Other silly things we do when bored…
Sometimes you have to do things because you can.
I present: the Silenced revolver!:
I should know sometime next week how loud it really is.
Category: Handguns
Some more suppressor hosts
I haven’t been able to do much shooting the last few weeks due to inclement weather, and various obligations (like paying the bills…) so I took a few minutes tonight to snap a few pics of some more of my suppressor hosts.
I’ve posted about most of these before, but I figured having some better photos and talking about why I like them would be better than not doing anything at all.
I originally built this ruger charger type pistol to test barrels and such for the long awaited SBR build that I completed recently. Once I was done with the testing, I added a few parts, and built this little gun. It’s quite accurate for such a short barrel, mostly due to the Kidd barrel, but it’s also a reasonable suppressor host. I say reasonable instead of great, because the Kidd barrel is just a bit too long to keep the cheap bulk ammo subsonic, so it’s louder than it would be if the barrel was an inch shorter.
This Contender G2 hasn’t really been talked about a lot yet, but it’s really a great host. Being a single shot, there’s no action noise aside from the hammer falling, and no ejection port noise either. The 16.25″ barrel requires subsonic ammo, like any other .22 rifle, to stay quiet, but it’s very accurate, and I’ve used it to shoot pests out at the old family homestead without annoying the neighbors.
The Walnut stocked Ruger 10/22 started life as a standard pre-warning gun. I still have all of the original parts I took off (barrel and trigger assembly) but I wanted something I could shoot with the suppressor and open sights, so I built the gun using the 21″ custom made SS barrel, and put a polymer trigger group on the rifle because it was already built with the auto bolt release, extended mag release and 2# trigger. I like the rifle a lot, but haven’t had a lot of opportunity to shoot it, as I’ve been working with other guns since I built it.
I’ve talked about this flamed out bump-fire .22 rifle before on the blog, but I don’t think I ever got a picture with the can attached. The Tac-Sol barrel of course is amazing, and pretty central to the build.
.32 revolvers Chapter 13: S&W model 30
The first S&W model 30 wasn’t actually a J-frame. It was an ‘improved’ I frame. The J-frame didn’t start until the 30-1. The improvement that make the ‘improved’ I-frame better than the original I-frame is the use of a coil spring instead of a flat mainspring.
This one has been treated to a cera-kote finish. It’s a flat latch version with a 3″ barrel and aftermarket grips.
This one shoots well, but I use my 4″ barreled 30-1 more often.
.32 Revolvers Chapter 12: Young America
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a large number of manufacturing firms started turning out small revolvers and the market was soon flooded with little saturday night specials, as they became known. One of the solid frame revolvers made was the ‘young america’ and they were available in .22, .32, and .38 calibers.
My version was a gift from a fellow gun nerd who knew of my soft spot for .32 revolvers, and while it’s not in great condition, it’s solid mechanically, requiring only a cylinder pin latch spring that I’ll get around to making one of these days.
I haven’t shot this one, but I own a .22 caliber version that I have shot. I can’t say much about the accuracy, but as a pocket pistol, I suppose one can’t have expectations that are too high. Rather than invent some standard of accuracy to make it sound better than it is, let’s be honest, it’s good enough to gut shoot someone at across the room distances, but I wouldn’t count on it down a long hallway.
.32 Revolvers Chapter 11: NEF R73 Ultra
The New England Firearms company bought out the remaining inventory from Harrington And Richardson in 1986 or 1987 after H&R went bankrupt. They brought out the R73 and R73 ultra shortly thereafter. The R73 is a basic model based on the 5 shot swing out cylinder frame of the old H&R 504. The R73 had fixed sights, and the Ultra version had adjustable sights.
My version has a 6″ heavy barrel and has been pretty solidly accurate. The revolver isn’t any stringer than the H&R guns of similar design, and as such loads need to be kept within book specs for the .32 H&R magnum.
Much like the H&R’s the NEF revolvers are usually a good value, and for someone looking to break into the .32 revolvers, it would be hard to beat.
.32 Revolvers Chapter 10: H&R 504
The .32 H&R magnum cartridge was introduced in 1984 with the H&R models 504 532 and 586. All 5 shot revolvers, the model 504 has a swing out cylinder and adjustable sights. My version has a 3″ barrel.
The little 504 is accurate enough, but I only shoot .32 S&W long loads in it to prevent unnecessary wear and tear.
The little H&R revolvers are generally a pretty good value, and will certainly do the trick. See the next chapter for info about the NEF version of the gun.
.32 Revolvers Chapter 9: S&W double action top break
When I was growing up, my father only ever owned one gun. It was given yo him by my grandfather when my parents were newlyweds and living in a less than ideal part of town. When my Dad passed a few years ago, I inherited the little revolver.
