Sunday, June 04, 2023
Sunday Smith #73: Model 639, 1984
Monday, April 24, 2023
Sunday Smith #72: Model 469, 1984
Monday, March 06, 2023
Working Classic
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From top to bottom: Gen4, Gen3, and Gen2 Glock 19s |
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Not Quite Locked
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Mise à Niveau
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Y'know how the free-floating pin on an AR will lightly dimple a primer when you chamber a round? Same thing, but that's an AR firing pin up top and the MAS pin below... |
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Fallen Star #1: Ultra Star, 1994
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Sunday Smith #71: Bodyguard 380, 2013
Sunday, November 14, 2021
Sunday Smith #70: Model 3913, 199(4)?
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Sunday, Savage Sunday #5...
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Advertisement from June, 1914 issue of National Geographic |
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Sunday, Savage Sunday #4...
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Sunday, Savage Sunday #3...
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Savage for Victory! |
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Sunday, Savage Sunday #2...
The trigger is still case-colored and it still has the early version of the burr on the cocking piece as well as the very wide slide serrations. The grips on this example are in very good shape, with the "TRADEMARK" lettering still legible on the chief's headdress.
Sunday, October 03, 2021
Sunday, Savage Sunday #1
Monday, March 08, 2021
Classic Reevaluated
There was a time, back when I first got this Model 12-2, that I was skeptical of its utility as a carry piece due to my reluctance to fire +P ammo through early alloy-framed Smiths.
While it will probably hold up to an absolutely normal level of shooting, I'm scarred by having seen a couple early Airweight J-frames crack their frames, probably due to having the barrels torqued in too tightly.
Most vividly was the little flat-latch Model 37, a very early gun in absolutely pristine condition, that an elderly gentleman brought in for a trigger job. He'd finally gotten a carry permit for the revolver that had sat unused on a shelf for decades, and decided it could use a better trigger pull.
Gunsmith Bob did a great job on the trigger pull and took it out on the range to verify that it would reliably light off primers still by putting a couple of cylinders of ammunition through it. The test ammo was standard pressure .38 Special, probably American Eagle FMJ, and the frame cracked there at the barrel shank.
Smith & Wesson replaced the gentleman's Model 37 with a brand new Airweight J-frame, a stainless 637, and the customer was overjoyed. I guess from a practical point of view it was an upgrade, and we all tried not to actually cry in front of him.
At any rate, these days I am less inclined to seek any sort of expansion out of loads from a .38 Special snub. The only way to get it reliably seems to be to use light bullets with the velocity boosted via +P chamber pressures. So you get more blast and recoil and then a bullet that, if it does expand, tends to underpenetrate. If it doesn't expand, it pokes a hole just like a wadcutter.
The fact that most of the switched-on dudes I know who still utilize .38 snubs all carry standard pressure wadcutters in them is what I would call a clue. Plus, Federal's Gold Medal Match has quality control that's second to none and has sealed primers just like premium defensive ammo.
Knowing what I know now, I'd have no hesitation to throw a Tyler T-grip or a set of boot grips on this thing and carry it with a cylinder full of 148gr wadcutters.
We live and we learn.
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