Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Shooting Times

ANOTHER FRIEND OF SHOOTING TIMES HAS PASSED AWAY. I’M SORRY TO report that Bart Skelton died on April 23, 2023. He was two months shy of his 63rd birthday at the time of his death. Bart was actually much more than a friend of Shooting Times. He was the son of Skeeter Skelton, arguably ST’s most famous writer. As a boy, Bart played a role in some of Skeeter’s Shooting Times articles, and later in life, he wrote for Shooting Times himself. His first full-length feature article ran in the March 1989 issue, and it was entitled “Lightning & Thunderer: Colt’s Famous Double Actions.” Beginning in the March 1990 issue, Bart handled a Q&A column called “Trigger Talk,” in which he answered readers’ technical questions concerning handguns. He wrote that…

Q. I found Joel Hutchcroft’s “Hipshots” column on market hunter/inventor Fred Kimble in the August issue to be an interesting read. As Joel detailed, Kimble was from Illinois. I vaguely recall another famous shooter of that era coming from Illinois, but I can’t think of his name. Who was that other famous shooter from Illinois? Lance BryantVia email A. I can think of two famous shooters of that time (mid-1800s to early 1900s) who were from Illinois. The first was shotgunner Capt. A.H. Bogardus. The other was Doc Carver, a.k.a. “The Rifle King.” I wrote about Carver back in 2003, when I was writing the “Editor’s Gallery” column in Shooting Times, and I’ll get to his shooting accomplishments in a minute. But first, here’s what I know about Bogardus. Adam…

THERE’S A WELL-KNOWN SAYING THAT GOES, “… the third time’s the charm!” I hope that’s true because this is my third report touting the merits of the .30 Super Carry cartridge. I hope it will encourage readers to give the cartridge some consideration. I have come to highly appreciate the .30 SC, and in fact, I replaced my longtime, go-to carry pistol with a compact S&W Shield EZ after working with the new cartridge. In my October 2022 “The Reloader” column, I provided the first pressure-tested handload data based on what I’d concocted by trial and error and fired in that S&W Shield EZ. Industry friends at Speer and Hodgdon graciously assembled and test-fired my recipes to weed out the unsafe loads before publication. My second report on the .30…

Terry relies on Ballistol for lubrication and rust prevention, but he also says a mixture of Vaseline and mineral oil will do. Nye Oils are highly refined synthetics in viscosity ranging from water to molasses and will not harm walnut. A YEAR OR SO AGO, I WAS GIVEN A LOVELY OLD Ithaca 4E trap gun and asked to find it a good home. It belonged to a lady—and had a lady’s dimensions—but I happened to know an enthusiastic trap shooter of diminutive build. It fit her to a T, and she fell in love with it. Problem solved to the satisfaction of all. Like all shooting ladies of my acquaintance, the Ithaca’s new custodian leaves such banalities as gun cleaning to her husband, who is a mechanic. After a few…

1. Cube your venison (or whatever meat you desire to use) into one-inch squares.2. Dredge the meat in seasoned flour and brown in hot olive oil.3. Drain off most of the oil and fat and add a cup of beef broth and half a bottle of beer.4. Chop your green chile, which has been fire roasted and peeled. If the chile is fresh and raw, you can roast it on the stovetop or on an open fire, then peel the skin off. If you can’t get fresh green chile, your grocer can get frozen green chile from a variety of producers, and it will work quite well.5. Add the chile to taste. I like a lot!6. Scrub two medium-sized potatoes, cube them the same size as the venison, and add…

IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE LAST CENTURY, COM- petitive smallbore shooting was a national pastime. Among American-made rifles, Winchester’s Model 52 ruled. However, even then it was expensive. A need for a value-priced target rifle was clear, so in 1938 Winchester introduced the Model 75 Target, and it filled the niche. The 75 Target utilized an accurized version of the Model 69A action, which was carefully mated to a match-grade, hand-lapped 28-inch heavy-profile barrel and cut with a minimum-dimension match .22 LR chamber. Of repeating design, the action was fed with the same magazines as the Model 69 and 52 and Winchester’s other similar bolt actions. A single-loading adapter could be purchased as an option. Stocks were robust and designed for maximum stability from traditional prone, sitting, kneeling, and…