When I was a teenager, the little .32 S&W revolver was the first gun that I ever reloaded for. The cartridge is the .32 S&W cartridge, and not the .32 S&W long. The cartridge was one of the early centerfire cartridges, and was of course originally designed for black powder. Using roughly 8-10 grains of BP pushing an 85 grain bullet to about 650 FPS.
The revolver’s design dates back to the 1880’s when almost every gun maker, tool maker or manufacturing plant was making small pocket revolvers. The S&W design starts a little earlier than that, but the top break double action was essentially unchanged for nearly half a century when it went out of production in the late 1930’s. My Dad’s revolver came from the later era, an was most likely one of the last few thousand of the guns made.
I rarely shoot the old revolver, but when I do, I reminisce about Dad.
I can’t say that I would choose the gun as a first line of self defense, between the rather anemic loads and crude sights, it’s certainly not ideal, but it would be better than a pocket knife!
S&W model 422 .22 caliber pistol
The S&W model 422 was originally brought out to be a less expensive, and most likely less accurate version of the S&W model 41 target pistol. It succeeded in being less expensive, and I suppose it may also be less accurate, but it’s hard to say for sure.
My model 422 is very well worn. The owner who had it before me bought it new, and said he fired over 100 thousand rounds through it before selling it to me. I’m not sure if that number is correct, but the gun had certainly seen plenty of use.
One of my favorite things about the 422 platform is it’s ability to be easily adapted for suppressor use. Because the barrel is tensioned from the factory, all you need to do is remove the factory tension nut, and replace it with a threaded adapter. The one on my pistol is an older version, and newer ones are shorter and less obtrusive. Because the barrel sits so low in the gun compared to the slide and sights, there are no issues with seeing over a suppressor like there are with some other pistols. You could actually mount a 1.5″ diameter suppressor and still use the sights.
Since my model has a 4.5″ barrel, almost all of the bulk pack and high velocity (not hyper velocity) ammo stays subsonic. Some ammo is exceptionally quiet, such as CCI ‘quiet’ ammo. (go figure)
Here’s a video showing just how quiet the gun can be:
.32 Revolvers Chapter 8: S&W model 16-4
The S&W model 16-4 is a K-frame revolver chambered for the .32 H&R magnum cartridge. The dash 4 designation comes from the engineering changes incorporated since the dash 3 revolver. In this case, they are for the new chambering and the full under lug.
The 16-4’s where available with 4″ 6″ and 8 3/8″ barrels. Mine has a 6″ barrel. All barrel lengths had adjustable sights and “combat” grips like the ones you see on my revolver pictured below. My revolver was sent back to the factory after purchase and converted to single action only. This was a popular conversion for certain types of target shooting. Since I only shoot targets with the revolver anyways, and almost always fire such guns in single action mode, it didn’t bother me at all.
All model 16 revolvers are known for superb accuracy. the Model 16-4 is no exception, and my example shines. With 115 grain SWC bullets loaded at 900-1000 FPS, I’m not sure it’s actually possible to miss with the gun. It likes RN bullets as well, and wadcutters, and RNFP’s, and…. Well, it just seems to like everything.
Due to the weight, and the replacement cost, I don’t often carry the 16-4 in the field, and instead rely on a J-frame sized gun, or occasionally the Taurus 761. If I had a 4″ barreled version, perhaps I would carry it more often, but as it is, I’m perfectly happy using the 16-4 for target shooting and plinking, and using other guns for small game and trail duty.
Worlds heaviest Charger update
A while ago I posted about my all stainless steel Charger type pistol. I mentioned that I would be updating the pistol as things went along, and since I’ve made some changes to the pistol, I figured I’d update here as well.
Since the last post, I’ve added a Medium eye relief scope (2.5X) and a Kidd barrel. The Scope was a gunshow bin buy scope, and it came without the adjuster caps. Since replacement caps would have cost more than I paid for the scope, I haven’t worried too much about them. The Barrel was purchased from Tony Kidd when he was having a sale earlier this year. The Kidd barrel is extremely well made. It’s also attractive, and accurate. And it should be no surprise, it also added more weight to the pistol.
You can’t tell from the photo (or in person) that the barrel is threaded, at least, not until you unscrew the thread protector. The finish is so well machined, that it’s literally impossible to see where the barrel stops and the thread protector starts.
I have fired a few magazines through the gun, but I forgot to get photos of the groups. After the holidays, I’ll get back to the range, and shoot some groups and show you just how well the thing shoots.
The only complaint that I have thus far is that the barrel is too long to keep cheap bulk pack ammo subsonic. But at least the added length helps with cycling, and so standard velocity ammo runs through the gun just fine. SV ammo of course, is subsonic by nature, but it’s also more expensive…