Second Generation Colt SAA .44 Specials with Galco leather.
In 1913 Colt began chambering the Single Action Army in .44 Special. From then until 1941, only 506 Single Action Army Models would be so chambered, and only one Flat-Top Target, which belonged to Elmer Keith. In the beginning these sixguns were marked on the left side, “RUSSIAN AND S&W SPECIAL 44”. One of the most beautiful examples of an engraved .44 Special so inscribed was the 7-1/2″ personal sixgun of Ed McGivern shipped to him by Colt in 1919; it is pictured in A Study Of
The Colt Single Action Army Revolver by Graham, Kopec, and Moore. In 1929, barrel markings were changed to “COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY .44 SPECIAL”.
I had one of these 7-1/2″ .44 Special Colts marked the same as the McGivern Colt as related in my book Big Bore Sixguns (Krause Publications 1997).
As I relate in that book:
My new wife solidly entrenched herself in my heart forever our first Christmas together as she presented me with a brand new 6-1/2″ .44 Special Smith & Wesson Model 1950 Target. I had begun a lifelong love affair with the .44 Special. Not only did my wife present me with my first .44 Special, she also combined with a very special .44 Special to make it possible for me to meet another vocal proponent of the .44 Special. It has always been my regular habit to read section 640 GUNS every day in the morning paper’s want ads expecting to find maybe one special sixgun per year. In the early 1970’s the ad read Colt Single Action .44 and old belt and holster.
Andy Horvath built this .44 Special “Fitz Special” on a Colt New Service.
The address was a trailer park just outside of town and I hustled over to find a 1st Generation 7-1/2″ Colt Single Action with cartridge belt and holster. The owner explained the .44 had belonged to his uncle and he wore it regularly as a sheriff in Colorado, and the pitting on the top strap were from his blood when he was shot and was more concerned about having himself patched up than cleaning the Colt. As I handled the Colt I could scarcely contain myself. Except for the minor pitting on the top strap, the old Colt .44 Single Action was in excellent shape mechanically and the case coloring had turned a beautifully aged gray. The left side of the barrel was marked “RUSSIAN AND S&W SPECIAL 44”. A very rare single action!
How much? I asked as I contemplated my budget. $450. I was sorely tempted but with paying for three kids to attend private school, I felt it was out of the question. I reluctantly thanked the man for his time and left. My excitement stayed high all the way home and it was impossible to contain my disappointment as I told my wife all about the Colt .44 Special. She was more than a little surprised I was able to resist buying that beautiful sixgun.
Later that day she headed out to do some shopping and I asked her to stop at the local boot repair shop. I had been so stirred up by the .44 Colt I had forgotten to pick up my finished boots. When she returned home she handed me the boots with a slight smile on her face. As I took the boots I realized they felt a few pounds heavier than normal. In the left boot was the Colt! She had gone out on her own and purchased the .44 Special! You hold on tightly to a wife such as this one!
Great .44 Special sixguns from the middle part of the twentieth century: Great Western SA, 2nd Generation Colt SAA, and a pair of 3rd Generation Colts.
After doing a little research on the Colt and finding out how really rare it was, we decided it belonged to a collector not a shooter as I was. So we traded it for the $450 we paid for it plus two shooting Colt sixguns, a 2nd Generation Colt Single Action Army 5-1/2″.44 Special and a 7-1/2″ New Frontier chambered in .45 Colt. But that isn’t the end of the story as this Colt .44 Special and Russian was my ticket to meeting someone very special.
Later that year I attended the NRA Show in Salt Lake City and carried pictures of the old Colt, especially a close-up of the barrel inscription, all for a purpose. I was looking for one particular individual. When I found him dressed in a dark suit, wearing colored shooting glasses and a white Stetson, I simply handed him the picture of the barrel close up. He grabbed me by the arm and said: “Son, let’s go find a place to talk.” The man was Skeeter Skelton and I had found the way to his heart. Skeeter was second only to Elmer Keith in praising the virtues of the .44 Special during his writing career. Keith retired his .44 Specials after the .44 Magnum arrived; Skelton tried the .44 Magnum, found the Special better for most purposes, and went back to his first love.
The 1st Generation Colt Single Action Army was dropped from production in 1941, never to be seen again. After the war, Colt made it very clear they had no intention of ever resuming production. Television changed all that! A whole new generation of shooters and would be shooters discovered the Colt Single Action Army through all the B Western movies that filled the screens in the early days of television and then were followed by the made-for-TV westerns. Shooters wanted Colt Single Actions and in 1956 the 2nd Generation Single Actions appeared.
The .44 Special arrived in the Single Action Army one year later in 1957 with both 5-1/2″ and 7-1/2″ barrel lengths. For some unknown reason the 2nd Generation .44 Specials were never offered with 4-3/4″ barrels. While not as rare as the 1st Generation .44 Specials, just over 2,300 were offered before they were removed from production in 1966. A companion sixgun to the Single Action Army was the New Frontier, a modernized version of the old Flat-Top Target Model of the 1890s. These are very rare with only 255 total being made with 5-1/2″ and 7-1/2″ barrels from 1963 to 1967. They are also some the finest single actions ever produced by Colt.
