American Handgunner articles from July 2001

American Handgunner archives from July 2001

SPEAK OUT.
July 1, 2001... Hitting The Funny Bane I've enjoyed American Handgunner for years, but usually don't read certain articles, such as this last issue's "SHOT Show 2001." I prefer the nuts and bolts articles on things I'm interested in, but I began reading...

THE UNINTERESTING POLICE SIDEARM.
July 1, 2001... Conventional doctrine is that the police duty sidearm is a close-range weapon carried for reactive emergencies only, and that its potential accuracy is not particularly relevant. Like all conventional wisdom, this only holds true in...

THE AUTO SWITCH.
July 1, 2001... Fifteen years ago, the revolver still held sway in American policing. Accuracy was one of its strong suits. The Colt Python would typically shoot under 1" at 25 yards. You could expect 1.5" from a Ruger or Smith service revolver using...

DUMBING-DOWN POLICE STANDARDS.
July 1, 2001... Semiautos took over police handgunning at a time when forces were already at work to dumb-down the standard of shooting excellence delivered to rank and file officers. Marksmanship skill badges were seen as elitist and were coming off the...

Optimizing The Glock.
July 1, 2001... Detective-Lieutenant Steve Kukowski of the Minot, N.D. Police Dept. recently obtained authorization from his department to evaluate the Tasco Optima 2000 red-dot sight for duty use. We had a gunsmith fit an Optima to his Glock 26, then pitted...

THE ALWAYS "ON" SIGHT.
July 1, 2001... The Optima sight is always "on." In fact, there is no on-off switch. The battery life seems surprising, but it should be recognized that the dot intensity varies with the level of ambient light. In bright light, the dot reaches maximum...

ON BASE PERCENTAGE.
July 1, 2001... The current Tasco catalog shows bases for several Glock models, but not the G26. We used a base for the G19. It was fitted by a retired military armorer who took the job as a favor, and subsequently advised us that the mod was a simple task. If...

WHEN THE BULLET MEETS THE BONE.
July 1, 2001... The debate over the best bullets for handgun hunting with a revolver continues to rage--hardcast lead or jacketed. Cast bullets seem to get a lot of press, but are they really as effective as jacketed on game that the majority of handgunners...

THE EIGHT GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT TERMINAL BALLISTICS.
July 1, 2001... * If the shot is poorly placed, an animal is likely to be lost. * An exit wound usually bleeds much more than an entrance wound. * The differences in bullet diameter and velocities of .44 to .50 caliber revolvers is minimal, normally...

Tuning Up The Little Guns.
July 1, 2001... A steady stream of requests comes into most gunshops to do action jobs on little semiautomatic pocket pistols such as the Beretta Tomcat, Walther PPK, Colt Pony and even various derringers. With the new concealed carry laws, citizens are...

A REAL GUN.
July 1, 2001... How do the factories overcome the problem of a small, light hammer and no leverage? They install a hammer spring that is so heavy it overcomes both problems by driving the hammer into the firing pin with such force that the ignition of the...

IT'S ALL A MATTER OF GEOMETRY.
July 1, 2001... To compensate for the big gun weight problem, citizen shooters have been buying smaller and smaller handguns like the little Walther PPK. The problem with the heavy actions in these pop guns is rooted in the tight engineering that is a must...

THE KYDEX KRAZE.
July 1, 2001... Webster's has this to say about Kydex: "A thermo-formed plastic, being a mixture of PVC and acrylic. Commonly used in the interiors of vehicle and jet fighter cockpits. Resistant to all but the most extreme temperatures, highly durable,...

Say Brother, can You Spare Some unds?
July 1, 2001... With the explosion in smallW frame, concealable revolvers along the lines of Smith & Wesson's titanium J-frames and Taurus's snubby, it seems thousands of these are finding their collective ways into coat pockets and ankle holsters. All of...

A FORM-FOLLOWS-FUNCTION GUY.
July 1, 2001... Just as the cowboy shooting craze has spawned a host of garage "leathersmiths" turning out embarrassingly awful "authentic" cowboy leather, such is the terror of the weekend Kydex warrior. Which brings us, finally, to the subject at hand....

RAMSHOT POWDER.
July 1, 2001... Ramshot is a new brand of powder. The moniker is a brandname for a huge powder distributor, Western Powder. They are well-known in the industry but until now, off the hand-loader's radar screen. They're the folks the ammunition manufacturers...

The Never-Never Land Of No Data.
July 1, 2001... With the information in hand from loading .45 Colt 250 gr. bullets with True Blue, the next step was a small journey to he never-never land of no 200 gr. bullet data. But this time, since we're using a bullet that is 20 percent l lighter, it...

SINGING THE TRUE BLUES.
July 1, 2001... True Blue is considerably slower than Unique and is more in the burning rate range of Vihtavouri N-350 or Hodgdon Longshot. Charges in the .45 Colt are accordingly a little heavier than with the faster types. It would still be possible to...

