Dave Nowlin

I won't shoot at any range that won't allow me to keep my brass.  Period, end of story!!!

It seems you did a good job on undercutting the trigger guard.  I have done that to every Glock I have owned in addition to removing that ugly hook from the front of the trigger guard.  The trigger guard then is shaped more like a 1911 when viewed from the side.  In fact Glock did a poor engineering job on the placement of the first finger bump on many of their pistols.  Before the guard is undercut the top bump is in the middle of your middle finger not below it as it should be.  Apparently Glock's engineers have very skinny fingers.  As for that ugly hook on the front.  It serves no practical purpose.

The 158 grain is not the standard defense load in the .357  All of Evan Marshall's data pertained to a 125 grain load used by law enforcement.  That is also what was being attempted to equal when the .357 Sig hit the marketplace.  The 125 grain .357 had the best record of one shot stops from the data studied not someone's ideas.  I will grant you that in the 38+P the 158 is the standard loading.

a 9mm LCR or one chambered for .357 mag  If you do your homework the result will surprise you.  In the 1 7/8 inch barrel of the LCR in the 124-125 grain range the 9mm is actually faster without all the muzzle blast of the .357 and is more pleasant to shoot.  How can this be?  Well if you study both pistols you will find they both have the same length cylinders and the 9mm when loaded in the cylinder has much more freebore than the .357  that gives it more barrel length even though some of it isn't rifled.  Therefore the bullet is subject to being pushed by the propellant for a greater distance before exiting the bore.  In a few days I will shoot my .357 SP-101 against the +P 9mm in the LCR and chronograph both.  This is a valid test as both pistols have roughly the same barrel length.  If you go to a web page called ballistics by the inch you will see that in a 2 inch barrel the 9mm +P loading is faster than the .357  These tests are actually run through a pressure barrel with no cylinder or cylinder gap.  The advantage shown here doesn't even take into account the extra gain due to the 9mm bullet being further away from the cylinder mouth than the .357  Who would have thought that?

I have a PM9 and a CM40.  I had a Shield 9 in the past.  I put a Hogue slip on sleeve on mine and MUCH prefer them over the Shield.  I have also had a Shield 40 in the past.  I reworked the sear in my Shield 9 but it still wasn't the equal of my Kahrs.

I have a Shield 9mm and a Kahr PM9. I have worked the sear in my Shield and it has the lighter trigger pull but it is bigger than the PM9 and doesn't have night sights. The Kahr trigger pull is very smooth and deliberate. I'm now carrying the Kahr.

I had an interesting conversation with Kevin at Underwood Ammo the other day.  He has a +P+ loading with 124 grain Gold Dots that is rated at 1,300 fps from a Glock 19.  I asked what pressure those loads are running and he said they have been tested at 39,500 psi.  There are several law enforcement agencies which use the Winchester Ranger T 127 grain +P+ loading.  It tests 100 fps slower.  This loading challenges the .357 Sig.  It really helps to level the playing field.  Flatter shooting and more capacity.

This is the answer that makes sense.  Civilians don't normally use FMJ for self defense.  With all the wonder bullet designs we have at our disposal 9, 40 & 45 all do a good job.  The funny thing is that according to recorded results from real life shootings even the .44 mag isn't always a one shot stopper.  A very large percentage of folks shot by police with hollow points survive.

Well I read an interesting article from Bill Wilson of 1911 fame the other day.  For compact 1911s he recommends 160 grain copper bullets.  These projectiles come from Barnes Bullets and when loaded properly will yield about 1,050 fps from a 4 inch 1911.  This load has lower recoil than a standard pressure 230 grain load, even though the 160 grain load is +P.  It works better with the 4 inch and shorter barreled 1911s.  That will do for self defense and I already have quite a few 200 grain SWCs.  So I suppose I am O.K.

I ain't disclosing what I have in store for someone who breaks in my house.  He won't be telling anybody either.

Actually I'm very happy with my Shield 9mm.  I carry it in my cargo shorts and nobody pays any attention to it.  It is obvious that something is in my pocket but it doesn't scream gun.

This is just plain silly.  Have you ever had someone hit you in the nose and break it?  I have.  It happened while I was I service.  I never saw the punch coming.  My eyes watered so badly after he hit me I was defenseless.  This same idiot later hit an officer and broke his jaw.  He spent time in the brig and got a bad conduct discharge.  My point is a punch in the nose when we were little kids and not as strong simply produced a bloody nose.  A single punch in the nose from an adult or even older teen, can easily result in a broken nose.  Then there is the punch that was thrown by a teen that resulted in the death of the soccer umpire.  Any physical attack by a physically fit individual could turn deadly.  You argument reminds me of the situation where a woman is threatened by an ex-husband or boyfriend and goes to the police.  She is told they can't intervene regardless of what kind of verbal threats were made until he does something.  A short time later the police are called to a murder scene where he has shot her or beaten her to death.  My point is simple.  You can't wait until your last fleeting breath as you are being beaten to death to defend yourself.

