Table of contents for May 2018 in Shooting Times

LIGHTWEIGHT CONCEALED-CARRY GUNS HAVE A VERY SHARP RECOIL THAT can prevent extended practice at the range, so I believe there is a market for extremely low-recoil practice ammo for these guns. Semiautos may not cycle on very low-power ammo, but a revolver does not care. Even the pink box Hornady 90-grain Critical Defense Lite load was too much recoil for my wife to use for practice with her 15-ounce snubby. I believe ammomakers have missed the market for snubby practice ammo. As a reloader I came up with some soft loads using Titegroup powder and 100-grain .380 bullets. I could not find a lightweight jacketed or plated bullet made for her .357. The diameter of the .380 is 0.356 inch and a .357 or .38 Special bullet is 0.357 inch.…

BILL RUGER’S FIRST DOUBLE-ACTION REVOLVER wasn’t just a success, it was almost perfect. A lot of shooters thought the design had no bugs that needed to be worked out. Many thought it had no deficiencies at all. For a lot of handgunners, the Security-Six revolver was a flawless sixshooter, and that is unusual for a first effort. Conceived as a powerful middleweight sidearm for self-defense, law enforcement, and military purposes, the Security-Six is a midsize, six-shot double action. Typical to Ruger creed, it was made using robust, cost-effective investment castings and coil springs and quickly gained a reputation for durability and reliability. It was stronger than Smith & Wesson’s excellent Model 19 and could better withstand a steady diet of heavy magnum cartridges. Yet the versatile 4.0-inch-barreled version weighed only…

REMINGTON HAS DOMESTICATED MORE wildcat cartridges than any other company. The 7mm-08 is one of them. Announced in late 1979, it became available in two rifles in 1980. One was the Model 700 Varmint Special with a 24-inch heavy barrel. At the time the 7mm-308 wildcat was popular among metallic silhouette competitors, and many of their custom rifles were heavy-barrel jobs on Model 700 actions. The Varmint Special was aimed at that segment of the market. The other rifle, the one of greater interest to me at the time, was the Model 788. The first 788s in 7mm-08 had 18.5-inch barrels, and I got one fresh off the production line. The first factory ammo introduced by Remington was loaded with Hornady 120-grain hollowpoint and 139-grain softnose Spitzer bullets at advertised…

RUGER HAS DONE IT AGAIN. THE COMPANY has resurrected one of its classic model designations and applied it to a completely different type of gun. I’m talking about the brand-new Security-9 semiautomatic pistol. Several years ago, Ruger did the same thing when it resurrected the Hawkeye model name and tagged the company’s centerfire bolt-action rifle with that moniker. (For anyone who doesn’t know it, the original Ruger Hawkeye was a single-shot handgun.) Most Shooting Times readers are probably familiar with Ruger’s classic Security-Six double-action revolver. (See the accompanying sidebar for more about the Security-Six.) And now a new 9mm semiautomatic pistol wears the Security model designation. The Security-9 Up Close The new 9mm Security-9 is a hammer-fired semiautomatic pistol with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds. A 10-round version is…

EVERYONE READING THIS MAGAZINE KNOWS THAT FOR personal-defense or home-defense, proper ammunition can mean the difference between life and death. Many factors must be weighed when choosing one’s self-defense ammo, but you may want to consider that Hornady’s Critical Duty .40 S&W 175-grain loading was recently awarded a “Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity” agreement by the FBI. I say if it’s good enough for the FBI, it’s good enough for me. The fundamental purpose of a personal-defense handgun cartridge is to incapacitate a violent attacker as quickly as possible. The bullet must be able to penetrate deeply while opening as large a wound channel as possible. For this reason, expanding hollowpoint bullets have been preferred. The drawback to expanding hollowpoint bullets is they are more fragile than solid bullets. They…

WINCHESTER SMOKELESS PROPELLANTS, A BRAND LICENSED BY HODGDON Powder Co., has announced the new Winchester 244 powder that’s designed for reloading handgun cartridges. According to the company, this new powder is ideally suited to .38 Special, .45 ACP, and 9mm Luger standard loads. It’s said to be consistent, is clean-burning, produces a low flash, reduces copper fouling and residue, and is useful across a broad range of applications. It’s offered in 1-, 4-, and 8-pound canisters. MSRP: $23.99 (1-lb. canister), $89.99 (4-lb. canister), $171.99 (8-lb. canister) wwpowder.com Lyman Brass Smith Ideal Press Lyman’s new compact Brass Smith Ideal reloading press features a cast-iron frame and all-steel parts with a central handle positioned for easy ambidextrous use. It also has a 1-inch-diameter ram and a 3.88-inch press opening that can handle…

