American Handgunner articles from January 2000

American Handgunner archives from January 2000

MAIL CALL.
January 1, 2000... Ridiculous Letters After reading my last copy of American Handgunner, I just had to write and express my views on what I consider ridiculous letters that some of your readers write. I am 71-years-old and have never written to any magazine....

Mayberry Police Dept. Revisited.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... My first patrol car was a black and white 1972 Dodge Polara. A Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun was racked to the dashboard. The issue weapon was the Smith & Wesson Model 10 .38 Special in a Jordan holster with a simple safety strap. I felt...

Felon-Seeking Pulse Radar Bullets.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... First, let's talk about what's not obsolete. The wheelgun hasn't been mothballed. It has merely transmogrified from a uniform service sidearm into the single most popular backup handgun. While reliable small autos like the baby Glocks, the...

Yes, You Have To Carry A Gun With That Shiny Badge.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... The interesting fact is that even shooters who can demonstrate that they are "good" on a standard of course of fire sometimes do very poorly in real life self-defense shooting scenarios. I have heard all kinds of excuses why people fare so...

When The Flag Goes Up.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... How do you know what is required to shoot well in a life or death encounter? After years of study -- and I consider myself a serious student of weaponcraft, not an expert -- I believe that the answer is that you must be able to shoot...

GOODNESS GRACIOUS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Over the course of my travels and writings I constantly reference the term "good" when often comment that someone is really good with a handgun. The key question in my mind is, "How do you define 'good?'" Typically we consider anyone who...

Manly Ways To Shoot Like A Man.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... When you shoot a man-on-man drill, both parties typically shoot as fast as they can hit. No one slows down in a man-on-man contest, on the range or on the street. The act of presenting the sidearm to the target, getting it into firing mode,...

MOVEMENT EQUALS SAFETY.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Most handgun self-defense scenarios take place at just over arm's length. Nearly all are less than five yards in distance. At this close range, you are not going to stand still and return fire. There is no firing line on the street or in your...

In Defense Of "The Mexican Defense".(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Everyone wants to give their reflexive shooting skills a test from time to time. The key is how do you force shooters to use their conscious mind while performing subconscious shooting techniques? We all do just fine when we are on the...

THE COLD SHOT.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... First shot, opening day -- where did it go? How did you sight-in? How did you take the shot? Was it a clean dry barrel, clean oiled barrel or fouled barrel? Start with sighting-in. Did you use a sandbag rest? Was the butt of the gun buried...

How To Sight-In Properly.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Is your barrel freshly cleaned and oiled? Freshly cleaned and dry? I've seen oil in a clean bore throw the first shot over 8" high for the first cold shot and over half that from a clean, dry bore. The fact of the matter is simply that the...

Mr. Spock, We're Inside A Parallax Universe.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... While you are sighting-in, try checking your scope for parallax. Parallax is the apparent optical displacement of an object in the scope's lens. To check for this phenomena, set up the firearm on bags with the scope pointed at the target at the...

Armchair Hunting.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Are you doing more and more hunting these days with the TV remote? If so, I think it's a natural thing. As we get older we become less active and our customary habits and interests change. I talk to a significant number of people who were, at...

How To Miss The World's Biggest Buck.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Now you're ready to go. Most of the homework is done and there stands the biggest buck in the world right in front of you. You focus on antlers. Your pulse races and your breathing becomes ragged, if you remember to breathe at all. You get him...

A Weekend To Kill.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... One answer for the guy with no time for a proper hunting trip is a weekend hunt at a game ranch. Simply fly or drive out Friday afternoon, hunt Saturday and Sunday morning, get back home and be on the job Monday morning. This is a viable...

NEWS BREAKS!(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Hornady is out with new 240 gr. 454 Casull factory ammo and bullets for handloaders to go with the already existing 300 gr. load. Hornady claims a velocity of 2,000 fps, but does not give the barrel length or say if it is a vented or solid...

