Meet the crew of miscreants that produces your content here at Gun Nuts Media!
Caleb Giddings
President, Boss Man Extraordinaire
Caleb first started shooting under his dad’s supervision at the age of 8. In fact, the first handgun he ever fired (that he remembers) was an HK P7, which explains in part why he’s so awesome. The operator molecules from the HK fused with Caleb, developing him into the pistol-shooting ninja that he is today. Caleb can be reached at caleb@gunnutsmedia.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/caleb.giddings.
Shelley Rae
Editor at Large, Director of Awesome
Shelley, in addition to being the range manager at one of the best indoor ranges in the galaxy is also a former collegiate champion horseback rider, which means she can shoot you in the spine OR trample you from horseback if you get out of line. Shelley can be reached at shelley@gunnutsmedia.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/shelleyraeshooting.
Jaxon
FNG, Lord of the Pants
Jaxon, aka Lando Commando is the newest addition to Team Gun Nuts. A military veteran, all around nice guy, and wearer of skinny jeans, Jaxon has a deep and abiding love for the AK platform and Chuck Taylors. Gun Nuts’ resident gun-toting hipster, Jaxon can be reached by saying his name in the mirror three times in the dark during a full moon.
Hi Team Gun Nuts,
My name is Dave DeVries and I’m a comic artist. I do a free online science fiction comic called BlueShift and we have a character in the book named Betty. Betty is a talking gun with artificial intelligence and one hell of an attitude. We liked her so much that she now has her own site—an advice column where she can answer viewer emails.
I’m looking to get the blog noticed especially within the gun community–I think your readers might like it. Might make a good post on Gun Nuts Media.
Thanks.
All the best.
Dave DeVries
Hello,
My name is Victor I am the T-shirts sales coordinator for 5.11 Tactical. I ran across your webpage and browsed through and loved it. My purpose of contacting you is that I noticed you guys don’t have Branded T-shirt for sale or any logo apparel , I see that you do have a branded image and would love to chat more with how we can help you in that area or any other area that you might need it in.
Contact info: 209.338.1335
For more information about us please go to http://www.511tactical.com
Thanks so much for your time, looking forward to hearing from you.
Hello,
I have been trying to get the ammunition makers to make a 125 grain hollow point bullet for .45 ACP. They are so busy filling back orders in the standard bullet weights they will not even consider it. Sierra who had the courtesy to entertain my idea makes three bullet weights in .45 ACP; the 230 hunting load at 900 fps with 413 fpe, the 200 grain hunting load at 950 fps with 400 fpe and the 185 grain hunting load at 1,000 fps with 410 fpe, my question is why do they make three bullet weights that have maximum energies within thirteen pounds of each other? I have been told that the lighter bullet would not function, would not be accurate, and that there is no demand for them. Please bear with my idea, a standard military load, 230 grain bullet travels about 833 fps and has about 369 foot pounds of energy (Sierra manual data). A .357 magnum fires a 125 grain bullet at 1,450 fps and has 583 foot pounds of energy (fpe) (Sierra “hunting load”). Lee Precision’s manual states that a .357 magnum’s useable case capacity is 1.15 cc and a .45 ACP is 1.14 cc so there is no reason with proper powder choice that a .45 ACP cannot fire a 125 grain hollow point bullet at 1,450 fps with 583 fpe, improving the terminal ballistics by 583-369=214 fpe! A .380 has 190 fpe so 214 fpe more would be more than adding a standard .45 ACP and a .380 round together out of the same pistol. This would drastically improve trajectory too. Impossible you say? Consider this, the Magsafe SWAT round fires a 68 grain .45 ACP round at 2,260 fps at 771 fpe. Don’t believe me, check them out on magsafeonline.com. These rounds have one third the recoil of a standard .45 ACP round! The drawback is the expense (the rounds are hand made) and lack of penetration. The rounds are used by the military and anti-terrorist groups in planes etc. and are reported to be very accurate. The police have always wanted an auto with the penetration and ballistics of a .357 revolver in 125 grain (some say the all time best police load), they could have it just by reducing the weight of a .45 bullet to 125 grain. I have been told that a 1911 frame would not take the stress, consider the 400 Cor-Bon, it fires a 135 grain .40 caliber bullet at 1,350 fps with 547 fpe (Sierra “hunting load”) from a 1911. Check the energies in the Sierra manual, a 125 grain .45 ACP round at 1,450 fps would surpass the energy of a 400 Cor-Bon, a 10 mm , a.357 SIG, a 40 S&W, and of course equal the .357 in 125 grain. The .357 magnum does not throw a heavy bullet any better than a .45 ACP; a 180 grain (Sierra’s heaviest bullet for the .357 magnum in their “hunting load”, uses a 180 grain bullet but but it only develops 1,050 fps and 441 fpe, very close to the 185 grain .45 ACP load at 1,000 fps and 413 fpe . The gun manufacturer’s and ammo makers have made a mint selling newly patented iron and brass to get what the .45ACP could have done with a 125 grain hollow point. With the success of Magsafe, Glaser Safety Slug (firing a 145 grain bullet at 1,350 fps with 587 fpe) and Cor -Bon’s 165 grain +P (at 573 fpe, data from Cor-Bon) I think the issue of increased energy better ballistics, accuracy, and trajectory from a 125 grain bullet is worth the time to check it out.
I have tried to purchase 125 grain hollow point bullet molds in .45 caliber but no one makes them. I bought a bullet forming die from C&H tool and die but the ogive is 2R and a 1R is required to make the lead bullet short enough (Copper or brass would make a solid or hollow point bullet that would be longer allowing a sharper ogive, the 160 grain lead bullet isn’t much longer than it is wide). The punch in the die is also too short to make a 125 grain lead bullet (I am working on retrofitting the die and punch). Lee Precision’s 160 grain bullet mold has the right ogive (and a blunt point that will still feed after being hollow pointed) but they do not make that bullet style in a hollow point. I have drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the 160 grain bullet and created a 125 grain hollow point but it is very time consuming using a Forester hollow pointing device (1/8″ hole) to pilot the 1/4 inch hole (Forester would not make me a 1/4″ hollow pointer device). When I get enough of the “homemade” 125 grain bullets made I hope to test the bullets even though the manufacturing process will be more imperfect than a factory or even molded bullet would be. Using Lee’s load data for their 160 grain bullet which safely propels the 160 grain bullet at 1,200 fps plus, it should safely propel the lighter 125 grain bullet around 1,450 fps.
A lighter bullet would breathe new life into the .45 ACP cartridge, and the 1911 frame particularly, for several reasons; 230-105=125 grains of lead per round less cost ($17.50 per thousand at the old lead prices), lower recoil would allow small framed individuals to comfortably fire a .45. (this is my big reason, my wife has carpal tunnel syndrome), a 125 grain hollow point could be loaded at low velocity for plinking/low recoil or high velocity for hunting/self defense, the military went to the 124 grain 9mm for controllability: a .45 ACP round in 125 grain would be controllable and not add much more to a soldier’s combat load than a 9mm round but would have much more stopping power. I have sold all my .357′s, 9×19′s, 9×18′s and will sell the 9×17 (380′s) as soon as I get the .45 bullet that will allow my wife to comfortably fire a .45 ACP. The 125 grain bullet will bridge the gap between .22′s and .45′s for me and bring a lot of .45′s out of the gun cabinet for many others who have retired their .45′s for the new plastic pistols in exotic “improved” calibers. A .45 ACP is big enough for a handgun, I do not get into the magnum handgun race; when they finally make a big, heavy, expensive pistol that will fire a one and one quarter ounce slug at 1,300 fps it will be equal to a 12 gauge in recoil and ballistics but an 870 will be cheaper and just as easy for me to carry.
You have no doubt began to wonder what all this is leading to, well I am trying to get support from the shooting community to make the 125 grain bullet, Remington told me that one of their big criteria for developing new products was the number of requests for them… I wonder where we would be if that would have been the criteria the Wright brothers used when they were considering building an airplane.
