Tag Archives: Shooting

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.

.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.

Time to buy Ammo

Earlier this year dang near everyone that makes ammunition had sent us unhappy letters. Basically the gist of them all is that ammunition across the board is going to be going up in price, on average about 15%.
The time to buy ammo is right now, before those price increases hit and that cost is reflected at retail. Oh, don’t be so smug, Reloaders… this effects all reloading components as well.
Why is it going up? Global demand on metals, the deflating value of the Dollar, and futures trading. But if you have to point fingers at anyone. Here you go. China. China is buying raw material like crazy.  That’s just a fact.  All these have an effect on what you are going to pay for a box of your favorite ammo.
Cheap ammo is now a thing of the past.

Because of this training classes this year will have lower round count requirements to help offset this cost.

Top Shot Season 2

Last year I was faced with a tough choice.  I was running for public office, and I was wanting to go on Top Shot.  The producers made me choose one of the other.  I could not be running for office if I was going to be on the show.  I had to pick.  From the support I had for my campaign, there was no way I could turn my back on that.  So I chose to take a pass on the show.

Tonight I just watched the 1000 Yard episode.  A .50 cal rifle to 1000 yards?  Are you kidding me?  Love that.  However watching what happened after the challenge… I am very glad I picked to keep my run for office.  At times I had regretted not going on the show – but after this episode, I know I made the right choice.  I wouldn’t want anything to do with the show after that.   I don’t want anything to do with it now.