PRACTICAL SURVIVAL FIREARMS
By Cope Reynolds
Suarez International Staff Instructor
In today’s troubled world, and with the threat of things becoming even more troubled, the subject of what firearms are best for particular situations comes up with monotonous regularity. In this article I will weigh the pros and cons of different weapons, ammunition, sighting devices, storage techniques, and a few miscellaneous subjects. This is not intended to be all-inclusive, or the “word of law.” My opinions and methods of doing things come from listening with an open mind, experimenting without fear of failure, and the experience of over 35 years of hunting, plinking, competition shooting, reloading, and living in the Southwest--where it is possible to do these things whenever the mood strikes. I hope to be able to save the new shooter/survivalist the expense and inconvenience of learning things the hard way, and maybe offer the experienced shooter an idea or two he hasn’t thought of.
WHAT IS SURVIVAL?
The subject of what is the best survival weapon has created some intense debates over the years, often resulting in fist fights, best friends splitting up, divorces, sabotage, or relocation. It really doesn’t have to be that way. One of the problems is that everyone has a different definition of “survival.” To some, it means an end-of-the-world scenario (as in the movie “Mad Max”) where things just can’t get any worse. For such an unlikely event, one would want to choose a gun that never needs repairs or spare parts, and for which there is an unlimited supply of ammo available. For others, survival means constant foraging for food while having to battle foreign troops of the New World Order on a regular basis. In such a case, one would want a gun of the same caliber and type as one’s opponents. This would make it easier to “liberate” needed ammo and magazines. Still others feel that survival entails avoiding detection, gathering food, and repelling unwanted guests.
The “Mad Max” scenario is unlikely (though not impossible) in our lifetime. And by the time we got to that point, you’d probably not have the same weapon you started with anyway. The “New World Order” scenario has less to do with survival than combat. A true survival situation would, in my opinion, require a somewhat different kind of rifle than that which would be used primarily for combat. The “avoiding/foraging/repelling” scenario is not only the most likely, but is already a way of life for some.
What I’d consider to be a true survival situation might be caused by such things as getting lost or injured in the wild, car wrecks or plane crashes in remote areas, or a social and/or financial collapse that forces us to hunt for food and protect our families from predators and looters. For purposes of this article, let’s assume that these possibilities are what we’re primarily concerned with.
RIFLES AND AMMUNITION
There’s no way we can discuss every scenario that may arise, but let’s try to cover some that are most likely, and the rifles and ammunition combinations that are best suited to them.
When someone has to survive an unscheduled stay in the wild, the three most important things that a rifle can accomplish for him (or her) are signaling, defense, and harvesting small-to-medium game for food. For food, you need to consider the areas you’ll most likely be traveling in, and what kind of game is around. A rifle chambered for the .22LR will probably do 90% of anything you will need to do in the U.S. This caliber has taken--and will continue to take--deer, though for this purpose it is a very poor choice. However, the lowly .22 is a fine choice for small game, requiring lightweight, inexpensive ammo and causing minimal damage to the meat. The sharp crack and high decibel level of the .22 also makes it fairly good for signaling.
While not the best choice for defense, the .22 makes a formidable weapon in the hands of a calm, cool, collected marksman. If you’re traveling and not really expecting trouble, but want to have something available “just in case,” you might consider one of the take-down models such as the Marlin 70SS, or a copy of the old Charter AR-7. They’re light, compact, and relatively inexpensive. Ruger, Marlin, Remington, and others all make fine .22 rifles in semi-auto, bolt, pump, lever, and single-shot actions. Another good choice that offers something for big and small game and defense is the Savage 24-F or 24-V. This combination gun offers the shooter the versatility of having a rifle and a shotgun in the same easy-to-carry package. The rifle barrel is on top and is either currently, or has been, offered in a number of different calibers, including .22LR, .22 Magnum, .22 Hornet, .222, .223 and .30-30. Depending on the model, the shotgun portion can be had in .410, 20, or 12 gauge. The newer 12 gauge version offers interchangeable choke tubes.
Another popular combination is the carbine and handgun that use the same cartridge. This is particularly appealing to those who carry both a sidearm and a rifle and wish to avoid the weight and confusion of carrying two kinds of ammunition. The semi-auto rifle versions that shoot 9mm, .40 S&W, or .45 ACP do not offer much of an advantage over their handgun counterparts in terms of velocity or energy, but do provide a longer sight radius, thus improving accuracy. However, the survivalist who is armed with one of the lever action carbines chambered for the .357, .41, or .44 Magnum, or the .45LC cartridges, paired with one of their handgun counterparts, is indeed very well armed and prepared for most anything he may get himself into. In my opinion, the .357 is the best option given the scenarios we’re considering here (unless you happen to be in big bear country) due to ammo availability, light recoil, and fairly mild muzzle blast--though a .357 Mag handgun still has an earcrushing blast. Since the .357 carbine will shoot most anything that the .357 revolver will, including .38 Special, you should never have any ammo-feed problems.
A good rifleman should rarely feel undergunned with a lever action in a firefight. It’s a very fast-handling weapon, and there are no magazines or stripper clips to lose or damage. The venerable .30-30, for example, is an outstanding rifle, though keep in mind that there is no conventional handgun chambered for that round. Unlike any of the military-style weapons, the levergun can be loaded without taking the gun out of battery. In other words, when there’s a lull in the action, or while you’re moving to another position, it’s simple to stuff more shells into the tubular magazine. If while doing this the enemy catches you by surprise, you simply drop the rounds still in your hand and resume firing. There’s no chance of dropping the magazine you were loading--thus being left with an “$800 single shot.”
For those of the military persuasion, or who are preparing for TEOTWAWKI, a whole new set of rules comes into play. Quite naturally, we’d still like a rifle that is easy to handle, but we also might want to consider a semi-auto built for sustained fire. The military (or military look-alike) weapons are the ones that really fill the bill. When it comes to these, there are a couple of things you need to consider before your purchase. First, of course, is ammo availability. Can you afford enough ammunition to last the duration of the hardships that may befall you? Also, if you’re forced out of your home and away from your supply cache, for whatever reason, you really don’t want to be shooting a “bastard caliber” (i.e., one that is rare and thus difficult to replenish). While you may not like to think about harming others, you need to consider choosing a caliber that is likely to be used by either looters or foreign troops. That way, you can more easily acquire additional ammo should you be fortunate enough to be the victor in a skirmish.
Another thing to think about with regard to military-style rifles is the detachable/fixed magazine dilemma. Sure, the detachable mags are faster to reload, but how many can you carry at once? Are you sure you’ll make it back to base tonight where there are more magazines awaiting you? And did you stash enough magazines to begin with to last you indefinitely in the event that manufacturing is disrupted? Also, what makes you think that, due to the stress and confusion of a real live gunfight, you’ll remember (or have time) to pick up your discarded mags? You are not in the military. There’s no resupply waiting in the rear. No air drops. This is one of the reasons I prefer the SKS over the AR-15. I know, I know. The AR-15 is what we’re all used to . . . and many of the parts will interchange with the M-16 . . . and it’s a NATO round . . . and yada, yada, yada.. But the .223 does not have the energy of the 7.62x39, the AR is not as reliable as the SKS, and although the Ruger Mini 14 is a very reliable weapon, it lacks a little in the accuracy department. The .223 runs out of energy at 300 meters or so, and the 7.62x39 generally runs out of accuracy at about the same distance. Each has virtually the same effective range. However, the 7.62x39 does have substantially more energy at longer ranges.
