Gun Digest August 2022

Why do you love revolvers so much? Seriously. Why? Sure, you might holster a polymer pistol every day inside your waistband, or shoot your highly customized AR at the range on the weekends or tote your grandfather’s bolt-action Model 70 every November in the deer woods—and I’ll assume you wouldn’t trade a single one of them for anything. But, whether you own 10, one or none … I’d be willing to bet a fresh case of .357 Mag. ammo that you stop and admire a wheelgun each time the opportunity arises. A revolver is kinda like a shiny ’67 Camaro that you see on the road: Regardless of how much you love the wheels you’re driving, you have to admire it for at least a moment as she drives by. Though a few companies,…

HISTORICAL NOTES The .38 Long Colt was once the offcial United States Army revolver cartridge (1892 to 1911). The short version was used mainly in the Colt Army & Navy Model revolver with swing-out cylinder, developed in 1887. The .38 Long Colt was introduced in 1875 as one of several chamberings for Colt New Line, New Police and New House revolvers. GENERAL COMMENTS Since it was once a military cartridge, a number of Colt and Smith & Wesson revolvers in this chambering are still around. The .38 Long Colt cartridge can be fired in a .38 Special revolver, but not vice versa. During the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection, the U.S. Army found that the .38 Long Colt had insuffcient stopping power for combat use. The cartridge was therefore dropped in 1911, in…

I sometimes get belittled by so-called “defensive handgun experts” because I’m fond of stuffing my lightweight Browning HiPower in my waistband without a holster. This is commonly referred to as Mexican—or appendix—carry. I’m often told this is an inherently unsafe practice because the trigger isn’t covered and it doesn’t provide any retention. Well, this is partly true; the only thing that keeps your gun secure is the tension between your belt and your body. This is a variable tension that’s dependent on what activity you’re currently engaged in. As far as the uncovered trigger, if the gun is shoved in behind your belt so that your belt—and pants—are covering the trigger, I’m not sure what’s going to pull that trigger. Now, maybe you have gremlins roaming around in your underwear, or maybe—like…

My gun club is a nice place to shoot, but it does have some draw-backs. The main one? The range floors. Basically, sand and silt. Your brass can get muddy. If you vacuum up everything that has been left behind, you’re going to have some pretty grubby brass. Rinsing the sand, silt and mud off in hot—even boiling—water can get them cleaner, but getting them dry? In the summer months, I can spread them out in the sun on an old bath towel and they dry pretty quickly. I can’t do that in the winter, and a lot of you can’t do that at all. Fittingly, Lyman makes a case dryer, the Cyclone, with a simple setup. You put the cases (after their hot water rinse) into the trays, stack the…

At this very moment, it’s likely that someone is thinking about becoming the next headline, the next person to grab a gun and go into a school, shopping mall or sporting event—and start shooting. If you’re in the same proximity, are you prepared to stop him? We’re talking legally, morally, tactics, equipment and skills. LEGALLY Every jurisdiction allows the use of force in defense of self or others, if you have reasonable grounds to believe lives are in danger. In an active shooter situation, when blood has been shed and continues to be shed, you will not be held culpable for any law violation, unless you shoot the wrong person or persons. And, yes, if you pull up to the school and hear shooting and screaming, with kids running away from the sound…

When I got serious about reloading my ammunition, my tool set was minimal to say the least, yet it worked just fine. The various steps might’ve taken a bit longer, but it taught me to respect the little details to ensure things didn’t go wrong and no one got hurt—including me. That said, I quickly desired to obtain the tools that’d make the processes faster, while maintaining the quality control that the bare-bones rig offered. My main interest was the powder charging process, as my early technique involved using a Lee plastic powder dipper and some loose powder in a small cardboard box or, sometimes, in a fancy glass jar top procured from a Yankee Candle jar. All my powder charges were weighed on a balance beam scale—at first a RCBS…