In the largest cheating scandal in the Coast Guard Academy’s history, 20% of the class of 2025 were caught sharing homework answers with one another and were also aided by an older student from the prior year.
“And in another instance a cadet who had taken the homework assignments and done poorly on them and gone and talked to the instructor and gotten the right answer, distributed those answers,” said Commander Aaron Casavant, the Assistant Commandant of Cadets. “There were networks of cheating.”
It comes at a time when the Coast Guard service is already under scrutiny for a report that former Coast Guard leadership withheld from Congress and the publicsexual abuse and misconduct at the Academy over several years.
Whether the cadets understand how their actions affect the current image of the Coast Guard, Casavant said he’d like to think so, but he’s not sure. Twenty-five cadets have asked to appeal their sanctions Casavant said, knowing it could affect the start of their careers.
Casavant said they found out about the cheating incidents when the class instructors reviewed the computer program used to administer the homework assignments. They found two issues.
“What we found was that the homework assignments were being completed in the order of seconds and minutes, rather than the amount of time that the instructors expected a homework of that complication and difficulty to take,” he said.
Warship Wednesday, May 6, 2015: The unsinkable battleship of Manila Bay
Click to big up
Here we see the concrete battleship, Fort Drum, as she appeared before 1941. While yes, this is not a ship but a U.S. Army coastal defense fortification, it has all the aspects of a ship above the waterline!
When Dewey swept into Manila Bay in 1898, the battle that his Asiatic Squadron gave the outgunned Spanish fleet was brief and historic– leaving the U.S. with de facto control of the island chain (or at least the Bay) that was made official after the war ended. After the Japanese defeat of the Russian Pacific Fleets (both of them) in 1905– during which a number of the Tsar’s ships took refuge in Manila Bay under the watchful eye of the USN, it became a priority to beef up the defenses around the harbor to keep the Navy there from turning into another Port Arthur.
The island, before 1909. If you prefer, you can refer to this as the ‘keel’ of Fort Drum
In the mouth of the Bay was El Fraile Island, a small slip of rock that the Army, in charge of Coastal Defense, decided to place a mine-control battery atop. However, this plan soon changed and the Army, with the Navy’s blessing, went about building their own static battleship.
Under the plan of Lt. John Kingman of the Army Corps of Engineers, the military leveled off El Fraile starting in 1909 and encased the entire island in steel-reinforced concrete with an average depth of 36-feet thick along the walls.
Several stories deep, a fort was constructed that included water cisterns, fuel tanks to run electrical generators, barracks for artillerymen, dining facilities, and storage for enough food to last the defenders months if needed.
Topside Plan
Engine tank section. Click to big up
Powder magazines and “navy-type” electrical passing scuttles. Drum could stock 440 shells for its main batteries. Click to big up
Atop the roof of the structure, which itself was 20-feet thick, were mounted a pair of M1909 turrets that each houses a pair of 14-inch (360mm) guns. Although a Navy-style mount, it was all-Army and contained unique wire-wound guns modified from the standard M1907 big guns mounted in coastal defense forts stateside.
While the standard CONUS 14-inchers were “disappearing” mounts, these larger 40-caliber tubes, with their 46-foot length, allowed the 1,209-pound AP shells to fire out to some 22,705-yards. To protect these turrets (named Batteries Marshall and Wilson), they had 16-inches of steel armor on their face, 14 on the sides and rear, and 6 on the roof. Of course, these giant turrets, with their outsized guns, tipped the scales at 1,160-tons or about the weight of a standard destroyer of the era, but hey, it’s not like they were going to sink the island or anything.
For comparison, the huge 16-inch/50 cal Mk.7 mounts on the Iowa-class battleships– commissioned decades after the Army’s concrete fort was built, weighed 1,701-tons but had three larger guns rather than the two the boys in green staffed.
The M1909 mount was tested at Sandy Hook Proving Ground, New Jersey before shipment to the PI. Only two of these mounts were ever constructed and, to the credit of the Army, are both still in existence despite an epic trial by combat. Click to big up
As befitting a battleship, the fort had a secondary armament of four casemated 6-inch coastal defense guns (dubbed Batteries Roberts and McCrea) as well as an anti-aircraft/small boat defense scheme (Batteries Hoyle and Exeter) of smaller 3-inch guns.
