Derk von Hüls, Postfach 1134, D-64807 Dieburg, Tel. 06071 25276, DE111706855
 

DERK’s NASTY GUN PAGE            Last up-date: January 15th 2002          This page is one permanent construction site.
Enter on your own risk. (Sounds like buying a pistol??)

This page deals mainly with pistols, but a few long guns will be mentioned; be they prime specimens of excellence
or of total horror. The comments these firearms receive on my  page are based on my own experience and are truely
deserved. The people responsible deserve the comments; they even got paid for their efforts.

Amazing! Hardly anyone seems to know a d.. thing about the correct preparation of a firearm for adverse conditions. So for those,
who need such information, here it comes:

Arid, hot and dusty conditions : Disassemble, clean and oil lightly. Wipe off all oil! BONE DRY! Assemble. Maybe you can now use that
condom! Put it over the muzzle. Big holes around ejection ports etc. Use some very light tape or paper with some tape. Magazines: seal
them in a very thin plastic or better in a paper bag.

Arctic conditions: Disassemble, clean and oil lightly. Wipe off all oil. Assemble. Make sure that there is not even the smallest trace of
WATER on the piece. Use your condoms on the muzzle to keep snow and ice out. NEVER EVER TAKE YOUR KIT INDOORS. IT WILL BE FULL
OF CONDENSED WATER IN ABOUT 1 SECOND. Leave it somewhere in the cold, right next to the entrance, as long as it remains below
freezing! Indoors you still have your sidearm. You will wear it close to the body, under your outer garments.

My advice concerning such places: Don't go there! Send B52s or leave them to the Eskimos! (or both??)

No true alphabetic order.

AT 84 The origin of the company was rather nebulous. It was "Cold War" times and rumour has it, that it served
mainly as a front to funnel Western Technology through Switzerland and behind the Iron Curtain. Their pistol was, of
course, an "improved" CZ M75 clone. It was improved to a point were it became useless and outright dangerous to
the shooter. Some designer had chucked all basic rules of engineering overboard. The slide will break and come
flying back at the shooter after only very few rounds.
Don’t shoot this pistol! It belongs in a collector’s Cabinet of Horrors.

SPHINX A follow-on effort of the above. Suffers from the same lack of basic engineering. To cap the effort, this
pistol is even offered in 40 S&W. In 40 S&W the pistol is less dangerous to the shooter, as the barrel, having only
0.3mm (.012"!) of meat in a high pressure spot, will come apart after only a handfull of rounds. As the barrel
disintegrates soon enough, there is no further danger of the slide slamming into the shooter’s face.

AMT Harry Sandford built the AUTOMAG! The epitome of pistols.

AMT’s M1911 clones are basically sound, but they all suffer from poor barrels.
These are simply too soft. We are used to poor barrels, that are too soft, but here the pistols will, at some point, just
refuse to eject. The reason being, that apart from being dead soft, these barrels are of two-piece construction and the
seam, where the two pieces were brazed together, will by then have developped into a fissure, allowing the case to
bulge into it, thus negating ejection. As the rest of the pistol is fine, just replace the barrel with something of good
quality and shoot it.
AMT brought out a few gadgets under the name "AUTOMAG" having  nothing in common with the original.
They work, but an AMT in 22 Magnum is just a toy for expensive ammunition.
The AMT Lightning was a good version of the RUGER 10/22 in STAINLESS STEEL!
The AMT HUNTER was an excellent version in 22 MAGNUM (of course in stainless)

Harry Sandford is no longer with us and soon after his death the company ceased to exist. The left-overs were sold
to Numrich.
 

BERETTA The countless "Saturday-night Specials" produced by them may serve as an illustration of their
pistols.