By 1974, the Colt machinery was wearing out and the decision was made to drop the Colt Single Action Army once again. This time instead of 15 years it only took two years to resurrect the Single Action, as the 3rd Generation began production in 1976. This time around the .44 Special would be produced from 1978 to 1984 in all three barrel lengths: 4-3/4″, 5-1/2″, and 7-1/2″ and a total production of about 15,000 with about 375 Buntline Specials with 12″ barrels. Colt just recently announced the return of the .44 Special Single Action Army to their catalog.
The .44 Special was also offered as the New Frontier from 1980 through 1984 when all New Frontier production ceased. Something over 3,500 3rd Generation .44 Special New Frontiers were produced and only with 5-1/2″ and 7-1/2″ barrels. Most shooters hold 2nd Generation .44 Specials in much higher esteem than their counterparts among 3rd Generation examples and the prices demanded reflect this.
USFA offers the barrel marking as found on the original Colt Single Action .44 Special.
Colt not only produced the first big-bore double-action revolvers a few years before Smith & Wesson – the Model 1878 in .45 Colt – but they would also be the first to produce what we consider a modern double-action revolver., i.e., one with a swing-out cylinder.
These Army and Navy Models on the .41 frame would evolve into the larger New Service in 1898. Immensely popular, the New Service overtook the Single Action Army in total production numbers due to the fact that more than 150,000 New Services chambered in .45ACP with 5-1/2″ barrels and known as the Model 1917 were ordered for the use of the troops in World War I.
The .44 Special, as with the Single Action Army, first appeared in the Colt New Service in 1913. Before it was dropped, the .44 Special New Service was offered as a standard model with barrel lengths of 4-1/2″, 5 1/2″, and 7-1/2″ with either blue or nickel finish, or the beautifully shooting New Service Target Revolver with a choice of either a 6″ or 7-1/2″ barrel.
Stocks were checkered walnut and the trigger was checkered, as were the front and back straps; the finish was a deep blue; sights were adjustable, with a choice of a Patridge or bead front sight.
Colt’s ultimate .44 Special New Service was the deluxe target revolver, the Shooting Master. This 6″-barreled revolver featured a hand-finished action, sights and a top strap that were finished to eliminate glare. It represented the highest-quality revolver that Colt could build until the Python arrived in 1955. Along with the Colt Single Action Army, the New Service was dropped in 1941.
New Services chambered in .44 Special are very hard to find, at least at my price level. A few years ago a reader came to the rescue with a late-model New Service in .44 Special, which he offered to send to me for inspection. It had several problems: it was out of time, its lanyard ring was missing, and someone had installed a Smith & Wesson adjustable rear sight while leaving the front sight intact. This, of course, resulted in a sixgun that shot way high.
But it had possibilities and it came for very reasonable price. The 4-1/2″ New Service .44 Special was sent off to Milt Morrison of QPR (Qualite Pistol & Revolver), one of the few gunsmiths qualified to work on the old New Service. He totally tuned and tightened it, fitted a ramp front sight and re-blued it. A lanyard ring was found and installed, and stag grips were located and fitted to the frame. The final result is one of the finest New Service .44 Specials around.
In the time between the two World Wars, John Henry FitzGerald (“Fitz”) was Colt’s representative, traveling to all the shooting matches, working on shooters’ Colts and generally sharing shooting information. He is best known for his Fitz Special built on the Colt New Service: “Perhaps some would like to ask why I cut up a good revolver and here is the answer: The trigger guard is cut away to allow more finger room and for use when gloves are worn…. The hammer spur is cut away to allow drawing from the pocket or from under the coat without catching or snagging in the cloth and eliminates the use of thumb over hammer when drawing….The butt is rounded to allow the revolver to easily slide into firing position in the hand…. The top of the cut-away hammer may be lightly checked to assist in cocking for a long-range shot.”
It was common knowledge among his contemporaries that Fitz always carried a pair of .45 Colt Fitz Specials in his two front pockets. He definitely knew how to use them.
I’ve wanted to have a Fitz Special ever since I was the kid learning to shoot big-bore sixguns in the 1950s, and just recently decided to have one made up on a Colt New Service. I found what I thought would be the perfect candidate for a Fitz Special, a 5-1/2″ Late Model New Service in .45 Colt.
Although having considerable pitting on the right side of the barrel and part of the cylinder, it was mechanically perfect and the interiors of both barrel and cylinder were like new. Instead of sending it off to be converted, I shot it first and found it shot much too well to touch as it placed five shots, fired double-action standing at 50 feet, in less than 1-1/2″. By now I have learned not to fix what ain’t broke, so it remains untouched.
Thanks to a reader I came up with a Late Model New Service chambered in .44 Special. It needed some help and made a perfect candidate for a Fitz Special, so off it went to one of the premier gunsmiths in the country, Andy Horvath.
Horvath said of this New Service: “It’s got a few miles on it and somebody got a little carried away with the buffing wheel. I bushed the cylinder to get out most of the endplay, and installed a ball lock on the crane to help with the lock-up. Instead of cutting the old barrel I just made a new one using up a piece of Douglas barrel blank too short for anything else.
The grip frame has been shortened and rounded and fitted with fancy walnut grip panels, and the top of the hammer serrated for shooting single action by starting the hammer back with the trigger and then grabbing the hammer with your thumb.”
The end result is a .44 Special Fitz Special that is one of the finest in existence. built by one of the finest gunsmiths ever. My everyday working load for .44 Special sixguns, the 250-gr. Keith bullet over 7.5 gr of Unique in the short barrel of the “Fitz” registers 830 fps, or just about the perfect equivalent of Fitz’s .45 Colt loads.
