M1 Carbine

30 Caliber M1 Carbine

The M1 Carbine was put into service by the U. S. Military in July, 1942. Since then millions of these rifles have been produced for various military contracts and even today the ubiquitous carbine is produced for the civilian market using original military specifications but with modern fabrication techniques and metallurgy. It should also be noted that the M1 Carbine is not just a shortened, smaller, or lighter version of the well known M1 Garand, used by the U. S. Military at approximately the same time. The Carbine is most certainly all of those things (shorter, smaller, and lighter) but the two rifles do not operate the same way and have distinct “quirks” and characteristics.

This won’t be a history lesson nor a “product evaluation” of the specific examples we’ve tested. We just want to let you know about the gun and why all of us hold it to be one of the few “most fun guns to shoot” in our respective arsenals.

“The Carbine,” as we’ve come to nickname the little beast, isn’t the “best” rifle we own or know of in any of the various common categories. It has “quirks” that some shooters would say eliminates it from consideration for ownership by them. It uses ammo not common to many other guns. There is not an abundance of gizmos and accessories to supplement, modify, or customize the rifle. The sights are “antique” and not easily changed or modified. The rifle and its ammo struggles to be deadly at distances greater than about 150 yards. However, …

Mr. Carbine is short and light, making it easy to tote around during a day in the field, or a couple of hours at the range. Its “peep sight” system is easy to use, even by folks with geezer eyes and more so than most other “iron sight” systems. There are ways to cobble a scope onto the beastie but, since we shoot it at shorter ranges than most of our other rifles, the added challenge of finding a target without the aid of magnification gives an extra measure of satisfaction to a well placed shot.

Even with full power ammo the carbine produces recoil of a magnitude well below the uncomfortable level and noise much quieter than its more powerful cousins. Speaking of noise, the carbine puts out a unique bark that’s hard to describe and recognizably different in level, tone, and duration than other rifles.  Other shooters at the range will turn their heads quizzically when Mr. Carbine lights off. The felt recoil is enough to let you know you’ve fired something much more powerful than a 22lr but not enough to inflict pain even after several rounds fired in rapid succession. This is probably due, at least partially, to the relatively robust action taking up a significant amount of the energy produced. The unique bark and relatively light bite of Mr. Carbine combine to make the shooting experience unusual and pleasant.

When one recognizes that the M1 Carbine was never intended to be an offensive weapon it begins to shine as one that completely fulfills its proposed mission - a feature not common among firearms produced.  There are far too many guns that seem to be “the answer to a question nobody ever asked” but Mr. Carbine certainly is not one of those.  The little guy is far more capable at self defense than a handgun (there’s no substitute for sight radius), and that’s exactly the question put to its designers. Its ammo produces enough energy - when used short of its designed maximum range - to inflict serious (deadly?) damage on the target. It is small and light enough to be truly portable, so that it is likely to be conveniently available when needed - instead of propped up in a corner somewhere because the “owner” grew tired of hauling it around. A 30-round magazine gives Mr. Carbine plenty of capacity for a sustained firefight, while mags of lesser capacity (15, 10, & 5) are available for hunting or range use.

Ammunition for the beastie - 30 Carbine - is certainly not common (not carried at the local Walmart) but neither is it so rare that a well-stocked gun store won’t have some. It is also not exceedingly expensive - a bit more than 5.56 (223 Rem) but less than many rifle calibers. Reloading dies and components are also readily available, allowing those of us who “roll our own” to maintain a copious inventory inexpensively. The “standard” projectile used in the 30 Carbine cartridge is .308” (7.62 mm) diameter and 110 grains in weight.  Lighter and heavier bullets are available for those who want to experiment with the ammo, and with modern gunpowders there is room in the case to accommodate a heavier bullet while maintaining an appropriate maximum overall length.

For those who like to recover their brass, Mr. Carbine does not throw it very far away nor scatter it around widely.  Replacement brass is easily available and not overly expensive but recovering spent brass is still very preferable and not having to spend a lot of time searching for it is a big plus. After firing a string it’s nice to find the brass in a nearby, relatively small, area.

Sure, there’s a bit of nostalgia involved with owning and shooting a WWII vintage rifle, but even without those feelings Mr. Carbine provides a well mannered shooting experience with enough difference from other rifles to make it interesting on its own. The ammo is unusual - straight walled instead of bottleneck (as is most common for rifle cartridges) - but provides plenty of power for short-to-mid range assignments. Mr. Carbine does not qualify for 600 yd sniper work but performs very well on coyote, other small-to-mid sized game, or zombie shots out to about 100 yds and a decent shooter with good eyesight should have no trouble making these shots using the standard iron sights of the original design.

So, Mr. Carbine provides lots of shooting fun with a gun whose design has been around a long time, has withstood the test of time, and proven itself to be reliable and effective in battle.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
December, 2016

Battle of the Aristocrats; Sig v. Beretta

Beretta 92fs

More than 30 years ago (1985) the US Army held a competition and picked a new standard issue sidearm. The two finalists were the Beretta 92 and the Sig Sauer P226. In the end, politics dictated the winner because the objective results were effectively a solid tie. Some would say it was sad that the two best pistols in this event - at least by Army standards - were designs from across the pond (Italy & West Germany), in spite of the numerous American arms manufacturers in existence at the time. Both Sig Sauer and Beretta, however, now have large manufacturing and design operations in the U.S.

Sig Sauer P226

Both guns were of a relatively new design at the time, although both manufacturers had significant semi-auto pistol history from which to draw and both had well-deserved reputations for fielding products of high quality and solid dependability. Both guns feature frames made of high-strength aluminum alloy and both use a “hammer fired” design for ignition.  There are some other similarities (size/weight, capacity, D/A-S/A action, etc.) but that’s about the end of the resemblance in design. Suffice it to say that both Beretta and Sig employed their own time-tested architecture to their new package and each produced a gun that has contributed significantly to their respective reputations for quality and durability. Both of the guns are truly “Aristocrats” in today’s large array of “service” semi-automatic weapons.

A history lesson is not our purpose here, nor is it our intent to call out one or the other as “better” so we’ll move on to other subjects. Each member of our dedicated little band of Pistoliers owns one or more variants of each gun; and greatly admires both. As we progressed through our testing exercises it became increasingly difficult for any of us to say which platform we’d give up if we had to.  We think everyone should have at least one variant of each, but will try to give some insight for those who want to own only one or the other. Also, it should be noted that both designs are available in several calibers but we will be focused here on the most popular version - 9mm Luger.

Reliability

Both platforms have been, as Sig puts it, “To hell and back” in 30 years worth of actual combat and law enforcement situations without developing an adverse reputation, and that kind of extensive real world experience would certainly have revealed any serious “warts”. Regular maintenance (detail cleaning and spring replacement) is required to guarantee continued reliability but is minimal in cost and intervals are long for casual civilian use. With this kind of care and use of decent ammo a failure would be rare indeed.

We’ve put as many different kinds of “factory” ammo as we could find and plenty of our own handloads through our guns without any failures to fire, feed or eject - except with a few cartridges that proved to be definitely out of spec.  I’d like to say we made that ammo poorly on purpose but, what the heck, journalistic integrity requires a bit of honesty, right. In any event, if you feed the Sig or Beretta a diet of regular maintenance and decent ammo, you’ll get 100% reliability - at least in our experience.

We rate the two guns dead even in this category.

Durability

If you buy one of these guns when you’re 21 and put 1,000 rounds a month through it, you may wear it out before you can pass it on to your grandchild. Probably not, though if you change the springs on schedule, use some good lube regularly on the moving parts, and shoot decent ammo. The typical points to show wear on these guns are the “rails” where the slide (upper) moves along the frame (lower) when firing, and this is true on both the Sig and Beretta. Wear at these points, however, can be minimized with proper lubrication and even so a small amount of wear in these areas doesn’t affect reliability or accuracy. 

Other places where wear can occur are the various points at which the barrel locks up with the slide, and this is true with any semi-auto. If you never clean/relube the gun, and throw a bit of pumice or fine sand in the assembly, the barrel/slide engagement will wear over time and in this case accuracy will be affected.  Regular cleaning, however, will eliminate this possibility and the intervals aren’t even that short unless operations take place in pretty hostile geography.