Please consider the idea of a 125 grain .45 ACP round and give me any input, criticism, or comment that will help it to be developed and marketed. If you know of someone that has the means to make and test the bullets please let me know. My resources are limited, I am a retired safety director and have no formal training in ballistics, but I know what works for me. I had looked for years for a muzzle loading bullet combination for deer. Round balls, unless you hit bone, punch a hole like a field tip arrow and the deer usually gets into the brush, which is thick here in West Virginia, leaving little or no blood trail and dies where only a good tracker can find it (I am a good tracker, but why take the chance). The heavy (230 to 385 grain) slugs from a muzzle loader are less accurate, have poor trajectory and loose so much velocity that they do not expand well at any distance while kicking you horribly. Their heavy weight allows them to penetrate deep or shoot through the thin body of a deer (just like a military .45 ACP 230 grain FMJ through an enemy soldier) but even a “hillbilly” knows any bullet energy that goes out the exit hole is wasted. The properly placed bullet, that does the best job, totally expands in the vital area while depositing all of it’s energy in the deer making an exit hole unnecessary. I have retrieved many muzzle loader slugs and 230 grain .45 ACP FMJ bullets shot through deer and other objects that looked like they could have been shot again without resizing. I came upon a solution, I used a .45 caliber 185 grain Golden Saber bullet in a Knight sabot fired from a side lock Thompson Center “New Englander” .50 caliber with 90 grains of FFG (the accuracy load for a fifty with a round ball), the result was a bullet that had the speed, accuracy and trajectory of the round ball, and expansion superior to the ball, the minnie, and the heavy saboted bullets. I shot a deer at 45 yards with the new load and a .308 Win. could not have done better, just the right penetration and expansion, big entrance and much bigger exit hole. The deer fell quickly from the fully expanded185 grain bullet and it would have left a BIG blood trail, I believe the 125 grain hollow point bullet will do the same for the .45 ACP.
The shooting community as a whole, it seems to me, is in a rut when it comes to improving or changing anything…to this I say “If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you have always got… you cannot improve without change”.
As a handloader, I have to say, this is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. Just use a 160gr Barnes bullet. That’s as close as you’ll get and still retain accuracy and penetration required for combat.
This message is for Shelley Rae; in response to her article on the BUL M-5. It was interesting that you mentioned your Kimber as your carry weapon in this article. Reason :The Kimber Polymer Pro Carry .45 ACP is ACTUALLY a BUL M-5 Government. The reason I know this? I recently purchased one from a friend, and upon close inspection I found a marking on the lower, just in front of the trigger guard that says “BUL ISRAEL”, so I got curious, and googled BUL, and low and behold, I was staring at my Kimber Polymer Pro Carry; but with BUL engraved onto ths slide. So in essence, you were shooting a Kimber.
how good is the .223 for deer hunting for a young hunter
hi, my names matt. ive been hearing that the remington model 700 was accident prone to misfireing and accideintal discharging. i am looking for a bolt action rifle and ive found a few 700s and was wondering if the misfired were bc of the gun or was it the user, or if the aligations were true and maybe i should stay away from remington and go to another gun maker.
Hello. My name is Sharon. I purchased my first handgun. Everyone at the store was SO very helpful “all a girl really needs to carry” “perfect gun for a girl” “sure, all anyone really needs” BLAH BLAH BLAH. It’s a Beretta .22 “Bobcat”… anyone ever heard of one of those? Over 50% of the time it misfires or misfeeds. I consider it my “blunt object to beat someone with” if need be. Great personal protection! The guys at the gun store now say “Well, these LITTLE guns can be finicky” (funny that wasn’t the tune they were singing when they sold me the piece of garbage!) and insist that the dumb blonde girl just can’t shoot a gun. They have sent it back to Beretta once when the magazine would not come out and the slide wouldn’t, well, slide. Nothing moved. It wasn’t just me, none of the “boys” could make it work either. Can anyone help me? What can I do? I’m not in a position to spend a whole lot of $$ on a new gun, I definitely could not sell/trade it to anyone as anything more than a paperweight. Certainly can’t rely on this piece of *#&%. The people at the store are less than helpful. (Tried contacting Beretta, JOKE! –still watiting…) I’m not sure how appropriate it is to write to you here, but I’m at a loss and desperate. Can anyone tell me what to do? (other than find the 2-faced salesmen and beat them to bloody pulps with it?) :) (just kidding) I’m fairly ambitious and just about willing to try anything… Feel free to pass me along and email me any suggestions. I’m in western PA if that helps anything. Thanks so much. Any suggestions at all would be so appreciated. Thanks! -sharon cronin391@yahoo.com
Be patient. Shoot the gun and clean it
(not just wipe it off) often.