I just got finished working with Crossbreed Holsters Superslide OWB holster, Instructor Belt, and their OWB dual mag pouch. Crossbreed uses Kydex for the holster shell and leather or horsehide for the backing plate. It can be worn strongside or crossdraw. A great, high quality product and company. Watch for the full review in an upcoming digital issue of Tactical Gear Mag, along with a review of the Auto Ordnance M1 Carbine-a timeless design that still has a lot of fight left in it.
Researcher John Lott says Chicago has lessons to learn from D.C.'s relaxed gun control laws, which resulted in reduced crime rates after one year.
The District of Columbia’s murder rate plummeted by an astounding 25 percent last year, much faster than for the US as a whole or for similarly sized cities.
If you had asked Chicago’s Mayor Daley, that wasn’t supposed to happen. The Supreme Court’s 2008 decision to strike down DC’s handgun ban and gunlock requirements should have lead to a surge in murders, with Wild West shootouts.
The Supreme Court might keep Daley’s predictions in mind today as they hear the oral arguments on Tuesday in the Chicago handgun ban case.
The forthcoming third edition of More Guns, Less Crime shows that in the 17 years after its ban on new handguns went into effect, there are only two years where Chicago’s murder rate was as low as it was in 1982.
Chicago’s murder rate fell relative to other largest 50 largest cities prior to the ban and rose relative to them afterwards. For example, Chicago’s murder rate went from equalling the average for those other cities in 1982, to exceeding their average murder rate by 32 percent in 1992 and by 68 percent in 2002.
There is no year after the ban that Chicago’s murder rate fared as well relative to other cities as it did in 1982. Read more
CHICAGO – A couple worries that burglars who tried to break in when the wife was home alone will return. A retiree fears the drug dealers and junkies just outside his window will attempt — again — to steal what he spent a lifetime earning. And a businessman wants to protect himself as he could when he was a police officer.
Together, they are the face of the most serious challenge yet to Chicago's 28-year-old handgun ban.
On Tuesday, the four will take their seats inside the U.S. Supreme Court as their attorneys argue a lawsuit that bears their names: David and Colleen Lawson, Otis McDonald and Adam Orlov.
The four plaintiffs are not stereotypical gun rights advocates. They don't represent the agenda of any national group or organize rallies. Instead they represent average Chicagoans — the kind of people that opponents of the city's ban say should be allowed to protect themselves from gun violence.
“Some people want to stereotype advocates in any case, to make them look like a bunch of crazies,” said Alan Gura, a Virginia attorney who will argue the case. “But these are plaintiffs who reflect the city in which they live.”
Chicago's ban on the sale and possession of handguns has been weathering legal challenges for years. But it gained newfound attention after the Supreme Court in 2008 struck down a similar handgun ban in the District of Columbia. The court now plans to decide whether the ruling on D.C., a city with unique federal status, should apply to local and state laws, too. Read more
Dale Welch recently walked into a Starbucks in Virginia, handgun strapped to his waist, and ordered a banana Frappuccino with a cinnamon bun. He says the firearm drew a double-take from at least one customer, but not a peep from the baristas.
Welch's foray into the coffeehouse was part of an effort by some gun owners to exercise and advertise their rights in states that allow people to openly carry firearms.
Even in some “open carry” states, businesses are allowed to ban guns in their stores. And some have, creating political confrontations with gun owners. But Starbucks, the largest chain targeted, has refused to take the bait, saying in a statement this month that it follows state and local laws and has its own safety measures in its stores.
“Starbucks is a special target because it's from the hippie West Coast, and a lot of dedicated consumers who pay $4 for coffee have expectations that Starbucks would ban guns. And here they aren't,” said John Bruce, a political science professor at the University of Mississippi who is an expert in gun policy.
Welch, a 71-year-old retired property manager who lives in Richmond, Va., doesn't see any reason why he shouldn't bear arms while he gets caffeinated.
“I don't know of anybody who would provide me with defense other than myself, so I routinely as a way of life carry a weapon — and that extends to my coffee shops,” he said.
The fight for retailers heated up in early January when gun enthusiasts in northern California began walking into Starbucks and other businesses to test state laws that allow gun owners to carry weapons openly in public places. As it spread to other states, gun control groups quickly complained about the parade of firearms in local stores.
Some were spontaneous, with just one or two gun owners walking into a store. Others were organized parades of dozens of gun owners walking into restaurants with their firearms proudly at their sides. Read more
In the mid-1980s Smith & Wesson offered a limited number of stainless steel .44 Special Model 624s.
The Triple Lock, perhaps the finest double-action revolver ever produced, had a very short life span, lasting only until 1915 with just over 15,000 being manufactured. They sold for $21 at a time when one dollar was a lot of money, but because of an attempt to save $2 on its price, the Triple Lock died. True!
It was replaced by the .44 Hand Ejector 2nd Model, which lacked the third lock, a shortcut that allowed it to retail for $2 less than the Triple Lock. To add insult to injury, the Triple Lock’s shrouded ejector rod housing was also dropped. The result was simply a larger Military & Police.
More 2nd Models were built than 1st Models, about 2,000 more, but it would take 35 years to accomplish. Both the Triple Lock and the 2nd Model are rarely, very rarely, found in other chamberings such as .45 Colt, .44-40, and .38-40; however they were first and foremost .44 Specials. As soon as the Triple Lock was replaced by the 2nd Model, sixgun connoisseurs began calling for a return to the Triple Lock. As so often happens with gun companies, the pleas for the return to what a double-action sixgun should be fell on deaf ears, at least until 1926.
