500th Gunbroker listing a personal milestone for my gun shop

I observed my first-year anniversary of doing gunbroker auctions for the gun shop where I work back before Christmas.

I started out part-time during the Christmas holiday 2008 and went full-time in late January 2009 the next day after I got laid off from an industry job as a technical writer/photographer.

Since then, I've added on average about 25 guns per week to the shop's gunbroker auction listings, both new and used. Of course when a used gun is sold, that auction ends. But when a new gun is sold, we relist that auction if we have anymore samples of that same model and make.

So even though 25 time 52 adds up to 1300 auctions, our total on gunbroker at any one time is way less. The shop had about a dozen when I started and finally on Friday, we went above 500. It stands at 501 right now and will probably go below 500 before I can list some more next week.

But until then, I'm celebrating a milestone of more than 500 guns on gunbroker listed for Village Pawn & Gun Shop of Wadesboro, NC.

Number 500 was a Winchester 94 Theodore Roosevelt Commemoriative Rifle in .30-30 Win. from 1969, unfired and as new in the box.

And since it's my blog and I can show off if I wanta, here's another semi-interesting firearm, a Llama Chrome-Plated Engraved Micro-Max .380 ACP Semi-Auto Pistol.

When a WWII combat correspondent mistakenly described Gen. George S. Patton's Colt Single-Action-Army .45 Colt Revolver with ivory grips as a "pearl-handled pistol," ol' Blood & Guts supposedly sniffed "Only a pimp would carry a pearl-handled pistol."

Believe it or else, here's two firearms I really have no interest in owning because both are too pretty to shoot.

Finally, here's a third from the batch I just listed that's pretty, but not too pretty to shoot. It's a genuine buffalo rifle, a modern replica of the famous 1874 Sharps .45/70 Gov. Cal. Rifle, almost identical to the one Tom Selleck made famous in Quigley Down Under.

It is pretty, but it's also very deadly. A big old hunk of .45/70 lead will blow a hole in about anything that's alive on the planet today.

.38 Special vs. .44 Special vs. .327 Magnum: Look at the numbers

Decided to see what .44 Special , .38 Special, .45 ACP, .327 Magnum and .357 Magnum numbers compare in terms of ballistics. From the Federal and Speer ammo pages, here's a comparison.

Caliber	Grains	Type	Mfg.	FPS Muzzle	Ft.Lbs. Muzzle
.44 Special	200	SWCHP	Federal Champion	870	336
.38 Special	110	JHP	Federal Hydra-Shok	980	235
.38 Special +P	129	JHP	Federal Hydra-Shok	950	258
.327 Magnum	100	JSP	American Eagle	1500	500
.327 Magnum	85	JHP	Federal Hydra-Shok	1400	370
.327 Magnum	115	JHP	Speer Gold Dot	1380	486
.357 Magnum	125	JHP	Speer Gold Dot	1450	584
.45 ACP	230	JHP	Federal Hydra-Shok	900	414

Any questions? After testing all three of the available .327 Magnum loads I settled on Speer Gold Dot for my carry load in the Charter Patriot revolver, which is very close to Speer .357 Magnum in both fps and ft./lbs. of energy delivered on target.

And comparing Federal Hydra-Shok .45 ACP to Federal Champion .44 Special Semi-Wadcutter Hollow Points also shows speed and energy delivered in the same ballpark ballistically.

And of course, neither .38 Special or +P is anywhere near any of the others in energy on target.

When it comes to carrying a revolver, for backup or sole carry, I feel a lot more comfortable with my .327 Magnum or .44 Special Charter pair than with any .38 Special or +P. With the Bulldog .44, it's like having a .45 and with the Patriot .327 Magnum, it's like having a .357 Magnum.

I've always been a strong believer in more is better. And .44 is definitely more better than .38.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, here's a couple of graphs on ballistics of pistol ammo.

The first is a comparison by Winchester of their Ranger JHP ammo, which is IMHO the class of the industry. I carry Winchester Ranger or their new PDX Bonded, the replacement for Ranger, in 9mm, .45 ACP and .357 Sig with total confidence that it's quite simply the best.

But the interesting thing about their graph is how similar all the loads are, with the exception of .380 ACP, which just ain't got enough zip to get the job done. That's why I don't carry .380.

And last is a handgun gel penetration and expansion chart, which shows that as long as you pick a serious caliber, you'll get serious results, assuming you can hit what you shoot at. And that's a very big assumption. In pistol shooting, the most important three things are the same three things that any realtor will tell you is the key to success in real estate: Location, location, location.

Zeroing the S&W K-38 Target Masterpiece is work and fun

It's somewhat of a Labor Day analogy to say it took a bit of work to get my S&W K-38 Target Masterpiece Model 14-3 zeroed properly with my jacketed hollow-point load of choice. As I noted earlier, work ain't work if you're having fun.

The defense load I chose is the new Winchester Bonded PDX1 Jacketed Hollow Point Personal Protection .38 Special +P 130 Grain. Gee whiz Winchester, what a mouthful of a name!

