dcloudy777

Very nice... I've gotta Ted Yost Colt Delta Elite that's been my primary sidearm for almost 3 years now. The 10mm is, IMHO, the finest defensive autopistol cartridge so far. You're actually understating its capabilities... it pretty much smokes .357 Mag ballistics, and is much closer in raw power to the .41 Magnum. Check out McNett's stuff at www.doubletapammo.com , he loads the 10 to original Norma pressure specs, while most of the available loadings from the major ammo companies are barely hotter than .40 S&W. Doubletap also loads a 230gr Hardcast lead flatpoint that should be ideal for deer. Good ammo from a good guy. Regardless of what you choose to shoot out of it, that's a sweet gun you got there, make sure Molon doesn't swipe it! DanO

ehhh... safe, unsafe, whatever... they still have lousy triggers, and have the wrong grip angle. DanO

Yeah, I definitely agree with the simple-is best approach. If you're going to put together a dozen or so, sure, invest in the tools to make it easier, but for just one, simple household stuff will suffice. Looks like you've got links to the good instructional sites, so take your time and you should do fine. The pivot pin detent/spring and the bolt release roll pin are the hard parts, IMHO. The rest of it is pretty much cake. Good luck, and enjoy. DanO

Most popular autoloaders can use magazine extentions to hold 8 rounds or more. My 21" 1100 holds 8+1... but I don't want to trade ya! DanO

How could you leave out "Muskrat Love"????

Rabbi is still in the prototype stage with his revolving shotgun... until them he's soldiering on with this...

I did watch a student ruin a perfectly good shirt and burn himself quite badly shooting a ported 2" J-frame from a tucked-in "retention-type" position. For social purposes porting is a no-go, but on the big-bore hunting and target-type stuff, why not? It does look cool at night! DanO ... who is pretty sure glocks start out pink, and the Austrians have to paint them black to avoid embarrassment...

Great post Schaden. I feel the same way about the auto for the same reason. I've gone through some shotgun classes, and shot quite a few three-gun matches. Competition is stress-inducing, and brings out more mental mistakes than anything save actual mortal danger, so, IMHO, its a wonderful crucible to test doctrine and equipment. That being said, in the "heat of the moment", I've seen more pumps get short-stroked (or non-stroked) than autos choke, even among seasoned competitors and armed professional. I made the switch several years ago when, after a few gazillion rounds I found that, in MY hands anyway, the auto was more reliable. I also like the fact that the autoloading shotgun works the same way as all my other autoloading firearms. We genreally don't use pump action rifles or pistols for defense (unless you live in Kalifornia ), so why would I want to use a completely different system for the shotgun? Commonality of training is a big part of my belief system. DanO ...who is sad and lonely... where are all the auto guys?

55 grain ammo genrally performs fine in 1-in-7" twist barrels. I've fired thousands out of my three gun rifle, which has the fast twist barrel. Some of the ultralight and super fast projectiles, like 40gr and below, have been known to "overstabilize" and perform poorly, or even come apart in flight by being twisted too violently. Any detrimental effects of barrel twist, either too fast or too slow, will only be seen in bullet performance or point of impact, neither problem can damage a barrel. Go ahead and shoot the cheap stuff, you'll likely find that at ranges out to 200m or so, accuracy will be pretty much the same. The heavier bullets do better at extended ranges, mainly because of higher ballistic coeffecients (they are longer), and more resistance to wind. By the way, its the length, not the weight, of the heavier projectiles that cause them to require a faster twist barrel to stabilize. Now you can show off your knowledge to your friend. DanO ... who is just happy to help...

Okay, but awareness and mindset are practically impossible to discuss. How many posts does it take to say "Keep your head out of your ass!" and "If the fight comes to you, your best odds of survival lay in visiting the most intense violence on you attacker in the shortest time possible."? DanO ... who may have just written his first two "Rules for Going Armed"...

From my experience, the last thing you want out of a badguy, particulary an armed one, is an alarm response. Scared people are the most dangerous people in the world, just like any other animal. Trust we when I tell you its very possible to wet oneself with terror, while simultaneously returning fire. When dealing with firearms in a lethal encounter, hits win fights, not noises. The sound of a pumpgun racking might very well scare off someone not intending to do you harm anyway, but then again, a firm voice command from an armed responder would very likely do the same thing. Besides, autos make a very similar noise when chambering a round, should you choose to not keep the ready gun with a round chambered. DanO ...who loves the discussion, this is how doctrine evolves without blood loss, or at least dry cleaning involved.

