Most of the firearms from a rather historic collection were recently stolen from the National Guard Armory in Mankato, Minnesota. Burglars apparently broke into the building through a window, at night, and made off with many of the collection’s rifles and handguns located in display cases in the building’s lobby.
As the Mankato Free Press reported, “Roughly two dozen rifles and about 70 handguns are missing, said Maj. Darrin Janisch, who works at the armory. Some of the rifles were left behind by the burglar or burglars. Most of the handguns were gone.”
“The guns that were stolen were donated to the Blue Earth County Library by Lawrence Will, a Mapleton gun collector, during the 1970s,” the Free Press added. “One stipulation of the donation was that the guns remain on display. That display became controversial so, after the armory was built, the guns were moved there in 2003. They were displayed in several cabinets.”
“It was a general firearms collection,” said Alvin Olson, a friend of Will’s son and a former Mapleton police chief. “There was everything there from cap and ball single-shot handguns to modern guns up into the 1940s and 50s….Some of the stuff was given to him by returning World War II vets.”
“As far as we know, nothing else was taken,” said Major Paul Rickert, a National Guard public affairs officer in St. Paul. “No National Guard weapons were taken. It would have been much more difficult to get any Army weapons. They’re in a locked steel vault that’s not on display.”
Police were still going through inventory records to determine exactly which firearms were stolen.
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The caption on the lower right photo reads, "A Pacific-Theatre GI inspects a thatched shelter, 1911A1 in hand. Note that the safety is off, and his finger is on the trigger."
Wearing the hats of musician, radio engineer and pilot afforded my dad many adventures throughout the South Pacific of WWII. These inspired memorable stories he brought back home — stories I wouldn't come to appreciate until many years later.
He was a good representative of The Greatest Generation — a gentleman and a tinkerer, someone who could string a wire across the basement ceiling and talk to other people who knew how to do the same thing half way around the world. This generation knew how things worked; they had real ingenuity. They built things to last. It was the generation that spawned the 1911.
One time, I joked to a friend of mine, that if an alien race were to visit our planet after a nuclear holocaust, they'd conclude that life must have ended sometime around 1945. That's because the only things left would be Royal typewriters and a few charred airframes from B-17s. They might find a 1911 frame, or an M1 Garand action. I was exaggerating to make a point of course, but like I said, they did know how to build things to last.
Dad's main job on Okinawa was flying transport from island to island under General MacArthur's 5th Air Force. He later told me the C-47 was his favorite plane to fly, and that his cargo included everything from supply shipments to the one-and-only Bob Hope — a real highlight only to be topped later by an opportunity to fly MacArthur himself on his historic flight into post-surrender Japan. Actually, the twin-engine Dakota would later be credited as one of the top four essential developments that lead to the Allied victory; without it the troops simply would not have been supplied (or entertained!).
There were three things that brought a measure of comfort to Flight Officer Graff: A parachute, a second engine, and a loaded 1911 on the hip. The second engine came in handy one time when carburetor icing cut the other engine out over open ocean. The 1911 was for the Japs if the second engine failed.
That brings me to my point. Have you ever heard a song that triggers a sudden and unexpected rush of emotions or memories from the past? If you have, then you can understand my affection for the 1911. I get the same feelings when I hear that distinctive sound of big band jazz, or visit an airshow and feel the low drone of two Pratt & Whitney Wasps pulling a Gooney Bird skyward. It happens when I lay my eyes on the 1911, too. That's why I so enjoyed reading Chapter 7 of Patrick Sweeney's new book, 1911: The First 100 Years. The chapter is entitled simply, “WWII.”
1911: The First 100 Years, can be ordered at GunDigestStore.com. The book, like the pistol itself, is solidly built with an attractive hard cover.
I started reading the book to learn more about the 1911, and finished thinking about my dad. Great guns will do that to you. And much to my pleasant surprise, it turns out the author's own father was there too:
The 1911A1 was issued to radio operators, machinegun teams, and officers. It was the obvious badge of office for those in charge, at least at the front. At the end of the war, my father’s commander, Lt. Campbell, had to go back to headquarters for a short while. He took off his holstered 1911, wrapped the web belt around it, and handed it to my Dad. That was the clear indicator, to anyone who had a doubt, that Sergeant Sweeney was in charge until the lieutenant got back.
For some reason, Dad never brought his 1911 back from the war. Maybe that was because he wasn't allowed to, or just wanted to bid everything about the military life a goodbye and good riddance. It was a good thing for me that he was a better pilot than a shot, because he admitted to having trouble “hitting the broad side of a barn” with the thing, especially during the one handed drills. Yet, “If you want a fine handgun you can't beat a Colt 1911,” he'd say.
And with that sentiment I say Amen, and pass the ammo, Dad.
Probably the least-collected pre-'64 Winchester shotgun is the Model 1911 Self Loader, also known affectionately as the Widowmaker.
