Innehållsförteckning för February 2023 från Shooting Times

I ADMIRED THE PHOTO AND ARTICLE BY LAYNE SIMPSON ABOUT HIS COLT New Frontier revolver in .44-40 in the August 2022 issue. Here’s a photo of my customized “Super” Vaquero, which was chambered to shoot .44-40, along with an attached poem that I wrote about the revolver. I customized it in three ways: (1) It’s fitted with some beautifully crafted extended-sized mesquite stocks in place of the “old” regular-sized walnut stocks. Makes gripping with my larger hands much easier. (2) It has a heavier steel ejector rod housing installed in place of the original aluminum one. Makes recoil easier to absorb. (3) It’s been made more versatile with the purchase of a perfectly fitting, unfluted, .44 Magnum cylinder cannibalized from a broken-parts Super Blackhawk scrounged online. The best thing about…

MANY STRANGE MODIFICATIONS HAVE BEEN applied to Mauser-type rifles over the past century. One of the more bizarre—and cool—is rebarreling and rechambering to .45-70 Gov’t. Thanks to the strength of turnbolt Mauser actions, a conversion to .45-70 results in a very strong rifle. Handloaders can safely load to pressures that would be extreme in any lever-action .45-70. Many Mauser models can—with an extensive effort—be converted to .45-70. However, Siamese Mausers require little effort, thanks to the fact that their boltfaces were manufactured for the 8x50mmR Siamese, a cartridge with a rim nearly as large and robust as that of the .45-70. Even the feed rails and magazine box are nearly right for the .45-70 cartridge. Interestingly, Siamese Mausers were manufactured in Japan at the Koishikawa Arsenal for Siam. (Siam is…

HORNADY’S NEW 7mm PRC IS ENGINEERED TO be an ideally balanced, ultimately capable, long-range 7mm magnum—the be-all and end-all of the 7mm realm, if you will. It was designed by the same ballistic wizards at Hornady who conjured up the 6.5 PRC and .300 PRC, which gives it an impeccable origin story. Honestly, when I heard the announcement of a new 7mm magnum, my eyeballs sort of glazed over and rolled back in their sockets. (I suspect like many of yours are right now.) “That’s all we need,” I thought. “Another 7mm.” What with the classic 7mm Remington Magnum; the super-consistent 7mm SAUM; the fire-breathing 28 Nosler; and my favorite, the .280 Ackley Improved, the bases were full. Or so I figured. Readers who got wind of a possible 7mm…

THE MATCH GOES LIKE THIS: IN FRONT OF each competitor on the line are five targets, turned edge-on, 25 meters away. At the signal, the targets rotate to face the shooter, who has eight seconds for five shots, putting one bullet in each target. When the time’s up, the targets rotate back. A second round allows six seconds for five shots, and the third round allows only four seconds. This sequence is repeated four times, for a total of 60 shots. Sound challenging? I’ll say. Those were the rules as they were in the 1950s when the game was foreign to Americans, who had never won it. At that time, the country’s foremost maker of .22 target pistols was High Standard of Connecticut. Neither Colt nor Smith & Wesson put…

DAVIDSON’S HAS EXPANDED ITS EXCLUSIVE FAMILY OF .45 ACP GIRSAN MC 1911 pistols with the addition of the XLV family. Imported by European American Armory, the XLV 1911s feature extended slide releases; ambidextrous, extended thumb safeties; extended beavertail grip safeties with memory bumps; combat-style skeletonized hammers; checkered mainspring housings; checkered frontstraps; flared trigger guards; diamond-checkered black plastic grip panels; extended and flared ejection ports; dovetailed white-dot front sights; and Novak-style rear sights. Finishes include Davidson’s Dark Earth Cerakote (DDE) and black Cerakote. Commander-style pistols with 4.25-inch barrels and full-size pistols with 5.0-inch barrels are available, and each comes with one eight-round magazine. MSRP: $579.99 (black), $629.99 (DDE) galleryofguns.com Hornady Security Ammo Cabinet Made in the United States, Hornady Security’s new Ammo Cabinet safely stores and organizes ammo cans, cartons,…

THE .40 S&W STORY STARTED WHEN THE 10mm Auto cartridge sought entry into the law enforcement market. I was able to range-test one of the first Colt Delta Elites with Norma 10mm ammo. I’ve shot Colt Government Models extensively since about 1970 and could handle the recoil of a 200-grain bullet with a velocity of 1,200+ fps, but the firearms instructor in my head was saying “too much” for average officers. The 10mm Auto cartridge required a .45 ACP-class pistol frame due to its length and, in some minds, pressure. S&W, SIG SAUER, and Glock had platforms for .45 ACP that were suitable to the 10mm but with modifications for pressure and slide-velocity concerns. The .45 ACP has a maximum average pressure (MAP) of 21,000 psi; the 10mm Auto’s MAP…

AS MY COLLEAGUE TERRY WIELAND MENtioned in his Gunsmoke column this month, a United States Marine by the name of Bill McMillan won the gold medal in the 25-meter .22 rapid-fire pistol competition at the 1960 Olympics. Those games were held in Rome, Italy, and Terry gives a good description of how difficult firing the .22 rapid-fire match is. Here’s a quick look at McMillan’s many shooting accomplishments. William Willard McMillan was born on January 29, 1929, in Frostburg, Maryland. He attended Turtle Creek High School in Pennsylvania and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1946. He went on to have a 28-year-long career in the Marines, serving in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and eventually retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1974. Along the…

Q: I READ WITH INTEREST JOSEPH VON BENEDIKT’S RECENT THE Shootist column on the vintage Winchester Model 1895 Saddle Ring Carbine in .30-40 Krag. I’ve always liked that style of gun, and I’ve always wondered why such carbines had the saddle ring. What can he tell me about that? Rob Sheridan Via email A: The saddle ring was originally designed to be clipped to a loop around the soldier’s shoulder and head. When empty, or when the mêlée became too close and fierce for using the carbine, the serviceman could simply drop the carbine and go for his sidearm or saber. (The photograph shows a current-production Winchester Model 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine.) Joseph von Benedikt Can I Use Standard Primers Instead of Magnum Primers? Q: I’ve been a subscriber for…

WHEN THE .45 COLT WAS INTRODUCED IN 1873, it propelled a 255-grain, conical lead bullet at a velocity of about 900 fps. The propellant was blackpowder, and the charge was 40 grains. That load produced a muzzle energy of approximately 450 ft-lbs, and the recoil was fierce. The earliest .45 Colt cartridge featured a Benettype internal centerfire primer, but in 1882, the cartridge was designed to use an external centerfire primer. The powder charge weight was reduced as the case design evolved from thin, formed copper to the much stronger drawn case. By 1909 the case’s original “tiny” rim diameter (it was originally only slightly larger in diameter than the straight-wall case’s body diameter) was increased to improve extraction from then-new double-action revolvers, and smokeless powder was more commonly used.…