Some time after WWII they came up with a poor "improved" version of a Walther P38 and managed to sell it to the
Egyptians. Who cares about a slide coming apart or not. Insch Allah or malesh!
This lemon was then sold to Uncle Sam in a re-engineered version (this is marketing’s "new speak"), and here the
shortcomings of the pistol immediately became evident. It works fine for waving at heroically fleeing Arabs, but it is
not good for any serious use. The slides will develop cracks and, if not detected in time, the slide coming back at the
shooter can become deadly! Never use this pistol without giving the slide a close inspection. Discard the slide a the
faintest suspicion of a crack. Luckily, we civilians are not subject to military procurement.
In military procurement the actual merits of the product are of no consideration.
We can still buy something, that, if used, will stay in one piece. For us this pistol is rather useless, it has a poor
trigger, poor accuracy and may be suited for "drive by shootings", but not for much else.
BERETTA makes a few expensive and very nice shotguns.

BERNADELLI Seems to be in liquidation at this moment.
They made a few poor pocket pistols deserving no further comment.
BERNADELLI made superb double barrelled stuff on modern machinery and made them of very good steel. These,
picked up second hand, will prove to be very good value for money!
What probably knocked them off their financial feet was the pathetic effort to go after military or "volume" sales on
the world market with yet another 9mm high capacity pistol. The receiver was made of some light alloy, pleasing to
the artist, extremely thin etc. and it would break left right front and centre. Promotion and bribes consumed the slim
financial reserves.

BRENN TEN: (Dornhaus & Dickson) This pistol was an attempt to build a copy of the CZ75 in a relevant
calibre in the USA. It was the birth of the 10mm cartridge! A few pistols were indeed made. The financing scam soon
collapsed and Mec-Gar was left with a large amount of mags.

BRITARMS This is what a target 22lr Pistol can be! Just lovely.
The trigger sets a standard by which all others should be measured.
Britarms failed and Allen Westlake of Westlake Engineering took over.
Unfortunately, the British Government decided, that free men shall not own pistols.
I do not know about current production, but I doubt it.

FN/BROWNING A lot of idiotic pocket pistols and other stupid shooting instruments, built to order for
governments, carry the FN name. As it became evident, that the world could not be conquered or pacified with these
things, the Belgians bought in the services of one John Moses Browning. He came up with the P35 GP, commonly
know as the "Highpower". At that time it was probably the best 9mm pistol in the world. Despite this fact, the Belgian
military adopted it and from there it spread all over the world. It is a good pistol. However, recent improvements have
rendered it useless, as the current steel is only suitable for the manufacture of urinals and similar objects. English
Highpowers seem to give reasonable service.
This is a fine pistol, handling is close to perfect and many IPSC shooter here in Europe started out with the
Highpower, only to find out, that the slides would crack inside the ejection port or to have the bottom lug of the barrel
shearing off.
Made of good steel (4140) it would still be a formidable piece of kit.
FN made an excellent target Pistol in 22lr called FN 150.
For some time FN made very good versions of the Mauser 98.
I do not like their OU Shotguns, as these have the tendency to present a problem with the bottom firing pin (it
happens in your most important competition!).

Current military small arms by FN seem to work, but who needs a machine gun in 223?

BRNO/CZ Very reasonably priced bolt action rifles. Well made and plenty accurate for any hunting situation.
These people had been making countless and useless pistols to the liking of some or other government bodies.
They work in usually irrelevant calibres.
For some completely strange reason this, then government owned, company decided to design a worthwhile pistol.
Here their engineers proved, that they were worth their salaries and produced one of the finest 9mm pistols in the
world. THE CZ 75. As was to be expected, it suffered from "military" fitting and a poor barrel. It is the only pistol
where I managed to shoot out a barrel!! Do not ask me how or why. As the pistol comes, the double action is quite
good, but single action trigger pull is lousy. As the design is good, it can be fixed to give a truely superb trigger. This
pistol is a 9mm Luger pistol. The IPSC shooters call this a "minor" calibre. Sponsored shooters are no measure for
the longevity of a pistol in serious use; when something breaks, they just go on shooting with the next pistol.
With more powerfull rounds it will start losing minor parts and after a while the slide will crack in the ejection port.
Recently manufactured C/75/85s seem to have slightly better barrels, but the key to excellent accuracy is a Bar-Sto
barrel.