An Expert Recommendation.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Heckler & Koch designers must have had copies of the IPSC and IDPA rule books when they designed the Expert Model of the USP pistol. IPSC rules for Standard class require that the gun fit in a box 8.86"x5.91" high. IDPA also has a box rule, but...

SIX USPs CAN'T BE WRONG.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... As for reliability, this is the sixth USP model I've shot extensively and I have yet to see a malfunction with any of them. The Expert was utterly reliable with every brand and type of ammunition tested, from light 1 85 gr. wadcutter match ammo...

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... The USP is a pistol you have to use for a while to fully appreciate. There's nothing particularly innovative about it: the operating controls, grip angle, and tilting-barrel locking system are similar to those of the classic 1911, the...

Mind-Boggling Accuracy.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Shooting the Expert was an eye-popping, jaw-dropping experience. The accuracy of this factory pistol is simply astounding. Straight out of the box, with no special tuning or tweaking, shooting factory ammunition, the Expert shot like a...

The Way Triggers Should Be Made.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... The trigger on the Expert is a gem, one of the best triggers I've ever encountered on a factory autopistol. From the cocked position, there is about .125" of smooth takeup, then a crisp, consistent 3.25 lb. break. An adjustable stop eliminates...

Turbo Charged Pistol Barrels.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... High performance handguns need high performance cleaning to maintain their top accuracy. A high performance handgun can be defined as one that uses a rifle cartridge, specifically a bottle-neck cartridge capable of high velocity, as opposed to...

The ABCs Of Barrel Break-In.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Preparing for this article, I checked with Doug Shilen, the famous Texas barrel maker, Woody Woodall of Lothar Walther Barrels, J.D. Jones of SSK Industries, Don Allen of Dakota Arms and Randy Barnes of Barnes Bullets. I combined all their...

ONLY ACCURATE LOADS ARE INTERESTING.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Speaking of accuracy loads, another tip I would like to pass along concerns bullet seating depth or over-all cartridge length (QAL). This is one of the most commonly overlooked details in developing an accuracy load in high performance pistols...

The Bronze Age.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... About bronze brushes-- most high performance, copper removing solvents will eventually eat up brushes too. The use of nylon brushes will eliminate this problem. I don't use brushes at all, preferring instead to stick to patches and to...

NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Okay so it's a new millennium and its all advertised as a new and exciting time in our lives, except I still had to take out the trash the other day and that steel 1911 I sometimes carry hasn't gotten any lighter. So I've been thinking, what's...

"Skinny James" Just Doesn't Ring.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... I researched the annals of history -- that's two n's, mind you -- and found no one is quite sure how the "Slim Jim" or "California" holsters got their names. But it all started a rush in the right direction and almost suddenly, or sooner,...

Them Thar Three-Persons Rig.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Right up to the early 1930s, it wasn't uncommon to see lawmen and civilians alike toting Colt SAAs as personal insurance policies. Those early Mexican loop rigs from the 1880s had quickly evolved into smaller, newer ideas, but the designs were...

FAMOUS FILCHING.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Meanwhile, some great holsters were being designed -- and promptly copied, pilfered, stolen and otherwise absconded with. Take the Yaqui slide. It was invented by Fred Yaqui and "popularized" by Milt Sparks. Now every holster company under the...

Plastic Sandwich, Please, Light On The Mayo.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... If we look at the Border Patrol holster designed by Bill Jordan in the '50s and many other classically styled police and civilian "bucket" holsters, we can pretty much trace their starts back to that first bump that got it all going -- the...

Robo Holster.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Plastic, probably some titanium, delrin, G-1O, carbon-fiber, kevlar and several synthetics-to-be-named will be molded, formed, cast and otherwise pressed to the shape of handguns in the next millennium. It's like the time I asked a...

