Smith and Wesson
Model 29 .44 Magnum
HISTORY
The .44 Magnum cartridge was introduced in 1955 by Remington for use in the (then) new
Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolver. In years following, other manufacturers
added .44 Magnum revolvers to their lineups. In addition, there are several rifles
that chamber the .44 Magnum cartridge. Today, the .44 Magnum is still considered to
be one of the most powerful handgun cartridges available commercially.
From 1955 to 1957, S&W's big revolver was simply called the "The .44
Magnum". In 1957, when S&W standardized the model numbering of their
products, the .44 Magnum was continued as the S&W model 29.
GENERAL
Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum revolvers have heavyweight steel frames, and have been
available with blue, nickel, or stainless steel finishes. The nickel finish is no
longer available on newly manufactured models. The blued and nickel models are
called the model 29. The stainless model is called the model 629, and is identical
in all respects to the model 29 except for the finish. There have been several
specialized versions of the 629, such as the "629 Classic", "629 DX",
"629 Classic Hunter", etc., with features such as interchangeable front sights,
full lug barrels, special grips, etc.
CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION
The S&W 29 follows the same pattern as the majority of other S&W "hand
ejector" revolvers. It uses the N-type frame, S&W's heaviest.
The hinged cylinder swings out of the left side of the frame for loading and unloading. The cylinder is released by the cylinder latch button located just behind the
cylinder on the left side of the frame. When the cylinder is swung out, any empty
cases may be ejected by pushing the spring loaded ejector rod located at the front of the
cylinder. Normal cylinder rotation is clockwise when viewed from the rear.
The revolver may be operated in either double or single action mode. For single
action, the operator manually pulls back the hammer before pulling the trigger. For
double action, the operator simply pulls the trigger. Substantially less effort is
required to pull the trigger in single action mode.
As with most other S&W products, the model 29 revolvers have fairly well finished
parts, are hard to break, and will last a lifetime when properly maintained. One
minor complaint is that the hammers and triggers during some years of manufacture are bare
unfinished metal, not properly case hardened, and thus will rust readily if not cared for.
Over the years, several different types of grips have been standard equipment on these
revolvers. The current style is a contoured soft rubber grip by Hogue that absorbs
more of the recoil than some past attempts. Earlier models were usually equipped
with square-butt checkered walnut grips or Pachmayer round-butt hard rubber grips.
The rear sight is a square notch, adjustable for windage using a small allen-head wrench. On more recent 29s, the notch is outlined with a bright white line, for easier
sighting.
The standard front sight is a vertical ramp. On more recent 29s, a bright red insert
on the ramp makes for easier sighting. Additional front sights are also available,
and a selection of five interchangeable front sights are standard equipment with the 629
DX model.
SPECIFICATIONS
Manufacturer: Smith & Wesson
Basic Models:
Model 29..............blue or nickel finish
Model 629.............stainless finish
Type: Double-action revolver with swing-out cylinder
Caliber: .44 Magnum
Capacity: 6 round cylinder
Barrel: Several lengths are available from 4" to 8-3/8".
Sights:
Rear.........windage adjustable notch
Front........vertical ramp with red insert on standard models
Dimensions: (for 6-1/2" model)
Length.......11-7/8"
Weight.......47 ounces (empty)
*Specifications and edited review taken from here. Ammunition source information: Hodgdon Data Manual, 26th
Edition.
Colt Python .357 Magnum
HISTORY
When introduced in 1935, the .357 Magnum was touted as the most powerful handgun
cartridge in the world, a title it has since relinquished to other cartridges such as the
.44 Magnum, 10mm Auto, and .41 Magnum. Even so, the .357 Magnum is still an extremely
useful development. For plinking and paper punching, revolvers chambered for this
cartridge usually shoot .38 Special loads with acceptable accuracy, but for more serious
work, the higher chamber pressure generated by the .357 enables it to produce almost three
times as much energy as its shorter parent.
Despite the greater publicity enjoyed by cartridges of larger calibers, the .357 is still
the most popular magnum revolver cartridge ever introduced. This is probably due to the
fact that it generates about all the recoil most shooters can handle.
