TINCANBANDIT's Gunsmithing : May 2022

Monday, May 30, 2022

Post Apocalyptic Gun Porn 2

I posted the first round of Post Apocalyptic Gun Porn back in April of 2018, that post got a lot of attention and led me to building one of my own. I had purchased a Savage/Stevens model 325A rifle that was already 1/2 way there. I added some ersatz repairs and this was the result

The credit for creation of this genre can probably be given to the movie Mad Max, in which the main character uses a variety of weapons, most notably the sawed off double barrel shotgun

These next two are from the movie The Book of Eli and both have an interesting back story.

The first gun is a Heckler & Koch HK45, which had only been released a year before the movie was filmed. The folks that provided the weapon had to artificially age the pistol to make it look like it had survived a nuclear war and 30 years of dystopian hell.

The second gun was Eli's shotgun, it is a Remington 870 Witness Protection...many will say this is a Remington TAC-14, but that model did not exist in 2010, back then it was called the Witness Protection, adopted by the U.S. Marshalls office for that exact purpose, of course it was only available to law enforcement, which is not a problem for Eli as the NFA doesn't exist in his world. Fortunately for us, the industry found a loophole in the NFA that allowed us little people to own these short barreled shotguns without permission from the overlords.

The following ones were not created to fit the theme, they were most likely created by criminals, taking cheap, easily acquired weapons and cutting them down (for concealment), then using improvised methods for repair combined with a total lack of respect for the gun results in the guns looking like they survived the apocalypse.

This pistol was made from a Remington "5-teen" rifle, most likely the single shot 510 Targetmaster

Bolt action shotguns are popular in this capacity as they are very inexpensive

Here are a couple of .410 bolt action shotguns

This one was captured from a Somali pirate

Here are a quorum of Ruger 10/22s that were cut down, had they done this with the Ruger Charger, no laws would have been broken (except for possibly "felon in possession of a firearm")

Evidence photo? There appears to be blood and hair still on the weapon.....

These next ones were home built or modified on purpose to appear to have survived the end of days

This one probably is not a real gun, but it looked so savage that I decided to include it.

The shotgun below is from Dark Alliance Firearms in Las Vegas

This Mossberg Showckwave was being auctioned off on Armslist....not sure if legit

This next one from Macpherson Firearms is one of those that I think tries too hard.

We'll finish with this custom AK SBR,

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Roscoe almost gets a Make-Over

This is the third Colt Detective Special that I have worked on. Early on I reblued my Father's D.S. and then I cleaned up a 3rd series for my neighbor.

One of my fellow forum members bought a nice used Colt Detective Special and wanted to have it reblued and at the same time have the barrel swapped out for a 3" one.

According to the serial number this Detective Special was built in 1972, but appeared to be a Third Series (evidenced by the underlug with the ejector rod shroud). This may have been a mid-year change to the new barrels or someone swapped the barrel at one time.

You can look up your Colt serial numbers here.

It sports a set of beautiful Badger stocks and is in relatively good shape.

The owner has also acquired this 3" barrel and wanted me to swap it for the 2" barrel to complete the make-over

Dis-assembly is always the first step

A couple of the screws are buggered up, they should be restored

everything looks peachy, in need of a good cleaning, but otherwise tip-top

After I had everything apart and was about to remove the ejector rod I discovered that this gun has the old lock work with the staked in place ejector rod....

From the Colt Fever website:

Removal and reassembly of the ejector is an especially risky task. The ejector rod and ejector are staked together to prevent unscrewing.
This often causes distortion of the top threads on the ejector rod and can cause stripping of the threads.
During assembly the distorted threads make cross-threading or getting the ejector started straight a high risk and can easily cause the ejector to not screw on straight. Once either happens major gunsmithing is needed to correct the problem.
If the ejector is damaged, only the Colt factory can supply and fit a new ejector, IF they have one to fit.

In the picture below you can see the end of the ejector rod is staked up against the ejector star

As it turned out this was not a Third Series model after all, probably a late Second Series.

I advised the owner to take the gun to a Colt expert. The last thing I wanted to do was take on a project that had a good chance of going sideways.

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Gun Terms in Our Modern Lexicon

Lock, Stock & Barrel:

A phrase now used to describe "the entire contents" or "everything I own".

It comes from the early days of gun making in which the three parts of the gun: the lock (hammer, trigger & springs) were made by one artisan, the stock was made by a specialist woodworker and the barrel was made by a blacksmith. When a gun shop had mastered (or hired three different masters) all three disciplines they would put on their shingle the phrase "Lock, Stock & Barrel" letting buyers know that their shop could supply the entire gun.

Go off half cocked:

This phrase has come to mean "jumping to conclusions" or "making a decision without all the pertinent info".

It stems from the early flint lock and cap lock guns which had a 1/2 cock notch for safety, if the hammer was only half cocked the gun would not fire, thus in battle "half cocked" meant that you were going with a gun that would not fire when needed.

Silver Bullet:

This term has now come to mean the same as a "magic potion" or perfect solution.

The term could go back to the stories of late 1800s in which werewolves could only be killed with a silver bullet (Vampires are said to also have an aversion to silver).

It most likely refers to the use of a silver bullet by the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger, if you didn't know was a radio play that started in 1933 and later became a TV series.

The bullets of silver in his gun were to remind him that a gun must only be used to save a life. You wouldn't shoot a bullet made of pure silver unless doing so was worth losing the valuable silver.

Ride Shotgun:

Riding shotgun today refers to someone riding in the front passenger seat of a car or truck, but it started with the stagecoach companies issuing shotguns to their drivers. One driver would handle the team of horses and the other, armed with the shotgun would be on the lookout for highwaymen. There was even a movie about it....

Bite the bullet:

This phrase is thought to have originated during the American Civil War when battlefield hospitals may have had to operate without anesthesia. Many also thought it could have been modified from "bite the billet", a billet was a piece of wood or stick, presumably used to keep the patient from biting their own tongue during excruciatingly painful surgery.

The term seems to have originated with the British Army in India, during this time the British military used paper wrapped bullets which contained the bullet, powder and animal fat (to lubricate the bullet). The paper needed to be torn with the teeth to release the powder.

The Indian recruits of the Hindu faith did not wish to bite into fat made from their sacred cows and the Indian recruits of Muslim faith did not wish to have pig fat come near them. So, the term "bite the bullet" in the British East Indian Militias came to mean, set aside your beliefs and do what must be done. Which it still does today.

Hotter than a $2 Pistol:

This is an easy one...."hot" is slang for stolen and a pistol selling for just $2 must be stolen, so anything hotter than a $2 pistol was pretty hot.

Keep your powder dry:

This term came from the English Civil War (1642-1651), during one particular battle Oliver Cromwell finished a pep talk with "Put your faith in God, but mind to keep your powder dry". If you didn't know, gun powder of the day could not get wet, the moisture would render it useless.

This was not an admission that Cromwell didn't have faith that God would see the men through the battle, but rather that a man should not tempt fate. Today the term "keeping your powder dry" means that you remain prepared for what may come.

Loaded for Bear:

Bears are known for having thick hides & skulls and thus being tough to kill. So when hunting bear, it is best to have a rifle chambered in a powerful cartridge capable of taking the bear without issue. It is now used to describe someone ready for a fight or court battle.

Off-Hand:

Shooting off-hand means shooting from the standing position and using your other hand (the one not pulling the trigger) as the rest. Instead of shooting off a bench, you are shooting off your hand....we don't say "shooting off the hand" because it sounds like you shot your hand off....rather just "off-hand".

The term is also used to describe a comment or design that was quickly thought up, not taking time to get to a desk or book to look something up.

Flash in the pan:

Many think this term came from the days of the gold rushes (1849-1900), when a prospector might see a flash in the pan, only to have it be something other than gold or silver.

The true origin could lie with firearms, when guns were fired by pieced of flint, there was a pan that held the small amount of gun powder that when ignited would set off the main charge. A "flash in the pan" was when the powder in the pan ignited, but the rifle did not fire.

Either of the stories above could be the source. Today it is referred to a person or object that was not as valuable or reliable as was thought at first glance.

Smoking Gun:

This one is pretty obvious, finding a "smoking gun" meant that you arrived after the shooting, but in time to find the gun still smoking.

Before the 1890s-gun powder produced a lot of smoke, and a freshly fired gun would emit smoke from the barrel for a short period. It is now used to describe evidence that is, without question, proof of a crime.

Shoot from the Hip:

Shooting from the hip is to speak without first thinking or just throwing out random thoughts in the hopes that one of them would make sense or be useful in your endeavor.

It comes from the old west when shooting from the hip (drawing your gun and firing as soon as it cleared the holster) was faster than bringing the gun into your line of sight, but also much less accurate.

Stick to Your Guns:

Another obvious one, sticking to your guns meant that you were alone and maybe in peril, so you needed to keep your guns close by. Today it means that you are steadfast in your beliefs and will not budge easily.

Troubleshoot:

To troubleshoot something, is to investigate the problems with it and provide a repair. The term originated with the early telegraph/telephone workers, originally called "trouble hunters", the phrase progressed to troubleshooters. The connection needs no explanation.

Sunday, May 8, 2022

The Magnum Automatics

This post is about the semi-auto pistols that have been made over the years to fire magnum cartridges. I started down a rabbit hole when looking up info on the Wildey Survivor and discovered a few tidbits that I thought I would share with you.

I have never really understood the allure of a magnum auto pistol.

Typically the advantage of a self-loading pistol over a revolver is increased capacity. In a magnum auto you might get a one or two round advantage over that of a six shot revolver. The magnum auto is certainly not more reliable or less complex, in fact the opposite is true. Magnum revolvers are bulky, but so are the magnum autos...

So why have so many people tried to build something that isn't any better than the revolver?

This post will not answer that question, it is simply a look at the history and development of the magnum auto pistol.

For the purposes of keeping this post to a reasonable length I will not be including cartridges that are lower powered than the .357 Magnum....I know the .22 WMR is technically a magnum round......

Well start with a this gun which was designed before the turn of the century.

The Mars Pistol

The Mars pistol was designed by a British gun designer Sir Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax. His hope was to design the most powerful handgun ever. Did he succeed? While his biggest cartridge (450 Mars Long) probably did exceed the power of the 44 Colt Walker, it wasn't by much.

My research didn't uncover why he named it the MARS, perhaps it looked like a pistol a Martian might wield?

It actually looks a little more futuristic than Marvin the Martian's Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator

The MARS were designed around a long recoil operation in which the barrel and four lug rotating bolt retracted backwards after firing.

Fairfax designed 4 proprietary cartridges, the largest of which, the .450 Mars Long, fired a 220 grain bullet in excess of 1,200 feet per second which is much more powerful than the .455 Webley or the .45 ACP, which qualifies it as the first Magnum Automatic.

The prototypes and first production units were produced by Webley & Scott in Birmingham, England. Webley & Scott wanted to make some changes to make the gun more viable and Fairfax would have none of it. He got the same feedback from the eight or so military trials in which his gun participated in: "the gun is too large and too complicated". One critic wrote that "no one who fired the gun once, wished to shoot it again". I guess the men of the "Gilded Age" didn't see the potential.....Ol' Fairfax was just ahead of his time.

Fairfax continued to produce limited number of the pistols at various gun manufactories around England until 1903 when he ran out of money. Creditors took over the company and attempted to build and sell them for another 4 years until they too were short on funds. Only 80 or so pistols were ever produced.

The North American Arms Brigadier

After World War II two gunsmiths at the Canadian firm North American Arms Corp (not to be confused with the American maker of tiny revolvers) were tasked with creating a new pistol for the Canadian military.

They chose to build a magnum automatic, starting with a new cartridge. They took the venerable .45ACP and stretched the case from .898" to 1.198", which nearly doubled the speed of the 230-grain ball. They named the new cartridge the ".45 NAACO".

They then took the FN P35 Browning Hi-Power pistol and "super-sized" it to fit and handle the larger, more powerful round.

They named the gun the "Brigadier Pistol" and while only one prototype was made, it was another step towards a controllable magnum automatic pistol.

The story doesn't end there....in the late '70's Winchester revived the cartridge calling it the .45 Winchester Magnum, which was later a chambering available in several magnum autos.

Kimball Arms Pistol

Next up we have the J. Kimball Arms pistol, introduced in 1955 and built in the Motor City.

The original Kimball pistols were made in .30 Carbine, which some might not consider a magnum round.....well in a pistol it is. Considering its 110-grain bullet delivered more than double the energy of both the 9 mm and the 45 ACP, this qualifies it as a Magnum pistol cartridge, and yes it does exceed the speed and energy of a .357 Mag, which doesn't matter because they also made them (or planned to make them) in .357 Magnum.

