Those of us who have been shooting, even for a relatively short time, (should) have discovered that good shooting is entirely dependent upon consistency. One reason why the military is so inextricably wedded to regimentation is that it enforces the notion of consistency—dependable res
As most of you know I recently lucked my way into a 1979-vintage Colt Commander that has not been subjected to the customizer’s knife. Of course, I will change that. I plan to give it a full treatment to enhance the good points of the 1911 platform while minimizing any less-than-stell
Recently I did an “A Look Back” retrospective on the Smith & Wesson J-frame series of revolvers for AmericanRifleman.org (http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2015/8/10/a-look-back-at-the-smith-wesson-j-frames/), and it sort of got me wool gathering. I bought my first J-frame,
Were I more disciplined like Jim Wilson or Richard Mann, this little admonition would not be necessary. But I have learned that I am not all that unique, so if I screw up like I’m about to divulge, maybe you do too. Oh hell, let’s just get it out: Sometimes I get a bit lackadaisical w
Everything old is new again. And, as always, there are those who viciously fight for what is old and new. I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that many people just enjoy being contrary, and the anonymity of the Internet makes that unfortunate characteristic even more prevalent tha
One of the things old flatulents like me love to do is bore the hell out of younger folks with what they should—and sometimes shouldn’t—do. The reason we like to do this is because we want to help those younger folks not make the same mistakes we have made. As I look back on my life,
At the cusp of the 20th century the Wild West had largely been won. Smokeless powder was muscling black powder out of many cartridges, and the trend for shooters was toward smaller, lighter bullets at relatively high velocity. Trigger-cocking revolvers—a.k.a. double actions—had been i
The birth of the 20th century provided a seminal moment for Smith & Wesson. In 1899 the company introduced its .38 Hand Ejector Military & Police Model revolver, which became the basis for as much as half of the company’s product line. The new frame size—deemed the K-frame—ins
Although the number may be diminishing, there still remains a fair number of us old coots that are—oh Hell, let’s just get it out in the open—Smith & Wesson snobs. We long for the day when barrels were pinned to the frame, the chambers in the cylinders were recessed to completely
