Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Shooting Times

THE TAURUS TX22 DETAILED IN THE APRIL issue looks to be a nice shooter. But I sure wish you would have shown at least one photograph of the right side of the gun. All the photos in the article were of the left side. Mike Sanderson Via email Forming 7.62x52 Tokarev Cases Mr. Acri’s information that 7.62x52 Tokarev brass can be formed from 5.56x45 brass is correct. However, both Mr. George C. Nonte Jr. in Home Guide to Cartridge Conversion (1961) and John J. Donnelly in The Handloader’s Manual of Cartridge Conversions (1987) explain how to form Tokarev cases from .38 Special brass. Mr. Donnelly also explains how to form Tokarev cases from 5.56x45 brass. My first experience with this cartridge was some 30 years ago when commercial cases were…

INSPIRED BY RETURNING WORLD WAR I SERVICE- men’s interest in bolt-action rifles, Winchester commissioned R&D gurus Frank Burton and Thomas Johnson to design a new bolt-action smallbore rifle for competitive target shooting. Originally dubbed the G22R, six prototypes debuted at the 1919 National Matches at Camp Perry and earned five individual event championships as well as the Dewar Cup team competition. Wide acclaim followed, and before long Winchester’s Model 52 was dubbed “the king of the .22s.” Many small refinements were added in the following years, often but not always accompanied by a fresh letter designation after the serial number on the receiver. Early versions incorporated a ladder-type rear sight and a military-esque barrel-band fore-end. Both features went away eventually. Although most Model 52s were manufactured as repeaters and shipped…

I’VE HAD A SOFT SPOT FOR THE .22 WINCHESTER MAGNUM RIMFIRE (a.k.a. .22 WMR, .22 Magnum) round ever since my dad bought a brand-new Ruger Single-Six revolver with interchangeable .22 LR and .22 WMR cylinders in 1972. My dad usually bought used guns, so the new revolver caused a lot of excitement in my family, especially with me. Anyway, I really took to the .22 WMR when I was a boy, and it is still one of my favorite cartridges. I’ve fired a lot of .22 WMR rifles and revolvers in the 48 years since then, and one new rifle I’ve been shooting lately is the bolt-action Rossi RB22M. It’s an accurate and inexpensive repeater. The RB22M’s black synthetic stock is contoured and textured and has a Monte Carlo-style cheekrest.…

ON A VISIT TO SPAIN IN 1988 WHILE RESEARCHING for my book on Spanish gunmakers, I interviewed the two Arrieta brothers, Victor and José. Both were retired, although both spent considerable time at the shop, keeping an eye on things. Recalling their father, Avelino, who founded the company, they remarked that even when he was in his 90s, he could still “use the file.” A year later, back in Eibar, Ignacio Ugartechea, who was then around 70, told me about completing his apprenticeship in the 1940s. The examination consisted of making a complete shotgun from raw pieces of walnut and steel. He made a .410 over-under similar in design to the famous Merkel shotgun. “How did you make it?” I asked, holding the gun in my hands. “With a file…

THE NEW SUB-COMPACT 9MM EDC X9S IS AN EXTENSION of Wilson Combat’s popular EDC X9 family of high-performance personal-defense pistols. The X9S features a trim, lightweight grip frame machined from a solid billet of 7075-T6 aluminum and a 3.25-inch barrel. It’s smaller than most comparably sized pistols, but it accepts a 10-round, double-stack magazine developed jointly with industry leader Mec-Gar. The X9S weighs 30 ounces loaded and is 6.75 inches long, 1.25 inches thick, and 4.5 inches tall. Many optional features are available. MSRP: $2,695 (base price) wilsoncombat.com Remington Model 700 PCRE Remington’s new Model 700 PCR Enhanced chassis bolt-action rifle has a threaded, 24-inch, free-floated barrel with 5R rifling; a removable M-LOK hand-guard; a Magpul pistol grip; an oversize bolt handle; and an adjustable buttstock. It is chambered for…

