Handguns

As the story goes, James Bond’s Beretta failed to fire during one of his cloak-and-dagger adventures. As a result, he was given a Walther PPK before undertaking his next crusade against a master criminal out to ransom the world. Thanks to the Ian Fleming books, the PPK, along with the vodka martini (shaken, not stirred), attracted a great deal of public interest. This interest was enough to encourage the gun-control wackos to lobby against the PPK’s importation.

When it comes to concealing a handgun, there is only so much space available on the hip, inside a handbag, or somewhere else on the body or in clothing. That's why there are snubnosed revolvers and subcompact pistols. Choosing a handgun, then, becomes a balance of firepower versus weight and overall structural dimensions. In this test, we will limit the size of our test guns to three guns that will fit into a box approximately 5-by-7 inches in size — which represents a handgun that can be carried easily in just about any manner of traditional concealment.

However, we are purposefully mixing apples and oranges, that is, pistols and revolvers, because either design can do the job of self-protection at close range. Our three test guns were the $747 9mm Kimber Solo Carry, the $299 9mm SCCY Industries CPX-2, and the $523 Taurus 40 S&W M405 stainless-steel revolver. Each gun offered at least one advantage not shared by the other two. The Kimber Solo was the most concealable. The SCCY pistol offered the highest capacity, and the Taurus revolver fired the biggest bullet.

The cartridge versus cartridge debate rages on, largely based on the stopping power of one single shot. But let us offer an alternative viewpoint suggested by TacPro Shooting Center's Bill Davison. Davison, a former Royal Marine and one of the most complete training consultants in the United States, offers that when rating the firepower of a handgun, the amount of energy it can deliver should be the sum of its entire capacity rather than the energy of one lone shot. For example, a 9+1 capacity pistol, wherein each bullet registers about 330 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle, should ultimately be considered more powerful than a six-shot pistol that fires ammunition capable of delivering 500 foot-pounds with each round of fire. Food for thought.

For our tests, we began by shooting five-shot groups (the capacity of the Taurus) from the 15-yard bench. Then, we applied what we think was a more realistic test. Each gun was fired from a distance of 5 yards at a humanoid paper target. Start position was with the gun lowered to rest on a oil-barrel top about waist high. We used a CED8000 shot-activated timer to provide a start signal and record elapsed time of each shot. We took note of the first shot to see how fast we could get the gun into action and the last shot to see how long it took to deliver two shots to center mass and one shot to the head area. Altogether we recorded five separate strings of fire. We scored the hits A, B, C, or D, looking for ten hits to the preferred 5.9-inch by 11.2-inch A-zone at center mass and five hits to the A-zone in the head, which measured 4 inches long by 2 inches high. The catch was that the test was performed strong hand only. (By a right-handed shooter holding the gun with only his right hand). We weren't trying to be cowboys or go Hollywood. It's just that in close-range fighting where guns such as these would most likely be used, applying a support hand may not be possible. On the semiautos, there wasn't much room for a support hand in the first place.

For testing the Taurus revolver, we chose Winchester 165-grain FMJ ammunition sold in a value pack, Federal Premium 135-grain Hydra Shok JHP ammunition, and Hornady Custom 180-grain XTP jacketed hollowpoint rounds. The 165-grain rounds were also used in our action shooting test. For testing the semi-automatics, we ended up using four test rounds. After testing with 115-grain FMJ, 115-grain JHP EXP hollowpoints, and 124-grain JHP rounds from Black Hills Ammunition, we learned that Kimber had declared that the Solo should only be used with 124-grain and 147-grain bullets. So, we went back to the test range with a supply of Federal 147-grain Federal Hydra Shok ammunition and resumed our bench session. Naturally, we retested the SCCY pistol with the 147-grain ammunition as well. All test rounds were standard pressure, including the Black Hills EXP ammunition, which was designed for maximum performance in firearms not recommended for +P ammunition. Here is what we learned.

