This week on Wheelgun Wednesday, we’ll be traveling back to 1959 to take a look at the NRA’s Basic Pistol Marksmanship manual.  Found in a collection of my grandfather’s old papers, the booklet is an interesting look back at conventional pistolcraft of the ’50s.

Italian gunmaker Pietta has partnered with Davidson’s to produce two new exclusive revolvers. Founded in 1963, Pietta specializes in historical weapons. The brace of brass-and-blued model 1873s will be available chambered in .357 Magnum and the classic . 45 Long Colt. Their recent press release introducing this pair of wheelguns reads as follows below with more details.

All over the internet, there are articles where people talk about what’s best to have on your body when concealing a firearm. It’s not uncommon to talk about various lights, knives, medical supplies and spare magazines. Having different items on you is a great way to be prepared for daily life, but it’s really easy to start carrying way too much where it starts to become unrealistic for daily use. Its a natural cycle to figure out what you need on a daily basis but since there’s a ton of new gun owners and people who are conceal carrying, I figured I’d break it down for the newbies. Let’s dive into figuring out what’s the issue with carrying too much on your body.

I spent a number of years carrying the S&W 340PD as a jogging/backup gun.  Those years were painful ones at the range.  I try to train with at least 100 rounds of full power defensive ammo in my carry pieces.  Therefore I often bloodied the web between my thumb and index finger, even though the 340PD had formed a callous where most of the force would transfer to my hand.  That revolver, while insanely light, is true misery to fire.  While that gun now resides in my workshop instead of on my hip, I’m still a fan of the .357 chambered J-frame.  However, I just prefer a more comfortable and versatile model: The Model 60-15 “Pro Series”.

Colt’s Manufacturing Company, LLC has been around for over 150 years and has produced revolutionary designs that have been loved and made iconic. Designs such as the model 1911 bought from John Browning are beloved and adopted by militaries as well as copied constantly in modern day. For the sake of today, we will be pulling a unique Colt revolver from my personal collection that does not get as much notoriety as it should, the Colt Police Positive Special chambered in .38 S&W.

Continuing our series of articles dedicated to the most valuable firearms consigned to major American auctions, today we’ll take a look at the top 5 most expensive lots sold during the June 2020 Rock Island Premier Gun Auction. This auction took place from June 4th to 7th and as usual, shortly after it ended, Rock Island Auction Company published the results in the auction’s online catalog as well as in a form of a downloadable list of prices realized which were the sources for writing this article.

Welcome to another Wheelgun Wednesday, where we cover all things of Wheelgunnery. In my “One Handed Revolver Drills” article from last year, readers mentioned that the article skimmed over the whole process of reloading with only one hand. There was another question posed in the comment section that I’ll address here as well, so if you’re new to the defensive revolver, or just want to brush up on the topic of one-handed revolver manipulation, then I hope both articles will be of some assistance.

Carrying a concealed firearm with a red dot for the first time can be a strange feeling. Depending on the person, it can be beneficial for aging eyesight or for having fluid transitions between targets where it might otherwise take longer. I will be the first to admit that I’ve struggled to adjust from iron sights to the 21st century with a slide-mounted optic. There are a few different things to help you adjust over time and I’ll break down the various dot sizes for the newbies in the group who may not know what’s best for certain guns. Let’s dive into the world of pistol optics.

M.R. New System Arms is a small firearm making firm from a small Italian town. A one-man show of the gunsmith and inventor Marco Rigido, the shop has, over the years, caught some media attention in Italy thanks to peculiar projects. Most TFB readers may have not yet have heard of Mr. Rigido and his designs, so we thought we’d speak with him and show you some of his creations.

While browsing the catalog of June 2020 Rock Island Premier Gun Auction, I came across this rather interesting lot which we’ll take a look at in today’s Wheelgun Wednesday. The lot consists of a factory engraved Colt Single Action Army revolver and a half-scale miniature replica that perfectly copies the full-scale gun down to smallest details of the engraving and grip carving. The miniature gun is so well executed that the above-embedded picture almost looks like a Photoshopped one.

Welcome back to another installment of our series of articles dedicated to the most obscure firearms seen in the catalogs of major American auction houses. In this article, we’ll take a look at four rare and unusual firearms consigned to the Spring 2020 Poulin Firearms Auction.  Poulin’s Antiques and Auctions, Inc. is quite a large American auction company. In fact, as stated on their website, based on annual sales, they are one of the top five specialty firearms auction houses in North America.

