New stocks for the Dan Wesson, courtesy of Esmeralda O'Sheehan.

I got out of 1911's for a number of reasons.  This gun seems to address every one of those concerns.

The Dan Wesson company was founded Daniel B. Wesson's grandson.  He left the employ of Smith & Wesson during the Bangor Punta years, and the new company focused on a unique modular revolver design, which was very popular with silhouette shooters.  In the 1990's, the company passed out of the Wesson family's hands, and the focus was shifted to automatics.

I'd heard good things about Dan Wesson's 1911's, and they certainly deserve praise for keeping the 10mm cartridge alive.  It wasn't until a few months ago that I actually had a chance to shoot one, though.

I found myself very impressed.  The gun was accurate, controllable and reliable.  It's also quite unique.

Pictured below are the sad remains of a S&W M&P 340 revolver.  The 340 is a J-Frame chambered in .357 Magnum.  Its frame is an aluminum alloy infused with a small percentage of Scandium, and it weighs in at 12 ounces.

The owner fired six rounds of .38 Special through it without issue. The first shot of .357 blew up the gun. The operator was unharmed, as all of the unpleasantness happened forward of the muzzle.

I've been clearing this up for a lot of people this week.  If you're new to shooting, it's easy to look at the huge variety of ammunition out there and get incredibly confused.  There is nothing wrong with asking, and it's far preferable to blowing up a gun or getting hurt.

Here are a few of the misconceptions I most frequently have to address:

.38 S&W is not the same as .38 Special
.38 Super is not the same as .38 Special
.357SIG is not the same as .357 Magnum
.32 S&W is not the same as .32 ACP (also known as .32 Auto)
7.65 Browning is the same thing as .32 Auto
6.35mm is the same thing as .25 ACP
.45 Colt is not the same as .45 ACP
.45 GAP is not the same as .45 ACP
7.62×39 is not the same as 7.62×54R
7.62×51 is pretty much the same thing as .308
7mm Mauser is not the same as 7mm Remington Magnum is not the same as 7mm Ultra Mag is not the same as 7mm-08 is not the same as 7.5mm Swiss
9mm Largo is not the same as 9mm Luger
9mm Kurtz is not the same as 9mm Luger
9mm Luger is the same as 9mm Parabellum
.38 Short Colt is…wait, where did you find .38 Short Colt?!?

Gun show reloads strike again.  Fortunately, the gun was intact.

This is a casing from a 9mm reload, fired from a Glock 19.  It's a standard-pressure, 115gr FMJ sold in bulk at local gun shows.  What you're looking at is a case-head failure.  This can break a gun really quick.

It can also lead to severe injury.  Saving a few bucks isn't worth taking such risks.

Ever since Taurus started marketing this silly gun, I've been saying something like this would happen:

The gun, a model known as "The Judge," was loaded with bird shot, and Davis took aim at her husband and emptied all five of the weapon's chambers as he fled through the yard, Bonnett said. He was hit in the upper and lower back by two blasts before escaping, Bonnett said.

Connie Davis shot her husband after he admitted to a prior affair.  Full stop.

It doesn't matter that the loads were likely insufficient for causing serious bodily harm.  Ms. Davis leveled a deadly weapon at another human being and pulled the trigger.  That's the salient fact, and it illustrates my problem with the Taurus Judge.

Just a heads-up for anyone applying for a Georgia Firearms License in Cobb County: my recent renewal took fifteen days.  I applied on 09/28 and received it today.  That's eleven business days.

In truth, the license was issued 10/06, so make that six business days.  Mark that as a huge improvement in the four-month wait I endured when I renewed in 2005.

Silly thing still looks like it was printed and laminated by an elemetary-school art class.  Fulton County has started issuing hard plastic licenses that look more professional, and which are far easier to fit in a wallet, but I guess …

Below is a 95gr .380 FMJ. Due to a negligent discharge, it ended up plowing through two plastic rifle cases, a wooden 2×4 bench, two layers of drywall and a chunk of carpeting. Though it was robbed of most of its energy, it still bounced hard enough to cross ~35 feet of a retail sales floor and lightly impact a wall.

Notice that it's still largely intact and quite capable of rending flesh and bone.

When FN Herstal came out with the 5.7×28mm cartridge (and the accompanying Five-seveN pistol) a few years back, there was a bit of hand-wringing in certain circles over its ability to pierce body armor.

Bear in mind, the 5.7mm is really a souped-up .22 WMR, not some >5000 ft/s barnburner.  It's not the first (or only) gun made that'll punch through body armor.  Yet, everyone got their panties in a bunch over it.

Want to know why there isn't an outdoor range anywhere convenient to a metropolitan area? Want to know why even the remote ones keep closing up? Want to know why existing ranges receive such harassment?

Here's your answer:

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This video, filmed at the John's Mountain WMA range in Resaca, was brought to my attention today.  I've witnessed some truly horrid behavior at outdoor ranges, but I assumed that John's Mountain was far enough from the suburbs that it hasn't been subjected to this sort of treatment.

Apparently not.  Besides the shocking number of safety violations, you can see plain vandalism to the property.  This is why we have to drive farther by the year to find a 100-yard range.

Back in the 1990's, I used to see these things at gun shows from time to time, but I didn't think anyone actually bought them. I certainly don't expect to see anyone with a lick of common sense wearing one.  Yet, I saw three of these things this weekend.

I can't emphasize enough what a bad idea they are.

Her name is Barbara, but her friends call her Barbie.  I am not kidding; she told me this herself.  She's in her mid-40's, fake blonde and not very bright.  At some point, someone did Barbie the disservice of telling her she could cruise through life on her looks alone.

Under some circumstances, I could almost pity her.

That is, unless she's waving a loaded .357 Magnum in my face.