For those of you who came in late, the M1911 was Winchester's attempt to knock off the Browning Auto-5. When John Browning and Winchester couldn't come to terms on Browning's new autoloading shotgun — Winchester refused to pay Browning royalties and didn't want to cannibalize sales of its Model 1897 pump shotgun, anyway — the great John B took the new design to Belgium, where Fabrique Nationale made it a worldwide best-seller. Unfortunately for Winchester, most of the patents involved in the Auto-5 had been registered in John Browning's name, so Winchester couldn't do more than produce a loose facsimile of Browning's gun.
Which is exactly what the Model 1911 is. Winchester had turned to Thomas C. Johnson, designer of Winchester's “Self Loading” line of rifles (Models 1903, 1905, 1907 and 1910) and said, “Build us an Auto-5.” The trouble was that Winchester's own lawyers had so tied up the Auto-5 with patents, which were now assigned to Browning, that just about the only features Johnson could borrow were the Auto-5's long-recoil operation and kinda-sorta humpbacked profile.
Browning's patents even covered the cocking handle on the bolt! So Johnson designed the M1911 to be cocked — now, get this — by one's grabbing the barrel and jerking it sharply backward. A short section of the barrel near the muzzle was even knurled to provide a sure grip.
If this sounds awkward to you, you're right. Most long-recoil shotguns, the M1911 included, contain a rather large recoil spring to push the barrel back into battery after a shell is fired. Cocking the M1911 involves compressing this spring, and it ain't easy. Common practice in the old days was to rest the gun's butt on the ground and use both hands to cock the barrel using a downward motion. This left you momentarily looking down the barrel of a loaded, cocked 12-gauge shotgun. Hence the “Widowmaker” nickname.
It gets worse. The rear of the M1911's receiver contains a cushion-type barrel buffer that's supposed to soften the wham-bam of the recoiling barrel. On most of these guns, however, the buffer is about as cushiony as a cast-iron doughnut, and the gun will kick you hard enough to leave a mark with anything but the lightest field loads. In the accompanying video showing what it's like to fire the 1911, I'm shooting Brenneke 2-3/4″ standard rifled slugs and as you can tell, recoil is stout.
As bizarre as it is, the M1911 can still get the job done, but give me a real A-5, a Remington M11 or a Savage 745 any day. By the way, our good friend John Malloy has written a nice introduction to the Widowmaker for the 2011 edition of Gun Digest.
And let's all try not to make any new widows, okay?
Handloading has taken on a life of its own. In our modern world we now have more and better factory ammunition available to the shooter than ever before; at the same time more shooters are turning to making their own ammunition than any other time since World War II.
The reasons are many; economics, personal satisfaction and performance are the big three. I started handloading in 1970 as a way to cheaply shoot more and it grew from there to a pursuit of better performance in my own guns. As time passed I picked up rifles that were chambered for cartridges that no longer were manufactured, breathing life into some fine old guns that without handloading would have never seen the field again. I suspect many of you reading this have similar stories.
The pace of technology has picked up to the point where it is almost impossible to keep up with the innovations in ammunition and components. Take bullets for example: when I started handloading there were (not counting cast lead slugs or products from ammunition companies that offered a limited number of their bullets for sale) four major manufacturers of component bullets in this country and a handful of small, private bullet makers.
The bullet choices before the shooter in those days boiled down to 1) spitzer; 2) round nose; 3) partition and 4) varmint and the handloader had to “make do” with what was available. In a classic example of demand driving supply, we now have a vast array of component bullets, whose technological advances have given us velocity-specific projectiles for an array of shooting from precision target and varmint applications to game of all sizes.
Lead, long the core material of choice for bullets, has now been challenged by other alloys or combinations of alloys to give us a nearly infinite choice in projectile types and applications. Instead of having, as we did in the old days, a “deer” bullet, we now have a choice of coated, boat tail, hollow point, solid copper, interlock, premium, fusion, bonded, hot core, high, medium and low velocity, polymer tipped, bronze tipped, silver tipped; the list goes on and on. Wonderfully confusing, I admit, but wonderful none the less.
The rebirth of short, fat cartridges and mega-capacity magnum chamberings has fed the fire. Powders are being used now in ammunition manufacture that can produce higher velocity and lower pressure than what we have assumed would always be the standard in cases of like capacity. In my experience the release to the public of these new powder innovations has been slow, not that our standby and well know powder types are inadequate, but I think we all would like to experiment with some of these new propellants that are making some factory ammunition “better than ever”.
We all have been worried about the prices of components and their availability; not too long ago we suffered through a shortage on primers, cases and powders of certain types and whether these shortages were real or manufactured remains to be seen. With the current political situation that began in November of 2008 many people that had before never dreamed of owning a firearm became gun owners and many shooters that had never considered handloading got into the program.
