Table of contents for June 2018 in Shooting Times

GREAT ARTICLE ON THE SIG P238 IN THE DECEMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018 issue. I have the Equinox and the Nitron versions of the pistol, which I purchased secondhand, and they both work as indicated in the article. I also have the Scorpion version of the P238 that I bought new. It had a break-in period of about a hundred rounds before it would feed reliably—at least one doublefeed or other stoppage per mag until I reached the 100-round mark. Now it is as reliable as the other two. I contacted SIG about this and was told a break-in period was normal for the P238 and that what I experienced was not uncommon. As for the ejector, you have to be really careful with its positioning when you reassemble the pistol or…

ACCORDING TO THE CURRENT OWNER OF THE NICE side-by-side hammer gun shown here (Kirk Merrington, who specializes in working on vintage British guns), gunmaker Lincoln Jeffries of Birmingham, England, built it sometime between 1898 and 1915. It displays several interesting—although not uncommon—features. For instance, it’s a hammer gun, even though hammerless actions had been perfected several decades before. This gun was built during what was perhaps the most fascinating period of gunmaking history. For those who want to learn more about this period, Terry Wieland’s excellent book Vintage British Shotguns—which I’ve drawn on heavily for this column—is an excellent reference on the subject. This was the golden age of handmade firearms, a time when the art deco movement spurred refined aesthetics in every aspect of life, including hunting tools. The…

SCATTERGUNNERS WERE NOT NEGLECTED AT at this year’s SHOT Show extravaganza—new smoothbores of all shapes and descriptions were on display. Several unique tactical and home-defense configurations were revealed, but traditional hunting guns predominated. But really, there is a new shotgun for just about every taste. Here’s a quick look at the coolest new shotguns. A ATA Arms SP and Neo ATA Arms shotguns have been made in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1967, and select models are now being imported by European American Armory (EAA). New for 2018 is the 12-gauge SP over-under, with 28- and 30-inch barrels, that weighs from 7 to 7.2 pounds. The SP has a steel receiver, single selective trigger, and automatic ejectors. The stock and forearm are of Turkish walnut or Sport Black synthetic. Price: $510 to…

THE NEW TRI MODULAR PRISM RIFLESCOPE (T.M.P.R.) FROM BURRIS IS A compact prism sight that offers fast target acquisition, a large field of view, and trajectory compensation out to 600 yards. The compact prism sight seamlessly mates with the T.M.P.R. FastFire M3 and the T.M.P.R. Laser Sight to create an optimal rifle sight system. The T.M.P.R. Prism Sight is available in two models with either 3X magnification or 5X magnification, and both come standard with an illuminated ballistic AR reticle. The circular reticle has seven illumination levels with three colored reticle options (red, green, and blue). It is night vision compatible. Power is provided by one CR123 battery. The modular T.M.P.R. System includes the T.M.P.R. FastFire M3 and the T.M.P.R. Laser Sight. The T.M.P.R. components easily attach on the top,…

THE MAJOR GUNMAKERS EMPLOYED SHARP- shooters for marketing purposes during the hey-day of exhibition shooting. One of those extraordinary shooters was Ken Beegle. Ken and his wife, Blanche, performed shooting shows all over the United States, primarily for Remington. Ken was best known for his bullet portraits, which he “drew” using a .22 rimfire rifle. I have one. Being born in 1960, I never saw Ken perform in person; however, I have watched a video clip of him on Fast and Fancy Shooters , a DVD I purchased years ago. Ken started exhibition shooting in 1925 and carried on for 35 years, retiring in 1960. He was an expert with rifles and shotguns. He taught Blanche to shoot, and she joined him in his shooting shows, often doing some shooting…

REMINGTON HAS A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL HISTORY of bringing popular wildcat cartridges to “standard cartridge” status by locking in dimensions and pressure and velocity assignments, standardizing names, and submitting to SAAMI. One of these is a premier varmint cartridge: the .22-250 Remington. As the name implies, this is the .250 Savage case necked down to hold .22-caliber bullets. In its commercial incarnation, the .22-250 shares almost every dimension with its wildcat parent except for an almost imperceptible 1.5-degree difference in shoulder angle. It is an elegantly simple conversion. The history of this cartridge in its wildcat days is cluttered with conflicting information. Many experimenters in those days were working with the .250 Savage case. Some of the best information I found is almost contemporaneous to the cartridge. Phillip B. Sharpe’s…

