The Ruger Blackhawk

The Ruger Blackhawk was the gun that reintroduced single action revolvers to the shooting public. Sure, Colt had periodically made their Single Action Army on and off since it was introduced in the late 19th Century, but the Ruger was the first modern single action- though that does sound like a bit of a contradiction.Single actions seem like a curious affectation to many; why not buy a double action revolver? After all, you can still fire it single action, if you like. But a single action is a simpler design, with a lot less to go wrong. And it's a connection with history.

My first single action Ruger was their percussion version, the Old Army, in stainless steel. I bought it in stainless as I figured it would be a lot easier to maintain, and it was; just pop off the grips and put it in the dishwasher. (Seriously!) But in stainless it just didn't look right. I know stainless steel guns are more practical, and increasing in popularity, but I like blued guns- particularly when it comes to classic designs.

I'd sold the Smith and Wesson 442 that I wrote about previously which left me with a lot of .38 special cartridges and reloading components and no way to shoot them. I could have sold them as well, but the .38 and its big brother the .357 are just about the most versatile cartridges out there. You can buy one gun that shoots both, and buy or load ammunition ranging from mild wadcutter target loads up to heavy  magnum loads suitable for hunting deer and large razorbacks. 

A few weeks after selling the 442 I visited a small mom-and-pop gun shop to look at a single-shot Anschutz rifle (more on that later) when I spotted a Blackhawk in .357 with a 6.5" barrel. To me, this is just about the perfect length; long enough for good accuracy and reduced muzzle blast, and still short enough to carry in a holster afield.  Sure, you can't do quick draws the way you can with a 4" barrel, but I'm not into Cowboy Action shooting.

I spent some time checking the gun out. It showed signs of use, but no dings or other obvious damage. Bore and cylinder? Clean, no signs of erosion. No gas cutting in the backstrap. Cylinder didn't wobble when turned. Locked up solid when the gate was shut. We negotiated a bit on price and came to a mutually agreed upon figure.

So far I've only had it to the indoor 50' range, where it did a fine job grouping the commercial Winchester white Box .38 Specials and the old .38 wadcutter handloads I had on hand. I'm anxious to take it outdoors when it warms up, and see how it does at 50 yards shooting off a rest. Might even take it deer hunting one day.

Spanish Side by Side Doubles

If you've always admired the beautiful English double guns, but can't budget the $25,000 or more that even the plainest of these costs, you might want to look at a Spanish gun- an engraved gun like this AyA sidelock 20 gauge can often be found for as little as $4,000, and plainer box locks for even less. The gun pictured belongs to a friend of mine, who sold me his previous gun 15 years ago when he found this gun fit him better.

  

I think he paid about $3,000 at the time, which is certainly a bargain for a hand fitted, hand engraved gun in a custom fitted leather case. But there are a still lot of deal out there to be had. 

Light doubles are just about perfect for upland game hunting, which is what we mainly do around here. Barrels are chocked open and improved cylinder, which makes them perfect for 10-30 yard shots (though I've dropped birds at 40). The short swing length and light weight  make it easy to bring the gun up quickly at a fast moving pheasant or partridge. Light loads are the rule- 3/4 or 7/8oz of plated #6 pellets in a 20 is the perfect load for pheasant at close range.

If you're not pass shooting at ducks and geese there's little reason to carry a heavy auto or pump loaded with 12ga 2-3/4" or 3" magnums. You may have read that British shooters typically use 12 gauge guns for upland shooting, and that's true, but many of those guns- particularly the older ones- have 2-1/2" chambers and are loaded to 1oz or less; their upland 12ga. loads are pretty close to our 20ga. loads.

Airguns for Pistol Practice

I'm a great proponent of airguns- not just for simulated firearms practice, but for shooting in their own right. I shot Airgun Field Target for several years,  I have an airgun blog, and I use air rifles for small game hunting. The gun shown above, though, I bought specifically for firearms simulation and training. It's a Makarov replica, and it's very close in size, design, and weight to the actual gun.

This is the second version of the Makarov BB pistol made. The first was made in the same Russian factory that produced the Makarovs, and was dreamed up as a way to use up the surplus frames and other parts after production of the pistol was discontinued. It was not a cheap gun, selling for over $100, but it was probably the best BB pistol ever made. It was so much like the firearm version that the BATF decided it could be converted into an actual pistol without too much effort (though I don't know that this ever actually happened)  and so after two years of production it was banned. If you can find one, expect to pay at least $200 for it.

