Pistol actions - to lock or not to lock

Automatic pistols are so commonplace that many of us in the shooting community don't fully appreciate the mechanics involved.  You may have heard the terms blowback and locked breech bandied about without fully knowing what people were talking about.  Afterall, most pistols seem to operate the same.  Put a loaded magazine into the grip, cycle the slide and fire away til it's empty.

Well, let's look inside a little further.

A straight blowback design does just what the name implies.  It employs Newton's law of physics that says "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."  When the trigger is pulled, the bullet flies down the barrel.  At the same time, the slide travels backwards in the opposite direction.  Keep in mind that the bullet might weigh, for example, 95 grains.  Whereas, the slide weighs the better part of a pound.  Add to that the force of the recoil spring and you have quite a bit of force to overcome.  So, the 95 grain bullet may go flying at over 1000 feet per second, but the slide does not.  It's simply harder to move the slide/recoil spring than that 95 grain bullet.

There is a limit to this design.  The slide on my Makarov PM, pictured above, is very hard to cycle for most people.  I have become used to it, but most women claim they can't cycle it.  Even some full grown men comment on how hard it is to rack this slide.  It's really not a big deal once you get used to it, but I understand the comments.  The reason for all this force is the 9x18 cartridge.  It is widely considered to be the highest pressure cartridge you can fit into a blowback design without making the slide huge or the recoil spring horribly stiff.

You may be familiar with the Hi Point pistols.  These guns throw conventional wisdom out the door and just make the slide so big and heavy that even a .45 acp operates using the blowback system.   

Obviously, the guns become very large and bulky by the time you get to .45 caliber.  Even the .380 pistols are pretty darn bulky.  I have fired the 9mm and thought, while it operated ok, it was just really unwieldy.  

 The solution to this conundrum is the Locked breech.  In a locked breech, the barrel "locks" to the slide when closed and only unlocks once the bullet has left the barrel and pressures have dropped to a safe level.  This allows a pistol of reasonable size and weight to chamber a powerful round like the 9x19 or the .45 auto.  In fact, some guns in .32 and .380 now use locked breech designs so that they can shrink to pocket size.

The cutaway below shows the classic 1911 design by John M. Browning.  You can see the locking lugs of the barrel are in the corresponding grooves of the slide.  

The next photo shows the toggle link that allows the barrel to drop and disconnect from the slide.  This is designed to happen only after the bullet has left the barrel and pressures have dropped.

In the next drawing you can see that the barrel has dropped out of the way and unlocked from the slide.  The slide has continued rearward and is now ready to move forward and load a new cartridge.  

Without the locking system, you would have to make the recoil spring so stiff as to make the pistol unfeasible.  Either that or increase the size and weight of the slide.  Again, basically ruining the practicality of the gun.

There are plenty of variations on the theme, but you get the point.  

Sand Hook family suing Remington

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?  So a family who lost a child in the Sandy Hook shooting is suing Remington, ie. freedom group, for selling a "military" firearm to civilians.  Wow, I guess GM is at fault everytime someone speeds in a corvette because it's a "race car".  And alcohol companies are to blame when someone gets drunk and does something stupid.

This kind of BS must be stopped in its tracks.  And, I do believe it will be.  The thought that a manufacturer is to blame for the actions of someone using their product is ridiculous.  Honestly, this suit isn't being brought because the plaintiffs feel they will win.  It is just a publicity stunt.  I am very sorry that your child died at the hands of a sick young man.  But America's oldest gunmaker is no more responsible for your child's death than Boeing is for the 911 attacks.  Sorry, it just doesn't compute.

Cartridge designations decoded

30-06, 7.62x54r, .38 special, what does it all mean?  Well, that can be quite confusing.  Basically, you have to look at each cartridge individually.  There is no one set standard for all cartridges.  Some were named in the days of black powder, some by NATO, and others by foreign governments.  And yes, some cartridges are known by more than one name.  I will break down a few different cartridges and try to explain what all that stuff means.

30-06 is a very common rifle cartridge that was once the standard for the US military.  The “30” refers for 30 caliber.  The bullet is 30 caliber.  Specifically .308 diameter.  The “06” refers to the year that it was adopted, 1906.  Pretty simple.

30-30 Winchester is also a common rifle cartridge.  The “30” again refers to the 30 caliber bullet, but this time the second number refers to the powder charge.  The 30-30 was originally designed for black powder.  So, it would have been loaded with 30 grains of black powder.  The Winchester part just means that it was Winchester that introduced the cartridge to the commercial market.

