Revolvers

I’m not saying I never used magnum rifles. I’ve owned and hunted with such magnums as a 7mm Remington, .300 H&H, .300 Winchester and .308 Norma to name...

She was bred from rugged stock to fill the demand for a refined tool in a challenging contest. Her lines and curves were familiar to countless men and women...

… is almost as bad a pickup line as “What's your sign?” Not that I would know. But I have to admit, those very lines came to mind when I picked up...

Like so many shooters my age, I began handloading with the .38 Special in 1966. Throughout life I’ve been a “lister” — my made-up word for someone...

Last month we looked at thoughts on semi-auto pistols made five generations ago or so. Now as we turn to double-action revolvers we need to set the stage....

We all have our favorite shooters — you know, the ones we keep handy and holstered, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice. After years and thousands of...

Let’s go retro … and see what still applies today. From the February 1960 issue of GUNS Magazine, here is “the word” on combat quick draw, spoken...

Gun makers still make snubbies. That’s because people still buy snubbies. And people still buy snubbies because they have learned that snubbies do a lot...

While pocket carry has distinct advantages, it isn’t, of course, the only place to carry a J-frame. I’m going to argue that a J-frame carries just as...

Man has long been faced with difficult decisions. Is it hereditary or environment? Form or function? Ginger or Mary Ann?

Curled up in our favorite easy chair, perhaps sipping a distilled beverage, an outdoor show flickers on the flat screen featuring Alaska’s coastal brown...

So there I was in one of my favorite gun shops, when something a couple of shelves down in the “used” showcase caught my eye. I did a double take and...

After a lifetime of shooting medium and large-frame revolvers, developing a crush on S&W J-Frames late in life brings with it a steep learning curve. A...

HSM has a full lineup of Low Recoil loads normally known as Cowboy Action Shooting loads. However, they are not relegated to simply Cowboy Action...

In any discipline we revere the old masters because we learned from them. “Old” does not equal “obsolete,” not for firearms and not for shooting...

In 2018 I managed to achieve a goal of mine: gathering at least one Colt SAA chambered for each of the cartridges for which the Second Generation of...

To this day I am surprised by the number of gun enthusiasts who have not heard of BFR revolvers. Perhaps this is one of the best-kept secrets in revolver...

Walter Roper’s books are still worth reading; Keith Brown replicates the Roper stocks. This S&W .357 Magnum from the 1930s is stocked with Roper grips.

There was a time not too many years ago when it was possible to find small gun shops every few miles. There’s still one about 20 miles south of town and I...

As reintroduced, these brand new Peacemakers were exactly as they had been made in the last few years up to 1941.

Those who have followed my writings over the years will know I’m an auto-pistol person. So, they may be startled to learn my first handgun was an old...

My growing collection of Old West guns from Cimarron have proven accurate and fun to shoot. Cimarron-imported arms have long been known for their higher...

There is no doubt we are living in the age of the semi-automatic pistol. However, this was not always the case and during the last century, especially from...

As I write this, in my pocket resides a tiny, solid-frame, 5-shot, spur-trigger revolver from North American Arms. It’s their updated version of an...

In the 1950s when the sixgun was still supreme among peace officers, there were many who asked for a less expensive .357 Magnum. The 1954 result was the...

Two on two: We turned Mike Humphries and Roy Huntington loose on two new Ruger handguns. These were the SP101 5-shot .357 and the .380 “Anniversary” LCP.

There’s no doubt we’re living in the age of the semi-auto. This wasn’t always the case and during the last century, especially from the 1920s to the...

Bill Ruger’s self-taught mechanical mind was genius-level. Although he had an eye for the classics, his ability to know what people wanted before they...

In 1968 pickings were slim for new handguns. In the “US Pistols And Revolvers 1967-68” section, Jay Charles and the Gun Digest technical staff wrote,...

Somewhere between target and brain are your eyes and front sight. It’s pretty straightforward but sometimes along this line, things get misinterpreted...