In this Wheelgun Wednesday, we take a look at an older vintage Colt Diamondback .22 Long Rifle revolver and review their history as well as their rise in recent value. The Colt Python is the double-action wheelgun that gets all of the press lately because of its re-introduction and limelight in cinema, but if you are looking to invest in a Colt revolver, the Colt Diamondback might be a better bet in the long run. In just the past 5 years their values across the board, regardless of caliber or specific configuration, have more than doubled.

Last week, I was checking out a local gun shop trying to kill time. I overheard a couple other customers talking about how they carry their firearm and it caught my attention. The older gentleman said he carries an older model Smith & Wesson 686 but leaves the chamber empty just in case. To be honest, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone say something exactly like this and plenty of other odd comments as well. Whether it’s carrying sub-par ammo or practicing bad habits that will do more harm than good in the long run. Let’s dive into the depths of insanity when it comes to concealed carry myths.

The Manurhin MR73 is an expensive, albeit very finely made revolver that still exists and is produced in an era where such things are few and far between.  The frame and barrel of the MR73 are made of very high-grade ordnance steel used in artillery.  This steel enables the MR73 to withstand a steady and unvaried diet of full-power .357 Magnum without the problems seen in revolvers made of lesser materials.  Extensively hand fit and hand-polished during manufacture, the result shows the moment one handles one of these beauties.  All these man-hours and high-grade materials come at a cost, however.  The price for entry on a new MR73 is $3,200.  Only those previously imported by Century are relatively inexpensive, though their condition is usually rather poor.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves reviews the lightest .357 Magnum revolver ever made – the S&W 340PD. This gun, that weighs 11.8 ounces, is a full-power .357 Magnum. This is a small, light gun shooting a high-power cartridge, meaning that the recoil is going to be…noticeable. But is it so bad that this gun shouldn’t be carried? Or is this noisy cricket a lightweight pocket rocket powerhouse? Watch the video for James’ observations.

North American Arms has added another special edition  rimfire wheelgun to their  Custom, Curious & Collectibles Shop firearm line. The new revolver is a custom version of their smallest Mini Revolver that is chambered in .22 Short. What sets it apart from standard NAA-22S revolvers is the color case hardened surface treatment/finish and the grip options.

Among many other rare and interesting firearms that you can find in the  catalog of upcoming May 2020 Morphy Extraordinary, Sporting, & Collector Firearms auction, there are a number of revolvers many of which are extremely obscure and unique. In this edition of Wheelgun Wednesday, we’ll take a look at the five most unusual wheelguns seen in this auction’s catalog. I dare to count pepperboxes as wheelguns too that’s why there are a couple of them in the list.

Occasionally I will help a friend out from time to time while he teaches beginner handgun courses and CPL classes. While I’m standing behind the line watching students fire downrange, it surprises me the number of shooters who don’t fully understand the importance of trigger control. Whether its a younger person shooting for the first time or a competitive shooter, it’s important to develop a solid foundation for trigger control. Having an understanding of what trigger control means and why it’s important could end up saving your life down the road. Let’s jump into some of the reasons why trigger control could save your life.

On this week’s Wheelgun Wednesday we are throwing it back once again to what appears to be a familiar revolver, but in fact is something unlikely. At first glance you might think this looks like a vintage Model 29 or Model 27 from Smith & Wesson which are fairly common and desirable, but it is actually a Smith & Wesson Model 25-2 (1955 Target Model) chambered in .45 Auto (.45 ACP). Many shooters are aware that .45 Long Colt is a common cartridge for wheelguns in both single-action and double-action, but when some manufacturers get a little squirrely they make some 6-shooters in .45 Auto just for kicks.

When it comes to door breaching tools, the two most popular options are probably the breaching/battering ram which thanks to its mass and operator’s physical strength simply kicks the doors open or the  breaching shotgun that shoots the hinges and locks off. However, there is a device, the Kinetic Breaching Tool by Kinetic Breaching Technology, which is sort of a hybrid of these two methods. Let’s take a closer look.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of  The Rimfire Report. In this ongoing series we discover, review, and discuss anything and everything surrounding the rimfire firearm world. This week we’ll be taking a look at the top 3 best 22LR pocket CCW pistols.