But back to the magazine debate. I prefer the fixed magazine of the SKS because I can't lose it. And I can also single-load it through the ejection port if I run out of stripper clips. As to size, I prefer the 20-round fixed mag over the ten-round. Now, I don't use the 20-round mag because it holds 20 rounds; I use it because it holds more than ten. That may sound stupid, but let me explain. With the standard ten-rounder, if you fire less than ten rounds, you will have a partially full mag that cannot be refilled except by loading one round at a time. This means you're either going to have a partially loaded gun, or a half-full stripper clip rattling around in your gear losing shells, or you'll have to take time to top off the mag by hand. Circumstance may only allow you to get one stripper load in the 20-round magazine to start with. If you start out with either ten or 20 rounds, you can then shoot anywhere from two to 11 rounds and still be able to easily insert a full stripper clip into it. (It is quite difficult to insert a ten-round stripper in a 20-round mag that already has ten rounds in it; they call it a 20-round magazine, but it works best with 18 or 19.) Since you will not be able to lock your bolt back to insert a stripper clip in an SKS with a partially loaded magazine, here is the procedure that works for me: place the butt of the rifle in the groin area, just below the opening of your right hand trouser pocket. Then reach across the top of the rifle with your left hand and pull the bolt handle fully to the rear. This will eject a live round out that you can either let fall or catch with your right hand (if you have time). Now let the bolt slide slightly forward to accept the clip and insert a loaded stripper clip with your right hand. Now grasp the rifle's forearm with your right hand and release the bolt handle with your left hand and you’re ready for action.
Ideally, we would all like to have either an M1A or FN-FAL (my personal favorite is the AK-47)and a couple hundred 20-round magazines, but for those who just recently started preparing, or who can’t afford the expense, that’s only a dream. Any good rifle chambered for the .30-06, .308 (7.62x51 NATO), the .223 (5.56 NATO), or the 7.62x39 will suffice. But do take the aforementioned suggestions into consideration before buying. Yet another consideration is the ability of your rifle to resist corrosion and weathering. It’s advisable to try to find a rifle with a protective finish, or that is made of stainless steel, and has either a laminated wood or synthetic stock.
There are a number of different sighting options for the survival rifle, all of which have their own calling in life. The open, iron sights that come on most commercial hunting rifles are suitable for most purposes, but are fragile and useless in low-light situations. A good quality scope, on the other hand, is no more fragile than open sights and offers far superior accuracy and low-light capabilities. A good compromise between the two is the aperture, or peep, sight. This sight is used on almost all military-style rifles and is rugged, easy to use, and highly accurate. Aperture sights are also significantly better than open sights in low light. The aperture sight is operated by centering the uppermost part of the front sight in a small aperture in the rear sight, while also holding the front sight on your target. Your eye naturally places the front sight in the center of the aperture with little or no conscious effort on your part. The rear aperture appears as a cloudy ring and is not distracting at all. Just focus on your front sight (which you should also do with open sights, of course, but it’s easier with peep sights), place it on your target, and shoot. These are also sometimes called “ghost ring” sights.
HANDGUNS
Handguns provide yet another platform for some very heated discussions as to what’s best for what purposes: revolver versus semi-auto; single-action or double-action; stainless steel or blued; short barrel versus long barrel; 9mm, .40, .45, .38, or .357. There are also arguments over whether it should be carried “strong side” (i.e., on the side corresponding to your predominant hand) versus “crossdraw,” and the shoulder holster versus the tactical (hip or thigh) holster. And there’s always the night sights issue. It seems the things people find to argue about are practically endless. Let’s try to address a few of them.
Whether you should carry a wheelgun (revolver) or a self-feeder (semi-auto) is a matter of personal preference. Both have their good and bad points. The revolver is somewhat slower to reload and, in most cases, has fewer shots to offer. But there are no magazines to lose and they are mechanically fairly simple. Another thing to consider is that revolvers are offered in much more powerful calibers than are most self-feeders, if that is of concern to you.
In order to reload the double-action revolver with any degree of rapidity, one must use speedloaders. These are nifty little cartridge-holding devices that can release a full load of cartridges into the cylinder of your double-action with the twist of a knob or the push of a button. They are not quite as fast as changing magazines in a semi-auto, but run a very close second with practice. The best speedloaders on the market, in my opinion, are those manufactured by HKS. They are incredibly rugged and reliable. In contrast, reloading the single-action revolver requires removing and replacing cartridges one at a time. An alternative to this would be to have another cylinder or two fitted at the factory for your gun. This will allow you to change cylinders for a more rapid reload, but is not really cost effective. When buying revolvers, stick with top name brands such as Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Colt, and Taurus. My personal favorite is Ruger. Their revolvers are extremely rugged, moderately priced, and more than adequately accurate.
Modern manufacturing techniques, advanced metallurgy, and the advent of space-age polymers have made the semi-auto pistol every bit as reliable as the revolver, and in many cases just as accurate. Modern semi’s are available in a number of different finishes, such as stainless steel, electroless nickel, Parkerized, and, of course, blued. Stay away from nickel or chrome plated guns. They are pretty durable, but once the plating chips, the chip increases in size until the gun must eventually be refinished. The last decade or two has also brought us pistols built on a polymer frame. The most notable of these is the Glock. The Glock was the one of the first of the “plastic” guns, and is virtually indestructible. The polymer that Glock uses is 17% stronger than steel and 83% lighter. In the standard Glock, there are a total of 36 parts, including the magazine, base plate and follower, 3 pins, and no screws. The Tennifer finish on the metal parts is more durable than stainless steel and nearly as hard as diamonds. Needless to say, Glock is also one of my personal favorites.
The debate over which handgun caliber is best is as old as the calibers themselves. The bottom line is shot placement. If you don’t hit your target in the right place, it doesn’t matter what you use. Two of the most popular calibers are 9mm and .45. The 9mm has more penetration than the .45, but the .45 has more energy. My personal favorite is the .40 S&W, as I think it has the attributes of both. But none of these has quite the power of the .357 magnum, let alone the .41 mag or .44 mag.
For carry, I prefer a crossdraw holster for my hunting revolvers, and a beltslide for my daily carry gun, which is a Glock. The crossdraw allows easy access to the gun when driving or riding a horse. The lighter, shorter semi-auto in the beltslide is not even noticeable and I can wear it in any situation.
Tritium night sights are definitely a plus in low-light operations. They offer a very clear, precise sight picture even in total darkness. Tritium is a radioactive substance that generates light--but don’t worry, you would have to ingest something like 30,000 sets of them in order receive as much radiation as one dental X-ray. Most of these sights offer a 12-year half-life, which means that they will be half as bright in 12 years as they were when they were manufactured.
The handgun’s role in the survival arsenal depends a lot on how proficient you are with it. Although a handgun shouldn’t be considered your primary weapon, you should be competent enough with yours that if it was all you had, you’d still be able to feed and/or defend yourself. Generally speaking, the average effective range of most handguns is about 50 yards. That being said, depending on caliber and type of gun, you can easily stretch that distance out past 100 yards with practice. A good, accurate .22LR handgun, such as the Ruger MK II or Single-Six, is indispensable for small game hunting. Most handgun calibers are also suitable for deer-sized game if you are close enough and place your shot well. I am not, however, advocating that an inexperienced handgunner go after deer, except in an emergency. Also, you would be well advised to buy a handgun with some kind of protective finish, or (with respect to self-loaders) a polymer frame.
