I was once was shot in the finger from my CO2 gun (480 fps) from point blank range. it pierced the skin. first i tryed to dig it out with a screw driver, because it was the first thing I saw. That failed pretty miserably. I ended up having to squeeze it out. It wasnt fun. Ill spare you the details on how it happened.

 

But that's the best part, so spill it!

 

In high school a buddy of mine was buying a new "deer rifle." He came home with a 300 Win Mag. We asked him if he was going to be shooting at buffalo or deer. He said he boughta gun that fired such a large roundso that branches and twigs would not deflect the bullet as easily. Haha! I still think he was compensating for something if you know what I mean.
The crazy thing is, they guy had shoulder surgery less than a year before he got the thing! I don't remember exactly what they did, but I know his shoulder would pop out of place all the time because of football. That was the same shoulder he used to shoot with too. He said it never bothered him. But then again, he knew what to expect!

Oh yeah...Tony, I think I am putting that Taurus you posted on my "Guns Wanted" list. Especially after what you said about titanium not rusting. I need to get my wife a piece she can shoot well. My .45 is a little much for her. Plus I think I need to get her something that she can just "pull the trigger" instead of having to either chamber a round via the slide, or **** the hammer back. It's a single action - I keep one in the chamber, but the hammer stays down so I have to **** it if I want to shoot. that way I can have 8 rounds of .45 ammo instead of 7. 7 in the clip and one in the hole. I keep it loaded with federal premium hollow points.

 

Essentially the 308 and 300 bullets are the same, but of course the size of the 300casinggives any particular size bulletmuch more velocity than the 308. With a heavy bullet, that 300 had an uncomfortable recoil, too. It did not take me long to get sick of the bluderbuss and sell it to another idiot like myself.
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The 85 is a good choice for anyone, but it's really perfect for women. They can put it in a small bag or purse, or they can carry it in theother ways I mentioned - pocket or waistband. Ankle holster is also a good option, but in the Southern US how many people are going to be walking around in long slacks?

Taurus revolvers are known for their very smooth actions and reliable, predictable release point, even in slow double action. The 85 is a prime example of that action. In single action,trigger pull and releaseareabout as good as a S&W that has had a trigger job. You just have tothink "shoot", and it shoots. Because of this, it is an extremely accurate gun in SA, evenwith its2" barrel.

When my wife and I started shooting again (her first time evershooting - me a re-start), she rented a nice large, heavy.22 S&W revolver and we put in it the cheapest, weakest ammo we could find.From the first shot she absolutely loved shooting. I tried firing the thing a couple of times and I could barely feel the recoil. It was like a cap gun!But it was avery very easy gun for a beginnerto shoot. No negatives whatsoever, and that experience sold her on the fun of shooting, so I'd recommend that method for breaking in any new handgun shooter. (Put a desert eagle in a novice's hand and their first shotmay very wellbe their last shot - particularly if that person is a woman.)

Soonafter we attended aCCW training course at a gun show, and within a few weeks we both had our CCW permits.

Then we bought the 85 and later the 101. We also bought an 8-round,.22 long rifle, S&W Model 317 Airlight.

Although I purchased it for use only the range, this is the gun my wife chose tocarry most of the time. It is even smaller and lighterthan the 85 - only 10 oz, empty. It looks and feels like a toy, but when you load hi performance Yellow Jacket or CCI mini mag, it packs a fair bit of whallop. She was very comfortable carrying that little gun as she did her daily walk around the park.

Since a 2" snub nose is a 2" snub nose, many times we'd go to the range and shoot only the 22. We'd buy a brick of 500 roundsand just blam away for an hour or so. This was a very cheap way to keep in good shooting form. (BTW, you would not believe how dirty that gun would be after firing 500 rounds of rimfire ammo! It would take me a good hour to clean the thing properly.)

She could fire the 85 with no problem, but she did not find it as fun as the 22. She fired the 101 with 357 in it only a couple of times, and she found that unpleasant. I, onthe other hand, loved it. The first time I fireda 101,I knew I'd have to buy one. It has to be shot to be believed.

(BTW, that relatively cheap"brake-cleaner spray" that one buys to spray drum and diskbrakes prior to working on them,is the perfectthingto removecleaning residue, or dirty lubricant of all kinds,from guns. It is completely volitile and leaves behind abosolutely no residue whatsoever. Use it in a well-ventilated area.Outside is best. After cleaning our guns, I'd take them outside and give them a good final going over withbrake cleaner. Then they'd look perfect, and their actions would beready for a couple of drops of light oil.)

 

You are absolutely correct, the 300 win mag and 308 have the same size neck on the casing so their bullets are interchangeable.... the 300 casing though is much larger (of course)... My family has been hand re-loading our rounds since before I started hunting and IMO that's the best way to do it... I used to load my rounds just a few grains apart then go out shooting to see what rounds were the most accurate, it's amazing what difference a little powder makes...

 

I was such a gun nut in my youth that I thought I'd get into reloading at some point.As you well know, if you're going to shoot a lot, then reloading is the way to go.

But my circumstances changed and shootingwas something thatI could not sustain beyond my very early 20's.

