It’s not hard to see why “Micro Nine” pistols of the Hellcat genre are best-sellers today. Firstly, they’re chambered for 9mm Luger, almost universally recognized as a capable defense caliber with today’s best ammunition.
In addition, they are not only compact, but sometimes literally pocket-sized. Flat, to ride comfortably inside the waistband and conceal easily with maximum discretion. Carrying at least as many rounds as two of yesteryear’s standard, the “snub-nose .38.” And much faster to reload than those little revolvers.
Nothing is perfect, and everything has “cons” to balance against the “pros.” The trick is to determine the balance of needs, that balance being achieved by going toward the strengths of the thing in question, and shoring up its weaknesses.
The biggest weakness of the small handgun is that it is generally perceived as more difficult to shoot. The smaller the pistol, the less flesh and bone of the shooter’s hand(s) can be wrapped around it to stabilize it on target through the shot, and then recover from recoil for the next shot.
Aiming
Historically, small carry guns came with terrible sights: tiny, almost vestigial, and hard to get on target with quickly. At one end of the spectrum were compact .32 ACP autopistols with no sights at all. For a very long time, popular snub-nose revolvers came with a front sight only one-tenth of an inch wide, and a correspondingly tiny rear notch to line it up with.
There are a few different ways to go with the aiming devices: iron sights, laser sights or carry optics. The latter offer precise aim and encourage focusing on the threat, but also increase the height of the pistol and can be more challenging in terms of concealability.
I associate with a lot of genuine gun experts, and don’t know a single one who carries an optic-sighted pistol in their pocket. This is not to say that you can’t effectively carry such a gun concealed; it simply means that pocket carry and to some degree ankle carry are contra-indicated.
It is not a coincidence that the increase in carry optics and the increased popularity of appendix inside the waistband (AIWB) carry occurred at the same time. When the gun is made higher top-to-butt with an optical sight, the broad expanse of the abdomen is a logical place to carry it, since there is more fabric draping down from the wearer’s chest.
Laser sights are great in the dark, but of limited use in bright light.
With iron sights, the pistol-packer has much better choices today. Consider the sights which come standard on the Springfield Armory Hellcat: a big U-notch rear mated with a large, glowing bulb of a front sight. Fast to index on target, accurate, yet not likely to snag on the draw or compromise concealability.
Grasp
We cannot change the laws of physics. Smaller, lighter guns are going to recoil more than big, heavy ones when the shooting starts. The recoil takes two forms simultaneously: rearward “kick,” and muzzle rise.
A smaller gun has less flesh in contact with its grip-frame, and may feel as if it is twisting in the hand upon recoil. How do we mitigate this?
One mechanical answer is a compact recoil compensator, as found on the Springfield Hellcat Pro Comp. As the pistol fires, expanding gases jet upward through the port on top at the muzzle, “compensating” for the recoil by pushing the muzzle in a downward direction. Caution: with the pistol high and tight toward the body when firing from retention position, this can direct those hot gases upward toward the shooter’s own face and eyes.
With compensator or not, you can mitigate both “kick” and muzzle rise with technique.
First, grip the pistol very firmly with both firing hand and support hand. The harder you hold it, the less it moves in your hand. In my shooting classes (http://massadayoobgroup.com) I encourage a crush grip, meaning maximum hand strength exerted.
In the after-class critique, one question asked is what techniques did the student find most useful. The single technique most often named is the crush grip. Many say it reduced the recoil This is not actually possible; what they are experiencing is that it reduced the movement of the pistol in their hand(s).
Combine that with upper body weight aggressively forward and “into the gun.” This helps to quickly snap the muzzle down from its recoil arc and back on target.
Although a hold with the thumbs straight forward works well with larger pistols, many shooters find that curling the thumbs down, particularly the thumb of their firing hand, improves their control. The reason is that the human hand’s opposing thumb, when clenched, tightens the grip of the whole hand. To see how that works, wherever you are reading this take your empty gun hand and, with the thumb up, tighten your fingers into a fist. Mentally measure your maximum strength.
Now, still crushing and still measuring, slowly close the thumb, bending it at the median joint and pointing the tip of the thumb straight down. You’ll feel it distinctly increase your hand strength over what it was before with your thumb up or in a neutral position.
