esthetically. The original National Match is so rare and precious today that virtually no one actually carries or shoots one anymore. If they did, they would fit them with beavertail grip safeties and perhaps larger-profile thumb safeties (maybe even ambidextrous), and throat them for JHP ammo.
NM suffix is noted on serial number of author’s pet pistol. Signature Gold Cup style trigger was later replaced with this Videcki unit. Note slanted slide grooves, relieved ejection port, both standard on second incarnation of the National Match. This gun has the controversial light slide, not externally detectable.
The last person I knew who carried an original National Match “for real” and used it as such was Bill Allard. Bill was the partner of the NYPD Stakeout Squad’s famous Jim Cirillo, and the only man on that high-risk unit who killed more armed opponents in gunfights than Cirillo. Allard’s favorite pistol – used in more than one of those shootings – was an original Colt National Match .45 with high fixed sights, a gun he had special permission to carry on duty. He has since retired his pet National Match to the gun safe, and now, in retirement, carries a Kimber .45 auto daily.
In an early Gold Cup with the lighter slide, I’d be sparing with hardball and would use no +P ammo at all. With light loads, use a light spring; with heavy loads, use a heavy spring. The 1957 concept of one spring for both helped lead to the Gold Cup getting that reputation for fragility. With a lighter spring, the slide comes back harder and hammers the frame proportionally more.
Do not expect 1-inch groups at 25 yards or 2-inch groups at 50 unless the gun has been accurized or you’ve paid extra for a top-line Les Baer or Rock River pistol. That degree of accuracy never seems to have been present in the original National Match, and as Waite noted was not present with ball ammo in the Gold Cup. (Even the short-lived Gold Cup factory-chambered for the .38 Special wadcutter cartridge was disappointing in its accuracy, according to most testers.) My own National Match cracks the 1-inch/25 yard mark, but only because it was accurized by the USAF Marksmanship Training Unit at Lackland AFB. In conventional configuration 1911 pistols in the National Match mold made more recently (as opposed to long-slide or compensated target guns), only my custom Colts by Morris, Lauck, et. al. will deliver that magic inch.
The one exception is my Springfield TRP Operator, whose heavy extended frame with flashlight rail alters the 1911 silhouette unforgivably for the purist. It will do an inch on the nose for five shots at 25 yards with Federal Gold Medal 185 grain Match softball. The rest will do in the neighborhood of two inches at 25. For practical purposes, that’s a good neighborhood, and about where the original National Match and Gold Cup dwelt with service hardball ammo. The finest “boutique .45s” from semi-custom houses such as Ed Brown’s and Bill Wilson’s will deliver an inch at 25 yards with the best ammo, too.
Springfield Armory’s match grade guns are spiritual descendants of the National Match, author suggests. This one, in 9mm, is also an effective fight-stopper with the sort of ammo shown.
Personal Experience
Although I’ve shot original Colt National Match pistols, the only one I ever owned was a 1962 production Colt marked “National Match” and not “Gold Cup.” It had already been accurized at Lackland and fitted with BoMar sights for the Distinguished (service pistol configuration, .45 hardball) bulls-eye matches when I got it, around 1970, for $100 from a bullseye shooter who was giving up the game and wanted to get rid of his equipment. Its gorgeous Royal Blue finish was soon marred by constant presentations from concealment leather and, before long, police duty holsters.
The thumb snaps of the period did not have the cushions you see today to protect a gun’s finish from metal-to-metal drag during the draw.
This Kimber Gold Match is another spiritual heir to the National Match concept. Author shot his first Master score in IDPA CDP with this one, now in the Penny Dean collection.
It never jammed until the day (at Bianchi Cup, naturally) that its extractor gave up the ghost. I pretty much wore out the trigger and Bill Laughridge at Cylinder & Slide Shop replaced it with the much better Videcki unit. I won guns with it at Second Chance, won a police combat state championship with it, and even took my share of trophies with it in the bulls-eye days of my youth. I eventually retired it to the gun safe and ultimately gave it to my ex-wife, who was my young fiancee when I bought it. My younger daughter likes to liberate it from her mother’s gun safe and take it to the range, like giving a retired racehorse some exercise.
Over the years, the deep lustrous blue of the top-line Colt finish lost its appeal. Having ruined that finish once, I was more interested in rugged gun surfaces that didn’t wear and better resisted corrosion. By the late ‘80s I was spending more time with the new generation of National Match inspired pistols. These days, Kimbers and Springfields and “combat custom” Colts fulfill my 1911 needs, along with Ed Brown, Nighthawk, and Wilson Custom guns. I used a Kimber Gold Match to first make Master in IDPA’s single action .45 division, and shot the Springfield Trophy Match at Camp Perry one year.