Many of us like to carry a 38 or 357 snubbie in the pocket as a backup to a larger gun. Theyre not a bad selection either, with good loads, some of which (specifically, Buffalo Bore) put out 158-grain bullets at 1000 fps. However, some of us prefer bigger, heavier bullets for self-protection, and for that purpose, enter the Charter Arms Bulldog. For years that model was the only viable small 44 Special, but since the advent of the Bulldog around 1973, S&W came out with a similar five-shot revolver called the Model 296, now dropped from production. In more recent days, Taurus entered the fray with two small, light 44 Specials, blued and stainless. The Charter Arms website (www.CharterArms.com) today lists 11 varieties of the 44 Special Bulldog, as well as many other revolvers in 22 LR and 22 Mag., 32 H&R, 38 Spl., 357 Mag, a delightful rimless revolver in 40 S&W that doesnt need moon clips, and the 44 Specials. For this test we chose the model 14420 standard Bulldog with 2.5-inch barrel and matte-blue finish (MSRP $414), and put it against the Taurus glossy-blued 2-inch version, Model 445B2UL (MSRP $508).Both are five-shot conventional revolvers, with both SA and DA modes. Both guns had excellent DA and SA pulls, which was something of a surprise to our test crew. Each gun had rubber grips and external hammers and shrouded ejector rods. The frame on the Charter was blackened stainless, while that on the Taurus was aluminum. The guns were very similar in weight and balance, except that the Taurus grip was much larger. In light of our recent experiments with firelapping, we measured the guns inside and out and found some surprises and mistakes that were borne out on the targets.Because it was difficult to obtain factory-loaded 44 Special ammo, we tested with three handloads and three factory loads, one of which showed up on the UPS truck just as we were concluding our chronographing. The handloads were five grains of Bullseye behind a 250-grain Mt. Baldy (www.MTBaldyBullets.com) cast Keith bullet, the same powder behind a 240-grain Speer JHP, 7.5 grains of Unique behind the Keith bullet, Black Hills cowboy loads with a 210-grain cast RNFP bullet, Remington 246-grain lead RN, and the late-comer, Speer 200-grain Gold Dot Hollow Points. Heres what we found.

If you're confused about how generations of Glocks have differed over the years, Scott Fuller, Product Tech head at CheaperThanDirt.com, posted a concise history of the changes.

Metalform Company is now manufacturing its pistol magazines for sale in the retail market.

Oral arguments occurred July 10 in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Jennings v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. In that case, the National Rifle Association is appealing a decision by a federal court in Texas which held that the Second Amendment doesn’t protect the right of young adults to buy firearms from federally licensed dealers.

Auction #11175735 is a Basic Auction posted by “SteveHMaine” that lists a Colt's PT. F.A. Mfg. Co. Single Action Army Artillery Model with a $4,499 minimum bid and a Buy It Now price of $4,500. This is an excellent example of a nice old veteran of the late Apache Wars (1880-1889) that was hastily made ready for the Moro Rebellion (1899-1913) in the Philippines when the Army realized the ineffectiveness of the .38 caliber Model 1892.

On issues involving the Use of Deadly Force, we have laws to guide us, but ultimately the standard of conduct is set by the courts and juries through their decisions in criminal and civil trials. Their decisions filter down and impact the policies of the District Attorney’s Office, your local law enforcement agencies, and civil litigation attorneys. Our own, individual decisions on the Use of Deadly Force may or may not conform to the accepted standard of conduct of the collective group of people we interact with.

You can know all of the high-speed, low-drag tactics that there are to know ... but if you're not aware enough of your environment to see the fight coming, a common street punk can have your car keys, your wallet or your life before you even know what's happening.

Everybody knows firing pins detonate primers, but not everyone can define esoteric aspects of these parts.

One of the featured auctions at GunAuction.com this week is a scarce and collectible pre-war Smith & Wesson revolver listed by “jackthedog.” Auction #11136938 is for a “.44 Hand Ejector, 2nd Model Target,” a .44 Special built on S&W’s big N-Frame with five screws. This no-reserve Penny Auction is generating a lot of interest, accumulating 36 bids in about 48 hours, with the high bid being $1,806 at one point.

A recent post on CheaperThanDirt.com's 'Shooter's Log' blog has generated hundreds of customer comments in response to a simple question: 'Are You Buying Guns? Tell Us Why.'