Les Jones

Guns > Thursday Gun Links #16

Administrative note: Melissa and I are leaving for vacation. SayUncle has kindly agreed to write next week's gun links. I'll start writing them again May 27th.

When ESPN planned their Great Outdoor Games in Madison, Wisconsin they had no idea the trouble some gunphobes would cause over the shooting events. Jed at Boots and Sabers has the details.

Information is leaking out about the Thunder Ranch edition of Smith &Wesson's Model 21 in .44 Special.

Ravenwood says that many of us have what it takes to be a terrorist according to the media, but it's a pretty low threshold. If you have a brick and some fertilizer, you're halfway there according to the reporter.

Jeff has the weekly check on anti-gun bias.

Pho3nix has some helpful pages for owners of the Kel-Tec P32, Beretta Neos, and Walther P22, including fixes for problems with early P22s. I tested an early P22 and described the problems here. That post has attracted more comments than anything else on my blog.

The De Lisle Silent Carbine

Probert Encyclopedia has a section on warfare that's a fair reference on firearms. There are some good pics, at least. Here's the entry for the De Lisle silenced carbine:

The De Lisle was a British bolt action silenced carbine of the Second World War made by Sterling from 1942 to 1945. It was chambered for the American .45 ACP cartridge and took an eight round magazine. Two versions were made, one with a fixed but and one with a folding metal butt.

That's OK as far as it goes, but it fails to mention the Frankengun aspect of the carbine. Made with all due haste during World War II, the De Lisle uses a British Lee-Enfield bolt action, a Thompson .45 ACP submachine gun barrel, and a Colt 1911 .45 ACP magazine. The .45 pistol cartridge was chosen over a rifle cartridge because the pistol round is subsonic, and doesn't create the "crack" of a rifle cartridge that breaks the sound barrier. The carbine was manufactured at the Royal Small Arms Factory in England. (Source: The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Firearms by Ian V. Hogg.)

Kim du Toit's Gun Survey

Kim is having another mental exercise: if you could only own one handgun and one rifle for the rest of your life, what would they be? This is a tough one. Here are the conditions:

(Parameters: Assume that both concealed- and open carry are legal where you live. Also, disregard all thoughts of "the gummint" saying you can only own one -- for whatever reason, poverty, spousal insistence, whatever, you can only own one handgun. Pick one that works for where you live, of course: if you live in the city, you may not want a Ruger .44 Blackhawk, but if you live in the country, that may be the perfect gun for you. Also, this could be a gun you don't currently own. Assume that ammo and spare parts would always be available.)

Here are my choices, Boone County's choices, and SayUncle's choices.

Buying Guns from GunBroker

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I bought a gun via GunBroker. It's essentially eBay for guns. Most auction sites in the late '90s were out-competed by eBay, but eBay doesn't allow gun sales, so there was an open niche, and GunBroker filled it.

For the most part GunBroker works just like eBay. There's a pretty good search function, watch lists, and ratings of buyers and sellers.

One good GunBroker feature is their 15 Minute Rule. If someone makes a bid less than 15 minutes before the end of the auction, the auction is automatically extended 15 minutes to prevent last-second sniping. I'd like to see eBay copy this feature from GunBroker.

With any online auction, there's a possibility of fraud or mis-representation. MadOgre has indicated he's been ripped off in the past.

Before buying, check the seller's feedback. The seller in this case had been selling for several years, and had positive feedback for all seven of his sales. I verified his phone number using Yahoo! Yellow Pages before the sale, and contacted him to asked questions that could only be answered by someone in possession of the gun. In my case, I asked him for the model and dash number under the cylinder crane. You could also ask for the serial number.

GunBroker includes a field where the seller can indicate the condition of the gun using the standard NRA grades: new, excellent, fine, etc. Note that the NRA grades were developed for antique firearms. "Excellent" means 80% or more of the finish is left, which leaves room for a lot of guns with bad finishes.

Update on the 686 I bought on GunBroker

I've wanted a Smith &Wesson 686 for about a year, but I've been patient. I had seen a lot come and go, and noticed that the tricked-out competition guns with custom features and accessories sold for about the same as standard 686s. For instance, here's a current GunsAmerica ad for a 686 with a red dot scope and mount for $399, and you could probably talk him down on the price. There's also this sweet 8" 686 Silhouette model with interchangeable sights for $475 on Smith &Wesson Forum. It's been up for a week, so the seller is probably ready to haggle.

This is the one I bought. As soon as I unpacked the gun, I followed this advice for checking used revolvers. Timing and lockup were perfect, and there was no push off from an over-tuned trigger pull.

The Pachmyr Bill Jordan grips facilitate a high grip that reduces muzzle flip, but I plan on replacing them. They're too slick, slightly too big, and because they cover the backstrap they make the trigger reach a little too long. I prefer the Hogue rubber Monogrips with their exposed backstrap.

The action on this gun is very smooth. Lynn Patton in Dallas did the action and trigger work, and the owner did the chamfering and coning. Measured on a Lyman digital trigger gauge, the trigger breaks at 9 lbs, 3 oz double action (average of five pulls). Single action measured 5 lbs, 6 oz, but I think the trigger stop must be causing it to read high, because it feels much, much lighter. (LATER: I removed the trigger stop, and the pull weighed 2 pounds, 9 ounces.) The custom holster is as nice as it looked in the picture, with no scuffs. I hope to shoot some competitive matches this summer.

Gun Pic of the Week

From John of Argghhh!!!:

Posted by lesjones