These are good things from my point of view; even with all the other insanity that has come out of Washington since the last presidential election I really don’t believe that those in power would now dare to make a serious effort to tear down our firearms rights, given the recent court decisions on the second amendment and the attention 100 million firearms owners could bring to political campaigns. However, vigilance is the key to freedom and we all need to keep an eye on the politicians, who seem to want to do stupid things when they get bored.
Little changes in manufacturing regulation can have big impacts on our pastime and thank heaven for the NRA, the NSSF, the GOA and other groups for keeping an eye on things in Washington. If you are into shooting and handloading then you need to get engaged in the political process; never in our history has our involvement been more important.
Deer season means it’s time to load a few favorite cartridges. What will this year’s lethal load be for you?
Today we’re going to hit some of my favorite loads for deer rifles. Please, assume the loads listed are MAXIMUM and remember to start your experimentation below the loads listed on the following page, they were safe in my rifles but since we have no control over your loading technique we can assume no liability for your handloading.
I have not listed loads for several calibers that I have used for deer, simply because they are “specialty” loads, that is, loads for calibers I carry in guns that are capable of double duty for small game and deer if the shooter is up to it, meaning the loads/rifles must be used only in exceptional circumstances when certain shots at certain ranges present themselves. I am not going to recommend that the average shooter use the .38 Special as a deer round, but I know that if I’m using my low-wall during deer season trying to get a few squirrels for the pot and a deer gives me the right shot at the right range, I have no qualms about using the caliber on it. I’ve seen me do it.
Likewise, the load listed for the .45/70 will work in most any replica or original gun, it is very mild pressure-wise, and will prove to any reasonable shooter that it is adequate for any deer up to 100 yards with the right placement of the shot. Adequate, indeed, for just about anything that walks the earth if the shooter is cool and takes the proper shot; no, it would not be my first choice for grizzly, but if pressed I believe it would kill the biggest one on earth at close range with the bullet in the right spot.
There are other .45/70 loads for more modern rifles at more than twice the pressure of the one listed but I know that this load will kill any deer with a reasonable hit under 100 yards every time. If you don’t think it powerful enough, try shooting it at a target on a six-inch by six-inch treated wood post or the telephone pole of your choice; I don’t think there walks a deer that can stop it!
We can argue all day about what is the best deer caliber and my feelings have always been that the best deer caliber is the one you can shoot with confidence, loaded with a bullet made for deer at the velocity of your round at the range of your shot.
High-velocity, rapid or controlled expansion, pointed, flat, round nose, big diameter or small, none of it matters a bit if the bullet does not go into the right spot. Our choice of caliber and bullet should be circumstance-driven; for the youngster, under 100 yards (remember that over 90 percent of all deer are killed under 100 yards) a shootable round like the .30/30, .357 or .44 Magnums, .243, 6mm, 7×57, .260 Remington or 7-08 will do fine, if the kid can place the bullet with confidence.
The best bullet for your gun is the one that shoots accurately and otherwise does what you want it to do.
With so many projectiles available in so many shapes and sizes, how do you find the one that's best? It depends on your intended reloading and shooting application.
Most guns of today are standardized in terms of bore diameter and rifling characteristics. If you are dealing with a knowledgeable reloading supplies dealer, a simple request for “some hunting bullets for my 30-30″ will probably get you what you want. Unfortunately there are dealers who are not very knowledgeable and a few who are mainly interested in unloading what they have in stock. “Caveat emptor” is still the safest position to take.
This section refers to getting the “best” bullet. The first thing you should have in mind when you go to buy bullets is a clear idea of what “best” means for your intended use. For any gun the first consideration for any use should be accuracy. Whether it’s for target or game, an inaccurate bullet is worthless.
The quickest and easiest rule of thumb when it comes to buying bullets is to get what duplicates the factory loading. If you want ammunition for special purposes, which most handloaders eventually will, then you will have to do a little research like reading this book. Old guns and those of foreign extraction can often be confusing in regard to what their bore and groove size actually is. The best information collected over the past century indicates that the most accurate bullet is the one that fits the groove diameter of the barrel exactly. In the final analysis this is determined by slugging the bore of your gun and measuring the slug with a micrometer or vernier caliper and getting bullets that fit.
Proper diameter bullets can most easily be determined by reading the information on the box they come in or by measurement, if you are buying bullets in a plastic bag from someone you don’t know. This can be a little confusing. For instance, 22 caliber bullets for the early 22 Hornet rifles were properly .223″ diameter. The modern ones are .224″. And the 223 Remington (5.56mm) is .224″ diameter, not .223″!
Good loading manuals usually give warnings regarding groove diameters in the data they provide for foreign and early rifles if there is a considerable variation in these within a particular type of rifle. My Lyman manual indicates that groove diameters on the 303 British military rifles vary from .309″ to .317″! Put too fat a bullet in one of the tight ones along with plenty of powder and you can create a dangerous pressure situation in addition to inaccurate shooting. The 303 Enfield, if loaded properly, is a fine, accurate rifle, capable of turning in some excellent groups.