SONGS OF THE DEAD: THE COP AND THE KILLA RAPPER.
July 1, 2001... Situation: A wanna-be rap star tries to act out his cop-killing fantasies. Lesson: Be able to recognize danger signals, and explain why you fired. It's no fun at all sitting here this winter day in the Midwest in 1993 in a police...

The POWER OF SHOOTING.
July 1, 2001... Good shooting is the result of aligning the gun with the target and applying correct trigger control. Sounds simple, but a trip to any local range will show that this is anything but a no-brainer. You will see some folks who shoot superbly, and...

THE THREE TARGET TEST.
July 1, 2001... Many readers have heard of Jim Cirrillo, the former NYPD Stake--Out Squad member with more gunfight experience than Wild Bill Hickock, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp combined. Few would question Cirrillo's skill as an ace gunfighter. What both...

Focus On Fundamentals.
July 1, 2001... Yeah, I know: Some guy always tells me how gunfights take place at close range and point shooting is all you need. I believe in point shooting and teach it-- at a proper time. If you cannot place all your shots in the black of a 25 yard NRA...

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE.
July 1, 2001... Few sane human beings desire to be dominated by outside events, forces and unknowns. By choosing to arm yourself, you've obviously faced this reality and are determined to direct and control the environmental variables during a confrontation....

BODY LANGUAGE IN A FIGHT.
July 1, 2001... Your body language is a conduit that transmits information to your opponent. Your posture and movements have a tremendous effect positively or negatively in terms of the final outcome. Put pressure on your threat by adopting a relatively...

Three Mental Keys To Winning A Confrontation.
July 1, 2001... Perception: Recognizing and prioritizing key indicators within your sphere. Situational Awareness: The ability to collect, collate and store data in a fluid, dynamic and stressful environment, and to retrieve that data as needed to...

THE RAT-A-TAT SCHOOL OF HOSING.
July 1, 2001... Most of the great practical shooting champions start out as warp-speed hosers right out of Rat-A-Tat school. They learn accuracy later. But make no mistake, they do learn it. Champions can make the tough shots when they have to. What are the...

HOT HEW LOADS FIR BIG BIKE SIXGUHS.
July 1, 2001... For the past four years, the new Dan Wesson sixgun has been produced in a new factory with new machinery-- and it shows. New owner Bob Serva has invested considerable dollars in order to build the finest possible sixgun using the basic Dan...

Holstermaker Profile: G. Wm. DAVIS.
July 1, 2001... Gordon Davis Returns To His Roots As A Craftsman Of Cowboy Leather. Practical, tactical, concealed and cowboy: if it holds a gun, master leathersmith Gordon Davis has made it. Best known for his IPSC and western holsters, Davis is...

COWBOY SHOOTING!
July 1, 2001... Join The Fun As We Take You Through One Of The Better Cowboy Matches, Winter Range 2001. The classic 1969 Western, The Wild Bunch featured a fight scene that was one of the most violent ever filmed, at least up to that time in movie...

COWBOY WEAPONS SCHOOL.
July 1, 2001... THUNDER RANCH TEACHES A PRE-1900 WEAPONS CLASS FOR COWBOY SHOOTERS. Cowboy shooting is still growing. A large part of its appeal is that it's as much of a social event as it is a shooting match. However, an ongoing concern among...

SHIPPING FIREARMS.
July 1, 2001... WE UNTANGLE THE MAZE OF RED TAPE (AND RED LABELS) AROUND THE VARIOUS REGULATIONS OF THE VARIOUS SHIPPING COMPANIES. The owner of my local pack 'n' ship became visibly upset when she realized what the word "Glock" in the mailing...

VICKERS GUN!
July 1, 2001... THE ONLY ACTIVE-DUTY SPECIAL FORCES OPERATOR EVER TO BE ADMITTED TO THE AMERICAN PISTOISMITHS GUILD, LARRY VICKERS HAS QUICKLY BECOME THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER PISTOISMITH IN THE 1911 TRADE. Militaristic overtones are good marketing in today's...

10 MOST SOUGHT-AFTER CUSTOM 1911S.
July 1, 2001... Collectors of everything from uncirculated coins to Parker shotguns agree that there are three criteria in determining the worth of a collector's item- rarity, authenticity and quality. Using these three indicators of collectability, American...

RUGER'S SUPER BLACKHAWK: SIXGUN BARGAIN NUMBER 1.
July 1, 2001... In 1953, Bill Ruger went against all conventional wisdom and resurrected the single-action sixgun. Colt had stopped manufacturing their Single Action Army in 1941 when they switched to wartime production. They were all too happy to do so as the...

S&W Model M Hand Ejector: The First Lady Smith.
July 1, 2001... Early in the last decade, Smith & Wesson tore a page from history and introduced a series of handguns devoted to the defensive needs of the modern woman. The line included variations of the J- and K-frame revolvers as well as a single-stack...