Some can be super misleading.  Take the .38 Special and the .380 auto.  You might assume that they are both .38 caliber bullets.  You would be wrong.  The .38 special takes a .357 diameter bullet.  The .380 takes a .355.  Stupid right? 

Then there are the ones with 2 names.  The .308 Winchester is also known by the Nato designation 7.62x51.  It’s the same thing really.  Nato spec rounds may me loaded to higher pressures, but the brass case is really the same thing.  .223 Remington and 5.56 Nato are another example.  Remington introduced the round to the public as the .223 while the military was loading theirs as 5.56.  Again, 5.56 may be loaded to different specs and the case walls might be slightly thicker in military brass, but the overall package is the same.

Budget AR Build, part 2

As you can see, the lower got painted.  It turned out looking very good, but I was disappointed with the ease at which I could scratch the primer off of the lower.  I stripped it all back off and roughed the lower up with a red scotch brite.  I shot it with the same Duplicolor acid etch primer.  Again it turned out looking great.  I was able to scratch it off in a couple hidden spots.  I debated top coating it with Rustoleum camo green, but I figured why top coat something that has not adhered to the metal?  I have gone ahead with assembly anyway.  I really don't care about the paint at this point.  If it holds up, great, if not I can always redo in the future.

The mistake:

Yes, I have made some.  #1 I'd say was not buying a lower parts kit right away.  I was trying to save money so I put it off.  I ran into the local shop on lunch and bought what I thought was all I needed for $18.  Well I didn't get a bolt catch or the mag release parts.  I guess I bought an "oops" kit.  I also ended up buying the grip and trigger guard separate.  Those were cheap, but I could have just bought it all in one bag and saved the headache. I still have to buy the bolt and mag catches as well as my takedown and pivot pins.  I'll end up spending more money than if I had just bought a stupid kit. Lesson learned.

As you can see below, I have made some progress.  The charging handle was $16 from Roush Sports in Austin TX.  They have good prices and offer free shipping on everything but mags.  I went to Big R and found that their selection of mags was actually pretty good.  I decided on a 30 round Pmag because of the good reputation.  I'll probably try out different styles of mags in the future, but $14.99 for the Pmag seemed like a good deal and I didn't have to wait for the mail.



So, at this point I still need to get the mag catch/button, the bolt catch, pivot/takedown pins, a sight, and my complete buttstock kit.  That sounds like a lot, but it will come together.  Again, most of those parts would have been included in a lower parts kit.

Building an AR-15 on a budget, part1

If you have read much of my blog you have no doubt discovered that I do not have tons of cash laying around to put into guns.  In fact, I have often stated that I just do not have the funds to have an AR type rifle.  Well, that is slowly changing.  With Christmas money and the sale of my Mosin, I am building one of the dreaded black rifles.  As is the case with most things I do, it will be on the cheap.



What I have started with is an Anderson made lower receiver that was "in the white".  In other words, it has not been coated.  ($45)  What you see in the picture is 4 coats of duplicolor acid etch primer from a spray can.  The acid etch helps it bite into the aluminum and the olive drab looks pretty neat to me, so I will just leave it as is.  I have no idea how durable this will be, but I do not have the cash to send it out for coating.  Besides, it's aluminum, so I'm not too concerned about it rusting away.  As you can see, I masked the threads where the buffer tube screws in.  I also masked the threads for the grip and ran drill bits through the pin holes.

My Brother gave me a trigger, so I will not have to buy that, but I do need a lower parts kit minus trigger and the buffer, tube, spring, and stock.  That will complete the lower.

For the upper, I decided to just buy a complete upper from Palmetto State.  ($177.00)  They are notorious for slow shipping, but also for having great prices.  I ordered a slick side upper (no forward assist, dust cover, or shell deflector)  But those are not important to me anyway.  It has a 16 inch, 1 in 7" twist barrel.  It also has the A2 style front sight mount and a flat top rail at the rear.  It's a slight bit out of the ordinary, but that is fine with me.  The 1 in 7 twist is great for heavy bullets, should I ever want to shoot them, but still works fine with lighter ones too.  I plan to put a carry handle sight on the flat top since they are plentiful and cheap.  I also like the traditional look of the carry handle.  I'm not much of a scope shooter these days, but the flat top can easily adapt to that if I change my mind.

I was wanting to do an A2 style fixed stock, but the carbine upper may lead me to just go with a carbine buffer tube and collapsible stock.  The upper does not come with a bolt group or charging handle.  For the BCG I went with an M16 "Full auto" BCG from Daytona tactical.  The extra mass of the bolt should help with cycling.  That's the theory anyway.  The charging handle is

I set out on this build purposely trying to avoid all the "tacticool" junk.  I just can't stand people who dress up an AR with a bunch of crap that has no practical reason to be there just so they can brag it up to anyone they meet.  NO quad rails full of stupid shit here.  Just the rifle.