Most bullets are packed 100 to a sturdy box, with the diameter, weight and style of bullet-flat-point, hollowpoint, etc. – marked on the box.
BULLET LENGTH AND RIFLING CHARACTERISTICS
Beyond the question of bullet diameter there is the matter of bullet length and the relationship of bullet length to the rifling twist in the barrel and how this affects accuracy. Bullets aren’t identified by length, but by weight when they are sold. All other things being equal, heavier bullets of a given diameter are longer.
One way to find out which bullets will work best in your gun is trial and error. Another way is to limit yourself to the recommendations in loading manuals. These are basically guidelines and performance for the caliber of your gun and may or may not be satisfactory to you. Beyond this there are some basic calculations which may save you a lot of time and expense on bullets that don’t work.
Therefore, a second thing you should know about the barrel of the gun you will be loading for, beyond its groove diameter, is the rate of the rifling twist. This can be found in loading manuals for a great many standard guns, certainly for the test guns used to prepare the data. This figure will be expressed, for example, as “Twist 1-10″.” This indicates that the rifling spiral makes one complete turn in ten inches. Different lengths of bullets require different rifling twists to shoot to their best advantage. If the match between bullet length and rifling is too far off, bullets may fail to stabilize and tumble in flight on the one hand or be so over stabilized they will actually break apart in flight on the other.
If there is any doubt in your mind about the twist rate of your gun, determining this is simplicity itself, at least with a rifle length barrel. With handguns, you will have to interpolate as best you can. Stand the rifle against a plain vertical surface such as a wall or door. Place a good tight patch on your cleaning rod — one that does not have a ball bearing in the handle. Once the patch is started, mark the handle and beside it make a mark on the vertical surface. Push the rod down the barrel, allowing the handle to turn freely. Make a second mark at the point where the handle has made one complete rotation. Measure the distance between the top and bottom marks and you know the twist rate to a very close degree, although there will always be a slight amount of slippage.
As a rule of thumb, longer bullets of a given caliber require a faster twist to stabilize them to the point where they shoot accurately than shorter bullets. This is true without regard to weight or velocity. The familiar 22 Long Rifle shoots best in a 1-16″ twist barrel. This holds true for 40 grain target loadings as well as 30 grain hyper-velocity hollow point hunting bullets.
These are always made to be close to the 40 grain LR bullet’s length. The stubby, 30 grain 22 Short does best in a 1-20″ twist barrel. It will stabilize in a 1-16″ barrel, but accuracy is not good. Rifles marked “22 Short, Long, or Long Rifle” are actually bored for the Long Rifle or occasionally with a compromise twist of 1-v17″, which may slightly improve the accuracy of the Short, without adversely affecting the accuracy of the Long Rifle.
Once you know the twist of your gun you can calculate which bullets will likely perform best and save money by not buying those that won’t.
If you have any doubt about the caliber of bullets you are buying, check them with an accurate caliper and/or micrometer.
THE GREENHILL FORMULA
There are some elaborate computer programs to calculate bullet length to rifling twist, but there is a very simple method that works with a pocket calculator or even paper and pencil — The Greenhill Formula. The Greenhill formula for determining twist rates was the work of Sir Alfred George Greenhill, a mathematics professor at Cambridge University who later served as an instructor at the Woolrich Military Academy from 1876 to 1906. Greenhill discovered that the optimum twist rate for a bullet is determined by dividing 150 by the length of the bullet in calibers (100ths of an inch).
The number 150 is a good choice since it allows a useful margin in the calculations. Most twist rates that are close to the formulated ideal will usually work well. The beauty of this formula is that it works very well for lead or jacketed bullets. Weight does not appear to be a critical factor. Shape and design do not seem to have that much effect either up to velocities of 2200 fps and to a degree, above this. To compensate for increased rotational speed at velocities over 3000 fps some authorities recommend a slightly reduced twist rate. Although velocity does not appear to be considered within this formula, it is included in the rotation segment in a concealed form.
Assume a 1-12″ barrel firing a bullet at 1000 fps. This equals 1000 rotations per second. At 2000 fps the rotations per second double. Higher velocity yields a faster spin and is thus considered in the calculations, although it is not specifically mentioned. The most recent interpretations of Greenhill opt for a slightly faster twist with the higher velocity cartridges in the belief that erring on the side of over-stabilization is better than under-stabilization that may result in a tumbling bullet.
The popular 223 Remington is a good candidate for study. Rifles for this cartridge are currently available with the following twist rates — 1-7″, 1-8.5″, 1-9″, 1-10″, 1-12″ and 1-14″. To apply the Greenhill Formula using the original 55 grain bullet yields the following, for one brand of full metal jacket (FMJ) military type bullet measuring .647″ in length. The bullet diameter is .224″, which divided into the length of .647″ gives 2.89 calibers long. Dividing 2.89 into 150 yields a figure of 51.90 or an ideal twist rate of one turn in 51.90 calibers. Multiply 51.90 by the bullet diameter (.224″) equals one turn in 11.63″ for this particular bullet.
