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  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted May 14, 2007

My favorite powders for handgun reloading.

Every reloader has his or her favorite powders. When I first started reloading handgun cartridges, I used what everyone around me used — which I found wasn’t always the best choice for my needs. After experimenting with lots of powders, I settled on a few favorites. As a general rule I prefer flaked powders over ball […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted April 18, 2007

On the Virginia Tech massacre.

At first, I wasn’t going to comment on the sad crime perpetrated on the campus of Virginia Tech this week. I figured that everyone, everywhere, was going to do so (with varying degrees of erudition and insight.) I decided there wasn’t anything I could add. Until… Listening to the news on the radio, I heard […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted April 16, 2007

“It’s perfect for the little lady” – NOT!

If you’re here, it’s probably because you like (or at least appreciate) our friend the revolver. My feelings, of course, are well known: I believe the revolver to be the single greatest firearm that one could ever hope to own. I believe that people who shoot revolvers demonstrate themselves to be of above average intelligence, […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted April 2, 2007

Wringing accuracy from your .22 rimfire: yes, it can seem frustrating at times!

I’ve been shooting a lot of .22LR on a recreational basis lately, and am reminded how fickle this round can be. Many people seem to be unaware that you can’t put just any old .22 round into a gun – be it rifle, pistol, or revolver – and expect it to function correctly, let alone […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted March 28, 2007

Maintaining your gun’s fine finish.

Those who have highly polished guns – polished nickel plate, bright stainless, or Colt’s justly famous Royal Blue – often ask about the best way to keep these fine finishes looking good. My recommendation: Selvyt. It’s not a paste or a wax, it’s a cloth – a pure cotton, non-impregnated cloth that jewelers have been […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted March 7, 2007

On pairing women with guns (or, how to maintain a relationship while learning to shoot.)

You’ve probably seen news articling exploring the “phenomenon” of women who choose to carry a gun for their own protection. They’re interesting to read, and when I saw one recently I was reminded of my own wife’s journey to self-empowerment (in the ballistic sense.) I’m of the belief that women should always be proactive with regards […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted February 14, 2007

Bent ejector rods.

A common complaint about the old-style Colt Detective Special is the unshrouded ejector rod. Many people believe that the exposed ejector rod is a liability; should it get bent during a struggle, the theory goes, it will tie up the gun and make it inoperable. Not quite. Many folks have experienced this problem with a […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted February 12, 2007

“Stainless” doesn’t mean “won’t rust”.

I hear the advice all the time: “buy a stainless gun, because they won’t rust.” This kind of comment is what prompted General Norman Schwarzkopf to say “bovine scatology!” Yes, stainless will in fact rust under the right conditions. What are those conditions? Generally, if you get moisture trapped in a place where it doesn’t […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted January 24, 2007

An unusual lubrication problem.

I get the most interesting phone calls! A client who works for a public agency in California contacted me with a problem. As you may know, California has pretty strict ideas about what constitutes a carcinogen. Management in his agency won’t let him use any lubricants that contain “substances known to the state of California […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted January 22, 2007

Getting your gun engraved.

The lure of a personalized and decorated weapon is centuries old. Embellished swords and knives from the 17th and 18th centuries are well known; before that, soldiers in high standing had their armor decorated. Some of the earliest firearms in existence are lavishly treated, with inlays and fine woods. Today many people desire to have […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted January 15, 2007

The importance of endshake.

An often misunderstood aspect of revolver construction is the idea of endshake. Endshake is nothing more than the amount of back-and-forth movement (or front-to-back, if you prefer) that the cylinder is allowed to make. Measuring endshake is easy: using a set of feeler gages, the cylinder is pushed forward and the barrel/cylinder gap is measured. […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted January 3, 2007

“Can you really conceal a revolver?”

Sorry to be late today, but my cable internet connection has been experiencing spotty outages lately. For the money I pay, you’d think they’d give me better uptime than this! GRRRRRR! But I digress… Anyhow, today’s topic once again comes from that fountain of firearms misinformation, the local gun store. A fellow is looking at […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted December 27, 2006

Triggers are three-dimensional.

It’s surprising how little attention is given to the back of a revolver’s trigger. I recently came across a gun that had been worked on by another gunsmith (more on this in a future blog post), and one aspect of the gun illustrated the limited understanding of revolver shooting by many ‘smiths. The face of […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted December 20, 2006

Battle of the “J” frames?

The internet forums sporadically ignite with a common debate: what “J” frame is the best? The disagreement seems to center around the fans of the exposed hammer models (who hold out the dream of needing to make a “precise, long range” single action shot) and those of the enclosed hammer Centennial models (who opine that […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted December 18, 2006

“What revolver should I buy?”