MY PREDECESSOR AT SPEER, THE LATE DAVE Andrews, used to hunt upland birds in the Snake River Canyon with his buddies. An Idaho state pistol champ, Dave usually packed a custom Colt Government Model, but one day he showed up with an “entry-level” S&W .38 Special revolver on his hip. In camp, Dave finished a soda and conspicuously examined the empty can. When he had everyone’s attention, he tossed the can in the air, whipped out the revolver, and fired. The can sailed away, obviously hit. His friends tried to play unimpressed. About 20 minutes later, Dave repeated the feat with another can. Someone found the cans. They were peppered with little holes and dents. The then-new CCI/Speer handgun shotshell line had gone public. Centerfire handgun shotshells were neither new…

Original Colt Python Production Dates? Q: I see that Colt has brought back the .357 Magnum Python double-action revolver with some significant changes to the design. What were the production dates of the original Python? What else can you tell me about that classic revolver? Randall Clayton Via email A: The original Python was produced from 1955 until 1996. It has a medium-size frame and a six-shot cylinder. The barrel has a full-length underlug and a ventilated rib on top. The full-length underlug, which is actually the hollow ejector rod shroud, was designed to help reduce recoil and to make the revolver point better during fast double-action fire. The vent rib was designed to help dissipate heat during long strings of shooting. The revolver has an adjustable rear sight (either…

SHOOTING TIMES EDITOR IN CHIEF JOEL HUTCH- croft and I often share common interests in firearms. When he learned I’d recently acquired three early 20th-century .38 WCF rifles, he suggested I use them for a handloading column. One is a lever-action Marlin M94 with a 24-inch barrel. One is a pump-action Remington Model 14½ with a 22-inch barrel. The third is a lever-action Winchester Model 1873 with a 24-inch barrel. Several years after the .44 WCF cartridge was introduced in 1873, it was necked down to create the .38 WCF. The “.38-caliber” designation is a gross misnomer because the actual bullet diameter is 0.400 to 0.401 inch. The .38 WCF was originally loaded with 40 grains of fine-grain blackpowder; consequently, it is often referred to as the .38-40. The original…

FIREARM HISTORIANS TELL US THAT THE idea of cutting grooves in the bore of a gun barrel originated in central Europe sometime during the late 15th or early 16th century. In the beginning, it was believed that straight grooves gave blackpowder fouling a place to accumulate and that eased pushing a ball down the barrel of a muzzleloader during the loading process. Straight-groove rifling was seen more recently in sub-gauge inserts for over-under shotgun barrels made by Briley. The intent there is to improve shot pattern uniformity by arresting any spin of a plastic wad column as it travels through the bore, but it has not been widely accepted among clay target shooters. I don’t fully understand why straight-groove rifling in the barrel of an AR-15 in .223 Remington would…

IN 2017 WINCHESTER WON A CONTRACT to supply 9mm ammunition to the U.S. Army Modular Handgun System (MHS) program. That ammunition has now become available to civilians. It’s called Active Duty, and it is loaded with a 115-grain flatnose FMJ bullet and military-grade primers. The civilian ammo is being offered in 100- and 150-round boxes. The new Active Duty ammo is loaded to the same military ballistics specifications as for the MHS program and has a rated muzzle velocity of 1,320 fps and a muzzle energy of 445 ft-lbs. Because it generates 10 to 15 percent more pressure than industry-standard 9mm Luger ammunition, Winchester cautions shooters to use it only in modern 9mm handguns that are in good condition. I fired the new Active Duty 9mm ammo in a SIG…

MURDERER, BANK ROBBER, BOOTLEGGER, AND pirate, replete with an eye patch, John Ashley was a bad man. He, his girlfriend Laura Upthegrove, and their gang of thieves reportedly stole nearly $1 million from at least 40 banks in the early 1920s. John Hopkin Ashley was born in 1888 in the backwoods country of Florida. He grew up fishing, hunting, and trapping in the Everglades. Laura Upthegrove was born in 1896 in Red-dick, Florida. She married Calvin Collier when she was 14 years old and had two children by the time she was 18. At some point she divorced Collier and married Earnest Tillman. They had two children. Some time later she left Tillman for John Ashley. John’s first significant brush with the law was in 1912 when he was suspected…