Two S&W .44 Specials that command high collector prices now are the five-shot 696 and the Mountain Lite.
What individual shooters could not do, Wolf and Klar, a gun dealer in Fort Worth, Texas, could do. An order was placed with Smith & Wesson for several thousand revolvers chambered in .44 Special with the enclosed ejector rod housing. Except for the missing third lock, these revolvers were every bit as good as the 1st Models and were eagerly accepted by shooters and especially by Southwestern lawmen.
The 4″, fixed sighted, double-action .44 Special Smith & Wesson was just about the perfect defensive sixgun in the 1920s, and there is some doubt that it has ever been pushed to second place. This 3rd Model, also known as the Model 1926, would be produced until the start of World War II, when all production of civilian arms ceased, and then resurrected in 1946 for only a short time until the next model appeared.
As great as the Model 1926 was, it did not replace the 2nd Model as both were produced simultaneously until the eve of World War II.
The Model 1926 is even more rare than the Triple Lock, with only about 6,500 being produced in the two runs from 1926 to 1941 and 1946 to 1949. Just as with the 1st and 2nd Models, this 3rd Model was offered in both fixed-sight and target-sight versions. By 1949, the Model 1926 was about to be changed to become the 4th Model Hand Ejector of 1950. The Model 1950 was offered in two versions: the rare fixed-sight Military Model with only about 1,200 being produced, and the magnificent 1950 Target Model.
Both were offered in barrel lengths of 4″, 5″, and 6-1/2″ with the 4″ 1950 Target being rare and the 5″ Target extremely so. Just under 5,100 4th Model Target .44 Specials were made from 1950 to 1966. In 1957, when all Smith & Wessons lost their personality and became mere model numbers, the 4th Model Military Eight years later I actually came upon a 6-1/2″ Model 1950 Target. I had placed a Winchester 1886 on layaway at the Gunhaus and when George called me to tell me about the Smith & Wesson, I backed off the Winchester and took the 1950 Target instead.
A pair of ivory-stocked 4″ Model 24-3 S&W .44 Specials in El Paso Saddlery Tom Threepersons holsters along with an original 1950 Target .44 Special.
Then I did it again! I wanted the 6-1/2″ 1950 Target, but I also wanted a 4″ version even more and had the barrel shortened to four inches. Strike Two! Fortunately, thanks to regular readers of Guns and American Handgunner, I have been contacted about .44 Special Smith & Wesson sixguns for sale and in recent years have purchased three 4″ .44 Specials, a 1926 Model made the same year I was, a 1950 Military, and a 1950 Target, as well as a 6-1/2″ Model 1950 Target. There will be no Strike Three and the sixguns will be enjoyed exactly as the beautiful works of art they really are.
Not only was the 1950 Target a magnificent sixgun in its own right, it became the basic platform for the .44 Magnum. In 1954 Smith & Wesson began experimenting with a new Magnum in a 4″ 1950 Target with special heat-treating and the cylinder re-chambered to the longer .44.
When the .44 Magnum became reality, it was a 1950 Target with a longer cylinder, bull barrel, high polish Bright Blue finish, and adjustable sights consisting of a white outline rear sight and a front ramp sight with a red insert. The 1950 Target with its special heat-treating could handle the .44 Magnum, but shooters could not, and an extra half-pound was added to the weight by going to the longer cylinder and bull barrel.
The coming of the .44 Magnum pushed the .44 Special aside very quickly. Some shooters, such as sheriff of Deaf Smith County Texas, Skeeter Skelton, sold his 4″ 1950 Target .44 Special and replaced it with a 4″ .44 Magnum, only to find it was a lot harder to pack all day and the ammunition was much too powerful for law enforcement use. Of course, a handloader could tailor-make .44 Magnum ammunition at the .44 Special level, but if one is going to shoot .44 Special ammunition, why carry the heavier sixgun? Skeeter admitted he was sorry he ever sold his .44 Special.
In 1966 Smith & Wesson dropped the 1950 Target/Model 24 from production. Of course, as always happens, when something disappears a demand appears. It would be Skeeter Skelton who would help keep the fire burning for .44 Specials by publishing an article in the early 1970s about converting the Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum Highway Patrolman to .44 Special. In those days Smith & Wesson .44 Special barrels were still available so it was simply a matter of re-chambering the .357 cylinder to .44 Special and fitting a new barrel.
An excellent choice for a hunting bullet in the .44 Special is the Speer original jacketed bullet with a lead core in a full copper cup.
It would take a while, but finally in 1983 Smith & Wesson brought back the .44 Special as the Model 24-3. To ensure selling all of these guns they promised to make only so many. They were offered in both 4″ and 6-1/2″ versions with a production run of one year and 7,500 being produced. They sold quickly; in fact the demand for these resurrected .44 Specials was greater than the number produced. Now what?
Smith & Wesson had backed themselves into a corner by promising only to produce a certain number, and yet the market was out there for more .44 Specials. This dilemma was solved by offering the stainless-steel version, the Model 624, with the same barrel lengths from 1985 to 1987. Both the blued 24-3 and stainless-steel 624 .44 Specials were also specially ordered and offered as 3″ round-butted versions by Smith and Wesson distributors.
