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All About Guns

Ruger SR1911 vs Remington R1 vs Springfield 1911 Mil-Spec – Which is the best for you?

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Gun Info for Rookies

Note where finger is on the rifle! Somebody trained her right

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Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum Close-up

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One Hell of a Good Fight Our Great Kids War

The Fates of the Expendables. What happened to the PT boats of Squadron 3?

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The MAX-9

The MAX-9 is available with or without a manual thumb safety. (Photo: Ruger) Ruger’s pleased to announce the new MAX-9, a micro-compact with impressive capacity. The MAX-9, chambered for 9mm Luger, holds 10+1 with flush magazines and 12+1 with slightly extended mags. Available in three different models at launch, the MAX-9 looks a lot like a beefed-up LC9s, which carries 7+1. Like the LC9s, the MAX-9 is a polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol but with other upgrades that will make it compete with the likes of Glock, SIG Sauer, and Springfield Armory in the micro-compact market. All three models are optics-ready, with slides cut to accept a wide range of micro red dot sights. It also comes with a factory hybrid tritium fiber optic front day and night sight with a wide black combat-style rear sight. The slide is contoured to raise the front sight up over the bore. Combined with the standard tall rear sight the MAX-9 can co-witness compatible red dot sights with the included iron sights, and there’s no need for suppressor-height replacements. Flush mags hold 10 rounds while extended magazines hold 12. (Photo: Ruger) Ruger’s offering the MAX-9 with two base models and one Pro model. The base versions come with a manual thumb safety and either two 10-round or two 12-round magazines, while the Pro comes with two 12-round mags and no thumb safety. All have passive trigger safeties as well, in addition to an internal striker block and a loaded chamber inspection port. The slides and barrels are hardened steel with a black oxide finish. And otherwise, the specifications are the same. Regardless of the model, every MAX-9 has a 3.2-inch barrel, measures in at 6 inches long, a bit over .9 inches wide at the slide, and 4.5 inches tall with flush magazines. They weigh just over 18 ounces unloaded. See Also: Ruger Releasing Jeff Quinn Memorial GP100 Revolver But what might set the MAX-9 apart from most of its competition is it’s price: all three models have a suggested retail price of just $499. With real-world and online pricing expected to be even less, these will fly off shelves. Additional mags are already available from Ruger for $39 or in two-packs for $63 and come with a slick nickel Teflon coating. Ruger also offers finger extensions for 10-round magazines for $4, which make handling shorter guns easier for many shooters without increasing the pistol’s overall profile. Ruger will certainly shake up the market with the new MAX-9. For more info about these and the rest of the Ruger catalog, check out their website. *

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The Green Machine Well I thought it was funny!

Yes Sir!

By Your Pissed Off Subordinate

My leave was denied for the third training weekend in a row? Understood, sir.

Can you please sign this quarterly awards package I submitted to you two quarters ago? Sir.

I appreciate you taking the time to counsel me on email etiquette. Sir. I don’t know what I would do without your constant vigilance to keep me in line. Sir.

It’s definitely not my fear of having my leave denied, a Letter of Counseling slid across my desk, or being assigned all the shitty details that make me call you sir. Sir. No, I call you sir because of the shining example you set as a leader. Sir.

A lead from the front attitude starts with an open door policy, and boy do you have one. Sir. We all find it so inspiring to be able to hear so clearly when you put your Exec at attention and rip him a new one for not also calling you sir. Sir. Even though you’re both the same rank. Sir.

I respect you because you’re not afraid to drop everything to make us better. Sir. Like that time you stopped an important meeting to publicly correct me for not using sir in every sentence. Sir. Or that time you had an 0600 Saturday muster for the entire company because we weren’t “appropriately enthusiastic” at your all-call. Sir.

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In conclusion, I just want to say how much we all respect you as our commander. Sir. We know such persistent diligence as yours is hard on the throat, and your sacrifice does not go unnoticed. Sir. For your endless commitment to leadership and the rank on your collar, we salute you.