When my wife and Ibought a winter home in Florida, that wasmy opportunity to get back into it. Then we had grand children and, because we wanted to participate as much as possiblein their lives, we decided to sell our winter home and stay close to home and grandchildren.

So now once again, because we live in Canada, shooting is not part of our lives. We could go to a local range to shoot, but we'd have to rent there and buy ammo there and that would be very expensive.I'm too tight for that.Also, the attitudes andatmospherehere arecompletely different than what we experienced in Florida. Too bad, because I still have afondness for firearms - revolvers in particular. Poor me.

 

I love my Ruger 22/45. It is almost as heavy as the .45 and it is comparable in balance (hence the name 22/45). The bull barrel makes it extremely accurate. However, I need to buy a .22 cleaning kit asap. I haven't ever cleaned it (I've only shot about 100 rounds or so through it though) and I know I need to soon.
Thanks for the brake cleaner suggestion. i have several cans of that stuff in the garage and I never thought to use it for that.

 

"Semi-autos are more difficult to clean than revolvers and, therefore, most semi owners put off cleaning their guns.That's OK fora range gun, buta bad thing for a carry gun.

Used a lot, semis are just an overall PIA compared to the comfort, reliability, ease-of-maintenance and peace of mind of the time-proven revolver design. The one and, imo, only advantage of a semi is a high-capacity magazine, and even that is almost certainlyuseless for carry."


I have to disagree with this....I shoot my S&W sigma series 40 pretty regularly because I live in the country and can shoot inthe back yard....For me it's a part of being a gun owner...I clean it right when i get back inside.
I haveshot enough kinds of ammo through it to know what it likes and what it doesnt. That doesnt mean that I have to buy the expensive stuff, I buy theWinchester shells that wal-mart sells....The only times it has ever jammed were with Fiocci bullets that were given to me free with the purchase of the gun. And one other time when aWinchestershell had been improperly loaded and made itthrough inspections....The actual bullet was pushed into the jacket farther than it should have been and it wouldnt load...now I just check them before I load them, unless im just gonna blast them off at targets...

I can see reason to believe the high-capacity is nearly useless...If you cant hit what you're shooting at, then you dont need a gun..get some mace or a taser..

THe only reason I dont carry the gun on my person is because its too big to wear on my hip without scaring mothers and children and looking like a paranoid lunatic...I dont like revolvers justbecause the time it takes to reload unless you carry around a big wad of the pre-loaded quick reload things...I'd rather have a flat mag that can go right in my pocket along with the gun...

my .02

 

I should add that none of our guns had wood grips. I say this because although the cleanerdidnot harm therubber grips on our guns,I would not reccomend spraying iton any wood surface that has avarnish or polyurethane finish. I'm also not sure what it would do to synthetic stocks or parts, either, souse it only on themetal parts of the gun.

 

Please note that I restricted what I said about semis to concealed carry only.

Certainly the vast majoritylaw enforcementagencies agree that thesemi-auto is the way to go, but again, those are not for concealed carry. Revolvers have gone the way of the dinosaur as far asthey are concerned, so those that claim thatfull-size revolvers are stillabetterchoice than semis will be hard-pressed to support their position.

The semi auto is certainlymore glamourous than a revolver, too. No doubt about it.

I did not mean to imply that every semi user didn't clean his gun, but the vast majority of folks that I shot with did not. Since that practise was widespread compared to revolver users, I had to conclude thatcleaning semiswas simply too much trouble to do frequently (unless averagesemi owners are inherently dirtier or lazier than averagerevolver owners). As a result, there was a lot of cursing at the range when those guns did not operate as they were supposed to. The few folks who did not clean their revolvers had much better results.

Even you admit that because of its sizeyour weapon isnot suitable for concealed carry, and, also,that a semi user had better choose his ammunition very carefully.Iagree with you 100% on the ammo, and that's part of the reason why I said what I said.

Then there's the big issue of exactly how to grip a semi as it is shot. As long as one does it right, likely there will be a good re-load, but there's always that uncertainty - at least in my own mind.

A small revolver has a sure-fire warranty - regardless of what ammo you put in it. And unless one intends toact as theinsurance policy for drug dealers, I doubt if anyone will ever need more shots for self-protectionthan are availble in a single cylinder. I never carried spare ammo, except when going to the range.

On a side note, I have been at the range on several occassionswhenlocalLEOs werepreparing fortheir yearly sidearmre-certification. I fireda few of theirweapons. Because of their ridiculouslyheavy trigger pulls, they were difficult for meto use accurately, and I was not alone.(After I fired those guns, I no longerwondered whyNYC's finest need 40 or 50 shots to bring down one stationaryperson who's brandishing a wallet or asubmarine sandwich.) Yes, witnessing the resultsof those people shooting was a real eye-opener. The old expression "they couldn't hit the side of a barn" came to mind immediately.

I had some of them try our 85 and 101.Even though our guns were short-barrel, they allshot much straighter with them, especially insingle-action mode. After shooting a few shots, most said that they would be much happier if they could trade in their high-tech guns for an old-fashionedrevolver. It's too bad the system cannot provide them with that option.