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been asked that question…! On every forum, in my daily email, and in the phone calls I receive is a common query: “of the revolvers available at a dealer, which one should I buy?” These folks are looking for some guidance beyond the simple choice of caliber […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted December 11, 2006

A primer about primers.

When doing action work, I ask my clients how they’ll be using the gun. For instance, a competition shooter who handloads their own ammunition can utilize a lighter action than someone who needs the gun to work with a variety of factory ammunition. Why is this? Well, primers are not created equal – the brands […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted November 14, 2006

What is it with the reloading press fanatics?

Funny thing…the other day, Tamara posted this rant about brand fanaticism over at her blog. The subject popped up again this week in a different context. I’d popped in to a couple of the reloading forums to ask a question about dies (I’m considering new ones.) Reading through some of the past posts on the […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted October 30, 2006

Are we shooting more than we used to?

People routinely ask about the lifespan of a particular gun, while at the same time suggesting that somehow the guns of yesteryear would last longer under use than today’s offerings. I’m not sure that this is the case. Let’s jump back to, say, 1935 or so. Someone has just bought a new .38 Special revolver […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted October 16, 2006

A bit of opinion about MIM parts.

Heard about “MIM” parts? MIM is an injection molding process for metal parts, and it has been revolutionizing many industries. In the revolver business, both Smith & Wesson and Taurus have made use of MIM parts. Like any new process, however, there are those who decry the new technology; some gunsmiths spread the misinformation that […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted October 4, 2006

What does “reliability” really mean?

A recent rifle class in which I assisted brought to mind a topic which is just not understood amongst gun owners: “reliability.” What is “reliable”? You’ll hear all kinds of definitions, all kinds of criteria. My definition is deceptively simple: the next time you pull the trigger, the gun will function perfectly. That means zero, zilch, […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted September 27, 2006

Let’s talk about triggers.

I had an interesting email recently. The writer said that he’d contacted a number of gunsmiths to inquire about action work. In every case, he said, all he could get out of them was “we can make it lighter.” Occasionally I’ll get an inquiry from the other side of this phenomenon – someone whose only […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted August 11, 2006

Revolver grips: finger grooves or plain?

Many people ask me where to get finger grooved grips for various guns (often for the Colt Python, but the Ruger GP-100 seems to be a common request as well.) Personally, I usually try to talk them out of that style grip, and I’d like to share my reasoning. First, the grooves rarely fit any […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted August 4, 2006

Measuring chamber throats – calipers vs pin gages.

There is a huge amount of misinformation regarding revolver accuracy. Folks, assuming that you have a gun in proper repair – timing, lockup, chamber-to-bore alignment – the most important factor in accuracy is the chamber throat dimension. What is the chamber throat? It is the slightly constricted opening in the chamber, just in front of […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted May 31, 2006

What “generation” is my Colt Detective Special? Depends on who you ask!

Many people talk about the Colt Detective Special using the term “generation.” I get emails asking which “generation” is best or which should be purchased. I recently got a nasty email from a potential client who asked if I could work on a certain “generation”; when I replied that I wasn’t sure what he meant […]
  • By Grant Cunningham
  • Posted May 19, 2006

“Can My Colt Use +P Ammunition? “

This is one of the first questions a new Colt “D” frame owner asks. The answer depends on the model and the vintage of the individual gun. What Colt says Post-1972 (shrouded ejector rod) models: The owner’s manual says that these guns are rated for +P ammunition. The manual calls for a factory (gunsmith) inspection […]

Lubrication 101: Gun oil, snake oil, and how to tell the difference.

Important update and disclaimer: This article was originally written in 2006. In it, I made specific recommendations for Lubriplate products, recommendations which have not varied significantly in the decade-and-a-half since publication. At the time it was written I had no affiliation with Lubriplate or their dealers; I was simply a happy customer who found their […]

Is the Colt Python revolver delicate?

There is an assertion that comes up with surprising frequency, particularly in the internet age where everyone is an expert: the Colt Python (and all other Colt revolvers) are “delicate”, “go out of time easily”, or “not as strong/durable as a S&W.” Let’s start with the construction: a Colt revolver, for any given frame size, […]

Which brand of revolver speedloader is the best?

Lots of people ask me about speedloaders – as in “what speedloader should I buy?” Well, there are really only a couple of choices these days: the push-type (typified by Safariland) and the turn-the-knob style (like the common HKS.) There have been others; the superb SL Variant models are no longer imported, the Maxfires don’t […]

What is a “good” trigger?

I recently met a fellow who was shooting a Colt Detective Special. We talked about his gun a while, and I asked him if he’d had any action work done to it. He said he hadn’t; sure enough, on trying his gun, I felt the typical Colt factory trigger – heavy and ugly. Since I […]