Okay, so the revolver I was working on was actually a Taurus… a .17HMR Tracker to be specific. Here’s what you do.
Category Archives: Weapons
Avoid Semi Auto .17’s
We just read on WTA that there has been another KB with a Semi-Auto .17HMR rifle. Most of the time the result of a KB is only stings and scares… but this time the shooter was hurt badly.
A blow back semi auto .17HMR (and even the .17 Mach 2 but to a lesser extent) is a bad idea. No matter who makes the gun or how custom the gun is…. it’s going to, at some point, have a KB. This is the same problem with EVERY semi auto .17. Which is why all of them have been recalled and dropped from production by everyone that has ever made them. Except for Alexander Arms, who is making a 1200 dollar AR type – that will still do the same thing everyone else’s did. Even in one of the Gun Rags, during the review process the writer mentioned this happening but kept shooting it.
There are a couple causes of the .17 Rimfire KB’s.
1. The bolt, rebounding off of firing the last round, slams forward into the cartridge rim hard enough to set it off while the round is in the magazine.
2. A few rounds fires slightly out of battery puts enough carbon fouling in the chamber to builds up until a case is completely unsupported and firing pressure blows it.
Continue reading Avoid Semi Auto .17’s
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
My brother Zack, and my friends Mike, Larry, and Tom were at ConDuit and were all on a panel together about surviving in a world gone Zed.
First point of order… When it comes to winning against Zombies, ignore everything Max Brooks has ever written. If you have to get a book or two to follow, the first book to get is the Boy Scout Handbook. Not a new one, but an old one. Then, if you can, the US Army Ranger Manual. Just to make you feel safer.
The Circuit Judge
I really want to like the Rossi Circuit Judge, especially if they would offer it in .44 or .357, which they’ve not done yet. I’m a Die Hard .410 Hater. I sweat to God I’ll never like those, and if I do – please smack me upside the head with a Hockey Stick. Anyways, we’ve seen some issues with the Circuit Judge. The Grip-Stock is blocking shell ejection. We’ve just had to take one back because an attempted speed reload resulted in a bent ejector. It was too easy to bend and too easy to bend back. That’s not cool. That needs to be strengthened. The grip-stock also needs to be redesigned so as to allow it to clear ejecting shells.
I think the swing out cylinder is awkward on these things. The package is nice enough… a light and handy revolving carbine… it’s cool. It really is. But the Circuit Judge is a poor execution of the concept. I’d rather see a Revolving Carbine based on a Peacemaker action – which actually makes more sense than anything, or better yet, a Top Break. I bet a custom gunsmith could take one of those Uberti Top Breaks and make it into a revolving carbine pretty easily.
Relevant Revolvers
I’ve heard a lot of people scoff Wheelguns lately. Saying that the revolver was dead. These are guys that worship at font of High Capacity and think good shooting is a 1.5 second mag dump. That’s all fine and well. Drilling at target mulitple times in the blink of an eye is fun. And in a gunfight, it would do the job.
However not all shooting is a gun fight. I don’t have to look over both shoulders before I safe my weapon and reholster every time I shoot because I tend to think that in an actual fight, that instinct is still going to be there.
Back the wheelguns… I think revolvers are actually seeing a resurgence of popularity. Not just the Snubs or the huge magnum .500’s… but in the mid sized guns in .357 and .44. Which used to be the main stream of handgunning. People are appreciating that great balance of power and controllability that 686 and 629’s have.
I’m still itching for a .44 myself.
Light for Caliber
I often get emails asking about what loads to use in what guns… Handguns and Rifles. There is a lot of considerations for what load to shoot, and often the load selection is even more important than the choice of platform to launch it from.
For handguns, I generally like to go Light for Caliber. Picking the lighter load options rather than the more popular heavy options. Reason being, I like velocity in my handguns, which often provides more hydrodynamic reaction that gives more consistent bullet expansion. Take the lightest options, try them, and only go heavier if accuracy is suffering in the light loads. I’ve found that quite often the light to medium shoot the more accurate than the heavier loads, but every gun is different and yours might be different, so you have to try it all out for yourself.
Now, for Rifles… I like the Medium to Heavy bullets for caliber because the heavier ones tend to offer then higher ballistic coefficient numbers that I want for longer range shots.
This is just the way I roll… it’s what works for me… Your mileage may differ.
Zombie Survival
With the CDC warning of Zombies, and the Zombie Survival Discussion Panel that’s going to happen Friday Night at ConDuit with Larry Correia, Mike Kupari, and my brother Zack… I thought I’d preemptively put out my opinion on the subject. Luckily, I found that my good friend Terry has made my argument for me in language so clear and concise as to command acquiescence and affirmation.
Top 10 Guns that need to come back.
WTA has a thread about this... guns that have been put out to pasture, but need to be brought back into production with modern refinements of manufacturing and materials.
This is my top ten, but not in any order.
Continue reading Top 10 Guns that need to come back.
The Crusader Templar Rifle
Gundoc has done a little video showing our Templar Rifle. The Crusader Templar is easily the best 556 AR type weapon on the planet. Everything in it is the best. The Slipstream Treatment applied to it further improves function. Accuracy is far beyond any expectation for a fighting gun.
.50 BMG Shockwaves
I have a little video up on YouTube that always gets the most enlightened of comments.
Like this video here. The Comment that just illustrates the frustration is like this one:
LOL I dont even think youd have to hit the thing with that, the bullet whizzing past a prairie dog would be enough to kill it. Mind you kind of an expensive way to get rid of vermin aint it
Sorry, I didn’t edit the comments… Just Cut and Paste so you can see what’s going on without having to actually go dip into those dank waters.
There are so many misconceptions about “The Fifty” that it’s almost as if it’s some mythological beast… One day, it’s going to be like talking about Dragons or something.
The .50 doesn’t put out head ripping shockwaves. It’s only 2700 to 2800 FPS in most loadings. Which puts it at the same speed as say a .308 or a good old .30-06. In fact, the cartridge is really nothing more than a big .30-06. What gives the .50 the range and power, is that the projective is just so big and heavy. Bullets weight in from 650 to over 750 grains… which is impressive. The .50 BMG’s slug alone is larger than some rifle cartridges. Firing a .50 BMG rifle is a lot of fun. It’s impressive. The blast is huge. The power that it puts out is staggering. But the bullet zipping past something in a near miss isn’t going to do anything to it other than making it soil its self.