Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i Shooting Times

I NEVER GET TIRED OF READING ABOUT THE .338 WIN. MAG. HECK, I NEVER get tired of shooting it, either. It’s my favorite rifle cartridge, so I very much enjoyed Allan Jones’s column in the December 2018 issue. I’ve done quite a bit of hunting in Africa, and in my experience, the .338 Win. Mag. is excellent for a “one-gun safari.” I’ve taken African game as small as klipspringer (a small antelope weighing from 18 to 40 pounds) and as large as Cape buffalo with my .338 Win. Mag. rifles. I’ve owned a half-dozen of them over the decades. Obviously, the .338 Win. Mag. is more than capable for all North American big game, too, which I have hunted as well. A sign of the cartridge’s great versatility is that…

While any of these 9mm factory loads should be fine for a defensive AR-15, Joseph prefers Hornady Critical Duty and Winchester PDX1 for night watch. 1 Black Hills 115-Gr. JHP 2 Federal 124-Gr. Hydra-Shok 3 Hornady Critical Defense 115-Gr. FTX 4 Hornady Critical Duty 135-Gr. FlexLock 5 Speer 124-Gr. TMJ 6 Winchester 147-Gr. PDX1 7 Winchester 115-Gr. FMJ Q: MY PRIMARY HOME-DEFENSE FIREARM IS A 9MM AR-15. I’M CURIOUS to know what the experts say is the best factory-loaded ammunition for defending my home and hearth. What loads do they recommend? Robert Robinson Via email A: As I wrote a few years ago when I reviewed a Stag Arms 9mm AR for Shooting Times, within the ranges that such a firearm would likely be used for personal protection, all of the…

DURING A RECENT VISIT TO MY GUNSMITH, I MET a fellow who had just experienced a serious shooting incident with a vintage Ruger No. 1 single-shot rifle. When he fired the last of his .308 Winchester handloads, the forearm splintered into several pieces and wisps of smoke seeped out from the rear of the receiver. Fortunately, he was wearing eye protection and his left hand and forearm only stung a little. The rifle’s breechblock was solidly jammed in place by the ruptured cartridge case. My gunsmith was diligently trying to get the breech open to remove and inspect whatever might remain of the suspect cartridge. Within a few minutes, he had successfully forced the breechblock down without any apparent collateral damage. As you can see, the damaged case head indicates…

I DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO TRULY ENJOYS CLEANING THEIR GUNS, but doing so is necessary if you want to get optimal performance and to retain the full value of your prized firearms. Countless products are available for making the chore more palatable, and one of the newest is the handy Handgun Cleaning Kit from Birchwood Casey. This new kit has 13 pieces. It includes the components you need to perform routine cleaning and a handy hard case with an organizing tray. The kit comes with four brass jags (.22 caliber, .357/9mm caliber, .40/10mm caliber, and .45/.410 caliber), two brass rod sections, a swiveling aluminum handle, four bronze bore brushes (in the same calibers as the jags), a patch holder, and a plastic muzzle guard. It all fits into a conveniently…

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has issued a product Safety Bulletin for certain Ruger American Pistols chambered in 9mm. Ruger has discovered that some Ruger American Pistols chambered in 9mm may exhibit premature wear of the locking surfaces between the slide and barrel, which, if ignored, can result in a crack developing near the ejection port of the slide. This typically does not occur at round counts below 10,000 rounds. The condition is easily identified during routine maintenance and cleaning, and the crack should be visible long before the pistol becomes unsafe to shoot. Ruger is committed to safety and is asking owners of Ruger American Pistols chambered in 9mm to inspect their pistols for excessive wear or cracks and, if necessary, sign up for a free retrofit. Ruger American…

ALTHOUGH UNASSUMING IN APPEARANCE AND unremarkable to collectors, the simple Remington Model 511 Scoremaster bolt-action rimfire repeater is a legendary game-getter. Surprisingly accurate for a .22 of basic design, the rifle tends to be boringly reliable for generation after generation of squirrel hunters. Introduced in 1939, the Model 511 Scoremaster features a 25-inch tapered round barrel, six- or 10-round magazine, strap-metal trigger guard, and sleek small-diameter bolt action. The bolt locks up by camming the bolt handle stud closed into a square-bottomed notch machined into the right side of the action. It also features a second, opposing locking lug, giving the bolt equilateral support that keeps it straight and consistent and benefits accuracy. The bolt handle is a separate part secured into and through the sturdy stud on the bolt…