Speaking of hostile geography, the open top of the Beretta slide makes for easier clean-out of the slide if the gun is regularly submerged in mud or sand; or if the gun is used as a cranial battering ram against zombies. Normal civilian use, however, does not favor the exposed barrel nor does the design detract from the gun in any way we can foresee. It does not even affect the overall weight of the guns, which both come in at 34 oz.

For what it’s worth, the slide on today’s Sig is a milled, stainless steel unit while the Beretta slide is made from a proprietary carbon steel alloy. We have no reason to believe the Beretta version is less strong or corrosion-resistant.

Once again, we rate the two guns dead even in this category.

Accuracy

Lets remember that both of these guns are “service pistols.” As such, they are not designed to, nor expected to, print 1” groups at 100 yards, even out of a mechanical bench rest. Both of them, however, do better than most others in this class. In fact, Sig produces a variant of the P226 in its MasterShop (known as the X5 series) which adds a 5” match grade barrel and other improvements that make it into a world class marksmanship competition piece.  

We regularly ring 6” steel and even put most holes in a 3” paper bullseye freehand from a standing position at 20 -25 yards using the basic versions of these pistols. So, for the casual shooter - self defense or practice/plinking - accuracy of the gun will not be a concern. If the sights provided do not meet one’s desires, the dovetail mounting design on both guns makes it easy to change into something more suitable, and a wide variety of aftermarket products are available.

As with most pistols, judicious choices in ammunition can improve accuracy dramatically for target shooting, while almost anything is good enough for short range defense purposes. The Beretta barrel has a slightly greater inside diameter than the sig which is not enough to detract from its short range effectiveness but shooters who demand minimal group sizes on paper targets can enhance the Beretta’s performance by using bullets of .357 in size instead of the nominal .355 or .356 9mm projectiles. For some reason the Sig doesn’t seem to respond to this anomaly, firing either bullet into acceptably small groups.

We rate the two guns even in this category when comparing the basic models of each platform.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is more than just how well the gun fits the hand of a shooter, although that’s a big part of it.  The two guns are practically the same in overall size and weight, and both come nowadays in a “compact” variant which is about a half inch shorter and about a quarter inch less grip length. This doesn’t sound like much but makes a pretty big difference in concealment ability. The Beretta is a tad “fatter” in slide width giving the Sig a slight edge for carry and is also a bit “fatter” in the grip.  For shooters with regular-to-large hands and fingers, the amount of extra grip girth is noticeable but not an irritant. For those with smaller hands and/or shorter fingers the Sig gets a pretty big plus in the grip feel department.  For those folks, today’s Sig can also be had with what it calls a “E2” grip which diminishes the bulk even further.

As mentioned above, the dovetail design for sight mounting makes it easy to install sights tailored to the needs of the owner if the “factory standard” are not right for a particular individual; except for the front site on the Beretta 92fs and M9, which are not dovetail mounted.  Sight radius, especially in the full size models, is sufficient to give even average shooters a chance at decent marksmanship, and the compact versions (92c for the Beretta and P229 for the Sig) shave only a slight amount off of that dimension.

The Sig design incorporates a de-cocker mounted on the frame that lets the hammer down safely with a round in the chamber.  Sig intends the gun to be carried in that configuration. The Beretta design also has a de-cocker but it is mounted on the slide and incorporates a firing pin block safety in its operation. The Beretta design results in the addition of a manual safety feature but it must be disengaged by pushing up the lever prior to firing the first shot, which would be in D/A mode. Most D/A pistols do not have a manual safety as a standard feature.

Advantage (slight) Sig. The two guns compare to each other very favorably in this category but we give the edge to Sig here because the grip size/design better fits a wider variety of hand/finger sizes. We also believe the manual safety feature of the Beretta de-cocker is unnecessary on a pistol in D/A mode. If someone wanted to carry the Beretta with the safety engaged, the operator would have to remember that its activation is backwards to most other manual safeties; certainly for 1911 operators.

Capacity

Both the Beretta and the Sig are delivered in “non communist” jurisdictions with 15 round magazines (apologies to readers in restricted areas but I just couldn’t resist). The manufacturers and aftermarket are, however, replete with dependable alternatives that raise the capacity to 20 rounds and even 30 in the case of Beretta.  Of course the higher capacity mags stick out from the bottom of the grip when installed and affect the balance of the firearm when in use - dramatically so in the case of the Beretta 30rnd.

With loaded standard capacity magazines installed, both guns balance well and, in our humble opinion, 15 rounds - or 13 in the case of the 40 S&W caliber - is sufficient for personal defense. If one wanted to have a loaded pistol (properly stored, of course) in the home, one of the larger capacity magazines might be appropriate because “balance” would probably not be a major concern for use in a home invasion scenario.

We rate the guns even in this category, keeping in mind the 30 round Beretta capacity for those who place a lot of value in that sort of thing.

Conclusion

We did hold a round or two of test firing by our whole group, sharing all our variants of both guns to verify our long-held beliefs about them, but nothing much changed. We came back - after plenty of “I like ...”, “what i ...f”, and “zombie defense scenario” debates - with the same conclusion as did the Army in 1985. The two pistols are functional equivalents, with only minor pluses and minuses to color the debate.

We all agree that the Beretta’s slightly larger grip girth makes it less than perfect for shooters with small hands and/or short fingers even with extra thin grip panels available in the aftermarket. Others notice the difference but don’t find it displeasing.

We all also find the Beretta’s inclusion of a manual safety into the de-cocker to be unnecessary and even a bit objectionable, but you can leave the safety in the “off” position all the time and the gun would be the functional equivalent of the Sig in this area.

Buy both: you’ll like them equally, even though they’re a bit different in many ways. If you can’t, the Beretta will cost you a few bucks less but the Sig makes many of us feel like we’re holding a bit more “polished” piece of machinery.

Respectfully Submitted

The Bunker Bunch

September, 2016

S&W 586

S&W 586-2 Nickel finish with Hogue Monogrip

Smith & Wesson (S&W®) introduced the original Model 586 with adjustable sights in 1981, along with several new features. It and the Model 581 (same gun but with fixed sights) were the first of S&W’s “L-Frame” guns, specifically designed to stand up to the stressful effects of shooting full-power .357 Magnum rounds. In those days the high-pressure 125-grain .357s were some of the hottest ammo available, and Smith’s offering of the time - the K-frame 357 (Model 19) - was found to be lacking in the durability department so S&W beefed up the frame, the forcing cone, and the cylinder with the new L-Frame. The guns were given a full-length barrel underlug to add weight to help counter the sharp recoil and abrupt muzzle flip of those magnum loads. The 581 and 586 immediately appealed to law enforcement (remember that this was before the era of the “wonder nines”), and they spawned the stainless-steel S&W Models 681 and 686, which were announced to the public at about the same time.

Today, S&W markets its “Classic” series of revolvers, which take the original designs of its most famous and remarkable “old-time” models and brings them up to modern metallurgical and safety standards. Of course, finding a pristine example of an original would be preferable to many of us but the difficulty of the search and, many times, the cost of such a discovery can be avoided by purchasing one of the current “Classic” offerings; especially if it’s shooting instead of nostalgia that’s the main reason for the quest. Here’s a link to the S&W web page for the 586 classic.

Link to S&W Classic Revolvers

Our 586-2 is one of the originals, finished in bright nickel, and was a trade-in at the store. The near-perfect condition of the piece caught our attention, with its finish brighter than the chrome on Elvis’ Cadillac. Then the ultra-smooth feel of the action brought on mass quantities of desire.  A quick look inside to check for any hidden “warts” indicated that it’s internals were as pristine as the external aesthetics, so the venerable old wheelie was quickly given a new home. It is a well known urban legend, after all, that shiny nickel guns are blessed with an additional thaumaturgy that mysteriously boosts accuracy and potency.

Aside from a bit of nostalgia associated with this piece, its main attraction for our group is the magnificent trigger feel and excellent balance. The action had undoubtedly been “touched by a master” (smoothed out by a decent gunsmith) somewhere along the way because production guns just don’t come directly from any manufacturer with a trigger as smooth as this one except from a “Pro Shop” (aka Custom Shop, Master Shop, etc.) and then not even many of them are this good. We still believe this gun's action was massaged by a master but reading of several internet forums reveals that the original 586 was well known for its buttery smooth action.