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Double Action
Caliber: .357 Magnum
Barrel Length: 4; 6; 8 inches
Weight: 38 ounces (4 in. barrel, empty)
Sights: Ramp (front); Fully Adjustable (rear)
Stocks: Rubber Combat (4 in.); Rubber Target (6, 8 in.)
Cartridge Capacity: 6
Finish: Blue; Stainless; Bright Stainless
The .44 Magnum Automag
HISTORY
The .44 Automag was originally created in the late 60's by the Pasadena
Corporation. After the Pasadena days, several companies had their own version of the
firearm, including: TDE North Hollywood, TDE El Monte, High Standard, TDE /
OMC, and AMT.
THE ORIGIN OF HARRY'S AUTOMAG
In the novel, the film's screenwriter reveals Harry's introduction to
the Automag:
Harry had received it as a gift. The grateful husband of a
hostage and potential murder victim was a master gunsmith. A few months after Harry
had rescued his wife from the mess of a botched bank robbery, he had sent him the boxed
gun and a card that read, "You saved my wife's life. Maybe this will help to
save yours.".
In his time as a cop, Harry had never accepted a thing, not even a
free cup of coffee. But he accepted this gift.
AMMUNITION
The .44 Auto Mag cartridge was introduced in the ill-fated Auto Mag
pistol in 1971. Its rimless, straight wall case was formed by reducing the length of
the .308 Winchester case (or any other member of the .30-06 family) to 1.30 inches.
The .44 Auto Mag was designed to shoot .429 inch bullets at about the same velocity as the
.44 Magnum. No U.S. manufacturer has offered a factory loading for this cartridge,
but cases were once available from a Mexican firm of Cartuchos Deportivos Mexico.
The gas operated Auto Mag featured a rotary bolt with locking lugs located at the front ,
much the same design as the later Wildey and Desert Eagle autoloader. Like those
two, it was an extremely massive and heavy firearm designed to give handgun hunters .44
Magnum power from an autoloader. The cartridge was an excellent move in the right
direction in the 70's, but the gun was short lived due to a variety of reasons.
Like its ballistic twin the .44 Magnum, the .44 Auto Mag is powerful enough to be used on
game such as deer and black bear at woods ranges. Whether or not one should go to
the trouble of doing so today is questionable. Forming the case requires a set of
custom dies from RCBS, an inside neck reamer, and plenty of spare time. If not for
the availability of dependable autoloaders in .44 Magnum and .45 Winchester Magnum, the
.44 Auto Mag concept would probably still be a good idea.
Winchester Model 70 .458 Magnum
AMMUNITION
Except for use on a couple of the world's big game animals most American hunters will
never see- except for on T.V. or in magazines- the .458 Magnum might be considered a useless
cartridge. But a lot of .458 rifles are sold in the U.S., mainly because Americans
like powerful cars, powerful cartridges, and the .458 Magnum stands near the top of the
heap in punch.
All of this is not meant to say that the .458 Magnum is not an excellent cartridge. For hunting African Elephant or Cape Buffalo, few cartridges do a better job than
Winchester's biggest cartridge. Since its introduction in 1956, the .458 Magnum has
become the most popular big bore cartridge among African professional hunters, not only
for game population control work but for keeping clientele out of trouble when mixing it
up with dangerous game. A few Alaskan guides and outfitters who specialize in
hunting Brown Bear are also quite fond of the .458 for backup use.
A number of excellent big game bullets are available for the .458 Magnum. When maximum
penetration is needed for elephant, Cape Buffalo, and the like, the Speer, Hornady,
Barnes, and A-Square 500 grain solids are good choices. Listed among the better 500
grain softnose bullets are the Speer, the Hornady, the A-Square, and Barnes. For a
reduced recoil elk or moose load, try the Hornady 350 grain bullet. The .458
Winchester Magnum performs best with relatively fast burning powders such as H335, H4895,
IMR-3031, and Reloader 7.
