THE INSIDER

PRODUCTS AND REVIEWS FROM THE EDITOR

Pre-War Perfection

I sort of stumbled onto this .38 Special Colt Officers Model a couple of years ago. I did a favor for a friend and he asked if I wanted “Something in a box or some money?” Knowing this friend,...

Micro-Carry

First of all, this isn’t my fault. Editorial Director and fellow conspirator here, Mike Humphries, sent me a photo of a tiny NAA revolver in a pocket holster, along with a teeny knife and light...

The Knocabout Revisited:

I was casting about at a garage sale some years ago and my eye caught what I first thought was an air pistol of some sort. When I picked it up, I realized it was a single shot, break-barrel .22...

Contender Concepts

I’ve become enamored with the .32-20 cartridge of late and after some scrounging found a barrel in that caliber on eBay for my early first generation Contender. After sorting things out and...

The Magical Model 12

I’ve always been enamored — is it okay to be enamored? — with the Model 12. If you’re not up to speed, it’s a K-Frame S&W with an aluminum alloy...

An Amos Grundy Story

Amos looked at the .38 Super he was working on. It had been vexing him, but he thought he might be onto why it was acting up for Jake Hughs, a good customer.

Revolver Redo

Other than making them go bang a few times for fun, it dawned on me I had never actually targeted one of the old break-top revolvers. Their reputations run...

Front Sight Magic?

"Uh, hey Roy, can you help me with my gun?” It always starts like that, doesn’t it? “Been there, done that,” you say? My friend is a seasoned...

The Muzzle Chamfer Challenge

About a year or so ago I had the crew from the Cylinder & Slide shop here at the old homestead for a week-long “How to rebuild a S&W K-Frame revolver into...

Fact Or Fiction?

When I was a cop I used to carry a couple of $100 bills in my wallet when I had range duty. When the various detective units would qualify, some of the...

Speak Softly And Carry A Cane?

A hunnert’ years ago on a graveyard shift I was engaged in a spirited disagreement with a bad guy. My new friend and I eventually fell out of a pick-up...

An Oops... And A Recovery!

Not very long ago I stumbled onto a sort of “fixer” S&W Third Model Hand Ejector in .32-20. The nickel is worn, but once I cleaned her up some, tuned...

Basic Gunsmithing:...

It seems we struck a chord when we published that Insider on how to fix buggered-up screws (Insider, May/June 2017) and you guys reached out to me wanting...

Ankle Carry: Backup, Or...

"Having a gun” is, indeed, a good idea if you need one. People who carry guns for defense (or even sometimes because they have to, like cops), often...

.22LR: Velocity Variables

Due to an act of overt, shameless kindness on the part of J.J. Reich and staffers at Vista Outdoors I was able to scrape up a nice assortment of various .22...

Getting Back To Basics

I had fun shooting some old battle-weary Colt 1911’s — tossing in a Rock Island Armory basic mil-spec 1911 too — a few issues ago (Insider, July/Aug...