Category: The Gun Thing

Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them

Lockless

The Gun Thing

Apparently Smith & Wesson are discontinuing the disgusting Clinton-era revolver locks.  Details here.

And about time, too.

I should point out that my own J-frame lightweight Mod 637 has a lock:

…but it has never suffered an “inadvertent” lock-up as a result of recoil, although Smith’s scandium-framed revolvers are reported to suffer occasionally from this malady when shooting heavy magnum loads.

Whatever;  maybe I should think about replacing the old backup with a new “no-lock” piece…

 

If I do, I’ll raffle my old 637 to my Readers who live in states where I can ship it to without having the godless ATF crawl up my ass.  Or I’ll just give it back to its original owner, with thanks.  Watch this space.

Next on the agenda:  getting Ruger to stop disfiguring their guns with that stupid “GUNS ARE DANGEROUS!!!!” billboard on the barrel.  (Fuck you, we all know that, you foul poltroons.)

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Diablo Break-Open Pistol (12ga)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Reader John C. writes and asks:  “Why haven’t you done a review of this Diablo pistol?”

Probably for the simple reason that I’d never heard of it before.  However, he did include a pic:

Well now… that is interesting.  This Gun Craft Diablo is a take on the venerable Derringer — in fact, it more correctly harks back to the flintlock pistols of yore in that it’s a black-powder thing, and sports the manly 12ga load (times two!) which should make one’s wrist ache just by looking at it.

If you’re interested in having one of these bad boys shipped to your front door (no NFA restrictions!!!), then here’s some loading advice, courtesy of Paul Helinski.

Here’s the thing:  as I said, I’d never heard of this gun before, let alone fired it.  But I have owned and fired a Bond Arms Derringer-style pistol in .44 Mag.  [pause to let the gasps of shock and surprise subside]  One would expect that the recoil would be overwhelming but really, it isn’t.  The reason is that the shorty lil’ 1½” barrel of the Derringer means that the boolet has left the muzzle long before the recoil has set in, so to me it felt little different from, say, a .38 Special +P fired from a 4″ barrel revolver, and a lot less than a .44 Mag fired from a similar gun.

I see no reason why a 12ga black powder 00 shot load through a 6″ smoothbore barrel would be much different.  (A .72″ ball… errrr maybe not.)

My take:  it’s a “fun” gun and not one I’d consider for any kind of self-defense use, of course.  But there’s nothing wrong with having fun, especially where guns are concerned.  And I love the fact that as it doesn’t have to go through the usual FFL/NCIS rigmarole forced on us when buying a gun, it can truly be “the gun that nobody knows you own”.

Nothing wrong with that, either.

Ammo Carriers

The Gun Thing

When I were a lad, whenever I went out into the bush to do a little impromptu shooting, my method of carrying ammo in the field was simple:  the carriers were called “trouser pockets”, and I would just fill them up with loose rounds of ammo (whether .177 pellets or .22 cartridges).

But le temps se marche, if you’ll pardon my French, and now I need to carry my plinking ammo in some kind of carrier.

Of course, if I’m carrying a gun that shoots from a magazine, carrying spare ammo is not an issue:  just MOAR magazines.  And indeed that’s what I do, in that I have multiple spare magazines for all my semi-auto guns.

But what, I ask myself, do I do when I’m carrying a single-action revolver or a tube-fed rifle?

Sure, I could just keep the boolets in the box they came in, or jam ’em loose in my pocket as in times gone by.

But that means fumbling around, and getting them to line up to be reloaded and all that.

Then I read this article, and it made all sorts of sense to me:

A convenient solution I have found is the magazine for an M1911-style .22 Long Rifle pistol. The slim magazine can be conveniently carried in a pouch or pocket, with the rounds protected, and individual cartridges can be thumbed into a single-shot chamber, the magazine tube of a rifle or the loading gate of a single-action rimfire revolver.

I’m not sure about a 1911-style mag, because those tend to be spendy.  But any old cheap .22 pistol mag will do, surely?  Like this one:

That’s under $15 per mag, it holds 15 rounds, which means that four such mags would mean… [carry the 4]  ten reloads for a Single Six revolver, or… [carry the three]  five or so reloads for the Model 63.  All in a handy little package, so to speak.

Definitely worth thinking about.

New Same As Old

Military, The Gun Thing

I see that the U.S. Army’s new rifle is having some problems.

Okay, the XM7 per se  isn’t having problems, but its bells-‘n-whistles sighting system is.

The fiscal 2024 report on the Army’s Next-Generation Squad Weapon program from the Pentagon’s Director, Operational Test and Evaluation published last week indicates that the XM157 Fire Control smart scope that’s intended to augment the program’s XM7 Next Generation Rifle and XM250 Next Generation Automatic Rifle received negative ratings from soldiers during testing last year.
“The XM7 with mounted XM157 demonstrated a low probability of completing one 72-hour wartime mission without incurring a critical failure.”

On the positive side, the XM7 rifle itself, and its new ammo (6.8x51mm) was very much liked.  That’s good.  But a rifle without sights is useless (except at very close range).  But why isn’t the “Fire Control” system working?  I mean:

A 1-8×30 variable magnification direct view optic built by Vortex Optics subsidiary Sheltered Wings, the XM157 incorporates advanced technologies such as a laser rangefinder, aiming lasers, environmental sensors, ballistic solver, compass and a digital display overlay, all of which are designed to “increase the probability of hit and decrease the time to engage”.
The XM157 also features wireless connectivity that will purportedly allow it to integrate with heads-up displays like the Army’s current Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular, or ENVG-B, and future Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, do-it-all goggles, allowing soldiers to survey the battlefield from cover using a live video feed from their weapon optic.

I’m just amazed there isn’t a coffee-making capability included.

Ah yes, the old “advanced technologies” bugaboo.  The more technologies involved, the greater the number of potential failure points.

Now I’m not suggesting that we go back to iron aperture sights (as good as they are), and by the way, I see that the XM7 has no provision for any kind of backup sights (which pleaseth me not).

I’m all for giving our boys the best gear possible to kill assholes I mean our country’s enemies.  But the shit’s gotta work, FFS.

So what’s the Army doing about it?

Despite the documented issues detailed in the DOT&E report, the Army is still plowing ahead with the system’s development. Indeed, the service released a sources sought notice in late January for “novel technologies or ongoing research that would be beneficial for the XM157 system as a module and/or software that provides enhanced capability.” 

Yeah, so instead of scaling back the complexity until we get something that works perfectly, and building it back up from that base, let’s make the system still more complicated than the (non-working) thing already is.  That’s a proven recipe for success, of course.

We were always drilled that there are three ways to do things:  the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way.

I’ll leave it to you to decide what’s happening here.

Birding

Good Stuff, Hunting

We interrupt this stream of all-politics-all-the-time posts to bring you some traditional recreation shooting, courtesy of Jonny at TGS Outdoors.

As always, action-packed shooting and tons of informative content, all delivered in his trademark aw-shucks overgrown-schoolboy manner (and terrible schoolboy haircut), and all whilst stuck in typical gloomy Britishland shooting weather.

(gottim)

Still, there are some perks…

And the results are important, too.

Lovely.