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Gun Thread: Third Sunday of 2024 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!

Holy Jumpin' Atomic Shitballs! How in the ever-loving hell did it get to be the third week in January 2024? Man, time is flying by! Thanks for your patience last weekend while WeaselWoman, FSJ and I made a mucho the fast-o trip to Knoxville and back. We went down Saturday and had planned to return Monday, but the snowstorm forecast to blow through the southeast made coming home Sunday afternoon/evening seem like a good idea to stay ahead of weather-related disasters. Neither WW nor FSJ are big fans of road trips, but I don't mind them so much. Besides, I only nearly killed us all once in more than 16 hours of driving, so I call that a success! Thanks to our pal CBD and other secret observers for keeping an eye on things here in the ol' Gun Thread, and a big thanks and long, awkward Weasel bro-hug to all of you for not burning the place down.

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

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Fundamentals
Show of hands - how many of you went to the range in the last couple of weeks and practiced the fundamentals of marksmanship? I don't mean standing still and vaguely aiming at the center of the target plinking, but really, seriously, focused on the elements of stance, grip mechanics, sight-alignment and trigger squeeze as you were shooting? This doesn't mean you cannot enjoy the process and have fun with your shooting pals, but if you want to improve you need to be thinking while you are shooting.

Here's an AMU guy covering the basics in under 3 minutes.

When you practice something, it means your mind must be engaged in the task at hand. Unless you are in life or death combat, you should be focusing on some aspect of fundamentals every time you take a shot. Whenever I am shooting, I mentally review what I am about to do in terms of stance, grip, sight alignment and trigger pull as I get to the line, and then with each and every shot I really focus on at least one of these elements. I don't just go up to the firing line and pray to the range gods to let the bullet hole magically appear in the center of the target, but rather do my best to be completely aware of what is happening with the fundamentals as I shoot.

If you master the fundamentals, small groups on target will take care of themselves.

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Guns of the Horde
Well our pal Ed L has been busy with a Colt New Model Army Revolver so take it away Ed L!!

If it's remembered at all today, the Colt New Model Army Revolver is remembered as a failure that set the US Army down the path that culminated in the famous Colt M1911 semiautomatic pistol. But if the New Model Army is a failure, it's a very influential failure. The .38 Long Colt cartridge's ineffectiveness against the Moro tribal warriors is well known. Less well known are some of the New Model Army's other failings.

The Colt New Model Army's greatest weakness was not its .38 Long Colt cartridge, but its operating mechanism. Unlike all other Colt revolvers before and since, the New Model Army's cylinder rotates counter-clockwise. As the "hand" that pushes the cylinder wore down with use, the rotation of the cylinder tended to go "out of time." This results in the chamber not completely lining up with the barrel, posing a danger to the user. The direction of the cylinder rotation contributes to the problem. It's also possible to rotate the cylinder clockwise when the operating mechanism is at rest. The Colt New Service reversed the cylinder rotation to clockwise and changed the operating mechanism to lock the cylinder in place when not in use. This basic operating mechanism is largely the same one used on Colt revolvers today.

Smith and Wesson (S&W) tried to capitalize on the Colt New Model Army's failure by mating their new .38 Special cartridge with their Model 1899 revolver. Christened the "Military and Police," S&W's proposed it as a replacement for the Colt. Rebuffed by the US Army, S&W went on to develop the .44 Special and the .357 Magnum cartridges in their quest for military contracts. S&W continued developing ever more powerful revolver cartridges through the 20th century, with the .500 Magnum being the most recent entry. S&W had to find a locking method suitable for counter clockwise rotation of the cylinder. The operating mechanism used in the Military and Police revolver's 4th Change Model of 1905 remains mostly unchanged in S&W revolvers today.

This Colt New Model Army revolver is a Model 1901, identified by the markings on the bottom of the butt and the lanyard ring, the principal difference between it and earlier models. The initials "R.A.C" (for Rinaldo A. Carr, US Army Civilian Sub-Inspector) are on the bottom of the wooden grips. His initials also appear on the frame and cylinder, signifying US Army acceptance of revolver and its major parts. Note the patent dates on the top of the barrel. Despite its failings, the Army and Navy dragged Colt New Model Army revolvers out of storage in 1917 at the outbreak of WWI. Some made their way to France in the hands of support units such as engineers, railroad, and signal troops. After WWI, most were sold as surplus.

The New Model Army can still be found at gun shows and pawn shops today. But it should be treated as either a paperweight or safe queen. It's not safe to shoot with modern commercial ammunition. The problem is that the cylinder can chamber .38 Special and .357 Magnum cartridges and fire both, as shown in the photos (.38 Special is the blue snap cap, .357 Magnum is the dark red snap cap). The .38 Long Colt cartridge generates about 13,000 psi of pressure. The .38 Special generates about 17,500 psi of pressure. .357 Magnum generates about 35,000 psi of pressure. .357 Magnum should NEVER be fired from this revolver. Doing so is likely to be fatal. Note the difference in the thickness of the steel in the top strap of the New Model Army on the right and the 1962 Colt Python on the left.

Very interesting and very nicely done Ed L! Thank you!!

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Situational Awareness
I am constantly amazed by how oblivious people can seem to be, walking along wearing headphones and checking their phones. Our very own Nurse R can tell us a thing or two about the importance of being aware of what's going on around us. Let's see what Mas Ayoob has to say.

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Spare Magazine

Do you carry a spare magazine? If not, why not? Do you practice magazine change drills? Here is an article from USA Carry on the topic.

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Wonder How The Glock Works?
Here is one of those cool animation videos on how stuff works.

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Armed Attorneys: Federal Safe Passage
The provisions of 18 U.S. Code § 926A - Interstate transportation of firearms - says you're allowed to go from point A to point B without a bunch of hassle between the two. Naturally, it's a wee tad more complicated than that.

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Rickshaw Production
Wonder how your rickshaw was manufactured? Well your 'ol pal Weasel has you covered!

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Toys of Yesteryear
Toys were just better in the olden days!

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Civil Defense in Schools
School boards sure did tackle different issues in the olden days!

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Musical Interlude
Here is EC with Nathan East and Can't Find My Way Home

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Gun Basics 101
New video from the She Equips Herself gal! This week's video is on thigh holsters!.

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Cigar of the Week

This week our pal rhomboid scores again with this excellent review of the Drew Estate Herrera Esteli Brazilian Maduro

Possibly the best-known cigar tobacco coming out of Brazil is either the aripiraca, or mata fina, leaf. The former is used as a wrapper in several good cigars, the latter usually is filler. Drew Estate's Herrera Esteli Brazilian Maduro puts the mata fina on the outside. The result is a nice flavorful maduro. It has a Connecticut broadleaf binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. My example was the Lonsdale Deluxe size (6 X 44). I got mellow sweetish earth flavors, with definite hints of chocolate or cocoa at various points, and some tangy notes as well. I would put it on the milder end of medium-full, in terms of profile. The burn required some touching up, but the draw was easy and perfect. You can find these cigars online in the $7-8 dollar range

Excellent, rhomboid! Thank you!

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Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.

Cigarsinternational.com
Cigarpage.com
Famous-smoke.com
Cigarsdaily.com
Neptunecigar.com
Smallbatchcigar.com
Bobalu Cigar Company
Cigarbid.com

A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid

Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!

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Ammo 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
American Elite Ammo NEW!

***Mail Bag***

This week's mailbag entry is from our pal Fungus Boy. Hard to argue with this!

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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?