Whatever sidearm you choose, use the right ammunition for the job. For defense from most animals (including two-legged varmints), and also for hunting medium-sized game, a good hollowpoint is the most effective--although there is considerable evidence that some of the flat-nosed, hard cast bullets are also very effective in the hunting field. For larger dangerous game, and for smaller edible game, a solid bullet such as some FMJ’s, and most hard cast bullets, are the better choice. They’re better for dangerous game because they offer more penetration, and for small game because they don’t destroy as much meat as a hollowpoint.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT SHOTGUNS
For personal protection, the shotgun has no peer. It is a graphically devastating weapon. For most of the purposes considered in this article, a pump-action 12 gauge is hard to beat. Although the 20 gauge is a very comfortable and effective gun to shoot, it’s best reserved for hunting. This is because you’ll have a hard time finding either buckshot or slugs for the 20. Wal-Mart, for example, rarely even carries the heavier 20 gauge stuff, simply because there’s not enough demand for it. And it’s hard to get them to special order things sometimes. A lot of men buy a 20 gauge for their kids or wives, but they mostly use them to hunt birds or rabbits, so most stores don’t see a need to carry anything but the smaller shot. There just aren’t very many people who hunt deer with a 20 gauge, or use it for defense.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the 20 gauge; we have two of them. But for a survival situation, the 12 gauge is a much better choice, simply because of ammo availability. Police, military, other survivalists, militia members, ranchers, etc., all use the 12. If you do insist on using the 20 gauge, and plan on storing a bunch of shells to make up for non-availability, what happens if you have to “bug-out”? You can only carry so much, and leaving the gun behind shouldn't be an option, as I think a shotgun is mandatory. When you use up what you can carry, you’ll just be out. You can’t carry all that reloading stuff with you, either. I personally am not really stocking up on any reloading supplies. Of course, I have a bunch anyway, just because it’s a serious hobby of mine, but I figure when things go bad, I would rather have all those components already assembled into something that I can use.
Something else to consider is power. While the velocities of the 20 gauge are comparable to the 12 gauge, the weight of any given shot charge or slug is much more with the 12. Granted, this generates a little more recoil, but my 5’5”, 140-lb. wife can handle a 12 just fine. (She also prefers a .44 mag to hunt with. It’s all in the training.) The 20 gauge usually shoots a slug that either weighs 273 grains or 328 grains. And I have one “recipe” for a 341-gr. slug. Compare that to a 12 gauge that shoots slugs weighing anywhere from 437 grs. to 575 grs. That’s a hell of an increase in delivered energy, which translates to penetration and longer range. Twelve gauge slugs are also good medicine for “hard” targets; i.e., cars, block or brick walls, and so on. Not as good as a .308 or 30.06 in some cases, but still very good.
As far as buckshot goes, #3 buck is the by far the most common for the 20 gauge. If you get much bigger than that, the 20’s little shell just doesn’t hold enough pellets to do any good. If the 12 gauge only holds between nine and 12 double-ought buckshot pellets (depending on manufacturer and type of wad used), you can safely assume that the 20 would hold only five to six of the same pellets. While you can put eight pellets of #1 buck in a 20 gauge shell, most 12 gauge loads will hold 16. In any case, you’re not looking at a very dense pattern from the 20 for defensive purposes.
A couple of the best choices for defensive shotguns are the Mossberg 590 or 500, and the Remington 870. While some will tell you that the 590 is far and away better than the 870, it really comes down to what you like. I’ll admit that the 590 has a slight edge over the 870, simply because it was designed solely as a combat shotgun. It really has no sporting purpose. There are plenty of after-market accessories available for both the Mossberg and the Remington. Also, Winchester makes a couple of suitable defensive-type shotguns, but I have no personal experience with them.
LONG-TERM GUN STORAGE
A question I get asked frequently is, “How do you suggest I store firearms and ammunition in such a way that I would not lose them in the event my house burned down or was broken into or Uncle Sugar wanted to come get them for one reason or another?”
One way is to buy one of the waterproof containers available almost everywhere (and cost too much), slide your gun into a rust-proof storage bag, put it in the container, then bury it somewhere. The method I recommend, however, works just as well and will protect your guns indefinitely.
Buy as much 8-inch PVC pipe as you need from a water/sewer materials distributor. Eight inches in diameter is larger than you will find at any hardware store. Get the kind of pipe designed for handling sewer water rather than fresh water (ask for SDR35). The water pipe works fine, but is unnecessarily heavy and expensive. There are three kinds of caps you can get to seal the ends. One kind is glued on and is permanent, but if you’ve never installed pipe before, it’s easy to miss a spot with your glue and thus allow for leakage. Another kind of cap is rubber gasketed. To use these, bevel the pipe back about 3/4 of an inch with a rasp or grinder, smear an even coat of lubricant on the pipe end (any kind of liquid soap will work), then slip the cap on. If done correctly, the seal will be absolutely 100% air and water tight. The third kind of cap uses a glue-on adaptor with a screw-type plug. You just glue the adaptor to the pipe end and the plug screws in to it. But these are unnecessarily expensive and just about impossible to remove without a BIG wrench. In my opinion, the gasketed caps are the best choice because to remove them, you can hold the pipe between your legs and kick them off or use a rock. No tools are required. To put them back on the pipe, just use a little liquid soap as you did the first time. You should have room for two long guns, a couple of handguns, and a little ammo for each in a 4-foot section of 8-inch pipe. Since scoped rifles, rifles with fixed mags, and even some open-sighted rifles with a lot of drop in the stock may not fit into a 6-inch pipe, spend just a little more and buy the bigger 8-inch stuff.
Now that you have your pipe prepared, clean your guns as you normally would, leaving a very light film of oil on them. Forget cosmoline or heavy grease; Break-Free is my preference. Slip each gun into a breathable case, then put it into your pipe. To make an effective dessicant, put some crushed sheetrock or kitty litter on a cookie sheet and bake it at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Fill a sock half full with your homemade dessicant, tie it off, and put it in the pipe. (If you don’t like the homemade method, you can always go spend a bunch of money on special dessicants that some people say you just can’t live without.) Before sealing, keep the pipe in the house for a day or two to make absolutely sure that the interior is as dry as it can be. This is especially important if you live in a humid climate.
Bury the sealed pipe somewhere away from your house, preferably half a mile or more depending on the population close at hand. If possible, bury it vertically in order to present a smaller target for metal detectors and ground penetrating radar. If you must bury it close to your home, try to place it parallel to metal pipelines, under the edge of a metal-reinforced concrete slab, under a fence post, etc.
SOUND ADVICE
In closing, I would like to offer my suggestions for a practical arsenal. For the individual that is solely concerned with wilderness survival and personal defense, I would suggest, at the very least, a .22 handgun and rifle, a centerfire handgun, and a shotgun. The .22s provide you with the means to practice a lot for the price of peanuts. As I noted at the beginning of this article, a .22 will do 90% percent of whatever needs done. The centerfire handgun or the shotgun will provide you with all the defensive capabilities that you’ll need for any dangerous game or bad guys you’re likely to run across in the woods.
For folks who are concerned with the state of the nation and the rough waters that lie ahead, I would suggest all the above, along with a centerfire rifle in one of the configurations we discussed earlier. Remember, you can’t have too much ammo. I would recommend you have a minimum of 1,000 rounds for each centerfire rifle, and 500 to 1,000 rounds for the shotgun, with about half of that being birdshot (such as #6 or #4) and the rest in heavy buckshot and slugs. The birdshot is just as deadly at close range as the bigger stuff and is also suitable for small game hunting. I’d also suggest 500 rounds for each centerfire handgun, and as many .22 shells as you have room to store. I truly believe that .22 ammunition may be the standard by which barter with, at least for a time. I think the time will come when a box of .22 shells will buy you a chicken or two or a set of flashlight batteries.
See that every person in your home who is old enough to shoot is properly trained in the use of all these guns, and that eye and ear protection is available.