The original twist for the 223 caliber M-16 rifle is 1-12″. In its wisdom (?) the Army decided a heavier (longer) bullet was necessary and the M-16A1 is bored with a 1-10″ twist. The new military bullet will not stabilize in the 1-12″ barrels. Bullets as heavy as 70 grains are available for the .223 Remington. For a 70 grain bullet measuring .785″ in length, .785 ÷ .224 = 3.50. 150 ÷ 3.50 = 42.86 or one turn in 42.86 calibers. 42.86 X .224 (i.e., the bullet caliber) = 9.60.
Thus a twist of 1-9″ or 1-10″ is required to shoot this bullet accurately, while a 1-12″ will not stabilize it and as for a 1-14″, forget it. There are other factors involved, such as the amount of bearing surface on the bullet, velocity and barrel length. In some cases bullets that are not well matched to twist rate can be made to function. For example, a short, 40 or 45 grain bullet, in a 223 with a fast twist of 1-9″ or 1-10″, will perform, if the powder charge is cut back. By decreasing the velocity, you can keep the bullet from tearing itself apart. This might be called a limited success, since in the manner of the .22 Short in the 22 Long Rifle barrel, accuracy will likely suffer.
Applying the Greenhill formula can save time and money not spent on ammunition that won’t shoot well. It can serve as a useful guide when it comes to buying a gun or having one custom barreled if you know in advance what kind of shooting you will be doing and thus what kind of bullets you will use.
Bullets for the 22 centerfire (from left): 55-, 60-, 63- and 70-grain. They look very alike and can be easily mixed up, which is why unloaded bullets should always be returned to the original container after you are through loading ammunition. The 70-grain bullet will not work well in slow-twist (1:14-inch) barrels.
RIFLE BULLETS
Military surplus and military overrun bullets may be a terrific bargain if all you want is some cheap practice ammunition. Military bullets suitable for practice are of the full metal jacketed variety. They feature a solid lead alloy core with a copper, bronze or soft steel jacket and are referred to as “ball” ammunition. These bullets are made to military specifications and will produce reasonably good accuracy for preliminary sighting in and practice. The full metal jacket prevents nose expansion and is not good for hunting.
Occasionally shooters have tried to make hunting ammunition out of FMJ bullets by filing the points off of the spitzer (pointed) military bullets, exposing the lead cores. This is a dangerous practice since the bullet already has the lead core exposed at the base. Opening the point often results in the core being blown right through the jacket leaving the jacket stuck in the barrel. When the next shot hits the jacket, the barrel is bulged and ruined. Don’t try to modify FMJ bullets! Because of bullet-to-bullet weight variation, military ammunition will never produce fine accuracy.
In a worst-case scenario, such a “bargain” could turn out to be tracer, incendiary, explosive or armor piercing bullets. Most military ammunition is identified by the color of the lacquer on the tip and in the case of the tracer, by exposed burning material at the base of the bullet. There are various books on military ammunition that will tell you how to interpret these colored-lacquer codes on a country-by-country basis.
Surplus armor piercing ammunition has been used for years as cheap practice fodder, mainly in military rifles. Philip Sharpe in his book The Complete Guide to Handloading responded to the question of whether this did any harm to rifle barrels by conducting an experiment wherein he took a “gilt-edged” match rifle barrel, targeted it with match target ammunition, then fired a few rounds of armor piercing then targeted it again with the same match ammunition, carefully cleaning between groups.
His finding was that after the AP rounds, the match group had opened considerably and in spite of further cleaning did not repeat its former performance. This was with the AP ammunition of WWII, not the so called “light armor” piercing, steel-core ammunition sold today which has a far softer steel center. Would I put this newer kind through the barrel of a fine match rifle I owned? I don’t think so, at least not until someone else tests it in his match barrel first. Would I use it in a $150 AK or SKS? Sure.
Match ammunition is full-metal jacketed and of a reduced-base “boattail” design. This type of bullet has good aerodynamic qualities producing a flat trajectory which is very desirable for hitting targets at long range. Often these match bullets have a small hollow point to shift the center of gravity slightly back and improve stabilization.
Match bullets often have very thin jackets and are “soft swaged” to keep these jackets smooth, flawless and of the exact same thickness. Great care is taken to ensure that these bullets are of the exact same weight and diameter. Since this type of bullet is used for punching paper targets or knocking down metal silhouettes, expansion is not needed. Even though these bullets have hollow points they are not intended to expand on game and they do not. They are very prone to ricochet and are not suitable for hunting.
Match ammunition usually features a hollowpoint design and often a boattail. While these are very accurate, they are unreliable when it comes to expanding on game or varmint animals and often ricochet rather than break up when they hit the ground.
