Community Stories

So... any of our members here have an interest in firearms?

Wryfox
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Professor Professor
I'm more into airguns these days, more of a challenge.

I have dabbled with airguns, mostly cause here in US you can use non taxed silencers on them as they are not firearms,...its always fun to legally thumb one's nose at the gov't once and a while. One rifle has it built in and is pretty quiet. Many think "oh its an airgun..there's no noise" well if you shooting in your garage at 1100fps+, its pretty damn loud...in fact you need hearing protection.

I've got an RWS/Diana 350 Magnum (fancy name, eh?) that is VERY zippy and one hole accurate at 10m. Have just enough room in the garage for that.
RWS Magnum 350 177cal -1.jpg


Have a BUNCH of black powder stuff too but never seem to find the time to dig in and play around with those dirty old beasts.
 
Professor
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The term silencer was used by the inventor and everyone else in the day.
In the UK they used to call engine exhaust mufflers silencers. Same principle.

A truly effective Maxim type silencer with end wipe mounted on a .22 handgun firing .22 short or subsonic long rifle cartridges is so quiet the only sound you'll hear is the action cycling and ejected empties hitting the ground. A Ruger auto pistol in .22 sounds like a cat sneezing.
I've heard the pew sound at times, not from the shot but from gas slowly making its way past the end wipe after the shot. Sometimes if the wipes are still sealing as new its a sizzling sound.

When supersonic ammunition is used the best you can expect is to suppress the muzzle blast.
 
TsoloT
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45 ACP in a accurised 1911 185grn bullet Remington primer plus bullseye powder 12 shots
 
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Professor
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Excellent shooting.
My old Remington Rand 1911A1 was nearly as accurate when using the copper coated Remington 185 gr flat point target loads. These had nickle plated cases for better extraction.
 
TsoloT
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Remington made an excellent 1911 in fact they were quite desirable as I remember and of course their target loads were capable of sub 1 inch groups at 25yds

The colt gold cup which was created to satisfy the demand of the USA center fire compeditors was often no better than the out of the box Remington
I think the Springfield armoury s offering was also pretty good and was often the choice of the customising crowd
 
Professor
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TsoloT TsoloT
Remington made an excellent 1911 in fact they were quite desirable as I remember and of course their target loads were capable of sub 1 inch groups at 25yds

The colt gold cup which was created to satisfy the demand of the USA center fire compeditors was often no better than the out of the box Remington
I think the Springfield armoury s offering was also pretty good and was often the choice of the customising crowd

The Remington Rand I owned was a WW2 manufacture gun made by the Remington Rand typewriter company not the Remington firearms company. They had never made firearms before. The first run had parts interchangeability problems so most were carefully hand fitted, and are considered the best of the military 1911 pistols. Unfortunately if one needed replacement parts the standard parts often would not fit without alterations.
 
Professor
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I think it was Ian Hogg who wrote that the Garand has the robust lines of a Locomotive.
 
RC03
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Nice Garand! That's on my bucket list too.

Currently I have a Rem 700 SPS in .308, a S&W Model 29 .44 (Make my day) and a WWII Kar98k that was taken/purchased/etc by the Israelis and rechambered/barrelled in 7.62/.308 after the war.
 
Waltesefalcon
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Because I don't like using a WWI era 1911 as my winter EDC I just picked up a late 80s Colt Delta Elite.
 
pixnw
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Interesting reading the early messages on suppressors in this thread. They are very much legal in many parts of the US. I own several. I'm a serious gun enthusiast. My son and I both shoot competitively, build guns, do gunsmith work, reload, etc. Our gun safe is a 400 square foot walk in. The 2nd Amendment is alive and well in our home. Some of the watches get locked with some of the guns.
 
voere
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noelekal noelekal
Just sharing. Placed this on another forum and will put it here as well.



Spent a couple of hours at the club range happily verifying the sights on the Winchester Model 94 Carbine in .32 Winchester Special made in 1941, probably on the eve of Pearl Harbor. Depending on hunting opportunities, a deer or a hog might appear in front of the sights of the rifle sometime this season.

I've scarcely ever needed to handload for this rifle as the .32 Winchester Special apparently is a lucky cartridge for me and supplies of factory ammunition turn up more frequently than I have need of them. I've only ever loaded a single box of 100 Hornady 170 grain component bullets and shot them through the rifle. I still have some boxes of factory Winchester ammunition on hand purchased years ago. A couple months ago a nice fellow at church asked me if I wanted six boxes of factory .32 Winchester Special he'd found in some of his dad's stuff. Well, of course!


Light played tricks with bright sun and cloud cover alternately. I always feel I do my best work with open sights in cloudy conditions. Anyway, the variable light looked like a fine place to find an excuse for shabby shooting to me. Light can influence one's perception when sighting with open sights. Since the rifle was fired from a bench rest under an awning and the front sight is hooded, this excuse might be a bit lame.