There are many other things concerning the troubled times that await us that I’d like to share with you, but that’s another story.
Copyright 1999 by Cope Reynolds
This article may be freely copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, as long as it remains unedited as to content (which includes the title, the author’s name, and copyright information), and this notice is attached.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Practical Survival Firearms
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
My .32 Trail Gun
This is my little Taurus .32 Long double-action revolver. 3" barrel (which is a barrel length I have always favored over longer and shorter ones, in a double action trail gun), adjustable sights, hand-filling grips, and light weight. Wonderful quality too, just like an old model S&W.
Click on the image to expand.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Stainless Single Six
This one looks exactly like my stainless one. This guy looks like he's shooting in the break room at work, or something!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Amazon blowgun
I believe they use strychnine as the poison on the darts. I've had a very good book for decades, called "A Sporting Chance" by Daniel P. Mannix (I think that's right; now I'll go to Amazon.com and see if I can find it) that has a chapter on blowguns, as well as chapters on all kinds of other strange and cool forms of hunting. Including, of all things, flying frogs that catch birds for you.
I was right! Here it is:
It's a very good book, as I said. I'm pretty sure it's out of print, but they have it.
Skeeter Skelton on Trail Guns
What's The Best Trail Gun For You?
By Skeeter Skelton
Shooting Times Magazine
January 1977
Our Handgun Editor defines a trail gun as one that, with 50 rounds of ammo, will make a package small and light enough that you are unaware of its presence until you need it. Included are a host of .22s, the .32-20, .32 Long and probably best of the lot—the .38 Special.
A GUN WRITER—after he’s penned a few hundred articles-lives in a world of clichés. Alert though he may be, and they penetrate the net and bed down with his manuscripts, speckling his copy with oldies such as “handfilling grips,” “plunking down your hard-earned dollars,” “won’t gather dust on your dealer’s shelves,” “tack-driving accuracy,” homegrown ammo,” “wheelgun,” “slabsided automatics,” “tube (barrel),” “pill (bullet),” “cornshucker (semiautomatic), “woods loafer,” “woods bum….” The list is without end.
And before you conclude that I am pointing the accusing finger at my fellow gun scribes, I confess that I wallow in mutual sin with them. I once rather smugly told Alex Bartimo, ST’s editor, that the word “however” was the most meaningless and useless crutch in the English language. I solemnly informed Bart that I never used it. Since that announcement, I have, in rereading some of my past articles, noted about six or eight “howevers” in every piece I’ve had published. Surely my resolve is stronger than that. Bart must be sticking in odd “however” or two to help retain my identity as a hack.
Let’s concern ourselves with yet another time-polished, nebulous term, “trail gun.” As a handgun man, I have a rather clear mental image of what a trail gun is. It is a handgun that you carry when you venture afield without the specific purpose of shooting anything. If you carry a long-barreled magnum revolver, you are likely hunting some sort of game. If the handgun on the car seat is a bull-barrel revolver or heavily frilled auto pistol, you’re heading for the pistol range for a bit of target work. When you select a snubnose .38 or a chopped and channeled .45, you ordinarily do so with personal defense in mind.
Earlier, I used the words “woods loafer” in a deprecatory way, yet I guess that I am one. Ambling along a dim trail in the pines, or beside a mossy creed in the bottoms, easy jogging a good horse through the brush, or simply and slowly scouting next fall’s hunting country in my old pickup—these are my favorite days. I don’t like to complicate them with a lot of hard work.
I travel light. I carry a handgun on these outings and prefer that it, too, be light, with no heavy harnesses, no extra-long barrel, no deer-sized cartridges, and no oversized grips to knock against gateposts or vehicle doors.
My idea of a trail gun is a handgun that, with 50 rounds of ammunition, will make a package small and light enough that you are unaware of its presence until you need it. It adds practically nothing to the contents of a backpack or to the saddlebags of horseman or cyclist. Worn in a neat holster on the trouser belt, it lies flat and doesn’t sag your pants. It also looks at home in a fishing box.
Being small and feathery, my trail gun is of necessity chambered for a small-caliber cartridge. For the purposes outlined, I suggest the .22 Long Rifle, .22 Magnum, .32 S&W Long, .32-20 or .38 Special. Although I seldom carry a 9mm automatic on the trail, it would qualify in certain guns for those who like the auto pistol.
The odds-on caliber for the man who doesn’t handload, and maybe even for the one who does, is the .22 Long Rifle. This famous cartridge has been in continuous production since the 1880’s and millions are manufactured in the U.S. each day. It is probably our most highly developed cartridge and certainly one of our most accurate. It cannot be reloaded, yet compensates for this by being extremely inexpensive.
The .22 LR normally comes with an outside-lubricated 40-grain solid or 37-grain hollowpoint lead bullet. The latter is a very effective small-game load out to 50 and perhaps 75 yards, depending on the skill of the shooter. The HP cavities on commonly used .22 Long Rifles are quite deep and open rather rapidly, especially at close range.
Winchester-Western has marketed a new game bullet for this cartridge. Called the “Dynapoint,” it was extensively tested, I’m told, on Australian hares before it went into production. Dissecting a couple of these bullets, I found that their HP cavity was merely a dimple, yet found them singularly effective on rabbit-sized game, with a chronographed the Dynapoint, but its recoil and muzzle blast do not suggest it to be of higher velocity than other high-speed .22 LR ammo.
While we are on the subject of velocity, it might interest trailgunners to know that, on the average, a six-inch barrel .22 LR revolver expels its bullet at something over 1200 fps—only about 100 fps less velocity than from the usual .22 rifle. Further, I have found in a couple of brief tests that short-barreled .22 auto pistols, such as the tiny Walther PPK/S .22, register only about 50 fps lower on the chronograph than six-inch revolvers.
Thus, no matter what .22 LR handgun you choose, you will be realizing the full velocity and energy potential of this wonderful little round. In .22 automatics, I have found that one of the bottom-of-the-line, but nonetheless high-quality, four-inch models are first rate for the trail. These are typified by the Colt Huntsman, the High Standard Sport King. Ruger’s Standard Model, and others. The Walther PP and PPK/S .22s are excellent, but a bit expensive. The Star Model FM and FRS are among the best small .22s. Imported from Spain by Garcia, they frequently need a little trigger smithing.
Most of these rimfires have fixed sights, with a rear sight adjustable for windage only. Some don’t shoot to the same point of aim with all brands of ammunition. It is no real chore to drift the rear sight to one side or the other, then file off or have a gunsmith add on metal to the front sight blade until your group is centered for your brand of ammunition and your eyes. After that stay with the same make of cartridges when possible.
Adjustable sights are great for this purpose, but I have found that once I get a .22 properly sighted-in. I never touch the sight adjustments again. And fixed sights will stand up under more rugged use than adjustable types.
The selection of .22 LR revolvers grows wider. Perhaps the epitome of the trail gun is the beautifully made little Smith & Wesson Model 34 .22/32 Kit Gun (the “32” indicating that the gun is built on the .32 frame). This fine revolver has been around in one form or another since 1935 and is now offered with adjustable sights, and round or square butts. Its name, .22/32 Kit Gun is copyrighted, else I would have used the term “kit gun” here instead of the less descriptive “trail gun.”
This 24 ½ -ounce beauty is as accurate as any shooter can hold it and manifests all of the Smith & Wesson refinements. For my own use, I prefer the slightly larger square-butt model, with four-inch barrel for steadier holding.
I once spent a winter with a two-inch model housed in the pocket of my Levi overalls. Pretty as it was, I couldn’t hit well with its short sight radius unless I shot from a rest, and later got rid of it. The four-incher is a bit light, too, but markedly easier to score with.