The magazine springs are still worthless. They probably found a roll of chicken wire somewhere and used it for mag
springs. Replace them with slightly stronger springs from Wolff.

BUL(L?!): Just another poor copy/improvement on the M1911. A plastic receiver with a sloppy slide on top.
Maybe cheap, but certainly nothing special.

CATERPILLAR: In my opinion most people on shooting ranges are doing nothing but a bit of earth moving in
the backstop.
These people would be better off using one of Caterpillar's machines. They work.
Poor man's version: shovel & wheelbarrow.
Here we find a significant gap in our legislation!! These highly effective tools can be bought without "Big Brother's"
previous consent!

CHARTER ARMS: These guys made quite a few mediocre revolvers. The only revolver of theirs to find grace
in my eyes is the CHARTER ARMS BULLDOG in 44 Special with 3" barrel. It has the best sights ever on a compact
revolver, it is very strong, delivers the necessary punch and it is very accurate! The 2" and 21/2" Versions lack the
fantastic sights and are not as accurate. Even in a defensive situation I want to hit  my target.

COLT: Just today (11th Oct. 1999) the happy news broke: COLT has thrown in the towel!
Good riddance.
Colt had a few of the finest designs in their production lines, the M1911, the M16 and the SAA.
They rarely designed anything of good themselves, but sometimes managed to pick up good designs.
The M1911 was designed independently by J.M.Browning, the AR 15 came from Cadillac and the origin/engineering
of the SAA is still debated.
For the last 25 years Colt sold "improved" products, knowingly allowing mis-machined pistols to reach the public.
Had they been selling cars, lawn mowers or cement mixers, the people responsible would have been in jail and they
would certainly have had their pants sued off!
A Single Action Army is no longer a modern piece to shoot (Thell Read can prove me wrong, I know), but I love it.
The M16 was Uncle Sam's answer to the Kalashnikow.
The M1911 still is a formidable piece of kit, but for the last two dozen years about 40% of these were nicely polished,
un-fixable junk right out of the box.
The Colt Python can, if you are lucky enough to find a specimen not subject to "improved" manufacturing",  be a
fine revolver and the Trooper was so good, that Colt just discontinued it.
Instead of correcting their known deficiencies in the machining department, Colt decided to waste time, effort and
money on totally useless  things, such as the Anaconda, the Double Eagle etc. These simply did not work.
These people deserved to be put out of business! Had they been selling lawn-mowers or similar objects, they
certainly would have had their pants pulled down in court and probably would be in jail.
 

VARIOUS MAKERS OF M1911-type CLONES

LES BEAR: Les Bear offers a range of very fine pistols based on the M1911 desing. They are available with
standard and large capacity magazines and with various options. All have one thing in common: They are well made
target grade pistols. Machining is meticulous and done better than mil.spec. Compatibility is as one expects.
Aftermarket parts from other manufacturers may need some very minor fitting.

KIMBER: See above. Triggers for a Target job could be a bit better.

NOWLIN: See above. IPSC Race guns are a bit temperamental and may require highly specialised ammunition
to work properly.
I personally do not like the Nowlin Compensators. The "Nowlin" or Wilson" type ramp is a beast to machine and
solid proof of engineering idiocy.

PARAORDNANCE: The only lovely thing to originate from Greece is the poetry of Homeros.
Some Greek in Canada at one time took up an idea born in South Africa and started by making an aluminium large
capacity frame for the M1911. The alloy frames worked quite well. After a few years the first Steel Receivers came out.
They were not as well made as their alloy predecessors, the steel was soft, had tons of slag inside the casting and
the pin holes were mismachined. Until today not much has changed. Doing a trigger job on these pistols is a
nightmare, as each pistol has "individual" hole spacing. Their receivers are still soft, but there is a bit less slag in the
steel. The slides on POs are OK. Barrels are a bit better than COLT Standard, and that means reasonably soft. The
magazine springs are worthless. Replace them right-away!
 

