Filed under: Ballistics, Guns, RKBA | Tags: .25 ACP, ammo, ammunition, ballistics, BBTI, Beretta, Bernadelli, Brass Fetcher, cartridges, data, Discussion., firearms, guns
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
Last year Buffalo Bore came out with two loadings of what they called HEAVY 25 ACP Pistol and Handgun Ammo, saying that it was standard pressure but heavy-for-caliber and which met the FBI penetration criteria. We got some, and decided to do an informal test recently to see if it performed as promised.
[The entire post can be found here.]
Filed under: Ballistics, Failure, Guns, tech | Tags: .32 ACP, .32 H&R, .327 Magnum, ammo, ammunition, ballistics, BBTI, blogging, Buffalo Bore, cartridges, data, Discussion., failure to feed, firearms, guns, jim downey, Revolver, technology
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
I’m not a fan of the .32acp for self-defense. But the .32 H&R mag or the .327 Federal mag are both respectable options, even out of a short barrel revolver. Since the 100gr Buffalo Bore Heavy 32 H&R Magnum +P ammo load wasn’t available when we did the .32 H&R tests, we weren’t sure how it would perform. And we decided to do some informal testing to find out, learning another lesson in the process that I thought I’d share.
[The entire post can be found here.]
Jim Downey
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 9mm, ammo, ammunition, ballistics, BBTI, blogging, Discussion., firearms, guns, jim downey, technology
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
Sometimes, smaller *is* better:
Yup, that’s the new Smith & Wesson M&P FPC (Folding Pistol Carbine), which I got to shoot recently.
[The entire post can be found here.]
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Ballistics, Connections, Guns, tech | Tags: .40 S&W, ammo, ammunition, ballistics, BBTI, black powder, blogging, Discussion., firearms, guns, Hand Gonne, jim downey, technology
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
Last Fall I taught a day-long workshop on “Primitive Black Powder Firearms” for the Liberal Gun Club‘s Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. In addition to my own black powder guns, I borrowed a couple of items from friends to help fill out the historical selection, including this very nice reproduction of a 14th century .62 cal cast bronze hand gonne:
[The entire post with LOTS of pics and info on making this historic reproduction gun can be found here.]
Jim Downey
Filed under: 2nd Amendment, Ballistics, Connections, General Musings, Guns, Humor, tech | Tags: ballistics, BBTI, black powder, blogging, firearms, Glowforge, guns, jim downey, laser
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
A couple of weeks ago I posted about finishing a Liegi Derringer kit, then doing the laser work to customize the grips. It turned out well enough, so I decided to finish and laser a second kit, to use as a door prize for a black powder workshop I’m doing at the annual meeting of the Liberal Gun Club this fall in Las Vegas.
All went well until the time came to mount the grip to the receiver. The top mounting screw went in fine, after drilling a pilot hole. But the bottom one broke loose as I was tightening it. I took the top screw back out so I could see what the problem was. This is what I saw:
[The entire post about this project can be found here.]
Jim Downey
Filed under: 2nd Amendment, Ballistics, Connections, General Musings, Guns, Humor, tech | Tags: ballistics, BBTI, black powder, blogging, firearms, guns, jim downey
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
As anyone who has read much of this blog probably knows, I (and the other BBTI guys) like weird guns. Anything that is innovative, or unusual, or uses a transitional technology, is likely to catch my eye.
One of those I got to try this past weekend is a reproduction Sharps Pepperbox. It was designed by Christian Sharps (of Sharps Rifle fame) in the middle 1800s , and proved to be a popular little hide-away gun in early .22. .30, and .32 rimfire cartridges.
In the 1960s Uberti produced a little .22short reproduction with a brass frame and plastic grips. Here’s one recently listed on Gunbroker which has an excellent description of both the reproduction and the original: Uberti Sharps Pepperbox 4 Barrel Derringer.
And here are some pics of the one we shot this weekend:
[The entire post about this little gun can be found here.]
