Category: Self-Defense

James: First, the 1911 was designed to make you take it out of your firing grip to release the slide – this way it won’t accidentally be released. Second, a la the Clint Smith school of gun fighting, if you are using the slide release you are wrong anyway. He teaches that you take your support hand, reach over the top of the pistol and pinch the slide between your four fingers and the bottom of the palm of your hand, then “tear the slide off” by jerking the slide back until it is pulled from your grasp. This way …

Sir: I’ve been experiencing a few “7th round jams” where after the 6th round is fired and the bolt is starting to go forward to pick up the 7th round out of the clip, the entire clip just jumps up part way (like it does after the 8th round) and the bolt stops against it. The only solution is to pull the bolt back, and push the clip and 2 remaining rounds back down and continue firing. JWR Replies: The same thing happened to me with my DCM Garand. The offending part turned out to be the “follower arm” (the …

Mr. Rawles, I read your post about the rattler and the changes you made to the Colt .45. I’m glad things worked out well and you obviously have a nice touch with your work. I worked for a gunsmith for 5 years and would recommend to your readers that they make one modification at a time, then check for function and reliability. It just saves time if something – this way just one thing – doesn’t function properly. It takes more test ammo, but there is no substitute for reliability.- C.G. in North Carolina Dear Jim, First let me say …

James, My 2006 Ten Cent Challenge contribution is on the way, via snail-mail. Congratulations on “cutting the cord”. I’ve decided against the Trijicon TA-11E ACOG purchase. I interviewed a local who owns one of the Trijicon fiber-optic scopes. It has cracks in the fiber optic element, but the scope still works. I spoke with a Trijicon customer service representative who said: 1. The fiber optic often breaks from stress or impact. The tritium will not power the scope during daylight so the scope is “down” until dim light or the fiber optic is replaced. 2. The company is aware of …

Dear Jim, WD-40 is a poor lubricant and a lousy gun cleaning solvent. (“WD,” incidentally, means “water displacing.”) While it may have some utility in removing moisture, that’s about where it’s value ends. Aside from being a poor lubricant, it also tends to oxidize and gum in short order, making it a poor choice. Anyone interested in bore solvents should consider making a gallon of “Ed’s Red.” (C.E. “Ed” Harris was a chemist and technical editor for the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine. He devised a modern equivalent to the old Frankfort Arsenal Nitro-solvent Gun Cleaner No. 18. as detailed on …

In answer to your queries about gun laws in Israel: The gun control laws in Israel are draconian. You must have a “valid reason” to keep a gun at home. Sadly in the West Bank our cousins (the Arabs) give that reason. All of Israel law is a combination of Ottoman Empire, British occupation, and Israeli passed laws, also the radical leftist Supreme Court which has empowered itself to strike down laws it does not agree with and to generate law by judicial declaration. We do not have a constitution for the state of Israel. These rules may change as …

I grew up plinking with a .22 rifle but was totally inexperienced with MBR rifles when I bought my FAL last summer. When I saw the RWVA Appleseed training schedule in SurvivalBlog, I decided to risk a possible cold weekend and attended Fred’s February 2006 training in North Carolina. I had the company of one other FAL shooter, an SKS shooter, a .22 shooter and a lot of M1A and M1 Garand shooters on the lower range line. Three or four families with children ranging in ages from about 10 up came to the training also and sported various calibers …

Jim, Concerning the Polish 7.62x54r ammo question: I have shot several thousand rounds of it through my PKM machine gun without a single misfire. The accuracy has pleasantly surprised me as well. As yet, I have shot little of it through my MN [Mosin Nagant] bolt rifles but have not had any problems there so far. Czech, Russian, Polish, Chinese have all been fine. The only 54r ammo that has been a consistent problem is the Albanian. Crimp is not done properly making it nearly impossible to load into Russian belts and feed into my PKM and SG-43 Goryunov. It …

Jim, Concerning the Polish 7.62x54r ammo question: I have shot several thousand rounds of it through my PKM machine gun without a single misfire. The accuracy has pleasantly surprised me as well. As yet, I have shot little of it through my MN [Mosin Nagant] bolt rifles but have not had any problems there so far. Czech, Russian, Polish, Chinese have all been fine. The only 54r ammo that has been a consistent problem is the Albanian. Crimp is not done properly making it nearly impossible to load into Russian belts and feed into my PKM and SG-43 Goryunov. It …

Dear Jim, I found an article about this custom 3-3/4-inch 12 gauge, with energy exceeding that of a .50 BMG. It has extreme power, for very large game or certain anti-armor applications. It’s legally a shotgun, and easier to reload than rifle cartridges. Also, custom projectiles are easier to make. Some of the conversions are on readily available single shot receivers.One advantage is that the converted shotgun will still shoot all standard 12 gauge shells [of shorter lengths.] – Michael Z. Williamson

Jim, I have been stocking up on surplus 308 as it seems it is drying up. After all with nearly every nation switching to 5.56mm, it makes sense that it would dry up sooner or later. AIM Surplus has South African 308 in battle packs, but the price continues to climb every time I check their web site. I too, have looked and continue to debate over choice of MBR. Boston’s Gun Bible has been insightful but as FALs evolve it makes this choice harder. We had initially settled on M1As, but I too have been looking at the FAL …