LAST MONTH I WROTE ABOUT THE .303 BRITISH and its long history of military service. This month I’ll look at its United States counterpart: the .30-40 Krag. Dates of introduction and overall case design were very similar, but some differences are significant. Although prototypes were tested with blackpowder, the .30-40 Krag was perfected and issued as a smokeless-powder cartridge; the .303 British saw several years of service using blackpowder. The .30-40 had a very short service life (roughly from 1892 to 1903) unlike the .303 British (from 1888 to 1957). The .30-40 Krag never saw the transition from heavy, roundnose bullets to lighter, faster Spitzer projectiles that helped keep the .303 British cartridge militarily relevant for so long. On Duty The “.30-40 Krag” name came later to avoid confusion with…

RECENTLY, I SAW SMITH & WESSON M&P9 PISTOLS— the old standard model, not the new 2.0 version—on sale at a local gunshop for $380, complete with three steel magazines. So I bought one, figuring to use it for a gunsmithing project with the objective of turning it into the ultimate last-ditch survival sidearm. A solid, no-frills pistol, the original M&P9 is a high-capacity, polymer-framed semiautomatic that most who tried found more ergonomic than just about any other pistol. Eventually, it earned respect among law enforcement and the carry cognoscenti equaled only by that accorded to Glock pistols. Also like Glocks, the M&P became a popular pistol to modify. Shooters who preferred its ergonomic grip tweaked it this way and that, swapping sights, installing match-grade triggers, and texturing frames. Approximations of…

RUGER’S ORIGINAL SECURITY SERIES HAND- guns were six-shot .357 Magnum double-action revolvers in blued steel and satin stainless steel. They put Ruger on the map in terms of duty guns. The .357 Mag. Security-Six double-action service revolver was one of the all-time great handguns. It was accurate, ergonomic, rugged, and dependable. When Bill Ruger introduced it in 1971, he wanted to offer the shooting world a top-quality double-action .357 Mag. at a low price. With an introductory retail price of $89 for the fixed-sight version and $97.50 for the adjustable-sight gun, the Security-Six was all that. The Security-Six was offered in two basic models: one with an adjustable rear sight and one with fixed sights. The fixed-sight version came to be known as the Speed-Six. Both versions were offered in…

HEARING PROTECTION IS AN IMPORTANT ACCESSORY ALL SHOOTERS should be using. I’ve had mixed luck with hearing protectors of all sorts over the years. I’ve tried just about all types. I’ve used foam plugs and foam plugs under earmuffs. I’ve tried standard earmuffs and electronic earmuffs. I’ve even tried behind-the-head earmuffs and solar-powered earmuffs. But I had never tried a set of custom-molded earplugs. Until now. I just spent some time at the shooting range with a set of Decibullz Custom-Molded Percussive Filters, which I molded to my ears myself. They fit, and they work. Kyle Kirkpatrick developed Decibullz. About six years ago he was fed up with earphones that wouldn’t stay in, sounded awful, or hurt his ears. So he developed an earphone that did work by molding it…

Q: I HAVE AN OLD SAKO VIXEN HEAVY-BARRELED .222 MAGNUM RIFLE with fewer than 500 rounds through it. Should I have it reworked for another caliber (which?), or are there sources for .222 Mag. ammo? Maxim Via email A: The .222 Remington Magnum is still a very viable varmint cartridge, even if it’s rarely mentioned or encountered anymore. That’s because, for all practical purposes, the .223 Remington/5.56 NATO will do anything the .222 Mag. can do. In comparison, the .223/5.56 is on the opposite end of the popularity scale. The mainstream ammunition makers have long since abandoned the .222 Mag. In fact, I understand Remington ran its last batch about 20 years ago. However, you can easily handload and enjoy shooting your Sako Vixen. Nosler’s website offers brass and two factory…