Now, any chance we could circle back to that weekend leave? Sir.

Your Pissed Off Subordinate is a man by the people, for the people. He is every soldier, airman, sailor, and marine to walk god’s green earth and think to himself “my commander’s kind of a dick.” In his free time, Your Pissed Off Subordinate likes to get absolutely hammered and rant about how he’d be a better leader than you. Thanks to Grumpy for contributing to this article. 

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All About Guns Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends"

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All About Guns

HISTORY OF the S&W M&P Pistol

Did you know that the revolver you know today as the Model 10 was the first M&P®? Introduced in 1899, this revolver has not only withstood the test of time, but also paved the way for all M&P’s to follow in its path.

Building off of the M&P’s immediate success, D.B. Wesson was determined to create an even more powerful .38 cartridge than ever seen before. Thus, the .38 S&W Special cartridge was born. The combined innovation of the M&P’s hand extractor system with the more powerful .38 S&W Special led to a full lineup of Smith and Wesson M&P revolvers by 1936.

In 1942 the M&P joined the fight. The .38 M&P revolver was updated and shipped to the British military to join the allied forces during WWII, supplying over 800,000 revolvers. This line of revolvers sported the serial numbers prefix V, better known today as the Victory models.

In the 1950’s Smith & Wesson worked to develop their first auto-loading 9mm pistol. Called the Model 39, this pistol was the first American designed double action semi-automatic pistol marketed in the U.S. While it did not sport the M&P moniker, the Illinois State Police adopted it in 1968 making it the first ever Double Action auto-loading pistol ever used by any state law enforcement agency in the United States.

However, the strength of the original Smith & Wesson M&P design held strong. By 1960 it was estimated that 85% of the world’s law enforcement officers carried a .38 M&P revolver.

It wasn’t until 2005 when the polymer frame pistol line that we know as today’s modern M&P came to be. Within its first year over 100 police departments were carrying the new line of M&P pistols.

Since then the M&P line has expanded to encompass everything from the smallest M&P bodyguard, to the tried and true Shield, all the way through the M&P 15 modern sporting rifle.

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All About Guns

REVISITING A REBORE IS THIS THE PERFECT REVOLVER? WRITTEN BY ROY HUNTINGTON

With lines sure to have a positive impact on your heart rate, Roy’s Bowen
conversion of a classic 38/44 Heavy Duty to .45 Colt is notable for its
singularity — and ability to whisper to whoever sees it.

 

Behold — the revolver. It appears I have peers among you who also suffer — perhaps not quite the right word, there — from an affliction I affectionately call “Um, uh … I really like revolvers, do you?” Leading me directly to the part where I have to laugh when I hear people say, “Wow, there is sure a lot of interest in revolvers these days, isn’t there?”

These days? I think for a certain segment of we die-hard “gunists” (may I call you fellow Guncranks?), the revolver renaissance supposedly occurring today isn’t newly minted. It’s been going on in my own life for, well … 60 years or more. I’ll also wager a significant bet on the fact it’s been going on for some time prior to then too. I think what we have here are people who are suddenly discovering these marvelous contraptions in which cylinders go round and round. “Wow, these are great, aren’t they?” they exclaim in wonder!

Cue we ’Cranks smiling in unison as we nod our collective heads.

If you still have your Nov/Dec 2000 issue of American Handgunner, go dig it out. I’ll wait. To kill time though, I’ll enlighten those who weren’t savvy enough to subscribe back then. You see, even then in the “very dark ages, a long, long time ago” there were revolvers of all sorts, and yes, some were even marvelous. The one in question here is, I feel, more “marvelouser” than most. Just maybe, dare I say it — “The Most Excellently Marvelous of All?”