PETERS STAHL or KPS: I find it difficult to include these people with the above. Joe Peters is one of the
people, who are intellectually not capable of understanding the brilliant simplicity of the M1911. Yet, he had to set out
to improve on it. He came up with a typically over-engineered solution to a non-existant problem, that would result in
breaking parts. After, deservedly, going bust, he talked someone into pouring more money into his idea with much of
the same result. Deckert of Detmold and a chap called Wike held the rights to his sick design and went on selling it.
Joe went on happyly milking some stupid Arabs.
The basic idea was to do away with the link on the M1911.(Who ever had any problems with this feature?) The
locking mechanism was integrated in a full length recoil spring guide in form of a recess/camming hook on the
bottom of the barrel. Either the female parts in the recoil guide will break or the hook on the barrel will shear off or
become peened, indicating poor design in combination with hapharzard heat treatment. Don't ever ask the boys how
they did their heat treating! It will make you cry!! A lot of their pistols were made up on what used to be Don McNab's
former SAFARI ARMS leftovers. These receivers (and the rest of McNab's stuff) never were any good and there has
been no change for the better. That stuff has been finally sold out...meaning unloaded to the customer.
The great breakthrough then was to be their OMEGA Pistol (M1911 receivers more or less paired with a slide of more
"modern" design"). In 45ACP these pistols have had quite a few barrels coming apart on firing with very modest
loads. Erratic heat treatment and poor design!!
A typical German "improvement".
Lately Peters Stahl is offering a home made (?!!) receiver. It seemed to be OK.
Sorry, revise prior statement. After some begging the then so called Paderborner Sportwaffenwerke, commonly
known as Peters Stahl,  sold me one of their Hi-Cap receivers. Outside so-so, inside absolute horror.
They advertise, that al parts in their guns are hand fitted. Of course, not a single part of theirs could be hammered in.
e.g. The ejector could not be driven or hammered into its holes in the frame, as these holes were about.005" too
small. The dustcover was bent upwards, the slide not just binding a bit like we have come to accept, but simply
banging into about .014" of steel. Take out the grinder etc. Thank God for slightly beefed up thickness (sickness??,
my English is not so good). The holes for the pins for hammer, sear and slidestop were so large, that my (slightly)
oversize pins could safely be thrown into those holes from 10 paces off. The rear of the frame was pre-contoured for
a beavertail safety. It looked absolutely shoddy. The Hi-Cap frame would not accept a ParaOrdnance mag. No way!!
Substantial amounts of rough casting had to be filed away. Then the trigger would refuse to ride freely inside its
recess around the mag. Same here, just a lousy casting with a few high spots. Assembly of one of these frames into
a decent pistol drove me up the wall!!  Price rarely is an indication of quality!!
Just recently, a company called Peter Stahl of Paderborn ( re-named or re-organised again??)
objected to being mentioned here. In 2003 the company found new ownership and the manufacturing
act has been cleaned up, I have been told. Be that as it may turn out...However, I am not going to
invest my own money to find out.
I therefor, with the proper regrets, retract all my pervious experience with these products!

KONGSBERG: These fish-eating (whale killing!) Norwegians have always produced fine firearms. Their
historic excellence is evident in the old Krag Rifle, the first bolt action rifle to be adopted by the US! When the NAZIs
moved into Norway, they immediately used the Kongsberg facilities to produce, among other things, the M98 rifle. As
a result the Norwegians had quite a few of these left over after WWII and a Norwegian M98 in 30-06 is usually a lot
more accurate than the German version.
Kongsberg built the best version of the M1911 Pistol ever. This version of the M1911 has the only well designed
extended slide release ever made. Why their solution to this non-existing problem is not offered in some or other
copy by the after market gadget boys puzzles me.
Today Kongsberg makes an excellent bolt action rifle, a lot of oil drilling stuff and a few rockets.

