Category: Gratuitous Gun Pics

Gratuitous Gun Pic – Mauser Sporter (8x60mm S)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Here’s another take on last week’s GGP of the Mauser Sporter 7x57mm rifle.  This one (also from Collectors Firearms) is more conventional-looking, and chambered for the unusual 8x60mm S cartridge:

And the action is likewise quite lovely, with a polished knob bolt (rather than the butterknife) and conventional scope rings.  Still with the full stock and double set triggers, though.

As for the 8x60mm S cartridge:  it’s basically a lengthened casing derived from the military 8x57mm cartridge, and was created to circumvent the Versailles Treaty restrictions on the production of military chamberings — the thought being that hunters and their clubs could become ersatz  reserve units for the Wehrmacht.  (I know, stupid, but that’s gummint for ya.)  So DWM simply changed the cartridge while keeping the bullet (the “S” denotes .323″) — and the longer casing meant more gunpowder, ergo  a more powerful cartridge.  As such, the 8x60mm is very close to the .30-06 Springfield in terms of performance.

So why buy this rifle, when the cartridges are hard to find?  Actually, one might think that the 8×60 S is rare, but it isn’t — quite a feat given that it was made solely for pre-WWII German hunting rifles.   True, you do have to look around for them, but they’re made in quantity by Serbia’s Prvi Partizan company, and in keeping with PPU’s philosophy, they’re inexpensive — I found them selling for just over $22 per 20, which makes the rifle a perfectly acceptable purchase.  (The only problem is that this rifle is horribly –and I think unjustifiably — expensive, even by Collector’s standards.)

Now… where are those lottery tickets?

Gratuitous Gun Pic – Mauser Sporter (7x57mm)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Looking over the posts for the past week or so, it occurs to me that there are far too few entries which conform to the original premise of the GGP series, namely, providing pics of guns that we gun-lovers can drool over, for whatever reason.  Allow me to remedy the situation forthwith.

Here’s one being offered by Collectors Firearms:  a pre-WWII Mauser 98K Sporter in one of my favorite calibers, the venerable 7x57mm.

Good grief… this gun rings just about every single one of my rifleman bells:  Mannlicher-style full stock, “butterknife” bolt lever, and  a double set trigger?

The only way this rifle could be more beautiful is if it had breasts.

I know that modern-day shooters look askance at the old-style scope front claw mount (which grips the bell rather than the barrel), but there’s nothing wrong with the concept — having two barrel grips just simplifies the production process and therefore the cost thereof.

Okay, it’s expensive,  because a) rare and b) Collectors.  But like I said about the Colt 1903 pistol, this is not a “first gun”, at least if you wanted to go hunting:  other more modern guns might be a tad better.  But in a pinch, this gun could  be your go-to hunting rifle, and I very much doubt that it would let you down, whether in its operation, accuracy, reliability or chambering.  And for a hunting rifle, that’s pretty much all you can ask for, isn’t it?  The fact that it is more beautiful  than 90% of modern hunting rifles is just a bonus.

Speaking for myself:  if I won the lottery, I’d buy this gun in a heartbeat.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Colt 1903 (.32 ACP)

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Of all the countless handguns I’ve ever fired, the Colt 1903 probably ranks in the top 3 in the “Most Pleasant To Shoot” category.

There are a couple of things that gunnies may sniff at:  the “European”-style mag release (which John Moses Browning, the 1903’s designer, would rectify with the 1911), and of course the poodleshooter .32 ACP cartridge it fired.  Here’s a close-up of the mag release mechanism:

None of this matters.  I’ve probably fired half a dozen of these beauties, in varying conditions of use / neglect, but each one was silky-smooth where it mattered:  in the action thereof.

I remember firing one in particular at one of Combat Controller’s schutzenfests  down in Austin many years ago.  The owner — whose name I’ve forgotten, sorry — had had it professionally reblued in Colt’s “Royal Blue” finish. The gun was so beautiful and shot so beautifully that I nearly fainted.  Had I not been a guest, and the owner not a fellow member of the Nation of Riflemen, I would have stolen it.  I offered to buy it from him on the spot at any price he cared to name, and he just laughed at me.  Can’t say I blame him, but I still pine for it like I pine for very few other guns.

It’s probably for the better.  I beat up my handguns pretty badly because I shoot them so often and for so long at each range session, and it would break my heart to destroy a 1903, even though the shooting, while it lasted, would be as fine as the caress of a pretty girl’s hand.

Which brings me to the next point.  I think that the 1903 — poodleshooter cartridge notwithstanding — would be a fine choice for a lady’s concealed piece:  it’s light, reliable, easy to conceal and gentle to shoot.

I’ve also fired the later-model 1908 which is chambered in .380 ACP, but as I recall, it wasn’t as much fun to shoot as the smaller chambering.  (The two models are to all extents and purposes identical but for the cartridge.)

Predictably, these fine guns are spendy, costing well over a thousand bucks (cheaper, and they’re probably not going to be reliable and/or beaten up.)  Magazines, when you can find them, cost more than Pirelli Cinturatos.