AS I HAVE WRITTEN BEFORE, PARA- Ordnance is often credited with coming up with the wide-body, double-stack Model 1911 concept back in about 1988. The company first offered a kit with a wide-body grip frame. Then about two years later it started producing complete Model 1911s with the high-capacity frame. At about the same time, Caspian Arms started making wide-body Model 1911 frames, and Chip McCormick introduced a revolutionary modular-style wide-body frame that consisted of a synthetic grip held to a steel insert by two screws. Since then, the McCormick frame has undergone a number of name changes as well as changes in ownership. Today, the same basic frame is made by STI. Other well-known companies that have offered wide-body, high-capacity Model 1911s include Wilson Combat, Rock Island Armory, Nighthawk…

CP9 USA THE FOLKS AT LEGACY SPORTS ARE proud Americans. As such, the company proudly offers pistols, rifles, and accessories that wear the red, white, and blue of Old Glory. Several new red, white, and blue guns have been added to the lineup this year. Those include the Citadel CP9 USA 9mm pistol, the Citadel TRAKR USA .22 LR rifles, and the Howa Carbon Fiber Flag Chassis centerfire bolt-action rifle. Here’s a quick look at four of those new guns, along with my shooting results for each one. And just in case these new guns aren’t what you’re looking for, Legacy Sports also offers Citadel full-size Model 1911s and Baby Model 1911s and Howa APC Steel, Mini Action EXCL Lite, and TSPX Chassis rifles, all with the red, white, and…

AS I WROTE IN MY EULOGY OF BART SKELTON on page 8 of this issue, Bart wrote for Shooting Times for many years, and he covered all sorts of topics, including some very interesting Southwestern characters. In further remembrance of Bart, here is a condensed version of one of my favorites of his tales, in his own words. The summer had been dry enough to choke grease-wood, and the dirt roads in southwest New Mexico were blessed with fine, powdery dust 4 or 5 inches deep. Driving down any of them made for an experience akin to a hurricane hitting a talcum powder factory. My old pickup was covered with the fine powder inside and out from my several trips out to my desert shooting range. I decided I needed…

HI-POINT HAS JUST INTRODUCED THE INDUSTRY’S FIRST .30 SUPER CARRY carbine. The semiautomatic Model 995 carbine is distributed exclusively through MKS Supply, and it sports a 16.5-inch barrel with a threaded muzzle; a skeletonized, polymer stock with a pistol grip and a ribbed fore-end; a fully adjustable peep rear sight; and a post front sight. The magazine holds 10 rounds of ammo, and a Picatinny top rail allows easy installation of optics. MSRP: $359 hi-pointfirearms.com Ruger Super Wrangler Revolver The new Super Wrangler convertible .22 LR/.22 WMR single-action revolver from Ruger features a 5.5-inch barrel, an alloy-steel cylinder frame, a fully adjustable rear sight, and two interchangeable six-shot cylinders. It is offered in Bronze Cerakote, Black Cerakote, and Silver Cerakote finishes with Single-Six-pattern, black, checkered, synthetic grips. The revolver…

RIFLE BULLETS MUST WITHSTAND 60,000+ hounds of Hell chewing at their heels without coming apart when spun at rotational rates that defy imagination. Yet the most basic modern bullet consists of a cylinder—the bearing surface—plus add-ons like noses and base shapes when needed. The cylindrical shape is why rifling evolved. For all this complexity, initial bullet profile design is the shuffling and combining of simple geometric shapes. The profile of almost any bullet’s nose can be mathematically defined by combining rectangles, circles, and arc segments. Those precise mathematical relationships make computer numerical control equipment (CNC) the die maker’s best friend. Pointy bullets—Spitzers—can be conical (Spirepoint) or ogival. The major portion of a true Spirepoint nose is a straight line. The same area of an ogival bullet is curved. Spirepoints conserve…