The Smith & Wesson .44 Special died in 1966, was resurrected in 1983, and died again in 1987. However, the .44 Special is too good to stay buried for very long. In 1996, the Smith & Wesson .44 Special returned as the Model 696, a stainless steel, five-shot L-frame with a 3″ barrel and round butt grip frame. It was followed by the Model 396Ti, the same basic revolver with an alloy frame and titanium cylinder.
And then after nearly 20 years we got back to basics with a full-sized, six-shot, N-frame .44 Special: the Model 21-3, a 4″ round–butted, fixed-sight, blue steel revolver with an enclosed ejector rod. It first appeared as the Thunder Ranch Special and now is a standard catalog item.
Smith & Wesson also produces two 4″ .44 Magnums, the Model 29 Mountain Gun with the tapered barrel of the 1950 Model and the 26-oz. scandium/titanium 329PD. If the truth be known, both of these Magnums are better suited to .44 Special use. Just this past year S&W introduced, or I should say re-introduced, the Model 1950 Target as the Model 24-6 Classic with the same 6-1/2″ barrel length as the original. The .44 Special is definitely alive and well at Smith & Wesson.
With Nikon’s latest reticle and adjustment technologies, the M-223 rifle scope integrates the same level of quality as Monarch riflescopes, the flagship of the Nikon Hunting line.
“The recent surge in AR-type rifle purchases means there is a new group of customers out there learning just how much fun owning an AR is,” said Jon LaCorte, senior product marketing manager Nikon Sport Optics. “We’ve built the M-223 family to help them enjoy and use their rifles no matter if it’s for competition, varmint or predator hunting, or just plinking fun.”
All M-223 riflescopes feature Nikon’s fully multicoated optics, up to 95% light transmission, waterproof/fogproof/shockproof performance and lifetime warranty.
Designed for AR carbines and popular 3 gun competitions, the 1-4×20 rifle scope with Point Blank reticle features an extremely large exit pupil for low light performance and a super wide field of view.
The M-223 2-8×32 scope is available with Nikon’s all new BDC 600 reticle or the Nikoplex reticle with Nikon’s new Rapid Action Turret system. The big brother of the M-223 lineup is the 3-12×42 riflescope.
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Inside This Issue
• The .375 H&H has represented the standard for almost 100 years. But four years ago the .375 Ruger appeared on the scene. Brad Fitzpatrick takes a look.
• Editor Kevin Michalowski stands up for the troops and Trijicon in his "Editor's Call" column. Click here to read it.
• Rifles: Mossberg and Navy
• Shotguns: Marlin Firearms
• Handguns: Navy Arms
• Precision Marksmanship: Handloading for Precision
Morelli tests the Springfield Armory M-25 Whitefeather. The adjustable stock makes for quick and easy changes to eye alignment when moving from one shooting position to another.
Although the stereotype of a sniper rifle or precision marksman rifle usually brings a bolt-action gun to mind, there are many semi-auto platforms available.
The AR faction has many .308 caliber rifles from Armalite, Remington, DPMS or Knight’s Armament SASS (Semi-Auto Sniping System). These rifles have been improved and tweaked into accurate and precise shooting tools finding utility in law enforcement and military operations.
Morelli was happy with this group. It seemed the M-14 action is still a sound platform for the creation of an ultra-accurate tactical rifle. You can’t get much better than this.
But let’s not forget M-14 action. The M-14 action is like the 1911. It started out good and continues to be good to this day. The M-14 is an improved version of the Garand; changing the caliber from.30-06 to .308, offering select-fire capabilities and a 20-round magazine.
The M-14-based sniper rifle, like the 1911, has been improved over the years and now is an even more formidable and accurate tactical rifle than some of the others mentioned above. The addition of match-grade barrels, fine tuning, and high quality stock bedding have made this system a one MOA or better shooter. Springfield Armory’s M-21 and M-25 are the highest quality precision rifles built on the M-14action.
The M-25 White Feather is a tribute to Carlos Hathcock who accounted for 93 confirmed enemy kills in Vietnam. The Army’s most accomplished Vietnam War sniper, Sgt. Adelbert F. Waldron III stacked up 113 enemies using the XM21 system. The M-14 action has been proven time again to be sound and reliable and is still in use today in the military and police missions.
I had the opportunity to check out the M-25 White Feather. If you like sweet shooting rifles, you’ll be as impressed as I was with this beauty. This M-25 White Feather feels accurate coming out of the case. The McMillan stock gives the rifle heft and has stippling on the fattened pistol grip and for end. The stock is fitted to the action tight and right, with adjustments for length of pull and cheek weld.
You can make this rifle fit just about any marksman. The length is adjustable by removing or adding to the butt stock and the cheek weld has a thumb screw adjustment for use the field. Cheek adjustment changes as to the shooting position, at least for me, and when changing from bench shooting to prone it was easily adjusted in the field without tools for perfect scope/eye alignment.
Out at 1,000 yards the targets look mighty small. But the White Feather put rounds where they belonged.
The receiver is a rear-lugged flat black steel version and will accept all M-14 magazines. It is fitted with a Krieger heavy carbon match barrel that is 22 inches long with four-groove rifling that has a 1-10 twist. It is topped off with a low-profile muzzlebreak/stabilizer that is better suited to a precision rifle. Overall length is 46 inches and weight is 12.8 pounds. With the Leupold scope and magazine inserted the one I was using weighed in at exactly 15 pounds. The whole package is topped off with a likeness of Carlos Hathcock’s signature and the White Feather Logo marked on the receiver.