The Umarex-made Makarov CO2 BB Pistol air pistol replica seen above sells for a more reasonable $59, and has a working slide and safety lever that closely mimics the functioning of the firearm. Pulling back the slide cocks the hammer, and the safety locks the gun so it can't be fired or cocked. BBs load via a magazine that slides into the grip, just like a magazine on the real gun. If the hammer isn't cocked, it fired with a realistic double-action trigger pull.

If you're just getting started with pistols, or introducing a family member to shooting, something like this is a good way to teach safe gun handling at home, with low risk of injury. Eye protection and a good backstop are still necessary, of course.

The Smith & Wesson 442 Airweight .38spl Revolver

I bought this gun on the advice of a friend in the local big city PD. He's carried a similar gun when off duty for decades, as have many of his fellow officers- the .38 Special snub-nosed revolver is a style that goes back to at least 1927 with the appearance of the first Colt Detective Special.

The .38 Special is a cartridge that goes back to black powder days, having been introduced as an improved version of the US Military's standard sidearm, the .38 Long Colt, in 1899.  The .38 special was simply a lengthened version of the .38 Colt case, much as the .357 magnum is a lengthened .38 Special.  (The Special case was lengthened to increase powder capacity, whereas the .357 case was lengthened to prevent higher-pressure .357 loads from being inserted in guns designed for the low pressure .38 special.) Within a year smokeless powder versions were introduced, and the modern .38 Special has been with us since- 112 years this year.

Few handgun cartridges have withstood that test of time. The .25ACP,  .32ACP,  .44 special,  .45ACP  and .45 Colt come to mind, and of these, only the .45 Colt is older, having been launched in 1872. Most of these older handgun cartridges are considered somewhat marginal for their original use by modern standards. The .45 Colt is popular with Cowboy Action shooters, and some hunters, and the .32ACP is making a bit of a comeback with its use in ultra-compact automatics, but the .38 special is far and away the most popular of these by far. It's used by hunters, target shooters, police officers, security personnel and homeowners. For many decades it was the standard sidearm for police officers in the US. You can buy loadings that range from mild target wadcutters up through 1400 fps +P defensive rounds. It can be handloaded with bullets ranging from 85-175 grains, and it's one of the few handgun calibers for which shotshells are commonly available.

Even though it's no longer the standard police sidearm cartridge it once was (most departments having switched to automatics) it's still popular as a backup gun in the form you see above- the compact "snub-nosed" revolver. Easily concealed, and having about as fail-safe a design as any ever made, the revolver is still the most reliable repeating arm ever made. Pull the trigger, and it goes bang.  If it doesn't, pull the trigger again, and a fresh cartridge is moved into position.

Short barreled guns like the 442 above give up a lot of power and accuracy in return for their compact size; you lose 30-40% of muzzle energy compared to the same cartridge in a 4" barrel. A load that would deliver 300 foot-pounds of muzzle energy in a 4-6" barrel will only produce 200 foot-pounds from a 2" barrel, which brings it down to the level of a .380ACP fired from a 3.75" barrel- or a .22 magnum fired from an 18" rifle barrel.

Fixed sights and a very short sight radius means that this is a close-up gun, but that's what these guns are designed for. The shrouded hammer insures that it won't snag being pulled from a pocket. The light weight (14oz) makes it that much more comfortable to carry, but again, there's a tradeoff: Recoil in a 14 ounce gun is going to be twice as nasty as the same load in a 28 ounce service revolver. This is the least comfortable to shoot handgun I've ever owned, and that includes a Dan Wesson .44 mag I had in the 1980s. Even the 148gr target loads (swaged wadcutter over 2.7gr Bullseye) I made up were uncomfortable, and a lot of the bullets were keyholing downrange.. The most comfortable (if you can call it that) load I tried was the 110gr +P Hornady "Critical Defense" load, probably because a lot of the powder was still burning when it left the gun.

This isn't a gun you shoot every day, of course, but like any gun you want to rely on, you need to shoot it often enough to be both familiar and reasonably accurate with. For me, no gun is interesting unless it's both accurate and enjoyable to shoot- so this one is probably going up for sale soon.

UPDATE: I took it back to the store where's I'd bought it, to see if they'd consign it for me. No, but they offered to  buy it for less than half of what they sold it to me for. Uh, thanks just the same. I took it to Cabelas, where they gave me a very fair price.