The advert below shows that you could order a model chambered in .22 Hornet, .30 Carbine, .38 Special and .357 Mag.

Only a few prototypes in .22 Hornet, .38 & .357 were built.

The delayed blow back design didn't work out. The rebated portion of the chamber, which was designed to force the case to swell would fill up with powder residue and fail to work.

The result was the slide velocities that were way too high, the guns failed, and the company went out of business in 1958 with less than 250 of the .30 cal pistols being built.

The .44 Auto Mag 180

The next attempt came out of Southern California in the early 1970s.

By 1970 the 44 Magnum had been on the market for more than a decade and the first stainless handgun, the S&W model 60 had been around for 5 years. These two innovations (along with some others) inspired the next Magnum Automatic.

Beginning with a conversation in 1966, the idea brewed for a while in the mind of gun shop owner Harry Sanford. He along with Max Gera and some other gunsmiths designed a new pistol and a cartridge to go along with it.

They wanted a 44 Magnum automatic, why not a .45?

In the 1960's the .44 Magnum was the king of the handgun cartridges and perhaps they didn't know about the Canadian .45 NAACO cartridge?

It was immediately apparent that using a rimmed cartridge like the .44 Remington Magnum would cause feeding issues in a typical pistol magazine.

So, they looked at what rifle cartridges were readily available that had a rimless case as well as an inside diameter close to the .429 bullet. They found that both the .308 Winchester and the .30-06 Springfield could be cut down to just under 33mm, then reamed and resized to seat a .429 bullet.

The 44 Auto Mag and .44 Remington Magnum

What they created was a legend....the gun did have some issues, but it functioned...it was the first successful magnum automatic and the first all stainless-steel handgun.

They used a fixed barrel and an internal slide with rotating bolt. Similar to the AR-15 bolt it allowed for a strong lock-up. The gun is recoil operated, to achieve this the gun uses dual recoil springs to slow the slide's rearward movement (same as the Mars pistol at the top of this post). I wonder if Max and his team had studied the Mars pistol when designing the Auto Mag?

When we call the pistol a "success", we use the word loosely, the company folded after only 2 years in business and less than 3,000 pistols delivered.

The company was revived a few more times before finally giving up in 1982. This was due to the high cost of production and the fact the company was initially selling the pistols for $1,000 LESS than it cost to build them.....not a good business strategy.

Then in 1983 the 4th Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact (starring Clint Eastwood) was released....in the movie Dirty Harry uses the pistol which created additional demand for the now out of production gun.

Harry Sanford died in 1996 leaving what was left of the company (name copyright and parts/tooling) to his son Walter.

Today the guns enjoy a cult status.....

In 2015 Walter Sanford sold the rights and everything that was left to a new group of investors who are now building the guns under the name Auto Mag Ltd. See their website here.

Wildey Survivor Pistol

Our next gun came on the heels of the .44 Auto Mag. Wildey J. Moore was working in the gun industry since the 1950's. He decided to design his own magnum automatic and set himself on a course.

With the help of Robert Hillberg (of Whitney Wolverine fame) they designed a gun that used a gas system with an adjustment apeture, allowing the shooter to adjust for different loads.

Like the .44 Auto Mag the barrel was fixed, which helped make the gun more precise. Also like the Auto Mag it uses a single action trigger.

The design also allowed for the top end of the gun to be traded out for different barrel lengths or a change in caliber.

Either wanting the gun standout in a crowd or mimic the 44 Automag, they went with stainless steel for the material and added a vent rib to the barrel.

The first prototypes were made in 9mm Winchester Automatic (a rimless version of the .357 Mag) and the aforementioned .45 Winchester Automatic.

By 1979 the gun was ready for prime time, as is customary, samples were sent to gun writers for testing and review.

The chamber was designed to handle more than 48,000 psi, allowing Moore to chamber these guns in new magnum cartridges. For instance, the .475 Wildey Magnum....Moore took a .284 Winchester rifle case and cut it down to 1.198" (same length as the .45 Winchester Magnum) and fitted a .475" bullet.

Below, from left to right: .44 AMP, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Wildey Magnum and .475 Wildey Magnum

In 1983 the .475 Wildey Survivor was used in the third installment of the Death Wish series (starring Charles Bronson) and just as in the case with the .44 Auto Mag, sales jumped every time the movie aired.