Even so, it’s not uncommon to find a revolver with a decent single action trigger feel and we require the S/A feel to be both extremely crisp and light on our target guns. Dressing up the right internal parts will usually give us what we’re looking for in this department if we’re dealing with a decent brand to start with (S&W, Ruger, etc.). A couple of guys in our group are truly Master gunsmiths and don’t have to spend too much time with this kind of project when we find the need. Double action trigger feel in a revolver is, however, a green horse - a horse of a different color - because there are a lot of additional parts that each have to be refinished individually and then matched to each other and the gun. It’s an entirely different game than dealing with a semi-auto because the D/A trigger activation not only cocks the hammer but also rotates the cylinder (in 5, 6, or more positions) and locks it into position for ignition.

Compared to shooting single action, D/A mode is also a very green horse, for both revolvers and pistols. Wheelies, however, present additional challenges because the trigger pull distance is generally longer, heavier, and involves the activation of more parts under pressure. If you can make a pretty small group with the hammer cocked manually before each shot, you might be surprised to find out how poorly you shoot the same gun in D/A mode. One of our group - a retired LE Officer - is very good at D/A shooting because he “cut his teeth” carrying a revolver “back in the day” and took great pride in his much-higher-than-required qualifying scores.  Even today, Dr. Double (PHD in D/A) outshoots plenty of ordinary folks sporting high grade wheelies in S/A mode and expensive custom 1911’s.

So, acquisition of the “smooth-as-butter” Nickel Smith gave the rest of us the kind of advantage we needed to stay in the game (not outperform, mind you, even if he’s having a bad day) with Dr. Double. With this “new” gun we could make the steel ring almost as many times as the good Doctor, avoiding the usual embarrassment and gaining some useful practice by not having to give up so quickly in chagrin. One day, we might talk one of our “magicians” into tackling the D/A action job on one of our other guns, but that’s another story.

The 586 is a S&W classic, like many of its offerings of that era.  The guns were so good at the time that many of them became ubiquitous among law enforcement and target shooters of the era.  That kind of reputation was built on fine design and quality control in manufacturing, which S&W handled well throughout that era. The 4” model we have balances in the hand extremely well and the sight radius is long enough to provide stability for our 20-25 yard range sessions. Combined with the light, crisp S/A trigger feel and the buttery smooth D/A pull, we ring the steel a satisfyingly high percentage of the time. Mind you, we don’t shoot full-house 357 loads all the time at these sessions because of our creaky old bones and low tolerance for joint pain, but the L-frame seems like it would certainly handle the stress it if we did.

Not surprisingly, the inherent accuracy of the gun itself is excellent.  With ammunition of known good quality  the old lady repeatedly punched very small-sized groups in our target paper. The white “bullseye” circle in the center is 1 inch and the larger blue circle is 3 inches. We performed this evaluation just to confirm our suspicions about the vintage Smith but our anticipated use for it will be mainly to perfect our D/A trigger finger protocols and for a bit of ego boost after some D/A shooting of one of the other wheelies which has more of a “herky-jerky” action.

So, Lords & Ladies, harken back with me to the days of yesteryear, when men were men, airplanes had propellers, and a good wheel gun was the shiznit. A good used 586 (686 if you prefer stainless) or one of S&W’s modern “Classic Series” replica offerings, would be an excellent addition to anyone’s stable of great shooting revolvers.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
August, 2016

S&W 929

Our small group of seasoned pistoliers is fortunate to come in contact with some pretty nice firearms from time to time and even more so to be given an opportunity to shoot enough rounds through them to perform a more than cursory assessment. We were given an opportunity to wring out the Model 929 from S&W’s Performance Center® on its maiden voyage with a new owner and we stumbled all over ourselves to get our hands on it. We had to summon up all our Southern Gentleman manners to keep from slobbering all over it and to let the owner be first to pull the trigger. This is one “badass” looking wheel gun, folks.

Introduced in 2014, the Model 929-1 is an N-Frame, 9mm Luger, 8-shot, double/single action revolver featuring a stainless steel frame and titanium alloy cylinder. Other custom features, such as adjustable rear sight, trigger travel stop, removable muzzle compensator, teardrop shaped hammer, Hogue rubber finger-groove monogrip, and performance center action tuning place this gun squarely in the camp of high-end competition tools.  The 929 is ideal for revolver operators who compete in Bianchi Cup, U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA), International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts (ICORE) and Steel Challenge. Champion shooting competitor Jerry Miculek, the most decorated revolver shooter in the world, lends his signature to the frame of the 929.

Ergonomics is more than just how the gun feels in your hand when you pick it up.  Simply checking it out at the store versus firing several boxes of ammo during a range session can (and often do) result in very different impressions about how the gun feels in the shooter’s hand. The 929’s overall combination of ergonomic factors result in a gun that is comfortable in a wide variety of hand and finger sizes. Our group of shooters is broadly diverse in size and grip preferences but, even so, none of us had a complaint in this area.  We expect that most buyers will leave the Hogue rubber Monogrip in place but aftermarket replacement to fine-tune the grip feel should be easily available. Plentiful sight radius and light, crisp trigger feel are also included to enhance the ergonomic excellence of this gun.

The layout of and type of sights fitted to the gun impact a shooter’s ability to acquire the target quickly and cleanly, especially in rapid fire situations. Weight and balance affect the ability of a shooter to position the gun correctly, hold that position for target acquisition and trigger pull, and return naturally to firing position after each shot.

Accuracy is what it’s all about with this type of gun – one that goes far beyond “good enough to disable a threat” in a defense situation.  Competition and personal satisfaction at the range dictate that any deviation from point of aim must not be caused by the gun. In the hands of a highly skilled shooter using high quality ammo, projectiles from the 929 absolutely will make “one ragged hole” in the target even at longer-than-normal distances. The reputation of the S&W Performance Center® will not suffer from this model.

So, I really wanna buy one of these beauties, but what am I gonna do with it?

Tactical/Combat – the 929 is a seriously “badass” looking gun but many tactical aficionados would argue that no revolver could claim that attribute.  After all, there’s no accessory rail for hanging on laser sights, flashlights, microwave ovens or beer coolers.  ☺ The 8-shot moon clip is seriously inferior in capacity to the 15 or 20-round magazines fitted to lots of “combat” semi-autos.  On the other hand, the seriously fine-tuned double action trigger feel makes rapid fire accuracy attainable more so than most other revolvers, the compensator makes bringing the muzzle back on target easier and quicker than most other handguns – wheelie or semi – and the moon clip ammo system makes reloading almost as fast as magazine changes in a semi-auto.

Carry/Concealed Carry – The trick to any successful carry regime is an appropriate holster.  Assuming that requirement is met, the 929 could very easily be considered a proper “open carry” gun but its overall size/length makes it a bit more difficult to conceal unless wardrobe includes a long overcoat or a shoulder rig is the preferred arrangement.  Without the concealment constraint, the 929’s 8-round capacity and relatively fast reload capability (because of the moon clip system) make it an entirely appropriate every day carry gun. Despite its stainless steel frame, the 929 doesn’t seem as heavy as it should for its size.  The titanium cylinder helps with that.

Home Defense – Most all defense experts will tell us to get a shotgun or semi-auto carbine for home defense. Where that’s not feasible or desirable, a handgun can reasonably be used as a substitute, and the 8-round onboard capacity with quick reload “moon clip” capability combine to overcome whatever perceived handicaps the revolver platform might have had. Add to that the “idiot proof” reliability of revolvers over semi-autos and the 929 becomes an excellent choice for home defense. Especially when deployed in addition to the 12-gauge already on duty.

Recreational Shooting – Lots of folks own and shoot guns that do not fall into the personal defense, hunting, or competition categories.  There is enjoyment to be gained from mastering the personal challenge of causing a projectile to hit a target very close to the point at which it was aimed.  Having the correct tools – gun, accessories, ammunition, etc. – to aid in meeting that challenge is easily enough justification for buying a high-end revolver such as the 929, and the package S&W has assembled here meets this criteria in spades. It most definitely puts bullets where the shooter points it and the silky smooth feel of the trigger - both in single and double action modes - is as good as we’ve ever felt in a gun “straight out of the box”.

