Because Who Doesn't Have a Barrel Vise in Their Truck

[Baldanders]

I was going to guess "John Taffin." I was right.

Keeping a "straight face" while reviewing crap is some sort of skill. 😉

I love the "subtle" bits in reviews that let you know "this is steaming dog crap" while keeping it "sunny" for the most part.

[358156hp]

For the record, my earlier remarks were intended towards Venturino, not Taffin. I see that I was less than careful about how I tied the two together. I couldn't do what Taffin does, the Car Craft analogy seems quite correct IMO.

[Stephanie B]

I'm plotting how to make a mandrel to turn an S&W two-piece barrel. I have one that needs to be set back. I sent it to S&W and they said it's fine. (It's not fine. The truth is that they don't have any replacement barrels for this one that they f'ed up when originally building the gun.) And I can't find a smith who will talk about working on this model. So either it's a paperweight, or I grow a pair and figure some stuff out.

If you have a gun that's unusable, then you've got nothing to lose. AFAIK, the latest version of the S&W shop manual discusses working on modern (MIM, etc.) S&W revolvers.

[jtcarm]

Revolvers are different...

In a semiauto the recoil is felt when the slide hits the frame at the end of the rearward cycle. By this time, the bullet has looong left the bore...

In a revolver the recoil is felt inmediatly as the bullet is travelling the bore, and the height ove bore is MUCH larger. That's why they are far more finicky to grip strenght and individual shooting technique.

Bottom-feeder recoil has always felt two-stage to me.

[Adam]

A few months back I got a wild hair and decided to reach out to John Taffin. Much to my surprise, he responded. I was never much of a frequent reader of gun magazines because of, well, all the reasons most people don't read them now. But John is an encyclopedia of firearms knowledge, specifically pertaining to sixguns. In our correspondence he has mentioned a couple of guns that he was enjoying then later had turned in to "a real money pit". I've truly enjoyed corresponding with him.

I look at it like this: John and other gun writers write sweetened pieces because that is what keeps gun magazines alive. And he does it for the same reason that I don't call an architect or a developer the things I'd like to at my job.

Speaking of quality revolvers, I clicked on this thread because 2 new Rugers in a row have gone back to the factory, the most recent one to have the barrel turned in the frame to time the front sight correctly.