Bullets for varmint hunting are either flat-base or boattail and feature a tapered or spire point with the lead core exposed and swaged into a point. The jackets are thin, allowing these bullets to expand rapidly with an explosive force on woodchucks, prairie dogs and similar-sized, thin-skinned animals. This design also keeps these bullets from ricocheting when they strike the ground at velocities near 2000 fps. Because of their frangibility, varmint bullets are not suitable for large game.
Bullets for medium to large game require thicker jackets to keep them together while they penetrate deep into vital areas. They are designed for controlled expansion allowing the bullet to upset or “mushroom” as it goes deeper, making a larger hole which renders it far more lethal than a non-expanding type or a frangible one that breaks into fragments shortly after it strikes a body.
In medical terms, “lethality” is the effect of a particular bullet on a body. According to Dr. Martin Fackler — the leading wound ballistics expert in the country — bullet lethality is an easily understood concept. Lethality is determined by answering two questions: How big is the hole it produces? How deep is this hole? Bigger and deeper holes are more likely to intersect with vital organs, cause greater loss of blood, and result in death.
Game bullets are generally of a pointed-soft-point design — known as spitzer or semi-spitzer. These hold their velocity much better than less aerodynamic designs. Also available are large-hollow-point, flat-nose or round-nose designs with the lead core exposed. Attempts at improving expansion have been tried by varying the thickness of the jacket and by making cuts or skives in the jacket at the bullet nose to enable the jacket to split open and peel back in an even pattern as the core upsets. Other modifications are hollow points filled with hollow copper tubes, metal or nylon plugs which are driven back on impact, expanding the bullet.
Bullets for very large, dangerous game are subject to special requirements, since they often have to penetrate a considerable amount of muscle tissue and often heavy bone to reach a vital spot. Bullets for this type of hunting feature very thick jackets. Some like the old RWS and contemporary Nosler have two cores with a solid web of bronze running through the center of the bullet so that in section it looks like the letter “H”.
The top half expands, but only to the center web which insures that the base portion will stay together. Barnes Bullets offers what they call a “monolithic solid” which is simply a solid bronze bullet. Since these are made in large calibers such as 416 they are in effect pre-expanded. Speer offers a copper alloy bullet called “African Grand Slam” with a tungsten carbide dowel in the center for use on such extremely dangerous and hard-to-kill game as cape buffalo.
Handgun bullets designed for hunting must offer rapid expansion at relatively low velocities. To this end, they feature large hollowpoints, serrated jackets and pure lead cores.
HANDGUN BULLETS
Handgun bullets for target use are often swaged from lead alloy and deliver good accuracy when properly lubricated. Their design ranges from a cylinder, called a “wadcutter,” because it punches clean holes in paper targets, to round nose and truncated cone styles. Use in indoor ranges of such ammunition has raised fears of lead poisoning, since a certain amount of lead is vaporized from the bullet’s surface upon firing.
To counter this hazard, the “total metal jacket” or TMJ bullet was developed. The full metal jacket leaves an exposed lead base, while the TMJ covers the entire surface of the bullet. This jacket is applied by electroplating the bullet core with copper. After the plating process is completed, the bullets are “bumped” up to bring them into proper size and roundness. They don’t expand as well as soft-lead alloy bullets and are thus a poor choice for hunting, but do keep lead levels down in indoor ranges.
For indoor use we are seeing more “green” bullets made of compressed copper and other non-lead metals which are designed to disintegrate on impact with a steel backstop. This virtually eliminates ricochets and (except for lead primer residue) eliminates lead contamination in indoor ranges.
Such bullets are available as reloading components. These must be handled with more care than a lead or jacketed bullet as they are prone to break apart in the loading process if they are seated roughly or there is inadequate “belling” of the case mouth.
Hunting bullets for handguns are modifications of rifle designs, with some major engineering differences. Early attempts to improve handgun-bullet lethality led to soft-point and hollow- point designs based on rifle bullets. Results were unsatisfactory when it was discovered that these generally failed to expand and behaved no differently than FMJ types. In the last few years new designs have emerged that will expand reliably at handgun velocities — 900-1600 fps.
The secret to bringing this about was to design bullets with nearly pure lead cores, large hollow points and thin, relatively soft jackets of pure copper, copper alloys or aluminum. Skives or cuts through the jacket and into the core improve expansion, increasing the lethality of these relatively low-velocity bullets. Since most handgun hunting is done at ranges of under 100 yards, this expansion is still reliable on most game animals of deer size or smaller, assuming that the handgun is a powerful one in the 357 Magnum to 50 Magnum class.
Handguns of less than this performance level simply cannot be loaded heavily enough to do any serious hunting and to try to “load them up” for this purpose is a foolish risk to both the gun and its shooter. Shooting any jacketed handgun bullet at low velocities is not recommended, particularly in revolvers. The greater resistance of the jacketed bullet to swaging in the barrel requires higher pressures than with lead bullets. Underpowered loads, particularly in revolvers with a generous gap between the cylinder and barrel, may result in a stuck bullet waiting to be slammed by the next one fired.
This article is an excerpt from the ABCs of Reloading, 8th Edition.