Okay, if you’re back with your magazine, you’ll see a feature I wrote called “The Ultimate Outdoorsman,” which is, I might add, an incorrect title. It should have read, “The Ultimate Heavy Duty” but for some reason the then-editor called it by the wrong name. Oopsie. I wasn’t the editor at the time, but confess when I saw it I thought, Oopsie, that’s not right. It’s neither here nor there now, but I know what it is, and it isn’t an Outdoorsman. Now you know.

Roy Fishpaw’s unmatched craftsmanship with the grips defy the ability
of a sensitive finger to feel the juncture between metal and ivory.

Yes, your eyes don’t deceive, those are .45 Colt cartridges. An unexpected
benefit of the conversion is a lighter, more active feel to the revolver.

The Back Story

 

I always thought S&W fixed sighted 4″ N-Frames to be purveyors of all things good about fighting revolvers. Just enough heft, just enough authority in look and feel and even enough power to solve problems handily. At the top of the pyramid would have been a .44 Special and, more rare than common sense in Congress today, one chambered in .45 Colt — be still my racing heart.

As time passed, S&W brought out the Model 58 in .41 Magnum but alas, to me it was a swing and a miss. The heavy barrel, longer cylinder and more “clunky” feel wasn’t quite the right number of notes, if you will. Yet some did convert them to .45 Colt, and to his credit, the shop of revolver sage Hamilton Bowen turned the heavy barrels down and orchestrated other magical machinations turning even the challenging 58 into a semblance of loveliness. But to me, it was still an almost proposition.

Then I found an aging, beater of a .38/44 Heavy Duty with a 4″ barrel calling to me softly from a display case. Perhaps sensing someone was close by who would understand and rescue it, it whispered “Take me … take me …!”

So I did.

As I looked at it under the harsh fluorescent lights of the gun shop I saw past the nicks, scratches, worn blue and flattened checkering of the original small S&W “Service” stocks. This hardy gal had likely taken good care of a beat cop, then languished in a bedside drawer for how many years protecting a family? What I saw there in my mind’s eye on that olive-colored felt pad was the ghostly image of a richly blued, ivory-gripped, elegant lady with no small amount of experience in life.
I also saw her in .45 Colt.

Using the original barrel and reboring it allowed the original contours to remain unmolested.
Bowen’s attention to detail shows in the .45 Colt marking and new, pinned front sight.

The Smith & Wesson name is restored as it should be. Note the thin barrel walls and
serious .45 caliber bore looking back at you. An undeniably eye-catching combination, indeed.

Bowen Understanding

 

Hamilton is a teacher, author, accomplished pundit, genial soul, old friend — and the best revolver pistolsmith in the world. I told him what I had and asked if a .45 Colt would be possible. Hamilton said it’d be a tragedy to install a heavier barrel on the svelte gun so I grinned and said, “Heck, let’s rebore and re-rifle the existing barrel, take off the caliber stamp and turn it into a .45 Colt barrel.” When your skills can keep up with your imagination, saying such things earmark what follows as something to often wonder at.

Time passes, slowly I might add. Eventually, after administrations at Hamilton’s shop, a trip to Roy Fishpaw for ivory grips — the junction of metal and ivory isn’t discernible by touch — the old girl came home.

Hamilton and his gremlins turned the beater into a beauty, magically erasing those hard-living decades. The custom pinned front sight, 600-grit hand polish, case-coloring on the hammer and trigger and sublime yet meaningful blue conspire together, creating something triggering most who see it in the flesh to simply sigh, look at me, back at the gun, at me again, then sigh again.

I understand completely.

I do shoot it, have been known to carry it now and again thanks to Thad Rybka and the Milt Sparks shop, and it often spends weeks on my desk simply being there to enjoy. If you don’t own such a thing, do not pass go and do not collect $200, but sell some safe queens and put the money to use while you still have time to enjoy it all. Trust me on that.

Is this the best revolver ever? Some might argue the point with me, but I confess to smiling often knowing at least this one — is mine.