This S&W is also available with a 3 ½ inch barrel on an aluminum-alloy frame, weighing only 14 ½ ounces. In .22 LR it is known as the Model 43 .22/32 Airweight.
Smith & Wesson has another fine .22 revolver, the extremely popular K-22 Masterpiece. Extremely accurate, it reaches what I consider the practical limit in bulk and weight for a trail gun: 11 1/8 inches overall and 39 ounces in the six-inch model. A four-incher and a 8 3/8-incher are also available. Identical revolvers are made by S&W in .38 Special, and formerly a .32 S&W Long version was offered in six-inch barrel only. Both the 3 ½-inch (all steel) Kit Gun and the K-22 are also made in .22 Magnum rimfire.
Ruger offers its popular Single-Six and Super Single-Six single-action revolvers in .22 LR, with an extra .22 MRF cylinder. The fixed-sight Single-Six has a rear blade dovetailed into its topstrap, which can be drifted for windage adjustment.. The Super model comes fitted with a ramped front blade and full click-adjustable rear.
The Ruger Bearcat, a tiny single-action .22 on an aluminum frame, was discontinued a few years back and replaced with the same gun, but with a steel frame. This was a step in the right direction, but the gun was still so diminutive that it was extremely difficult to hold steady. A thick topstrap and adjustable sights might have made up the difference, but we’ll never know. The Ruger Bearcat has gone the way of the Stutz.
High Standard continues with its line of double-action Sentinel .22s. these are basically the same, proven revolver internally, with various external cosmetic changes on some models. I tested a Sentinel .22 Magnum a couple of years ago and it shot extremely well. A new, adjustable-sighted model has been added to the line. It’s called the Camper; we’ll report on it later.
Colt makes three .22 revolvers. One is the double-action Diamondback. Simply a .22 version of the .38 Special adding paraphernalia of the larger .357 Python—ventilated rib barrel, underbarrel extractor housing, wide topstrap, adjustable Elliason sight, wide hammer spur, and overly bulky target stocks, which I believe can be replaced by smaller service stocks. It is basically a gussied-up Police Positive Special and somewhat unnecessarily heavy for its size, but still a fine, small companion. It is also available as a 2 ½ -incher.
You seldom see them, but the lightweight, fixed-sight Cobra has been made in .22 LR caliber in both two- and four-inch lengths. It’s a good trail piece.
The two beautiful Colt SA .22s, like the Rugers, are available with both .22 LR and magnum cylinders and 4 3/8-, 6-, and 7 ½ -inch barrels. All have the good looks and feel of the great Single Action Army, in scaled-down form, and are very fine single actions.
Of the two, I prefer the New Frontier model with its adjustable sights. The Peacemaker is fine if it shoots center for you, but if not, windage adjustment can only be accomplished by widening the rear-sight notch, which is a slot in the top of the frame, or by turning the barrel to move the front sight. Either method is tricky and best done experts.
Charter Arms has a nice little gun in its .22 Pathfinder. A three-inch six shot takeoff on the snubbie Charter Undercover .38, it looks and acts just like a trail gun should.
The .22 Magnum has a lot more muscle than the .22 Long Rifle cartridge throwing a 40-grain bullet from a six-inch revolver at 1550 fps. It was originally made in hollowpoint only and tore hell out of edible small game. It is now put up by both Winchester-Western and Omark-CCI in solid form as well, which makes it a more reasonable meat getter. Omark-CCI also markets a potent little shot cartridge in this young caliber.
I like the .22 Magnum, finding that it shoots more accurately than the very accurate .22 Long Rifle in a couple of my convertible revolvers. But it costs almost $4 per box, as opposed to about $1.50 or less for Long Rifles. That’s a pretty stiff price to pay for an extra 300 fps.
Centerfire trail guns are interesting, mainly because they are more authoritative than the .22 Long Rifle and because they usually lead you into handloading.
Many shooters think of the .32 S&W Long (also known as the .32 Colt New Police) as an impotent self-defense cartridge used in small pocket revolvers. And so it is, when factory loaded. What shooters may not savvy is that for a long time it vied with the .38 Special as top choice for a centerfire competition target round and that it is inherently very accurate. Factory ammo comes with a 98-grain, roundnose, lead bullet at 705 fps—a poor small-game load.
Handloading redeems the .32 Long. In strong guns of modern steel, it is a great, smooth-shooting number on all small game when put together with cast bullets. It has been some time since I’ve loaded this shell, but my old notes indicate good results with the cast Lyman No. 313226 96-grain bullet and the No. 31133 105-grain HP, both over four grains of Unique, giving around 1000 fps velocity.
These are heavy loads and should only be fired in late, top-quality Smith, Colt, and Charter Arms revolvers. My choice would be the four-inch revolvers from Colt in the Police Positive, Police Positive Special, and Cobra, all discontinued. Smith & Wesson still makes the Models 30 and 31 for this round. They are a bit on the light side at about 18 ounces, so these heavy loads should be worked up to.
The .32-20 is a better game cartridge than the .32 Long but gun manufacturers no longer produce it. Yet, enough of these revolvers were manufactured that you can still find them in excellent condition. It’s an outstanding performer on animals up to the size of coyotes. Colt made the .32-20 in the Single Action Army, the double-action Army Special, the Police Positive Special, and the PPS Target. The first two are heavy for light trail use, the last a collector’s item, so try to find a Police Positive Special.
With one of the latter as his sole armament, a friend of mine kept himself in table meat for a number of years in Alaska. His table fare included moose meat, but I won’t hazard a guess as to how he bagged it.
Smith & Wesson produced the .32-20 in the Military & Police model, its smaller chambering making it somewhat heavier than the same gun in .38 Special. The .32-20 factory load is a good one, throwing a 100-grain bluntnosed lead or JSP bullet at 1030 fps. Which is considerably flatter than the .38 Special.
Factory .32-20s sell for about $10 to $12 per box, so you’ll probably want to handload You can use either of the Lyman slugs listed here for the .32 S&W Long, cast hard and sized .311, in .32-20. Over 5.5 grains of Unique, they will give you approximately 1150 fps and perhaps some barrel leading.
RCBS Inc. (Box 1919, Oroville, Calif. 95965I) indicates a fine .32-20 gascheck bullet in its new lineup of molds. It is a flatfaced, rounded, gascheck slug, weighing 115 grains when cast from my metal. It has a crimping groove and a front driving band that should enhance it performances considerably.
Loading either of these .32s is uncomplicated. In spite of the fact that the .32-20 case has a slight taper, full-length sizing does not seem to shorten case life appreciably. It is one of my favorite cartridges.
This leads us to the largest, and in some ways the best, of light trail gun calibers. No lengthy description is needed for the .38 Special. It is the most reloaded centerfire cartridge. Its accuracy is undisputed. Loaded ammo, brass, and components are available everywhere. It comes in countless forms and serves many purposes.
To serve me as a trail gun, I ask only that its host revolver be accurate, light, and have a barrel of about four inches. The Cobras and Police Positive Specials are outstanding. Some of my friends have mounted the steel colt PPS with a ramp front sight and the S&W Micrometer Kit Gun rear sight to make sort of a stripped-down Diamondback. The result was worth the effort.
I can live with the Smith K-38 combat Masterpiece, but like its .22 version, it is reaching the outer limits of size and weight. Better a slim-barreled Model 10. If Smith made the Chief’s Special with a four-inch barrel, I would buy one.
Charter Arms has a new, six-shot, four-inch, lightweight .38 Special called the Police Bulldog .38 Special. In spite of its official-sounding title, its good sights and overall compactness make it close to the ideal in .38 Special trail-gun conformation.