To my mind, though, if you have your existing shooting needs taken care of (e.g. with serious guns shooting manstopper cartridges), you could do far, far  worse than to add one of these lovely little guns to your collection.  Here’s an excellent write-up of its history.

(Pics courtesy of Collector’s Firearms, probably my favorite gun store of all.)

Dog Ate My Homework

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

A little while ago, my website’s server had a hiccup (confirmed by Tech Support II) and ate the post that was supposed to be here.

Of course, this happened mid-writing, so it all went bye-bye into the Great Digital Black Hole (no relation to Maxine Waters).

When I get my temper under control, you can read all about my trip to the Third World this past Wednesday.  In the meantime, here’s a gratuitous gun pic of a Mauser C96:

Other than as an historical artifact (e.g. as used by Winston Churchill against various fuzzy-wuzzies), I don’t know why people have a thing for this gun.  I’ve fired fired one in its original 7.63 Mauser chambering, and it’s almost uncontrollable:  that “broomhandle” grip turns in your hand even in when shooting two-handed;  gawd knows what it’s like when shooting it old-style:

 

I bet you couldn’t hit the inside of a barn with the thing, let alone a deserving fuzzy-wuzzy.

Desert Island Guns

Gratuitous Gun Pics

This post is a riff on the BBC’s program “Desert Island Discs”, whereby the guest is asked to list the five pieces of music they would take if exiled to or marooned alone on a desert island (such as this one, screw that grass hut nonsense).

So here’s my list of five guns I’d take under similar circumstances.  (Assume a healthy supply of ammo, targets, cleaning gear etc.  Also, assume you’re never going to be attacked by pirates or zombies, FFS.)

Colt Python (.357 Mag/.38 Special)
Every time I pull the trigger on a Python, I fall in love with shooting all over again.  It is quite possibly the perfect handgun.  I’d choose it with a 6″ barrel.

 

Ruger Single-Ten (.22 LR)
I could take the Single-Six but as any fule kno, ten is better than six.  And plinking is gonna be pretty much an everyday affair, yes?

 

Winchester Mod 62 gallery gun (.22 LR)
Plinking with one of these (or the Taurus knock-off) would be almost continuous, with a series of metal spinner targets set at various ranges.

 

Aguirre y Aranzabal (AyA) XXXV (20ga)
Of course  there’d be a multi-station shotgun range on the island.  I would probably need weekly shipments of clays, by the container.  (And if I could cheat ever so slightly and take two  of these to save on the barrels wearing out after only six months, I’d be very grateful.)  That’s also why I’d pick 20-gauge over the 12:  to spare my shoulder.

 

Finally, to the surprise of precisely nobody, my rifle choice:

Mauser M12 (6.5x55mm)
It is the finest bolt-action rifle I’ve ever fired, period.

Of course, it would be my  M12, as accessorized below:

Needless to say, compiling this list took lots of time because choices.  In the end, I went with guns I’ve fired before and enjoyed shooting more than all the others — and I have fired a lot  of guns in my time.  It’s all very well to think about AK-47s and such, but who actually enjoys  shooting them (other than South African criminals and Muslim/Marxist terrorists)?

And speaking of AK-47s, note the complete absence of semi-automatics in the above.  That was a coincidence, not by design.  I just like working the actions of my guns.

Anyway, those are my five Desert Island Guns.  Feel free to pick your own in Comments, and no cheating with stuff like T/C multi-caliber rifles, either.  Five (5) guns, one chambering per gun.  Have at it.

Update:   “Also, assume you’re never going to be attacked by pirates or zombies, FFS.”

Clearly, I need to emphasize the rules and conditions for some  people…  FFS.

Not My Favorite

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

Over at CTD, I see this article:

II have to confess that I’ve owned several “Bisley-gripped” revolvers, and I was never able to shoot any of them for shit.  Something about that upright grip angle made me shoot high — not the first shot, but by the third trigger-pull I’d be missing way high.  The Bisley grip never felt quite comfortable in my hand, and so over time I got rid of all of them because there’s no point in keeping a gun you can’t shoot accurately, is there?  (Especially when someone else absolutely loves shooting my old Ruger revolvers and has never stopped thanking me for swapping them with him. )

As a matter of fact, I shoot the “regular” Ruger grips a lot more comfortably (and hence more accurately), and ditto the Smith & Wesson’s.  Here’s my GP100:

…and my Model 65 (sob):

I have the same issue with the Luger-style (which is raked too much in the other  direction) and the 1911:

The Luger doesn’t work for me, and the 1911 does.

It’s strange how just a couple degrees’ difference of rake in the grip can make such a difference.   Then again, I seldom shoot “hot” loads (as Roberts does, apparently).  The hottest handgun round I’m prepared to shoot is the “regular” 240-gr  .44 Magnum (in the right-sized revolver, i.e. Blackhawk/Redhawk).  Forget that .500 S&W nonsense:


Yeah, I’m a recoil wussy.  Sue me.