Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2019-20 i Shooting Times

THE ARTICLE ON TAURUS’S .380 ACP REVOLVER BY BRAD MILLER IN THE September issue was well written. That said, I have never understood any advantage to chambering semiauto rounds in a revolver. This takes away the revolver’s biggest advantage: ease of simple operation. Having to use moon clips takes that advantage away. With my 77-year-old arthritic hands, moon clips are difficult for me to handle, and the idea of ejecting spent cases with a foreign rod or pencil is unacceptable to me. If a 90-grain .38 Special non-Plus P has too much recoil, then I would go for the .22 Magnum. Effective defensive power with it would probably be about the same as the .380 ACP, with less recoil and six rounds instead of five. Phil Witte Phoenix, AZ A…

AFTER A SOUND TROUNCING DURING THE RUSSO- Turkish War of 1877–1878, Russia decided it was time to get modern and arm her troops with repeating rifles. A relatively unfriendly design war was consequently fought with thorough zest, with elements of rifles by Capt. Sergei Ivanovich Mosin and Léon Nagant eventually combined and became the трёхлинейная винтовка образца 1891 года, or “Three-Line” Rifle M1891. Three-line referred to the caliber, which was nominally 0.3 inch. That’s measuring the bore diameter before rifling grooves were created. At the time, in Russian rifle speak, a “line” denoted 0.10 inch. The cartridge designed for this rifle also wore the Three-Line name and was designated the Трехлинейный патрон образца 1891 года, or Three-Line Cartridge Model of 1891. When Russia later adopted the metric system, it was…

LIKE ALL OF EOTECH’S HOLOGRAPHIC WEAPON SIGHTS, THE EXPS2 HWS uses a hologram of the reticle that is embedded into the sight display window and is illuminated by a 0.08 mW 650 nm Class II laser diode to form a virtual image of the reticle. EOTech was one of the first—if not the first—companies to offer such sights, and it has been producing them since 1996. The company says holographic sights are optically and electronically superior to red-dot sights, although they tend to have shorter battery life. Speaking of battery life, the EXPS2 is powered by a lithium 123 battery, and battery life is rated at 600 continuous hours at setting 12 at room temperature. The sight is offered with two red reticle versions. You can have the 68-minute circle…

THE NEWEST CONFIGURATION OF RUGER’S POPULAR 9mm PC Carbine comes with a black synthetic stock and a free-floating aluminum handguard with Magpul M-LOK accessory slots. Barrel length is 16.12 inches, overall length is 34.37 inches, and weight is 7 pounds. Length of pull is adjustable from 12.62 inches to 14.12 inches via buttpad spacers. The rear sight is an adjustable ghost ring, and the front sight is a protected blade. The muzzle is threaded; the receiver features an integral Picatinny top rail; and two interchangeable magazine wells that accept common Ruger or Glock magazines are included. MSRP: $729 ruger.com Norma ENVY PCC 9mm Ammunition Norma’s new line of ENVY ammunition is designed specifically for Pistol Caliber Carbines. The new ammunition is loaded with a 124-grain FMJ bullet at a factory-rated…

ONE OF MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS INVOLVED TWO guys who tested urban myths—you know the one. Most of their efforts applied good science, but their forays into ballistics matters occasionally drifted, such as their description of how a tracer bullet works and their bullet-penetration testing. They typically tested penetration at very short distances and made general conclusions from that. They should have checked at the library. One of the most informative books you can study is Hatcher’s Notebook , a collection of factual information accumulated over the years by Gen. Julian S. Hatcher, one of the great minds in ballistics. On pages 406 and 407 of the Third Edition (1962) are two photographs that express more about penetration of spin-stabilized projectiles than can be said in several TV episodes. The…

DECIDING WHAT GUN YOU CARRY FOR YOUR personal protection may be the most important decision you ever make. Yet, ironically, it’s the one where you are least likely to get a real-life chance to see if you were right. What’s more, if that chance ever comes, it may be unexpected, sudden, and nerve-shattering—a situation where it all comes down to instinct and muscle memory: a confrontation in a parking lot, a bunch of yahoos at a gas station, or a shadowy figure late at night in your bedroom door. Whenever I write about this subject, the first question I get is: What do you use? Here are my answers. There isn’t space to examine the reasoning in every instance, but trust me, there is solid reasoning behind each one of…

Q: In Joseph von Benedikt’s article on the new aluminum-tipped Hornady A-Tip bullets in the November issue, the accuracy and velocity chart lists a charge of 40.8 grains of Reloder 16 powder under the 110-grain 6mm bullet, but the photo of the target shown on page 24 had 40.0 grains handwritten on it. Which powder charge is correct? Bobby Ramsey Via email A: That target was shot with a charge of 40.0 grains of Reloder 16, but I later discovered that I got more consistent extreme spreads and standard deviations with 40.8 grains, which is the load for the data in the accuracy chart. So, both loads are correct, but I listed only the one in the chart. Joseph von Benedikt Q: Carry a Model 1894 with a Round in…

THE MOST PROLIFIC CREATOR OF WILDCAT CAR- tridges was P.O. Ackley. During the 1940s and ’50s, he developed an extensive portfolio that became widely known as Ackley Improved (AI) wildcats. Ackley’s signature features included a less tapered case and an abrupt 40-degree shoulder angle, both to increase case capacity. He also developed several belted “short” magnums based on the .300 H&H case. One key feature of the AI chamber is that it maintains the same headspace as the parent case. That means factory ammo can be safely and reliably fired in a rifle chambered for an AI cartridge. During the nearly 50 years I’ve enjoyed handloading, I’ve experimented with several wildcats, including a few of Ackley’s, such as the .257 AI and the .280 AI. My latest foray into experimenting…

FOUR YEARS AGO, THE classy Kimber K6s double-action revolver started out in one configuration. It had an internal hammer, a 2.0-inch barrel, and a natural stainless-steel finish. From that beginning, it has progressed into seven standard variations in two barrel lengths and in natural stainless, matte black stainless, black DLC, and two-tone finishes, plus a couple of fancy special editions. Some versions are now available with an exposed hammer. Lately, I’ve been shooting one of the newest configurations that has a 3.0-inch barrel and the all-new Control Core grips. It’s definitely worth a look. The K6s Control Core The K6s Control Core does not have an exposed hammer. The hammer is completely internal, and that means this version of the K6s has a double-action-only mechanism. The mechanism uses a floating…

IN THE EARLY 1850S, JOHN COFFEE “JACK” HAYS was elected sheriff of San Francisco County and appointed United States Surveyor General for California, became one of the founders of the city of Oakland, and ran successful enterprises in real estate and ranching. But before all of that, he led the Texas Rangers into the history books. Usually outnumbered and against overwhelming odds, Hays triumphed in so many battles against bandits, Indians, and the Mexican army that he is what historian Darren Ivey called “the ideal Texas Ranger.” Hays was born on January 28, 1817, in Cedar Lick in Wilson County, Tennessee. After his parents died, when he was 15 years old, he moved to Mississippi where he learned surveying. By mid-1836, he had migrated to Texas and joined a Ranger…