Competition – Clearly, this is the firearms niche S&W designers had in their sights. (pun intended)

Any endeavor that requires mastery of some degree of skill and/or demonstration of a particular talent usually winds up in “games” that pit the skills/talent of one participant against another or of the participant against a clock or other benchmark. As this activity has grown over the years the quality of the guns used has commensurately increased and even a very small incremental improvement means a win for the shooter who gets to implement it.  The model 929 incorporates all of the desirable features in its class. For those of us who don’t posses the skill or talent of the “Champion” category, the Model 929 is way more gun than we could hope to utilize but is one helluva lot of fun to shoot nonetheless.

Conclusion - We've handled several offerings from the Smith & Wesson Performance Center ® recently and this one is among the best, even from that hallowed source. Diagnosing the cause of a miss is easy with the 929.  It could be the ammo but is most likely a “brain fart” with the shooter. It damn sure ain’t the gun.

The compensator minimizes muzzle rise, allowing the shooter to bring the front sight right back on target after each shot.  This is a huge bonus in competitions which involve timed shooting and is a very nice addition even to activities where aiming is unhurried because it allows the brain to focus on other issues. This may not seem like such a big deal but it is to some shooters, who didn't even realize it until they’d been given a chance to actually use a compensator.

If you've ever tried marksmanship with a revolver in double action from beyond seven or ten yards, you might believe the manufacturers don’t give a flip how rough the trigger feels. It’s difficult to put rounds on target when the trigger pull tries to move the muzzle all over the place or when the pull weight is so high you think an electric winch would be a handy accessory. We've had to dress up the internals on almost every one of our revolvers to get a really smooth trigger pull; even some of those that are “high end” or came from a manufacturer’s “custom shop” or “performance center”.

Such was absolutely not the case with the 929. As mentioned earlier, this gun has probably the best “out of the box” trigger feel of any gun we can remember: right up there with the S&W 627 V-Comp we reviewed in October, 2015. The 929’s trigger is absolutely a joy.

The 929 uses a “moon clip” system to load the cylinder. This system is ideal for tactical or competition because it makes ejection of spent cartridges and reloading of ammo very quick and easy when time is a factor.  The system, however, is really not necessary or maybe even desirable for range use. It’s not optional like some guns where you can load it with or without the clip. The clips supplied with the gun were a bit hard to load and unload because they gripped the ammo we were using just a bit too tightly. Another brand of ammo might well have fit the clips perfectly, as all case dimensions (the diameter of the groove at the rear) vary slightly The owner tried to modify the clips with a file and went just a hair too far, making the clip hold the cartridges imperfectly.  He bought some aftermarket clips after that and they worked better.

If the gun will be used in competition or for personal defense, keeping several clips loaded up and handy makes our minor issue irrelevant.  Loading and unloading of the clips would then be done at a time when the gun is not in use. This, after all, is the intended purpose of the system anyway. Tools for loading and unloading the clips are available in the aftermarket which make the process quick and virtually painless. We recommend these for anyone who might want to use the 929 regularly, either in competition or for casual range use.

The 929 is neither inexpensive nor the kind of gun you’ll want to leave lying around in the glove compartment of your truck. It is a thoroughbred. It probably shouldn't be your first or only revolver but if you’re ready for, and can appreciate, a bit of nirvana at the range, this is it.  If you’re a revolver competitor you probably already know about the gun and we can only say that you will not be disappointed.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
August, 2016

Sig Sauer P320

Where’s the hammer?  What’s going to activate the firing pin?  This is really radical!  Since the days of the flintlock, there’s been something that falls onto a mechanism to ignite the gunpowder.

Among our group of pistoliers there is a definite prejudice toward hammer fired pistols, even in this modern age of “plastic fantastic” handguns.  We’ve been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the world of polymer framed guns, finally admitting that they work well enough and provide a means of less expensively crafting advanced ergonomics into guns that would otherwise leave lots to be desired. Even so, we still prefer wheelies or “old school” semi’s for our paper punching range work. We still believe that John Moses Browning was a more important figure in engineering legend than the Wright Brothers or Henry Ford - right up there with Willis Carrier, who invented air conditioning.

That having been said, we decided to give a close look at a striker-fired pistol about which we’ve been hearing good things lately; to see for ourselves.  If the Sig Sauer corporate propaganda is to be believed, there’s no reason for anyone to buy any other pistol than the P320.  Safety, accuracy, reliability, durability, adaptability, ergonomics, maintenance, and price all favor the Sig - or so they say.  Well … , at least some of this is true.

Safety - Considerations for deployment of a handgun to members of a law enforcement or military organization require them to be as “idiot proof” as possible. We don’t mean to imply that members of these organizations are less than stellar in the brainpower category but mass deployment of any mechanical system to a group of humans requires consideration of the possibility of error. Even though these groups of operators are exposed to an exponentially larger amount of training that John Q. Public, the incidence of “accidental” or “negligent” discharge in everyday use is high enough that the possibility of operator error needs to be engineered out of the product to the extent possible. Sig has gone to extra lengths in this area with the P320.  If you claim a discharge to be accidental instead of negligent - especially during routine maintenance - you’d better have a really good story or be able to prove a defect in the gun’s system or someone is going to call BS on you pretty quick. “The gun went off by itself” just ain’t gonna work with the 320, and you don’t have to activate the damn trigger to get the gun apart. A full explanation of the safety features is available at www.sigsauer.com

Maintenance - If you know about Sig’s P250 you already know a lot about the 320. The “modular” concept is practically identical. A simple but true phrase is: “The 320 is a striker-fired 250.” No tools are required for disassembly. This is a fairly common feature today but Sig takes the concept a big step further by allowing even the “trigger group” to be easily removed from the frame without tools or special skills. This allows all moving parts in the frame assembly to be removed for easy cleaning and the process is both quick and mentally painless.

The barrel/slide/firing block assembly is a conventional semi-auto design, allowing the barrel to be removed for easy cleaning of the removable parts.  The trigger group is a “cassette” design, with all the little pins, parts, springs, and levers contained in one assembly, which is easily removed from the grip frame for “washing” as a unit.  This allows for much more thorough cleaning than pistols in which these parts remain in place in the frame except for removal by a qualified armorer. This is unique in the industry today.

Ergonomics - The “compact” grip frame mounted on the pistol we tested fit all of our hands well enough and “really great” on a couple of them, so chances are a consumer would find the pistol on display suitable for his/her needs.  If not, each of the four pistol sizes (full, carry, compact, and subcompact) is available in variations of girth for a completely custom fit. It is even possible to buy an extra grip frame (at relatively low cost) for sharing the pistol with someone whose hand is a different size/shape because the grip frame does not contain the gun’s serial number and is, therefore, simply an accessory. This could also be handy for someone who wants a larger pistol for range/practice work and a smaller one for concealed carry.

With all these variations available, the P320 that is a perfect fit for any one consumer is available without the necessity of aftermarket ($$$) purchases. With a slide-lock lever on both sides, and the ability to reverse the magazine-release button, the P320 is ambidextrous (except for the ejection port).

The other items that affect overall ergonomic suitability have benefitted from Sig’s experience in fitting large organizations with members of various sizes and shapes, so the shape and texture of the trigger, placement of the trigger guard, sight design, trigger pull feel, etc. are well engineered for the man/machine interface.

Shooting - First impression of the 320 as we took it out for our test session was excellent ergonomics.  The one we shot was the “compact” model. Because our group consists of widely varying hand sizes and finger lengths, few guns feel entirely comfortable to all of us but this gun worked exceptionally well for everyone who participated in the tests. Not perfect, mind you, but a good enough fit for all that there was not a single complaint in the “grip fit” category.

