Grayfox54

I've owned a few Blackhawks in the past. The finish is good, but nothing fancy. Just a rather plain blue, but it does seem to hold up well. What exactly is your concern?

I happen to be quite fond of 380s. If you do your part, it'll do the job. Actually, I'm more fond of the guns in that caliber. A little Colt Mustang XSP is my companion for my exercise walks. The stainless slide and poly frame make it very light and about as sweat proof as a gun can get. The locked breech design makes recoil minimal and its very easy to shoot well. The Sig P238 and Kimber Micro are essentially the exact same gun. I'm not particularly fond of the tiny blowback pistols such as the LCP, Kel-Tech and similar. Recoil in them is just nasty and they're difficult to shoot well. However, in a slightly larger, heavier gun such as the Walther PPK, its an excellent round. I have been known to carry a PPK/s on occasion. The trick with the 380 is to just find the right gun for you.

I made the trip to Anniston back in 2007 and got my first Garand. The folks in the store are very friendly and extremely helpful. You can borrow bore and chamber gauges to help you in your selection. I too was told to be there when they opened. For me it was about an 8 hour trip. So I went down, spent the night in a motel and was there when they opened the next morning. Great road trip and well worth it. BTW: take extra money and pick up lots of ammo and any accessories while you're there.

The last of the original Pythons made by Colt's Custom Shop weren't up to snuff. A friend of mine bought one and it never was right. Two trips back to Colt couldn't get it working properly. He finally sold it at a loss just to be rid of it.

1963 Mercury Comet 4 door sedan with the screamin' 170 CID straight six cylinder engine and automatic transmission. It had belonged to an Aunt of mine who had had a minor wreck in it. The car sat out in the open at my Grandparents farm for over two years. I gave her $30 for it. A new battery and it fired right up. I scoured the junk yards and came up with a hood and right fender. The bumper wasn't too bad and I managed to bang it back out. My neighbor worked at the Ford warehouse and found me a brand new grill for it. A $29.95 Earl Schibe paint job in midnight blue and I was ready to go! It wasn't fast or fancy. But man we had some good times in that buggy when I was a teenager. I do believe that this car was what put me on the road to becoming a mechanic.

I seriously doubt the Royal Blue finish will be back. Its a lot of work as the intensive polishing is the real cause of that beautiful blue finish. If they did bring back the Royal Blue, I'd imagine the price would jump considerably. The polished stainless currently sold is pretty. But I've never been much for shiny guns. Besides I'm looking more at the 2020 Python as a shooter and working gun. Honestly, I'd be happy with a plain black finish as long as it looked decent.

The replacement stock is only a minor hit. A couple of hundred at most. But that cut barrel is a real killer. For a Garand to have the barrel cut and still function, more than just the barrel was modified. My guess would be maybe $400-500. But frankly, I wouldn't touch it. By the time you replaced the barrel, stock and whatever else is needed, you could have bought a nice original Garand.

I've never liked electronic locks. Anything electronic can fail much easier than plain old mechanical. Although highly unlikely, just in case that EMP does ever hit, you'd be locked out of your safe. You'll be needing what's in there. There's an old saying that I fully believe in. "Never trust you life to anything that requires a battery".

I never knew Sig had an ammo plant in Arkansas. I just figured they had their name put on another maker's stuff. Learn something new every day. And WOW! A light machine gun in .338 Norma Magnum! Now that's some serious fire power. I like Sig. They make some excellent weapons. Good for them.

The 38 Super is a semi-rimmed cartridge. The early guns did indeed headspace on that tiny rim. As a result, accuracy suffered. I believe it was Bar-Sto who finally figured out that headspacing on the case mouth like other semi-auto cartridges solved the accuracy problem. Just about everybody had fixed the headspacing problem by the late 80s. Except Colt. They were hard headed and didn't finally admit their mistake and fix the problem until the very late 90s. I think its safe to say that any 38 Super built in the last 30 years headspaces on the case mouth.

Think of it as a 9mm on steroids. 130gr .356 dia. FMJ bullet @ 1200-1300 fps. I'm a fan of the 38 Super and currently own 4 of them. Colt invented it in 1929 as a better option against steel auto bodies and early bulletproof vests. It became extremely popular in Latin American countries where owning guns in military calibers was forbidden. I believe it was in the 1960s that IPSC competitors discovered that in the 1911 the 38 Super could be pumped up to meet Major Power factor with less, recoil and faster follow up shots over the .45acp. Plus you can get a couple more of them in the gun. It became a serious cartridge in competitive shooting sports and still is. The .38 Super is an outstanding defensive cartridge. However its also always been kind of a niche cartridge. So most ammo makers only offer a few choices in this caliber. But excellent defensive ammo does exist. BTW: Major Power Factor ammo (1400-1500 fps) is readily available. Cost is a bit high, but if you reload, its no big deal. Can't absolutely swear to it, but I believe a 38 Super can easily be converted to a 9mm with a simple barrel swap. But I wouldn't do it. The .38 Super is the superior round.

I had to look this guy up. Brian Mast: veteran who lost both legs in Afghanistan. Now a Republican Representative from Florida. Speaks out against cowardly leadership in Washington. I LIKE THIS GUY!

A guy on the S&W forum got one of the new Pythons. His has problems too. The rear sight has too much play and the cylinder release is hard, sticky and sometimes doesn't work. Its on its way back to the factory. Brand new anything usually has some teething pains. But a Python should be good out of the box every time. I'm still waiting for a blue one. Maybe they'll have the bugs out by then.

I use Ammoseek.com. Not only can you compare prices, but they rate shipping costs as well.