Now, I know there is a difference between cheap parts and expensive ones.  Sometimes the difference is a nicer finish or more features.  Sometimes there really are differences in quality.  My focus is to get the rifle built.  That may mean going with some parts that are less than ideal, but will be serviceable.  The great thing about an AR is that I can always upgrade later.

.32 caliber pistol & revolver cartridges

The .32 caliber pistol cartridges may not receive the attention that others do, but they are viable options for a wide variety of applications.  Let's look into them a little.
This diminutive little gem started the .32 centerfire game way back in the late 1800s.  It enjoyed vast popularity due to the numerous break top revolvers that were chambered for it.  It is still stocked at many finer gun stores today because there are so many of the old revolvers still around.  It is not a powerhouse, but its ballistics beat the .22 long rifle and the .25 ACP.

The .32 auto, aka .32 ACP, aka 7.65mm Browning is the original autoloader round designed by John M. Browning for use in small pistols.  It increased the shortcomings of the .25 ACP without increasing the size of the guns chambered for it by much.  It remains popular today.  Interesting fact:  this auto loading case has a small rim.



The .32 NAA is an odd ball.  It was designed primarily for the Seacamp auto pistol.  It uses the old trick of necking down a parent case to a smaller bullet size.  The resulting velocity increase makes for a good increase in energy as well.  The parent for this round is the .380.  There were some retrofit kits made for the Makarov PM, but they have long since dried up.  Wish I had one.

The .32 S&W long is simply a magnum version of the original .32 S&W.  In most cases it simply uses the same bullet, but with a longer case to accommodate more powder.

The .32 H&R mag did not come on the scene until the 1980s.  It is even longer than the S&W long and provides significant increases in power over the S&W long.  You may notice that the weight of the bullets used in these revolver loads are around the same as the old .32 S&W.


The 327 Federal mag is the ultimate in .32 caliber revolver cartridges in terms of length and power.  It roughly equates the energy of the .357 magnum.

Check out this site for all the numbers on your favorite cartridges.  http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/calibers.html

Shotgun Chokes explained

Shotguns barrels are, in their most basic form, a pipe.  Long ago, someone figured out that by constricting the end of the barrel slightly, they could cause the resulting pattern of shot to be tighter.  This constriction is known as choke.

The image at left represents the most common chokes.  At the bottom is cylinder bore.  Cylinder bore is essentially that pipe that we discussed earlier.  Sawed off shotguns are cylinder bore, since the choked section of the barrel has been removed. Cylinder choke is also used in tactical style guns where longer range shooting is not an issue.

"Skeet" choke is the least restrictive of the chokes, then improved, modified, and full.  There are also extra full chokes, primarily for turkey hunting.

Lead vs. Steel

When shooting lead shot, the more constriction a choke provides, the tighter the pattern will be at a given distance.  So, if you are shooting close targets like skeet, you go for a more open choke.  One that allows the shot to spread faster works great because skeet is a close in type of target.  On the other hand, trap is a game where the targets are relatively far away.  A full choke is considered the standard for that.

Another way to put it is that if you take a full choked gun and shoot a large piece of paper at say 20 yards, you may have a pattern that measures 8 inches, whereas the pattern with improved cylinder may open up to say 18 inches.  That is a bit of a simplification, but you get the point.

The visual below may be of further use.  Cylinder bore quickly becomes useless as range increases.  The tighter the choke, the more effective the shot is at longer ranges.



Today's shotguns primarily use interchangeable, screw-in chokes.  These choke tubes are a convenient way to have any choke you want while keeping the same barrel on the gun.  Every manufacturer uses it's own trademarked choke system.  Remington is Rem choke, Browning is invector or invector plus, etc.



Most of these tubes install flush to the muzzle with a wrench but some extend past the barrel.  Some even incorporate muzzle brakes, flash suppressors, door breachers, you name it.

Before the advent of the screw in tubes barrels had fixed chokes.  The choke was made into the barrel when it was manufactured.  If you wanted a different choke, you generally bought a different barrel.

The only way to get interchangable chokes back in the day was to have a poly choke installed.  Poly chokes were fairly popular because they allowed the shooter to literally dial in which choke they wanted.

 These chokes are professionally installed onto the barrel by the poly choke company or a gunsmith.  While popular once, they have basically been replaced by screw in chokes.