Category: Gratuitous Gun Pics

Old Sights, Old Eyes

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Optics, The Gun Thing

Longtime Readers will be familiar with my affection for Browning’s Buckmark .22 pistol, she of the wonderful trigger and reliable feeding.  And excellent accuracy… well, except in my hands.

I used to be able to shoot the Buckmark acceptably well, but as old age has buggered my eyes up horribly (stop me if this is familiar to y’all), so has my accuracy suffered.  Of course it’s not the gun:  I’ve owned (counting on fingers) five of the things over the years, and I’ve always been able to make the cans pop and dance, so to speak.

Now?  I’d be lucky to hit the inside of a room.

So I’ve had to go from this light, sleek little beauty:

…to this (much) heavier, ungainly-looking thing:

Accuracy?  I’ll let you know next week, after I’ve been to the range and zeroed the dotty thingamajig in.

Interesting Concept

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Marketing / Advertising

From PSA:

Why is this interesting?  Well, I like the idea of an easy-switch barrel combo rather than having to hump two .22 rifles around (as I do) in order to get the maximum fun out of the cheap .22 LR and the added power of the .22 WMR.  (Plus there’s that space issue in Ye Olde Gunne Sayfe…)

That straight-pull bolt is an excellent idea.  (The B1 was originally marketed as a Hammerli-designed action, hubba hubba.)

But there’s a snag.  You see, Walther has made this rifle accept Ruger 10/22 magazines — excellent — and they supply three magazines with the rifle — even better.  BUT:  the ratio of magazines is:  two .22 LR mags, and only one .22 WMR mag.

And that’s the problem.  Ruger .22 LR (BX-1) mags are so plentiful that people hand them out to kiddies as Halloween favors or Xmas stocking stuffers.  Ruger .22 WMR mags… errr not so much;  you have to get them online rather than in brick-n-mortar stores.

Far better, in my opinion, to supply two magnum mags and one LR mag.  Or just up the price of the rig by $10 and offer two of each.

OR — gasp! — include two BX-10 .22 LR mags, and one of the BX-15 .22 WMR mags (15 rounds, oh my).  There’s almost no difference in price between the 10- and 15-round mags.

There ya go, Walther:  free marketing advice from a would-be customer (blocked only by poverty from being an actual customer).  Have at it.

Tell me that’s not a toothsome prospect, I dare ya.  (Maybe if I looked under the sofa cushions…)

Better yet, mounted on a nice laminate stock.  Nah, that’s asking too much.

Okay, here’s an offer to any of my Loyal Readers:  buy me one of these Walthers, and I’ll send you both my .22 rifles (the SQ LR and the SSV WMR) in exchange, including scopes and bipods.

Gratuitous Gun Pics: Rimfire Revolvers

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Yesterday I talked about shooting rimfire .22 ammo in my old age, and specifically the rifles with which to do so.  Well, I promised to talk about the handgun options for the same purposes, and here we are.

I wrote about the pleasures of shooting single-action revolvers some time ago (feel free to go there first to refresh the memory), and specifically, the guns I have already acquired to take care of this need.  Here they are, the Ruger Single-Six Brothers:


(Before anyone asks, I have one in stainless and the other in blue so I can remember which is loaded with which ammo:  SS .22 Mag, Bluey .22 LR.  That way I don’t have to mess with swapping out the cylinders.)  

But what if I want to eschew the hassle of ejecting and reloading the piece one round at a time?  We all know what that means:  double-action revolvers.

Here’s where I have to admit to a shortcoming, so to speak.  Also some time back, I talked about the exquisite S&W Model 48, which is chambered in .22 Mag (once again, feel free to go back in time thence to read my lament at not owning one).  In the Comments to the post, Reader Velocette had this to say:

You too have EARNED the right to make yourself happy. So DO it.

Well, it took me a while, but:

…and allow me to say that with the gun case thus almost-filled, I have had many an enjoyable, nay blissful range session since.

But now we come to the problem:  Alert Readers will notice a gaping hole in the Gun Case Of Bliss, namely, that there is a distinct lack of a .22 double-action revolver in the space provided.  Here’s what it should look like (with a .38 revolver for illustrative purposes only):

…but it leaves me with but one more job:  to pick a decent .22 DA revolver for the task.

Naturally, my first choice is a S&W Model 17 with a 6″ barrel:

…which is dreamy, but its street retail price of just over a grand (!!!!!) pretty much relegates it to “dream” status. I have no cash, in other words, to fund this little dream.

However:  if there’s a Reader out there who happens to have a Model 17 as above* in decent nick and would entertain a swap for some boomstick of equal desirability… email me and let’s talk.  (As always, north Texas Readers will get preference so the exchange can be made in the time-honored Texas fashion.)

And before anyone asks, yes I have the “.22 semi-auto” option already covered, thankee.

*The Model 63 stainless would also be perfectly acceptable.

So hie thee to thine Gunne Sayfes, and let me know.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: CZ 457 Lux

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Several years ago, Mr. Free Market and I were talking about guns — yeah, no surprises there — while sitting around an open fire in the garden behind the guest house while — surprise, surprise — drinking the occasional whisky.

One of the topics was:  if you’re facing retirement and decide that your shooting life thereafter is going to be only rimfire, which rifle would you choose as your final shooting companion?

As I recall, Mr. FM’s choice was the Anschutz 1712 HB (he hates set triggers), and I can’t argue with his choice except to note that said rifle retails for nearly $3,000.  (Being one of the Landed Gentry / Filthy Rich Set, he doesn’t concern himself with silly things like price.)

All jokes aside, one could only agree with him — Anschutz make wonderful rifles, and that thing positively screams “one-hole groupings, all day and every day”.

I can’t remember what my choice was — I think it was the CZ 457, which is a far better rifle than I am a rifleman — but I was thinking about the topic on my own the other day;  not in front of a fire, but certainly with the occasional single-malt in hand, and I thought:  “Why only one rimfire rifle?”

Well, that led me down a rabbit hole (the usual one) and I came up with this idea:  not just one CZ 457, but two of the lovely things — chambered in .22 LR and .22 Win Mag:

I cannot say exactly why I love the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) cartridge so much, but I do.  And the fact that the price of the two above rifles combined is less than $1,500… well, I think you get my point.

That’s not to say that my existing .22 pair (Marlin 880 SQ and 882 SSV) is anything to sneeze at:

…and for a combined price of about $600, if memory serves correctly, they too are far more accurate than I can shoot them.

Yet there’s still a small voice inside my head that whispers evil thoughts to me…

Tomorrow I’ll talk about the .22 handguns.