Revolvers

Charter Arms has introduced its new 'The Pink Lady' revolver in .38 Special +P caliber.Evolved from Charter Arms' popular compact Undercover Series, The Pink Lady weighs 12 ounces thanks to an 7075 aircraft aluminum frame, and it's anodized bight pink.

Colt Melby has retired from the Smith & Wesson board of directors, effective January 8, 2008.

Recently we took a look at .22 semiautos for the trail. In this report we look at an often neglected caliber, the .22 Magnum, in a trio of unusual revolvers. The versatility of the revolver lets you load it with a variety of loads, such as snake shot in one cylinder, high-velocity hollow-points in the next, and that can be a handy option on the trail. We chose to evaluate the .22 Magnum for this test, and found two small convertible revolvers from the same outfit, North American Arms, in their five-shot, spur-trigger single actions. One was the Black Widow, with 2-inch barrel and fixed sights ($287). The other was the 4-inch version, called the Mini Master, and though we looked hard for one with adjustable sights, we could not obtain one by our deadline. So we took a look at the Mini Master with fixed sights ($301). Both came with two cylinders, one in .22 LR and the other in .22 Magnum. Both are available with only one cylinder in either caliber for $29 less. We also chose a larger, heavier gun dedicated to the .22 Magnum, the 4-inch Taurus Model 941 ($373). It had adjustable sights.An associate of Gun Tests declared his intention of arming himself against all and sundry predators with the Mini-Master. We told him we thought it was not the greatest idea. Our friend knew it was better to have some sort of gun than none at all, and he wondered how good the .22 Mag would be for self defense. We tested with three types of .22 Magnum ammunition in all three guns, and with three types of LR in the NAA guns. The magnum ammo choices, all 40-grain loads, were Remingtons PSP, CCIs Maxi-Mag HP, and CCI/Speer TNT HP. These cost from $10 to $12 for each 50-round box. The .22 LR ammo was Remington Target Rifle, Federal Gold Medal, and Winchester Super-X Power Points.We though this small selection of revolvers would give us some idea of what to expect from the .22 Magnum and a few guns that handle it. We note some makers dont offer much in .22 Mag handguns anymore. Ruger and S&W used to produce a good variety, but today offer very little. Word is that Taurus will soon drop the .22 Mag from its revolver production. Could we be on to something? Heres what we found.

In our August 2006 issue we reviewed three different .357 Magnum revolvers with 4-inch barrels. The 4-inch magnum is the traditional configuration for the uniformed policeman, and despite the overload of semi-autos now available, the revolver is still a popular sidearm. Each of the guns in our first test, the $615 Ruger GP100, Taurus's $469 M66SS4, and the $646 Smith & Wesson Model 619 were made in the United States.

Since then we have come across a foreign made product that begs comparison to these guns. This was the Alfa Steel .357 Magnum manufactured in Czechoslovakia. We also decided to revisit the Smith & Wesson catalog and test the seven-shot model 686 Plus, catalog number 164194 ($790). Both guns featured a full underlug that enclosed the ejector rod and added recoil-opposing weight beneath the barrel. Each gun offered a ramped front sight with orange-colored insert and a rear sight that was adjustable for windage and elevation. Both guns used a flat-faced hammer and frame-mounted firing pin. Other similarities included finger-grooved grips and counter-clockwise rotation of the cylinder.

Let's see how well this newcomer stacks up against the field.

Cowboy Action shooters might well consider choosing a .38 Special for their activities if they have even the slightest trouble with recoil from the .45s. Recoil recovery plays a big part in Cowboy competition, speed being mighty important for best scores. We tested a few other .38 Special/.357 Magnum single actions recently, and here we have two more. These are the American Western Arms Ultimate 1873, all blued, for $600, and the Charles Daly 1873 Standard Model, $460. Both have 5.5-inch barrels, and both are made by Pietta in Italy. There are similarities, but the differences are plain to see. Here's what we found.

Ruger lists seven different models in the GP100 family with barrel lengths of 3, 4, and 6 inches. Finishes are either blued or stainless steel. Manufacturer's suggested retail prices range from $552 for the .38 Special +P only models to $615 for the stainless steel .357 Magnum revolvers with barrel lengths of either 4 or 6 inches.

The Second Dragoon was the middle of three post-Walker revolvers developed by Colt beginning in 1848. All were designed for horseback use, and as such, weight was not much of a consideration, though at 4 pounds, the Dragoons weighed half a pound less than the Walker. There also was, most likely, ignorance about how heavy a revolver had to be in order to handle a given power level. For example, the 1860 Army Colt was not a lot less powerful than the Dragoon but weighed far less, yet was totally controllable, the result of ten years of refinement.

The Dragoon name comes from the use, or designated use, of this heavy pistol by the U.S. Mounted Rifles, some of which were called the Dragoons. Most originals, and all of our test trio, had the initials U.S.M.R. engraved on the cylinders. The Second Dragoon was in production from 1850-51, with a total of about 2,700 made. The First Dragoon was made from 1848 to 1850 in the quantity of about 7,000, and the Third Dragoon was made for about ten years, in the quantity of about 10,500. This makes the Second Dragoon the rarest of the original 4-pound Colts. In a similar manner, when Colt organized the production of the 2nd-Generation Dragoons in the early 1980s (built by Iver Johnson from I-J and Uberti parts), they made nearly 4,000 of the First, close to 7,000 of the Third, but only 2676 of the Second Dragoon, again rendering them the rarest of the lot. Easily distinguished by the square-back trigger guard and the rectangular bolt-stop notches, the Second Model Dragoon was originally presented with blued barrel, cylinder and trigger, and case-colored loading lever, hammer, and frame. The grip straps were brass, and grips were one-piece walnut. Some martial-use pistols had grips marked with an inspector's escutcheon. Our test EMF has such a mark.

The guns in this test — Smith & Wesson's .45 ACP 325PD and .357 Magnum 327, and the Taurus .41 Magnum 451 — all have problems that would make us think twice before buying them.

Taurus's latest $406 .17 HMR revolvers shoot accurately but cannot overcome cartridge-related problems.

Smith & Wesson's $833 Model 610 10mm/.40 S&W is a slick shooter, but the $1000 Colt Anaconda in .44 Special/.44 Magnum is better than ever, in our estimation.

Last month's test of double-action revolvers showed two guns that suffered cylinder bind. This round, we encountered no problems whatsoever with the simpler models.

Many companies have shown they can chamber revolvers with nearly any length of cartridge, but there can still be problems — in particular, maintaining headspace, the distance between the head of the cartridge and the breechface. The cause: Narrow chambers fill with debris, making complete chambering difficult. This can hamper rotation and present a safety hazard. This is especially true of rimfires, unlike a centerfire round whose primer is recessed and protected by the case. With a rimfire, there has always been concern that hitting the case edge on the breech while closing the cylinder could ignite the cartridge.

We noted function (but not safety) problems when we recently tested two double-action guns chambered for the .17 Hornady Magnum Rifle cartridge: the Smith & Wesson Model 647, $677; and the Taurus International M17 Tracker, $438. Next month, we look at two single-action revolvers chambered for the increasingly popular round.

The .17 HMR has been described as a Winchester Magnum Rifle (WMR) case necked down in the final 0.2 inches of its length to secure a boattail rifle bullet measuring approximately 0.17 inch in diameter. Given the higher velocity of this round compared to the .22 WMR, we wanted to know if accuracy would be effected pro or con. Also, would the unique profile of this rimfire round solve headspacing problems or create new ones? We began shooting to find out: