Every hundred years or so, Browning does something so outrageous even their competitors can’t believe it. For 2012, the A-5 recoil-operated shotgun will surely win the hearts of die-hard hunters as well as those who love and appreciate the traditional Browning lines.
Click to enlarge.
The hump is back! However, the iconic humpback-shaped receiver is the only thing this new Browning autoloader shares with its legendary namesake. Built to be the most reliable, fastest cycling, best performing and softest shooting recoil-operated (yes, recoil operated) autoloader on the planet.
Click to enlarge.
Features include:
Ultra-reliable, honed to perfection Kinematic Drive System
Vector Pro lengthened forcing cones
Click to enlarge.
The new Invector-DS choke tube system
3” chambers
26”, 28” and 30” barrels
Inflex II recoil pad
Available in wood (Hunter), synthetic (Stalker) and Mossy Oak Duck Blind and Infinity with Dura-Touch Armor Coating.
The woman’s hands were shaking, but she spoke in a calm voice as she stood outside the Far East Side apartment where 27-year-old Quentin L. Walker was shot and killed early yesterday.
“I’m the one who this happened to,” she said, identifying herself only as Ashley.
She said that Walker, her estranged boyfriend and the father of her two children, broke into her apartment in the middle of the night and came at her with a crowbar in his hand.
She shot and killed him, using the gun she’d bought this year, Ashley said. She had feared that the protection order that was supposed to keep him away from her and their 7-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter would not be enough. Read more
A used firearm can have a great deal of useful life left in it, provided it had a decent amount of care from previous owners. Glocks prices are not different in that regard. Here are the specific things to look for when you're out to buy used Glocks.
Not everyone buys new guns. A used firearm can have a great deal of useful life left in it, provided it had a decent amount of care from previous owners. Glocks prices are not different in that regard. A horribly abused Glock may not be worth much even as a parts gun. (Unless, of course, that horribly abused Glock is the only firearm you can lay hands on in the city of Dirt, Carjackistan, when the terrorists are trying to kick down your hotel room door. Then it may be literally worth its weight in gold or more.) A like-new-in-the-box used Glock may not cost much less than a brand-new Glock.
However, the durability of Glocks, and the lower percentage of their owners who experiment with them, tends to mean more Glocks survive in good shape than other firearms. Should you be offered a used Glock for sale, the main dance is settling on a price. There is hardly anything on a Glock that can’t be repaired, replaced or factory upgraded, and many of the factory upgrades are free. As a result, advice on buying used Glocks tends to be a lot less involved than that of buying other firearms.
If you drop your Glock slide, it can bend if it lands on the muzzle end extension for the recoil spring. Check this area before buying a used Glock.
What you are looking for are bargaining points on Glock pistol prices. The small ones are things that are wrong or need upgrading, things that the factory will take care of free or at little cost. A G-17 with the old trigger parts can be fixed for free by Glock, but the same repair with new parts that have been experimented on will cost you should you send them back to Smyrna.
Yes You Can: Buy Glock!
First, give the used Glock a good visual external inspection. Look to see if there are any signs of abuse, neglect and/or experimentation. External abuse would be things like the corners of the slide being chewed up and or dented from being dropped. Dropping the slide when it is off the frame can bend the recoil spring retaining tab or the relatively fragile (for a Glock) back ends of the rails in the slide. Neglect would be indicated by rust (rare) or a cracked slide from too many hot reloads (even rarer). Experimentation would be something like the slide being machined to take some other sight system than the factory one or milled for ports other than factory.
The good news is that the cracked slide might well be replaced by the factory for free or at little cost. The others? You’re on your own. Glock isn’t going to help you with a dropped slide, and the one that was machined will have a voided warranty. Don’t worry about the factory sights; Glock sights are cheap and easily replaced. At the current pricing, an armorer’s cost for a new set of sights is only $3!
Checking the Glock action. The safety plunger is blocking the firing pin.
A scarred and chewed-up frame can be cleaned up but Glock won’t replace it just because it got scraped along a curb during a fight. It will replace it, regardless of condition, if it is one of the E‑series Glocks that were made from September 2001 through May 2002.
With the permission of the owner, cycle the slide and dry fire it. Try firing it without depressing the trigger safety. It should not fire. Try pulling the trigger normally and then hold it back and cycle the slide. Does the trigger return when you subsequently release it? If not, it may be due to a broken/bent trigger spring or a “trigger job” gone awry. The parts don’t cost much, so bargain the price down as much as you can but don’t expect the owner to budge much.
The firing pin being cocked.
Disassemble and inspect the slide and barrel. Is the barrel clean? Unmarred? Look down the bore. Do you see dark rings? Those are bulges in the barrel from lodged bullets being shot free. A new barrel costs money. At the armorer’s cost, a Glock barrel runs $95 to $125, with compensated barrels running up to $140. Aftermarket Match barrels can run up to $200. If the barrel is bulged, bargain hard, for a replacement won’t be cheap.
Look at the slide, in the breech face area. Inspect the area around the firing pin slot.
The firing pin fully forward.
In a very high-mileage 9mm, fed many rounds of +P or +P+ ammo (as some police departments use), you may find the area around the firing pin slot eroded or even peened back. The erosion comes from pierced or blown primers jetting hot gases back at and through the firing pin slot. If you find those signs you should remove and check the firing pin to make sure it is in good shape. The peening comes from the high pressure setback of the primer. The wall between the breechface and the firing pin tunnel isn’t thick (it can’t be) and the repeated hammering from a steady diet of P or +P+ loads can peen it back. Yes, the Tenifer makes the slide hard, but the substrate isn’t hard or thick. If the area is made too hard by Glock, it may break. If it is too soft, it may peen. It must keep Glock engineers awake at night, worrying about it.
This article is an excerpt from the The Gun Digest Book of the Glock, 2nd Edition.
WASHINGTON – New documents obtained by CBS News show Attorney General Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial Fast and Furious operation as far back as July 2010. That directly contradicts his statement to Congress.
On May 3, 2011, Holder told a Judiciary Committee hearing, “I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”
Yet internal Justice Department documents show that at least ten months before that hearing, Holder began receiving frequent memos discussing Fast and Furious.
Since the 1980’s, the Marine Corps has used the M12 nylon pistol holster. But that design is now being replaced. According to the Marine Corps Times, “Officials say they targeted the outdated M12 holster because so many Marines were paying for modern tactical replacements.”
In the M12’s place, the Corps will now field the Blackhawks SERPA Level 2 Tactical Holster. Deliveries of new holsters “will begin in November, with 27,455 of them distributed by April, according to officials with Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. That’s one for every 9mm M9 pistol in the Marine Corps’ inventory. The pistols are typically carried in combat by officers and Marines whose jobs require them to work in confined spaces.”
That choice, though, has raised some concerns. As Marine Corps Times explained, “while the SERPA is more advanced than the M12 nylon holster it will replace, the product has been faulted by some firearm enthusiasts for what they say is a dangerous design flaw that can enable ‘trigger hooking.’
In some cases, if a shooter isn’t careful when drawing the pistol, the trigger finger can slip onto the trigger and squeeze off a round. And that has caused injuries.”
“I would think you would have the same worry regardless of what holster you are using,” said Matt Rice, a Blackhawk spokesman. “With the draw stroke that Blackhawk works on, the finger is supposed to go outside of the trigger guard and line up exactly right when the pistol comes out of the holster.”
“We do not want to take it upon ourselves to tell him,” an unnamed member of his family told Russia's Izvestia newspaper.
“It might kill him.”
A spokesman for the rifle's developer, the Izhmash plant in central Russia, told Izvestia newspaper that a new model would be ready for demonstration by the end of the year. Read more
FORT WORTH, Texas – Police said a suspected robber on the run took one look at a Fort Worth grandmother with a gun in her hand and gave himself right up.
Lake Worth police had been chasing two brothers into Fort Worth when they bailed out of their car near Interstate 30 and Hulen Street. One brother ran into a neighborhood and chose some bushes to hide behind.
He chose poorly. Cindy Irving came out of her house armed and ready with her 357 six shooter in hand.
“We were looking down towards that way and he was up underneath the bushes just hiding down on the ground,” Irving said. “We heard somebody say, ‘I give up, ma’am. I give up. The police are looking for me.’ And my son and I just stopped and we were startled.”
“’I’m gonna tell ya I’ve got a gun. It’s in your best interest not to move.’ Cause we didn’t know if he had a gun or not, you know. So he laid there and stuck his hands out and I’m callin 911,” Irving said.
Buckshot is the shotgun load people fear most. But is it appropriate for a home defense shotgun used in the interior of the home?
In interior (not mixed interior/exterior) home defense situations, buckshot and slugs are totally out of the question, unless perhaps you are using them in a .410 shotgun.
At seven yards, the Remington 8-pellet reduced recoil round puts an excellent, tight pattern on this bad guy target. Large hole in suspect's hand is from the wad. Point of aim is about right for a shotgun-definitely “minute of felon.”
In a shooting we had at my Sheriff’s Office several years ago, the offender, a man of average stature, was shot in the area of the navel square on with a Remington® 870 12-gauge pump loaded with Remington Reduced Recoil 8-pellet (yes, eight pellets – it eliminates the one stray pellet normally encountered in 00 buck shot patterns) 00 Buckshot load at a distance of about seven yards.
This load, by the way is excellent, one of the very best law enforcement loads, and one of the tightest patterning loads I have ever shot in any shotgun. It increases the safe usage of 12 gauge buckshot well out to 30 yards, and is great for headshots at seven to 10 yards, or a little further out in improved cylinder choke barrels.
Anyway all eight pellets blew through the suspect’s intestines and impacted in the dirt on the other side of him. He stopped his threatening actions but did not die. This means that if you hit an offender square on (facing you) with 00 buckshot, even with a lower velocity reduced recoil load, the pellets can and do punch right out the back, endangering others.
Remember, the load is called “buckshot” because it was originally used for killing large animals, like buck deer, and in places like India sometimes tiger. It is powerful stuff. Legendary in terms of its killing and stopping power, buckshot is the shotgun round that people fear the most.
LOADS LIKE the Remington Reduced Recoil 8-pellet round are more than capable of hostage rescue shots at seven yards and out.
Most criminals are too dense to realize that they face an equal amount of damage, maybe even more, due to shredding effect of all those little pellets from a close range load of AA Trap and Skeet as they do from the 00. However, don’t be misled. These loads can and will punch right through drywall at close range. Remember, they only spread one inch per yard, and at close range it is a lot like getting hit with a single, solid projectile.
If you have overpenetration concerns, you may want to closely examine whether a shotgun is the best weapon to choose. A lower powered handgun, which can still punch through a wall, but is only putting a single projectile at a time through it (assuming you are missing your intended target), may work out better for you, especially in an apartment where there are neighbors close at hand. Even then, you should limit your handgun ammo selection to pre-fragmented rounds like the Glaser Safety Slug or Magsafe.
For general home and property defense, where over-penetration is not a major concern, buckshot of various types and sizes is probably the best choice, not only for two-legged predators, but for large four-legged predators at close range as well. Those trap and skeet loads run out of steam pretty fast in terms of effectiveness over distance.
The law enforcement community dumped the use of #4 buckshot as a duty load and went back to 00 buck when we began finding out that #4 wasn’t giving the desired penetration. Rifled slugs are mostly to be avoided unless you need the longer range and penetration a rifled slug affords, or if you live soemwhere like Alaska, where your four legged predator problem involves large animals like bear, rather than the coyote of the Midwest.
Yep, for Alaskan defense, 3- to 3-1/2-inch magnum rifled slugs, and a six to nine round magazine capacity sounds like an ideal combination.
This article is an excerpt from Gun Digest Tactical Shotgun.
Gun Digest is the source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Readers benefit from in-depth editorial expert advice, show reviews and practical how-to instructions. With your Subscription, you’ll also learn about threats to your Second Amendment rights. Click here to begin your subscription to Gun Digest.
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Taurus .25 PLY
Newbold Targets
Double Barrel Tactical Shotguns
Gun Review: Blackheart AR-15
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Leatherwood/Hi-Lux is offering a reproduction of the long-tube style USMC scope. For lovers of vintage military arms, this is indeed exciting news. Here's a look at the Leatherwood USMC Sniper Scope.
As we reported in this blog a few months back, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) recently launched a new category of competition known as the Vintage Sniper Match. As interest in this contest gains traction, a few manufacturers are coming out of the woodwork to bring reproduction vintage military guns and gear to market, the type you can take to the range and shoot.
Now, Leatherwood/Hi-Lux is offering a reproduction of what I consider to be the most attractive of all optics — the long-tube style USMC scope. Today from Leatherwood:
One of the most recognized names in military sniping during the Vietnam conflict was Marine Corps marksman Carlos Hathcock. During his two tours, he was credited with 93 confirmed kills. The rifle he relied on for very precise long range shot placement was a Model 70 Winchester, of .30-06 caliber, topped with an 8x Unertl scope. The accompanying USMC photo shows Hathcock in Vietnam, sighting in on a distant target.
Leatherwood/Hi-Lux now offers a reproduction long-tube USMC scope for Winchester Model 70 vintage sniper rifles.
Scopes of this design, with micrometer click external adjustment, were once favored by long range precision shooters, and quite a few different scope manufacturers offered very similar models. Today, an original USMC marked scope in mint condition can sell for as much as $5,000 to $6,000. And with the current interest in shooting and competing with vintage style sniper rifles, just a working standard model scope in very good condition can still bring $2,000 or more
Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics is now adding an extremely well built 8X USMC-SNIPER model to its Wm. Malcolm line of vintage style riflescopes. Not only will this scope match the originals for extremely precise adjustment of windage and elevation, the new made scope also offers the advantages of modern lens making, with fully multi-coated lens surfaces for maximum light transmission. This scope offers the brightest, clearest, and sharpest optics ever in a riflescope of this design.
The scope will be marked with the Wm. Malcolm name over the USMC-SNIPER model designation, and each will be serial numbered – as were the original USMC models. The Marine Corps utilized this style of scope on sniper rifles during WWII and Korea, commonly relying on the old WWI vintage .30-06 Springfield Model 1903-A1. (Modified specifically for sniper use, the WWII rifle was also known as the USMC Model 1941 Sniper Rifle.) During the Vietnam conflict, some of the earlier snipers, such as Carlos Hathcock, continued to rely on the external adjustment “target scopes” the Corps had adopted during WWII.
The new Wm. Malcolm 8X USMC-SNIPER captures the look, the precision and the accuracy capable with riflescopes of this type. And at the $549 suggested retail price, it is far more affordable than a serviceable original from the 1940s, or even the 1970s when they were still in production. Like all Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Optics, the Wm. Malcolm USMC-SNIPER model comes backed with a limited lifetime warranty.
All of this is exciting news for anyone with an interest in vintage military arms. Especially nice is the fact that the scope's price tag — at $549 retail — is affordable, unlike the very rare period models floating around out there in the online auctions.
My question is, will Winchester follow suit with a reproduction heavy barrel pre-64 style Model 70?
For more information, please contact :
Hi-Lux, Inc. 3135 Kashiwa St., Torrance, CA 90505 Tel: (310)257-8142, Website: www.hi-luxoptics.com
Remington Arms Company, LLC, recently announced contracts with two West Virginia Law Enforcement agencies, with both contracts for Remington’s workhorse shotgun, the Model 870.
Remington Law Enforcement Sales was awarded a statewide term contract to supply the West Virginia State Police with Remington Model 870 Police shotguns. Police took delivery of their first order in August 2011.
The shotguns are also available to Law Enforcement Agencies across West Virginia through the state contract.
In addition, Remington Law Enforcement Sales was selected to supply the Charleston Police Department, West Virginia’s capital city, with two different versions of the Model 870 Police shotgun.
Partnering with Town Police Supply, the Remington Authorized Law Enforcement wholesaler for West Virginia, Remington will service the needs of the West Virginia Law Enforcement community for years to come.
The Model 870 was introduced in 1950, and since then has sold over 10 million units. The Model 870 Police remains the overwhelming choice of law enforcement agencies across the nation, due to the shotgun’s proven dependability and performance.
In 2009, a very popular public shooting range within the Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA), near Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, was closed over safety concerns. That left a lot of shooters without a place to shoot. Until, that is, three new, privately owned ranges opened nearby.
When the Sleepy Creek range was closed, “Initially, state officials said the shooting range would be relocated elsewhere in the WMA,” the State Journal reported. “But local business owners announced they wanted to take a shot at accommodating gun-lovers’ needs.”
“What we saw happen was that private enterprise stepped in to meet the demand,” explained Larry Hines, wildlife manager at Sleepy Creek WMA.
