Category: Gratuitous Gun Pics

Lever Monstrosity

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Reader John C sends me a pic (with all sorts of apologies) and a plaintive cry of “How can anyone do that to a lever gun?”

Strangely enough, I don’t think it’s completely horrible, especially given the times we live in.  If you take away the lever action and replace it with a bolt action, it becomes a simple “chassis” rifle, e.g.

Is it ugly?  Oh hell yes, and I’ve made my feelings clear about this plastic nonsense on many an occasion.

If we are going to level criticism at the chassis lever rifle (CLR), it would be this:  note that while the CLR has a bipod, it’s fitted with a red-dot sight and not with a scope — and for good reason, because at its heart, the primary terrain of the lever rifle is in the deep woods, where a scope is more often than not counterproductive in that it can limit the shooter’s field of vision.

The second criticism is this:  removing the standard wood stock and adding a bipod and chassis must add weight to the rifle, which therefore takes away the lever rifle’s most important features:  its lightness and handiness.

All that said, I don’t have a problem with adding a bipod to a lever rifle;  there are times when I, for one, would have found it quite useful — i.e. when faced with a 100-plus yard shot across a clearing in the woods.

(As an aside, if you do a search for “lever rifle with bipod”, there are precious few pics thereof, which might mean something.)

Lastly, I would suggest that unless the bipod is extended quite substantially (as in the above pic), the downward drop of the lever will slam on the ground and prevent the action from cycling properly.  Shooting from prone, therefore, would be awkward.

Also, I quite like the idea of adding a red dot sight to a lever rifle, although it compromises the clean, classic shape of the thing.

So yes, the chassis lever rifle is as ugly as Nancy Pelosi with a hangover, and definitely falls foul of the maxim that “even if you can do something, there’s no reason why you should“.  Frankly, though, I think its impracticality is more of a reason why it should be ignored with extreme prejudice.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Ruger M77 (7x57mm / 7mm Mauser)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Some time back, an Evil Reader read my constant chatter about the wonderful 7x57mm cartridge, and sent me an email saying that he was making space in his ammo locker for more ammo, and as he didn’t have a rifle chambered for the 7mm Mauser, would I like the few boxes he had on hand?

Well, I didn’t (and don’t) have a rifle thus chambered either, but who turns down free ammo?  So a week or so later, there it was.

Which means that ever since then, I’ve been looking at 7mm Mauser rifles, and moaning piteously when I found one because NO MONEY.

This Ruger M77 in particular caused some heavy sighing:

…because it is exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for:   but I don’t have a spare grand floating around, and I don’t have any “spare” guns lying around that I want to sell, either.

And here I sit, 7x57mm in Ye Olde Ammoe Locquer and no gun to shoot it with.

Sometimes, I wonder if it’s all worth it.  [exit, kicking the cat]

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Mossberg Patriot (.308 Win)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

After yesterday’s custom Mauser 98 at a nosebleed price, here’s something a little more reasonable, and American, chambered for a proper Murkin cartridge (right-click to embiggen):

And the action:

I rather like that spiral-cut bolt, oh yes I do.

I don’t know much about the Patriot line, but given that it’s a Mossberg, it shouldn’t suck too badly.

And the price ($500)… that’s much better.  Add a halfway-decent piece of glass on it (e.g. this one), and the rig should be fit for purpose.

Of course, I personally think the plastic “camo” stock sucks green donkey dicks, but I suppose it’s all part of the cost-cutting, and marketing to all the wannabe “operators” out there.  [sigh]

Gratuitous Gun Pic — Ruger PC-9 Carbine (9mm Para)

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I was wandering idly through my Inbox, deleting just about 99% of it as always, when I stumbled across an ad from these guys which featured this thing:

Now, Ruger’s PC-9 has been around with us for a long time, and deservedly so.  This particular model (one of many) has been gussied up with a barrel-cooling sleeve and a Picatinny rail, and for under $650 is a pretty decent deal.

If only they made them in .45 ACP, using either 1911 mags or their own 10-round double-stack ones, I’d be seriously tempted.  But in the 9mm Europellet?  Not so much.

And I’m not the only one.

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.