Yet for me, as for anyone who appreciates handguns, the great old Colt National Match remains the piece de resistance. As a tool, this accurate yet reliable gun was the apotheosis of the powerful semiautomatic service pistol in its time, and it spawned generations of similar guns in the decades that followed. As an icon of fine craftsmanship, it deserves the “American Beauty” title Tim Mullin bestowed upon it. Colt’s Custom Shop today has the ability to resurrect this pistol in its original glory. So does the Performance Center at Smith & Wesson, who could duplicate the original NM’s old world blue-black finish that looks like liquid, on their SW1911 .45.
I really wish they would. Great beauty … unparalleled functionality in its time … that honed action that racks so smoothly, it feels like running your hand over Waterford Crystal … the Colt National Match pistol was truly one of a kind. It would find a much more receptive market if reincarnated today.
This article is an excerpt from Massad Ayoob's Greatest Handguns of the World.
Montenegro is a small mountainous country of less than a half million people. It has a tumultuous history of wars and revolutions. The nation was independent from 1868 to 1920, when it was absorbed into Yugoslavia. When Yugoslavia broke up in a bloody civil war in the 1990s, Montenegro once again opted for self-rule. It is also the only nation that ever had its name become synonymous for a type of firearm. I speak today of the Montenegrin revolver.
What is a Montenegrin revolver? Basically it is a large-frame double action revolver chambered for the 11.25x36mm cartridge. These guns were made in Austria, Belgium and Spain. Oddly, none were made in Montenegro. The reason they became associated with Montenegro is that the king of that country ordered his citizens to own these revolvers. I think this is the only case in history where a national leader ordered the general population to arm themselves with a specific firearm.
“Every male citizen of Montenegro is a member of the Militia, and therefore not only justified but also obliged to possess at least one Gasser Pattern revolver.” That proclamation was issued by King Nicolas, who ruled Montenegro from 1910-1918. The Gasser Pattern revolver he was talking about was the Austrian Gasser Model 1870 revolver. This was the issued sidearm of Austria from 1870-1878. When they were replaced by the Gasser M1878, some of the earlier 1870s were sold to Montenegro. These became very popular with the military officers.
After Nicolas was made King by the Montenegrin parliament in 1910 he tried to unite his small kingdom into a formidable foe that would strike fear in hostile neighbors like Albania or Austria. Among his many reforms was the proclamation ordering revolver ownership by the male population. It is rumored that King Nicolas held stock in the Leopold Gasser company and made a bit of money off his order. Production of the Montenegrin revolvers helped keep the Austrian arms maker in business through the end of WWI. Of course, such things were not as controversial then as they would be today.
With the huge demand for new Gasser revolvers other makers jumped in to the market. Most were in Belgium and Spain. Both nations were home to cottage gun industries that turned out all kinds of guns. Quality ran from excellent to dangerous. Some of the manufacturers deviated from the Gasser design. There were solid-frame and hinged-frame designs; long and short barrels. The things that identify a Montenegrin revolver are the huge cylinder that accommodates 11.25x36mm ammunition and the rounded handle that resembles that found on the Mauser Model 1896 “Broomhandle” pistol.
The 11.25x36mm cartridge is much longer than a .44 Magnum. It was loaded with black powder and fired a 310-grain bullet at almost 900 feet per second. It was the ‘Magnum” of the era, more powerful than contemporaries like the .45 Colt and .44 Russian. I made a dummy cartridge out of a Danish Remington rolling block cartridge, just to see what they looked like next to a .44 Magnum. I would never attempt to fire any of the Belgian or Spanish Montenegrin revolvers. I might be tempted to try a Gasser-made specimen, if it was in good condition.
The revolvers became status symbols among the Montenegrin population. The men would wear one or more hanging out of their traditional attire like some sort of early 20th Century bling-bling. The revolvers were offered with ivory or bone grips, nickel plating and engraving. The well off bought the Gasser-made guns while the common folk settled for the less costly Belgian or Spanish examples.
I recently examined a pair of the Belgian-made Montenegrin revolvers at a local gun show. Both guns were of the same design. There are no clear maker’s names, only Belgian proof marks on the cylinders. One is marked on top of the barrel “Vero Revolver Montengrino.” Both are marked “Cuss Stahl” which means cast steel. That, in my opinion, would not be the best material from which to make a firearm. Cast parts can have unseen faults that make themselves known only when the gun blows the top off a chamber or splits the barrel.
Many Montenegrin revolvers found their way to North America in the luggage of immigrants from Montenegro. They were considered an essential part of life in the old country so of course their owners took them along to the new country. Once here, the old rivals were spread out so they rarely came in contact with each other. Within a couple generations, the reasons and perceived need for the revolvers faded. And the status gained from wearing a revolver was lost in many parts of America. The revolvers ended up being given away or sold. If you look for them, you can find Montenegrin revolvers at gun shows and online. They are interesting collectibles, but don’t plan on taking them to the range.
This article appeared in the July 18, 2011 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 excellent concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
Caliber 9mm