As for ammunition, the choice is simple and obvious. The factory full wadcutter and semiwadcutter loads are good skilled game loads. If you want to load your own, there are literally hundreds of suitable recipes in the various loading manuals. One piece of advice: Don’t try to make a magnum out of your trail gun. You don’t need it.
I believe that the two best centerfire automatics for the job are the lightweight Colt Commander and the German P-08 that we all still call the Luger, both in 9mm caliber. The latter is highly accurate, but brings collector’s prices, so you may want to leave it at home. The Commander is light, compact, and reliable. It sometimes needs a bit of tuning to tighten up its groups, but it’s a pleasure to tote around.
For the trail, I’d push for the use of FMJ or solid, hard-cast handloads for these flat-shooting, deep- penetrating autoloaders. Properly placed, these bullets will do the jobs that you’ll likely take on during those days you didn’t plan to shoot, anyway.
I haven’t scrutinized these pages, searching out clichés. Inevitably I’d find a covey of them. Anything that’s done over and over again eventually becomes a cliché; frequently it even finds itself accepted into Webster’s dictionary.
And I’m going to be using my trail guns over, and over, and over……….
Note: All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the highest loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.
By Skeeter Skelton
Shooting Times Magazine
January 1977
Our Handgun Editor defines a trail gun as one that, with 50 rounds of ammo, will make a package small and light enough that you are unaware of its presence until you need it. Included are a host of .22s, the .32-20, .32 Long and probably best of the lot—the .38 Special.
A GUN WRITER—after he’s penned a few hundred articles-lives in a world of clichés. Alert though he may be, and they penetrate the net and bed down with his manuscripts, speckling his copy with oldies such as “handfilling grips,” “plunking down your hard-earned dollars,” “won’t gather dust on your dealer’s shelves,” “tack-driving accuracy,” homegrown ammo,” “wheelgun,” “slabsided automatics,” “tube (barrel),” “pill (bullet),” “cornshucker (semiautomatic), “woods loafer,” “woods bum….” The list is without end.
And before you conclude that I am pointing the accusing finger at my fellow gun scribes, I confess that I wallow in mutual sin with them. I once rather smugly told Alex Bartimo, ST’s editor, that the word “however” was the most meaningless and useless crutch in the English language. I solemnly informed Bart that I never used it. Since that announcement, I have, in rereading some of my past articles, noted about six or eight “howevers” in every piece I’ve had published. Surely my resolve is stronger than that. Bart must be sticking in odd “however” or two to help retain my identity as a hack.
Let’s concern ourselves with yet another time-polished, nebulous term, “trail gun.” As a handgun man, I have a rather clear mental image of what a trail gun is. It is a handgun that you carry when you venture afield without the specific purpose of shooting anything. If you carry a long-barreled magnum revolver, you are likely hunting some sort of game. If the handgun on the car seat is a bull-barrel revolver or heavily frilled auto pistol, you’re heading for the pistol range for a bit of target work. When you select a snubnose .38 or a chopped and channeled .45, you ordinarily do so with personal defense in mind.
Earlier, I used the words “woods loafer” in a deprecatory way, yet I guess that I am one. Ambling along a dim trail in the pines, or beside a mossy creed in the bottoms, easy jogging a good horse through the brush, or simply and slowly scouting next fall’s hunting country in my old pickup—these are my favorite days. I don’t like to complicate them with a lot of hard work.
I travel light. I carry a handgun on these outings and prefer that it, too, be light, with no heavy harnesses, no extra-long barrel, no deer-sized cartridges, and no oversized grips to knock against gateposts or vehicle doors.
My idea of a trail gun is a handgun that, with 50 rounds of ammunition, will make a package small and light enough that you are unaware of its presence until you need it. It adds practically nothing to the contents of a backpack or to the saddlebags of horseman or cyclist. Worn in a neat holster on the trouser belt, it lies flat and doesn’t sag your pants. It also looks at home in a fishing box.
Being small and feathery, my trail gun is of necessity chambered for a small-caliber cartridge. For the purposes outlined, I suggest the .22 Long Rifle, .22 Magnum, .32 S&W Long, .32-20 or .38 Special. Although I seldom carry a 9mm automatic on the trail, it would qualify in certain guns for those who like the auto pistol.
The odds-on caliber for the man who doesn’t handload, and maybe even for the one who does, is the .22 Long Rifle. This famous cartridge has been in continuous production since the 1880’s and millions are manufactured in the U.S. each day. It is probably our most highly developed cartridge and certainly one of our most accurate. It cannot be reloaded, yet compensates for this by being extremely inexpensive.
The .22 LR normally comes with an outside-lubricated 40-grain solid or 37-grain hollowpoint lead bullet. The latter is a very effective small-game load out to 50 and perhaps 75 yards, depending on the skill of the shooter. The HP cavities on commonly used .22 Long Rifles are quite deep and open rather rapidly, especially at close range.
Winchester-Western has marketed a new game bullet for this cartridge. Called the “Dynapoint,” it was extensively tested, I’m told, on Australian hares before it went into production. Dissecting a couple of these bullets, I found that their HP cavity was merely a dimple, yet found them singularly effective on rabbit-sized game, with a chronographed the Dynapoint, but its recoil and muzzle blast do not suggest it to be of higher velocity than other high-speed .22 LR ammo.
While we are on the subject of velocity, it might interest trailgunners to know that, on the average, a six-inch barrel .22 LR revolver expels its bullet at something over 1200 fps—only about 100 fps less velocity than from the usual .22 rifle. Further, I have found in a couple of brief tests that short-barreled .22 auto pistols, such as the tiny Walther PPK/S .22, register only about 50 fps lower on the chronograph than six-inch revolvers.
Thus, no matter what .22 LR handgun you choose, you will be realizing the full velocity and energy potential of this wonderful little round. In .22 automatics, I have found that one of the bottom-of-the-line, but nonetheless high-quality, four-inch models are first rate for the trail. These are typified by the Colt Huntsman, the High Standard Sport King. Ruger’s Standard Model, and others. The Walther PP and PPK/S .22s are excellent, but a bit expensive. The Star Model FM and FRS are among the best small .22s. Imported from Spain by Garcia, they frequently need a little trigger smithing.
Most of these rimfires have fixed sights, with a rear sight adjustable for windage only. Some don’t shoot to the same point of aim with all brands of ammunition. It is no real chore to drift the rear sight to one side or the other, then file off or have a gunsmith add on metal to the front sight blade until your group is centered for your brand of ammunition and your eyes. After that stay with the same make of cartridges when possible.
Adjustable sights are great for this purpose, but I have found that once I get a .22 properly sighted-in. I never touch the sight adjustments again. And fixed sights will stand up under more rugged use than adjustable types.
The selection of .22 LR revolvers grows wider. Perhaps the epitome of the trail gun is the beautifully made little Smith & Wesson Model 34 .22/32 Kit Gun (the “32” indicating that the gun is built on the .32 frame). This fine revolver has been around in one form or another since 1935 and is now offered with adjustable sights, and round or square butts. Its name, .22/32 Kit Gun is copyrighted, else I would have used the term “kit gun” here instead of the less descriptive “trail gun.”
This 24 ½ -ounce beauty is as accurate as any shooter can hold it and manifests all of the Smith & Wesson refinements. For my own use, I prefer the slightly larger square-butt model, with four-inch barrel for steadier holding.
I once spent a winter with a two-inch model housed in the pocket of my Levi overalls. Pretty as it was, I couldn’t hit well with its short sight radius unless I shot from a rest, and later got rid of it. The four-incher is a bit light, too, but markedly easier to score with.
