Pete the Enthusiastic Proponent of Superfluous Cartridges writes at length:
OK, Dick Metcalf's article did not address +P factory .45 ACP ammo in his comparison. And he definitely went overboard pronouncing that the GAP was the clear winner when the fps difference was not really that significant.
I rejoice that you were not blinded to that fact. But let me impart to you another in the
Inside the Gunzine Game tutorials I've shared with you over the years…
When one writes for an outfit such as Primedia, successor to the now-merged Petersen's and PJS publishing empires, never is heard a discouraging word about a product which either is or may be one day an advertiser. And if by some extraordinary circumstance the gunzine writer is compelled to make a critical observation, it had damned well better be down-played, #1, and, #2, counter-balanced by at least half-a-dozen HOO-rah! assessments.
And if you can't find anything about a firearm over which to sing effusive praise, then every little "plus" is cited, no matter how trivial, in order to give the illusion of cumulative "High Honors."
Therefore even 10-15 fps becomes worthy of mention.
I don't think Dick should be blamed because one manufacturer uses a polygonal barrel and another doesn't. If anything, that's the gun manufactuer's {sic} fault.
See, I always knew that you had it in you to write for the gunzines, Pete… you see, this isn't a fault situation, and no blame need be assigned, so you need not defend his article: it is what it is.
I remember ten years ago last month when the cadre had been assembled, courtesy of Smith & Wesson, at a motel/conference center in Fort Lauderdale for the introduction of the Sigma. We had free time that Friday afternoon before the schedule kicked in, and a half-dozen of so of us were sitting around doing what we delight to do on these junkets: sucking up suds and bitching 'bout the miserable pay.
There was a lull in the conversation and Metcalf cast a fearful eye at his fellow farmer/gunwriter, Frank James, and launched into something which clearly had been a burr beneath his tractor saddle for quite some time. He began deconstructing and dismissing Frank's annual "10,000 round torture test" in which he would assemble a crew of his Indiana chums and neighbors, and start shooting a handgun as quickly as possible until it turned into slag or they'd expended the pallets of 200 cases. Magazines would be recharged in teams and cartons would be torn down, notes and photographs would be taken, etc. And out of that Farmer Frank would obtain enough material for a pretty comprehensive article.
Metcalf was highly critical of the "torture test" as unrealistic, and then began extolling the virtues of a protocol of his own devise, something he called "the accelerated wear test."
Frank, a man of infinite good humor but finite patience with foolishness, interrupted Metcalf as politely as possible, and noted that he needed to call home at a certain time, and would have to excuse himself at that point. His exit line was, "You know what they do when they build an Indy car, Dick? They run it hard around a track for a day and see what falls off." (Frank had been annually covering "the Brickyard" as a photo-journalist since before he had his first gunzine byline.) "That's basically all my 'torture test' is." And he left.
In the ensuing silence, Metcalf started again to laud his "accelerated wear test" as superior to the "10k torture test," when I cut him off, pointing out that none of us were scientists, and only Pete Kokalis and Chuck Karwan were even pedigreed engineers, and that what we were, were guys who wrote about small arms and ammunition. And that those of us who tried to do more than re-write a manufacturer's press release, all had our own way of "getting into an article," and that no one's method was necessarily more valid than another's… it's basically what works for the individual writer.
Right after the Sigma launch conference, I passed a newsstand and noticed that the new
Shooting Times contained an article my one Dick Metcalf about… wait for it… his the "accelerated wear test," so clearly it was fresh in his mind when we were in Florida.
I don't even know if he still uses that particular protocol, or has moved on to something else. But he's still writing, and still… as do we all… needs a way to "get into the article." I haven't read the "G.A.P. v. ACP" piece, but it sounds like he's still doing what Dick Metcalf has always done… fill a number of pages with what is now called "content," and for which he gets paid handsomely, and the manufacturer is happy, and continues to advertise.
Frankly, a lot of .45 ACP fans are projecting their anger at Dick Metcalf and Shooting Times as a scapegoat, simply because the GAP is doing well despite all the naysayers.
Aw, Pete, do you even listen to yourself?!? *** cares??? I know some people may be skeptical, but who is actually storming the gates of
Shooting Times demanding Metcalf's head on a pike?!? C'mon, already!
Some of the S&W revolver folks are actually getting excited about the gap. Apparently they are claiming faster load/unloads with the gap compared to the acp.
I rest my case about you being prime for a gunzine career!