Mom was dying of cancer and I’d recently learned how to log on the Internet. After discovering “gun forums” I kept returning to one in particular....

It took a while. But patience has been rewarded and the 10mm is now alive and well. Two of the latest offerings in this excellent chambering come from...

“Well,” said my shooting buddy Thomas Mackie, massaging his right hand with only a slight grimace, “now I can say I’ve done it….”

Hey, John Taffin! I’m about to eat some crow here so I want you to pay attention. Some years back you got a mite upset at an article I wrote saying the...

During the day-to-day grind of content production for our magazines and websites, I like to keep an eye on the daily press releases we receive to stay on...

You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Fliiiinch...!” Dr. Seuss nails it with this Christmas favorite when describing the...

Built just like, yup … a tank, the Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum has made a lot of friends over the decades.

On January 22, 2018, GLOCK released its newest pistol to the public — the 19X. It’s essentially the company’s entry into the recent competition for...

At the recent SHOT Show in Las Vegas, a fair amount of attention from revolver aficionados was focused on the Colt exhibit because another snake is back in...

I've reviewed carry guns by carrying them in just about every place on my person where there's a proper holstering system available.

My first concealed carry sixgun in 1956 was a then-brand new 2nd Generation 7-1/2" Colt Single Action .45. It was chosen very scientifically: It was what I had.

Mine started off life as a dead-stock, pinned-barrel S&W Model 49 Bodyguard .38 Special. I like J-Frames, so it was an easy choice. I got the gun new back...

After I got the Marlin 39A Mountie I talked about last month, I soon wanted to add an appropriated companion piece — a really good .22 sixgun. A young...

In 2014 Lipsey’s released the all-stainless steel, Ruger-made Single-Seven revolver. Chambered in the mightiest .32 caliber round — the powerful .327...

If you have a fetish for DA revolver shooting, you’ll eventually run across an “out-of-print, price-is-right” Smith you simply can’t live without.

Since the .357 Magnum arrived in 1935 — heralded as the most powerful sixgun in the world — it has been followed by plenty of other hard-hitting cartridges.

Significant dates are forever etched in our brains. September 23, 1985 is one of mine. On this day I entered Maryland’s Montgomery County Police Academy...

There’s no doubt today’s revolvers are stronger, made of better steels with closer tolerances, and almost always shoot better than those from the...

Okay, the .38 Special may no longer be the dominant law enforcement sidearm it was back in the days when Colt and S&W were locked in mortal combat for the...

The first time was more than frightening. I was standing behind a badge and pointing a gun at another human. The only comfort I could find was in the 40 oz....

Although I like having so many choices, I try to keep simple in whatever I’m carrying.

We all have our reasons for buying guns. Sometimes our biggest hurdle is convincing ourselves why we need it. I’ve debated myself so often I consider...

Amidst a tsunami of polymer-framed autoloading pistols we’re seeing a groundswell of renewed interest in double-action revolvers. Some of the most popular...

Picking your favorite handgun is a tough proposition. Narrowing down to a favorite caliber can be almost as frustrating for some folks.

About 66 years ago, Bill Ruger took a serious look at how popular Western movies and TV shows were. Then he realized the fact there were no single-action...

In 1955, Smith & Wesson introduced the .357 Combat Magnum which would become the Model 19 two years later when the company went to a model-numbering system....

What does a fellow do to alleviate boredom when it’s 20-below outside and you’re recovering from a full knee replacement? This was my question when the...

I didn’t have to try to decide whether or not a single action was suitable for defense; it was simply all I had to choose from. My choices were a 7-1/2"...

Enter Hamilton Bowen, the custom revolver maker who was one of the early ’smiths building the big Linebaughs in the days when you couldn’t just buy one...

After telling you about my police academy introduction to revolver shooting, I’m going to tell you what our thoughts were packing a duty sixgun way back...