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Bolt Action
Caliber: .458 Magnum
Barrel Length: 22; 24 inches
Weight: 8.5- 9.5 lbs.
Sights: open sights
Stocks: walnut with two steel reinforcing crossbolts
Cartridge Capacity: 4 shot magazine
Finish: Chrome Moly; Stainless
Walther P38
HISTORY
The Walther P38 pistol was developed as a military pistol for the German army
(Wehrmacht) during the late 1930s. It first appeared in 1938, and small
numbers of the original HP (Heeres Pistole – army pistol) were bought by
Sweden before the Wehrmacht adopted it as the Pistole 38 and took over
all production guns. During the war, P38 pistols were made by a number of
factories, including the Walther itself. After the war, most of the
ex-Walther machinery ended up in France as war reparations, and many of the
post-war P38 pistols were actually built in France, by the Manurhin factory.
In 1957, the newly formed Bundeswehr adopted a slightly modified P38 pistol with
a lighter aluminum frame as the Pistole 1, or P1 in short.
Commercial pistols were still manufactured under the original P38 designation.
Most of the post-war P38 pistols were made with aluminum frames, only handful of
commercial pistols were made with steel frames. There were a couple of
modifications of the P38, intended for police use, which appeared during the
1970s. The first was the P4, the first pistol to conform to new German
requirements for police sidearms. Actually, the P4 was the P38 (or P1)
with barrel cut back by 25mm (1 inch), fitted with an automated firing pin
safety and decock-only lever. Early P4 pistols were actually made using
P38 components, including slides, and thus were marked “P38 IV” instead of more
common “P4”.
While P38 pistols were in some aspects revolutionary in design and concept,
their post-war P1 versions were less than popular in the Bundeswehr, deserving
the unofficial description of “eight warning shots plus one aimed throw”.
Also, these pistols showed a typical German obsession for unnecessary
over-complication of design – for example, the P38 pistol had eleven springs
(mostly of very small size) – about twice that of the older P08 Luger pistol it
replaced in service. It also had plenty of small parts and pins that were
easy to lose during full disassembly, and a firing pin of intricate shape that
easily broke.
GENERAL
The Walther P38 is short-recoil operated, locked-breech pistol. The
barrel is locked to the slide using a wedge-shaped locking piece, which can tilt
up and down below the barrel, while following the inclined surfaces on the
frame. When the barrel and slide are in battery, the locking piece is in
its upper position, and its lugs securely lock the slide to the barrel.
Upon recoil, the locking piece drops down and out of the engagement with the
slide, unlocking it and allowing it to recoil and complete the reloading cycle.
Because of the short slide, the P38 has two captive return springs, located on
either side of the frame and inside the slide. With time it was found that
the aluminum frame developed cracks in the most highly stressed area, where the
locking piece and barrel were slamming against it on recoil, so the frames of
late production pistols were reinforced with the addition of a hexagonal
cross-pin, made from steel.
The trigger is double-action, with an exposed hammer and trigger bar (the
link between the trigger and sear) unusually located outside of the frame at the
right side. The standard safety also acted as a decocker, and was located
at the left side of the slide. Magazines were single-stack, with the
magazine release located at the heel of the grip. The sights were fixed.
P38 pistols were also fitted with a loaded chamber indicator in the form of a
small pin that projected from the rear of the slide, above the hammer, when a
cartridge was loaded in the chamber
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Double Action Semi-Automatic
Caliber: 9x19 Luger/Parabellum
Length: 216 mm
Barrel Length: 125 mm
Weight: 840 g (steel frame, empty); 770 g (aluminum frame, empty)
Sights: Ramp (front); Fully Adjustable (rear)
Stocks: Rubber Combat (4 in.); Rubber Target (6, 8 in.)
Magazine Capacity: 8
*Specifications and general info taken from
here.
M-72 Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW)
HISTORY
Prior to the fielding of the AT-4 the M-72 Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW) was
the Army's primary shoulder-fired, man-portable, light anti-tank rocket.
