Recent content by SlamFire

I had a no dash M686 with the larger firing pin hole. I purchased it new from the local gun store. The occasional primer would cup around the firing pin which caused cylinder rotation issues. I did trade that M686 and $200 for a Python. Wish I had kept my M686 as it was a great revolver. All I...

Is it not horrible to admit your sins to a group which has many who believe that there is a Just World, and that good things happen to good people and bad things things happen to evil people? Ideological and judgmental attitudes really don't help advance a safety culture. It is my opinion that...

Something is seriously wrong in the timing to have firing pin indentations not in the middle of the primer. And yours is on the edges! Empty the revolver, cock the hammer slowly, see where it locks up. Cock the hammer quickly, see where it locks up. I think in one of my books, the author was...

I am finishing a keg of AA#5, it does well in all the pistol calibers that I used Unique. I am going to miss that keg. Universal looks to be a version of Unique. It shot well in my 45 ACP with 230 grain bullets. Only shot one pound, but it appears to closely follow Unique grain for grain. And...

I shot a case of Zero +P LSWC HP 38 Special ammunition through my M66. The bullets were swaged lead hollow points and created large lead rings inside the cylinders. When I tried shooting full power 357 Magnum loads, the cases would form around the lead rings making very difficult to extract...

Dirty Harry could have been using rubber prop guns in some episodes. The Arms and the Man magazine had a long article on rubber Colt Walker's that Clint Eastwood used in several scenes in Josey Wales. Nothing you see in a movie has to be real, just has to look real. Usually action sequences are...

If I had one of these, would that qualify? This 1777 vintage muzzle loading musket had a trap door cartridge conversion, and then was used by a rear echelon German in Belgium.

If you don't plan to shoot it, find one, any one, with a beautiful bluing job. I have two Colt series 80's from the 1980's. Each of them required gunsmith work to operate correctly. Just based on examination of the parts in my Detective Specials, Colts prior to 1970 are the ones to own. It is...

An all original 22 Short M41 would be valuable as collector piece, but who is going to be shooting one in competition? Nobody, as that issue was obviously settled early in the 1960's. As far as an aluminum slide, that had to be a bad idea even 60 years ago. Aluminum has a finite fatigue life...

Replace both the recoil spring, and find a new OEM mainspring. Both of these heavily affect slide speed, and a strong mainspring helps with strong ignition. The slide has to push the hammer down, a weak mainspring creates the condition for excessive slide speeds, same as a weak recoil spring...

Very interesting your experience of forcing cone cracks on M15's, especially the older five screw pistols. Anyone who knows about WW2 era foundry technology knows the steels of the era had a lot of slag, inclusions, and non homogeneity, compared to late 20th century steels. Assuming the steels...

Been a long time since anyone used a M52 in competition. That ammunition could be decades old, if not half centuries old. I think old ammunition with old gunpowder. As gunpowder breaks down it releases NOx, one constituent is NO2, that is nitrogen dioxide, a aggressive oxidizer. When NO2 bumps...

A gunsmith at Clark Guns, who may be their "M41" gunsmith, told me, "new M41's are better made, and made of better materials than old, though not necessarily more accurate or more reliable" He had worked on over 200 M41's and got some running that the S&W Customer shop had worked on, shipped...

Used a typewriter to type my college papers. Still have that portable, found a Royal Deluxe Portable, made 1952, in a thrift store after college. That Royal Deluxe is a great typewriter, used that later when I needed to type. Royal Portable Typewriters Got to say, word processors have...

My bad. Another possibility is the primer caused the blow up. Take a look at Earl Naramore's book : Principles and Practice of Reloading Ammunition. There are five chapters on primers, the characteristic of primers, composition of primers. He also discusses pressure variations due to primers...