“Each is unique and will appeal to different clientele,” said Hines. “Now with these new ranges, we’re going to see the area continue to be a destination for sportsmen. It’s actually going to grow because these new ranges are offering all kinds of classes, services and facilities that we never could as a public range.”
In the nine or so years he's had it, Delmar Polite had never fired his .357 revolver before Monday.
A pack of jackals changed that for him, however, when they decided it'd be a good idea to smash in his front door at 2:30 a.m. and attempt to make off with his stuff.
“I was in the bed asleep,” he said. “I was scared.”
Frightened or not, Polite did what a lot of us would do. He grabbed his pistol and went downstairs to defend himself and his home. He got off a couple of rounds — Polite didn't hit a blessed thing — but managed to ward off the home invaders.
Polite called police and, when they showed up, they confiscated his gun — standard practice, nothing out of the ordinary — until they finished their investigation. Thanks to a 13-year-old misdemeanor conviction, Polite might not get his gun back at all.
Prior convictions
As records go, the one Polite accrued as a younger man isn't pristine, but it's not that bad, either.
Aiding and abetting larceny, misdemeanor (1988); misdemeanor worthless check (1991); and misdemeanor assault on a female (1998).
Three misdemeanors, three guilty pleas. Far worse people walk the streets every day.
It's the last one, the domestic-violence charge, that's hanging him up now. Under federal law, anyone convicted of anything related to domestic violence — felony or misdemeanor — isn't supposed to have a gun. Ever.
“I don't know what would have happened if I didn't have that gun,” he said. Read more
CBS News has obtained secretly recorded conversations that raise questions as to whether some evidence is being withheld in the murder of a Border Patrol agent.
The tapes were recorded approximately mid-March 2011 by the primary gun dealer cooperating with ATF in its “Fast and Furious” operation: Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Arizona. He's talking with the lead case ATF case agent Hope MacAllister.
The tapes have been turned over to Congressional investigators and the Inspector General.
As CBS News first reported last February, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly allowed thousands of weapons to “walk” onto the streets without interdiction into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels in its operation “Fast and Furious.”
The conversations refer to a third weapon recovered at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Agent: I was ordered to let guns into Mexico
Court records have previously only mentioned two weapons: Romanian WASR “AK-47 type” assault rifles. Both were allegedly sold to suspects who were under ATF's watch as part of Fast and Furious. Read more
The GSG-1911 is manufactured by German Sport Guns and imported by American Tactical Imports.
As a low-cost training option, trail companion or plinker the GSG-1911 is a reliable little pistol faithful to its big brother the .45 ACP. Scott Wagner provides a 1911 review of this affordable pistol.
It seems the latest trend these days for firearms manufacturers, licensee manufacturers, or sometimes totally independent entities is to provide realistic replicas of modern combat/tactical firearms in .22LR versions, especially since centerfire ammunition has been in short supply or so expensive that actually shooting any of it is cost prohibitive. Therefore shooters have been turning to the modern wave of “understudy” firearms to be able to have something they can actually shoot, in a realistic replica version of the gun they would really like to be shooting.
This has resulted in the introduction of some outstanding firearms that at first glance can’t be distinguished from their full power siblings. I can’t really say full size, as these are full size weapons, mimicking the weight, balance, ergonomics and handling of their full power relatives. And usually, not only is the ammunition for them much less expensive, but so are the guns themselves, being rimfire, blowback versions of the “real” thing.
Now, this has been a great thing, especially for those of us who remember the first of the .22LR “replica” (boy was that term a stretch) AR-15s from companies like ERMA. Their gun had about as much in common with a real AR-15 as the toy Mattel M16 rifle from 1969 did. This new generation of replica guns is outstanding and long overdue. But one of the best of this new breed isn’t an AR-15 or MP-5 replica. It’s a 1911, one very nicely done by German Sport Guns in (you guessed it) Germany, and imported by American Tactical Imports: the GSG-1911.
The GSG-1911 is accurate! It points like a 1911 and hits where you look.
To put it mildly, this is a great pistol for anyone seeking a .22 for whatever reason. It is a 1911 after all (albeit with a few design modifications). As such it has so much more to offer over standard .22 pistols that look like, well, standard .22 pistols, especially considering its price. Even the Ruger .22/45 — which has a grip frame designed to feel like a 1911 — isn’t a 1911.
It still clearly looks and handles like a .22 target type pistol, its grip only feels a bit like a 1911, but it certainly doesn’t look like one. The GSG-1911 IS a 1911, and as such it offers the shooters all the shooting advantages of its full power relatives without the recoil. And believe me, although they won’t admit it, there are plenty of folks out there that would like to shoot a 1911 without the noise and recoil of the .45 ACP round. So let me detail what those advantages are, particularly in terms of this particular 1911.
GSG-1911 Construction
In terms of construction, the GSG-1911 does exhibit some differences as compared to a true 1911. First, the slide of the GSG-1911 is aluminum and the frame/receiver body of the pistol is cast Zinc #Z410 (Zamak), which gives it a heft that totally absorbs the miniscule recoil of either standard or high-velocity .22LR rounds, making it an ideal gun for new shooters. While some of you may be put off by a 1911 frame that is constructed of zinc as opposed to aluminum or steel, you won’t know it is zinc by the appearance, which is a pleasant matte gray. It took me awhile to figure out what the frame was made out of. I finally emailed the factory. You won’t recognize it as Zamak, at least externally. Where you will notice the Zamak construction — if you are a 1911 aficionado — is in terms of weight distribution.
