Author: James Wesley Rawles

James: In reference to your January 16th post, have hunted extensively with side-by-side (double barrel or “SxS”) shotguns throughout my life. They are my first choice for upland game and waterfowl. There are many brands of SxS shotguns. Some are valued at a price higher than most reasonably priced homes with 10 acres of ground, others are priced in a race to the bottom. I like the Spanish doubles as a mid-priced SxS. Mine have proven to be as reliable as a hammer, and have good fit for the money spent. Be warned though, double guns of all types have …

Sir: Over the years I, like all shooters, have heard theories on magazine springs and how to treat them. A few years back I took a tour of the Sandia National Laboratories and I spoke with a metallurgist who was also a shooter and he had some noteworthy insight on the issue. As he said, “if the spring was made of the right materials and heat treated properly, leaving it loaded will not cause the spring to weaken.” Leaving a spring compressed will not weaken it, it is compressing and relieving the spring a lot that causes them to weaken …

Mr. Rawles; What do you think of the double-barrel coach gun as a weapon for less-frequent shooters? I’m thinking this might be a good choice to give to the older lady next door, or the wife who doesn’t shoot as a hobby. It’s easy to use (few controls), intimidating, and has manageable recoil, when used with the right buckshot loads and possibly a quality recoil pad. – John in California JWR Replies:  Coach Guns (a.k.a. side-by-side double-barreled shotguns or “luparas“) are an antiquated design, but they do fill a couple of useful roles in a retreat firearms battery. Their greatest …

JWR – Recently had a few realizations about magazines (the weakest link in any semi-auto firearm): Even though I regularly rotate my magazines, I have discovered that the Glock G30 [compact .45 ACP] magazines have taken a set. [Their springs became weakened, under compression.] They are 10 round magazines, which I was only loading to 9 rounds and rotating every 30 days. While I ALWAYS download magazines to preclude the maximum compression of the spring from overwhelming the loading energy of the slide/bolt going forward, the extreme compactness of the G30 magazines is apparently more than the springs can take. …