Archive for the ‘Guns’ Category

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Happy National Buy an AK Day!

Saturday, January 20th, 2024

I’m a little later than I would like on this one, but you still have time to get to your local gun shop, or to place an order online. Online orders count.

As I have written in the past:

Contrary to what some may believe, this holiday has nothing to do with any political events that take place on January 20th: rather, it is inspired by the classic Ice Cube song “It Was a Good Day” (“Today I didn’t even have to use my A.K./I got to say it was a good day“) and the hard work done by Donovan Strain who determined that the “good day” in the song was January 20, 1992.

I had a nice chat with one of the folks at my local gun shop. Sadly, they didn’t have a lot of AKs that I liked, and my budget has a car-sized hole in it right now. His comment to me was that there really aren’t a lot of good AKs out there these days. But he did also observe (and I have heard this from other people as well) that the Palmetto State Armory AK-47 pattern guns are surprisingly good.

My own personal feeling is that I want something in 7.62×39 (though that’s not as important right now, since Russian ammo can’t be imported any longer, so it is harder to get cheap 7.62), and something that’s (as I put it to the gun guy) “reasonably accurate”. I’m not looking for a minute-of-angle AK-47, but I also don’t want something that just sprays bullets randomly all over the place.

I think we’ve probably got another year before we have to start seriously worrying, so I may wait until January 20, 2025. Then, depending on the election results, I might just pull the trigger on a PSA AK-47.

(In a technical sense, I sort of do have an AK already. But it’s complicated.)

Posted in Guns | 1 Comment »

Assassins (random gun crankery).

Friday, January 19th, 2024

Some time back, I wrote about the guns of the presidential assassins.

GunsAmerica has an article up by Will Dabbs (who also writes for American Handgunner and is rapidly becoming the gun writer who amuses me the most): “The Assassination of William McKinley: Of Hopeless Causes and One Seriously Pathetic Pistol“.

Given the gun’s advanced age and questionable personality, I lack the fortitude to fire it. However, I am reasonably certain that the gun would be soft-shooting and easily pointed. So long as you mind the spurred hammer it should run well from concealment.

…

Czolgasz chose a truly horrible handgun for his mission. A coat button actually successfully deflected one round, while the other took eight days to end the life of his victim. McKinley’s wounds would have presented a technical challenge to a proper trauma surgeon today but should have been reliably survivable. McKinley’s obese habitus and a previously undiagnosed cardiomyopathy found on autopsy undoubtedly contributed to his death.

Dr. Dabbs’s article includes photos of the musuem display (which is not the actual gun, but an identical one) and the actual gun (which is kept in storage, along with the handkerchief Czolgasz used to conceal the gun, and which is “available for viewing by appointment only” in the Buffalo museum).

Hattip on this to Active Response Training and their “Weekend Knowledge Dump- January 19, 2024“. You really should be reading Greg Ellifritz, or at least these Friday Weekend Knowledge Dumps.

From KRTraining’s blog: “Annual Maintenance Tasks“. Or gun related things you should be checking at the start of the year.

Replace batteries in optics, flashlights, smoke detectors, and anything else that uses batteries.

As a personal thing, I remind my teams at work to check and replace the batteries in their smoke, carbon monoxide, and other detectors twice a year, at the time change. I think I picked this tip up from one of the fire prevention associations by way of “Dear Abby” (or “Ann Landers”, I disremember which one).

Posted in Guns, History | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: December 27, 2023.

Wednesday, December 27th, 2023

Gaston Glock has passed away at 94. TFB. NYT (gift link, should work for others). Glock website.

Tom Smothers, of the Smothers Brothers. THR.

Lee Sun-kyun, Korean actor (“Parasite”).

Posted in Guns, Movies, Obits, TV | 2 Comments »

Christmas Eve gun crankery.

Sunday, December 24th, 2023

A short one for you. My book buddy in the Association sent me scans from a 1928 Smith and Wesson catalog, along with a scan of a letter from the great Walter Roper. This was a very nice Christmas present, and one I can’t thank him enough for.

You will find each of our arms fully described in the catalog we are enclosing but we want you to ask any questions you may wish about either guns or ammunition, as it will be a real pleasure to help you select a revolver.

The past was another country.

I don’t want to reproduce the whole thing, as I’m not sure about the copyright status and I don’t want to make my book buddy mad. However, I thought people might find this one page interesting, and I think it qualifies as fair use. Keep in mind, this is 1928 data.

Posted in Bagatelle, Christmas, Guns, History, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

Endorsed.

Saturday, December 23rd, 2023

I would not have expected to find a swell Christmas story on the Revolver Guy blog.

A swell Christmas story from the Revolver Guy blog.