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– Budget custom revolvers – The Ruger P345 – Kimber's Gold Standard – Shooting the Century Arms VZ 2008 – Gun shows & auctions – Guns for sale: Extensive classified listings
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This upcoming legislative session, Kansas State Representative Forrest Knox (R-Altoona) announced that he would introduce legislation making it legal to practice concealed carry on state-owned college and university campuses.
He pushed for similar legislation in the 2010 session, but that effort died in the state senate.
Knox’s proposed bill, “would allow Kansans with concealed carry permits to bring their weapons into public buildings if those buildings aren't equipped with security measures such as metal detectors and guards,” the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
“My plan is to move that forward,” Know said. “We will revise it somewhat and try to deal with situations, realistic situations, in public buildings. If you deny my right to provide for my own security, then you need to provide for my security.”
“Supporters of the [Knox] bill included the National Rifle Association and the Kansas State Rifle Association. The League of Kansas Municipalities, Kansas Association of Counties and Kansas Peace Officers association opposed the measure,” as did the Kansas Board of Regents.
You never know what kind of interesting and valuable collectible guns are lurking in your closet or in some old trunk in the attic. Sometimes it pays to dust off these oddballs and list them for sale in an online gun auction.
A good friend of mine, Phillip Peterson, is a licensed gun dealer who sells quite regularly through Gunbroker. Phillip, who goes by the username “neatguns,” specializes in vintage, oddball and military guns and accessories.
Last week, Phillip listed a “Vintage Sheridan Silver Streak Pellet Rifle 20cal” with a starting bid of $99. The description read, “Sheridan Products Inc. Silver Streak multiple pump forearm pneumatic pellet rifle caliber .20 / 5mm. There is no serial number. Early production version with hold down safety, slab side stock and knurled sight adjustment knobs. Mfg 1949-52. Excellent condition. No notable damage or wear. The forearm has a crack visible from the back but the factory pins should keep it from cracking through. Mechanism is functional and it shoots OK. Original instruction book included.”
Kinda cool, I thought. If no one bids on it, I'll go a hundred bucks.
Well, the auction closed last night — at $405.56! That just shows how ignorant I am about vintage airguns. I had no idea an early Silver Streak could go so high, especially one in less-than-pristine condition. Oh well! Just another lesson in my ongoing education, I guess. Now I'll be keeping my eye open for similar models of similar vintage at the antique shows and garage sales. (I've already checked my closets.)
Phillip sells a great many guns every year, which incidentally is how he arrives at the values he lists in Standard Catalog of Military Firearms, of which he's the editor.
Unlike some price guides that contain values by “experts” seeking primarily to pump up their own collections, Phillip's book assigns values strictly on the basis of real-world, street-price trends. Phillip is scrupulously honest, even though his diet consists mostly of Mountain Dew and Ding Dongs.
I've always been a big fan of short-barreled revolvers. In fact, I think the original S&W M36 Chief's Special is one of the greatest guns ever designed. (I once owned a S&W Highway Patrolman .357 N-frame that someone had given the “Fitz Special” treatment, with cutaway triggerguard, shortened barrel, rounded grip frame and custom grips. It was every bit as cool as it sounds, and I was the only kid on the block who had one. Ditto my old “Fitzed” Colt Army Special snubbie in .41 Long Colt. Now that was a carry gun, although you didn't just run down to the WalMart to buy ammo for it.)
How nice it was, then, to bumble across a website devoted entirely to the snubbie! It's called The Snubnose Files, and you can check it out here. Gun Digest Books also puts out a super-informative guide to pocket handguns — not just revolvers but snubbies, too — titled “Gun Digest Buyer's Guide to Concealed Carry Handguns.” Written by Jerry Ahern and priced at less than $17, it's a bargain. See it here.
A story that should streak across the internet but for one key fact – it involved the defensive use of a gun, in this case a BB gun – is the kind of stuff that legends are made from, and so are little heroes.
Published reports say a man identified as 45-year-old Paul F. Newman “came home drunk” to the house where he was renting a room. The 46-year-old mother was in her own room when the enraged suspect reportedly kicked in her door and began choking her.
Enter the woman’s 10-year-old son. He first yelled at Newman. That didn’t work, so he reportedly picked up a wooden board and whacked the drunken man with that. The Bellingham Herald reported that Newman ran outside, apparently believing he was chasing the youngster.
Proof positive that 10-year-olds are smarter than boozers of any age. The kid instead went one notch higher on the force continuum and grabbed his pump-action BB rifle. The mother, meanwhile, locked the door, but Newman tried crawling inside through an open window, the newspaper said. When the mom tried to shut that, Newman grabbed her arm and held on tight.
When the boy appeared with his BB rifle, Newman allegedly threatened to kill him. The youngster wasn’t having any of it and he fired, perhaps as many as four times, and shot Newman in the face. Read more
Del-Ton Incorporated is now shipping its new DTI TRX AR-15 rifle in flat dark earth as well as matte black.