Accuracy - This is not the kind of pistol any of us would pick to employ as a 25 or 50 yard marksmanship piece. We have “hair trigger” revolvers with much longer sight radius and highly tuned semi-autos that put very tightly grouped holes in paper. The P320 just ain’t that kind of gun. Surprisingly, however, the first few shots each of us took with it all rang the 8” steel a high percentage of times in our “get acquainted” strings of fairly rapid fire at personal defense distances. Raised eyebrows and wide smiles were the order of the day as each of us emptied our first magazine. Our subjective initial feel of the gun was collectively; “easy to shoot accurately.”

Reliability - We tried several different types of ammo at times during the session; from our own cast lead handloads to FMJ factory loads, which also varied widely in power (combination of bullet weight and muzzle velocity). Everything we fed it operated flawlessly and shot to point of aim. This was not a surprise because the design of the barrel/slide assembly is quite similar to other Sig Sauer semi-autos, differing only in the area which houses the firing pin (striker mechanism in this case). Based on our knowledge of the Sig design and extensive experience with the company’s various models, our somewhat educated prediction is that the P320 will not detract from Sig’s excellent reputation for reliability.

Conclusion - We do not favor striker-fired pistols.  None of us currently owns one, although we shoot a wide variety of them regularly enough in testing of repair or modification work done in the shop. It’s not that we actively dislike the design or find it lacking in utilitarian ways, nor would we recommend against it for other consumers. We just prefer the more conventional designs for our style of shooting. That having been said, the P320 was a bit of a pleasant revelation to us.  Our common conclusion was; “if I were going to buy a striker-fired pistol, this would be the one.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
August, 2016

As usual, we solicit your constructive comments or suggestions. Thank you for your visit.

Ruger Security Six

Ruger introduced the Security-Six and its variants in 1972 and the series enjoyed a long production life, ending in 1988.  This was Ruger’s first attempt at double action revolvers and was aimed at the military, police, and civilian defense markets. The design of the Security-Six and its siblings; the Speed-Six and the Service-Six, was intentionally robust with large, heavy-duty parts for durability.  The series enjoyed quite a sales success commercially and was deployed by various Federal government agencies, military units, and numerous Police departments in the U.S., as well as plentiful foreign sales. The GP100 replaced the Security-Six in the Ruger lineup.

The -Six variants were mostly identical in basic design, with minor differences in sights (fixed or adjustable), barrel lengths, and frame shape (round or square butt).  Albeit still a medium-framed size, the -Six series was significantly more robust in many ways than its Colt and S&W competitors. The early production models were all blued carbon steel but stainless steel versions of all models began to see production in 1975.

An important Ruger innovation for its time introduced with the -Six series was a simplified and straightforward disassembly process, which required no tools except a flat-head screwdriver for grip panel removal. This, together with its coil hammer spring design makes thorough routine maintenance easier and quicker than competitive guns of the era.

The -Six series was produced in multiple calibers, including: 357 Magnum (capable of 357mag and 38spl), 38 Special (only), 38 S&W (British 380-200), and 9mm Luger (utilizing a moon clip).

We got our hands on a 1980 vintage Security Six trade-in that was in excellent aesthetic and mechanical condition - aside from a mangled spring inside the rear sight which was easily replaced. Testing and sight regulation protocols following the repair yielded an opportunity to put the gun through its paces at the range, dredging up a bit of nostalgia for some of our bunch who owned or coveted one “back in the day.”  Ruger had been developing some exceptional innovations in its manufacturing process in those days, many of which have become “standard” these days in the production of high quality firearms across the industry. Instead of skimping on materials and workmanship in the production process to reduce costs, Ruger found a method of cost control that actually increased reliability and durability at the same time. Consequently, its entry into the double action revolver market paved the way for a rise to the forefront of this genre.

There’s nothing really extraordinary or “sexy” about the -Six when compared to today’s guns in the same genre. Its ergonomics result in a great fit for shooters with medium-to-small hands, allowing them to better handle the powerful .357 Mag cartridge.  While the gun is no “lightweight” it is still small enough (snub-nose models, at least) to be easily concealed and, with a proper holster, can be carried very comfortably. Compared to the ultra-light, ultra-small revolvers on the market today, shooting the snubby version of the -Six leaves one feeling like he/she’s handling a “real gun” instead of the “plastic toy” feel of the modern crop.

Results of our test firing yielded no surprises - rugged, accurate, reliable. The old Ruger feels substantial when in use and puts bullets on target with a minimum expenditure of shooter skills.  Our resident marksman had no trouble producing a 1” 5-shot group at 10 yards (offhand) with our benchmark ammo, and the rest of us turned in performances as good as we normally do with any of our high-quality revolvers. The gun is easy to shoot well with no “warts” that need a work-around.

Conclusion:  Ruger made A LOT of these guns during the 16 year production run, so finding one on the used market should not pose much of a problem, and the large quantity means that the price should be relatively reasonable.  Given that there is no medium frame, 6 shot, short barrel revolver available today except a new GP100 that would cost at least twice as much, one who appreciates high quality in a “service” revolver could become an owner of a “-Six” for a lot less money.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
July, 2016

As always, your constructive comments and suggestions are welcome.

P.S. -- July 21, 2016

Shortly after we published the article above one of our bunch brought out his personal Security Six with factory target grips - as shown in the picture below.

The extra beef in these grip panels made the gun easier to handle for those of us with larger hands and made target shooting a bit more pleasant.  While true that these grip panels do not enhance the gun for every day carry or concealment purposes, they are definately a + for range duty.

This version also had a longer barrel than the one we tested before, so the additional sight radius helped those of us with “eyes of a geezer” to get better target scores.  We don’t believe the increased barrel length adds much, if anything, to the mechanical accuracy of the gun but, in the words of a wise old pistolier; “there’s no substitute for sight radius when trying to throw lead at small circles.”

This range session confirmed our earlier opinion of the -Six; that it is a wonderful old gun and a great value on the market today.

Reloading

So you’re thinking about taking up reloading (also called hand loading), which is the process of building ammunition up from its component parts. Today’s ammo prices are at historic highs and sometimes we experience shortages of some calibers.  Reloading seems to be the answer to those important factors for many shooters.  There are plenty of considerations that go into the decision to start down the path. I’ve made most of the mistakes and enjoyed most of the pleasures of building ammo, so I thought I’d give you the benefit of my experience while you ponder your decision.

Safety - First and Foremost!  Know this!  If you decide to get into reloading or bullet casting, you owe it to yourself and your family to learn well and observe strictly the safety rules of these endeavors.  Like so many things in the shooting sports genre, the process is completely safe if all the rules are respected.  Take a few shortcuts or fail to learn the rules and disaster of the most serious variety will one day make you very regretful -- or maybe even very dead.

There are a lot of logical and illogical reasons to make your own ammo.  It’s almost never a good idea to think you can make some to sell “on the side” or give away to any but your closest friends.  I’ll get into that later, but please remove those from consideration right now.  Reducing your cost of shooting is valid in some circumstances but is not as good a justification as it might seem, even given the lofty price of “store bought” ammo these days. Quality of the product, in excess of “factory” ammo is a lofty and attainable goal but is not as easy to achieve as one might think. Some reasons that might not have occurred to you are; reloading is an enjoyable pastime/hobby, adequate supply of ammo for personal use is more controllable, and pursuit of quality cartridges is gratifyingly educational and can enhance your overall shooting experience.

This isn’t going to tell you how to make great ammo at home but it might help you with the question of if you should even try.

So, let's go through the facets of the discussion and I’ll tell you what I learned on my journey into the swamp of boolits, brass, primers and powder.  Lets define some terms first, so we’re on the same page together. A piece of handgun, rifle, or shotgun ammunition (cartridge) is made up of several basic components. Bullet (some of us like to call them boolits) -- the metal object that is pushed out of the cartridge and down the barrel by rapidly burning gunpowder (it does not, technically speaking, explode). Brass - a metallic canister typically formed of brass  - but also sometimes made of aluminum or steel - is the container which holds all of the components in place. Powder -- gunpowder, a powdery or flaky chemical substance which burns very rapidly once it is ignited. Primer -- a small, button-shaped, metallic object installed in the base of the brass which ignites the powder when the gun’s firing pin strikes it. So, if I have a bullet, a piece of brass, a primer, some gunpowder, and some tools, I can make a cartridge to fire in my gun. It’s not rocket science but, done safely, it does require the right tools and some education.