Production of the Wildey Survivor ended in 2011, then in 2015 United States Firearms announced they had purchased the rights and would resume production of the famous pistol, see their website here.

The 44 Magmatic

Around the same time the Wildey pistol was being developed another fan of the .44 Magnum named Jon Powers was working on one of his own.

The gun resembled the 22 caliber Hi-Standard pistol, but was supersized, used a rotating six-lug bolt and was gas operated. The grips were borrowed from the S&W model 39 pistol.

The pistol was also designed with interchangeable barrels so the gun could be used for self-defense or perhaps silhouette shooting with the simple turn of an Allen wrench.

Jon Powers was a tool and die maker living in Holly, Michigan, his shop was in the town of Warren, Michigan.....strange coincidence, I wonder if Mr. Powers knew John Kimball?

While the guns were both reliable and accurate Powers didn't think the concept was marketable or at least didn't want to produce the gun. Only six prototypes were built including one in .45 Colt.

The Desert Eagle

The next magnum automatic to come along was the Magnum Research Desert Eagle, by far the most recognizable gun on the list...

Work began in the late 70's on a gas operated pistol design and by 1982 the gun was ready to go into production. Magnum Research contracted with Israeli Military Industries to build the guns in Israel.

Like the Wildey the Desert Eagle uses a rotating bolt and gas operation. The original chambering was in .357 Magnum. The first model is pictured below:

Also like the Wildey (and the 44 Auto Mag) the Desert Eagle uses and exposed hammer and single action trigger.

Production of the Desert Eagle remained with IMI until 1995 when a contract was struck with SACO Defense (part of General Dynamics), then it went back to Israel until 2009 at which time Magnum Research began production in house, stateside.

The .357 Magnum chambering led the way for both the .41 Magnum and .44 Magnum models and later the Mark VII was chambered in the then new .50 Action Express round.

Also like the Wildey, a Desert Eagle owner can easily change calibers with a swap of the slide/barrel assembly and the correct magazine.

To date the Desert Eagle has been used in over 500 movies and TV shows, more than any other on this list.

In 2010 Kahr Arms purchased Magnum Research and continues to produce the Desert Eagle, see their website here.

L.A.R. Grizzly Win Mag

The early eighties saw three more entries into the magnum automatic arena. We'll start with the L.A.R. Grizzly. Developed in the late 70's/early 80's by Perry Arnet. Arnet licensed the design to L.A.R. Manufacturing who then refined the design.

The gun is based on the 1911 platform, again upsized to handle the larger and more powerful 45 Winchester Magnum cartridge. The slide had extra material added to slow it down, this was in addition to the 27 lbs. recoil spring (a standard 1911 uses a 16 lbs. spring).

By 1983 the gun was ready for sale and L.A.R. produced them in 8 different cartridges including the .50 Action Express.

After 16 years and 15,000 guns the sales had slowed to the point that the company quit producing the pistol.

The Coonan 357

Dan Coonan had a similar idea to Perry Arnet. He took a 1911 and modified it to work with the .357 Magnum cartridge. Coonan made his guns from stainless steel and was known for being of exceptional quality. The monolithic frame and wider than a 1911 grip frame gave it a distinctive look. Like the Grizzly above the gun debuted in 1983.

After just two years (in 1985) Coonan sold the company to Bill Davis but remained an employee until 1990 or so.

Then in 1994 the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, assets were rolled into J.S. Worldwide, both of which were dissolved in 1998.

Then in 2009 Dan Coonan, Dave Neville and Gordy Davis revived the company and brought back the original .357 model, calling it the "Classic".

They followed that up with options for Cerakote and a compact model.

By 2019 the new Coonan inc was also out of business.

Bren Ten

I know what you are thinking.....the 10mm isn't a magnum round....or is it? A full power 10mm is more powerful than a .357 Magnum and it does have a weaker brother in the .40 S&W, so in my mind it qualifies.

For the sake of keeping this short, I will only include the first gun chambered in 10mm Auto, the Bren Ten.

Developed from a conceptual round, the 10mm was designed to replace the 45 ACP with a bullet that weighed almost as much and traveled twice as fast. The designers, Dornaus and Dixon along with Lt Col. John Dean "Jeff" Cooper cut down a .30 Remington case (a rimless version of the .30-30 Win) and loaded it with a bullet from a 38-40 cartridge.

