Category: Gratuitous Gun Pics

Bad Influence

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Longtime Reader and Friend JohnC writes:

Well, you caused me to impulse buy a Ruger SP101… and I thank you for it! When you suggested one for my sister, I found some French Police trade-in guns for $450 chambered in .38 spl, which is fine, I’m not the type who enjoys shooting .357 magnums out of small guns–it’s like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer because it feels so good when your head stops hurting. Anyway, I have a nice new carry gun for use with plenty effective +P loads. So here is a post I put up at Ruger Forums, thought you’d appreciate it and the pics. Thanks for helping me make an impulse purchase!  I love this thing!

Oh, and the grips are made by now defunct Trausch, in Germany. Those are the grips they put on the Manurhin revolver you wrote about a while back. Atlantic Firearms still has some if this makes your trigger finger itch.

🙂

And an update:

Well, had it out to the range already. Love it! The trigger is not bad, but I do have the Wolff spring kit and plan on trying the 12# spring. If I like it, I’m not after the lightest pull and I’ll stop. If I feel like I should try the 10# it will take 300 rounds of practice ammo to get me confident in it, but I bet the 12# will do the trick. Other than reaming the trigger return spring channel, I’m not planning on doing all that Mcarbo polishing, I doubt it’s needed.

Love the gun, especially the grips, as has been mentioned. They are terrific! I did not have any issue with a speedloader at all with them. Very comfy little gun. I can see this is the .357 sized gun, the chambers are just reamed a bit shorter, it’s very obvious, so no measuring needed. I’m confident enough in the +P stuff, I’m not really interested in reaming it out to shoot .357 Magnum, I do that in my Security Six.

Finally, I got a Galco Combat master for it, and it’s a great holster. They usually have some kind of 15% off promo deal, and I got one. Yeah, I’ve had fancy one-man-shop holsters, but IMNSHO, you can find a cheaper holster than the Galco, and you can find a better holster than the Galco, but you can’t find a better holster for less money than a Galco. They are top quality products at reasonable, if not cheap prices.

Other than the spring replacement, the only other thing I plan on doing is easing the edges of the trigger and the trigger guard, they are a bit sharpish. Maybe I’ll polish it up like I did my little Taurus 85CH snubby, but not sure I have that much energy. We’ll see.

Here is a shot of what I took to the range yesterday.

I love a well-turned-out range session, myself.  Lovely.

Yeah, that’s me:  a Bad Influence.  As I recall, when John first came to this website, he only had one or two guns.  Since then, he’d accumulated well over a dozen — until that unfortunate canoeing accident, that is.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Hammer Shotguns

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Smart-Ass Reader Joe G writes and asks me:  “If you’re as old-fashioned as you say you are, why have you never considered a shotgun that uses hammers instead of those newfangled hidden devices?”

It’s a good question (if a trifle impertinent), but let me open the discussion by showing one such, the (new) CZ Hammer Coach (~$900):

It is a strange thing that while we gunnies are all over the idea of single-action handguns (e.g. Colt Single Action Army revolvers), the same principle doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to shotguns, and it shows in the sales thereof.

Not many gun manufacturers make the old-style hammer guns anymore, other than in a style reminiscent of the old “stagecoach” short-barreled things (like the above).  And I’m not interested in a 20″ barrel, unless in a designated self-defense piece like a pump-action.

But if one wants a long-barreled hammer shotgun, the choices are scant:  either a hammer gun that is so old it’s unusable, like this old Gibbs from 1885:

…or else one that is old but still usable, like this Purdey Best Bar Action 12ga (~$16,500):

By the way, this Purdey would already be mine apart from reasons of poverty, because it is drop-dead gorgeous (right-click to embiggen both pics):

So why don’t I have or want one of these oldies?

It’s a simple reason, really:  nobody makes (or has ever made, apparently) a hammer gun in 20 gauge.  My days of shooting 12ga shotguns are over (brief as they were to start off with) because my shoulder just can’t take the sustained pounding of the big guy anymore.  And given that I mostly shoot clays nowadays, I am likely to pull the trigger upwards of a hundred times or more in a session.  And even that creates a sizeable bruise with 20ga, not that I care — but with a 12ga?  Yikes.