Time Out -- for a moment to address one of my pet peeves. We don't call the fully assembled product a bullet.  It’s a cartridge, dammit!  A bullet is only one piece of the total ammunition package - a metal projectile which is tossed downrange while the remainder of the cartridge is either retained in the gun for manual removal or ejected from a semi-auto as a part of the firing process.

Cost
Most everyone who gets into reloading thinks or talks about ammo cost as a primary - or at least a major - factor.  With my setup, I can build a box of 50 cartridges in the 357 S&W Magnum caliber for as little as $4.00.  Yep, a completely safe and relatively accurate .357 mag cartridge for about 20% of what I’d pay at the gun shop, internet or big box store. This $4 figure is achieved partly by using a boolit that I cast myself from scrap “lead” I get for free, while using store-bought boolits raises the cost by about $5 per box - or more.  The $4 figure also assumes I’m using brass (spent cases) I pick up at the range after they’re discarded by other shooters. If I have to buy brass, either used or new (aka virgin) the cost will go up by another $5 to $10 per box, depending on the caliber.

A 50-round box of fairly decent quality 9mm Luger can be had for something around $12 these days; cheaper if you get it on the internet in a 1,000 round batch.  The $4 minimum cost mentioned above is still valid for this caliber, so the saving is smaller, but still significant assuming the use of used brass and homemade boolits. If you have to resort to virgin brass and “factory” bullets (for those who want to shoot mostly/only jacketed bullets, the cost differential becomes very small.

Some consideration, therefore, should be given to which calibers and components will be reloaded to determine if the cost saving is really a factor. Cost saving amounts of “insignificant” to “enormous” are possible and depend on many factors, some of which are unknowable at the time of the initial decision. Most reloaders, myself included, would advise against starting the project if cost saving is the only or main reason - unless you shoot a helluva lot of ammo on a regular basis.

We haven’t discussed the cost of the tooling necessary for the job. Costs here vary greatly and depend on many factors, such as how much labor-saving you want, how much equipment quality you’re willing to pay for, the quality of the tools themselves and the quality of the ammo produced, etc.  Acquisition of a proper setup doesn’t stop with a press and a set of dies, either.  There is a myriad of $5, $10, and $20 accessories that you’ll probably decide you “have to have” once you’ve started wading into the pool on the shallow end. High quality ammunition can be made with an inexpensive single-stage press and some budget dies ($300 for the total package), but that arrangement requires a lot more operator time and a quality control protocol than, for instance, a professional-grade progressive press with all the appropriate accessories ($1,000 or more).

As with guns, the first set of tools will probably only lead to another “upgrade” but starting with the basics allows you to spend a smaller amount while learning enough about the subject to decide intelligently what you really want or need.  Remember also, that absorbing the cost of the equipment into each box of ammo produced is going to take a lot more time if you shoot 100 rounds a month, than if you shoot 500 a week.  Make out a spreadsheet and do the math; you might find that gun store ammo is cheaper for you than reloading your own.

Ammo Quality
Manufacturers of ammunition produce a very wide variety of products aimed at various segments of the shooting population.  Long range marksmanship, long range hunting, rifle, pistol, shotgun, plinking, self defense, and casual target shooting are but a few of the specific purposes for which ammunition of a given caliber can be tailored. Many very serious competitive marksmen make their own ammo simply because they can’t get the quality or consistency they demand for their specific niche from “over the counter” sources.  Most folks who reload don’t go to those extremes of quality assurance, but higher quality ammo than the internet or gun store’s “budget brands” is fairly easy to produce at home.

A $12 box of 9mm ammo from any of the current list of manufacturers is a compromise of several factors because the producer has no way of knowing how the consumer will use its product. Those compromises, and to the extent they are applied, result in a product that is acceptable (albeit sometimes marginally) for a wide range of uses but excellent for none.  Since most of us shooters spend the majority, or maybe the entirety, of our time engaged in one type of shooting per caliber it would be easy for us to tailor our ammo to fit our use.  In making our own ammo our choice of powder, boolits, brass, and primers can be combined, with some experience and testing, to produce a cartridge vastly better for our chosen purpose than the $12 box, or even most of the more expensive products.

Because we can build better quality ammo does that mean that we will; or even should? Again, this depends on what kind of shooter we are and what kind of shooting we do.  If you’ve gotten this far into reading this little epistle you’re most likely more than a 50-round-per-month shooter.  You’re at least serious about the sport, if not an outright enthusiast. Still, if you’re not driven to, and capable of, producing ever smaller groups on paper, and shoot more than a box of ammo twice a month, you should probably stick to store bought.  One proviso, however - if you seriously want to get a lot better at shooting and know that practice is what it takes to get there, reloading can help a lot with that mission because of the cost and quality of the ammo it takes to do that much practice.  Yes, you can get high quality ammo, engineered for a specific purpose, at the store but that drives the price way up; and buying a lot of ultra-cheap crap over the internet will disappoint once you realize that the quality of ammo has more to do with your shooting success than you ever imagined.

As A Hobby In Itself
Reloading is a manufacturing process that produces a product necessary to feed our shooting endeavors. Seldom, however, do reloaders see themselves simply as a laborer in a manufacturing process. We gain varying degrees of satisfaction and/or enjoyment from the time spent at the reloading bench.

… A great way to spend some time doing something constructive.
Reloading can eat up a lot of time.  Yeah, we hear stories about how someone’s setup is capable of turning out 600 rounds per hour but those are special situations.  The typical reloader spends a heck of a lot more time than that in the production of high quality specialized ammo, which requires painstaking attention to detail. Not many of us are in the game for mass production - we think of our setup more as an artist’s brush than a cookie cutter.

All that having been said, a couple of hours utilizing a well designed setup can produce enough high quality ammo for a competitive match or range session with the guys. This is, of course, after all the education and practice is behind you and you know what you’re doing; and remember that safety thing - no shortcuts here.

….. Working with your hands while challenging your mind.
One of the reasons many of us choose to spend time at the reloading bench is that we are challenged by the very complicated science of ballistics.  If you’re not a trained ballistics expert you probably have no idea how complicated handgun and rifle ammunition design happens to be. Choosing a powder and bullet size/shape/composition for a given cartridge is barely scratching the surface in the effort to produce ammo that best fits a particular need, let alone one that will adequately fit several needs.

Within limits, of course, a functional cartridge can be made from a variety of bullet lengths and diameters; perhaps as many as 10 or 20 combinations.  The best 9mm combination for a Glock 19 will most likely not be the best for a Beretta 92, even though both are built to spec for the “9mm Luger” caliber. This is because Glock and Beretta make barrels of differing bore diameters and the design of the rifling in their barrels is different.  Both will put holes in a “center mass” target from 7 yards pretty consistently with almost any commercial ammo, but getting a 2” 5-shot group from 25 yards will absolutely require ammo customized for the particular gun.

The myriad of component combinations provides an opportunity to fine-tune ammunition to fit your needs more precisely.

Supply problems
From time to time ammunition - either ammo in general or that of a particular caliber - becomes hard to find and/or ridiculously expensive.  These episodes are nothing new, although the rumors about causes of the problems seem to be getting more imaginative and rooted in paranoia. Empirical evidence seems to confirm, however, that upward price mobility always follows these temporary shortages.

Each of us active shooters prepares for these situations in different ways. It’s a wisdom born of pain.  Stockpiling or hoarding ammo of the caliber we shoot the most if one way of ensuring a personal supply against the possibility of shortages or rocketing prices. A prudent amount of “inventory expansion” - as I like to call it - entails quite a few decisions, however; any of which can easily be wrong -  leading to a waste of a lot of money. I once bought a buttload (yes, buttload is actually a real unit of measurement - albeit not currently in common use) of 9mm ammo and found later that the quality was not all that great, its suitability for my purposes was questionable, and the shortage I expected never happened.  I’ll eventually shoot it all (if I live long enough) but I could have put that money to better use if I’d made a better decision.