HECKLER & KOCH
For any practical purpose the polygonally rifled barrels from H&K are the best in the world. They simply refuse to
shoot out!
It seems, that, as is to be expected in the firearms industry, these superior barrels are replaced by conventional
rifling. Improvements in the firearms industry are rarely that.
Many, many years ago a company in Kassel talked H&K into producing a few barrels for hunting rifles. I am still
getting spectacular accuracy out of mine; a lightweight hunting rifle doing less than 1/2" at 100m, and that after more
than 15.000 rnds!!
H&K, of course, never had anything to do with the Spanish CETME, the resemblance must be purely coincidental!
The G3 (HK 91/93) was adopted by the Bundeswehr and shoots reasonably well. Trigger is a bit lousy, but who
cares!
The G3 is a premeditated crime by people, who have never been in battle with a rifle. You will hopefully never find
yourself in the unlucky situation, where you have been under fire (getting really close to our Mother Earth!!) and then
inserting a fresh magazine from the pouch.
Any, even the tiniest, speck of top soil on or in the mag will render your G3 inoperable. After manually ejecting half a
dozen of rounds, the thing may start working again. Now you may understand why a serious rifle should have some
means of manually hammering home the bolt! HK91s and HK93s are essentially semi auto versions of the G3.

H&K's PISTOLS
The first H&K pistol worth mentioning is the H&K P9S. It has a roller delayed blow back action, a stationary
barrel with polygonal rifling, rotten grooves inside the chamber and, at least in my presence, it has an alarming
tendency to spew out little bits and pieces. It will develop cracks in the alloy receiver, because nobody was ever told
to regularly replace a two-bit plastic buffer. It was even offered, for a short time, in 45 ACP!!
This round, Cooper calls it a "relevant" cartridge, will show the shortcomings of the desing after a few hundred
rounds.
It is probably the most accurate pistol ever made and in its target version you can take it out of the
box, fire a few rounds to adjust your sights, adjust the trigger and set forth to win any conventional
bulls-eye type contest.

                                             Diabolical, isn't it?

The next in line is the H&K PSP or as it know today, the P7. I call it "the tripple oxymoron".
It always is an engineer's dream to start a design from a clean sheet of paper! Here the engineers at H&K actually
managed to square the circle! PSP stands for "Polizei Sicherheits Pistole", meaning "Police Safety Pistol". We all
know, that these three things exclude each other from the outset!
It is the first major breakthrough in the design of pistols since the M1911!!! It works, it is accurate, compact and has
decent sights.It is a gas delayed blow-back in 9mm Luger. It was the only pistol in the police trials to go the 10,000
rnds test without failure.If you want a pistol to carry and shoot, this is it! Selection of a holster is important, as it has a
tendency to roll out of poor holsters backwards, but Milt Sparks has a good Yaqui. With the aftermarket long barrels
it suffered from severe over-functioning (violent ejection), but that seems to be a trademark of H&K's.
The G3 and SL 6/7 certainly throw the brass well clear of the shooter. The prime example of too much ejection was
the
H&K PSG.
A reasonably heavy, extremely expensive and very accurate rifle built by people, who have never fired a shot a
something, that may shoot back. Snipers are feared and hated, and, once detected, the other side will throw anything
they have at them: artillery, tac air and guided things at a few tens of grand per pop!! This rifle did not have a flash
suppressor! The reason for this lack is apparent, when you fire it in twilight! A big bright bolt of fire comes out of the
ejection port, thus negating the need for a flash suppressor at the muzzle. The reason is simple: It is based on the
G3, a roller delayed blow back action, designed for use with a short barrel and a light projectile. In the PSG the same
basic geometry for the roller delay was used in combination with a barrel some 40% longer, using slower and
heavier bullets.
The new SL8 has the gas operated action Eugene Stoner showed to work well. Cooper calls this a nice "plastic
poodle shooter".

