Month: March 2012

Categories
Rifles

Ruger 10/22 Takedown Rifle

Ruger 10/22 Takedown

The Ruger 10/22 Takedown is a new rifle that allows the shooter to break it down for compact storage with a quick twist of the barrel.  Take down rifles are simply long guns that are designed to easily come apart and reassemble for compact storage and easy transportation.

Take down .22LR rifles like the AR-7 have been popular with backpackers, outdoorsmen and preppers for a long time.  Ruger is now throwing their extremely popular 10/22 into the take down mix.

On the new 10/22, disassembly takes mere moments, and reassembly is even easier.  Watch the videos below to see how easy it is in action.

The new 10/22 is weather resistant with a synthetic stock and stainless barrel.  It comes with a black backpack (with molle webbing, of course) that can hold the Takedown and extra magazines and accessories. This rifle may wind up being the perfect backpacking gun for many people.

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Categories
Ammunition

Buffalo Bore .38 Special Short-Barrel Ammo

Buffalo Bore Short Barrel 38

Buffalo BoreBuffalo Bore Short Barrel 38 is loading .38 Special ammo specifically for short-barreled guns.  The load uses a Barnes 110 grain TAC-XP bullet, which is an all-copper bullet.  The ammo uses brass cases and a low-flash powder.

Until recently, snubnose revolver shooters made do with standard ammunition and the knowledge that the ammo would not be as effective as if it was shot out of a longer barrel handgun.  The amount of velocity loss varied with the load and the firearm, but generally, it has been understood that short-barreled guns are less potent than longer ones.

There are probably others out there, but the 135 grain Speer Gold Dot load for the .38 Special was the first short-barrel load to really get traction with the public.  The load uses a medium-to-heavy weight bullet for the cartridge (most bullet weights run 110 grain, 125 grain or 158 grain in .38 Special) and a special powder to maximize velocity out of short-barreled guns.  From what I hear the load has been effective “on the street.”

The load was developed by Speer for the New York City Police Department, and it has been adopted by many other law enforcement agencies as the back-up gun ammo of choice. The “halo effect” of police agency use often drives sales in the commercial market, and I suspect that is one of the reasons the Speer load has been popular.

The Buffalo Bore uses a lighter bullet than the Speer load.  In-house testing by Buffalo Bore shows their load makes for more than 1100 fps out of 2″ Smith & Wesson revolvers (1104 fps with a model 340 and 1119 fps with a model 60).  Moving up to 3″ barreled revolvers moves the velocity north of 1200 fps (1202 with a Ruger SP101 and 1210 with a S&W model 66).

By way of comparison, Ballistics by the Inch tested the Speer load and obtained 897 fps from a Smith & Wesson 642 (1.875″ barrel) and 928 fps from a Colt Detective Special (3″) barrel.  Keep in mind that the Buffalo Bore tests and BBTI tests cannot be directly compared, as they were not controlled environments, etc.  But for the sake of discussion, they are interesting.

The Buffalo Bore load is +P rated, and the company states the bullets are crimped, so shooting out of the ultra-lightweight revolvers should not be a problem.  Buffalo Bore also noted very tight groups with the load (check out their website for more information.)

Categories
Reloading

Portable Reloading

Lee Loader

Lee LoaderReloading cartridges in the field is something that has been done by hunters and partisans for as long as we have had firearms.  Modern soldiers and sportsmen have access to seemingly unlimited supplies of factory loaded ammunition, but handloading ammo while in the field is still a great skill to learn.  You never know when the zombies may show up, or the Cubans paratroop into your town (see: Red Dawn).

For handloading while on the move, there are two kits made by Lee Precision that fit the bill.  They both work, and both are inexpensive.

The first option is the Lee Loader.   The Lee Loader is a simple kit that contains everything you need to reload a single caliber (minus the components: powder, primer, bullet, brass).  This kit allows you to use a hammer, rock or another heavy object to decap, resize, seat a new primer, add the powder and seat a bullet in about 30 seconds.

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Categories
Handguns

Arsenal AF2011-A1: Double Barrel 1911

Arsenal AR2011-A1

Arsenal AF2011 A1 pictures

In the greatest case of “Because we can” manufacturing, Arsenal Firearms introduced the AF2011-A1 pistol.  The AF2011-A1 is a double-barrel 1911 pistol complete with dual triggers and dual magazines.

Giving wide body new meaning, this gun spits two .45 bullets down range with each press of the dual triggers.  Dual ejection ports sling brass in opposite directions.

Major props to Arsenal for developing the gun.  I can’t imagine that working out the physics of this pistol was easy.  I’m certain more than just welding two 1911’s together takes place to make this a viable platform.

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