Posted on 09/06/2004 10:41:57 AM PDT by TERMINATTOR
A short-sighted Gunsite student is now short a Series 70 Colt
Besides being an ugly gun (the only saving grace are the Novak sights...) and having something soooo retro - and unsafe - as a trigger shoe, the owner/operator of said Series 70 did - because he was:
...pick up from the deck a live round of ammunition, with which to continue his 350 class at Gunsite.
Unfortunately, while the pistol is .45 ACP, he picked up a .40 caliber round.
The 'Smithy says:
The .40 round apparently fired, and the case was left somewhere in the chamber. He pressed again and got a click. He applied immediate action... the .45 round pushed the .40 case into the chamber. He pressed the trigger. The .45 round pushed the case partially out of the barrel. The .45 projectile remained in the barrel. The .45 case remained in place against the breachface.
The force went down, splitting the Bar-Sto barrel and bending the dust cover.
I have always said that some people shouldn't have guns (especially lately - the increase in the number of incidents by students - who all have had exposure to guns, training and such - is rising dramatically) or cars, or children, or oxygen.
I do not permit students to bend over on the line unless i give them permission to do so. This has always been a safety issue. Bending down to pick something up means you are loosing situational awareness. I will permit retrieving magazines and such when the line is clear and I give the command.
But picking up ammunition????? How stupid is that?
This guy apparently was upset that his faithful (but ugly) companion of lo so many years was ruined. And for what? Saving a few cents?
FYI: I was not present when this act of frugality occurred.
I've found you get a better pattern with Pep-O-Mint. ;-)
Agreed.
Have you seen the new Colt Series 70 reissue? A very nice piece......
You gotta be an old retro-shooter. I had one on a Smith Model 17 a bazillion years ago.
Squared and checkered trigger guards were a hot item for action shooting in the 70's and early 80's. Such guards were even stock on some Smiths like the 645 auto. the most extreme were on Charlie Kelsey's Devel pistols.
So I made the same mistake--backwards.
Good thing--the 1991 is now worth ~$1500 due to custom work.
My eyesight is getting really bad. Both boxes of ammo looked the same in the dim light and a couple rounds had rolled out of the .45 box. Yeah; I should not have had them both on the bench at the same time. My bad.
I shot good with the .45; good with my .22 ruger; AWFUL with the sig. My eyeballs just are now having trouble with the white-dot sights. G**d getting old is rotten.
--Boris, both guns intact; some targets left in range trash can!
I got a Romanian AK-47 clone recently, the WASR-10, took it to the range for the first time yesterday. Had a great time.
There were some gangbanger rap video looking jokers there shooting a .357 revolver, having trouble hitting the target (large silhouette - they were excited if they could hit the corner of the paper) at about 15 feet. They saw my AK and wanted to fire it, I said, sure if I can put a few rounds through your .357. Got a nice grouping with his .357
He went on to try to fire my AK, and at first wanted to fire from the HIP. Oh sheesh. No, I said, from the shoulder. He raised it, and had the buttstock about 3 inches in FRONT of his shoulder. No, plant it in your shoulder. Close your left eye. Line up the sights.
I was in the lane nearest the wall (indoor range) and the wall was all he could hit... Doh.
The author's right on the money. That gun is as good-looking as a 1987 Olds Cutlass 4-door, "customized".
Disco era 1911 ping.
Ugly, yes, but valuable and probably an excellent shooting gun in it's "before" condition. Throwing away the trigger shoe and the chrome parts would have helped a lot, and picking up a round off the ground and putting it in your gun is just stupid, even if it's the RIGHT caliber. Unless you're the one who dropped it, you don't know where it's been or who loaded it.
What a dumbass..
I am a regular open class USPSA shooter. We shoot .38 Super and some related variants loaded to a power factor (bullet weight in grains x velocity in fps/1000) of 165, down from 185 a few years ago, but still hotter than factory .38 Super, so all of our ammunition is hand loaded. People are for ever handing me loaded rounds dropped by other competitors while unloading and showing clear at the end of a stage. I smile and say thanks, then put them in in the squib box. I am not going to blow up a $3500 gun to save a quarter.
DVC
All of you would be experts miss the major error here. The guy had an unusual discharg and did not, since it was not a combat situation, fully inspect the weapon and fired the piece with an obstructed bore. It is amazing how easy it is to load a .40 in a .45 mag. I did it myself on my private range. After the unique discharge, the weapon was cleared and inspected. In my case the extractor pulled the ruptured .40 case out of the chamber and no damage was done to the gun.
Not only that, but best overall package too, excellent delivery (like a freight train hitting a greyhound bus), and for the amount of power it has it doesn't have a problem stopping the way some less powerful pistols do.
The best reason to sing its praises is by results. Official tool of G men and made men for almost a century...
THAT's why I keep my shells in the nice little loops inside the pockets of my grandfather's Masland duck hunting coat - and NOTHING else goes in those pockets!
Otherwise, something like that probably would have happened to me - I love lifesavers, esp. wintergreen (did you know they make sparks when you bite them?)
Too funny - thanks for sharing that one.
I once caught myself stuffing a .357 SIG round into a BHP .40 mag. Apparently I'd stuck it in the wrong box while cleaning up, the last time I went shooting.
LOL!!!
I just bought a conversion kit. Daisy Red Rider to 12 guage. My buddy humblegunner gave me a 000 buck round.
Pix at 11:00!!!!
Yikes..
My coffee doesn't figure into any of this, does it?
*chuckle*
No, it appears that "cutting fluid" is the problem!!!
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