The GSG is grip heavy, enhanced by the light weight of the aluminum slide. Here’s the thing though — because of the materials used in its construction, you can purchase this pistol for about $339 retail. Sure, they could make the frame out of steel, but that would shoot the cost up by at least $200 a copy. Considering the low pressures involved with the .22LR cartridge, there shouldn’t be any significant wear and tear on the frame. The slide is marked .22LRHV but the owner’s manual advises that the gun is set to work with either standard or high-velocity rounds. For what I envision the uses of this pistol are, I would stick with HV loads when running it. The grips are nicely checkered walnut colored wood of the traditional Colt style “Double Diamond” pattern. They are held in place by flathead screws.
The extended thumb safety is ambidextrous — again a nice touch for the new left handed shooter, or a shooter who wants to use this pistol for self-defense (steady now, I will get to that part). There is a magazine safety, which, for a house defense gun, is a nice touch. In a household with young children, a round can be kept in the chamber of the gun, ready to rock with the safety on and the magazine kept in a separate location. Should the need arise the homeowner can grab the gun, slap in the magazine, and the pistol is ready to go — no need to even rack the slide, just snick the thumb safety off (from either side).
Speaking of charging the pistol and retracting the slide — and here is where I find a huge advantage for certain shooters who wish to use this pistol for self defense – the aluminum slide and lightweight recoil spring of the blowback action takes almost no effort to pull back and retract. In fact, when holstering in a tight fitting holster, you will want to make sure the slide is cocked and locked, or held in place by your thumb as you holster as it will not take a whole lot of rearward pressure to take it out of battery. This characteristic makes the GSG-1911 ideal for those with hand strength issues — the small-statured, the elderly and others.
The sights are adjustable — but not adjustable in what I would term the traditional sense. In fact, and I hate to admit this, but I had to read the directions to figure them out (not being a mechanical rocket scientist myself). The rear sight can be slid back and forth in its dovetail after loosening the set screw that holds it in place to adjust for windage.
Elevation is a different story. The pistol, along with the instruction manual and cleaning and disassembly tools, comes with two spare front sight blades of different heights to change elevation. Loosen the set screw on the front sight and slide it out of the dovetail. This is an important feature as the GSG-1911 I tested shot about 2 inches high and 2 inches right when using the 36 Grain Federal Hi Speed Hollow point ammo. Changing the blade to the tallest choice and adjusting the rear sight to the left did the trick — it was a relatively simple procedure and the pistol shot dead on. You may want to make this adjustment after you pick what will be your standard “duty” load.
Speaking of directions, keep them handy, while the GSG-1911 looks exactly like a 1911, it doesn’t take down like one, so read the directions first. Yes, it is fairly close, but there are some minor differences between it and a full power 1911. The slide release is standard size, the grip safety is of the beavertail variety and shields the web of the shooter’s hand from the skeletonized hammer and trigger. All these items are constructed of steel, along with the barrel liner. The guide rod is polymer, but so are the guide rods on Glock pistols. In my book, just about everything on this pistol makes it suitable for a wide variety of shooters. Now, let’s take a look at those who would benefit the most from owning or using a GSG-1911.
The author argues that while the .22LR is not the recommended defensive caliber, it sure beats a “clenched fist” and angry words.
Beginners
I was not the first to get to fire the GSG-1911. I took it out on a Saturday to introduce a father and his two teenage sons to the world of shooting, and the GSG-1911 seemed a great place to start. Again, let’s see, great sights (easy to explain), lightweight trigger in the four-pound range, and the excellent 1911 safety system, and, oh yeah, zero recoil, little noise and no blast. Definitely a recipe for success. Ammo was Federal’s bulk pack 36-grain high-speed copper plated hollowpoints — the main .22 load I had in stock.
Of course, it worked out exactly as I planned. The boys and their dad took to the gun like ducks to water. They handled it with aplomb and enjoyed the experience.
Using the GSG-1911 allowed them to easily transition to a Glock 17 and Wilson Combat ULC .45. But it was the GSG-1911 that taught them sight alignment, grip, and trigger management.
Defensive Shooters
Ok, most of us agree that the 1911 is an excellent, if not the very best combat pistol extant. Part of the reason for that belief is due to the .45 caliber round it was designed for. The other reason is because of all the ergonomic qualities I have been pointing to throughout this article. But the problem with a true 1911 pistol is that not everyone can handle the recoil of the .45 ACP.
Yes, I know the 1911 is available in the milder recoiling 9mm, too, but I would submit if you can’t handle a .45, then a 9mm could be a problem as well. Maybe cost is a factor. There ain’t nothing cheaper to shoot than the .22LR, right? And yes, yes, I know, the lowly .22 LR is not considered to be any sort of proper self-defense caliber, but, 10 rounds of .22LR HV HP out of a five-inch barrel sure beats a clenched fist or mean words — particularly if that fist is restricted by strength issues! Besides, the .22LR has probably accounted for more non-military/police civilian deaths than any other caliber.
Add to this the fact that the person who is standing on the business end of a determined civilian pointing a GSG-1911 at them isn’t likely to notice that the bore is “only” of .22” diameter. They will likely think something along the lines of “crap-that #@$%&+ is about to shoot me with a .45!” Let me tell you, when I get to the age where I physically have problems handling “full power” cartridges for home defense I feel that the GSG-1911 would be perfect for me. If you are to use it as a self-defense tool, pick out the hottest loads the GSG will cycle with 100 percent reliability. You might want to consider high velocity solid loads like the Remington Viper 33-grain truncated cone round for deeper penetration on human or larger animal targets.
Another area that the GSG-1911 shines is as a trail companion, at least in areas where a .22 would suffice. I have taken to carrying it in a Gould and Goodrich belt holster with thumbreak when walking the dogs in my woods, a task formerly relegated to my former duty revolver, a Model 67 Combat Masterpiece .38. I’m not likely to encounter anything larger than a dog in my area (or a coyote) and a 10-shot .22 should suffice in most any situation I would encounter. Even if I was going camping or hiking for example, in a place where a larger gun was needed for animal defense, the GSG would be nice to have along as a camp gun. Great for potting small animals or plinking with, and of course additionally available for defense.
