American Handgunner July/August 1977

More documents

Recommendations

Info

THE AMERICAN% ..George E. von RosenPublisherCONTENTSFEATURESWORLD'S RICHEST HANDGUN MATCH ........................... .Massad Ayoob 18NORTH AMERICAN'S .22 MINI-REVOLVER ........................... .Chir RÃ§e 23LATEST WI LDCAT-THE .22 FLEA ................................. .Andy Barton 24INSTANT TRIGGER JOB FOR THE .45 ............................. .Terry Hudson 27CHAPMAN ON PRACTICAL PISTOLCRAFT ....................... .Ira A. Greenberg 28DAY ARMS 1500 CONVERSION .................................. .Walter Rkkell 32S&W MODEL 19 COMBAT MAGNUMGENESIS OF THE COMBAT MAGNUM ............................ .Robert J. Neal 38PEACE OFFICER'S DREAM GUN ..................................... .Bill Jordan 42LIGHT CUSTOM TOUCHES FOR THE M-19 ........................ .Massad Ayoob 46A CUSTOM GUN SHOP YOU SHOULD KNOW .......................Evan Marshall 52RELOADING THE .357 MAGNUM. ...............................George C. Nonte 54RETURN OF SUPER VEL AMMO ...................................Evan Marshall 64BOOKS FOR THE HANDGUNNER .................................. Staff Reports 68DEPARTMENTSINDUSTRY INSIDER ...Mnsad Ayoob 5 TAKING AIM .........Claud Hamilton 10THE PISTOLSMITH ......G. C. Nonte 6 HANDGUN LEATHER .....JertyAhem 12HANDGUN HUNTING ..Gq. Bredsten 8 COP TALK ........Col. Rex Applegate 14Jerome Rakusan ........................... .Editor Bill Bauer ....................... .Advertising SalesHerbert Gates .................... .Associate Editor Michele Somers .............Advertising PromotionThomas Parrett ...................Associate Editor Joan Tortorlcl ..............Advertising ProductionSydney Barker ........................ .Art Director Jane Davidson ............ .Adv. Customer ServiceBenton Covert ..................... .Art Production T. A. won Rosen .............. .Production DirectorAlbert Esklnazi ...................................................................SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE: D. Bennett, 8150 N. Central Park, Skokle, Ill. 60076 (312) 675-5611EDITORIAL OFFICES: Jerome Rakuian, 6150 N. Central Park, Skokle, Ill. 60076 (312) 675-5602NATIONAL ADV. OFFICES: 8150 N. Central Park Ave,, Skokle, Ill. 60076 (312) 675-6010WEST COAST ADV. REPS: Media Sales Aawclaf, 12121 WIlahIre Blvd., Suite 207, LosAngeles, 90026 (21 3) 826-8341.EAST COAST ADV. REPS.: BUCHMAYR ASSOCIATES, DARIEN, CONN. 06620 (203) 655-1639.Sub8cription/ClrculatlonTHE AMERICAN HANDGUNNER to published bi-monthly by Publishers' Development Corp.. 8150 N. Central Park Avenue, wle, Illinois60076. Application to mall atOOumdW rates is pending at Skokie, Ill. 80078 and at additional entry offices. SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year (6 inuel) $7.50. Single monthly copies $1 SO.clwaEOF-S: Four weeks' notice reauired on all chances. Send old address as well as new. CONTRIBUTORS submittinn nunuecriots. Dhotoaraohs ordrawingsdow1theirown rtek. Material cannot be returned unlessiccompanied by sufficient postage. PAYMENTwill bemadeat r&current~tinhof publicationmd wlll uwor mmductbn in w or ail AMERICAN Wl3QUNNER Maoa~in editions. ADVERTISING RATES IumW on muat ~roductim or urn of anyflortion ofthismagazine In any m~ner, withoutwritten permission, is prohibited.~ll rights reserved. Titleto this publication passesto subscriber only ondelivery to