Little guns are harder to shoot than big ones.
Did you thoroughly clean the new gun?
Consider showing it to a qualified gunsmith.
Hey Rich. Any chance your comment was in reference to my beretta .22 problem? If so, thank you.
I’m a fairly new transplant to a small town, no “gunsmith” in the phone book, think it would be appropriate to ask about it in another store? A store that I did NOT purchase the gun in? I don’t plan on giving the original store any more of my business, is what I mean.
Even if you weren’t talking to me, thanks anyway! Happy 2012!
I’m sorry I missed the part where the slide is stuck.
Most any competent gunsmith will fix it for not much.
For Shelly Rae – The Beretta .22 is a good gun. Most .22′s are very finicky in what ammunition feeds well in them and what groupings you can get at 25 yards. I strongly suggest taking the gun apart, cleaning it thoroughly and greasing the parts before re-assembly. Bring several boxes of .22 ammo with you to the range, and try them shooting the gun on a rest at a fixed target and see how each brand of ammunition fares on paper. Keep in mind, you should be going through, about 2 magazines each particular round of ammo. This will give you a basis of 1) how does this round feed through the gun and 2) how does this ammo shoot on paper. Note which ammo does not feed well and which does. If your gun is new, it will loosen up with time and you should get better results. Having a gun lock tight, can be several reasons, last of which may be a defect in manufacturing. But you have to go through all the possible scenarios of what ammo you were using, what circumstances were present when you were at the range firing the gun. Don’t be discouraged, there is a lot of hope for that little gun yet. A good gunsmith may help and if you can’t find one, write Beretta USA with your issues and see what they have to offer to correct them. Good luck.
Hillbilly – I do like your ideas as I can see you have done some research on this. I do feel that a faster and lighter bullet would work well in competition shooting especially in a .45. Who would cast these bullets in bulk is the question. I used to have a dear old man who did this out of his garage and produce them to my specs, but he is gone to the range in the sky! I do hope you are fortunate enough to find a good bullet caster for your needs, and I would like to try this as I too am a .45 enthusiast like yourself!
I write to compliment Gunnuts on its content and thank you for giving me something to visit on a daily basis to break up my day. I’ve received great advice and have learned much from the site, so thank you. I initially visited the site because I was interested in anything to do with handguns (having recently purchased one and joined a gun club) but much of what was discussed was over my head. One of those topics was any discussion about triggers, I viewed it only as a way to make it go boom. But, I read a post, it was Caleb discussing the sear of a trigger, or something along those lines. I thought about it on the way to the range and committed to paying as much attention to how the trigger felt and what I did on follow-through as I normally would on how close (actually how far) apart the holes in the paper were. This site made me figure out that there is so much more to this great hobby of mine than I first realized. I had an epiphany. I get it. I got better. I had a great time. Thanks to you Gunnuts, not only for making me unproductive at the office, but also thanks for the content.
Is there a way we can offer suggestions for future posts? If so, I sure would like to see a discussion on sights suited for competition, I used cigar ashes to black out my white dot sights on the advice of the guy at the range. I like it, but before I go about changing sights and whatnot, I wanted you’re input. Do many competitive shooters use such sights, what is the thought process? Thanks again.
Much love to all three of you from Packing Pretty <3 <3