……I've got too much time on my hands while we're waiting for Spring to start construction on our home so I thought I'd stir the ashes here at the campfire---there's been way too little dispute to keep things interesting!!!
…..Other than the frivolity of having something "different" that's fun to shoot, I for the life of me can't figure out why anyone would want:
1. a 3" barreled J-frame…..hey, it's a "POCKET PISTOL"----unless you work for Barnum and Bailey or are Capt. Kangaroo, you don't have pockets adequate for the job. Shoving a 3" J-frame in the front pocket of your Wranglers is going to be like Andre the Giant and Mary Lou Retton on their wedding night (I apologize for that mental image). Ok, maybe one in .22 for a bird hunter to dispatch a skunk or porcupine that gets too close to his bird dog……J-frames for self defense should have barrels less than 2"--anything else, I just don't get it.
2. a 5 shot .44 magnum in a steel-L-frame with a barrel in excess of 4". Giving up a round in the cylinder to gain a frame size reduction that is irrelevant for concealed carry seems irrational, plus the 4 1/4" barrel seems to negate the CC intent (who uses this gun for CC anyway?). Had they made it with a Scandium frame and shorter barrel, I'd get it. There are lighter and shorter barreled N-frames which would be desirable if packing it for a trail gun, in which case an extra round in the cylinder might be a good thing. There are a number of 'smiths that can easily modify an N-frame to accept K/L frame grips if you want your wife or child to shoot the gun. If you're committed to the cartridge and just want to plink with it, there are heavier .44's that will be much more pleasant to shoot. I just don't get it.
3. The almost religious-zealotry that accompanies the 10mm. It was the darling of Jeff Cooper and since I loved Jeff and couldn't find, nor afford a Bren 10, when Colt came out with the Delta Elite I got one of the very first ones----it was un-pleasant to shoot in IPSC events. It's efficacy over the .45 ACP for defensive stopping power is irrelevant in any practical sense. I get that someone may want to hunt with a handgun and it's ballistically a semi-auto .41 magnum. So why not just go with a .41 magnum or better yet a .454 Casull or .44 Mag. (I understand that Smith is making a crackerjack new L-frame in that caliber.) With cheaper, more effective and more readily available cartridges, when it comes to the 10mm, I don't get it.
4. The excitement over .17 caliber varmint cartridges…….I'm a moderately committed prairie dog shooter; to the point that it was at least a partial criteria in our decision to retire to Wyoming. I understand the thrill of observing rather obtuse terminal ballistics, i.e. seeing how high, far or violently you can flip a p-dog off a mound. Were the cartridges less expensive in proportion to their smaller size, I'd understand, but the opposite seems to be true. While they may perform with spectacular results in ideal circumstances, they don't seem to do anything that other (larger, heavier) cartridges don't seem to do better and cheaper. I don't get it.
If I've gored your ox or beaten your sacred cow, this was all meant in good humor…..feel free to flame me….or at least enlighten me….there's so much that I just don't get.
Hopefully they'll be able to start excavation for our house and shooting berms with the first thaw and I won't have so much free time on my hands in the near future!! :-)
Last edited by gmoats; 02/20/15.
