Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2018-19 i Shooting Times

JOSEPH VON BENEDIKT’S COLUMN ABOUT THE M1 GARAND IN THE September issue was spot-on! Although I was far too young to have used one in combat, a Lend-Lease British return M1 was my first big-bore rifle. It cost me $79.95 in 1960, and members of Marine Reserve units, utilizing the Known Distance range at the Army base where my father was doing his two weeks of active duty with the Army, taught me to shoot it. Among the Old Breed Marine gunnery sergeants were veterans of Korea and World War II. They had used the M1s in combat. I asked about the noise made by the ejection of the empty clip. Their reply was almost universally, “Ping, you’re ass! It took mere seconds to slap in a new clip!” In…

ONCE ONE OF THE TOP-PRODUCING SPORTING firearms manufacturers in the world, Stevens was known for quality, inexpensive firearms, particularly for break-action single-shot rifles and shotguns. Of all the company’s contributions to modern firearm history, certainly the greatest was the invention of the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge introduced in 1887. The Model 907B shotgun featured here was built between July 1, 1916, when the firearms division was renamed the J. Stevens Arms Co., and April 1, 1920, when Savage Arms purchased Stevens. Like many firearms of the era, it is not serial numbered. Mechanicals The Stevens 907B is simplicity personified. A thumb lever unlocks the action. Tilting the barrel down opens it, allowing a shell to be placed into the chamber. Snap the action closed, thumb back the exposed hammer,…

THROUGH THE YEARS I HAVE TAKEN SEVERAL DEER WITH A KIMBER MODEL 82 in 6x45mm and a handload pushing the Nosler 85-grain Partition along at 2,800 fps. My experience with a small 6mm pales in comparison to those of several friends. Several years ago, during a visit of the Sako factory in Finland, I acquired a single-shot “benchrest” version of the dainty little L461 action. I eventually gave it to a friend for use in building a first rifle for his young son. He chambered the rifle for the 6x47mm and handloaded the 85-grain Partition to 2,800 fps. When the first owner of the rifle outgrew it, he passed it on to his younger sister. When she outgrew the rifle, it was handed down to a younger brother. My friend…

WHENCZ-USAINTRODUCED the polymer-frame P-10 C auto pistol last year, it was the company’s first-ever striker-fired semiautomatic. Currently, the P-10 C is offered chambered for 9mm Luger. You can have it with an all-black finish or with a black slide and a Flat Dark Earth (FDE) frame. There are suppressor-ready versions in the standard all-black finish and in what CZ-USA calls Urban Grey, which is a black slide and a gray frame. Also, there is a new version of the rugged, reliable pistol that comes with an FDE frame and a White Nitride slide. It is, in my opinion, the best-looking version of the gun by far, and it’s the one I am reporting on here. ADVANTAGES One of the advantages of a striker-fired mechanism has to do with the relationship…

SPEER HAS A NEW 10MM AUTO DEFENSE LOADING THAT FEATURES A 200- grain Gold Dot hollowpoint bullet. The offering has a rated muzzle velocity of 1,100 fps out of a 5.0-inch barrel. Corresponding muzzle energy is 537 ft-lbs. The new ammunition features nickel-plated brass and CCI primers. The Gold Dot bullets are produced using Speer’s Uni-Cor method whereby the jacket is bonded to the core one molecule at a time, virtually eliminating core-jacket separation and creating a precision hollowpoint that is accurate, tough, and consistent through all common barriers. MSRP: $34.95 per 20 rounds speer-ammo.com Browning Citori White Lightning Over-Under Browning has reintroduced its legendary Citori White Lightning over-under shotgun in 12 gauge. Built on a silver nitride receiver that features a new engraving pattern, the model has blued barrels…

PRIOR TO 1958, THE AVERAGE NORTH AMERICAN hunter whose prey required a round more capable than the .30-06 but less powerful and expensive than the .375 Holland & Holland was confronted with limited options. The only standardized .30-caliber Magnum that was available in the United States at the time was the .300 H&H; the .300 Weatherby Magnum was still a proprietary cartridge. Additionally, rifles and ammunition for either cartridge were usually expensive. Although excellent custom wildcats served that niche, remember we are talking “average hunter on a budget.” The commercial cartridges between two .30-caliber Magnums and the mighty .375 H&H were old and anemic. The .33 Winchester, .348 Winchester, and .35 Remington that dominated this sector were usually chambered in lever-action or slide-action rifles, so performance was limited. Even the…