But according to the reviews I've read this really is a new, improved defense round and Winchester will be retiring their Ranger law-enforcement SXT ammo and replacing it with this new PDX1, so it must really be good stuff.

So I bought a box and headed to the range with the 14-3, thinking it shouldn't take too much work to get it dailed in properly since I had already zeroed it with CCI TMJ 125-grain .38 Special +P.

Wrong again. Every load is different and though it may have been only 5 grains different in weight, the point of impact shifted a few inches with the PDX1. So I slowly dialed it in with the Bomar target sight rib the previous owner had installed on my 14-3. Emphasis on the word slowly.

The clicks on this Bomar sight can't be any more than 1/8" if that. But slowly, a click or two at a time, I brought the impact down and right until it was right on the money. Trouble was the clicks moved it so slowly, I blew a whole box of 20 rounds at more than $1 a round to get it zeroed.

I finally got it zeroed with that 8" bullseye target shown, shooting from a bench rest at 10 yards. The upper-left small bull was the final test with two shots hitting together.

Oh well, I work in a gun store and we sell more ammo with plenty of the PDX1 in stock at the moment.

And it ain't work if you're having fun, which is exactly what shooting my 14-3 is. But I gotta admit, it's a lot more fun shooting it with cheaper ammo. I also took along some of the cheap stuff and me and a shooting buddy enjoyed shooting that stuff up, too.

Now I gotta find me an old Smith snubby with a trigger like this 14-3 if such a wonderful .38 like that can possibly be found for a price I can afford.

Testing JHPs for .357 Sig and 9mm carry pistols

Fun at the range for me is taking my pistols, setting up targets and blasting away, shooting fast or slow, drawing and firing, shooting with either hand, a pistol in each hand, or two-hand strong-hand and weak-hand alternately, et c.

I do almost all of the above every time I go, but yesterday was work. I had a fairly wide selection of jacketed hollow points to test in .357 Sig and 9mm, which means bench-rest shooting.

The carry pistols I used for testing are, from left, S&W M&P .357 Sig, CZ 75 PO7 Duty 9mm, S&W M&P Compact .357 Sig and Sig P229 .357 Sig.

Hollow points tested included four loads in .357 Sig, all 125 grain, Speer Gold Dots, Winchester Ranger, Winchester white box JHPs and Hornady JHPs. And eight loads in 9mm, Gold Dot +P 124 gr., Gold Dot 115 gr., Hornady FTX and XTP, both 115 gr., Cor Bon +P 115 gr., Remington Golden Saber 147 gr. and two Winchester loads, Silver Tip 115 gr. and WWB 147 gr. JHP.

I was shooting groups of three because I'm cheap. At a buck a shot, I do the bare minimum of testing JHPs. And I was shooting at 7 yards from bench rest, to take as much human error out as possible, of which I have an abundance. So take a wild guess what were the best groups of three I shot in both .357 Sig and 9mm?

Would you believe Winchester white box in both cases, which you probably know is the cheap stuff? A box of 50 WWB JHPs is about the same cost as a box of 20 or 25 of the premium loads.

Anyway, the P229 delivered the tightest three in .357 Sig, those two holes in the orange corner of the 8" bull, where three shots went. I know you think I'm lying, but there was no other hole anywhere nearby, so those two holes show a group of 3 .357 Sigs.

And in 9mm, again the WWB 147 gr. delivered the best group of three, with the next closeup group shown, three holes touching each other. Go figure.

Of course the dominant factor in this shooting is not the ammo or the pistols. It's me and my fuzzy eyes.

When I'm shooting standing, with both arms extended, I can see the sights clearly enough with my prescription glasses to shoot fairly well. And if I want to cheat, I put my 2.5X reading glasses on and I can see the sights sharply in focus. But I usually shoot with the prescription glasses as that's what I wear all the time. Gotta practice for reality because I can't walk around wearing my reading glasses all the time. I only put those on when I've really gotta see what I'm doing.

And sitting down at a bench with the front of the pistol on a rest and both elbows on the bench is pretty steady, but it doesn't allow me to extend my arms. So even with my reading glasses on, the sights were still fuzzy. So I just did the best I could.

Last photo shows my improvised target when I got tired of using orange 8" bulls. As you can see, they're all pretty similar groups. With the Speer 9mm +P 124 gr. I pulled one shot down to the next cross, where I circled it. Otherwise, they're as good as I can shoot with fuzzy sights.

Results of the testing: load up any of the premium loads or the cheap WWB, it don't matter. They all fed with no errors and when push comes to shove, they will all deliver as good or better accuracy than I can shoot. And I have confidence they all will expand and do their job if I put them on target.

The new Hornady Critical Defense will likely be my carry load for the P07, just as they have been for my Kel-Tec PF-9 backup pistol and for my Steyr M9-A1, just because I believe their advertising about being "guaranteed to expand" even in the most adverse conditions.

But there's also no reason not to trust any of the other premium loads or the WWB cheap JHPs. With yesterday's testing, the P07 is ready to join my carry rotation, along with the three .357 Sig pistols, M9-A1, PF-9, Glock 29 10mm and Charter Patriot .327 Fed. Magnum.