The Truth About Tantos.
July 1, 2001... The much-hyped style of Japanese knife harkens to the Samurai Era, but modern renditions often mistake the shape and the purpose of this classic warrior's tool. The use of knife in close-quarters combat is as old as time. Throughout the...

Pocket pal.
July 1, 2001... small is as does. the north american arms mini-revolver may be the neatest little gun you'll never need. as the smallest handgun chambering for a commercially available round, the North American Arms mini-revolver is, to paraphrase Robert...

THE .45 ACP REVOLVERS.
July 1, 2001... Almost Since The Moment The .45 Automatic Colt Pistol Cartridge Was Invented, There Have Revolvers Chambered For The Old Warhorse. The year was 1916 and trouble was brewing in Europe. Somebody recognized that there would be a need for more...

BUSHNELL YARDAGE PRO SCOUT.
July 1, 2001... One of the great things about modern electronics is that they keep getting better and cheaper. Not long ago, a laser rangefinder was huge and cost thousands of dollars. They were so heavy they were nearly impractical if pack-weight was an...

SMITH & WESSON FL7 FLASHLIGHT.
July 1, 2001... Almost all of the big companies in our field of interest are involved in some kind of licensing program that finds their name and logo being used on non-traditional products supplied by other makers. Sometimes they offer things like coffee,...

NIKON TUNDRA 10X50 BINOCULARS.
July 1, 2001... Nikon equipment is not new to me. Their cameras and lenses have served me very well and produce most of the photographs you see in my stories. Now I'm learning to love their rifle scopes, spotting scopes and binoculars. The latest of those...

RCBS DIGITAL MICROMETER.
July 1, 2001... Shooters, and especially handloaders, are forever needing to make precise measurements. But as we get older, it gets harder and harder to read those tiny graduations on calipers and micrometers. Happily, the electronics revolution and LCD...

AN ARMY OF ONE.
July 1, 2001... Larry Vickers is an army of one, a solo artist who adheres to the classic tradition of the gunsmithing profession by crafting his guns himself, without assistants or assemblers, each by hand, each as if it were the only gun he would ever make....

THE VICKERS/WILSON WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL BENEFIT GUN.
July 1, 2001... Enter your sealed bid to buy a custom 1911 built by Larry Vickers, with all the proceeds going to World War II memorials. Larry Vickers, in cooperation with Wilson Combat, is offering a full-house custom 1911 for sale under a sealed-bid...

IT WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THOSE "COP-KILLER" TONGUES.
July 1, 2001... Police in Pinellas Park, Fla., are still trying to figure out if the suspect was using a "deadly weapon" or a "friendly weapon," but they've officially logged the crime as an armed robbery, anyway. Officers said they were called to the scene at...

Another Victim Of Our Educational System.
July 1, 2001... Want more evidence that reading skills are suffering in America? Take the case of Dennis Sullivan, who ran up to a delivery van outside a Bowl America in Manassas, Va., whupped a sawed-off shotgun up from inside his shirt, and demanded of the...

DON'T TRY THIS AT THE STEEL CHALLENGE, GUYS.
July 1, 2001... Tiny little landlocked Bhutan doesn't have much that Westerners would call resources, but they are a nation of passionately devoted marksmen-- which probably explains why they haven't been stomped by their neighbors, India and China. Sure,...

Chinese Target Stands.
July 1, 2001... From the land of 2 billion people comes a new innovation in target stands--self-lubricating and self-propelled, the new Chinese Army Recruit Stand can easily reposition itself from the 10 to the 25 yard line. No more trudging back and forth to...

THE WORLD'S NEW CRIME CAPITAL.
July 1, 2001... Countries that disarms their citizens quickly learn that "disarmed populace" translates to criminals as "helpless victims found here." Australia and the United Kingdom have the highest violent crime rates in the world, according to a recent...

HK DEBUTS NEW DA-ONLY PISTOL.
July 1, 2001... German gunmaker Heckler & Koch displayed a totally new pistol called the P2000 at the recent IWA arms show in Europe. The gun is a DA-only with a twist. Instead of a conventional DA-only in which a relatively long, stiff pull is necessary for...

A Different Sort Of Trade Show.
July 1, 2001... Kids, don't try this in America. During Europe's biggest arms trade exhibition, firearms companies routinely offer hospitality to guests in their booths with snacks and refreshment centers featuring open bars. Beverages include coffee, soft...

A New NRA.
July 1, 2001... Sifting through the rubble of Al Gore's political collapse, it becomes increasingly apparent that the NRA delivered the most telling salvos in the last election. Postelection data reveals that 48 percent of all presidential voters in 2000 came...

ADD IT UP.
July 1, 2001... 42 Handguns in the most recent Steel Challenge that were entered in IDPA classes, out of a total of 164 guns in the match, or 25 percent of the total. 44 Colt employees laid off in the latest off in the latest cutback, in March,...