THE NEW RRAGE LAR-15 CARBINE FROM ROCK RIVER ARMS (RRA) IS A sleek, lightweight carbine that puts to rest complaints about clunky ARs that are too heavy, have too many sharp edges, and look distressingly similar to dozens of other ARs on the market. RRA says that it had studied every aspect of AR manufacturing and figured out how to design and make a lightweight carbine at a lower cost. At a recent industry meeting, RRA officials introduced the new rifle as an “entry carbine” with assurances that the company would not release any product unless it met their standards. But this isn’t an epigonic “price point AR,” and even though its MSRP is a very reasonable $759.99, the RRAGE can hold its own with competing rifles. Before I get…

IN 1957 GREAT BRITAIN NOTED THE 100TH ANNIversary of the Great Indian Mutiny, the fiercest of Queen Victoria’s “little wars” of the 19th century. By coincidence, the Mutiny saw the first real use of revolvers in combat by British officers, and they stayed in service for a century. As the British Army noted the centennial of the Mutiny, it also phased out the last of its revolvers, replaced by the Browning Hi-Power semiautomatic pistol. That is really an astonishing record of service. The iconic British revolver is, of course, the Webley. It was the official military sidearm for 75 years, but British officers and colonial officials also carried Adams, Tranter, Colt, and even a few Smith & Wesson revolvers, especially in the years from 1857 until the Webley’s official adoption…

RUGER’S 10/22 COMPACT SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLE IS NOW AVAILABLE WITH the Ruger Modular Stock System. The Modular Stock System allows the length of pull to be adjusted easily, accommodating shooters of various sizes as well as variations in thickness of outerwear. This new version of the venerable 10/22 comes with front and rear fiber-optic sights, a crossbolt safety, and a cold hammer-forged 16.12-inch barrel. The finish on the stock is matte black, and the barrel and action are blued. The carbine weighs 4.6 pounds, and the legendary rotary magazine holds 10 rounds of .22 LR ammunition. MSRP: $309 ruger.com Glock G45 Like the recently introduced G19X, Glock’s new “crossover” 9mm G45 combines a compact-sized slide with a full-size frame, but it comes with a nonreflective black finish instead of the coyote…

THIS MONTH’S THEME OF HANDGUNS TOOK ME back several decades to my crime lab experiences and evaluation of firearms safety systems. Most people associate “forensic ballistics” only with matching bullets and cartridge cases to a specific firearm, but evaluations for proper mechanical condition proved important. Our standards of proof for matches were rigorous, and at least two of us had to agree it was a match before the test was reported “positive” for the record. Therefore, defense attorneys changed their argument to “the gun went off accidentally!” As court-qualified forensic experts, we had to handle those defense questions professionally and truthfully on the witness stand. To that end, we maintained a reference collection of more than 1,000 firearms, largely handguns, so we could learn safety systems. Many firearms have a…

UMAREX, THE WORLD’S LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF OVER-THE-COUNTER FIREARM replicas (its products include airguns, airsoft guns and ammunition, blank-firing guns, optics, knives and tools, flashlights, headlights, slingshots, blowguns, pepper spray, handcuffs, batons, crossbows, and other innovative products), recently entered the muzzleloader market by partnering with Inceptor Ammunition to offer the new 180-grain SpeedBelt ARX Muzzleloader Bullets. These projectiles feature the new SpeedBelt sabot from Umarex and the fluted ARX bullet design that is produced by Inceptor Ammunition and owned by Quantum Ammunition LLC. According to Inceptor Ammunition CEO Ron Embree, “When paired with the Umarex SpeedBelt sabot, ARX bullets deliver extreme energy transfer to targets, reduced recoil, and exceptional accuracy and stopping power.” The ARX bullet is a non-expanding, non-lead, injection-molded polymer-copper matrix projectile whose flutes provide tremendous terminal performance. The…

LAST MONTH I WROTE ABOUT DEPUTY U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves and mentioned that one of the notorious outlaws he brought to justice was Bob Dozier. This month, I’m going to tell you about Dozier. Little is known about Robert “Bob” Dozier’s early life. He was born in 1800 and before turning to a life of crime, he was a successful farmer in what would later become the Territory of Oklahoma. According to historians, he was not forced to take up thievery by need as many outlaws of the time were. Instead, he chose the adventurous lifestyle. Some speculate it was all for greed. By all accounts, he was as successful at a variety of crimes as he was at farming. Dozier’s criminal résumé included cattle rustling, robbing stores and banks,…