As you can see, the GSG-1911 really does it for me. I hope I have given you some ideas for its use that you may not have thought of. I can tell you, I will be sending a check, rather than the gun, back to ATI.
The first S & W 44 Magnum with 4-inch barrel, engraved and stocked by the Gun Reblu Co., Biltmore, N. C.
The world's most potent handgun cartridge in the year 1958, its history and development, plus notes on handloading and shooting it, by the man whose dream came true!
In 1953 while at Camp Perry, Ohio, I had several long sessions with C. G. Peterson of Remington. He was very much interested when I asked him to bring out a heavy 44 Special load with my bullet at 1200 feet. He asked me to come up to the Remington plant and handload it for pressures and velocity readings. I also had several long talks with Carl Hellstrom, President of Smith & Wesson, and he also urged me to visit his plant after Camp Perry. When I finally arrived at the Remington plant, Mr. Peterson was away on vacation, but Henry Davis took me to Gail Evans, who made notes on all my work and findings and promised to take it up with Mr. Peterson as soon as he returned. They promised me nothing, except to see what could be done about a heavy factory 44 Special load.
They were afraid that the old Triple Lock, even though it had been handling my heavy loads for many years, might, in some instances, blow up. They said, and rightly, that it was made long before the days of heat treatment or magnafluxing, and some could have dangerous flaws.
After several days at Remington, I put in a week at the Smith & Wesson plant, urging them to get together with Remington in the production of a heavy factory 44 Special load with my bullet and, if necessary, make a new gun to hold it. If they were afraid of the old gun’s strength, I said a new gun could be made with a longer, recessed-head cylinder, the amount of barrel extension through the frame cut to the minimum, but with room for a gas ring.
During my last day at the Smith & Wesson plant Mr. Hellstrom told me he could build a safe gun around any heavy 44 Special load that Remington would make. I then suggested that they could lengthen the 44 Special case until it would not enter any of the older 44 Special guns, and again strongly urged them to get together with Remington and bring out a powerful 44 gun and load. I vamosed then but continued, in letters to both companies, to urge such a load and, if necessary, a gun to handle it. Actually, all this had been covered in my book, Sixguns, years before!
From the late summer of 1953 until early in 1956 I had no word from either company on what they were doing about the heavy 44. In January, 1956, Smith & Wesson phoned me one evening to tell me they had built a big 44, and that the first one finished would be sent to me! This was great news, and I learned also that Remington would ship me some of the new “44 Magnum” ammunition with 240-grain bullet at 1570 foot seconds velocity. I immediately gave General Hatcher — he was also being sent the new gun — the good news.
Well, that’s the story behind the Smith & Wesson 44 Magnum gun and the Remington 44 Magnum cartridge, and it’s all well documented. Thousands of shooters the country over, their interest spurred by my writings and the articles of others, created the demand.
Mr. Peterson and the Remington ballisticians put in a lot of hard work designing and perfecting the load, Mr. Hellstrom and his staff of gun makers likewise did endless work on the new gun. At last my dreams of thirty years are a reality. Today we have the world’s finest big sixgun and load, and my hat is off to every man in both organizations who had anything at all to do with the development. They did a wonderful job.
First the men behind the gun. Carl Hellstrom, Bill Gunn, Harold Austin, Walt Sanborn, Fred Miller, Harold Steins and many others at the Smith & Wesson plant, had their part in the production of this fine arm.
Right, Keith 250-gr. bullet cast and plated by Marked, compared with Remington factory 240-gr. gas-check bullet.
The .44 S&W Magnum
The new gun employs the heavy N frame regularly made for the 357 Magnum, 38/44 Heavy Duty, 44 Special and 45 Smith & Wessons, but this gun has all major parts made from a premium lot of special alloy steel, perfectly heat treated for greatest strength in the Smith & Wesson furnaces. The hammer and trigger are case hardened to a new high in this treatment, insuring a perfect and lasting, crisp, clean trigger pull. The heavy barrels are 6½” or 4″ in length with a wide rib and encased ejector rod. The top of frame and barrel are grooved along the rib and sandblasted to prevent glare and reflection.
All lockwork parts and bearing surfaces are honed to a mirror finish to insure a maximum smoothness, either single or double action. The hammer has a wide target spur and the trigger has a wide flare that perfectly contours the trigger finger for easy cocking and maximum contact area of finger to trigger. The trigger pull runs from three to four pounds, and is as clean and sharp as breaking glass.
The S. & W. rear sight, fully adjustable for both elevation and windage and of locking micrometer-construction, has a white-outlined rear notch of adequate width to insure a strip of light on each side of the front sight, a one-eighth inch red-insert ramp, when held at arms length. The red-insert ramp front shows up well on a black target or game in any shooting light. Stock straps are grooved to prevent slippage. Stocks, of Goncalo Alves fancy figured hardwood, are of the S. & W. Target shape and offer a filler behind the trigger guard as well as covering the front strap and the butt of the gun.
They are hand filling and the left stock is hollowed out for the right thumb. They are perfectly shaped to fit and fill the hand and distribute the recoil over as wide a surface as possible. They are also finely and attractively checkered. The big gun weighs 47 ounces empty. Main spring is the standard S. & W. long spring with compression screw in front strap. Cylinder and barrel clearance are held to a minimum, yet the gun has the smoothest possible action. Cylinder locks tight and lines up perfectly. The cylinder is a full 1.75″ long and has ample room for my 250 grain bullet reloaded in the one-eighth-inch longer 44 Magnum case, still leaving a sixteenth of an inch clearance when the bullet is crimped in the regular crimping groove.