GLUTEUS MAGNUMUS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Among the great historical holsters, a place of honor has to be accorded to the ubiquitous fanny pack. It took wily ole Gene De Santis to think of a really good way to encase a gun in a jogger's accessory and market it to cops. Bad guys...

THE LESSONS OF CHOSIN RESERVOIR.
January 1, 2000... Situation: Surrounded and outnumbered, low on ammo, no reinforcements in sight. Lesson: Courage and skill at arms can neutralize overwhelming odds. Never surrender! My friend Clint Smith, director of Thunder Ranch, is one of the...

A Touchy-Feely Butter.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Redding's new Competition Seating Die for handgun cartridges allows precise control of the overall length of the round, something that is considered quite important in rifle cartridges. Sometimes all it takes to dramatically improve rifle...

A Flash In The Hole.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Several readers have asked about the size of the flash hole in some new Winchester cases -- it is considerably larger than normally encountered. The ammo in question features their new lead-free primer. The initiator in standard primers is...

The Search For Accuracy, Part LXXII.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... For the last year I've been working to develop more accurate .45 ACP target loads. The components include Remington's 185 gr. wadcutter bullet, available in bulk, and a couple of powders, Alliant Power Pistol and Vihtavouri N-350, which are...

The Escalation Theory Of Match Shooting.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... There are important lessons to be learned by shooting under the pressure of competition, however, I certainly don't suggest that you force yourself into a situation that carries more pressure than you can handle. After all, you're using a...

WALK THE WALK.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... The true measure of your shooting ability is not what you did once, or what you do in practice, rather it is what you can do on demand, under pressure, right now. The only way to test how well your skill and shooting techniques hold up under...

The Ever So Modern Isosceles.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... The introduction of what would become known as the Weaver stance nearly 40 years ago was a tremendous breakthrough. Two-handed shooting in itself was not new -- shooters such as J.H. Fitzgerald and Ed McGivern had been using two hands on a...

THE MYTH OF THE WEENIE LOAD.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... There seems to be a myth that practical shooting competitors use the modern isosceles either because they use light loads and don't need to worry about recoil, or because they just don't know any better. Wrong on both counts. Practical shooters...

MOST WANTED.
January 1, 2000... The FBI went after the best pistol for its SWAT-trained agents. The result was a highly customized 1911A1 from spring field Armory's Custom Shop. Following a controversial test that pitted Colt, Kimber and Springfield Armory against...

STEEL CHALLENGE '99.
January 1, 2000... DOUG KOENIG SHOOTS CONSISTENT, FAST RUNS TO EDGE THE FIELD IN THE WORLD SPEED SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP. Pure speed, adrenaline and some of the fiercest competition in the shooting sports are what make the Steel Challenge the most dynamic match...

FN Five-seveN.
January 1, 2000... Is this the shape of handguns to come? A radically new pistol/cartridge combination graces the cover of this first issue of American Handgunner in the 21st century. The gun was developed as part of a military weapons system and is also...

STRIKE FORCE!
January 1, 2000... Blademaster Ernest Emerson sets the standard for combat folders. An edged weapons guru, Emerson makes the most sought after custom knives in the tactical world, but he also hand-assembles production-grade fighters that redefine the genre. ...

A WINNING PAIR OF .45s.
January 1, 2000... Although most of my writing and shooting time is spent with single-action sixguns, I really do shoot other handguns including single-shot hunting guns, double-action sixguns and, yes, semiautomatics. Semiautomatics chambered for the .22 are...

AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... With limited production and runaway demand, the Seecamp LWS 32 is the most sought alter handgun in the country. We test four (ohmygod) different ones! What is 4.25" long, sightless, takes three and a half years to reach maturity and holds...

Life Is Too Short To Spend It With An Ugly Gun.
January 1, 2000... Theodore Roosevelt had one. General George S. Patton had one. Even Pancho Villa had one. What each of these men had in common -- a fetish for fancy firearms. For Roosevelt, it was a 7 1/2" Colt SAA .44-40 with full engraving, nickel plating and...