That added strength is particularly advantageous with a smaller/harder-kicking handgun. For a two-hand hold, simply put the support hand’s thumb over that of the firing hand and crush down similarly, thumbprint over thumbnail.
Three fingers away from that thumb is the “pinkie finger,” and its role in controlling a small pistol is greater than with a full-size service handgun. Now, you can always get an extended magazine with a sleeve that gives you the equivalent of a longer grip-frame, but that makes concealment more difficult. Many users will carry with the short mag and simply switch to the long mag at the end of the day when the concealment gun becomes the bedside gun.
The Short Grip and the Little Finger
With a full-size handgun, all fingers except the trigger finger are wrapped around the pistol’s grip. With a sub-compact, there probably won’t be room for the “pinkie” on the gun. Don’t just leave it floating. I’ve found that if you tuck that little finger tightly under the gun butt, it helps the other fingers to grip with maximum strength.
Remember, our fingers are sympathetic: they all want to squeeze together. It’s bad enough that we have to disarticulate the trigger finger to make it work separately; don’t increase the difficulty by relaxing that smallest finger.
With a short-butt sub-compact, that little finger can get in the way of a reload. It can cause at least three problems. (1) It can get in the way of the ejection of the empty magazine. (2) It can block the insertion of the fresh magazine, usually by catching on the front edge of the magazine’s floorplate. In the middle of a shootout, that could get a Good Guy or Gal killed. (3) Even if it’s only a match or a practice session, the trapped finger can be cut or subjected to a painful blood blister.
Solution: extend the little finger during the reload, the way you’d imagine someone holding their cup while having tea with a queen. It may look effete, but your pinky finger will thank you.
Another problem with the little finger and a short butt comes when you brace on a hard surface like a range table or auto hood. If the little finger is between the gun butt and the hard surface when the shot goes off, even with a 9mm it can feel like someone took a hammer and whacked your finger with it. How do I know this? Sigh…trust me. I know this.
Trigger Time
If your carry gun is a micro, don’t do all your training and competition with your larger pistol just because they’re easier to shoot well. Devote the time to the gun you’re most likely to be using to protect yourself and your loved ones.
These little guns can be surprisingly accurate. I hope the above tips help you to find your best potential with yours.
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Vz. 61 Škorpion Suppressor Test
From trench maces to knuckle dusters, the truly medieval weapons employed by trench raiders in World War I were employed in some of the most brutal combat seen in the 20th century. In today’s article, Tom Laemlein looks at these trench weapons.
Almost any time World War I is mentioned, the term “trench warfare” inevitably comes up. Most of those trench warfare references are about the overall condition of the Western Front, particularly the massive battles of 1916-1917, when thousands of men lost their lives in pointless assaults that achieved little more than mass slaughter.
By the spring of 1918, American troops were arriving in France at a rate of more than 5,000 per day. The Doughboys had to learn the difficult and very specific lessons of trench fighting. Even though the French and British provided experienced instructors and training manuals to the newest Allied nation, American troops still brought their own special weapons and unique fighting spirit to the brutal business of trench raids.
“Boys, I’m Dying”
Private Dyer J. Bird of the US 42nd Division, 166th Infantry Regiment, was recently deployed to France in 1918 and was stationed at a listening post. He saw a large German raiding party emerge from nearby shell holes and rush toward the American trenches with weapons in hand. The young Doughboy hurled two hand grenades into their midst and when he turned to call out and warn his comrades he was shot through the chest.
“The Germans are coming in the form of a wedge. Boys, I’m dying.” Dyer’s warning gave his unit enough time to turn back the German raiders. It was part of the hellish introduction to trench warfare that fresh American troops received in early 1918.
In “The Doughboys” (Harper & Row, 1963), Laurence Stallings described the style of training that the young Americans received from their French allies, the Poilus worn down physically and emotionally from 3½ years of bitter fighting.
A Doughboy had to learn the formal trench warfare of the French, with emphasis upon Chauchat and Hotchkiss guns, bayonet and grenade, barbed wire, and the shovel—and little attention to the rifle. Frenchmen pursued Germans in a clash of patrols by throwing grenades at them, as if the Lebel rifle possessed no trigger assembly.