The M72 66mm LAW (Light Anti-armor Weapon) was developed in the 1960s. It
was a revolutionary idea: a pre-packaged rocket which could be fired and
the launcher then thrown away. Like the RPG-7, the M72 is capable of
penetrating a foot of armor, but its effective range is only 170 to 220 meters.
Manufactured by Talley Industries in the U.S. and under license in Norway, it
not only became a NATO standard but was copied and produced in Czechoslovakia
and Russia (as the RPG-18 and RPG-26). Early versions were frequently
inaccurate, corrected by an improved sight and a more powerful rocket motor.
GENERAL
The M72-series LAW is a lightweight, self-contained, anti-armor weapon
consisting of a rocket packed in a launcher. It is man-portable, may be
fired from either shoulder, and is issued as a round of ammunition. It
requires little from the user--only a visual inspection and some operator
maintenance. The launcher, which consists of two tubes, one inside the
other, serves as a watertight packing container for the rocket and houses a
percussion-type firing mechanism that activates the rocket.
Outer Tube
The trigger housing assembly (which contains the trigger assembly) is on the
upper surface of the outer tube. So are the trigger arming handle, front
and rear sight assemblies, and the launcher's rear cover.
Inner Tube
The inner tube telescopes outward toward the rear, guided by a channel assembly
that rides in an alignment slot in the outer tube's trigger housing assembly.
The channel assembly also houses the firing pin rod assembly, which includes a
detent lever assembly. The detent lever assembly moves under the trigger
assembly in the outer tube, locking the inner tube in the extended position and
cocking the weapon. All this must occur before the weapon can be fired
Rocket
The rocket is a percussion-ignited, fin-stabilized, fixed munition. It is
attached by the igniter to the inside of the launcher. The rocket consists
of a 66-mm HEAT warhead, a point-initiating, base-detonating fuze, and a rocket
motor. Six spring-loaded fins are attached to the rear of the rocket
motor. These fins are folded forward along the motor when the rocket is in
the launcher. When ignited, the propellant in the rocket motor burns
completely, producing gasses about 1,400F(760C). The gas pressure pushes
the rocket toward the target and exits to the rear of the launcher as the
backblast.
The M72-series LAW is issued as a round of ammunition. It contains a
nonadjustable propelling charge and a rocket. Every M72-series LAW has an
integral high-explosive antitank (HEAT) warhead. The warhead is in the
rocket's head (or body) section. The fuse and booster are in the rocket's
closure section. The propellant, its igniter, and the fin assembly are in
the rocket's motor. No inert versions are available. Appendix B
provides information about appropriate gunnery training devices and ammunition.
Although the M72-series LAW is mainly used as an anti-armor weapon, it may be
used with limited success against secondary targets such as gun emplacements,
pillboxes, buildings, or light vehicles.
SPECIFICATIONS
M72A2 and M72A3 LAWs
Launcher
-Length (Extended) ........ Less than 1 meter (34.67 inches)
-Length (Closed) .......... 0.67 meters (24.8 inches)
-Weight (Complete M72A2) .. 2.3 kg (5.1 pounds)
-Weight (Complete M72A3) .. 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds)
-Firing Mechanism ......... Percussion
-Front Sight .............. Reticle graduated in 25-meter range increments
-Rear Sight..... Peep sight adjusts automatically to temperature change
Rocket
-Caliber .................. 66 mm
-Length ................... 50.8 cm (20 inches)
-Weight.................... 1.8 kg (2.2 pounds)
-Muzzle Velocity........... 144.8 mps (475 fps)
-Minimum Range (Combat).... 10 meters (33 feet)
-Minimum Arming Range...... 10 meters (33 feet)
-Maximum Range............. 1,000 meters (3,300 feet)
Maximum Effective Ranges
-Stationary Target ...... 200 meters (660 feet)
-Moving Target........... 165 meters (541 feet)
(Beyond these ranges, there is less than a fifty percent chance of hitting the
target.)
*Specifications and general comments taken from
here.
Special thanks to D'Ambrosia over at the D.A.'s office.