Smith & Wesson Triple Lock.
January 1, 2000... Boldly going into a new century, it's fitting to begin a new series of articles called "Classic Test Reports" in which we will subject historically significant old guns to the same sort of test we'd give a brand new one. For the first article...

Great Guns Of The 20th Century.
January 1, 2000... Plastic And Polymer Are The Rage Today, But Steel And Wood Once Ruled As the calendar pages turned to reveal a new century 100 years ago, America was on the verge of becoming, as radio talk show host Michael Medved called it, the "Greatest...

Walther PPH .32 ACP.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Well, we really have come full circle. There was a time when almost all Walther PP and PPK pistols were chambered for the .32 ACP (7.65 Browning). But that was in the days of World War II and in Europe where the diminutive cartridge was widely...

THE 10-RING.
January 1, 2000... At Least He Can Say He Made A "Clean" Getaway Hey, if Sarah Rogers says she's gonna keep an eye on your house while you're gone, you better believe she's going to do the job. A guy named Lloyd Jacklich found that out the hard way. Also,...

T/C SLING SYSTEM.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Sometimes the simplest ideas are best. The T/C Contender is one of the most versatile handguns there is, but it's also one of the most difficult to carry in the field. Holsters are bulky and there really isn't any place handy to hang one....

CARBINE CONVERSION UNIT.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This thing is a real hoot. Nearly two years ago I saw a little gadget called the "CCU" which is a handy abbreviation for Carbine Conversion Unit. It was a short carbine that required only the insertion of your Government Model frame to change...

BUSHNELL RANGE FINDER.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Relatively new on the scene, laser rangefinders have improved dramatically in the few short years since they came on the market. There are two categories: very expensive and moderately priced. The moderate price has come down some and the...

MITCH ROSEN PADDLE HOLSTER.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Ever since I got my first one, I have been a real fan of Mitch Rosen's holsters, but they are pretty expensive and, since they are made to order, it usually takes a long time to get one. Rosen recently debuted a line of "express holsters"...

Glock 'n Roll.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... The Insider made a recent visit to Glock's U.S. operation, hoping to catch a glimpse of the new G-36 slimline .45 or perhaps gain a profound insight or two. I wanted to get a sense of how this remarkable Austrian handgun took the American...

A Three Star President.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Citing the "significant impact [of] our litigation defense costs," Colt's Mfg. Co. is discontinuing production of most of its handguns, according to a letter the company sent to its distributors in October. Concurrently, Colt's chairman of...

LET'S MAKE A DEAL.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Discussions between the 27 municipalities that have sued the gun industry for the cost of gun violence and the various gun companies named in the suit have broken down into two camps: the hard-liners and the compromisers. No litigation has...

HI-Ho, Silver Away!(Brief Article)(Review)
January 1, 2000... Cowboy shooters take note: Dillon Precision is out with a gorgeous new coffeetable book on cowboy shooting called Beyond The Wild Bunch: The FastGrowing Sport Of Cowboy Action Shooting. Featuring more than 200 color photos from Handgunner...

Year Of The Smith.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Pennsylvanian pistolsmith Jack Weigand has been named "Pistolsmith of the Year" by the American Pistolsmiths Guild. Jack has spent all of his adult life, shooting, studying and working on firearms. He is the president of Weigand Combat...

Out Of The Garage, Into The Blue.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Gripmaker and pistolsmith extraordinaire Kim Ahrends has not only doubled his workforce-- he hired Jason, a high school kid, as an apprentice-- but also he's building a factory. Factory? Okay, a shop. One of the last holdouts against the...

The Shot Heard Round The Casino.
January 1, 2000... An accidental discharge with a 308 Steyr Scout was fired in the midst of Jeff Cooper's seminar on the Scout rifle concept at the Palace Station casino in Los Vegas during the recent Soldier Of Fortune convention. "It was loud," said a...