STARLINE HAS BEEN MAKING HANDGUN CARTRIDGE BRASS FOR nearly 45 years. The company began making rifle cases just a few years ago, and it recently added 6.5 Creedmoor cases to the product line. Star-line is the first company to offer 6.5 Creedmoor brass with either large or small primer pockets. I assembled and fired a few test loads to determine any significant difference in ballistic performance. I started with 50 pieces of brass and two brands of Large and Small Rifle primers (CCI 200 and CCI 400 and WLR and WSR). I chose a favorite handload recipe that had proven accurate in several rifles and assembled 10 rounds each with the four primers. I used a Browning X-Bolt Target rifle topped with a Meopta RX-1 4-14X 44mm optic because it’s…

WHILE I’M FOUNDATIONALLY A LEATHER BELT and holster kind of guy, I recognize that premium composites, properly molded and assembled with top-end hardware, are better for a battle rig capable of helping you protect your family and farm in desperate times. Nobody builds such systems better than High Threat Concealment (HTC). Owned by a couple of very savvy warriors with massive amounts of in-theater experience, HTC creates fighting rigs for durability, ergonomics, and relative discretion. Various systems are available, ranging from true concealment rigs to operator-level belts ready for truly desperate survival scenarios. My HTC rig is the Low Profile System ($445), which can be concealed beneath a light jacket. It’s entirely modular, and I set it up to carry my remodeled M&P9 with a SureFire X300 attached, two spare…

SAVAGE HAS JUST UNVEILED A REFRESHED VERSION of the bolt-action Model 110 series rifles that takes fit, form, and function to new heights. The updated Model 110 lineup features a fresh look and the all-new user-adjustable AccuFit system. The new AccuFit system features adjustable components that allow rifle shooters to custom-fit both the comb height and length of pull. The only tool needed is a Phillips-head screwdriver. Comb height is controlled by five riser settings, adjustable in 1/8-inch increments. Length of pull is fully adaptable to the shooter’s stature by using the four inserts included with the rifle. I got my hands on a Model 110 in .300 Winchester Magnum with the AccuFit system, and it was easy to fit the gun to my preferences. All serious riflemen know that…

ALLIANT’S RECENTLY RELEASED SPORT PISTOL POWDER MEETS THE NEEDS of sport shooting—cleanliness and versatility—with a wide range of popular pistol calibers and bullet types. Jared Hinton, communications coordinator for Alliant Powder, describes Sport Pistol as “a low nitroglycerine, double-base flake propellant. On the burn rate chart, Sport Pistol would functionally replace/overlap with American Select. Temp sensitivity can change from application to application, but Sport Pistol is extremely stable with a slight negative slope. In our most comprehensive testing, it changed less than 15 fps, between 0 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit.” Sport Pistol’s formulation has a low flash, a low burning temperature, and a chemical composition that is less likely to dissolve polymer coatings on coated lead bullets. It’s made in the USA. Sport Pistol has a bulk density of 0.69…

THE WORD “MAGNUM” IS LATIN, AND IT SIMPLY means big. A man’s “magnum opus” is his life’s major work, like Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It’s also applied to oversized bottles of champagne. Sometime after 1900, someone used it to describe a cartridge that was more powerful than a predecessor—that is, relatively big—and we progressed from there. Over the last century, the term has drifted in and out of favor. At one point, any cartridge with a belt was called a magnum; some cartridges that carried the term did not deserve it, while others that did deserve it, did not. It’s safe to say, as dawn brightens the sky of this spring of 2018, the term has become largely meaningless. One cartridge that richly deserved the name is the .44 Magnum—simply…

BY ALL ACCOUNTS, LONGHAIR JIM COURTRIGHT (1848–1887) was greased-lightning fast with his brace of Colt revolvers. He was so good with his revolvers that he taught his wife how to shoot, and together they put on public shooting exhibitions that they got paid for. They went on to perform as part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Born in Sangamon County, Illinois, and raised in Iowa, Timothy Isaiah Courtright (a.k.a Longhair Jim or Big Jim) learned to shoot as a boy on the family farm, and he was said to have practiced his shooting religiously. He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and served as an army scout under Gen. John A. Logan, reportedly taking a bullet that was intended for Logan. He grew his hair long,…