9mm, 38 special, .357 mag, 40 S&W, 44 mag, 44 special, .45 long colt, .45 a.c.p. for handguns    .223, 30-30, .308, 300 WSM, & 45 long colt rifle.  12 guage

When you are 70 years old, there is nothing new about you unless you have had some joints replaced.

How do you determine at what distance a shot is sporting? An old Apache would say that when you can touch the animal with your arrow, that's about right.

Excuse me but, did we get off topic a bit here?

The best revolver I ever had was a Colt Anaconda in .45 long colt.  It had a 6 inch barrel and custom Keith front sight and a detent locking system for the front of the crane.  I fired LBT design 325 grain cast bullets from it and they would penetrate 12 inches of seasoned oak.  I was fond of the S&W 1911 that I installed the Ed Brown Bobtail mainspring housing on.  I'm fond of the Ruger Stainless Super Blackhawk that I fitted a Bisley hammer, trigger & gripframe to.  It also has a Belt Mountain basepin in it to keep it from backing out with heavy handloads.  I'm happy with the various Glocks that I have customized.  I rework the triggerguard to get rid of that awful hook on the front and relieve the rear of the triggerguard to allow a little higher grip and then rework the action to make it very smooth.  I've also fitted several Colt Stainless Combat Commanders with Smith & Alexander magwells which I contoured to make the rear more like a Bobtail.  There have been many, many more but these come to mind. 

I bought an Ed Brown Bobtail Mainspring housing for an all stainless S&W1911 full size. I bought the jig from Ed Brown as well. It took a little time and some hacksaw and file work to get the frame down close and then I finished up with emery cloth. It turned out very good but I ended up trading it in for a Sig TACOOPS with threaded barrel. While I miss the bobtail frame, I love the Sig. The Bobtail isn't as big an issue now as I carry a G23 as my EDC. Since the Sig has the Nitron finish it isn't practical for me to bob it. I may eventually do a SR1911 in commander size. Do yourself a favor and only do this on a stainless frame gun unless you want to spend a lot on a refinishing job for your frame.

Where to start.  I had a G30sf that had brass to the face issues.  I fixed it.  I reworked the extractor.  I had a Gen3 G27 that ejected perfectly.  I learned to do actions jobs on both of them with the stock parts.  The trigger pull really improved on both of them.  I got a wild hair and traded both of them and got 2 M&Ps.  A full size .45 and a 9C.  I did action jobs on both of them without changing any parts and improved the trigger on them.  I eventually got rid of them and went back to Glock.  I have  Gen 3 G26 and a Gen 4 G23.  Both of them work just fine and I have done action work on both of them.  I also changed the sites on the G23.  That is my EDC now.  While I can work on both the M&P and the Glock, I much prefer to work on the Glock.  I can simply polish surfaces and get what I want.  With the M&P I must do a bit of sear filing.  The gun is very safe when I'm finished but it is still far more time consuming and difficult than simply working on a Glock.

Does Kilgore still make pistols?

I have a Ruger Stainless Super Blackhawk that has been rebuilt.  It now has a five inch barrel with Keith type front sight, a Bisley hammer, Bisley trigger, Bisley gripframe and Belt Mountain base pin.  The Belt Mountain base pin really tightens up the cylinder slop in these pistols and doesn't back out under recoil like the stock base pin when using heavy handloads.  I have shot 325 grain LBT design cast bullets from this gun.  It will penetrate 12 inches of seasoned oak.  It has the additional advantage of adjustable sights.

I picked up a stainless Rossi 92 with 16 inch barrel in .45 Long Colt the other day.  I carried it out back and shot some of my heavy loaded 325 grain WFN LBT bullets through it.  It pushes back hard with those but will surely kill anything in our Tennessee woods.  It's kind of like a .45-70 lite.  These same loads from a Colt Anaconda I had years ago would penetrate 12 inches of seasoned oak.  With the extra barrel length I suppose I will have to test again.  With lighter loads this thing will make an excellent home defense weapon.  Maybe Obama won't consider it an assault weapon at least with the SAMMI spec loads.  With the heavy loads John Linebaugh told me about, Obama might consider it an assault weapon.

I have been buying Ford trucks for some time.  I've been very happy with them.  I don't have to check and see if melamine has been substituted in place of something else when they are made. LOL

Of course the individual who made this proposal doesn't own a gun.  She probably thinks a gun is some way magically connected to people in such a way that if you make them even a little mad the gun will shoot you with no input whatsoever form the gun's owner.  Recognizing that this hazard existed I don't understand why she ran for this office.  It could be detrimental to her health. 

It's not the Zeigfreid Line.  It's the Bloomberg Line.  After all he doesn't worry about the peasants, he has bodyguards.