Reloading is a better way to prepare for shortages.  Having on hand a reasonable inventory of components allows me to produce a variety of ammo on more of an “as needed” basis to meet my particular - and changing - shooting needs. Sure, I keep an adequate supply of loaded ammo in the calibers and load varieties I shoot regularly, but I don’t have to keep an excess on hand to combat potential supply and price problems. A particular powder, for instance, can be used effectively for assorted loads in several calibers. Some boolits, even, can be used in different calibers. A stockpile of only 2 sizes of primers will cover virtually ALL handgun ammo.

Reloading components are not immune from occasional shortages and price increases but these events - when they do occur - seem to be of less frequency, intensity and shorter duration than for loaded ammo.

Ballistic Science
If you’re in the pilot's seat, pulling back on the stick will make the airplane go up and pushing forward on it will make the airplane go down, but that’s not enough education to qualify you as a 747 Captain.  The boolit comes out of the pointy end of the gun when your booger hook yanks on the trigger, but that’s not enough education to qualify you as a shooter.  In both of these “tongue in cheek” examples additional education is required to make you safe and a great deal more is required to make you even marginally “good at it.”

How you grip the gun, how you manipulate the trigger, how you view the sights, breathing control, your shooting stance, etc. are all factors in how effectively you can put the boolit on its mark. The extent to which we learn and execute the proper application of those, and other, basics of gun control also affects the amount of enjoyment and/or satisfaction we get from a range session or, God forbid, how successful we might be in a personal defense event.

Utilizing a decent quality gun and “store bought” ammo,  mastery of the shooting basics is achievable for most of us - given a reasonable amount of practice. Advanced education and a lot more practice can make some of us into much better than average shooters. If you throw good eyesight, talent, and desire into the mix a champion marksman or competitor might emerge. At this highest level, however, special guns and ammo are required because the personal skills of the operator have exceeded the capability of “production” guns and “consumer grade” ammunition.

As we strive to improve our shooting skills, education and experience with the science of ballistics can help by making us more aware of the various aspects of firearm operation. Reloading can provide an excellent and enjoyable means to acquire some or a lot of this knowledge as a very positive side effect. Combinations of boolit size/shape/weight and the type and amount of powder in a given caliber is almost unlimited. Each different combination will yield a dramatic or insignificant difference in the way a boolit will exit the muzzle and fly to the target. These variations have much more effect on the flight of the boolit than most shooters realize. Most combinations will not be good, some will be acceptable, and a few will provide excellent results - in terms of making a small group of holes at the appropriate place on the target. By controlling the variables in the construction of the ammo, we can learn about and control the ballistics of our shooting. The process is - concurrently - enjoyable, educational, and productive.

Don’t sell your reloads
Gun manufacturers typically insert language in the warranty that voids it if “reloads” are used.  There is a good reason for this.  “Store bought” ammo is guaranteed by its manufacturer (well, the vast majority of it is) to meet industry standards for various specifications. Ammo within these standards will not cause damage or excessive wear to a gun or its operator.  Since an individual reloader may not even know or have access to these standards, it is entirely possible the reloaded ammo might not comply. Ammunition manufacturers spend considerable sums of money on equipment and procedures to control the quality of their product. The level of quality assurance in Bubba’s workshop may or may not be high enough to prohibit a destructive event when the firing pin engages the primer.

For these and other reasons, reloads have a tarnished reputation among casual shooters, and especially those that know little or nothing about the reloading process.  I don’t feel insulted at all when a shooter declines to shoot reloads in his gun because there are plenty of true stories of Bubba's ammo blowing up his friend’s Glock. No, I’m not Bubba and I have absolutely no fear of my own ammo but that’s because I know how much care I put into my process and I have only myself to blame if I make a mistake.

So, Bubba is an excellent shooter and extremely sober, careful reloader.  He uses quality equipment and keeps it in good condition. He uses high quality components and matches them with proven recipes known to work safely in the gun involved.  Bubba is, however, a human and, as such, is capable of an innocent mistake.  Bubba’s mistake finds its way into Marcel’s Glock and it blows up in the Marcel’s face. Marcel’s widow is convinced by a shyster that the Court will award her Bubba’s house, bass boat, and pickup truck.  Bubba’s troubles are enormous no matter the final outcome.  All Bubba was trying to do was recoup the cost of his reloading components and a favor for his shooting buddy, Marcel.  It wasn’t worth it.  Keep your reloads to yourself.

Safety is the first and final word
In the aviation business we used to say; “Flying is 99.9% sheer boredom, punctuated by 0.1% stark terror.”  Thousands of commercial flights travel millions of miles with millions of passengers EVERY DAY without a single injury or fatality because the industry keeps safety as Job 1. I’ve loaded thousands of rounds of ammo in my workshop without a serious incident. Even the one minor “Oops” event I can remember in my shop was contained to that category, instead of escalating into an “Oh shit!”, because of adherence to established safety guidelines.

Safety is not free, and it can sometimes be inconvenient. Some safety protocols may even seem unnecessary or “that’s for pansies.” If you’re not willing to pay for and strictly adhere to the safety rules, please don’t get into reloading. It just ain’t worth the risk.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
July, 2016

Ruger GP100

Sturm, Ruger & Co. has, over the years, made some of America’s finest handguns – revolvers included. In contrast to many of its competitors, Ruger has consistently improved the design quality of its product and customer service and is among the best in the industry in these categories. Lacking a longer tradition of wheel gun manufacturing from the 19th century, the company’s guns are better known for their robust construction, durability, and high quality “fit ‘n finish” than for their adherence to “traditional” design.  The GP100 is a prime example of this characterization of Ruger’s mission.

Once available only in the powerful .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum (357 mag) caliber but recently also offered in .22 Long Rifle (22lr), the GP100 is built like a tank but has a very stylish appearance. Like most other 357 mag guns, the GP will fire .38 Smith & Wesson Special (38 spl) ammo just fine. Unlike some of its competitors, however, which give up some of their accuracy when 38 spl is used, the GP manages to retain its great accuracy with the shorter 38 spl cartridge. This isn’t such a big thing for those who re-load their own cartridges and can make “downloaded” 357 mag ammo which produces the same (or even less) felt recoil as the milder 38 spl.  For those who buy “store-bought” ammo, however, the cost and felt recoil of shooting 38 spl is significantly lower and the comparable accuracy (38 spl vs. 357 mag) of the GP is a very big plus in this situation.

The GP100’s cylinder has 6 chambers in 357 mag (10 for the 22 lr) and is a double action (D/A) revolver, meaning a pull of the trigger will advance the cylinder and cock the hammer if it is not already cocked, prior to letting the hammer fall.  It can also be operated in single action (S/A) mode, where a trigger pull allows the cocked hammer to fall.  For personal defense, the D/A option provides a safe condition for carry because of a safety feature called the “transfer bar,” which prevents the hammer from igniting a primer unless the trigger is activated - even with an extreme blow to the back of the hammer, as in getting dropped directly onto the protruding hammer spur.  Inclusion of the transfer bar allows the GP100 to be carried with the hammer down on a loaded chamber without fear of unintentional discharge.

The GP100 is a bit “beefy” in comparison to similar sized revolvers -- both contemporary counterparts and historical examples of handguns in this class.  This gives it a look, feel, and reality of strength and endurance but does not endear it to those who would use it as a daily carried personal defense weapon.  With the right holster, however, as with slightly lighter revolvers of yesteryear, there’s no reason not to consider it for such duty.  Many law enforcement officers have walked around their entire career with such a “six-gun” strapped to their waist, and the GP adds the enhancement of powerful 357 firepower to that situation.  Given that 357 mag ballistic energy rivals that of the .45 ACP, deployment of the 357 mag in a defense situations gives up very little in terms of “knock-down” power or round capacity in comparison.

The GP100 comes with a fiber optic front sight and an adjustable rear sight in both 357 and 22 models.  The adjustable rear is a “must” for target shooters and allows fine tuning the gun to a shooter’s personal shooting style rather than the shooter having to adapt to the gun.  It also allows any shooter to become as accurate as possible with far less practice than guns with fixed sighting systems. Some “luddite” (tongue firmly in cheek) marksmen do not prefer the fiber optic front sight but this can be easily changed to something more traditional.

