Gun Digest August 2020

Why do you like revolvers so much? I think I know—because my answer is very likely exactly the same—but I’m wondering if you do. So, do you know? I’m aware that this might sound “accusatory,” and I should maybe be asking, “Do you like revolvers?” But I already know the answer. As a “platform,” revolvers supersede all barriers of personal bias: If you’re a gun person, you’ll pull a double take every time a big iron (or a little iron) catches your eye. Because of readers who enjoy the wheelgun features and reviews within the pages of Gun Digest the Magazine, GD’s books, and the Gun Digest Pinter-est and Facebook pages, engagement with everything having anything to do with revolvers is through the roof. Always. But exactly why is that?…

HISTORICAL NOTES The .357 Maximum was announced as a joint venture between Remington Arms Co. and Sturm, Ruger and Co. This cartridge is a .310-inch elongation of the .357 Magnum case. The first handgun to chamber the round was the Ruger Blackhawk .357 Maximum single-action revolver, introduced in 1983. This was followed, in 1984, by the Dan Wesson double-action revolver, the Seville single-action, stainless steel revolver and finally, the Thompson/ Center Contender single-shot pistol. During the same year, Harrington & Richardson chambered its Model 258 single-shot rifle for the round, as did Savage in its Model 24V and Model 24VS Camper over/under rifle-shotgun combination guns. Although Remington developed the commercial .357 Maximum, a similar wildcat cartridge was actually developed by Elgin Gates at an earlier time. Unfortunately, the .357 Maximum…

Every gun company has an aura about it. Some pinch pennies, while others insist you wear a dinner jacket before you handle their guns. O. F. Mossberg & Sons’ aura is neither. “From day one, the Mossberg philosophy was to design its products with the working class in mind,” said Mossberg’s Linda Powell. “Mossberg was a visionary from a marketing perspective, because the working class has always outnumbered the ‘high social’ class. From the Brownie to the Model 500 pump-action shotguns to today’s centerfire rifles and pistols, look at the sheer numbers of Mossberg firearms that have been made available to, and affordable for, the general public.” THE MOSSBERG ‘AURA’ I discovered Mossberg’s “aura” as a lawn mower-funded teenager in the late 1980s. A Mossberg was a firearm I could…

Without any intention of sounding like a chauvinistic jerk, What about your wife? Yes, I know there are women who read Gun Digest, and the question could equally be, What about your husband? However, most Gun Digest readers are men, and a lot of them are married. And, they might be facing a common problem that many gun-toting men experience: how to get their wives to carry a gun to protect themselves. Too often, attempts to sort this out include the man buying a gun for his wife and then attempting to teach his wife how to shoot it. While this bit of advice might qualify as a fit for the “Hillbilly Wisdom” section of this column, I’ll share it here: There are several things men should never try to…

The only real stopping power afforded by a defensive handgun is the psychological effect it can have on the person it’s being pointed at. Many lethal encounters are de-escalated when one person points a handgun at another person. Stopping power deduced from ballistics is a mythical representation of chaos and luck—invented by gun writers to describe something they don’t understand. With the tagline of “It’s all about the shot,” author Richard Mann’s “Empty Cases” podcast focuses on interesting people who’ve founded successful careers with firearms. Available on Apple Podcast, each episode takes a dive into the careers of these individuals and also shares information about their best shot, their worst shot and how they got that shot. You’ll also get to hear Mann discuss some of his current and upcoming…

When I was a full-time gunsmith, the majority of the work was simple: scrubbing guns. Yep, most gunsmiths who aren’t doing mondo-expensive custom work are basically “dishwashers.” My method was via a parts washer using mineral spirits pumped through a filtration system; then, parts were blown dry with compressed air. It was messy, grubby, mindless work … and there was a lot of it. But, you need not go through that. THE ULTRASONIC WAY Ultrasonic cleaning uses ultra-high-frequency vibrations in a cleaning solution to electronically and chemically scrub the gunk off your firearms (and cartridge cases, should you want to do that as well). The process is simple: Pour enough of the proper cleaning solution (there are formulations for steel and brass, among others) to cover the part or parts…