If Intelligence desired a raid, with a prisoner brought back for interrogation, it was understandable but deplorable. Some friend might be killed by grenade or bayonet, and a wounded enemy dragged back through the gaps in the barbed wire.
The Doughboys (Harper & Row, 1963)
What the Doughboys lacked in experience in the conduct of trench warfare, they made up for in aggressiveness. The British and French commanders craved the American zeal for combat, while the Germans massed on the other side of the lines, first mocked it, and later feared it.
Some of the first prisoners taken by the Americans said things like: “If only we could have met you in 1915 when we too were young!” Stallings recounts the Doughboys’ eagerness to fight: “Each man in the 1st Division wanted to go on a patrol, and then a raid, each wanted to kill a German, to capture one, to be the first.”
The trench raid was a nasty, brutal business, conducted almost exclusively at night. Raiders reduced their equipment to the essentials of rapid movement and close-quarter killing power, often with specialized trench weapons. Trench raids were tactical reconnaissance in their most aggressive form — quick strikes designed to assess enemy strengths and activity, to cause as much mayhem as possible within enemy lines, and to grab a handful of prisoners and drag them back for interrogation.
The following description of an American trench raid is from a cable sent by General Pershing’s AEF headquarters to the War Office in Washington DC on June 13, 1918.
Our raiding party consisted of five groups, each under the command of an officer. The raid was executed in the Bois Allonge, the raiding party entering from the west and penetrating to the eastern edge. The first party moving in a northwesterly direction located a lighted and occupied dugout.
On the occupants’ refusal to come out, it was destroyed by the use of phosphorus and other grenades. The second party encountered fire from an automatic rifle as they entered the woods. The gun was rushed, three of the gun crew killed, and the gun captured.
The party then moved to the eastern edge of the wood where three men were found in a light shelter. One was killed and the others taken prisoner. The third party was also fired on by a machine gun. This gun was rushed and its crew killed but as the gun was chained to a tree it could not be brought back. The fourth party encountered a group of the enemy and opened fire with rifles. Four of the enemy were seen to fall.
The fifth party reached the eastern edge of the woods and then moved along the edge in a southerly direction. Several shelters and dugouts were located and destroyed by incendiary bombs. It withdrew on the signal of the raid commander who ordered the retirement as soon as he assured himself that prisoners had been captured.
As a result of the raid much information was gained concerning the enemy’s defensive works, which include quarries and connected shell holes in addition to the trenches.
Cable from Gen. Pershing to the U.S. War Department, June 13 1918
An earlier cable from Pershing’s HQ gave a description of a typical German raiding party: “Their objective was to capture prisoners and gain information concerning our forces. Arrangements for the raid were shown in orders found on the body of a German officer in command of the raiding party. The attacking party consisted of the commissioned officer, three noncommissioned officers, and five squads taken from troops specially trained for such work. They moved in three sections. Support was furnished by artillery fire, four light trench mortars, four heavy machine guns, and three light machine guns. Of the latter, one MG furnished special protection for each section of the attacking party. Equipment of the attacking troops included eight stick grenades and four egg grenades on average per man. Double rations were carried.”
Laurence Stallings describes the preparations of a German raiding party in “The Doughboys”: “The Assault Company, swaggering among the holding troops, awaited its hour. Some among them took out pocket whetstones and sharpened trench knives, others looked to their Bangalore torpedoes for blasting barbed wire or blew sand from the stringed triggers of potato-masher grenades. Luger pistols were repeatedly cleaned and oiled, bayonet studs looked to.”
The Doughboys quickly learned the deadly game on the Western Front. From the city slickers to the country boys, Uncle Sam’s troops proved themselves to be fearsome fighters. American daytime patrols grew more frequent through the summer of 1918, and the nighttime trench raids more effective. By September, the great Allied offensive was ready to begin.
Weapons of the Trench Raiders
World War I saw the introduction of most of the modern weapons of war we have now become accustomed to, or horrified by — the armored vehicle, the submarine, the aircraft, the machine gun, the flamethrower and poison gas all saw their first significant use in World War I.
