When it comes to guns, I'm not much of a "collector."  Sure, it's nice to have one in fine cosmetic shape, but I don't mind a bit of character, especially in one that shoots this well.  Box and papers don't mean much to me, and I'd sooner have a working gun than one I'm tempted to stow away in the safe.

As K-38's go, this one wouldn't seem too special at first.  It shipped in 1975, the same year Maggie Thatcher ascended to power and Francisco Franco stepped down.  Minnie Riperton was big in the charts, and Jimmie Hoffa stopped filing tax returns.

At that point, the Model 15 was still standard-issue in the United States Air Force, as well as several police departments.  This specimen was issued to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

The department in question phased the 15 out around 1985 in favor of the Beretta 92, and by 1990, the Air Force would do the same.  More than a few Vietnam veterans maintain a sentimental tie to the weapon, and for good reason.

Today's issue: difficulty using the slide release on an empty magazine.

This is an utterly irrelevant issue. First off, that little lever on the left side of the gun is a slide stop, not a slide release. Notice the somewhat inconvenient placement on many guns. To release the slide, the proper technique involves pulling the slide to the rear and letting it "slingshot" into battery.

Now, I'm aware that there are very experienced and knowledgeable shooters who use the slide stop as a release. They're not wrong, but that method has its drawbacks. In a stress situation, fine motor skills evaporate. Operating a small, oddly-positioned lever with shaking, sweaty hands will be problematic at best.

If you try the slingshot method on a pistol with an empty magazine inserted, you'll quickly discover that it does not work. Why not? Because you're not supposed to drop the slide in that state. The whole idea is that the gun locks up to tell you it's empty and needs reloading. Insert a live magazine, and the slide drops easily.

There is nothing wrong with a gun on which it is difficult to drop the slide on an empty magazine.

George Herter was a character, to say the least.  He made a living making and selling things he liked, and while eccentric at times, many of his wares were quite good.  By his own estimation, everything he made was the Best Thing Ever.  I've seen the old catalogs, and some of the claims are hilarious.

Hyperbole aside, I have some of his 6.5×55 ammunition, and it's very accurate.  Some folks think he used Norma components.  By all accounts, his ammunition was good stuff.  He was also known for developing some interesting wildcat cartridges.

His company went out of business years ago, so I was quite surprised to see people showing up to the range recently with newly-minted pistol ammunition bearing the Herter's name and crest.  More sobering have been the two catastrophic failures I've seen it cause.

The SD9 and SD40 are Smith & Wesson's most recent polymer pistols. Their price places them squarely between the Sigma and M&P, which would be around $420 on the street.

The Sigma pistols are excellent guns for the money, but a few things have always been lacking.  First off is the dreadful trigger pull, which is a long and uneven.  They have plastic sights which are prone to breakage during adjustment, and the accessory rail is of proprietary design.

The SD pistols seem to address these issues.  In fact, it appears that this model is simply an improved Sigma in many respects.  What follows is a brief comparison.

18 months now, ~2400 rounds, one failure.  One, and that was with oddball 147gr subsonic ammunition.  The pistol has fed nine separate factory defensive loadings and countless target loads without fail.

I continue to be quite pleased with it.

Unfortunate as it is, the Roger Witter incident in Portland gives us the opportunity to consider one very important fact:  human life is worth more than any property.

Mr. Witter wasn't protecting anyone from harm.  Two shoplifters were leaving the scene without violence.  Furthermore, he showed an utter disregard for the 4th cardinal rule of gun safety when he fired after them in the direction of a busy rail station.

He placed people in danger to serve a very surreal definition of civic duty.  In the moment he pointed a firearm at someone and pulled the trigger, he …

This specimen was manufactured in 1979. The Steelers won the Super Bowl, Voyager photographed the rings of Jupiter, Greenland gained home rule, and Disco began its rapid downward spiral.

We also had the Jimmy Carter Rabbit Incident. That one never gets old.

This 65-3 was produced in 1987.  Other notable events from that year include Gary Hart dropping out of the Presidential race, Sonny Bono running for the office of Mayor of Palm Springs, and Ronald Reagan delivering what was possibly his most important speech.  U2 released The Joshua Tree, and Rick Astley's song "Never Gonna Give You Up" reached #1 on both sides of the Atlantic, long before anybody with taste found it the least bit ironic.

The Model 65 was produced from 1972 until 2004.  It was the fixed-sight counterpart to the 66, and was carried by the Customs Service, as well as several state police agencies.

A common misconception is that the 65 was a stainless version of the Model 13.  This isn't entirely true, as the 13 was not introduced until 1974.  Prior to that, the blued counterpart to the 65 was the 10-6, which had been upgraded to .357.  While the 19 and 66 were referred to as the Combat Magnums, the 65 and 13 were never explicitly named.  Given their heritage, they could be referred to as the Military & Police Magnums.

Both the 13 and 65 share the distinction of being among the last standard-issue revolvers in law enforcement. There's some confusion as to which was the last issue revolver for the F.B.I.  As far as I can tell, it varied by field office and starting date, but agents were carrying both well into the 1980's.

Anyone who's worked in a gun store knows that guy. He's in his early 20's and usually comes in with a couple of friends. They want to see specific guns:  the Deagle, the M4, the SCAR, anything in "fifty cal." Most of all, they'd love a chance to fondle the ever-elusive ACR.

Soldiers on leave? Procurement agents for law enforcement? Well-heeled NRA High-Power competitors? No.

These are the Call of Duty generation.

Once handing them the gun used to kill the terrorists in Level 7, you'll spend a good ten minutes reminding them with increasing sternness not to sweep other patrons with the muzzle. They'll usually pull out a cell-phone and take pictures of their friends posing with it. They'll tell you it's the most "badass" gun in the whole game, and how they totally own the noobs with it.

Goofy as they might be, I've never dealt with one whom I considered to be the least bit dangerous. Though there's a certain fetishism at work, they don't seem to idolize the weapon for its destructive potential. They simply think it's a neat artifact in and of itself.

Thus arises the question of overlap between shooters and gamers.

This revolver was made when the TRS-80 was the pinnacle of computing technology.  Blade Runner was in theaters. Ingrid Bergman and John Belushi died, and Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.

Even if the J. Geils Band and Survivor aren't with us any more, Smith & Wesson still is.

The Model 10 has been around in one form or another for over a century.  Until this year, it has enjoyed an unbroken production run, the longest of any firearm in existence.  That's not hard to understand, as the .38 Hand Ejector is a reliable, accurate and powerful platform.  All modern double-action revolvers can trace their lineage to it.

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.