This S&W is also available with a 3 ½ inch barrel on an aluminum-alloy frame, weighing only 14 ½ ounces. In .22 LR it is known as the Model 43 .22/32 Airweight.
Smith & Wesson has another fine .22 revolver, the extremely popular K-22 Masterpiece. Extremely accurate, it reaches what I consider the practical limit in bulk and weight for a trail gun: 11 1/8 inches overall and 39 ounces in the six-inch model. A four-incher and a 8 3/8-incher are also available. Identical revolvers are made by S&W in .38 Special, and formerly a .32 S&W Long version was offered in six-inch barrel only. Both the 3 ½-inch (all steel) Kit Gun and the K-22 are also made in .22 Magnum rimfire.
Ruger offers its popular Single-Six and Super Single-Six single-action revolvers in .22 LR, with an extra .22 MRF cylinder. The fixed-sight Single-Six has a rear blade dovetailed into its topstrap, which can be drifted for windage adjustment.. The Super model comes fitted with a ramped front blade and full click-adjustable rear.
The Ruger Bearcat, a tiny single-action .22 on an aluminum frame, was discontinued a few years back and replaced with the same gun, but with a steel frame. This was a step in the right direction, but the gun was still so diminutive that it was extremely difficult to hold steady. A thick topstrap and adjustable sights might have made up the difference, but we’ll never know. The Ruger Bearcat has gone the way of the Stutz.
High Standard continues with its line of double-action Sentinel .22s. these are basically the same, proven revolver internally, with various external cosmetic changes on some models. I tested a Sentinel .22 Magnum a couple of years ago and it shot extremely well. A new, adjustable-sighted model has been added to the line. It’s called the Camper; we’ll report on it later.
Colt makes three .22 revolvers. One is the double-action Diamondback. Simply a .22 version of the .38 Special adding paraphernalia of the larger .357 Python—ventilated rib barrel, underbarrel extractor housing, wide topstrap, adjustable Elliason sight, wide hammer spur, and overly bulky target stocks, which I believe can be replaced by smaller service stocks. It is basically a gussied-up Police Positive Special and somewhat unnecessarily heavy for its size, but still a fine, small companion. It is also available as a 2 ½ -incher.
You seldom see them, but the lightweight, fixed-sight Cobra has been made in .22 LR caliber in both two- and four-inch lengths. It’s a good trail piece.
The two beautiful Colt SA .22s, like the Rugers, are available with both .22 LR and magnum cylinders and 4 3/8-, 6-, and 7 ½ -inch barrels. All have the good looks and feel of the great Single Action Army, in scaled-down form, and are very fine single actions.
Of the two, I prefer the New Frontier model with its adjustable sights. The Peacemaker is fine if it shoots center for you, but if not, windage adjustment can only be accomplished by widening the rear-sight notch, which is a slot in the top of the frame, or by turning the barrel to move the front sight. Either method is tricky and best done experts.
Charter Arms has a nice little gun in its .22 Pathfinder. A three-inch six shot takeoff on the snubbie Charter Undercover .38, it looks and acts just like a trail gun should.
The .22 Magnum has a lot more muscle than the .22 Long Rifle cartridge throwing a 40-grain bullet from a six-inch revolver at 1550 fps. It was originally made in hollowpoint only and tore hell out of edible small game. It is now put up by both Winchester-Western and Omark-CCI in solid form as well, which makes it a more reasonable meat getter. Omark-CCI also markets a potent little shot cartridge in this young caliber.
I like the .22 Magnum, finding that it shoots more accurately than the very accurate .22 Long Rifle in a couple of my convertible revolvers. But it costs almost $4 per box, as opposed to about $1.50 or less for Long Rifles. That’s a pretty stiff price to pay for an extra 300 fps.
Centerfire trail guns are interesting, mainly because they are more authoritative than the .22 Long Rifle and because they usually lead you into handloading.
Many shooters think of the .32 S&W Long (also known as the .32 Colt New Police) as an impotent self-defense cartridge used in small pocket revolvers. And so it is, when factory loaded. What shooters may not savvy is that for a long time it vied with the .38 Special as top choice for a centerfire competition target round and that it is inherently very accurate. Factory ammo comes with a 98-grain, roundnose, lead bullet at 705 fps—a poor small-game load.
Handloading redeems the .32 Long. In strong guns of modern steel, it is a great, smooth-shooting number on all small game when put together with cast bullets. It has been some time since I’ve loaded this shell, but my old notes indicate good results with the cast Lyman No. 313226 96-grain bullet and the No. 31133 105-grain HP, both over four grains of Unique, giving around 1000 fps velocity.
These are heavy loads and should only be fired in late, top-quality Smith, Colt, and Charter Arms revolvers. My choice would be the four-inch revolvers from Colt in the Police Positive, Police Positive Special, and Cobra, all discontinued. Smith & Wesson still makes the Models 30 and 31 for this round. They are a bit on the light side at about 18 ounces, so these heavy loads should be worked up to.
The .32-20 is a better game cartridge than the .32 Long but gun manufacturers no longer produce it. Yet, enough of these revolvers were manufactured that you can still find them in excellent condition. It’s an outstanding performer on animals up to the size of coyotes. Colt made the .32-20 in the Single Action Army, the double-action Army Special, the Police Positive Special, and the PPS Target. The first two are heavy for light trail use, the last a collector’s item, so try to find a Police Positive Special.
With one of the latter as his sole armament, a friend of mine kept himself in table meat for a number of years in Alaska. His table fare included moose meat, but I won’t hazard a guess as to how he bagged it.
Smith & Wesson produced the .32-20 in the Military & Police model, its smaller chambering making it somewhat heavier than the same gun in .38 Special. The .32-20 factory load is a good one, throwing a 100-grain bluntnosed lead or JSP bullet at 1030 fps. Which is considerably flatter than the .38 Special.
Factory .32-20s sell for about $10 to $12 per box, so you’ll probably want to handload You can use either of the Lyman slugs listed here for the .32 S&W Long, cast hard and sized .311, in .32-20. Over 5.5 grains of Unique, they will give you approximately 1150 fps and perhaps some barrel leading.
RCBS Inc. (Box 1919, Oroville, Calif. 95965I) indicates a fine .32-20 gascheck bullet in its new lineup of molds. It is a flatfaced, rounded, gascheck slug, weighing 115 grains when cast from my metal. It has a crimping groove and a front driving band that should enhance it performances considerably.
Loading either of these .32s is uncomplicated. In spite of the fact that the .32-20 case has a slight taper, full-length sizing does not seem to shorten case life appreciably. It is one of my favorite cartridges.
This leads us to the largest, and in some ways the best, of light trail gun calibers. No lengthy description is needed for the .38 Special. It is the most reloaded centerfire cartridge. Its accuracy is undisputed. Loaded ammo, brass, and components are available everywhere. It comes in countless forms and serves many purposes.
To serve me as a trail gun, I ask only that its host revolver be accurate, light, and have a barrel of about four inches. The Cobras and Police Positive Specials are outstanding. Some of my friends have mounted the steel colt PPS with a ramp front sight and the S&W Micrometer Kit Gun rear sight to make sort of a stripped-down Diamondback. The result was worth the effort.
I can live with the Smith K-38 combat Masterpiece, but like its .22 version, it is reaching the outer limits of size and weight. Better a slim-barreled Model 10. If Smith made the Chief’s Special with a four-inch barrel, I would buy one.
Charter Arms has a new, six-shot, four-inch, lightweight .38 Special called the Police Bulldog .38 Special. In spite of its official-sounding title, its good sights and overall compactness make it close to the ideal in .38 Special trail-gun conformation.