A Century Of Blandness.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Every magazine faces the mandatory task of producing a special millennium-closer editorial, replete with retrospectives on everything from "Legendary Cheeses Of The 20th Century" to "The Millennium's Greatest Dog Breeds." Please, spare us...

FN FORTY-NINE.
January 1, 2000... This pistol, with second-strike capability, is not just another entry in the plastic-pistol sweepstakes! Shooters looking for a Glock with a revolver like trigger and a second- strike feature, stop here! Enter the FN Forty-Nine, the newest...

TOTAL TITANIUM TAURUS.
January 1, 2000... Taurus masters a tough, lightweight metal to build revolutionary handguns. In 1999, Taurus International Firearms grabbed the attention of the shooting world with the introduction of total-titanium revolvers. This year, they introduced the...

CCW HANDGUNS.
January 1, 2000... Are these today's ten best for personal self defense? For those who legally carry concealed there have never been more good choices of handguns for self defense. It wasn't that long ago that the choices were fairly slim. Prior to the...

TAC-LOAD.
January 1, 2000... Keep your handgun fully loaded and up and running! Shots have been fired! The situation is grave. You think it's over but the downed perpetrator could have an accomplice lurking in the dark, awaiting an opportune moment to strike. There's...

SIXGUNS OF COWBOY ACTION SHOOTING.
January 1, 2000... These guns of the 1800s still tame the West in modern competition. The first cartridge-firing, big-bore sixgun blazed onto the scene in 1869 as the .44 caliber Smith & Wesson Single Action American Model #3. With Rollin White's patent for...

COWBOY COWHIDE.
January 1, 2000... YOU JUST DON'T CARRY YOUR SIXSHOOTER IN ANY OLD LEATHER RIG. IT'S GOT TO BE PERFECT! It's possible to tell a lot about a cowboy by the sixgun he chooses. Yet, as important as that is, more personal, and telling, is what's strapped around...

KIMBER .40.
January 1, 2000... Here's accuracy and reliability right out of the box. It was a bit of a surprise when Kimber announced it was offering a .40 S&W chambering. While the Kimber .45s have been top performers, other calibers built on the GM platform have not...

GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR DOUBLE-ACTION AUTO.
January 1, 2000... YOU'VE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE IN A SELF-DEFENSE WEAPON, HERE'S HOW TO MAXIMIZE ITS CAPABILITIES. The double-action (DA) auto is enjoying unprecedented popularity. With newer handgunning enthusiasts, it actually personifies the term...

Adjustable Sights.
January 1, 2000... Got problems fine-tuning your sights? Here are some on-target tips and tricks. Adjusting a gun's sights is one of the most common jobs in shooting. On the surface, it seems like an easy task and it is easy-- in a perfect world. But we all...

Practical Shooting Competition in 2000.
January 1, 2000... From exotic raceguns to serious carry guns, there is a place in competition shooting for every handgun. The world of practical shooting competition is undergoing major changes. Driving the change is the growth of stock/limited class...

BIG-BORE HANDGUNS.
January 1, 2000... Are You Ready To Take On A Grizzly With A Sixgun? The Guns And Ammo Are Available. Are You? Large-bore handguns have a tremendous appeal for American shooters. Hunting with such burly guns has also gained a following. But it was not an...

CLUB 100.
January 1, 2000... More and more handgunners re coming to appreciate the enhanced performance of a customized handgun. From minor polishing and fitting for better reliability to extensive modification and elaborate alteration for better accuracy today's...

CATALOG OF CURRENTLY MANUFACTURED HANDGUNS.
January 1, 2000... Prices shown are for comparison purposes only. Actual retail prices may vary. ACCU-TEK MODEL AT-32 & AT-380 Caliber: 32 or 380 Capacity: 5 rounds Barrel Length: 2 3/4" Weight: 20 to 26 ounces Grips: Black combat ...