Tag Archives: Winchester

Critical Duty vs PDX1. Fight!



I’m a big fan of both. Hornady ammunition is solid, reliable, and accurate. Their Critical Defense line of ammo is very good. Very clever. Putting a rubber plug in the cavity of a hollowpoint to insure expansion without the need for they hydrostatic pressure to force expansion. Brilliant. And the Critical Duty like is a tougher bullet, loaded hotter. I’m impressed with the 135 grain 9mm CD load so much so that I may adopt it for use here at Ogre Ranch and for my personal carry gun (this month being the Beretta 92FS) and for the carry load for my Son’s pistol, an M&P.
But is the new Critical Duty better for serious use than the Winchester PDX1 loads? Winchester did a great deal of engineering to get these loads just right, and they built off the long years of experience for making the most effective duty loads you could get for the last 20 years. I am an unabashed PDX1 fan. I was a fan of the Black Talons and the Ranger T loads. In fact, I still have Black Talons standing by. The PDX1 takes that reverse tapered jacket approach and now gives us the Bonding improvement that made loads such as the Gold Dots so popular.
I’m not sure… but I am thinking that I will keep the PDX1’s for all my guns, save for the 9mm’s and roll with Critical Duty loads for those. Actual testing will have to be done though before I make any changes.

Lever Action Collection

A fellow that shall not be identified has brought in his gun collection for liquidation.  Here are just some of the guns.

Winchester Commemoratives, some in .30-30, others in .38-55. Yes, this photo makes an awesome Wallpaper!

If there are any guns you want – Please come to Basin Sports in Vernal Utah, 511 West Main Street.  You have got to see these for yourself.  If you want to pay for one over the phone to have it shipped to your Dealer – Dude, I wouldn’t recommend it.  Some of these guns have the original boxes and they are DELICATE.

The New Winchester SXP’s

The new Winchester SXP Pump Action shotguns came in to the shop.  The Black Shadows. Retailing at 349.99 for the 2 3/4″ and 399.99 for the 3.5″ guns.  I’m pretty much a real jaded guy when it comes to new guns… Theses SXP’s have impressed me.  I like the simple, but modern look.  I like the feel.  It has a grippy texture, light weight, and has a good balance. I don’t know if I like them better than an my beloved 870’s… but if I was in the market for a new Goose Cannon, I’d give these new Winchesters a good hard look.  If I wasn’t such an 870 Fanboy, buying a pump action shotgun for the first time – This would probably be it.  But I’m not into Goose Cannons, so these long tubed guns don’t interest me enough to get into them… but they are close.

I am really interested in the Black Shadow Deer version as a dedicated Slugger.  But give me the same gun with an extended feed tube, please.    Speaking of a different version… can I get that gun with an 18″ smooth bore with an extended magazine?  I’ll take one.

Lever Action Reaction

There are few firearms that just give me such gratification as a lever action rifle. The elegant lines that fuse form and function with a mechanical simplicity that makes the Lever Action one of the most beautiful of all firearms.  Doesn’t matter which lever you have… they are truly lovely.  I find myself simply taking out my Rossi made Winchester 92 clone, just to look at it, just to feel it, just to hold it in my hands.  I’ve got a lot of other guns that I like… but they don’t stick in my mind like that little 92.  I’ve got my guns I use for certain purposes… and to be honest, this 92 doesn’t fall in to any of those purposes. But that’s all besides the point.  I could probably very easily adopt the 92 for more serious purposes.  Maybe I will. But I do prefer the right tool for the right job, shotguns, magazine fed semi-auto rifles, long range precision bolt actions.  And they are all fine and good within their spheres.  But if I had to have just one gun… well… that would still be an 870, but the 92 is encroaching on that in a big way.

Winchester 94-22M Temptation

We have a Winchester 94-22m .22 Magnum that came in on trade.  It’s sporting a nice peep sight set up, nice checkered wood stocks… really nice looking.  From a distance.  Up close the gun is ugly.  Pitting everywhere and the wood has more dings than I’ve ever seen.  Some are unfortunately too deep to fix, and wood was amazing.  New, this rifle would have been stunning.

The temptation is to restore it.  No collector value, that’s just gone.  This would be a rescue.