Okay fellow TGOers... I lied, I didn't want to wait for August, so I'm posting a Slushee Question for July. The shotgun is widely used for defense, and deeply rooted in American tradition. It's practically standard equipment in police cruisers nationwide, and I sell a boatload of them to folks for household defense. The majority of the shotguns are either pump-action or autoloading (semiauto). Which is the better choice for defensive use and why? The trombone gun or the self-shucker.... you make the call... DanO Who, for the record, is a Remington 1100 guy...

Well, you're options are pretty limited on .40 1911-style pistols. I'm not the biggest Kimber fan, but if you're set on the .40, Kimber is pretty much the only game in town. If you break down and settle for the .45, there's better guns in that price range on which to spend your hard-earned dollar. The .40 would give you the option of adding barrels in .357 SIG and, of course, the ultimate, the 10mm. The .357 SIG swap should be able to use the same spring setup, but the 10mm requires a little more work. Usually I remove a small part of the left frame rail above the slide stop, (this is the modification Colt made on the original Delta Elites to fix a frame cracking problems), and switch to a heavier mainspring and a flat firing pin stop. Of course you have to go to a heavier recoil spring, but the heavier mainspring and firing pin stop allow for a lighter recoil spring, which lessens the beating that the gunu will take. Load up with Doubletap, and take to the streets with the finest auto pistol cartridge so far! DanO

I too, would like to look at this post "in the light of day", so to speak, and apoplogize for the tone of my response. Just as the original two posters were venting at a member of my business community, and even though I don't know the owners of FGS from Adam, the gun business is a pretty tightly-knit group. Sure, we'd cut each other's throats for a nickel, but nobody else is allowed to speak ill of us. I was venting at the venting, so to speak. My bottom line is, sure we disagree here, we're people, and that's what people do. But we're also gun people, which are some of the best people out there. I still stand by the arguments that I made, but I should have slept on it and made them in a more pleasant way. Sorry. DanO

The biggest problem that I've had with IDPA was that the rulemakers costanly go back-and-forth on the "game vs. real-life" question. You're supposed to "use cover" beacase "that's what you'd do in real life". But when the rules call for something tactically stupid, like retaining magazines or not starting reloads until you get to cover, even if your gun is dry, they tell you "well, it's just a game!". The IDPA apologists seem to want it both ways. DanO Who doesn't have time to shoot either anymore, and isn't happy about it.

Of course its meaningless... that's why all of the serious operators carry .177 air rifles into battle...

In a pocket holster, no doubt, with a backup twin on your ankle DanO Wow, just calculated the ballistic coeffecient for a 200gr .75" WC... a really nice .045.... hope your target is close...

But fragmentation is also an excellent wounding mechanism. Reduced momentum of the bullet fragments is somewhat offset by the greatly reduced frontal area of said fragments, which are often razor sharp and still carrying prodigious energy. Multiple fragments also open multiple wound channels, which greatly increase the odds of striking vital organs or CNS tissue. Fragmentation is the primary wounding mechanism of military 5.56mm FMJ (M855 and M193), which, armchair commandos notwithstanding, performs very well against human targets. DanO

You have all the answers??? Oh it's you... I'm sorry I didn't recognize you... I trained with your unit... or read your book... or took your class... Oh yeah, NONE of those things happened because you aren't the all-knowing gunstud for which you've obviously mistaken yourself. DanO

Weapon-mounted lights?... sounds like a future Slushee question in the making...

The point is not to answer the question, or even to sway others toward your side of the argument. The object of the exercise is to promote discussion, get some thoughts and ideas moving back and forth, so we all get smarter. If you want tactical doctrine and weapon technology to stay stuck in the WWI era, belittling those who want to talk about it is a pretty good method. DanO

Obviously people can... have you bothered to read some of the posts?

Slim-line grips are also available for the 1911 pattern guns... you have to change out bushings, but it's no big deal, definitely a one-slushee labor charge at our shop. DanO

Yeah, I can see how this whole "discussion" thing could really ruin a good discussion forum. If you don't like it, don't read it... and certainly don't waste your precious time replying.

Okay, no math in the August question..