Accessories

In this article we evaluate three guns that make no excuses for their girth. The Smith & Wesson Model 21-4 is a straightforward, large-frame revolver chambered for .44 Special only. Its .45 Colt brother, the Smith & Wesson Model 25-13, is slightly more modern, adding adjustable sights. The Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan was fit with a longer cylinder, and together with its heavy frame, it is capable of firing .454 Casull as well as .45 Colt ammunition.

Our focus in this test was personal defense from humans and not bears, so we left the Casull rounds at home, but we did test an extra-heavy .45 Colt load from Atlanta Arms and Ammo formulated specifically for Ruger and Thompson Center firearms (). The intention was to split the difference between .454 Casull and more commonly available .45 Colt ammunition. This round featured a 328-grain lead truncated-cone bullet. Our other .45 Colt test rounds were Federal's 225-grain lead semi-wadcutter hollowpoints, Speer's 250-grain Gold Dot Hollowpoints, and another Atlanta Arms and Ammo product topped with a 275-grain lead truncated cone.

For our .44 Special rounds we chose 165-grain JHP rounds from Cor-Bon, Winchester's 200-grain Silvertip HP rounds, and 240-grain Truncated Cone Jacketed ammunition manufactured by Atlanta Arms and Ammo. Test distance was 25 yards from a sandbag rest. We fired single action only to collect hard data, but fired on steel targets double action only to evaluate rapid-fire capability. Limited to six-round capacity, we wanted to know which guns offered the right mix of power, accuracy, and speed. Here's what we learned:

According to a number of online dictionaries, there is no definition listed for the term, "cowboy gun." Nevertheless, the popularity of revolvers descending from the Colt Single Action Army has brought new meaning to these words. Since 1999 we have tested at least 18 different handguns that fit what we define as a cowboy gun, and now there are two more entering the market.

The Taurus Gaucho No. SA45B, $499, and the Heritage Manufacturing Big Bore Rough Rider No. RR45B5, $379, are six-shot single-action revolvers each with 5.5-inch barrels and chambered for 45 Colt. Some refer to this 1.6-inch-long straight-walled case with a 0.454-inch diameter bullet as .45 Long Colt, but in either case this caliber did not actually exist in the 19th Century. What is important is that these guns are for pleasure first, and they do not come with big price tags.

But their budget prices don't mean we're going to let them off the hook should they prove wanting in one area or another. Physically, the Gaucho and the Rough Rider could not be closer. Indeed, since they are replica guns, any variation from form, whether a positive innovation or not, would more than likely spoil their appeal. Both guns are dark-blued steel. Both guns have a tall front sight and a rear sighting notch exposed when the hammer is pulled back. Sight radius was equal. Each gun cylinder rotated clockwise, and with the loading gate open, the cylinders clicked with the indexing of each chamber. Ejector-rod movement was approximately 2.7 inches for each gun. The hammers on each gun lacked firing pins, using instead a transfer-bar system for greater safety. The Gaucho featured a plastic grip, but the grip on the Rough Rider was wood. The shape of the bell-shaped grips each started with a wide base that tapered to a 4.1-inch neck. Their weight, size, front strap and back strap height were nearly identical.

With so little to distinguish the two guns, our main concerns in this test were accuracy, fit, and function. Our test distance was 25 yards from a sandbag rest with four different choices of ammunition, two modern and two others sold in boxes decorated with Old West graphics. The modern rounds were Winchester's 225-grain Silvertip hollowpoints and Remington's 225-grain lead semi-wadcutters. The remaining ammunition brands, likely being marketed to Cowboy Action shooters, were 250-grain lead flat-point rounds from PMC and Black Hills Ammunition. We also looked back at other .45 Colt cowboy guns we have tested to see how these two newcomers stacked up within the category overall.

In rifle shooting the search for steadiness is ongoing and problematic. Every shooter in the field likes to have a a rock-solid rest from which to fire a single accurate shot, but sandbags and rests are too heavy and bulky to tote.Enter the bipod, which provides a way to stop rifle movement without the downsides. We recently bought three units at a gun show which fit on or under a rifle with varying degress of success: the Steady Stix II by Stoney Point Products, $36; the Universal Bipod from Advanced Technology, Inc., $40; and the B-Square Roto-Tilt Bipod, $70. We reviewed each unit for function, ease of use, and steadiness while field shooting. Heres how they held up in our evaluations.

Can the American-made side-by-side compete with the best handmade British game guns? In our estimation, no. But if you don't know your stuff, you can get burned on foreign models.

Quicker to the draw than we first expected, the Raptor is a very secure holster that gives the wearer multiple ways to defend against a gun grab.

The Peace Keeper H304 beat out holsters from Bianchi, Blackhawk, and Safariland when we strapped them on to see how easy they were to use and how well they deterred theft.

Reliability and velocity are two prime considerations when choosing a propellant for your flintlock or percussion gun. Which of these products should you pour into your powder horn?

We examined six pairs of optics ranging in price from $260 to nearly $1,700 to see if price really has an impact on ease of use and performance. This time, models over $1100.

Evaluated on the clay-target fields and over dogs pointing quail, the sub-gauge Browning gun had a slight edge over the Beretta.

We think weapon lights from Glock, Springfield Armory, and Insight Technology have their weak spots. Surefire is a sure bet.

Our other test guns were the Browning A-Bolt II Micro Hunter No. 0350202111, a 6.25-pound gun with a 20-inch blued barrel, $684; and the Remington 700 SPS Youth No. 27475, a less expensive synthetic-stocked gun that weighed 6.75 pounds unloaded. Because of its $400 street price (MSRP $510), an Alaskan sheep-hunter GT reader had recommended his .308-chambered SPS "youth" gun as a steal, opining that because it was marketed to beginners, it was priced lower than similar guns. We found his recommendation to be right on the mark, along with the SPS's ability to shoot.

Our test ammos for these .243s showed a range of utility designed to express flaws in the barrels' rifling (we thought). From lightest to heaviest, they were Federal Premium Vital-Shok 85-grain Sierra Gameking boattail hollow points, No. P243D; Winchester Supreme 95-grain Ballistic Silvertips, No. SBST243A; and Remington's Express Core-Lokt 100-grain pointed soft points, No. R243W3. Also, as part of barrel break-in, we shot Remington 80-grain Express Rifle rounds, No. 243W1, but we did not collect accuracy or chronograph data with these rounds.

Its just about summertime again, and as the jackets come off, the ability to hide ones weapon becomes more difficult. Here are three ways to do it from Galco, DeSantis, and Hoffners.