To direct all this a 60-foot high lattice mount (just like those on the latest U.S. battleships) was fitted to the ‘stern’ of the fort that contained fire control spotters (that fed to plotting rooms protected deep inside the facility), as well as 60-inch searchlights, radio and signal facilities to keep in contact with the rest of the harbor defenses.
Finally commissioned in 1913– just in time for World War One, the concrete battleship was named Fort Drum after former Adjutant General of the Army Richard Coulter Drum, who had died in 1909– the year construction began.
The man…
The fort was a happy post until December 8, 1941, when, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese struck at the Philippines. Largely relegated to providing some far-off gunfire support and exchanging pot shots with Japanese planes until Manila fell, this soon changed.
In December two water-cooled .50 caliber machine guns manned by a 13-man platoon of 3/4 Marines (withdrawn only days before from China), was sent to the concrete battleship to beef up her dated AAA defenses.
They joined the 200~ soldiers, officers, Philippine Scouts, and civilian ordnance-men of the 59th and 60th U.S. Army Coastal Artillery Regiments, commanded by Lt. Col. Lewis S. Kirkpatrick. Later, when Bataan fell, about 20 tank-less soldiers from an armored unit– Company D, 192nd Tank Battalion (formerly Harrodsburg’s 38th Tank Company of the Kentucky National Guard)- managed to escape to Drum and lent their shoulders to the wheel for the last month of the campaign.
As the Japanese had done at Port Arthur in 1904 where they brought in 10-ton Krupp L/10 280mm howitzers from the Home Islands to churn the Russian fortifications to gruel, the Imperial Army shipped new 40-ton Type 45 240 mm howitzers just to batter Fort Drum in March.
Although they peppered the fort’s concrete and knocked out some small guns, Drum kept firing and after April, along with Corregidor and the other harbor forts, became the last piece of real estate owned by the U.S. When the Empire tried to take Corregidor in the end, Drum’s 14-inchers made Swiss cheese of a number of their thin-skinned landing barges, sending many of the Emperor’s best troops to the bottom of the Bay.
On May 6, 1942, some 73 years ago today, when General Wainwright surrendered Corregidor, he included the harbor forts in his order. Although still capable of fighting, the defenders of the fort obeyed orders, smashed their generators, burned their codebooks, spiked their weapons, turned the fire-hoses loose in the interior– paying special attention to the powder rooms, and raised a white flag at noon.
Although the 240~ soldiers and Marines of the garrison did not suffer any deaths in direct combat, their time in Japanese prison camps was by no means easy. A number of their unit, including Kirkpatrick, did not live to see the end of the war. Only one officer, battery commander Capt. Ben E. King, survived. Casualties among the enlisted were likewise horrific.
In the end, they were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and that of the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, which the 59th carries to this day (as the 59th Air Defense Artillery Regiment)
While the Japanese occupied the concrete battleship and used it as a coastal defense position for the rest of the war, they never did get the M1909s operable again.
US Army landing on Drum
Following bombardment by the USS Phoenix (CL-46), on April 13, 1945, the U.S. Army landed on the roof of the once-great fort. They found the Japanese defenders, shut inside its concrete warren under their feet, unwilling to surrender. Therefore, with McArthur’s blessing, a detachment of B Company/13th Engineers, poured 3,000 gallons of diesel/oil slurry down the ventilation shafts and set it off with timed charges as they withdrew.
US engineers and soldiers guarding them, pumping diesel fuel and oil into the innards of Ft. Drum Philippines. Note the 14-inch turret in the background
The fort burned for two weeks and no living Japanese prisoners were taken, only 68 “body remnants” were recovered. These men were sailors and survivors from the ill-fated super battleship Musashi, sent to the bottom just six months prior. So in the end, her final crew were battleship men.
First there was a cloud of smoke rising and seconds later the main explosion came. Blast after blast ripped the concrete battleship. Debris was showered into the water throwing up hundred of small geysers. A large flat object, later identified as the 6-inch concrete slab protecting the powder magazine was blown several hundred feet into the air to fall back on top of the fort, miraculously still unbroken. Now the GIs and sailors could cheer. And they did. As the LSM moved toward Corregidor there were continued explosions. More smoke and debris.
Two days later, on Sunday, a party went back to try to get into the fort through the lower levels. Wisps of smoke were still curling through the ventilators and it was obvious that oil was still burning inside. The visit was called off for that day. On Monday the troops returned again. this time they were able to make their way down as far as the second level, but again smoke forced them to withdraw. Eight Japs-dead of suffocation- were found on the first two levels.
