Gun Thread: Lights and Tunnels Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

I see it! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Oh, joyous and happy day, I see the light!! The horrors of the depths of hell I have seen lately work-wise are almost over! Pretty dang soon I can load up the truck and head for the farm for a few days of tree farming, and maybe some shooting, too!

With that, let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

1964 Gold Cup National Match

You can see the reflection of tree branches in the finish

I think I recall some of "you people" discussing the Colt 70 Series last week, so I thought I'd share some more awful pictures with you. No, this isn't a Colt Series 70, it's a Colt Pre-70 manufactured in 1964. Our pal CBD says it's ugly and stupid and that I should give it to him so as not to have it contaminate the rest of the WeaselCollection.

Here's an interesting article on the history of the Colt National Match family which is worth a read. In the Variations section of the article they give the highlights of this model:

Gold Cup National Match - Introduced in 1957 in .45 ACP, the Gold Cup National Match was fitted with a match grade barrel, collet-style bushing, flat mainspring housing, long adjustable stop trigger, a hand fitted slide with an enlarged ejection port and adjustable target sights. It had the gold medallion in the grips and NM suffix on the serial number. These pistols were manufactured between 1957 and 1970.

The "Gold Cup" business didn't appear on the slide until later and was no doubt a brainchild of Colt's marketing department. It's hard to see in the pic but this one has 'National Match' roll marked on the left side of the slide before the word COLT. If you have never seen an example of the deep blued finish on a Colt product from this era, you're missing out. I take it to the range periodically for practice with carefully produced and light handloads.

Is it a shooter? Seriously? What do you think?

Normally, I prefer to shoot in the great outdoors, but with the coming of winter, that becomes more of an ordeal than a pleasure. Happily, our area of Michigan has a couple of nice indoor ranges. For our first outing of the new year, our group chose a site near and dear to local Morons, Huron Valley Guns.

Whenever one goes to the range, it's good to get some standard practice in, but also bring something a little more fun an exotic to share, so I decided to bring out the Husqvarna. What's that, you didn't know Husky made handguns? Well they did and they're spectacular.

The M40 is a Finnish Lahti M35 made under license by Sweden in the years just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Forgottenweapons.com has a nice feature on it if you'd like to know more history, so let's talk about its handling and accuracy.

First off, this is a beast of a pistol. Being a vintage service pistol, it is all-steel and feels like it. Yet for all that, it is very comfortable in the hand and the trigger is excellent. That extra weight also makes it an exceptionally stable platform with comparatively little recoil. The magazines are 8 rounds each and it uses a heel release, which can take some getting used to.

Now let's take a look at the target. The range was seven yards and I was firing at what I consider my natural pace, which is brisk compared to some. I'm no one's idea of a marksman, but I'm very happy with that group.

Interestingly, this was one of the more accurate guns we had at the range, and it easily outstripped the Glock, which is pretty impressive for something 80 years old.

These used to be very affordable, but thanks to the Covid panic and Ian McCollumn drawing attention to them, they are moving into the same price range is lower-grade Luger P08s. I absolutely consider this superior to the Luger in every way.

One final note: in his video, Ian implies that the 'accelerator' lever is a point of design weakness and that these should be used with caution. Nothing in the lengthy service record of these pistols backs that up. While it is true that Sweden pulled them from service in the 1990s due to catastrophic structural failures, that was only after 50 years of using very hot ammunition designed for use with submachineguns in arctic conditions. Basically these things held up to +P+ ammo for a half century before they wore out. The ones on the US market came by way of Denmark and saw very little military service, which is why they are in such good condition. In fact, one issue some users may have is that modern 115 grain 9mm is too mild to cycle the heavy bolt, and for that reason I tend to use 124 grain loads.

So let that be a warning to you: don't spend 50 years feeding your M40 super-hot ammunition because it could break. Instead, use normal loads and enjoy its cool looks and accuracy.

Great report and nice shooting AHL! Thank you!

Next up, our pal Reagan really brings it with a beautiful rifle!

This is my Martini Cadet action chambered in .218 bee. The action was built originally bye BSA for training rifles used in British empire countrys then chambered in .310 cadet. It is based on the Martini Henry a dropping block breech loading single shot. This one has been modified with a Shilen barrel, a re-shaped lever and some custom wood with a vintage Unertl 2 inch Ultra Varmint, adjustable head 12 power externally adjustable scope.

The 218 bee is an old cartridge that's been pretty dormant. It's based on the 32-20 Winchester. Shooting a 40 grain bullet I get 3100fps. The cartridge is capable to 200 yards on varmints, I've dispatched a coyote with good shot placement at 125 yards but that's pushing it. It has a mild report and little to no recoil.

I wanted a vintage looking plinking and squirrel eliminating rifle. I have a bunch of 10/22's that will do that job but these old guns just have personality.

Ho-Lee-Shitballs! Is that ever a beauty, Reagan! Welcome to the Gun Thread and I hope you'll take it to the range and let us know how it shoots!

For all the pistoleros out there, here are some pics of my French 1935A and 1935S. Both were used by the French Army and what not from the late 1930's until the 1950's and served where ever the Frogs saw action.

1935 A

1935 S

The 1935A was pretty unique for it's day with a full length spring guide as well as a unique locking action and integrated fire control system like the Tokarev which can be removed for cleaning, replacement, etc. The 1935S was more conventional and basically a 1911 ripoff with some minor distinctions. Both are good shooters and run well.

Nice pink target with the 1935 A

Nice pink target with the 1935 S

The difficult part of owning these pistols was always the ammo. Both are chambered in 7.65 French Long which other than French surplus was always very difficult to find. But thanks to the folks at Steinel Ammo Co., who make the 7.65 French Long now, I was able to shoot new ammo and enjoy shooting these pistols rather than both just sitting in the gun room. The 1935A has an adjustable front sight while the 1935S sights are not adjustable. If you need ammo of an obsolete type, check out Steinel Ammo and if they don't make a particular caliber, ask them too! The Swiss bought the license for the 1935A which they later modified and produced as their now famous Sig Sauer P210.

7.65 French ammo comparison

Great report and beautiful pistols, Hairyback Guy! Nice shooting. Thank you!

Back in the olden days before the internet, people had to actually make stuff. Here's how you slap together a powder horn.

Video longness alert!

I have a bigly appreciation for the people keeping skills like this alive. Who knows, it may just become fashionable again.

Cigar of the Week

My daily smoke cigar size is around 5.5 x 52 and smoking one is a bit of a time commitment. Sometimes you want a cigar but don't want to spend an hour huddled outside under the roof eave in the wind, sleet and freezing rain smoking it in misery. Here's a solution, and a great little cigar by Arturo Fuente, the Hemingway Short Story.

Gun Basics 101

So here is something we touched on a while back and is worth revisiting, I think. I have always been a student of the Don't Say Shit to the Cops school, but let's face it, that's really not entirely practical if you have just shot someone. I think Mas Ayoob makes some great points in the video below.

So Mas recommends a hybrid approach. Say and do five things, then shut the hell up. An important point which he makes near the end, is that you should mentally rehearse your actions and statements should the unthinkable occur, in order to better prepare yourself against babbling like an idiot. Seriously, make a little mental exercise of the key steps and statements you would take, and hope you can follow the script when you need it.

What do you guys and gals think?

Link-O-Rama

I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA
Bud's Gun Shop

Our pal WTM makes a great find!

Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!

That's it for this week - have you been to the range?

posted by Weasel at 07:00 PM

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