Last time I had the rifle out to the range was several years ago and it shot high. At the time I had adjusted the rear sight and figured the rifle remained sighted in.

First five-shot group off the bench at 100 yards today found the rifle shooting high yet again. There was only one more notch at the bottom the elevator of the Winchester's rear sight so the sight was lowered.


Fired a couple which landed pleasingly close together but were disappointingly low so the elevator was moved back and we were back to where we started. Fired three more rounds.



Shot a second 5-shot group on the same target. What's that round "off toward Joneses'" up there in that 7 ring? The other four shot were acceptable.

Best group of the day. An inch and 3/4, it's probably the best group ever shot with this rifle. This one seemed so nice that it had to be accidental. The last shot fired in this group felt as if I'd badly blown it to the right. Perhaps there was a mitigating flinch. This group was shot prior to fooling with the sights.


A more typical Winchester 94 Carbine 5-shot group at 100 yards from the bench for me. The shot into the orange center makes the group 2 7/8 inches.


The rear sight probably could use a bump to the right. I don't know if I'll bother going back to the range before hunting season to give it a bump or not.

Even the Winchester 94 benefits from careful shooting attention at the bench rest.

Fired off two boxes of ammunition this afternoon, thoroughly enjoying the purposeful report and nudging recoil from the Winchester 94 Carbine.

I see we have the same tastes in firearms. The Winchesters made for the civilian market during the war years are the closest to a hand fitted rifle you will find. During the war years the production was dedicated to making military firearms,. gunsmiths at Winchester had to use parts that were discarded from prior years assembly lines.

They were parts that were not just drop in parts. The parts needed work to make them fit properly. The parts required hand fitting. These 94's built during the war years are great rifles with very slick actions and sweet triggers.
I have a couple of them the 32 Win Spl is a great round

A friend of mine was a gunsmith at Winchester during that time period he shared the tidbit of information with me many years ago, And since then I always kept an eye out for these war year production M94's.
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Professor
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Best explanation I've read of why Winchester chose to create the .32 Special which is so close to the .30-30 and has a very slow rate of twist was that a number of Model 92 .30-30 owners had managed to blow up their rifles experimenting with smokeless powder handloads, few powder makers of the time having gotten the consistency from lot to lot down pat. The .32 special allowed the Model 94 owner to use either smokeless powder factory loads, which were perfectly safe, or to handload using Black Powder and lead bullets intended for the .32-40 cartridge.

If you are interested W W Greener wrote quite a bit on inconsistent smokeless powders and the degradation of such powders which destroyed many fine rifles and shotguns of his day.

PS
I was hesitant to list my firearms earlier, but heres a partial list, only my best.
A 1915 Enfield Lock with PH5A six apeture sun shade sight I have yet to mount.
A FN 1922 low numbered early Yugoslav contract 9mm Kurtz.
A S&W early production Model 59.
A 1920's S&W "I" Frame .32 Handejector.
A 1920's era Savage Model 23B .25-20 bolt action in excellent mechanical condition with perfect bore.
I have others but they are more or less generic, nothing to brag about.

Ones that got away from me over the years.
A Krag .30-40 calvary carbine. The sound you hear is me kicking myself for the thousandth time for trading it off.
A pre WW2 .38 Officers model target with US Army inspectors GHD cartouche.
The Remington Rand 1911A1 I mentioned earlier.
Model 12 Winchester in the uncommon 16 gauge, takedown model.
Blank Firing Japanese drill rifle.

I've basically lost interest in shooting these days, other than occasional airgun practice. I was always more interested in the mechanisms of fine firearms more than in firing them.
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Wryfox
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pixnw pixnw
Our gun safe is a 400 square foot walk in.

That's my dream! If only my wife would let me use the guest bedroom......who needs guests? I've got all the friends I need, and they won't mind sleeping on the floor when I have a safe like that to play around in.👍
 
Professor
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Nice single actions.
I do have a nice replica 1851 Navy. haven't taken it out for so long I'd forgotten it completely.
My brother had a original 1854 manufacture 1851 that was dug up in a farmers field in the mid 20th century, still in firing condition though a bit worse for its years underground. His son should still have it.
 
Waltesefalcon
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Professor, that is a great story about the original 1851. I try and keep my eyes open for an original cap and ball revolver but so far I haven't been willing to pay what folks are asking.
I really enjoy shooting black powder. Full disclosure on my SAA; it is an Uberti, the grips came with the medallions and I just left them in. The Remington is a Pietta and the Walker is an Armi San Marco.
 
Professor
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You'd have really liked the battlefield pick up Nazi acceptance marked FN P-35 I had here some years ago. A friend found it while clearing up his father in law's home after he died.
The finish was a bit worse for wear and weathered but the gun was still functional.
Despite its collectability I didn't much like having it in the house. When I read of a bronze plaque in the FN company parking lot telling of more than two dozen Employees lined up and executed by the NAZIs because they refused to make weapons for them that decided me.
 
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