More calibers starting with 4 than you can shake a stick at.

[grimjaw]

Met with a THR member today (Bigjake) to see if we might trade a couple of guns. He was gracious enough to let me try out several of his.

Springfield 1911, .45ACP. Ok, I can see what some of the hype is about. I hadn't shot that caliber before, so I didn't know what to expect. I thought it would kick more than the 9mm semi-auto's I've fired. I was wrong. Will seriously consider a gun in this design, but I'd like to see one field stripped first. I am spoiled on the simplicity of ComBloc guns.

Marlin 1894 guide gun, .45-70. Wow! Kicks, but not quite like mule. From a sitting position, I'm sure it was worse. Definitely have to look into one of those now. (Not a handgun, of course, but didn't have anywhere else more appropriate to mention it.)

Desert Eagle, .357 Magnum. All the rumours I heard were true. He and I both thought the cartridge didn't have enough *unf* to work the action on that gun, .44 Magnum would have been better.

S&W 629, .44 Magnum. Heavy, recoil wasn't as bad as I expected. I liked it alot until I fired the next one . . .

Ruger Vaquero. .44 Magnum. Jumped like a scalded cat, but WOW was that gun fun to shoot. Bigjake could make it do little dances, too, in CAS fashion. Seeing that shining steel wheelgun twirling in the light and making big holes in stuff, ooooooooo. The idea of it makes me all tingly.

Brought two of my own, Makarov to see if my rear sight work fixed my problem (it did), and the Ruger GP-100 I bought earlier that day. Had a blast, thanks to Bigjake for ammo and gun tryouts.

jmm

 

[Kamicosmos]

What sort of ammo were you putting through the Desert Eagle?

I have an old Mark I in .357. It requires hot ammo, 158 grain weight bullets too. Also, if you have the recoil spring assembly in upside down, which is very easy to do on the early models, the slide will be very hard to work.

My Eagle is flawless on functioning, as long as I put hot (15.5 gr of H110) magnums through it, with jacketed, not plated, bullets.

I agree with you on .45. I bought a CZ97 a couple of years ago, and it has become my favorite auto. My .40 Beretta hardly goes to the range any more!

 

[grimjaw]

Kamicosmos, he had the same thought. We were only putting 110 grain WWB hollowpoints through it. It reportedly fed better after 50 rounds of 158 grain cartridges. Finicky with ammunition, which is sad. I'd love to have an autoloader in that caliber. .357 Magnum semi-automatic carbine, oh the possibilities. Ruger can do the Deerfield in .44 Magnum, why not the .357?

jmm