HANDGUNNEWS FROM MANUFACTURERSAGNUM FORCE, the .44 to be spe-M cific, is in the news these days inNew England's "Gun Valley." Smith &Wesson's Model 29 will be sold at blackmarketprices no longer, if company execsDel Shorb and Dick McMahon and othershave their way, and it looks like they will.The company had been telling the gunwriters that they couldn't do anythingabout those dealers selling 29's for hundredsof dollars over list because of thescarcity, since the Sherman Anti-TrustAct prohibited them from squeezing offsupply to dealers who weren't cleaving tocatalogue prices. The only solution: to increaseModel 29 production, thus satisfyingthe demand from the. shooters thathad driven the price up in the first place.The company has made a productioncommitment this year: 80% more .44Magnums will roll out of Smith & Wessonin '77 then did in '76. In turn, '76 productionwas well above that of '75. It's hopedthat they'll be selling at list by the end ofthe year, everywhere in the country.Speaking of the Dirty Harry syndrome,a major factor in the Model 29 mystique,the rumor persists that in the first movie,Clint Eastwood was actually using an identical-in-appearanceModel 57 .41 Magnum,at least in some of the scenes. The29s were hard to come by even then, andaccording to the story, they couldn't getone by the time camera deadlines rolledaround; the director supposedly tookSmith execs up on the suggestion that theysubstitute a 57 until a 29 could be shippedto the producers. Whatever Clint Eastwoodsays about this anecdote, our sourceis very high up at Smith & Wesson ...'77 will supposedly see three times asmany double-action 144 Magnums as '76did. Maybe four times as many.High Standard Crusader .44 mags,we're told, should be ready for you to buyabout the time you read this, or before.DAN WESSON is ready to toss a bigfistful of chips into the .44 Magnum pot.The gun Dan plans to introduce will be, inBy MASSAD F. AYOOBAMERICAN HANDGUNNER JULY/AUGUST 1 977essence, a scaled-up version of his increasinglypopular .357. The same slick, basicaction will be there, and the same distinctivesilhouette. So will the interchangeablebarrels and grips. Many of his advisors areurging Dan to go a step further with thebigframe gun and go for a "Giant Pistol-Pac" with interchangeable calibers aswell. This would be a boon to New Yorkshooters, who are limited to a certainnumber of handguns, and could thus havean almost infinite number of centerfire revolverscharged to one serial number asone gun.Only problem is that, with present productionmethods, each cylinder wouldhave to be fitted at the factory, making foran exceedingly expensive initial purchase.Dan is mindful of the fact that, though hesells more of his regular "Pistol-Pacs".each year both numerically and proportionately,still more of his customers liketo buy one basic gun and acquire the barrelsone at a time, later.Dan is chary about predicting an introdate; he's been burned before. His .22rimfire revolver was formally announcedto the shooting media, but has since beendropped into a limbo that this writer haslearned is probably permanent.A "newie" you can count on from thismanufacturer is longer barrel options:lo", 12", and 15". They'll be available inall four of Dan's present Pacesetter configurations.(It's interesting to note that,though the gun-buyers had just startedidentifvine , " with the "Pacesetter" sobriquet,Dan is dropping the name in favorof numerical designations like "12-HV".)Rifling twist will be either one-in-sixteen,IMPROVE ACCURACY^edtm.