Once they had the cartridge they needed a pistol, they chose to use the design of the CZ75, which is a derivative of the Browning Hi-Power. As many of the guns above, they "super-sized" the frame of the gun to handle the size and power of the 10mm round.

Once the gun was ready, production began in southern California. After three years the company was going under. Plagued by production problems and a complete lack of magazines, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1986. An attempt to save the gun was made by the owner of Voit Sporting goods, but that didn't last long.

The gun did get a boost when it was chosen as the side arm for Sonny Crocket (played by Don Johnson) in the TV show Miami Vice, alas, the boost was too late to save the gun.

Vltor Weapons Systems purchased the rights to the gun and had planned on producing them, as of this writing none have surfaced.

The 10mm went to live on, Colt introduced the Delta Elite 1911 pistol, followed by S&W with the 1006, 1026 & 1076 and the Glock 20. Today there are dozens of models in 10mm to choose from.

AMT Automag III, IV & V

This story is coming full circle. AMT was started by Harry Sanford, the same man who started the Auto Mag Corporation to build the .44 Auto Mag. He started AMT (Arcadia Machine and Tool) as a vehicle to produce other guns, rather than have them under the Auto Mag banner.

The AMT guns were made of cast stainless and had a matte finish on the frame. The design used elements from the M1911, with a slide mounted safety.

The first AMT Automag was the Automag II, in .22 Magnum, then came the Automag III in .30 Carbine, then in 1992 the Automag IV in .45 Winchester Magnum.

You may notice a pattern....Automag II was a 22, the III was a .30 cal and the IV was a .45 cal.

The Automag IV was also chambered in 10mm Magnum for a short time (which is a .40 cal).

AMT followed up the next year with the Automag V in .50 Action Express.

AMT moved several times and even changed names (it was known as IAI (Irwindale Arms Inc) for a time.

The Automag V met its demise in 1995 and the Automag III & IV were disco'd in 2001.

In 1996 Harry Sanford passed away and two years later Galena Industries bought AMT and moved it to Sturgis, SD, then went bankrupt in 2001. The company's assets were purchased by the same parent company that came to own High Standard.

In 2018 High Standard was going under.

Also Ran

I suppose we should make mention of those "magnum level" cartridges that reach magnum power without increasing the size of the gun. The first one is the .357 Sig. Developed in 1994, by SIG and Federal Cartridge, the designers took a 10mm Auto necked down to .357 caliber. They made the cartridge case length and OAL the same as the .40 S&W so that it could be used in any pistol chambered for the .40.

It produces identical performance to the .357 Magnum, but in an automatic pistol of standard size. That is what you call a win-win.

Here is a .357 Sig next to a .40 S&W, photo courtesy of Gun Pros

Besides SIG many other companies chamber pistols in the .357 Sig, Glock 22 & 23 owners can easily convert a .40 S&W pistol to a .357 sig with just a barrel swap. Many companies now make aftermarket barrels.

The next one is the .22 TCM. Developed by Fred Craig and Martin Tuason (The Tuason family owns Rock Island Armory) in 2015/16. It is simply a .223 Remington (or 5.56 NATO) shortened to the length of a .38 Super. It does produce impressive velocities and muzzle energy. In addition, like the .357 Sig it can be fired from a standard sized pistol.

pictures courtesy of Shooting Illustrated

There are others that follow a similar path, but they were just wildcat cartridges fired from existing guns. These include but are not limited to the 9x25mm Dillon, .400 Corbon, .440 Corbon, .45 Super, .460 Rowland and so on....

Time Line

1935 - The .357 Remington Magnum is introduced

1940s - North American Arms develops the Brigadier and .45 NAACO cartridge

1950s - Kimball Arms attempts a .30 Carbine and .357 Mag pistol

1955 - The .44 Remington Magnum is introduced

1961: Ruger introduces their .44 Magnum Carbine

1971 - The .44 Auto Mag is introduced

1978 - J.D. Jones tests the .44 Magmatic

1979 - The Wildey Survivor debuts

1982 - The Desert Eagle arrives on the scene

1983 - The Grizzly, Coonan and Bren Ten are introduced

1988 - The .50 Action Express in introduced