Posted in Bagatelle, Christmas, Guns | Comments Closed

It was the gun book post before Christmas…

Friday, December 22nd, 2023

How do you feel about gunstocks?

Not gun stocks, but gunstocks. The kind made out of wood, back in the day before synthetics became common.

After the jump, some more Samworths for those of you who still like wood.

(more…)

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

Puppies!

Thursday, December 21st, 2023

Over the weekend, we got into a discussion: why are bullpup rifles called “bullpups”?

(more…)

Posted in Bagatelle, Books, Christmas, Guns, Movies | 2 Comments »

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! (Random gun crankery.)

Thursday, December 21st, 2023

Previously on WCD.

This is going to be a shorter than usual gun crankery post, since it touches on a lot of things I’ve written about before.

For example, I’ve written a lot about .45 ACP revolvers with moon clips. As I noted in that post, the first one I shot was a S&W 625 JM at the late Smith and Wesson Shooting Sports Center.

I’ve also written a lot about Jerry Miculek. You remember Jerry Miculek, don’t you?

He used a 625 to set the 12 shots with a reload in 2.99 seconds record. I don’t think it was a 625-8 JM, as I believe that was introduced after he set the record. (The Standard Catalog says the 625-8 was introduced in 2001, as an engineering change that added the lock. It also says the 625 JM was introduced at SHOT in 2005.) But it was a 625, it was almost certainly modified by the Performance Center to his specifications, and he almost certainly had input into the design of the 625-8 JM.

Even though it is a stainless steel revolver, the sort-of dull (I think “bead blasted”) finish isn’t obnoxious to me. So when one of these showed up used at my official arms dealer…

Rockin’ the signed JM hat there.

Unfortunately, it does have the internal lock (or as some call it, “the Hillary hole”).

I didn’t get keys for the lock. (I did get moon clips, and a moon clip tool.) It came unlocked, and I’m not sure I’m ever going to use the lock. But here’s a fun fact for you. Do you know where you can get keys for the internal lock on a S&W revolver? Amazon, that’s where.

I think that “gold bead” (which is probably not an actual “gold bead”, but I can’t think of a better description) sight is very nice. I’d love to take this out and shoot a bowling pin match or something similar with this one. This also wouldn’t be a bad barbecue gun, with a nice holster and maybe some tasteful engraving.

Here is another interesting fact: Smith and Wesson claims to offer Performance Center gunsmithing services. The “Outdoor Package Large Frame – N” looks particularly interesting. I’ve measured the trigger pull on this one, and it comes in right at 11 pounds. That’s probably not out of line, but I wouldn’t mind shaving some off of that. As long as it goes “bang” when I pull the trigger.

Sometime after Christmas, I plan to give them a call and see what the backlog for those services is. I know I’m not the only person wondering, and I also get the feeling that S&W (like everyone else) is being pinched by the gunsmith shortage.

Review of the 625 JM from The Firearm Blog.

Coming up: two more followup teaser posts, plus another post about a gun I’ve written about previously. I’m hoping to get at least one of those up before Christmas.

Posted in Guns, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

It’s beginning to look a lot like gun books…

Wednesday, December 20th, 2023

…everywhere you go. At least, here on this blog.

Last Friday was my last day at work until January 8th. Some of this is me burning PTO before year-end, some of this is corporate holidays, and some of it is mandatory corporate shutdowns.

I’m planning to do more gun book posts and random gun crankery during my vacation, including a few things you’ve seen teasers for. So strap in, my people. It’s going to be a fun couple of weeks.

Why don’t we start out with a slice of history? After the jump…

(more…)

Posted in 1911, Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia | Comments Closed

Quote of the day.

Monday, December 11th, 2023

I am saying don’t avoid things that delight you.

–McThag

(So, about that Super Redhawk in .22 Hornet…)

Posted in Bagatelle, Guns | Comments Closed

Quote of the day.

Saturday, December 9th, 2023

[David Mamet] was once “phone pals” with legendary director Stanley Kubrick for the briefest of times, for instance. “He called me from his home in England. We spoke for two afternoons, mostly about guns,” he recalls.
“He was a competitive pistol shot; I was too. I of course wanted to steer the conversation to film gossip, but firearms, like aviation and sexual dish among their aficionados, trump all.”

(I knew that Mamet was a shooter, and I’d love to sit down and talk guns with him sometime. I had no idea that Kubrick was also a shooter. And frankly, I have all sorts of questions about that, mostly about how you can be a competitive pistol shot in England. I suspect money helps a lot.)

Posted in Guns, Movies | Comments Closed

Very short random gun crankery.

Thursday, December 7th, 2023

This is totally silly and absurd.

Yes, I do want one.

Posted in Guns | 3 Comments »

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