Guns & Hunting Thread (2-3-2013)

Let's Leave The Conspiracy Theories To The Left, M'kay?

The proper response to this:

... is something along the lines of, "nice shotgun".

To deny them this:

But whoever did this? ... Genius!

Some Maintenance Required

Now that you're a gunowner, there's a little catch you should be aware of if you're not already. These things are pretty simple pieces of metal, wood and plastic, but they require maintenance ... especially since firing them produces all kinds of nasty substances that foul the inner workings.

First and foremost, RTFM (read the fine manual). The manual that comes with your new firearm should describe the basic maintenance you need to do.

Also, the Internet is your friend. There are some good guides from cleaning product manufacturers and videos on the topic, not to mention the commenters here who'll chime in with any advice you need.

Firearms are very simple machines that, with proper maintenance, will last for several lifetimes. The Remington Nylon 66 and Marlin lever-action rifle in my safe that were originally purchased by my grandfather are testament to that.

Gun Of The Week

A guest star ...

Marksmanship Award

Gun Of The Week - Answer

That's a brand new Walther PPQ 9mm that belongs to one of the moronettes. I left her name out of the post, so you should just presume that all the 'ettes are packin' heat.

Classic Calibers

Centerfire metallic cartridges came into vogue around the time of the War Between the States, and the last 150-odd years have seen many chamberings be introduced, find some level of adoption and then be supplanted by a more popular cartridge.

For example, I have 2 rifles chambered for .250-3000 Savage. The name comes from the use of a 25 caliber bullet and the fact that this was the first cartridge to surpass a muzzle velocity of 3,000 feet per second in a factory loading (using an 87 grain bullet).

The cartridge was introduced in 1915 and achieved a decent level of popularity, but it's not ballistically different enough from competing rounds like the .243 Winchester, 6mm Remington, etc. to really make a name for itself, and it was eventually killed off by these for all intents and purposes. It lives on, however, as the basis of the .22-250 varmint round that became a classic in its own right.

One of the rifles is a Savage Model 99 lever action, which was also innovative for its time. The problem with loading a high-performance round in a traditional lever-action was the tubular magazine. It doesn't take a PhD in physics to figure out that bad things can happen when recoil forces act on the nose of a pointed bullet resting on the primer of the round in front of it.

The other rifle is a Remington Model 700 Classic. They produced this rifle each year in a different chambering, and the .250 Savage got the honors in 1984. This is among one of the most accurate rifles I've ever had the pleasure of owning, and it still makes the occasional trip to the deer woods.

We'll be highlighting cartridges and history like this in the thread from time to time going forward. Thanks to the well-nic'd 'Mauser757' for the idea.

Tips

If there are topics you're interested in seeing in the gun thread, please send them to AoSHQGunThread at gmail. You can also send them to me on Twitter at @AndyM1911.

posted by Andy at 03:38 PM

| Access Comments