California Says One Gun a Month, So...

Daawwwww, lookit that cute little Elwood-sized thing!

Nice! I really like the delayed blowback operation on those, simple and allows higher pressure ammo. I was just on Wikipedia reading about "hesistation locked" designs, which John Pederson used in the gun the R51 is based on. Pederson was quite prolific, not quite as recognized as John Browning, but not far off, either.

I seem to recall that Pederson had some ideas for the gun that would eventually become the M1 Garand: he wanted a lighter gun, with a detachable magazine, shooting a smaller caliber. If his ideas had been adopted, the U.S. Army would've fielded a weapon very similar to the Ruger Mini-14 in World War II!

Interesting historical footnote...

Pederson designed a .45 automatic pistol that was going to be purchased by the U.S. Navy during WWI, but the war ended and the plan to buy the pistols was dropped.

While researching the Remington R1 recently (basically I want to build a Walt Longmire gun—an apparent surplus 1911A1 with stag grips) on the cheap, I found out about the M53. AFAIK those WW1-production 1911s were the last .45ACP pistols produced by Remington until the relatively new R1. All those “Remington”-stamped 1911A1s produced during WWII were made by Remington-Rand, the typewriter company.

BTW those are cropped from wider (though still telephoto) shots, made from low-res files uploaded from the camera to my phone. Not bad resolution, all things considered.

You can't go wrong with that. I picked mine up about two years before WF started and it's still my second favorite shotgun.

It's my second 870. I bought the first one more than 10 years ago--it's a 20 inch/8-shot security model--and, at the time, I really wanted the Marine Magnum, but I just couldn't spring for it. Another example of settling instead of holding out for what you really want. "Stingy one pays twice," as the Russians say.

BTW, what's your #1 shotgun? (I feel like I should know the answer to this, so apologies if it's come up before...)

Dirty Harry vs. Hostage Taker (6 shots from my Model 29 Classic)...

Excluding the Wilson Combat ghost ring sights and extended charging handle, it's an otherwise stock Remington 11-87 Police model. That gas system really helps when firing 00 and 000 Buckshot. Oh, and I'd strongly advise you to invest in a set of those Wilson Combat ghost rings for your Marine Magnum. I have them on both and really enjoy it.

That's a great idea. I really like ghost ring sights on a shotgun. I find I shoot trap pretty well with them, too.

My Benelli M2 had ghost rings, I had to take them off when the front sight post stripped out. It was cheaper for me to slap a rail on top and put a red-dot on her than to replace the post.

John Browning did it right, but Sig does it pretty.

Sadly, it looks like Sig has dropped the stainless rail 1911 from their catalog (especially sad since it was one of the few Sig 1911s on the California roster). They have other rail guns in different finishes, though (wish I could get that Emperor Scorpion).

this would be an interesting handgun round - recoil would be manageable I would think!

I haven't bought a gun in a couple of years, but Palmetto State Armory was having a sale I couldn't pass up on Friday. Ordered a Rossi RS22 .22LR for only $99, $40 off the regular price.

I own a couple of .22s but one of them is a bolt action single shot and the other, a vintage Remington Nylon 66, jams frequently (I think the spring in the tube magazine is weak).

Hopefully the weapon will be here by the end of the week.

Oooh, I've never handled one io those. $99 seems like a killer deal. Fiber optic sights!

I always liked the 66. I kinda wish they'd make it again.

When I was 13 or 14, my cousin and his family (who introduced me to shooting) lost all their stuff in a house fire, so I gave him my first .22, a Savage (Stevens?) single-shot bolt action. I had a Ruger 10-22 by then, so I didn't feel I needed it. But, man, would that gun--my first ever--have a ton of sentimental value today.

Holy Jeebus, dude! Is that a 30mm round?

I would not purcase a rossi firearm. The one I had broke before finishing the first box of ammo. The replacement they sent me had casting errors in thr cylender.

Yikes! Which model was it?

I've never owned a Rossi, but their lever action .357 and .44 Mag. carbines look good to me.

I can't attest to their long guns, I hear that those get better quality control, but what I had was a .357 revolver with a 6 inch barrel that had some obviously computer generated model number and a taurus branded hammer lock.

My dad has owned a Rossi lever action .38/.357 magnum since the mid-80s and even after decades of taking a beating as one of his truck guns it still runs like a top.

I’d never buy a Rossi pistol but their long guns seem to be a lot better. And for a hundred bucks I figured it was worth a look.

Admittedly a sample of one from quite a long time back, but that speaks pretty well of the guns.

I bought a Marlin .44 Magnum lever action carbine about twenty years ago. That has been a sweet little shooter. That's what I'm going to move my son to after he masters the Winchester .22lr lever action I had as a child. As for Rossi, I've only ever owned one. My 12ga Coach Gun. That thing has been a pure pleasure. I still love that thing to this day.

10 or so years back, you turned me on to the .45-70--I remember your rather stout "Rosie(O'Donnell)buster" handloads--and I got a Marlin 1895SBL. I think this was before the quality issues that plagued Marlin set in, because mine is absolutely top notch. Fit and finish are excellent, it's solid as a tank, and it's a great shooter. One of my favorite guns. (Bonus: Chris Pratt uses one in Jurassic World!)

When I go for a handgun caliber lever carbine, I'm thinking it will be the Marlin 1894CSBL (.357)...it's got the same styling as my .45-70. Only thing that gives me pause is worry that Marlin still isn't making them like they used to.

I'm also thinking of a Henry Big Boy (.44) carbine...reviews online are very good, but I don't have any personal experience with one. The Marlins and Rossis load through a gate in the receiver (the superior way), and the Henry loads through the end of the tube, but I don't imagine I'd shoot it so much that this would be a headache.

Yeah. I've got two Marlin's. That .44 Magnum Carbine and an 1895GS. I love both. Both are 10+ years old. I don't think Marlin even makes that .44 Magnum carbine any more. But, I digress. When it comes to .45-70, Hornady's Leverevoltion stuff is fine for 99% of your hunting uses. But, yeah, I do keep a few boxes of rather "special" 500 grain Tungsten kinetic energy penetrators for very special occasions. You just never known when you'll be in the woods and get jumped by a rabid Buick...

I think the only lever action I'd be interested in would be one of those Russian contract Winchesters that had a box magazine and a stripper clip guide for 7.62x54R. Other than that, I definitely like the SMLEs and the VZ-24 I have over anything else I've shot. The Mosin is actually somewhat painful to shoot now.

That's one I didn't know about.



Though I think the beginning of the video makes it clear why detachable magazines are superior to stripper clips.

Honestly part of that is the bullet being rimmed and the design of the stripper clip.

Could be a deformed clip, too. They're relatively weak sheet metal.

Don't have much experience with stripper clips, but the few times I've used them they've been less than smooth. Could be it just takes practice.

Because of the even stricter assault weapons regulations here, a friend of mine retrofitted his AR with a permanently-attached magazine and a stripper clip like device that feeds cartridges through the ejection port. It works astonishingly well.

stripper clips do indeed take practice, and the 7.62x54R round is particularly terrible for stripper clip practice, especially if you dont stack them right.

yep! That recoil would knock your hat in the creek! When we loaded those into the A-10 one of my jobs was standing in the ammo trailer and holding up the belts so they wouldn't twist & jam going into the conveyor contraption that took the rounds into the A-10. As luck would have it I was the weakest guy on the crew too. My scrawny noodle arms really got a workout!