As for ammunition, the choice is simple and obvious. The factory full wadcutter and semiwadcutter loads are good skilled game loads. If you want to load your own, there are literally hundreds of suitable recipes in the various loading manuals. One piece of advice: Don’t try to make a magnum out of your trail gun. You don’t need it.
I believe that the two best centerfire automatics for the job are the lightweight Colt Commander and the German P-08 that we all still call the Luger, both in 9mm caliber. The latter is highly accurate, but brings collector’s prices, so you may want to leave it at home. The Commander is light, compact, and reliable. It sometimes needs a bit of tuning to tighten up its groups, but it’s a pleasure to tote around.
For the trail, I’d push for the use of FMJ or solid, hard-cast handloads for these flat-shooting, deep- penetrating autoloaders. Properly placed, these bullets will do the jobs that you’ll likely take on during those days you didn’t plan to shoot, anyway.
I haven’t scrutinized these pages, searching out clichés. Inevitably I’d find a covey of them. Anything that’s done over and over again eventually becomes a cliché; frequently it even finds itself accepted into Webster’s dictionary.
And I’m going to be using my trail guns over, and over, and over……….
Note: All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the highest loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.
Charter Arms Pathfinder: .22 kit gun extraordinaire
Sometime during the late '80s, I was living on a farm which had, among other features, a small pond that was absolutely overrun with snapping turtles. On more than one occasion, a buddy and I engaged in the recreational pursuit of turtle shooting, where we would stand side by side, each with a revolver and lots of ammo, and shoot at the turtles that kept popping their heads out of the water to see what was going on. This was challenging because their heads didn't present a very large target, and they didn't keep them up very long, either.
I don't remember exactly what revolver I was shooting. It was either a 4" skinny barrel S&W M&P Model 10 (that I wish I still had), or a 2 3/4" Ruger Security Six (that I also wish I still had) but either way, I was shooting .38 Special wadcutter reloads. My buddy was shooting an RG 14 .22LR snubby revolver with whatever loss-leader ammo was cheapest then. Now, it's pretty hard to beat .38 wadcutters for the odd shot at a turtle or water moccasin in the water, but this wasn't like that. This was a matter of shooting as fast and accurately as possible, then reloading as fast as possible, and so on until you run out of ammo. It seemed that my buddy was having just about as much terminal effectiveness on the turtles with his .22, as I was with my .38 which, as you know if you are at all familiar with snapping turtles, wasn't much because although a snubnose .22 will kill a snapper just fine if you hit it in the head, even a 12 gauge slug ain't gonna keep it from diving to the bottom.
The advantage that .22 had though, was the ability to plop down a ten-spot at the hardware store and walk out with 500 rounds of ammo. Handloaded .38 wadcutters didn't cost too much more than that, especially with bullets cast from free wheelweights and Bullseye powder metered out 3 grains at a time, but 500 rounds of that stuff meant spending some time in the barn with the loading equipment. That's all part of the fun, but it tended to give one pause before expending 500 rounds at one turtle-shooting session!
Of course I had a .22 rifle, but that just wouldn't have been the same. I hearkened back to my teenage years and the time I spent shooting turtles, snakes, rabbits and squirrels with a cheap, chrome-plated RG 10 (THE classic "Saturday Night Special", I definitely don't regret getting rid of that piece of junk). That revolver was marked ".22 Short" but .22 Longs fit it perfectly. The .22 Long was the same case as the Long Rifle, and the same 29 grain bullet as the Short. It was probably loaded to the same velocity as the Short, too. What mattered though was that the LR case would fit, though its bullet stuck out the end of the cylinder. So I bought (or filched from my Dad) .22 LR and shortened the bullets slightly to fit; sometimes using a file, sometimes a pair of diagonal wire cutters. The point (no pun intended) of that was not only that I already had .22 LR ammo, and that it was more powerful than the Long and Short stuff, but also that LR ammo was half the price of Shorts and, when you could even find them, Longs. This, of course, was due to the much greater popularity of the LR.
What was amazing was that even such a cheap, snub-nosed revolver, with such doctored ammo, was still capable of hitting a squirrel a goodly part of the time, not to mention sitting rabbits or the head of a snapping turtle.
So it was that, ten years later, I became impressed with my buddy's RG 14. I don't remember what he paid for it, but it was well under $100. It basically addressed the shortcomings of the RG 10: it was chambered for .22 LR (so no bullet filing necessary), had an automatic hammer block safety so you could safely carry it fully loaded, and no junky chrome plating. What was not to love! I had to have my own .22 kit gun!
But if I couldn't have that specific, proven example (and I couldn't; my buddy wouldn't sell it) then I didn't want another RG. A S&W kit gun was out of the question too; they were just too expensive, as were Colts. I wanted one that was decent quality, with a ceiling price of $150. I was really looking for a High Standard Sentinel, as I had fired a few of them and knew several people who owned them, but I figured if I couldn't find one, a Taurus or Rossi would be OK too. H&R still made their revolvers in .22 and .32 then, and the .22 version was $100 new at the local emporium, but the trigger pull on the examples I tried was horrendous, and I had talked to a few people who said they wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn, from inside. I was about to buy one anyway to see for myself, when I stumbled across the perfect candidate; one I was aware of but had simply forgotten about: the Charter Arms Pathfinder!
Actually, I guess it's understandable why I had forgotten about them. New, while not as pricey as a Smith Model 34, they were still out of the range of what I wanted to spend for a .22; used, they were pretty much nonexistent. Much like the aforementioned High Standard Sentinel, the Pathfinder held kind of a cult status, and those who had one generally weren't selling. So when I happened upon a used one for sale, I was smart enough to recognize a good deal and, after some intensive haggling, escaped out the door with it for only $140, tax and all. The ensuing years have been one of those "happily ever after" stories, but with the carcasses of many rabbits, squirrels, snakes etc. thrown in. I had my .22 kit gun, and still do.
That revolver has never failed to amaze me with its accuracy. I'm not the only one saying that either; the famed gun writer Hal Swiggett had a 3" barreled version just like mine, only with a scope mounted, and wrote several articles about the many rabbits, squirrels etc. he killed with it.
Then a couple of days ago, Jerry at Rimfires and Thoreau (who writes quite a bit about .22s anyway, as suggested by the name of his blog) wrote a couple of posts about .22 handguns, especially revolvers, as a primary survival gun. I commented that I think a Ruger Single Six with both cylinders is an ideal, rest-of-your-life foraging gun and Jerry, while agreeing with me, said that he would like to have a double action. He mentioned the Pathfinder as a possible candidate, but said the "jury is out on its durability".
I hastened to lay Jerry's fears to rest, but then I started thinking, why not write an article about it? So here it is. I am officially recommending the Charter Arms Pathfinders.
In researching on the internet, I found that Jeff Quinn at Gunblast.com has not only written two separate articles about the Pathfinder, he actually has Hal Swiggett's original Pathfinder! You can read all about it here and here.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
New Mora knife
This is my new, cheap utility knife. It is not a thing of beauty. Both handle & sheath appear to be (and probably are) made of recycled milk jug plastic, and the back of the blade is rough and unfinished; looking like the edge of a piece of flat stock from Lowe's. That's OK though, because that "flat stock" in this case happens to be famous Swedish Mora knife steel.
It's a very handy size too, and the blade is a little thinner than most Mora knives, which makes it more suitable for all-round use on food etc, whereas the typical Mora is really intended for wood carving.
The best part is that you can get it here for only $7.99. You don't have to buy a Chinese or Pakistani piece of junk to get a knife for less than $10!
If you prefer stainless steel, you can get them that way too. Personally, I prefer the old-fashioned carbon steel for most purposes.
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