In the post-war heyday of the revolver, it was common for police and armed citizens to load a different kind of ammunition for practice than they did for duty or defense. In the police community, for example, many officers shot their training and qualifications with soft-recoiling, 148 grain, .38 Special wadcutters, and loaded more powerful .38 Special or .357 Magnum ammunition for duty, and a legion of armed citizens without badges did the same. Continue reading “Training With Light Loads”
Category: Ammunition
Sight Regulation and Point of Impact
We received a letter from a reader who was confused by the differences in point of impact for various gun and ammunition combinations. He had been doing some testing with his collection of fixed sight revolvers and was having a difficult time understanding why they were printing at different elevations, even when shooting the same ammo. Continue reading “Sight Regulation and Point of Impact”
PSA: Shooting .22 Long Rifle in .22 Magnum Cylinders
A recent article in a popular gun magazine repeated a common—but dangerous—misunderstanding, and reminded me that you can’t always believe what you read. Continue reading “PSA: Shooting .22 Long Rifle in .22 Magnum Cylinders”
SGAmmo.com: Awesome Source of Cheap Ammo
Over the past two years I’ve ordered many thousands of rounds of ammunition. An awful lot of it has come from SGAmmo.com. I didn’t find out about SGAmmo.com until Mike told me about them and I felt late to the party, so I want to spread the word to you guys. Continue reading “SGAmmo.com: Awesome Source of Cheap Ammo”
A Thought Experiment: The .25 ACP
Today I’d like to propose a thought experiment. The lowly and loathed .25 ACP is the subject of this experiment. The thoughts I am going to propose have been kicking around in my head for a while. They were brought to the surface recently by Chris Baker’s “Mouse Gun” series. Continue reading “A Thought Experiment: The .25 ACP”
The New Super Vel Super Snub .38 +P Review
If you’ve never heard of Lee Jurras, I’d be a little surprised. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I would. Lee Jurras was the father of the modern hollowpoint. Way back in 1963 he founded a company called Super Vel and began developing not only hollowpoint bullets, but also shoving them out of guns at then-unheard-of velocities. In the intervening decades we have seen all sorts of advances in hollowpoint design, but they all owe to an idea Mr. Jurras had a long time ago. Continue reading “The New Super Vel Super Snub .38 +P Review”
PSA: .40 S&W in the 10mm GP100 Revolver
Since its unexpected introduction, I’ve seen a lot of articles and video reviews of the Ruger GP100 in 10mm. I’m not going to mention any names, but many of these have casually mentioned that you can shoot .40 S&W in the 10mm GP100. A couple articles from well-respected outlets have even cited the caliber as “10mm/.40 S&W” in the specifications (Ruger’s own specifications make no such claim). Continue reading “PSA: .40 S&W in the 10mm GP100 Revolver”
Revolver Competition Gear – Competition Handgun I
If you haven’t read my AAR of Mike Seeklander’s Competition Handgun I, go check it out. I decided to cover equipment separately so as not to distract from the review of the excellent course. This post will cover the revolver competition gear used during the course. Continue reading “Revolver Competition Gear – Competition Handgun I”
Panic Now: Building An Ammo Inventory
I have always been the guy that keeps just a little ammo on hand and buys more as he shoots it. Until a couple of years ago, that is. During the last election cycle (and during most of President Obama’s administration) ammo was expensive. At times it was ridiculously expensive. Some ammo – especially defensive ammo – was extremely hard to find. This made me realize I needed to maintain a decent ammo inventory. Continue reading “Panic Now: Building An Ammo Inventory”
Ammo Evolution: .38 Special Treasury Load
When I was a young man in the 70s, my brother and I spent a lot of time on police ranges, because our dad was an officer and rangemaster for the California Highway Patrol (CHP). As “range rats” of the highest order, we gladly took care of the chores that none of the officers wanted to do, such as posting targets, policing spent brass, issuing ammunition, and so forth.
In between relays, we got to shoot a bit ourselves. Mostly it was with our .22s, but sometimes we shot our dad’s duty gun (a 6” Python) with the hot .38 Special cartridge issued by the Patrol. This cartridge, known as the “Treasury Load,” is frequently confused with the more popular “FBI Load,” and there’s a lot of misconceptions about it in the shooting world. Therefore, I thought the RevolverGuy audience might enjoy it if we explored this interesting bit of revolver history and set the record straight on it. Continue reading “Ammo Evolution: .38 Special Treasury Load”