Of course, there’s this fine W&C Scott offering, which although originally barreled for 12ga, has been re-sleeved to 20ga, and is a steal at a mere (coff coff ) $7,500:

Hmm…

So I’m not that averse to the idea… but practicality gives me a kick in the ass, as it usually does (sigh).

Gratuitous Gun Pic: S&W Mod 648 (.22 Win Mag)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Being out of touch, as always, I failed to notice that S&W have (once again) re-released their lovely little Model 648 — only this time, it has an 8-round cylinder:

I just love the look of this piece;  a nice heavy barrel and underlug on a K-frame Smith?  Be still, my beating heart.

But it had better be a strong heart.

Longtime Readers will be aware that I am a huge fan of the .22 Mag (.22 Win Mag/WMR) cartridge, and all things being equal I would be on the hunt for one of these new 8-shooters toot sweet, so to speak.

But seriously — and I have bitched and moaned about this before — the cost of .22 Mag ammo is just foul.  When .22 LR has come down to around 10 cents per pop, its big brother stays stubbornly around 36 cents, which just sucks.  Even back in the Good Times (1999 – 2005), it was still relatively pricey, but even so, I recall paying about 15 cents per (about double that of Min-Mag .22 LR from CCI) on a bulk purchase;  and thank goodness it was a bulk purchase (5,000 rounds), because I’m still shooting ammo from that and earlier purchases.  I haven’t had the nerve (or wallet) to buy any more since then.

That kind of price just takes the ammo — and the guns which shoot them — right out of the plinking / fun shooting, and relegates it to varmint hunting.  And by the way, if I were to go varminting now, I could shoot .223 Rem ammo at 32 cent a squeeze, and save 4 cents a time over .22 Mag.  Total suckage.

And I know all about the cost/demand curve, and a pox on it:  because it’s taking this lovely revolver right off my wish list.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Volquartsen Classic (.22 Win Mag)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Whenever I’ve discussed super-accurate rimfire rifles, I think I’ve given the Volquartsen folks short shrift, simply by not mentioning them — maybe because they are pretty much the guns of choice for the hard-core target- and competition shooters, and their prices reflect the degree of fit and finish that those disciplines demand.  The one below, at Collectors, is priced at just under $2,000 (secondhand), for example:

Ignoring the foul laminate stock, this is a serious semi-auto rifle, and it’s one I would gladly take out for a little garbage dump rat action — but at the price, I would have to really hate rats, and in my unsteady hands, I doubt I would do that much worse with my trusty Marlin 882 boltie in the same chambering.

All that said:  there’s something to be said for owning a semi-auto rifle that is the equal of pretty much any precision bolt-action rifle in the same caliber, and one where you can’t just buy a new one — it has to be made for you.  So at the price… it’s quite a bargain.

I’ve only ever fired the Volquartsen .22 LR, never owned one, but my memory is of a superlative trigger and rock-solid consistency.  And the one I shot just loved CCI Green Tag ammo — of course, the premium rifle would prefer the spendy target feed.

All comments gratefully received.

Gratuitous Gun Pic – Remington 7400 (.270 Win)

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Also just in at Collectors is the rifle for those who are leery of owning an “assault rifle”, or whose state government provides the leeriness:  the semi-auto hunting rifle of all time, in the all-time hunting cartridge.

I once had one of these exact guns, traded it for something else, and regretted the trade almost immediately afterwards.  (The fact that I remember this gun and not the gun I traded it for speaks volumes.)

I know, it only has a 5-round magazine, but 10-round mags cost only $30 or so.  And the gun itself is a decent buy at just under $800 — remember, Collectors has premium pricing so if you find one elsewhere cheaper, be my guest;  but Collectors doesn’t sell crap or broken guns.

Gratuitous Gun Pic – S&W 1500 (7mm Rem Mag)

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I don’t tout stuff from Collectors Firearms as often as I used to, but this one’s a steal:

These rifles were made by Howa in Japan using S&W specs, and they’re as good as any of the Weatherby Vanguards or Browning shotguns they also made in that era.

I would upgrade the scope (if necessary), thread the muzzle and pop either a brake or suppressor on the end to attenuate the 7mm Mag’s recoil.

And I could afford to do all that because the rifle costs less than $500 (!!!).  An absolute bargain — but get there quickly because it just came into stock at Collectors, and at that price it’s not going to stay there for long.