The trigger deserves a paragraph of its own. It is a two-stage adjustable trigger ranging between 1.5 and 4.75 pounds. This one let go right at pounds as it came from the factory.
The trigger is exceptional. A little take up, which is common in two-stage triggers, and two pounds later—GONE. It is smooth, crisp,and true. The fattened grip of the McMillan stock put the correct part of my finger right where it needed to be on the trigger. A good trigger is directly proportional to accuracy, and this trigger is great.
A rifle of this quality warrants a precise tactical grade scope. I went with Leupold’sMark 4 8.5-25x50mm LR/T M1 scope. This scope had a TMR (Tactical Milling Reticle).
This reticle expands on the Mil Dot design and offers more ranging tools by giving various sizes and spaced aiming points on the vertical and horizontal stadia. The accompanying manual gives the shooter necessary information and data to estimate range and drop compensation for both tactical and snap shooting conditions.
The Mark 4 I had was built with the reticle in the second focal plane. With variable-power scopes there is the option of placing the reticle in the first or second focal plane. In the first plane the size of the reticle changes with the change in power. This allows range estimation at any power setting. In the second focal plane the reticle remains the same size and range estimation has to be done at the highest power settings.
There are pros and cons to each system and this should be considered when choosing equipment for the intended mission. What I like about the second-plane reticle is you see the same reticle size every time you shoulder the rifle. It adds a bit of consistency to aiming which is part of the precision game.
Now for the fun part. After mounting the scope I took the White Feather to the range. The first outing was to get it sighted in and see what kind of 100-yard groups I could get. I shot the rifle with a supported bipod and sandbags under the stock from my Idaho shooting bench (pickup truck hood). The weight of the rifle along with the gas piston action made the .308 recoil barely noticeable. This is a pleasant rifle to shoot and the M-14 style action operated cleanly and without flaw every time.
After I walked the rifle in to the center of the target it gave me ½ minute groups. I was really impressed with the rifle’s accuracy. I tested one of Springfield’s M1A base rifles and one minute was the best I could do with it. One minute is perfectly acceptable for a sniping system, but ½ MOA is much better.
This rifle would easily be acceptable for a police marksman and most military missions. Ohh, that’s right, that’s why it is still in service today. I shot Federal Premium Vital-Shock ammo along with some of my reloads I use in my Model 700 Remington both topped with 168-grain pills. My homegrown loads were Sierra 168-grainHPBT.
I had an opportunity to take the M-25 to a 1000-yard practice match and see what it would do. One thing that was immediately obvious is my loads were coming into the target at sub-sonic velocities. The pit crew reported this to me. The loads were made for my rifle, which has a much longer barrel than the 22-inch M-25, but after doping the wind and some elevation corrections I could keep them in the black.
Not many shooters can grab an unfamiliar rifle and shoot tight groups at 1000 yards but I believe with some loading experiments and range time I could make a good show with the White Feather. I used a 175-grain load that another shooter had concocted for his gun and it improved the groups immediately. Their sizing, however, caused the bolt not to feed them consistently.
The M-25 White Feather is an awesome rifle. The M-14 action is a good, solid platform that can provide firepower and precision from the same tool; this is a valuable commodity for tactical missions. Springfield Armory has brought the best out of this workhorse and it is a good choice for many more missions to come. A good design is just that and cannot be forgotten when the new toys come out.
At SHOT Show 2010 we sat down with Rod Bremer, President of CRKT (Columbia River Knife & Tool). Naturally Rod wanted to show us all his new blades, but he really got our attention when he whipped out the company's new “Flux” tool.
The Flux is a carabiner tool, which allows you to pick and click components that you add to a dual chassis, depending upon your anticipated needs. This little device would have put MacGyver out of business, because there's virtually nothing it can't do.
Included in the system are a knife, screw and hex driver set, a wine tool – one never knows when a romantic opportunity might arise for the tactician – L.E.D. light, and even a flash drive (which comes in a GoNerd pack, of all things). The Flux system comes from the company's I.D. Works (Inspired Design) division.
The entire system is organized into a very slick and handy little pack.
I can imagine many uses for this system. It would be nice to have one in your backpack for any backcountry operations, in your vehicle, on your mountain bike, and also one tethered to your canoe's crossbars. Every gun room should have one.
One final note: This would make a great gift. Unlike some of the chinsey junk you'll find in the major retailers, the CRKT Flux System is very high quality. It is solid, and has good weight to it. It will inspire confidence to cut, fix, tighten, illuminate … or break open a bottle of Chardoney should the need present itself. Cheers, to the CRKT Flux!
That headline is not supposed to make people think of Michael Jackson… ew.. I just got the willies. I shouldn't have even mentioned his name. I've been looking at the 5.11 gloves, the new ones from this year's SHOT show. I like the design and the added touches for dexterity. Does anyone have any input on durability… how do they hold up. I like my 5.11 pants and shirts so I am assuming the quality will be good. Do the new gloves work as advertised?
In the early 1980s S&W resurrected the .44 Special Model 24 for a limited run. This matched pair of 4″ sixguns wear carved ivory stocks by Bob Leskovec and are carried in floral carved Tom Threepersons holsters from El Paso Saddlery.
