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Gun Thread: Third August 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 Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the third edition of August? There is one more August edition before we go into September! You see, the way the calendar works is to have August first, and then September after August is over. Got it? We good now on the calendar?

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

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FUNdamentals
Have you been focusing on fundamentals, and what seems to be giving you the most trouble at the range? If your shooting isn't improving and you seem to be stuck in one place, have you tried analyzing what is causing you trouble? I think the biggest waste of time, money and effort is going to the range and doing the same thing that hasn't been achieving positive results over and over. Do the ineffective thing harder! Shooting can be a fun and social event, but when you are standing there firing at a target, why not have a plan in mind? Why not focus on the fundamentals? You're already focused during your non-firing time on the range babes, why not focus a little on your shooting as well? It can't hurt, right?

Anyhoo, are you shooting low left (or low and right)? Would you like to not do that and hit the center of the target? Well here are some things to think about and focus on.

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Guns of the Horde

I think we all agree our pal Ed L has not only an impressive collection but also does an outstanding job in sharing his considerable knowledge here with us. Tonight's look at the Colt New Service Revolver is no exception!

Colt New Service Revolver In 1898, Colt introduced its first large frame double action revolver with a swing-out cylinder, the Colt New Service. Chambered for no fewer than eleven different cartridges, it was a popular firearm, with hundreds of thousands produced over its forty-plus year production run. Colt copied the New Service's basic operating system into practically revolver it produced in the 20th century. This is a milestone revolver for Colt. This particular Colt New Service revolver was manufactured in 1908. It is chambered in .44 Russian and has a 5 1/2 inch barrel. The sights are a U-shaped notch for the rear and a shark-blade fin for the front. A lanyard ring is standard on the butt. The finish is Colt's "fire blue" finish. A closer look at the trigger and screws shows that they are finished in a bright peacock blue which contrasts nicely with the blue-black of the rest of the revolver. The artificial lighting of the lightbox does not do justice to the contrast between the bright blue of the small parts and the "black chrome" look of the rest of the revolver.

.44 Russian is a vintage cartridge from the black powder era that was still in wide use at the turn of the 20th century. It was the ancestor of the modern .44 Special cartridge, which in turn gave birth to the .44 Magnum cartridge. The photo shows the progression with .44 Russian on the left, .44 Special in the center, and .44 Magnum on the right. Despite being the least powerful of the three (by 2024 standards), the .44 Russian round would definitely qualify the Colt New Service as "big iron" in the early 1900s.

Thanks to Stinky's Daddy, I acquired some .44 Russian rounds (245 grain lead round nose) to test fire this vintage Colt revolver. I fired one full cylinder each on single and double action. For single action, I used the old school target shooting method, one handed with my non shooting hand on my hip, with my strong side facing the target. I fired the double action rounds using a modern two-handed grip. The first picture shows the results of the single action rounds. The second shows the results of the double action rounds. All rounds were fired at 10 yards. Although the Colt New Service's size may appear intimidating, the recoil of the .44 Russian round is quite mild. Shooting this revolver one handed is definitely manageable.

Colt ended production of its New Service Revolver with the start of World War II. Colt would not produce another large frame revolver until the debut of the Colt Anaconda some fifty years later.

Thank you very much Ed L!

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Best Revolver in the World?

Ed L's Colt notwithstanding, no argument regarding this S&W! This is worth watching, all y'all.

Don't believe Lucky Gunner Guy? How about Hickok45? Certainly you believe Hickok45!

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Sometimes You Just Need a Shotgun

More Hickok45!

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Boating, Guns and Ammo

Recovering from the inevitable boating accident

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Assignment Outer Space!

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Gun Basics 101
New video from the She Equips Herself gal! This week's video is on SEH gal's gun room!

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Cigar of the Week

This week our pal rhomboid scores again with this excellent review of the Crowned Heads Le Patissier

Quite a few cigars I review here will, I think, be more fully appreciated by those with more discriminating palates, and more time at the past time, than I bring to all this. This cigar - the Le Patissier, by Crowned Heads - is almost surely one. I tried two of the toro size (named Senadores by the company, 6 1/8 X 48). A slim toro with a slightly lighter than usual US Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, it has Nicaraguan and Costa Rican leaf inside. Construction is good, draw is perfect for my preferences, smoke is ample. Flavor notes is where others may pick up more than I did, but for me it was still a very nice smoke. I got tobacco sweetness and hints of dried fruits for the first half, becoming more a light earth and leather profile after that. An enjoyable medium stick. The Senador vitola is available online for just under $10.

Excellent as always, rhomboid! Thank you very much!

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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
Nicks Cigar World

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 WTM. Neat-o! Wonder what the idea here was?

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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?