But just as war seemed at its most futuristic, the battles fought by the night patrols and the trench raiders reduced combat to its most primitive. Men hacked and slashed at each other with trench maces, clubs and sharpened entrenching shovels, deadly tools that seemed better suited for a medieval battlefield. Melee weapons included bayonets, fighting knives and daggers that were lightweight and silent killers. American forces had two specialized trench knives available to them.
M1917 Trench Knife
The M1917 was more of a pick than a true knife — using a triangular stiletto blade with a knuckleduster hand grip. The M1917 was designed to penetrate thick woolen uniforms and while the Doughboys often put it to good use, its stabbing-only blade was a bit of a liability.
Mark I Trench Knife
The American “knuckleduster knife” is a formidable-looking weapon that is a somewhat misunderstood design. The brass knuckle hand guard was meant more to help the soldier keep his grip on the knife in furious close combat. Even so, the opportunity to deliver a devastating punch to the face could make all the difference in a knife fight. The metal stub at the base of the pommel was called a “skull crusher”, adding yet another level of primeval violence to the weapon.
Few of the Mark I knives were finished in time to see action in WWI, but many were provided to American troops (particularly paratroops) during WWII.
Small Arms
In addition to the bladed weapons and impact weapons, U.S. troops also had access to some fearsomely capable small arms designed for close-range combat.
M1911 Pistol
As most pistol shooters know, the .45 ACP M1911 is a handful of handgun. The .45 automatic was greatly favored by American trench raiders for its man-stopping firepower. (Read more about the M1911 in World War I here.)
Alongside the M1911, the .45 ACP M1917 revolver was also popular, and it packed just as deadly a punch. As cops carrying backup guns know, one pistol is good, two is better, and many Doughboys carried a second pistol during a trench raid — often using a captured German Luger, Mauser pistol, or one of the many smaller caliber German semi-auto handguns.
Trench Gun
There has been a fair amount of controversy surrounding the Doughboys’ use of the M1897 12-gauge shotgun, or trench gun. The Germans complained it was a violation of the law of war (specifically Article 23 of the 1907 Hague Convention) and claimed that it showed that American troops were not only inept marksmen but also barbarous.
The Germans further claimed that any American captured with a shotgun (or shotgun ammunition) could be subject to summary execution. The U.S. government responded quickly: “Inasmuch as the weapon is lawful and may be rightfully used, its use will not be abandoned by the American Army…”
U.S. officials also responded that they knew exactly what to do in the way of reprisals should any American soldier taken prisoner be harmed, stating, “If the German Government shall carry out its threat in a single instance, it will be the right and duty of the United States to make such reprisals as will best protect the American forces, and notice is hereby given of the intention of the United States to make such reprisals.” Uncle Sam wasn’t messing around, and the Germans quickly backed down. Given the fact that the Germans introduced poison gas and flamethrowers to the battlefield in WWI, shotguns seemed a curious objection for the Kaiser’s men to have.
For its part, the trench gun was a fearsome close-range weapon. Fitted with a perforated heat shield above the barrel, and a lug to accept the M1917 bayonet, the trench gun has an intimidating profile. Hold the M1897’s trigger back, and you can slam-fire five rounds of 00-buckshot (with nine .32 caliber pellets in each shell) in an exceptionally short time — perfect for clearing a trench or providing suppressing fire to cover a withdrawal. Most of the 00 buckshot shells issued during World War I used a paper casing, and these could cause jamming issues if the shells were allowed to get wet. Some all-brass shotgun shells were issued but ordnance officers generally burst into tears over the cost of all-brass shotgun shells. 
Laurence Stallings recounts in “The Doughboys”, that the trench shotgun was the weapon of choice for some: “One of the 33rd’s Medal of Honor performers was First Sergeant Johannes S. Anderson. First Sergeants were armed with the Army’s brutal .45 automatic, which left an exit hole in a man’s back the size of a derby hat; but the Chicago sergeant, undergoing much hostile fire to reach a concrete pillbox, made his entrance through the stage door of the pestiferous machine gun nest bearing a sawed-off shotgun.
Two buckshot blasts and the twenty-three performers left on their feet surrendered. Like Sergeant Gregory, a mile to his right, Anderson was scornful of conventional weapons, and there were others who felt the same.”
Conclusion
Combat in the trenches of World War was simultaneously modern and medieval, but always brutal. And these capable — yet terrifying — close-range weapons made it even more so.