Another two days later another landing party returned and explored the whole island. The bodies of 60 Japs-burned to death-were found in the boiler room on the third level. The inside of the fort was in shambles. The walls were blackened with smoke and what installations there were had been blown to pieces or burned.
In actual time of pumping oil and setting fuses, it had taken just over 15 minutes to settle the fate of the “impregnable” concrete fortress. It had been a successful operation in every way but one: The souvenir hunting wasn’t very good.
Starboard beam view of the battleship USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) passing between CORREGIDOR (background) and FORT DRUM as she enters Manila Bay. Date: 3 Jul 1983 Camera Operator: PH2 PAUL SOUTAR ID: DN-SN-83-09891 Click to big up
Now, abandoned, the unsinkable battleship with its charred interior spaces lies moldering away in Manila Bay.
Over the years, it has become a tourist attraction and target for scrap hunters who have carried off every piece of metal smaller than they are.
Displacement: It is an island
Length: 350 feet
Beam: 144 feet
Draught: nil, but the fort stood 40-feet high and the lattice tower over 100
Propulsion: None, although the fort had numerous generators
Speed: In time with the rotation of the earth
Complement: 200 men of Company E, 59th Coastal Artillery Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Lewis S. Kirkpatrick (1941-42)
Armament: (as completed)
4xM1909 14-inch guns
4xM1908 6-inch guns
Armor: Up to 36 feet of concrete, with up to 16-inches of plate on turrets
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A U.S. Secret Service agent with Vice President Kamala Harris’ detail was removed from their assignment after engaging in a physical fight with other agents while on duty Monday, Fox News Digital has learned.
The fight was first reported by The New York Post and confirmed to Fox News Digital by a source.
The incident happened at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland while Harris was at the Naval Observatory, but didn’t delay her departure from the base, the Secret Service told Fox News Digital.
Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the U.S. Secret Service, called the incident a “medical matter,” adding that the agency wouldn’t be commenting further.
A Secret Service agent with Vice President Kamala Harris’ detail was removed from their assignment after engaging in a physical fight, a source confirmed to Fox News Digital.
“At approximately 9 a.m. April 22, a U.S. Secret Service special agent supporting the Vice President’s departure from Joint Base Andrews began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing,” Guglielmi said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
He added, “The agent was removed from their assignment while medical personnel were summoned. The Vice President was at the Naval Observatory when this incident occurred and there was no impact on her departure from Joint Base Andrews.
“The U.S. Secret Service takes the safety and health of our employees very seriously. As this was a medical matter, we will not disclose any further details.”
The agent, who had been acting “erratically,” began punching the special agent in charge after getting on top of him, Real Clear Politics reported.
The agent, who was handcuffed after the incident and treated by medical staff, had previously been a subject of concern by staff, the outlet reported.
Students in classroom. (Credit: Unsplash/Taylor Flowe)
Nebraska schools could soon allow staff members to be armed after the state legislature passed a law aimed at protecting students from potential mass shooters. The measure now awaits Republican Gov. Jim Pillen’s signature.
The legislation has met with mixed reactions from those concerned about the safety of schoolchildren.
The law does not apply to all of the state’s schools, but it does allow those located in rural areas with low populations to arm teachers and other members of school staff.
The provision that would allow such staff to carry firearms in schools and at school-related events originally included all districts across the Cornhusker State, but now applies only to those with under 5,000 residents after opposition from some areas of the state led lawmakers to compromise.
“It doesn’t apply to all the schools. This was designed for the rural schools where they didn’t have a resource officer or law enforcement wasn’t readily available,” state Sen. Tom Brewer, who introduced the measure, said, according to a local report.
The measure would enable schools to either hire security or elect a specific member of the school to carry a weapon.
“It can be anyone from the superintendent to the janitor,” Brewer continued, according to the report. Regardless of the choice, those who are armed must undergo training.
Some fear that, without the imminent presence of someone capable of confronting a school shooter in the event of an emergency, law enforcement could otherwise be 15 minutes – or further – away from these rural districts.
When the provision was being discussed earlier this year, members of the community on both sides of the issue made their opinions known.
Zach Kassebaum, superintendent of Lincoln Christian School, supported the proposal, which would require training and a policy for appropriate use of force. Kassebaum said the proposal could meet the needs of private or rural schools.
