Thought I’d share my two favorite guns. Both are from Springfield Mass and both are in Stainless, and both are short-arms.
The top is my #1 fave. Its my first handgun, my 5″ Stainless S&W1911. It has the billboard slide, which I actually like, and it was used and appears to be some fucked-up mixmaster project gun. I kinda got taken on the price with this gun, but after some work done by Greg Derr I had the trigger completely replaced by a custom fitted mid-length shoe, trigger job lowing the pull weight to 4.5lbs and I had the Full-length guide rod (Which was one of those shitty-two-piece ones!) replaced by the GI norm. I love 1911s, and this one is just great. Stainless finish means its corrosion resistant, and scratches don’t effect the gun. S&W Double-Diamond Hogue rubber grips aren’t much to look at but they’re VERY comfortable to hold. LOVE this gun, and that’s why its #1!
#2 is my S&W 617 10-shot with a 4″ barrel. For range guns I really dig on 4″ barrels, they have a long enough sight radius but still have a reasonable overall length. I picked a revolver for my first rimfire pistol because I had heard so many horror stories about .22 auto-loaders jamming or only liking certain ammo. Also I see .22 LR as a volume cartridge, 200 rounds is just a short range-trip for me, and most auto-loaders have small magazines with sharp lips, so stuffing all those rounds into charge-holes is far easier.
Gun came with a nice trigger that has only gotten better with age, the heavy steel L-frame means recoil is negligible, and of course the stainless materiel is resistant to weather and wear. The sights are black-on-black which I don’t like, so I just dabbed a little white-out on both rear posts and on the front blade, its all it really needs for my fun-work.
I had a sad range-trip a few months ago when I found that two (actually 4) chambers had gone out of time. I sent it back to S&W and they replaced the cylinder, the star, and the timing pawl, now there’s barely a drag-mark on the wheel….I’ll need to fix that!
I must say both of these guns are GREAT choices if you need a recommendation!
Big +1 on the SW 1911 Stainless. My first 1911 was a non-billboard one of these, and it got me hooked on the platform. I sold it, and immediately regretted it.
I’ve since started building my own 1911s, and the first one was a stainless Government, to replace the missing S&W.
Yeah for Range and HD use you can’t beat stainless. Extra Weight makes the gun shoot smoother, stainless means you don’t have to wear your kid gloves handling and cleaning it.
Stainless is a bit lesser in metallurgy than high carbon in my book.
Finish options are more limited, machinability of common stainless allows is significantly lesser, more sensitive about temper with lesser ranges of temper, in knives they are harder to put an edge on and maintain the edge…
AND
Here’s the kicker courtesy of a cmithy friend of mine in RSA who had a customer complain that his Stainless Rem 700 got rusty.
It’s STAIN-LESS AND NOT ONE BIT STAIN FREE. you worked in a MARINE environment, so I’m sure you’ve seen rusted and corroded things that according to common wisdom should rust or corrode…
If you care about your guns you should clean them regularly, commensurate with handling anyway.
You’re only carrying around guns to protect your life and get food, so I spose cleaning is inconsequential 🙂
At the end of the day you can put all kinds of finish on high carbon steels, and with stainless you can paint it or bead blast it or polish it…
One other other thing about stainless. If you have stainless threaded into stainless, you get galling at times, where the parts weld themselves together, more or less. It’s not a cure-all by any means.
Side note, when hunting or in a tactical situation, I don’t want a bright shiny silver gun.
Oh I know ANYTHING can rust offshore! Trust me!
http://zaliznockindustries.com/outdoors.htm
Problems solved and thumbs saved for all your Ruger and Buckmark magloading needs.
Best 20 bucks I spent the month those came out.
FWIW, I own too many misc .22LR autoloaders, and the Wolverines are the only ones that are finicky about ammo.
The rest of the gaggle run happily eating most anything all day long.
Thanks! I will try that revolver when I have funds. :3