^ddTftwy^Uf^Wtft,WILL NOT CHANGE BALLISTICSor the present one-in-eighteen and a halfinches that duplicates the Smith &Wesson in the same caliber.As awkward as it sounds, Dan assures usthat the heavy-barrel variation in fifteeninches hangs like a rock. Experimentersand .357 reloaders should love it. A 16"revolving carbine is obviously the nextstep, though Dan just smiles mysteriouslywhen you suggest it; the stubby grip frameof the DW gun does lend itself to an idealshoulder stock. . .Before we leave the Monson. Mass.gunmaker, we should note that the popularityof his guns has increased to the extentthathe & once again putting on a secondshift of production workers to meetthe demand. He did that once before, acouple of years ago when Dan WessonArms was making the High Standard SentinelMk 111 .38s and .357s on contract.Quite avart from the subseauent loss ofthe ~ i Standard ~ h contract, the problemwas that Dan had put too many new peopleon the second shift, with too littlesupervision from the experienced gunmakerson the personnel roster. WhenDan talks about putting on the secondshift again because of increased marketdemand, we're not worried about it. Betweenhis hard-learned experience, andthe management talents of Dick Rosenfeld,the latest up-step in the company'svroduction should be fruitful . . .This column has mentioned the secondgeneration SMITH & WESSON 9 mm.autos more than once. Latest word is thatthe project is still in the plateau phase,and nobody's saying when it will reach climax.The ambidextrous safety has beenrelegated to "sometime." The fully adjustablesight really is in a fairly advancedstage of development, but is being heldpending redesign; it seems that extendedtests showed it lacked the durability tokeep its adjustments with a continuousdiet of full charge ammo. Our sources inthe field, who tested the prototypes, gaveS&W some specs that may fill the bill.More honest answers from SMITH &WESSON: Police Combat shooters canforget about that bull-barrel K-38 that hasbeen the subject of wildfire rumors inPPC circles. The popular NRA Distinguishedmatch demands a strictly-productionpolice revolver, and if S&W were toproduce a gun like the custom heavy-barre1jobs sanctioned by NRA for regulationPPC shooting, it would have been a boon.But demand is just too small to warrantthe company's commitment to the necessarylevel of production. Colt was able to
Page 2 and 3: a great designUnique, exclusive QUI
Page 6 and 7: comply with the PPC shooters' deman
Page 8 and 9: QUESTION people as to the effective
Page 10 and 11: .- . . , .. , - ..DESIGNsERRORSome
Page 12 and 13: number of emergency situations. Thi
Page 14 and 15: GLASER SAFETY SLUG POLICE-ONLY MANS
Page 16 and 17: was not unexpected the powerful .44
Page 18 and 19: The National Shooters League's Seco
Page 20 and 21: 3&
Page 22 and 23: Vince there's no time to change you
Page 24 and 25: -NOW HANDGUNNERS WHO HANDLOAD CAN P
Page 26 and 27: LOAD DATA FOR THE .22 FLEALeft: An
Page 28 and 29: By IRA A. GREENBERGPhotos by Mil Bl
Page 30 and 31: game and the field conditions. He s
Page 32 and 33: By WALTER L. RICKELLHE PPC (Practic
Page 34 and 35: usingthe Second Six loader, and ins
Page 36 and 37: Handgun Profile:AMODEL 19COMBAT MAG
Page 38 and 39: wslon, the Model 66 stainless. Phot
Page 40 and 41: K-22-thus all three calibers would
Page 42 and 43: S B W MODEL 19"The Peace Officer's
Page 44 and 45: wadcutters, with heavy load firing
Page 46 and 47: USE THE-- -out the left side of the
Page 48 and 49: Ibe great for anything else. Of cou
Page 50 and 51: mat's New. 7 Due CHANGE to the incr
Page 52 and 53: Where our readers and writers tell
Page 54 and 55:
PERFORMANCE TIPS FORTHE MID-SIZE MA
Page 56 and 57:
duce accuracy.The use of .38 Specia
Page 58 and 59:
'RELOADING THE .357 MAGNUMalways se
Page 60 and 61:
CHAPMAN ON PRACTICAL PISTOLCRAFTsho
Page 62 and 63:
as 'well as the position you will a
Page 64 and 65:
PRECISIONEUROPEANPELLET AIRRIFLESPI
Page 66 and 67:
DIXIEItemsforWORLD'S LARGESTNUZZLEL
Page 68 and 69:
Books of Interest to HandgunnersHAN
Page 70:
'. ,THE HANDGUN MARKETClassified ad
show all

American Handgunner July/August 1977

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?