THE PAST YEAR HAS BEEN TUMULTUOUS, WITH UPS AND DOWNS across many business segments. While the general economy is booming, the gun industry traditionally “lags behind” in both upturns and downturns. Thus, while the new wares introduced for 2018 are somewhat restrained, there is nonetheless plenty of new iron to tempt those of us who worship at the altar of the rifled steel tube. The ascendancy of “long-range” and “chassis” rifles continues. Just about every manufacturer offers some variation on this theme: bolt actions that look like ARs are heavy enough to be a boat anchor with barrels as long as tomato stakes. And if it isn’t chambered for the 6.5 Creedmoor, well, it just isn’t hip. Here is a brief compilation of new rifles for 2018. A Brownells BRN-10…

I NEED SOME HELP CLARIFYING INFORMATION WHEN USING BULLETS Q: where the manufacturers do not list load data. I am currently looking for a .45 Colt “cowboy” load to use in my replica firearms: a Ruger Vaquero and a Cimarron Schofield. The bullet I am using is the Xtreme .45-caliber (0.451) 255-grain copper pointed flatpoint. I would like to use Alliant Red Dot powder as I have a lot of it, but I also have Unique and several others. Xtreme, like many bullet manufacturers of cast lead and copper-plated bullets, does not publish load data for its specific bullets. We handloaders have to rely on the major manufacturers’ load manuals and hope they have a similar bullet style and weight or go to the Internet and hope what you find…

UNTIL RECENTLY, FEDERAL SPORADICALLY HAS offered a few popular-caliber cartridge cases but never any factory bullets for reloading. Only Federal primers were routinely offered as a reloading component. However, with ammo sales declining, Federal has adopted a more accommodating attitude towards the hobbyist handloader. Federal introduced Syntech range ammunition and Trophy Bonded Tip hunting ammunition a couple of years ago. Not too long ago, the company announced several new Federal-branded reloading components, including TSJ pistol and TBT rifle bullets. I recently received samples of both to test and evaluate. Syntech TSJ Bullets As you can see in the photo, the pistol rounds resemble miniature, bright red lipstick. The proprietary polymer coating replaces the typical gilding metal jacket used to isolate the bullet’s lead core from the barrel rifling and burning…

T’S A GREAT YEAR TO BE A HANDGUN GUY. THE SUPERB VARIATIONS of pistols submitted for the military’s recent MHS (modular handgun system) competition are still trickling into the civilian market, and they exhibit cutting-edge features and space-age manufacturing. Plus, since 2017 firearm sales were modest in the complacent aftermath of the 2016 election, companies are innovating aggressively in order to drive sales. Trends indicate that 2018 is the year of the 10mm cartridge and the AR-15 pistol. Never in my memory has the powerful pistol cartridge been so popular, and never have AR-15 handguns been so popular and prolific. In fact, so many interesting products vie for inclusion that space is tight. Here is the lowdown on what I think are the most interesting new handgun introductions of 2018.…

CURRENTLY, THE SIG SAUER P320 IS BEST KNOWN FOR TWO THINGS. First a P320 variant dubbed the M17 won the incredibly prestigious U.S. military Modular Handgun System (MHS) contract. Second, it recently went through a social media blitz when an independent tester discovered that under certain conditions the pistol could discharge when dropped. Like handguns by Glock Smith & Wesson FN, and others, the P320 passed standardized drop protocols which designate height and angle of drop tests as well as impact surface The tests that the P320 failed were non-protocol drops of increased heights and from improvised angles. Interestingly, when the drop test incident came to light, SIG was already rolling out a new lighter-weight trigger improvement and while it wasn t actually engineered to correct drop test anomalies it…

SMITH & WESSON HAS TURNED ITS M&P LINE INTO AN ENTIRE BRAND OF its own. Of course, there are the familiar M&P handguns, which started way back in 1899 with the .38 Military & Police double-action revolver and now includes several semiautomatic pistols and AR-style rifles and carbines, but now the brand also includes all sorts of gear. There are M&P gun cases, cleaning kits, shooting glasses, shooting mats, and knives. And there are also several M&P flashlights. The new M&P rechargeable flashlights feature top-of-the-line CREE LED lights, and they deliver from 1,045 lumens up to 10,000 lumens depending on the model. All M&P rechargeable flashlights use a rechargeable battery and USB to Micro USB charging cord to quickly recharge at home or on the go. The flashlights feature a…

THE ANNUAL PARADE OF NEW PRODUCTS AT THE SHOT Show is now a deluge, so overwhelming that no one can possibly take in everything, much less evaluate it all. And anyway, in my lifetime with guns, there are still many old but fascinating artifacts I have not yet worked with. One such is the Hammerli free pistol. The Olympic free pistol is the one modern firearm that can claim direct descent from the dueling pistols of the 18th century. Those were single-shot muzzleloaders, exquisitely crafted to deliver the ultimate in reliability, made in matched pairs, and fitted with hair triggers. Among others, the Manton brothers of London made dueling pistols, and this led indirectly to the English “best” shotgun. Dueling survived on the Continent long after it declined in England.…