Ruger produces the GP100 in several variations, including differences in caliber, finish, and barrel length.  There are also "distributor exclusives" that add various upgrades desireable to some shooters. The Bunker Bunch has been using a stainless 357 mag 6" version for some time now and it is one of our two "go to" guns for testing 357 mag and 38 spl ammo.  We've just recently acquired a 22 lr model and will be reviewing both here.

Both of our GP100's are used exclusively at the range for target shooting. We use neither as a "self defense" (carry gun) nor a "home defense" (available around the house for intruder defense) gun. To meet our use, we've enhanced our 357 mag version to have a VERY light, crisp, and smooth single action trigger pull. This is desirable for us shooters to get as much accuracy from the gun as we are capable of imparting through the "man/machine" interface.  We would never use a gun with this kind of trigger feel in a defense situation where extra adrenaline might make for an "twitchy trigger finger."  The 22 lr version is new enough that we've not yet made that upgrade but we'll do so shortly - after a reasonable break-in period - and, after modification, we expect the trigger feel to be virtually the same on both guns.

The size and shape of the two versions of the same model are not identical. Barrel length, etc. are different, but the overall package is matched ergonomically so that the balance and general "feel" of the gun in hand are extremely close.  The "grip frame" is interchangeable and the mechanical design (if not the actual size of the parts) is the same. The 357 mag version comes in both "blued" and stainless models and is available in several barrel lengths.  The 22 lr version is, currently, available only in stainless and only with a 5.5" barrel.

Product descriptions are available at: http://www.ruger.com/products/gp100/models.html
Both of our guns came equipped with the very nice looking and moderately ergonomic rubber grip with wood insert panels as shown in the above picture.  Our preference, generally, for marksmanship exercises with revolvers is the Hogue rubber finger-groove grip and we've installed that one on our 357 mag.  The 22 lr will get that grip when we do the trigger enhancement.

Ruger revolvers have quite a reputation among wheel gun pistoliers for their robust construction (especially the Super Redhawk) and the GP100 is no exception.  We put a lot of rounds through our range guns and we have no fear of ever wearing out a Ruger.  While we don't make a habit of firing "full boat" maximum pressure loads at extended range sessions, we always drag out the Ruger when testing those kinds of loads because we’re confident the GP will not be adversely affected even if one is inadvertently slightly "overloaded."  We’d never knowingly fire a grossly overloaded cartridge but there's plenty of "beef" built into these guns, especially in the dimensions of the cylinder bore and frame dimensions, where ammunition ignition stresses are brought to bear.

Our experience with the 22 lr version is not yet extensive enough to form a solid opinion of its accuracy capability.  We are, however, favorably impressed with its performance so far and are cautiously optimistic that it will attain a ranking in this category as high as our highly prized S&W Model 17s (aka K22).

In conclusion; we’ve found the GP100 in 357 mag to be one of our most favored revolvers, and expect the 22 lr version to be a similarly valued addition to the stable.  Its inherent accuracy and ergonomics make it easier to shoot accurately than many others. With the proper ammo, this is a gun that’s just plain fun to shoot all day long.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
July, 2016

S&W22 Victory

Contrary to normal practice in the firearms industry, the Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory became widely available for consumer purchase soon after its initial public announcement - instead of the lengthy marketing run up normally allocated to the process of new product launch.  We saw this gun at a dealer show in early January and two showed up at our local shop - The AR Bunker - a few days later.  All of us wanted to shoot this beauty the minute we laid hands on it at the show but we couldn’t agree on which of us would actually make the purchase, so a few days of good-natured bickering finally produced a volunteer.

The Victory is, among its other virtues, an extremely ergonomic pistol.  Our small band of pistoliers consists of shooters with a wide variety of hand sizes and shapes, so there is no handgun that is “perfect” for all of us.  The Victory is no exception but it comes as close to the mark as any we’ve tested in a long while. It gets scores of “very good” or “excellent” from all of us, with more of the latter than the former. One of us even deemed it “a perfect fit.” The grip shape is wide where it needs to be wide and thin where it needs to be thin.  The bottom of the backstrap is nicely curved forward to prevent it from digging in at the bottom of the palm of the strong hand. Trigger placement is a nice compromise of fore and aft, which, along with its carefully crafted shape, accommodates both long and short fingered shooters.

Standard equipment includes front and rear fiber optic sights and the rear sight is fully adjustable for elevation and windage.  While many target shooting champions do not favor fiber optic sights, these are not so bright that they distract from the sight picture, but do aid in quick acquisition.  A picatinny rail mount is included with the purchase package and can be easily installed in lieu of the rear sight for those who might want to mount a red dot or other optic instead of the “iron sights.” Magazines are 10-round capacity and S&W also includes an extra - which is almost unheard of these days with new 22 pistols.

Stainless steel is found throughout. Frame, barrel, receiver, and bolt are all stainless, lending weight and durability to the gun.  The Victory is not a dedicated, high-end target pistol like it’s S&W 41 cousin (which costs almost three times as much) nor is it a lightweight utility/plinker/varmint shooter, but it is suitable for either use while its cost is much closer to the latter than the former.  The plentiful use of stainless steel provides the weight necessary for accurate target shooting and the ruggedness that withstands shuffling around in a backpack or other outdoor recreational activities.

Take down (field stripping) does require a tool but it is a common allen wrench which is included with purchase and is the only tool required. Once one screw is removed, the entire upper assembly - consisting of the receiver, barrel, and bolt - disconnects from the frame and this simple process reveals all that is necessary for routine cleaning.  Further disassembly of parts in the bolt and receiver - for those more mechanically inclined or experienced - are also very straightforward with common tools, making more detailed maintenance easy to perform.

Putting the Victory through its paces at the range was a real eye-opener.  As much as we all liked the looks of this pistol, appreciated its weight and balance, and admired its design and engineering, we were doubtful that S&W could pull off a “real winner” for the target shooter at this price point.  We thought; “there must be a wart or two somewhere on this princess.” After about 50 rounds each we were all smiles, with astonished comments flowing freely between us. Quickly throwing a few rounds at a steel target from 25 yards let us know that some serious accuracy would be available from this chunk of silver delight.

The trigger is not a “world class” contraption as would be found in competition pistols costing $1,500 or $2,500, breaking like a glass rod, and tripping the sear at 2.5 lbs of pull weight.  It is, however, more than competent for the kind of serious marksmanship practiced by mere mortals. Combined with the overall ergonomics of the pistol, its trigger will not prevent the average shooter from reaching his/her full accuracy potential.  Said another way, the Victory’s trigger will allow a “fair-to-middlin” shooter to achieve tighter groups. For those that know the terms, there is a small amount of take-up, followed by a very small amount of creep, and then the break is very crisp.  There is also an over-travel adjustment for those who want to tweak it.

3” to 4” inch groups, at 25 yards, freehand, with bulk ammo were achieved on our first outing with the Victory. Feeding the Victory a variety of inexpensive bulk ammo, we had no failures to feed or fire attributable to the gun. It even functioned perfectly with subsonic ammo, which chokes many pistols not fitted with a suppressor. Our experience on the first outing leads us to expect some very pleasant results when we get to test the beast again after some more break-in and with some premium ammo from a bench rest.

In summary, this gun is an ideal balance between design, engineering, and ergonomics.  Form does not give way to function, nor vice versa.  Our examination (2 of our group are highly qualified gunsmiths) revealed a high level of build quality and no obvious design features that would predict failure.  The design is simple and straightforward.  Rube Goldberg was definitely NOT invited to this party, and his absence portends long life and reliability for the pistol.  Parts and materials seem to be of very high quality and build quality is as good as we’ve seen in modern firearms.

The SW22 Victory belongs in a class with the Ruger Mk III and the Browning Buckmark, at least in terms of build quality, reliability, and ruggedness and is every bit as good as those other two; but is a better pistol out of the box as a target shooting competitor. (Way better than the Ruger in terms of ease-of-maintenance).  So, it ain’t a S&W 41 nor a Hammerli Xesse but it also ain’t $1,300 and most shooters will never achieve the skill level necessary to justify the extra expense of those high-end models.

Respectfully Submitted
The Bunker Bunch
June, 2016

PS: The SW22 Victory is in stock and available from The AR Bunker.  More info and specs are available from www.smith-wesson.com