This “loaded,” 16″ semi-automatic rifle offers several distinctive enhancements and ships with a hard case, a 30-round Troy magazine and a cleaning kit:
7075 T6 Aluminum hard coat, anodized MIL-SPEC upper and lower receivers
Troy Industries low profile gas block and A2 flash hider
Troy Battle Ax buttstock of reinforced fiber and Troy 13″ Extreme Hand Guard
Troy DOA/STD rear folding and M4/HK front folding sights
1X9 twist chrome-moly vanadium barrel has a threaded muzzle and mid-length gas system
Chambered in 5.56 X 45 mm with a chrome-lined chamber and bore
Chrome lined carrier interior
“With an MSRP of $1250 and all these enhanced features, this rifle is a great value,” said Tony Autry, president and CEO of Del-Ton Incorporated.
Del-Ton Incorporated is a manufacturer of quality of AR-15 rifles and an online supplier for parts, upgrades, accessories, optics and custom rifle kits. Based in Elizabethtown, N.C., all rifles and components for Del-Ton products are made in the U.S.A. and Del-Ton rifles carry a lifetime warranty for the original purchaser. Visit www.del-ton.com for detailed product information.
It's hard to imagine an uglier piece of metal and wood than some of the contraptions churned out by H&R. As far as ugly ducklings go, H&R handguns might take the cake.
Harrington & Richardson has been out of the handgun business since the company (then doing business as H&R 1871, Inc.) was acquired by Marlin in 2000. Most people probably didn't even notice.
H&R handguns weren't ever anything you'd brag about owning, unless maybe it was one of their USRA single-shot .22 target pistols or maybe a nine-shot top-break Model 999 Sportsman. I've owned one of the former and two of the latter, and I never felt ashamed of them. I must admit, however, that most of H&R's pistols and revolvers look positively clunky and stupid compared to, say, a Colt Police Positive or a S&W M39.
But for pure butt-ugliness, nothing could approach H&R's .32 Self-Loading Pistol and its Model 925 .38 S&W revolver. Hoo boy! The .32 Self-Loader was a licensed knockoff of the British Webley7.65mm Pocket Auto (and was also available in a scaled-down .25 ACP version), but the Model 925 sprang unassisted from H&R's fevered corporate brow. Neither was a cheaply-made gun; it's just that their styling was so impossibly awkward that they look weird even to my jaded eyes, which is saying quite a lot.
I've tried to include as much information as possible about these guns in the 2011 Standard Catalog of Firearms (21st Edition), but I haven't quite been able to give them the coverage they probably deserve. However, when you consider that the book contains info on more than 25,000 different firearms from around the world, it's a pretty good one-volume reference/value guide for the firearms generalist who buys and trades guns fairly regularly — as I do.
Anyway, these two poor, forlorn H&Rs are my candidates for Ugliest Pistol of All Time. In my experience, both were utterly reliable and acceptably accurate, but let's face it: they're about as pretty as the southbound end of a northbound mule.
As we all know, 2011 is the centennial of the most popular handgun in the world, the Model 1911. Just this last weekend, though, as I was shooting my Taurus PT1911 in .38 Super, the question occurred to me: just what makes a 1911 a 1911? The terms “1911” and “1911A1,” of course, are merely military nomenclature for approved design specifications.
Taurus PT1911 .38 Super
One of the most important specs for the 1911 is that it fire the “Cal. .45 Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge, Model of 1911,” otherwise known as the .45 ACP. This chambering was so central to the design of the Model 1911 — in fact, the cartridge was developed somewhat before the 1911 itself was — that I suppose you could argue that no “1911” that is chambered for anything other than the .45 ACP (.22 LR, 9mm Parabellum, .38 Super, 10mm, .460 Rowland, etc.) can be considered a “true” 1911. For its part, Colt never marked any of its nonmilitary 1911-style guns as “1911s,” preferring the bland “Model O” designation or descriptive names such as “Super 38,” “Ace,” “Commander,” “Combat Commander,” “Delta Elite,” or “Government Model.” Common practice is to lump all 1911-style pistols together as 1911s, and that's a much better term than “1911 clones,” if you stop and think about it.
But maybe you don't want to stop and think about it. Neither do I, really. Instead, I'd much rather re-read Pat Sweeney's new book, “1911: The First 100 Years.” I say “re-read” because I had the very great pleasure of editing this book, which surely ranks as one of Pat's best. Entertaining, funny, informative — it's Pat Sweeney at the top of his game. You can order it here.
Anyway, over the next 13 months or so we're sure to be hearing more about the 1911, whatever you call it.
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.
Most of the firearms from a rather historic collection were recently stolen from the National Guard Armory in Mankato, Minnesota. Burglars apparently broke into the building through a window, at night, and made off with many of the collection’s rifles and handguns located in display cases in the building’s lobby.
Standard Catalog of Firearms, 21st Edition