IN THE LATE 1800S, THE LEVER ACTION WAS THE AR-15 of its day: easy to load, fast to shoot, and sporting plenty of firepower. In a couple decades it made muzzleloading and breechloading single-shot rifles entirely obsolete, and it has been touted as “the gun that won the West” ever since the Indian Wars. Unlike with the AR-15, naysayers didn’t fear and loathe the lever action as an “assault weapon” useful only for mass murder. Folks were practical back then. They admired lever guns, but some cautious riflemen worried that their high-capacity and speedy function would promote sloppy shooting. In long-gun terms, the lever action is still a fine choice for personal protection. In fact, even though most models were designed well over a century ago, a good lever-action carbine…

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, THE NEW KHX CUSTOM (OR) MODEL 1911 HAS STYLE. Kimber has a well-deserved reputation for putting out very distinctive pistols, and this new line has plenty of panache. The KHX line is separated into two categories: the standard KHX and the KHX (OR), which is the version I’ve been shooting. What sets the KHX Custom (OR) apart is that its slide is milled to accept optics-mounting plates for Leupold, Trijicon, and Vortex electronic sights. Obviously, (OR) stands for “optics ready.” More about that in a minute. The pistol has stiplex stippling on the grip frame’s frontstrap. The cocking serrations on the slide are not serrations at all. They aren’t even the scale pattern that we’ve come to expect from Kimber. They’re hexagons. On each side of…

HENRY DERINGER (ONE “R”) OF PHILADELPHIA has the rare distinction of giving his name to an entire class of guns, many of which bear little resemblance to the original. A derringer (two “r”s) is a tiny one-or two-shot pistol that can be carried in a man’s vest pocket with no hint that it’s there. A derringer fits equally well in an ankle holster, under a strap around the wrist (when wearing a suit coat), in a lady’s muff (if she’s a Victorian), or an evening purse (if she’s not). It can also fit under a lady’s garter if she’s, well, not a lady. In other words, a derringer is a last-resort kind of gun that anyone who’s serious about self-defense should consider. Deringer’s original gun was a single-shot percussion pistol,…

Galco Concealable Belt Holster? Q: In the November issue Joseph von Benedikt mentioned using a Galco Concealable Belt Holster during his shooting session with the new Glock G19X. I’d like to know more about the holster. What can he tell me about it? Patrick Reagan Via email A: Over the years, Galco’s Concealable Belt Holster (CBH) has become my favorite outside-the-waistband scabbard. Perfectly designed, beautifully made, and superbly comfortable, it carries heavy, full-size, steel-frame 1911s as if they’re part of your body. No draw-slowing retention device is necessary because the premium-grade leather is properly molded to grip the contours of the handgun. Plus, while on your belt the tension applied via the belt loops maintains just the right amount of natural retention. While the CBH is available in steerhide ($119), my favorite…

BYFORD’S GUNSHOP HANDLES MY FIREARM transfers, so I offered to teach a basic reloading class for customers who were interested in taking up handloading as a hobby. Seven students signed up for the four-session class. Some of their questions were interesting, so I’d like to relate them to readers of Shooting Times. The students ranged in age from 29 to 55. Three had some experience reloading, but the others were true babes in the woods. Speer graciously sent me copies of its new 15th edition handloading manual to use as the class text, and Lee Precision and RCBS provided samples of their products that I used to demonstrate the basic procedural steps required to reload. However, we didn’t attempt to load any ammunition until I’d covered the general vernacular of…

THE TRIJICON MRO (MINI RIFLE OPTIC) HAS BEEN A POPULAR RED-DOT sight for some time. The small, lightweight optic makes shooting easy for just about everyone. Just put the dot on the target and squeeze the trigger. The big news is that the MRO is now offered with a green dot. The most notable advantage of a green electronic-dot sight is the superior contrast and visibility it provides, especially during daylight. A red dot can become diffused and disappear into the background, but the human eye detects more shades of green, so a green dot stands out. The Trijicon green-dot MRO also offers better contrast against forest, grassland, and tropical environments, which translates into faster target acquisition during bright daylight and transitional lighting conditions. The 1X green-dot MRO sight has…

BORN INTO SLAVERY IN 1838 IN CRAWFORD County, Arkansas, Bass Reeves escaped to Indian Territory during the Civil War; lived with the Cherokee, Seminole, and Creek Indians until being freed by the Thirteenth Amendment; and went on to become the first black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River. In 32 years as a federal lawman, he arrested 3,000 criminals (including the infamous Bob Dozier, the notorious Tom Story gang of horse thieves, and an ill-reputed Seminole murderer named Greenleaf ), shot and killed at least 14 outlaws, and lived to the age of 72 years old. His dedication to duty was so strong that he even tracked down and arrested his own son for murder. After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Bass returned to Arkansas, bought…