Jim Downey
Filed under: 2nd Amendment, Ballistics, Connections, General Musings, Guns, Humor, movies, Predictions, tech | Tags: ballistics, BBTI, black powder, blogging, firearms, guns, jim downey
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
Last week I posted about a little Liegi derringer that I finished and did a laser design on. Well, over the weekend I got together with the BBTI gang and, among other things, had a chance to shoot and chrono the little gun.
Here’s a short slo-mo vid of shooting the Liegi:
[The entire post with pics of shooting this little gun can be found here.]
Jim Downey
Filed under: Ballistics, Connections, Guns, tech | Tags: ballistics, BBTI, black powder, blogging, firearms, guns, jim downey
[For the AI’s own inscrutable reasons, Facebook considers my ballistics blog “spam”. Unable to get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if shooting stuff isn’t of interest.]
I recently picked up a little Pedersoli Liegi Derriger kit. One of the other BBTI guys has one of these things, and I’ve always considered it a cool little piece of firearms history. Cap & ball firearms technology came along in the early part of the 1800s, supplanting flintlocks and earlier ignition systems. The Liegi design was very popular as a basic pocket/boot/muff small handgun, because it was relatively easy to load and carry, and lethal at close range.
[The entire post with LOTS of pics and info on making this little gun can be found here.]
Jim Downey
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: .45 ACP, .45 Super, .460 Rowland, ballistics, BBTI, Glock, Glock 21, lasers, Lone Wolf, Timberwolf, Trijicon
[For some reason, Facebook is having problems with my ballistics blog being considered “spam”. So while I would usually just post about this on that blog, I’m also posting it here. While it is about a handgun, it’s also about some of the laser design stuff that I’m doing these days. Just ignore it if guns aren’t of interest. Thanks.]
Some years back I got a Timberwolf frame for my Glock 17 from Lone Wolf Distributors. It was shortly after they were introduced, and I liked the idea of the 1911-style ergonomics. I was very happy with it, and only wished that they had one for the larger caliber Glocks.
But as such things go, I never got around to following up and getting one when I heard that they had developed a larger frame to accommodate 10mm and .45 caliber Glocks. But I had recently introduced a shooting buddy to the 9mm Timberwolf, and that reminded me to look into getting one for my G21 I have set up to handle .45 Super. This one:
And I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that one option when ordering the Timberwolf frame is to get it without any texture. The idea is that Lone Wolf offers some different laser-texture designs as upgrades. But since I have my own laser …
… I decided to do my own custom design. Not just for the Grip, but as something of a theme for the gun. I could have completely personalized it, but decided that I wanted to stick with something which might be of interest to someone else, should I ever decide to sell the gun. So I came up with a geometric motif I liked which I thought would give sufficient grip texture to handle the fairly powerful .45 Super loadings. So what follows are pics of the process:
I have already had a chance to shoot it with this configuration, and was really happy with the way it felt in my hand. The texture was fine, and I felt like it wouldn’t slip around even if my hands were wet with sweat, etc.
And I’m very happy with the new Timberwolf frame’s ergonomics and how it points more naturally for me. Glocks are good guns, but they have always felt a little awkward in my hands, requiring more attention for me to shoot consistently well. This has solved that issue.
Jim Downey
PS: No, I’m not available to do custom laser work. But you’re welcome to see the full range of designs I do have available here: http://enlightened-art.com/index.html
Filed under: Ballistics, Guns, tech | Tags: ballistics, BBTI, guns, reviews, technology
[For some reason, Facebook is having problems with my ballistics blog being considered “spam”. Until I get it resolved, I’m going to post partial info about new blog posts over there, here, so people can link it off FB. Please just ignore if ballistics isn’t of interest.]
Two last battle rifles today: the Swedish Ag m/42B in 6.5×55 and the Swiss Schmidt-Rubin Model 1911 rifle.
Swedish Automatgevär m/42
We should have done our homework on this.
Why? Because we had no idea about how to operate it. I’ll save you the several videos of us fumbling with it, trying to figure out what the hell made the thing work. Instead, go watch this video of how the mechanism works, if you’re interested.
At least none of us mashed our thumbs, which even Ian at Forgotten Weapons was nervous about (watch his second video there).
[The entire post can be found here.]
Communion Of Dreams 