Shooting the .44 Magnum
Left, two Remington 44 Magnum bullets found in necks of a big steer and a 1400-Ib. cow. Right, two Keith 250-gr. Markell-cast bullets (backed by 22 grs. of No. 2400 powder) taken from necks of two large cows. Skulls were completely penetrated.
The new gun is the finest target arm I have ever fired with standard 44 Special factory ammunition or a light reload with my own, or any, accurate target bullet. It holds steadier than any gun I have used on target. Double action pull for fast work is superb and for the target shooter the broad hammer spur is ideal for fast cocking in single action, timed, and rapid fire matches.
The rear end of barrel projects through the frame about 1⁄8-inch and with the long cylinder adds strength to these, the two weakest parts of a sixgun. The 6½” barrel job is ideal for the hills, for target shooting, or for hunting with a sixgun, and a perfect gun for running cougar with hounds. It gives maximum sight radius as well as maximum velocity. It is a great two-hand weapon for game shooting, as it feels muzzle heavy and hangs well on the object.
In a 4″ barrel the weight lies more in the hand and is better balanced for emergency double action shooting, hip shooting and fast aerial double action work. The four-inch job will also be the gun for the peace officer as he can stop either man or automobile, and yet it is short enough to ride high on the waist belt where it will not poke the seat of a car or chair. It will also be the faster to get into action.
External finish of the new gun is the traditional Smith & Wesson high bright blue. A new high in polish has been attained on this gun and even the edges of the trigger guard and the hinge of the crane are polished like a mirror. The ramp front sight is pinned through the rib with two pins before polishing, so that careful examination is necessary to detect the two pins. Attractively packaged in a presentation, hinged-lid case of blue leatherette, it sells at $140.00 and is worth every cent of its cost. It all adds up to a finer gun than I thought anyone would ever build.
Remington has produced the greatest and most powerful sixgun cartridge ever made. The new case is an eighth-inch longer than the 44 Special and it will not fully enter any 44 Special chamber we have so far tried, including S. & W., Colt and Great Western. The solid head case is the heaviest sixgun brass I have ever seen. There are no worthless cannelures to cause the case to stretch when fired and resized. The new case appears to be of the same length as the 357 Magnum brass. The bullet is a modification of my design, with two narrow and shallow grease grooves instead of one heavy, wide and deep grease groove, and with the case crimped down into the soft lead of the forward band, leaving a very small full caliber band in front of the case. The crimp is heavy, and so far no bullets have jumped their crimp from recoil.
The 240-grain bullet has a shorter nose than my slug, the same wide flat point, slightly larger on the flat surface. It is made of very soft lead, a necessity because it is extruded in long ropes fed to the cutting and swaging machines. The soft bullet requires a gas check cup, not only to prevent deformation of the base but to help hold the soft slug in the rifling at high velocity. The slug upsets to fill the chamber mouths perfectly and the gas check is the best I have ever seen on a bullet, being crimped into the rear grease groove. The factory bullets do not carry as much lubricant in both grooves as my original bullet does in its one grease groove. The slug mikes .431″ and the groove diameter of my gun is 429″. Pressure is high with factory loads; I would estimate it to be at least 40,000 pounds and possibly 42,000.
The gun is made to take it, and the case is made for high pressure; fired cases fall out of my gun with a tap on the extractor rod. Accuracy is high at all ranges and the gun shoots good to a half mile. Once we managed to put five out of six bullets on a rock one foot high by 18 inches long at over 500 yards (two of us paced it), shooting with both hands out of a car window, which is plenty good enough for any sixgun. They would have hit a buck deer at that range five times out of six.
At close range it shot quite small groups on targets and, like my original bullet, cut clean full-caliber holes in the paper. My first shot at game was a big Goshawk in the top of a cottonwood 100 yards away. I used both hands, rested my left arm and shoulder against a post and shot with just his head showing over the front sight. The gas check slug caught him dead center and splattered him all over.
The buck mule deer that Keith hit twice out of four shots at over 600 yards, using the S & W 44 Magnum.
Handloading the .44 Magnum
The powder charge is 22 to 22.2 grains of what looks like Hercules 2400 but may be a duPont version of this powder with similar characteristics. We removed the slugs from a few loads, opened the crimp and put the original charge back in the case with my 250-grain 44 Special bullet, cast hard by Mar-Mur Bullet Co., copper plated and sized to .429″. It seemed to shoot in the same group as the factory load but clearly indicated at least 5,000 pounds less pressure, estimated from primer comparisons. With factory bullets the primer is well flattened, the firing pin indentation is not deep or full, and the primer flows around the perimeter of the firing pin indentation slightly.
When the Keith 250-grain hard .429″ slug was fired, the firing pin indentation was deep and the primer was not flattened to anything like the extent of the factory load. This clearly shows the value of one to 16 tin and lead, or harder bullets, when reloading this cartridge.
We also reloaded the fired factory cases with 22 grains No. 2400 and my 250-grain solid and 235-grain hollow base and hollow point bullets, getting, at an estimate, at least 5,000 pounds less pressure. This is a good way to leave it. Let the factory, with their pressure guns and precision instruments for managing heavy pressures, use the high pressure load. I’m well satisfied with either the factory load or my hand load, which develops far less pressure. It is on the safe side, yet a load substantially as powerful. It penetrates even better in beef, perhaps because it is harder, and gives equal accuracy.