“Selecting individuals with the right aptitude, temperament and willingness to receive rigorous training — it’s not this picture of emotion that has been created of armed teachers in their classroom walking the hallways with a weapon on their hip,” Kassebaum said.
Pat Ritchie, a 36-year teacher in schools around the state, opposed the bill, which she said could be counterproductive.
“I believe that teachers with guns will be, no pun intended, a trigger for many students who come from violent home lives or neighborhoods. I believe that our young people who are not fully developed with their brains and their emotional responses are going to be tempted with pranks or theft of ammunition or guns,” Ritchie said.
Also testifying against it was Sharon O’Neal, a former Lincoln paraeducator, who listed alternatives for stopping school violence.
“Hardening school environments to prevent unauthorized entry. Ensuring adequate mental health services are available for students and for staff. Working with community partners to implement trauma-informed crisis intervention practices before a person commits an act of violence. Implementing early detection and response to behavioral red flags. And informing families — perhaps even mandating — proper secure storage of guns to prevent access by children,” O’Neal said.
___________________________________________ Sorry guys but based on my teaching experience. Most Teachers would be the last group that I would arm.
Now granted I am talking about Teachers out here in LaLa land. But most of us have neither the training, experience or the emotional strength to be bearing arms. Plus imagine the law suits that would occur for say accidental discharges, a student getting their hands on a gun at school. etc etc. All in all this is a really bad idea as opposed to say hiring say a retired cop. What do you think about this? Grumpy
When our exalted editorship was telling me Smith & Wesson asked what caliber they might consider as a follow-up to the very successful return of the Model 21 .44 Special we unveiled on the cover of Handgunner (Nov/Dec 2004), he said his vote was for the exact same gun but in .45 Colt. I said, “Bah, humbug!” Not exactly the best way to get a raise, but its my version of the truth. (Editor’s note: What Duke actually said, with a big sigh, was, “If you had any sense, you’d know what I’m talking about. How’d you ever get to be the editor, anyway?” Just so you know.)
Unless your purpose is to load with black powder or to fulfill a sense of nostalgia, no one with any sense would pick the .45 Colt over the .45 Auto-Rim/.45 ACP for a revolver cartridge. There are the guys who buy the big Rugers and stoke them up with super-stout loads. Hell, the reloading manuals even have special sections on loading the .45 Colt to high pressures especially for Rugers. That’s turning the .45 Colt into sort of a .45 Magnum, and not what I mean at all.
What I’m talking about is using the .45 Colt at the ballistics it is factory loaded, or at handloaded equivalents. In that arena, the .45 Auto-Rim/.45 ACP can do anything the .45 Colt can, and do it more efficiently and with better accuracy.
Ever seen a .45 Colt shoot like this? This S&W Model 1955 put 10 shots in 1 3⁄4″ at 25 yards.
From left: .45 Auto-Rim, .45 ACP and .45 Colt.
No, Honest
In its day the .45 Colt was a humdinger, pure and simple. It was designed for black powder, and those old factory loads with 35 to 40 grains were powerful by any standard. They had to be. In developing the .45 Colt cartridge, the U.S. Army intended it for the cavalry. Cavalry combat in those days meant horses, and they are both easier to hit and harder to knock down than people. So the Army’s cartridge developers wanted a handgun cartridge with power beyond what was needed for people.
They got it too. The .45 Colt, with black powder loads, was rated at about 900 fps with 250 grain bullets from the 7.5″ barrel of a Colt SAA. In the black powder era no other handgun cartridge was close, except the .44 WCF (.44-40). Others, such as .45 S&W (Schofield) .44 Russian, .44 Colt, .44 American and so forth all did good to break 750 fps, and with lighter bullets at that.
In my personal experience a case-full of black powder in the .45 Colt often exceeds 900 fps and sometimes breaks 1,000 fps, depending on the exact type and amount of powder used. So the .45 Colt’s case was made 1.285″ long to hold all that black powder. Incidentally that length is the same as for .357, .41 and .44 Magnums.
A double action .45 AR revolver could be loaded with either half moon clips using .45 ACP loads, or a speed loader with .45 AR rounds.
224-grain full wadcutter (left) and 223-grain roundnose/flat point (right).
.45 AR, .45 Colt and .45 AR. Duke says toss the one in the middle!
Blistering Loads?