Three Guns That Changed America
These three guns fundamentally changed the
landscape of American gun culture.
Every generation has its own seminal moment. You never forget where you were when you heard the news. In my grandparents’ case that was the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. For folks my age it was 9/11. American adults alive in 1963 found their seminal moment in the brutal assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
There are several reasons for this. Thankfully, American Presidential assassinations are fairly rare. There have only been four — Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and Kennedy. In JFK’s case, the whole sordid thing was also filmed in gory detail. The man got his brains blown out in public whilst sitting alongside his pretty young wife. This, plus the fact even today, nobody seems to be completely satisfied with the government’s version of who did it.
Three men ultimately perished. JFK was obviously the target. His presumed killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, shot and killed a Dallas patrolman named JD Tippit 45 minutes later while on the run. Oswald was subsequently gunned down by a local mobster named Jack Ruby. Bob Johnson’s iconic photograph of a grimacing Oswald just as Ruby touched off his modified Colt Cobra won the Pulitzer Prize.
These three killings involved three different firearms. Each had a quirky story. Here are the details.
For a few days at least, Lee Harvey Oswald was the most hated man in America. Photo: U.S. Government
The Shooter
Lee Harvey Oswald was a weird guy. He burned through 22 addresses and a dozen schools before he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17. While serving as a Marine, he accidentally shot himself in the elbow with a contraband .22-caliber handgun and was disciplined for firing his M1 rifle into the Philippine jungle while on guard duty.
In 1959 after his discharge, Oswald traveled to the Soviet Union and attempted to secure Soviet citizenship. When the skeptical Russians refused, Oswald slit his wrists. He survived and went on to marry a Russian woman named Marina Prusakova. Three years later, a disillusioned Oswald returned to the States with his bride.
The Carcano 91/30 purportedly used by Oswald to kill JFK
was actually a pretty craptastic rifle. Photo: U.S. Government
The Rifle
We have Lee Harvey Oswald to thank for the 1968 Gun Control Act. The 68 GCA transformed gun ownership in America. Prior to that law, firearms could be freely bought and sold through the mail and need not even bear a serial number.
It was the GCA that established our familiar system of Federal Firearms Licensees. Oswald bought the assassination rifle under the alias “A. J. Hidell” via an ad in the back of the American Rifleman magazine. He had the weapon shipped to a P.O. box.
The advertisement actually listed the gun as a “6.5 Italian Carbine.” The illustrated weapon was a bolt-action Carcano Model 91 TS. However, Klein’s Sporting Goods had been unable to source this specific model. They replaced it with the very similar Model 91/38. Oswald’s 91/38 has a slightly longer barrel and left-sided sling mounts. Those of the TS are usually, but not always, mounted on the bottom. The two guns were otherwise nearly indistinguishable in dim light.
Oswald gave $19.95 for his Italian surplus 91/38 complete with a civilian optic mounted by the distributor. This would be about $195 today. The same rifle without the scope was $12.78. He paid $1.50 in shipping.
Oswald’s 91/38 Carcano was originally built in 1940 in Terni, Italy. It fired a Winchester Western 160-grain 6.5x52mm round-nosed cartridge and fed from a six-round en bloc clip. The 4X sight was produced by a company called Ordnance Optics. The serial number of the gun was C2766.
Roughly two weeks after taking possession of the weapon, Lee Harvey Oswald used it to try to kill white supremacist U.S. Army General Edwin Walker. Oswald attempted to shoot the segregationist military officer in his home, but the WWI-vintage round-nosed bullet deflected off of a window frame.
If the government report is to be believed, Oswald subsequently set up in the Texas Book Depository on November 22, 1963, and fired a total of three rounds as JFK’s vehicle passed by. Three empty cases were later found with the abandoned rifle. The average range was about 265 feet. One round passed through the president’s neck and was potentially survivable. Another took much of his head off. The third was never definitively accounted for.
In the hands of a skilled marksman, Oswald’s 91/38 rifle was fully capable of the kind of performance demanded of it that horrible day. However, subsequent firing trials with the actual weapon showed its zero to be 2.5″ high and 1″ right when fired from a rest at 15 meters. Most bystanders reported hearing either three or four shots.
