Category: The Gun Thing

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

Difficult Choices

The Gun Thing

Old Hickock45 lays out his collection of .357 Mag revolvers, and asks the question:  “Which is the very last .357 I’d sell?”  (As always, he rambles on and on, but he’s a man who loves guns and loves shooting them — like me — so just sit back, relax and enjoy his dilemma.)

Now it may come as a surprise to you all, but VERY Longtime Readers may recall that the .357 Remington Magnum is not one of my favorite handgun cartridges to shoot, simply because the recoil gets a little tough on my wrists after a while and I develop a profound flinch in consequence.  In fact, I’ve always though that the .357 is best fired out of a revolver with at least a 6″ barrel — certainly no less — and preferably, one with a bull barrel or at least a barrel underlug (NRA definition:  “A term that relates most commonly to DA/SA revolvers, underlug refers to an integral extension of metal that runs along the bottom side of the barrel.”)

Now where Hitch and I part company are his criteria for his final choice:  something that is fun to shoot at the range, and can also be pressed into service as a self-defense gun.  (His eventual choice leans heavily towards the “self-defense” part.)  I am certainly not going to argue with his final choice, and especially not with his top three, because mine would be pretty much the same.

My criteria for “the last .357 I’d ever sell” would be (in no specific order):  fun at the range, Governor’s BBQ, and in-home (not carry) self-defense.

I don’t have fun shooting a .357 Mag revolver with anything less than a 6″ barrel, and preferably one with a 6″ barrel AND an underlug.  It has to be beautiful, and of course it could see duty on my nightstand.  (For carry, I’m going to stick with a semi-auto, most probably a 1911.)

Here are my Top 3 (in no specific order):

Ruger Redhawk:
I had one of these (before the Great Poverty Catastrophe of 2012), and it was good right out of the box.  A little work on the trigger, and it was fantastic.  I know, this Ruger’s barrel is 7.5″, but it also doesn’t have an underlug;  and anyway, I happen to like Rugers with 7″ barrels.

Colt Python:

No trigger work required on this baby, of course.  In Colt’s Royal Blue, the Python is arguably one of the most beautiful guns ever made.  That it has inarguably the best revolver trigger action ever made, and its hairsplitting accuracy all just add to its desirability.

S&W 686:

Nothing wrong with the 686;  I’ve owned two before, but this one is lovely.

I won’t spoil the ending of the video and reveal Hitchcock’s choice, but I think you all know which one you’d have to pry from my cold dead fingers…

Afterthought:  a couple of pics of some from my onetime collection of .357 Mag revolvers:


(sigh)  And there’s not a single one I wouldn’t take back in a heartbeat.

At least I’ve now got a replacement Model 65, so there’s that.

Gratuitous Gun Pic – Rossi Circuit Judge (.45 LC / .410ga)

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Okay, I did not know of this gun’s existence.

Rossi says it was inspired by the Taurus Judge revolver, and I have to say, having what is essentially a large-caliber revolver with a stock attachment and 18″ barrel piques my interest.  It has a 5-shot cylinder, and comes in either stainless steel or what they call “polished black”.

“But Kim,”  you may ask, “what would you use it for?”

Offhand, I can think of three, whether as a pest control bush gun, a trunk/truck gun, and even a home defense piece.  If I spent a little more time, I could probably come up with another four or five reasons.  Best reason I can think of, though, is that the Circuit Judge looks extremely badass.  So yes, I’d like one.

…preferably the stainless model, but the black would do, too.

MSRP is about $850, and probably a hundred less “street”.

Oh, Hell

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I can’t believe this has happened to me.

On my various meanderings through this thing we call Teh Intarwebz, I came across yet another post by Hitchcock45.  I’ve watched dozens of his EeewChoob shows — he’s my kinda guy altogether, no surprise, and I lust after his range setup — but I’d never seen him play with a Mauser K98k.

FFS.  I thought I’d purged myself of Mauser-lust, but just watching the old bugger shoot the thing reawakened my urge to shoot a K98 again.

And I don’t have any 8x57mm ammo either, so that’s yet another thing that’s going to depress my bank balance somewhat.  (Fortunately, I don’t intend to shoot it a great deal, so a five-box reserve will do me fine.)

I thought I’d outgrown this thing, but damn it all…

So if anyone has one of these K98 beauties in decent condition (I’m a shooter, not a collector, so I don’t have a fetish matching numbers or anything) and it hasn’t been to Bubba’s Amateur Gunsmithing, Inc., and it’s taking up space in your safe and you want to get rid of it:  talk to me first.

I am SO WEAK.

Afterthought:  here’s a pic that’s going to make you sob, like it did me:

Fugly

The Gun Thing

If ever I come onto this here website and start boasting about my latest shotgun purchase, and it’s this one:

…you’ll know it’s time to come and take me away in a coat with belted sleeves.

Great Vulcan’s bursting bladder, that is the ugliest gun I’ve ever seen.  At first I thought it was one of those kit things where you have to add a barrel — but nooo it’s apparently a complete gun.  S&W has made some interesting guns in their storied history, but this looks more like something Kel-Tec would make.

Ugh.

I need to look at a decent shotgun quickly, just to suppress the dreaded Vomit Reflex, so here we go with a Purdey Bar Action Hammer in 12ga:

…and a close-up:

Okay, I feel better now.

To forestall anyone who may start mumbling about “close-quarter combat  situations” and such:  if I’m in one of those, I’d rather have an AK with 30 rounds.

Preferences

Gratuitous Chick Pics, The Gun Thing

One of my favorite online reads is Powerline’s Week In Pictures, because it’s topical and funny as all hell.

However, their last pic typically features a beautiful woman holding a gun (which is a good thing), but she’s almost always dressed in tacticool gear, e.g. this week’s offering (scroll down to the end):

…which all well and good, if that’s what gets you going.

Myself, I prefer the more realistic country look:

Yeah, I’m old-fashioned.

Kein Zweiter Änderungsantrag

Mocking Furriners, The Gun Thing

…which means that the Krauts don’t have a Second Amendment, as witnessed by this sad tale:

Granted, there’s a law in Germanland called the “War Weapons Control Act” which says you can’t own, for example, a Pzkw Mark V (Panther) — I assume it means a working tank;   otherwise, it’s nothing more than a museum piece…

…which old Klaus-Dieter’s clearly is.

And in any event, the old buzzard is eighty-four years old;  he’s hardly likely to launch a blitzkrieg on the local municipal offices, is he?

On the other hand:  70 assault rifles?  That’s impressive, even by Texas standards, although the alleged ammo stash (2,000 rounds) is woefully inadequate — assuming they’re the Stg-44’s 7.62x33mm Kurz cartridges, that’s less than one 30-round magazine per gun.

Also not enough to launch a decent assault on the local Ampt.

Now, the anti-tank “cannon” (seriously?) — even if it’s the teeny Pak 36 with its 37mm gun — would be kinda fun to take up to Boomershoot or to use in times of, shall we say, civic fun and games.  Had it been the fearsome 88mm KwK 36…well, now we’d be talking turkey.  But unlike the Pak 36, you can’t tow it behind your Ram — it’s way too heavy, even for the 5.7-liter engine.

But whatever the actual gun, there’s no mention of any ammo for the thing, which makes it all the more ridiculous that Klaus-Dieter’s been fined a quarter-million euros for owning it and the other decommissioned items.

Final note:  he kept it all in his basement.  Some basement.

And I’d love to get my hands on one of those Stg-44s, assuming they haven’t been wrecked.