Now fast forward to the smokeless powder era. To equal black powder ballistics and pressures in the .45 Colt requires tiny little charges of most smokeless propellants. Lyman’s newest RELOADING HANDBOOK #48 lists MAX loads with 250 grain bullets as being 9 grains of Unique, 7.4 grains of W231, or 6.2 grains of Titegroup. I swear, when one of those charges is dropped into a .45 Colt case I hear an echo! And what sort of velocities do they get with those MAX charges? The most is with the W231 load and it’s a “blistering” 894 fps from a 7.5″ barrel.
And those tiny little charges in great big cases can lead to all sorts of problems. The least of which is gas blow-by. That is caused when the cartridge case walls don’t obdurate to seal the chamber and gas leaks back along the case. It’s harmless, but is the reason behind your .45 Colt cases being burnt black along one side after firing.
Let’s even discount the very controversial accusation about light charges in big cases blowing up guns, since we can’t prove that it happens. The fact remains many cowboy action shooters have blown up their .45 Colt handguns. I’ve personally been at three matches where it has happened, and been sent photos of many more. And yes, I did one myself here at home.
Generally speaking the topstrap and top three chambers go into orbit. Amazingly no one has been hurt when this happened at matches I was attending. Discounting a light charge phenomenon, leaves double-charging as a culprit, and it’s a fact you really have to be looking to spot a double charge in a .45 Colt case.
Thirdly, those small powder charges tumbling about in the huge .45 Colt case can lead to ballistic inefficiency. Powder down in the front of the case on firing leads to one velocity; powder back in the rear of the case leads to another velocity. If the bullets are lightly crimped — or not crimped at all — the situation can be worse, to the point of hangfires and misfires. I’ve seen it happen. As a matter of fact, Hodgdon developed their relatively new Titegroup powder to not be position sensitive in the case; specifically to help with this problem. It works, too.
Good news. To convert a set of .45 ACP dies to load .45 AR cartridges requires only a different shell holder.
Me Worry?
But why have a problem? The U.S. Army figured this out too. When smokeless propellants were safely ensconced in society, what did they do with the .45 Colt? They threw it in the “obsolete” heap. Then they designed a new .45 caliber cartridge that was only .898″ long and called it the .45 ACP. They had to drop bullet weight about 20 grains but did they have to reduce velocity from .45 Colt loads? No way; they had already done that.
For their short-lived Model 1909 (Colt New Service) .45 revolver they had reduced their smokeless .45 Colt service loads down to 725 fps with 250 grain bullets. I’ve got an original unopened box of .45 Colt Model 1909 loads that shows it. Why did they make their smokeless .45 Colt service loads so puny? My guess is they probably didn’t want to take a chance on blowing up all those black powder era .45 Colt Single Action Army revolvers they still had floating around in inventory.
Then, with typical government farsightedness, in 1917 the United States entered a full-fledged war without enough guns to fight it. A solution to their lack of pistols was to get both S&W and Colt to chamber their big frame revolvers for .45 ACP. Extraction of the rimless case was provided by a little spring steel “halfmoon” clip. It was a good idea and still is.
About 1921 the Peters Cartridge Company saw a gap in the market and filled it. They simply put a rim on the .45 ACP case and called it the .45 Auto-Rim. It’s now deader than the manual typewriter, and that’s a shame. It’s a fine cartridge and makes much better sense than a .45 Colt, except for Old West nostalgia and black powder shooting.
The U.S. Army had the Colt all figured out in 1909. Note the 725 fps velocity on the box label.
Makes Sense
Go ahead and let the rampage begin, but I’m making sense here. And let me tell you this — I’m no newcomer to the .45 Colt. My records show I’ve owned 48 handguns so chambered, and still have 11 right now. Since 1968 when I bought my first Colt SAA, my handgun assortment has never been without one. “So wiseass,” you ask, “if you say they suck, why do you have so many?” Old West nostalgia — except for a Navy Arms Schofield, they’re all Colt Peacemakers. I already said that was a valid reason.
But, let me tell you this. Except for shooting done for articles and BP loads, I haven’t fired a round of .45 Colt for years. Many hundreds of the shorter .45 S&W (Schofield) shells have passed through those guns, but almost nary a .45 Colt. In fact I’ve only got a couple hundred rounds of .45 Colt brass lying around this place.