Dabbs found this cool aluminum hammer shroud online (left). Mounting it up required drilling and tapping the frame, but he did so by hand with a cheap drill press.
Dabbs found this cool aluminum hammer shroud online.
The Escape
Lee Harvey Oswald fled the scene and was later confronted by Officer Tippit who was acting on a physical description of the JFK shooter. JD was Tippit’s actual first name. The letters didn’t stand for anything. Tippit had earned the Bronze Star for Valor while serving as a paratrooper in Europe during World War II and had three kids.
Oswald was carrying a snub-nosed Smith and Wesson .38 Victory Model he had also purchased under an alias through the mail. Without warning, he shot the cop in the chest, belly and head. Tippit was declared dead 10 minutes later in a nearby hospital. Oswald was apprehended in short order. It was not until later that he was officially tied to the JFK shooting.
Lee Harvey Oswald’s handgun was presumably a British Lend-Lease S&W Victory Model in .38/200 rechambered to .38 Special with a cut-down barrel. These modifications made it difficult to get a ballistic match on the rounds that killed Officer JD Tippit.
Comparison (L-R) — The 5.56x45mm, the Italian 6.5x52mm
and the 7.62x51mm. The round-nosed 160-grain WWI-vintage
6.5x52mm bullets were undeniably horrific downrange.
Vengeance
Oswald vigorously denied any involvement in the killings of either JD Tippit or the President. However, his palm print was found underneath the furniture on the Carcano, and the eyewitnesses tying him to the Tippit shooting were compelling. Two days after the murders, Oswald was being transferred from the Dallas Police headquarters to the County jail under heavy police escort.
Local nightclub owner and mobster Jack Ruby was a frequent visitor to police HQ. His presence aroused little suspicion. It has actually been postulated that Ruby might have been welcome for having habitually supplied loose women to some of the cops.
Without warning, Ruby lunged forward, shoved his Colt Cobra .38-caliber pocket revolver into Oswald’s belly and fired. That single round perforated Oswald’s stomach, spleen, aorta, inferior vena cava, kidney, liver and diaphragm. It ultimately stopped on the far side against his 11th rib. Oswald bled out in short order.
Ruby paid $62.50 for the Colt Cobra on January 19th, 1960 at Ray’s Sporting Goods in Dallas. A cop buddy named Joe Cody had recommended he get the gun given the large amounts of cash he handled in the course of running his strip joint, the Carousel Club.
Cody actually bought the gun for his mobster buddy as a straw purchaser because cops did not have to pay tax on firearms purchases. Cody and Ruby subsequently exchanged both the money and the gun outside the shop. Having the cop buy the piece saved Ruby $18.
Ruby was immediately arrested. He claimed he spontaneously shot Oswald to “save Mrs. Kennedy the discomfiture of coming back to trial.” Ruby subsequently developed disseminated cancer while in prison and died in 1967 at age 55. His actions and subsequent death have provided fodder for countless conspiracy theories.
Ruby’s snub-nosed Cobra was stock save for its curious aluminum hammer shroud. The shroud still allowed the hammer to be manually cocked but did make the gun much less likely to snag on loose clothing. There followed a 24-year legal fight over ownership of the weapon. In 1991 the gun was sold at auction for $220,000. The new owner sold fired bullets out of it for $1,000 apiece to fund his favorite charities. The pistol was confiscated by Capitol Hill police after being carried in D.C. illegally but was finally returned after yet another long legal battle. The owner subsequently sold it yet again, but I was unable to locate a reliable price.
The moment Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald was captured by photographer Bob Johnson. The image earned him a Pulitzer Prize.Photo: Public Domain
Ruminations
A local clothier named Abraham Zapruder captured everything on his home movie camera, establishing the specific timeline of the shooting. His is the most scrutinized motion picture in human history.
In 1999, the U.S. government paid Zapruder’s heirs $16 million to incorporate the footage into the National Archives. That works out to $615,384 per second. In all of American history, little has been more controversial than the JFK assassination.
Conspiracy theorists question absolutely everything and become angry just talking about it even today. What is not in dispute, however, is that these three guns did fundamentally change the American political landscape.
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John Kiriakou ex CIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kiriakou