The Firearm Blog

Knoxx (now part of Blackhawk) have launched a thumbhole variant of their recoil dampening Talon (shotgun) and Axiom (rifle) stocks.

The recoil system resembles the rear shock absorbing system on mountain bikes

The Talon is available for the Remington 870, Mossberg 500 and Winchester 1300. The Axiom is available for the Remington 700, Howa 1500 and Weatherby Vanguard.

Murdoc has more info about the Talon and Axiom over at GunPundit.

[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by David. David blogs at True Blue Sam the Travelin' man. ]

There is nothing unusual going on at Bea's loading bench, except this 78 year old grandmother has been a handgunner for just over a year, and now she is loading her own .45 ammo! Her journey as a shooter has been rather remarkable, but she has always had lots of pioneer moxie, and she is still an active person who wants to be able to defend herself and her home.

Dwain, Bea's husband, passed away in 2005, and owned several guns. One was his 'house gun,' a Smith and Wesson Model 36 snubbie. She realized that the little .38 would be difficult for her to master, so she had one of her sons help her pick out a new pistol for her to build her shooting skills. Her first purchase was a Walther P-22, and on her 77th birthday she went to the local range for the first time. The little Walther was easy for her to handle and to shoot; the only problem she had was stripping and reassembling after her range trips. As long as it was fed plated .22's, this gun never failed to function. Bea was now a handgunner, and a pretty good shot, too. Check out the target with thirty offhand shots at thirty feet with her little auto.

P-22 target with thirty shots at thirty feet.

Bea next learned to handle revolvers by starting with her son's Ruger Single-Six, and she found that she could shoot it more accurately than she could with the little Walther. She got lucky and found a used Single-Six in excellent condition at her local Scheel's store, and soon she was shooting the revolver more than the auto. Her son then introduced her to centerfire with a Ruger Blackhawk, and she found that shooting .38's was easy for her. She looked at the options with Ruger Blackhawks, and when the Scheel's store got a .45 convertible, she bought it. The big slow bullets are easy for her to handle, even though she weighs less than 110. At the range she will shoot several cylinders through the Single-Six, and then one or two through the Blackhawk, then switch back to the .22. Careful practice has kept her from developing flinch problems.

Bea buying her Blackhawk

Shooting the Blackhawk for the first time.

Her son has been reloading for many years, and he set her up to reload for her .45. A surprise benefit of the convertible Blackhawk is the free once fired brass other shooters leave behind at the range. Every range trip begins with policing for new brass before setting up to shoot.

Bea at loading bench

In September Engineering Johnson, her grandson, took her along to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, and she was thrilled to meet Mr. Completely, KeeWee, and the other bloggers she has been reading. She says it was the most fun she has ever had. Mr. C even let her shoot his long barrelled High Standard, and Bea had some respectable times hitting the steel plates on the second range day. She is planning to go again next year.

Bea with her .45 at the GBR Show and Tell

From left: Engineering Johnson, Bea and Mr. Completely

She has several range friends in her hometown, and she is spreading the joy of shooting by teaching the basics of gun safety and pistols with new shooters. One of her new found friends is a nine year old boy who is regularly beating his dad at hitting the bullseye with her Single-Six.

Bea would like for more women to realize that they do not have to be defenseless, and that even a small framed womam can shoot a gun that is powerful enough to stop an attacker. Thank you for setting such a great example for all of us, Bea.

Gun bloggers KeeWee and Molly with Bea.

[ GBR photos were taken by The Packing Rat ]

[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by Matt Green ]

This Ruger .45 my Dad left me is one of the first weapons I ever fired.

My grandparents had a farm in central Minnesota, near St. Cloud, and we would drive the two hours to visit every month or six weeks or so. Nearby was an old iron bridge, crosshatched with braces, bedded with wood that beginning to rot as the bridge neared the end of its first century of usefulness. The newer highway bridge went over the slow moving creek a couple of hundred yards upstream, so the metal bridge on the dirt road was relegated to cars and small trucks. It was too small for any modern farm machinery to pass across it.

But it was a great place to learn how to shoot. Dad would bring out his Ruger Mk1 .22 and this Blackhawk, and my three brothers and I would take turns shooting pop cans and empty ammo boxes floating in the river, tossed in on the upstream side of the bridge. Dad would occasionally take a turn with the .22, but he mainly used his .45, usually stoked with ACP ammo, since it was less expensive than Long Colt. It was also a way for him to see if we’d been fooling with his pistols in his absence, as he caught my younger brother once when he hadn’t put the ACP cylinder back in. Dad loaded a .45 ACP round, and it dropped deep into the LC cylinder. One look at the bunch of us, and he knew which brother was guilty.

When we exhausted the .22 ammo, we’d each get a cylinder full of .45 to shoot, or most of one, since five rounds each made the box come out even. It was harder to shoot well than the .22, and much louder (I don’t remember that we bothered with ear protection back then), but it was very satisfying to shoot it well and have Dad comment as much.

I miss him, and think of him whenever I shoot the old Ruger, or really, whenever I handle firearms in general. The interest I have in firearms now was sparked long ago by shooting with him.

Click to enlarge

There are at least five bullets stuck in that revolver barrel. RugerForum members seem to think is a Ruger Blackhawk in .357 Magnum. The squib loads could have been low powered .38 Special rounds or very badly loaded .357 rounds. That the shooter did not notice it after the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th round is crazy!

It is hard to see if there is a bulge in that barrel, a symptom of a round fired into a blocked barrel. I think if had been a semi-automatic pistol there would have been a disaster. A revolver can vent gas in the gap between the cylinder and the barrel but in a autoloader pistol for a brief period of time the gas has no where to go and the pressure build up would be considerable.

A few weeks ago I was shooting some old .22 Longs out of a rifle which I had not fired them out of before. I nearly crapped my pants after the second round when I realized to forget to check the spotting scope to ensure that the first round made it out of the barrel and hit the target. I was shooting iron sights and could not see the target. I learnt a good lesson. Always make sure you hit the target, especially when you are shooting low powered ammunition.

Thanks to Advocate for the link.

KNOXX (Owned by Blackhawk) have introduced a tactical style stock for the Ruger 10/22 rifle called the Axiom R/F. My guess is that the R/F stands for RimFire.

As you can see in the photo, the stock features a 6-position M4 style adjustable stock, pistol grip and free floating barrel channel. The MSRP is $99.99

I think this is going to be a *very* popular product. I think the price is good and it has been build for accuracy. Rimfire rifle tactical stocks tend to be build for looks not function.

More info and online ordering at Blackhawk.

[ Usual disclaimer for linking to an online store ... I get no financial benefits from linking to Blackhawk ]

Next year (2009) Lipsey’s LLC is selling an exclusive line of Ruger Blackhawk Flattop 44 Special revolvers. Two models will be available, one with a 5.5″ barrel and another with a 4 5/8″ barrel.

4 5/8″ model.

Hat Tip: Outdoor Wire

From MyFOX

A gun found almost 3,000 miles away was returned to its owner Monday, over 33 years after it was stolen from a Jamestown home.

Police found the Ruger Blackhawk .44 magnum pistol in tiny Clatskanie, Ore., after someone tried to sell it to a gun store in late 2007. A check on the serial number revealed the gun’s rightful owner was Fred Brown of Jamestown.

The .44 magnum Ruger Blackhawk