Thread: Guns Guns and MORE Guns

Originally Posted by STF

I didn't know you were in the Engineers Mark.

It's a shame that there's not enough Tanks for everyone to be a tanky eh?

I didn't eat enough pies to be a tanky

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

I didn't eat enough pies to be a tanky

Good one

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I haven't used them myself (See Above), but I have heard good solid reviews on them, right now you pretty much gotta go with what is available on the shelves

I am noticing more and more ammo available, reloading supplies are still pretty scarce, I managed to score enough rifle powder for my two newest hunting rifles to last me the rest of my hunting life I hope

Haven't found any of the bullets I want for my 35 Whelen, I saw some 185 grain Barnes TTSX but none of the 225 TSX I am after. I am holding off final tweaking on the rifle to the last minute before Elk Season. Murphy's law says as soon as I work up a load with the new brass and Accu-Bonds I have in hand, a box of 225 Barnes will appear on the Shelf like an Elf

Availability has been a real problem. My local shop will have some but he’s been limiting quantities because there isn’t enough around for any quantities over 150. And there are no choices. One brand. He gets cases of a thousand rounds. He posts them on FB when they come in. 30 minutes later it’s all gone. I’ve resorted to online.

Wilson Combat “Stealth” in .45acp. My EDC in California. Yes, believe it or not, I have a license to carry issued by my local County Sheriff.

First commercial Colt 1911-type pistol I ever bought new, this Series 70 Gold Cup. Colt look-up says this one was produced in 1979, but I bought it brand new in 1982, the year our eldest son was born.

It's only ever seen a dab "Bulls Eye" (now Precision Pistol) match competition and careful range use.



I became enthused about the idea of acquiring a Gold Cup after watching a fellow gamely shooting one quite effectively in Hunter Pistol Silhouette competition. I shot in Hunter Pistol Silhouette competition like a fiend for about four years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, until the season they begin allowing scoped handguns. Didn't admire the beginning of an "equipment game" and didn't want to compete that way so bowed out. Anyway, the fellow could flatten the turkeys at 75 yards and the rams at 100 yards pretty readily. The 230 grain .45 ACP bullet took a spell to get down there, but knocked the targets over with alacrity.

Never intended to use the Gold Cup for silhouette competition, but dabbled in Bulls Eye competition with it.

This was the 15 yard range results of some recreational shooting using from a batch of general purpose reloads I'd cooked up. The ammo used 230 grain bulk full metal jacketed round nose bullets with a charge of Unique powder and put up in mixed brand cases.

Got this Stag Arms .556 a couple months ago. I’ve still not had the chance to get it out for some fun.

Ok, we're going off into the wild and wacky weeds factory Colt chamberings again with this Government Model. It's a standard configuration Series 70 Mark IV Government model except that its chambered for the 9mm Steyr.

Internet research is spotty and conflicting, but it appears that Colt obtained a contract to make 9mm Steyr Government Models for an Italian distributor in the late 1970s and turned out 1100 pistols chambered for the 9mm Steyr in 1979. Most were sold in Italy where 9mm Luger was then prohibited from civilian ownership. A few of these 9mm Steyr pistols went to Austria where the cartridge originated in the early years of the 20th century. A thousand pistols were sold and a hundred pistols were retained in their component parts to be used for warranty work. These were assembled and sold in the US in 1983. This one was shipped to a Massachusetts distributor in that year according to a factory letter.

Any exported Colt Government Model 9mm Steyrs that have been reimported here show additionally European proof marks. This one is devoid of those proof marks.

I acquired it as new-in-the-box with all paperwork. It did appear unfired, but was a bit shopworn from handling. Because I'm a notable nitwit I immediately went out and shot it with some 9mm Steyr ammunition I rustled up in various places online.

It shot a treat. Very pleasant and shot to point-of-aim at 10 yards. Shooting it feels just exactly like shooting a Colt Government Model chambered for 9mm Luger. I've not gotten around to chronograph testing any 9mm Steyr ammunition here, but I suspect the factory loads generate 9mm Luger velocity performance. The 9mm Steyr was supposed to have offered a bit more velocity than the original loadings for 9mm Luger, but factory performance these days may have skewered this.

It's easy to see how this pistol could have been one retained for parts and later assembled for it does show the handling. Also, that has to be the sloppiest application of the left side slide roll marking of any Colt I've ever seen. Crushingly heavy on one side and dismally faint on the other side. I'd have condemned that slide for that roll mark if I'd been an Colt inspector.











The most excellent .38 Super also would fit perfectly in this line up of 9mm .355" bore cartridges.

Looking at the largo and steyr, I'd agree. Very similar to the 38 Super.

I've got one in the Rock Island, 1911. From what I understand, its one of the few pistols that have a heavy enough frame to put up with the +P rounds.

.38 Super is a great automatic pistol cartridge. It's everything the 9mm is cracked up to be, yet isn't.

I'm late in life to the .38 Super game. Wanted one for decades, mostly for handloading fun. Only got around to getting one in March of 2020. I really like the pistol and the cartridge.

Say! You've got a 130 grain load there in that Aguilla stuff. The 130 grain weight was the original bullet weight produced for the .38 Super as well as the .38 ACP before it. I'm going to have to root about and get a couple boxes of that Aguilla 130 grain load.

Colt apparently intended the .38 Super pistol to be a extra power .38 ACP and they first described it as the Super 38. The Government Model was brought out so chambered in 1929, but the more powerful loading for the pistol didn't appear for a couple years after that. We think of the .38 Super as a separate cartridge from the original .38 ACP. Exterior dimensions are the same, however it's appropriate to keep .38 Super ammunition out of the early Colt .38 ACP pistols of the first decade of the 20th Century.

Strangely enough, the .38 ACP itself was apparently watered down several different times after its introduction in 1900. It's original quoted ballistics pretty much mimicked full power .38 Super loads. Apparently this battered the various early Colt .38 ACP models so it was toned down. The .38 Super/Super .38 was apparently an attempt to regain performance that the older Colt Model 1900, Model 1902, and Model 1903 pocket couldn't handle for very long with their more primitive designs.







Here's the early mention of the pistol shooting a "Super .38" cartridge, implying something more "super" than the older .38 ACP.


The whole thing seems an odd combination of caution combined with marketing. Bit murky just what the 1929-1932 vintage Colt Super .38 was. I'd been owning and shooting pistols and keeping up with all things gun for several years before the .38 Super began to have the +P suffix designation tacked onto its description, one supposes as an extra caution to keep the cartridges out of the oldie Colt .38 models.

New acquisition for personal carry. I’ve never owned a 9mm so small.