The Harrington & Richardson company has a long, complicated, and bumpy history. Tracing it back to its earliest you will find branches and connections to Smith & Wesson. This makes the company one of the oldest US firearm manufacturing companies even though it changed hands and was bought out several times. In the 1960s H&R was acquired by the Kidde corporation and eventually went out of business in 1986. For the sake of today, we will be pulling a unique revolver from my personal collection, the H&R model 676 .22 convertible with a foot-long barrel!

The Smith & Wesson Model 10 has a storied history because of its run for over 53 years as a cataloged model, but also because there was a model that preempted it as well. For this week’s Wheelgun Wednesday, I once again dove into my collection of double-action revolvers to pull out another favorite of mine. Today we will take a look at a fairly clean example of a Smith & Wesson Model 10 .38 Special, but also see what came before and after it.

In this week’s Wheelgun Wednesday we take a throwback look at a revolver with a common appearance, but a very uncommon chambering. The wheelgun we are talking about is the Smith & Wesson Model 57 .41 Magnum, and the example we will take a closer look at is from 1984. Not much love is given to the forgotten .41 Magnum, but we will cover what makes it special and what drew me to buying one for myself almost a decade ago.

Though I was aware of the Ruger Wrangler as a budget .22 single action revolver, I did not pay much attention to it.  That all changed after Industry Day at the Range at SHOT 2020.  I was at one of Ruger’s multiple booths, wanting to check out some of their new wares.  I noticed the Wrangler was at one of the tables and thought I’d try out a few shots with their budget wheelgun.  Loading 6 in the cylinder, I aimed at a 25-yard “Evil Roy” silhouette and hit all six easily.  Moving on to the 50y target, I found all 6 landed easily as well.  There are not many handguns that I can do that with on the very first attempt.  I was hooked right away, and promptly fired 4 more cylinders of ammunition before moving on.

Revolvers are obviously inferior to autoloading pistols in a general, overall sense for gunfighting and personal protection. But there are a handful of things revolvers do better than autos. Here are a few.

Another week has gone by with most of us in self-quarantine or others being deemed “essential” to continue punching the clock at our jobs like this is a form of the “Hunger Games.” While I joke with that statement, one thing I continually find myself doing in this odd predicament not only our country, but the entire world is combating with the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19), is all of the hunting excursions I am going to go on in the future! With that optimism, it is great timing that we take a look at a very high-end hunting revolver with the Smith & Wesson Performance Center Model 629 Stealth Hunter .44 Magnum! That name is quite the mouthful, but this revolver has always caught my eye when going to firearm trade shows or visiting the Smith & Wesson website. It is dark, mysterious, sleek, and cool! But most of that could be for not if it cannot perform as a great companion while hunting. So, let’s dive in and see how it stacks up!

Recently when I have joined all of our readers for Wheelgun Wednesday, I have been on a rimfire kick since I am not traditionally a big shooter of smaller cartridges. This running theme is going to continue this week as we take a look at one of Smith & Wesson’s less common rimfire revolvers in the Model 648 .22 Magnum! With the full-size appearance of their staple 686 yet chambered in .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) it is a deceiving revolver by its looks. We are going to see what kind of practicality, accuracy, utility, and fun this wheelgun could potentially be for you. Let’s dive in and get this Wheelgun Wednesday rolling!

Most wheelgun enthusiasts typically settle on buying revolvers made by manufacturers that have been in the business for years, decades, or even from the last couple of centuries.  However, one Redditor named Josh decided to try making a revolver for himself for a change.  Homemade revolvers aren’t that common, but they are probably most observed by law enforcement, and here on TFB in the Improvised Guns posts.  As I’ve mentioned in other articles, I always find it refreshing to see people doing and making things for themselves, either due to necessity or just for the sheer love of working with their hands and solving problems with their minds.  Let’s take a look at the steps Josh went to when he set out to make his own revolver.

It is Wednesday again and if you are in search of wheelguns you have come to the right place! Last week we took a look at the rather thunderous Raging Hunter .44 Magnum from Taurus so this week we are going to go in a completely different direction, and check out something that is a near polar opposite as far as caliber goes. Our latest trip to the gun range involved the Taurus M17 Tracker .17 HMR (Hornady Magnum Rimfire) for some zippy, rimfire fun. Not many companies chamber the .17 HMR cartridge in a revolver anymore so we wanted to see what the M17 Tracker was all about and how it stacks up with other revolvers from Taurus and similar ones in the firearm industry as a whole. Let’s dive in and review the Taurus M17 Tracker .17 HMR!