Now let me tell you something else. Before 2004, I had never fired a single round of .45 Auto-Rim and therefore had never handloaded for the cartridge either. In 2004 I added a half-dozen S&W and Colt revolvers chambered for it to my collection. Taking into account my ignorance of the cartridge, I proceeded to load over 1,000 rounds, and then fire them through those .45s; mostly testing for accuracy and chronographing. It’s a huckleberry!
That cartridge looks big and serious — but do you really need it?
The Plot Thickens
My project showed .45AR handguns can be finely accurate. That shouldn’t be a surprise, because both Colt and S&W have produced many thousands of targetgrade .45AR revolvers. Target-grade .45 Colt sixguns? What’s that? My project also showed equaling .45 Colt ballistics was no problem. With bullets weighing from 225 to 250 grains, my .45AR revolvers with barrel lengths of 5.5″ to 6.5″ were on a par with .45 Colt ballistics. Using powder charges taken directly from reloading manuals, and not MAX ones by any means, the .45AR’s velocities were running in the 850 to 900 fps range.
Here are some examples: 4.7 grains of Red Dot with the Redding/Saeco 225 grain full wadcutter cast bullet (#453) gave 891 fps from the Colt’s 5.5″ barrel. Extreme spread in those 10 round’s velocity readings was only 28 fps. Using the Oregon Trail 250 grain RN/FP and 5.6 grains of Unique gave 868 fps from the same gun with 29 fps extreme spread. The point is that powder charges in the .45AR case aren’t floating around, so they burn consistently. And here’s a good point: converting a set of .45 ACP dies to reload .45AR consists of just adding the proper shell holder.
Sharp witted readers must be thinking for the smaller .45AR to equal the larger .45 Colt then it has to be working at higher pressures. Sure, and so what? Speer’s RELOADING MANUAL #13 lists .45 Colt pressures at 14,000 psi and .45AR at 15,000 psi. But the .45 ACP is listed at 21,000 psi, and all revolvers made for .45AR/.45 ACP are safe for use with any of the .45 ACP loads.
If you’re going to load this dab of smokeless powder, which cartridge does it make most sense to put it in?
Accurate?
The .45 Colt has never had much of a reputation for accuracy, but to be honest that has been more a problem with the gun’s dimensions rather than anything inherent to the cartridge itself. For decades gunmakers put .456″ or bigger chamber mouths in .45 Colt cylinders, but barrels of only .451″. Smith & Wesson saw the light some years back and reduced chamber mouths. Ruger did too, but sometimes corrected the problem too much. Colt has, as usual, proceeded down their own lonely trail.
In all my test firing of .45 Colt handguns over almost 40 years, I feel it’s a rare one that will group five shots under 2″ at 25 yards. With my assortment of .45ARs, often the first five shots cut a ragged hole, and many times five more dumped on top of them still left groups under 2″. Like I said, there have been many .45AR target-grade revolvers.
These are a good assortment of .45 AR/.45 ACP revolvers produced since WW I.
Left from top down: Colt Model 1917, S&W Model 1950 Target, S&W Model 1955 Target.
At right from top down; S&W Model 1917, and S&W Model 1950 Army.
Duke Says
So here’s my say on the matter. When Smith & Wesson follows up the Thunder Ranch .44 Special Revolver with another, then just leave everything alone and make it for .45AR/.45 ACP. Then I bet we can prevail on Jeff Hoffman at Black Hills Ammunition to make us a .45AR factory load with about a 225/230 grain SWC bullet at 800/850 fps. Think of the versatility! Such a handgun could be loaded with .45AR cases and quick reloads done with speed loaders, or if someone wanted to use .45 ACP in half moon clips, that’s a perfectly good alternative.
If you want to love the .45 Colt for its wonderfully colorful history, then by all means do. If you think it’s great to stoke it full of black powder and cause everyone else on the firing line to jump and say, “What the hell was that!” Then go for it — I do it, and it’s great fun. But if you think the .45 Colt is some great shakes as an all-around smokeless powder revolver cartridge — you’re wrong. The .45AR is better. It may be dead but it shouldn’t be. Let the letters begin!
—————————————————————————– This is just your classic click bait / create letters to the editor piece. While he does make a good arguement. But if I had to face down some nasty bit of shit. I would not be terribly worried about it if I had a S&W model 25 in my paw. Grumpy
The folks who installed these stairs were more daring/crazy! Grumpy