In 1857, two entrepreneurs, Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, produced the first successful cartridge-firing revolver, the Smith & Wesson #1. This little seven-shot, tip-up revolver was chambered for what would become the most popular cartridge of all time, the .22 rimfire. They would go on to build both .22 and .32 rimfires in the Models 1, 1-1/2, and 2, and they had plans to bring out a big-bore version, but those plans were pushed to the back burner with the coming of the Civil War in 1861.
Meanwhile, over at the Colt factory, Sam Colt had decided cartridge cases would never catch on and shooters would always want to load their own using powder, ball, and cap.
Smith & Wesson 4″ .44 Specials: 1950 Target with shortened barrel, Model 624, Model 24- 3, and original 4″1950 Target.
When Colt received a very lucrative contract to build 1860 Army Model .44s for the Northern Army not, only was the company’s immediate future assured but there definitely was no further thought of building cartridge-firing revolvers. Smith & Wesson kept producing their little pocket guns, which were quite popular as hideout weapons during the 1860s, but they did not forget their plans to build a .44-caliber version.
Sam Colt died in 1862, but his ideas persisted and percussion revolvers remained as the number one focus of the Colt Company. Then it happened! I can let my imagination run loose and see the executives of Colt sitting around the boardroom in late 1869 when the messenger arrives. He talks to the president, Richard Jarvis, who immediately scowls. He shares the information with the rest of the group. That other gun company, that Smith & Wesson group, had just announced a large-frame, break-top, six-shot, cartridge-firing .44 sixgun!
The new Smith & Wesson was known as the American and was chambered in both .44 Centerfire and .44 Henry Rimfire. Then when the U.S. Army ordered 1,000 .44 S&W Americans, Colt really knew they had some catching up to do.
Meanwhile, someone else was taking a serious look at the first .44 from Smith & Wesson: the Russians. They eventually negotiated a large contract for 150,000 guns with the Springfield firm to supply single-action sixguns for the Czar’s army.
However, they insisted on a change in the ammunition that would affect all future cartridge-cased ammunition. The original .44 S&W American was made just like the .22 Rimfire and used an outside lubricated heel bullet; that is, the diameter of the main body of the bullet was the same as the diameter of the outside of the brass case, but the lower part of the bullet was slightly smaller in diameter to fit inside the cartridge case.
The Russians made a great improvement in ammunition when they asked for a bullet of uniform diameter with lube grooves inside the case itself. The result was the .44 Russian and the beginning of modern ammunition.
Those first Russian contract guns were nothing more than American models chambered in .44 Russian. Eventually the rounded back strap was changed with a hump at the top to prevent the grip’s shifting in the hand when the gun was fired, and a spur was placed on the bottom of the trigger guard. (The argument still remains as to just what that spur was for: to parry a sword thrust? To keep the sixgun from falling when carried in a sash? To serve as a steadying rest for the middle finger when firing the revolver? All these theories have been advanced.) This sixgun became known as the Model #3 Russian.
With the removal of the spur and a slightly redesigned grip frame, the Model #3 Russian evolved into the New Model #3 in 1878 chambered in, of course, .44 Russian. The New Model #3 is without a doubt the epitome of Smith & Wesson single action production, and could easily be argued as the finest single-action sixgun to come from the nineteenth century. It was beautifully built with tight tolerances that actually worked against it in a black powder age with the fouling resulting from shooting.
John Gallagher converted this Ruger New Model 50th Anniversary .357 Magnum Blackhawk to an easy-packin’ 4″ .44 Special.
In 1881, Smith & Wesson looked at that beautiful New Model #3 and redesigned it with a double-action mechanism, and so the first Double Action Model arrived in .44 Russian. These are not the finest-looking double-action sixguns ever made, far from it, but they were dependable and would represent the best big-bore double-action sixguns from Smith & Wesson for more than 25 years. In fact, the Double Action .44 would stay in production right up to the eve of World War I.
By the late 1890s, Colt was producing swing-out cylindered double-action revolvers, and Smith & Wesson soon followed suit. In 1899, Smith & Wesson produced their first K-frame, the Military & Police, which would go on to be one of the most popular revolvers of the twentieth century. It was chambered in .38 Special, but the engineers at Smith & Wesson were looking at something a bit bigger.
The most popular bullet for the .44 Special is the Keith design; this version is from RCBS.
In 1907, the Military & Police was enlarged to what we now know as the N-frame, fitted with an enclosed ejector rod housing, and had a third locking mechanism added. By this time, the M&P locked at the back of the cylinder and the front of the ejector rod; this new sixgun received a third lock with the crane locking into the back of the ejector rod housing.
The new sixgun had many names, including the .44 Hand Ejector 1st Model, New Century, Model of 1908, .44 Military, but it is best known among collectors and shooters alike as the Triple Lock. Such a beautifully built sixgun deserved a new cartridge, and that cartridge was the .44 Special.
To arrive at the .44 Special, the .44 Russian was simply lengthened from .97″ to 1.16″. But having gone to the edge of perfection, Smith & Wesson then drew back. The longer cartridge in a stronger sixgun was loaded to duplicate the .44 Russian!
The Russian carried a bullet of approximately 250 grains at a muzzle velocity of about 750 fps. They should have at least duplicated the .45 Colt round and bumped the .44 Special up to 850-900 fps – and 1,000 fps would have been even better. It would remain the task of experimenters in the 1920s through the 1940s to discover the real potential of the .44 Special.
The new law, which went into effect this morning, mirrors state law. Simply put, you can now possess firearms in a National Park under the same state laws that govern firearms in the rest of that state.