The new 44 Magnum S. & W. does not group all loads of the same bullet weight to the same point as do many 44 Special guns. The new Magnum lighter loads print high and right at 1 o’clock; my heavy 44 Special loads a bit lower and nearer center; 20 grains No. 2400 with the Keith 250-grain slug in the Magnum case, just out of the black at 7 o’clock, while the full hand load of 22 grains 2400 and Keith 250-grain bullet print low and left at 7 o’clock. We settled for the full reload and the factory Remington (as both shoot to the same sighting) and sighted the gun for them. The target shooter wishing to use factory 44 Specials will have to sight for that load and change his sights when using the factory Magnum 44 load. Each load made small groups at all ranges tried. I have fired the big gun at least 600 times, both hand loads and factory hulls.
The factory bullet is soft enough to expand readily on impact with flesh and acts just like a soft nosed bullet from a 45–70 or 38–55. With my hollow point 235-grain bullet and 22 grains of No. 2400 expansion is even more rapid than with the factory bullet. It disintegrates on large bones and explodes jack rabbits, chucks, torn cats and similar vermin. The tests prove beyond any doubt that the 44 Magnum factory load will penetrate to the brain of the largest bear on earth or the biggest elk or moose if directed right. It will stop any mad cow or bull on the range with one well-placed shot if the cowpoke gets wound up and has to kill a critter. The fisherman or camera hunter, working the Alaskan streams, now has a gun for protection against a suddenly surprised Brownie with which he can stop the animal if he uses his head and shoots for the brain or spine. The prospector can kill all the meat he needs with this gun and factory loads or my heavy reloads.
Remington 44 Magnum, an unfired bullet, and two fired and expanded bullets.
22 grains No. 2400 and Keilh 250-grain bullet and also factory loads were tried on car bodies, old cook stoves and motor blocks. They’ll penetrate a lot of car body material and even get through the heavier steel braces. Each load cracks up motor heads and will penetrate the block and ruin a piston. One shot through a radiator un-corks it and these big heavy slugs placed almost anywhere on a motor will put it out of commission. The peace officer can stop a car with it, or stop the criminal in it by shooting through the body of the car. I only asked for a duplication of my old time tried 44 Special heavy load with 18.5 grains 2400 and the 250-grain Keith bullet, but the boys went me one better by producing a load that is even more powerful!
The big gun is, I would say, pleasant to shoot, and does not jar the hand as much as do my heavy 44 Special loads from the much lighter 4″-barrel 44 Special S. & W. guns. It is definitely not a ladies’ gun but I have known women who would enjoy shooting it. The recoil has not bothered me in the slightest, nor have several other old sixgun men complained who have fired it extensively, including Hank Benson and Don Martin. The recoil is not as severe as that of a two-inch airweight Chiefs’ Special with high speed 38 Specials. With 44 Special factory loads it is just as pleasant to shoot as a K-22 and with the 44 Magnum loads, which give heaviest recoil, it will not bother a seasoned sixgun man at all. Recoil with my heaviest loads of 22 grains of 2400 and the Keith 250 grain bullet is much less than that of the factory load. The factory load, fired with one hand, flips the barrel up almost to the vertical.
Factory load velocity is claimed to be 1570 feet with 1,314 pounds energy as against 1450 feet velocity and 690 pounds energy for the 357 Magnum factory load. We are a bit skeptical about the claimed 1570 feet velocity. Our own estimate would be somewhere nearer 1400 feet. We base this on a lot of reloading for the 44 Special with 18.5 grains 2400 which gave the Keith 250-grain slug something over 1200 feet from 6½ barrels. Pressure of the factory load is high, make no mistake on that score. Don’t rechamber any 44 Special cylinder to take the big load. Cylinders, as well as guns, should be made especially for this load, and I certainly won’t convert any of my 44 Specials to take the 44 Remington Magnum. A Model 1892 Winchester carbine, however, built to handle this load would make an excellent companion gun, especially useful to the peace officer, or to anyone in the back country.
The Remington 44 Magnum is the best case to reload I’ve seen. With the Keith 250 grain slug cast one to 16 tin and lead and sized exact groove diameter, to cut down pressures, the cartridge gives wonderful accuracy with 5 grains of Bullseye and would shoot accurately with even less of this fast powder. With 8½ grains of Unique it makes a fine medium load of around 1,000 feet or more; with 20 grains of 2400 one gets a good fairly heavy load about equal to my old 44 Special heavy load. If you don’t reload you can always buy a box of Remington factory loads and be sure of getting the most powerful and perfect sixgun ammunition ever made anywhere.
I’ve killed enough beef animals with an 85-pound yew bow, and broadheads that went entirely through the beasts, to know that an arrow gives a slow, painful death with no shock. Now we have a sixgun and load that is infinitely better in every respect as a big game weapon than any bow ever drawn. It kills two-year old steers too dead. They do not bleed well after being hit in the brain with the factory 44 Magnum load. One big porcupine, shot about dead center from the side, was killed instantly leaving a two-inch exit hole on the far side. This gun and load will kill deer just as dead as a 30-30, up to at least 100 yards, if well placed, and the big slug will leave a better blood trail, as it is so soft it expands on contact and continues to expand as it penetrates. Velocity is high enough to carry considerable shock to any animal.
Friends who returned from Korea, after fighting through that unpleasant affair, tell me that they encountered many enemy soldiers with body armor which our 45 auto ammo would not penetrate. The 44 Magnum loads go through quarter-inch dump truck beds like cheese and would penetrate any body armor a soldier would be likely to carry. Loaded with a full metal-jacketed bullet for military use, it would take care of any useful body armor.
After a lifetime of working with all manner of sixguns and loads, answering thousands of letters about them, and the writing of two books on the subject, as well as a great many magazine articles, I consider the 44 Remington Magnum Cartridge and the great Smith & Wesson gun that chambers it the greatest sixgun development of our time! I am happy to have had even a small part in its development.
This article originally appeared in the 1958 edition of Gun Digest.
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