(b) Protecting the Right of Individuals To Bear arms in Units of the National Park System and the National Wildlife Refuge System.–The Secretary of the Interior shall not promulgate or enforce any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm including an assembled or functional firearm in any unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System if–
(1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm; and
(2) the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the State in which the unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System is located.
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The truth is we don’t really know how the National Park Service is going to apply the law. Often, the bureaucrats on the ground don’t really know the law and end up randomly enforcing what they “want” and not always what is law.
For the time being one thing we know is true; you can now posses a firearm in a National Park, so long as you are in compliance with the state law where the park is located.
The legislation in question, H.R. 627 the credit card reform bill, was amended by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) to include the new pro-gun language.
Coburn’s amendment was a reaction to bureaucratic bungling by the Bush Administration. In the waning hours of the 2008, outgoing Interior Department officials attempted to change the rules to allow concealed carry in some parks. Read more
The display of Smith & Wessons, Glocks and Kel-Tec pistols among lattes and coffeecake was part of an organized rally to spread awareness about Wisconsin's open carry law as well as the recent treatment of a Sussex gun carrier by local law enforcement. Participants later drove to the Wisconsin State Patrol District Headquarters in Waukesha and demonstrated on the front lawn.
The turnout – about 40 people from various parts of Wisconsin and Illinois – may indicate growing support for the expansion of gun rights in the state, and in particular, legislation that could make it possible for people to carry concealed weapons.
State law allows adults to openly carry guns, but not in businesses that ask them not to, places that serve alcohol, and not in school zones or public buildings. Last spring, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen re-affirmed in a brief the right of Wisconsin's residents to bear arms openly, saying that those who do so should not be subject to disorderly conduct tickets from local law enforcement.
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“That was the floodgate,” said New Berlin resident Nik Clark, who organized the rally Sunday and is the president of Wisconsin Carry Inc., a new statewide organization pushing for expanded gun rights. “It verified what people already knew, but some people were still afraid to carry their guns openly until that opinion came out.”
Clark said Sunday's gathering was prompted by what members perceived as improper law enforcement action against Sussex resident Joseph Schneider.
Earlier this month, a Wisconsin State Patrol officer approached Schneider at China Wok in Sussex and asked him to take his gun out of the business. Schneider, who said he has openly carried his gun many times at the China Wok in Sussex without a problem, videotaped the encounter and then left the restaurant. Read more
The bill, House Bill 113, passed 42-15. It now advances to the Senate, where it will be taken up as soon as the end of the week. But although the bill has Senate sponsors, Senate Majority Leader Jim Anderson, R-Glenrock, said the proposal will “probably be received with more scrutiny on the Senate side” than in the House.
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Under the bill, anyone who meets the current requirements to obtain a concealed-weapons permit from the state would be allowed to carry a concealed weapon — except that proof of firearms training would no longer be required.
If the legislation passes, Wyoming would still issue concealed-weapons permits to residents, as such permits are needed for Wyoming residents to carry a concealed weapon in several other states.
State Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, the Thermopolis Republican who sponsored the bill, said the legislation asserts Wyoming residents' Second Amendment right to bear arms.
“It's sad when law-abiding citizens have to get permission — have to get permission, have to get the permit — from the government,” Quarberg said. “There's just something inherently wrong with that whole philosophy of the role the government should play in our lives.” Read more
This rifle started with an inexpensive Mauser action, a Douglas barrel, a nice piece of eastern black walnut. The money the client saved on components allowed him to buy Talley mounts and a good Zeiss scope. It is a .30-06.
The Stock
The cheapest way to go, generally, is to use an aftermarket synthetic stock for you project and glass-bed your barreled action into it.
Prices range from as low as $100 for the discount-house stuff to several times that for a stock from the “name” makers. You can paint the stock to your preference or use it “as is”.
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For wood you can spend as much as you like; to many folks the stock “makes” the gun and I have to confess I am one of those people, I prefer wood, even though I do have a couple of synthetic stocked rifles.
You don’t need an exhibition piece of wood to make a beautiful stock and if you buy a turned, semi-finished stock you can fit and finish it yourself and save a lot of cash, not only on the work but also it might make a higher grade of wood available to you money-wise than buying a finished product.
Finishing kits are available from several makers like Birchwood Casey and with a “take your time” attitude you can get a wonderful end-product. Eye-candy wood is nice but layout is more important, making sure the stock is laid out to take advantage of the natural grain flow for strength.
Fancy wood usually has some type of flaw somewhere; crotch and feather figure, burl and fiddleback all come from stresses inflicted on the tree while it grows.
If you have chosen a hard-recoiling caliber get dry, dense, tight-grained wood that will withstand the pounding. An ultra-fancy stock isn’t much good if it’s cracked.
Purists notwithstanding, I recommend glass bedding wood gunstocks. Accessories like sling swivel studs, grip caps, forend tips and recoil pads can add a good bit to the bottom line but if you’re prudent and acquire the parts over time your custom gun project can be a rewarding and fun enterprise.
Having a rifle that is a product of your imagination and fits you is truly a wonderful thing.
Walt Hampton is a professional gunsmith and writer from Virginia. He and his son Wade operate Buck Mountain Rifle Works, manufacturing semi-finished gun stocks and building custom rifles on order. Visit his website at www.buckmountainrifleworks.com or write him at [email protected].
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.