The latest pistol in the H&K line is the USP.  It is SIMPLE, SOBER and SUPERB. It has a conventional tilting barrel
mechanism (back to basics!) and it works very well and that in all calibres offered.
This pistol is one of the very few specimens, that you can take out of the box and shoot well, without any tinkering!!
Early teething problems with the bottom lugs of the barrel shearing off were corrected surprisingly fast. I cannot live
with this kind of weight distribution: Heavy slide, light receiver. The other way around is for me.

HIGH STANDARD: This company is known for very nice 22lr pistols. The target versions are still
competitive! High Standard at one time even dabbled with a large revolver, the Crusader. It was well engineered, but
it never got off the ground. HIGH STANDARD made the only double action Derringers! They were well made and
more accurate than anyone would expect. On a derringer the DA feature is mandatory.  HIGH STANDARD is no more.

KART: Many years ago Freddy Kart built the best 22lr conversion unit for the M1911 ever!
Unfortunately, he ran into some sort of trouble and was a bit difficult to find for a few years. He is back in business
and maybe we will see his splendid conversion unit made again.  He is currently making excellent barrels. You will
rarely see any of the old conversion units offered for sale, guess why!
You have one? Will you sell it to me?

KORIPHILLA: Bernd Budischowsky's main business was making machinery for the stamp collectors to re-cut
the border on stamps etc. He started to make some very fine pocket pistols, they are considered collectors items.
They fetch quite handsome prices on the second hand market. They are superbly made, and if you feel, that you
need a pocket pistol, and can afford this one, than you will have a very nice little pistol.
I like them in 22lr, not in 25ACP. 22lr is cheap, accurate, fun to shoot and available the world over.
At some time Bernd wanted to build a real pistol and took his inspiration from the German police requirements (of all
things!) for a new duty pistol. This resulted in a somewhat crowded construction, especially in the trigger group. The
single roller delaying the slide proved not to be ideal. Most slides did not live very long, as the slide will slam into the
receiver with a very hard impact!
Made to exacting tolerances of the best of materials, it makes a nice collectors item.
Today some outfit in the former East Germany has revived it, probably as a scam for burning development subsidies.

KORTH: Many years ago Willy Korth set out to build a good revolver. Truely superb revolvers, made as one
would expect from a decent, old fashioned German craftsman. However, they did suffer from a lack of "slop"!
Tolerances were kept so small, that they would no longer close or rotate with even the smallest amount of
dirt/powder residue. Furthermore, Willy believed in his slogan: "Narrow bores are more accurate!" The bores in his
otherwise superb revolvers were so narrow, that they would lead up badly with the usual commercial 38 Special
ammunition. The solution is to feed them jacketed stuff. Internal feuding pushed old Willy out of his own company
and from then on things went downhill. Korth got tangled in some dubious scam of Count Behrensdorf and
nowadays someone is trying to refloat the outfit.
Korth at one time started to build a pistol and it may make a choicy and very expensive collectors item, but as a
fighting iron it is absolutely worthless.
A look-alike revolver to the KORTH was presented at the Nürnberg IWA in March 2000. Improved to incorporated
"switch barrels". Even in 454 Casull!! It does not take claire voyance to see the barrels becoming loose as a goose!!
This one is dead from the beginning.

GLOCK: Gaston Glock's construction serves as a prime illustration of todays idea of the soldier. The modern
soldier is regarded a throw-away-item. It is only natural, that such an item must be equipped with the
cheapest possible of equipment.
The goal was to create a simple and cheap pistol, that had a minimum of frills, safeties etc., being sturdy enough to
operate under battle conditions with reasonable accuracy. The Glock Pistol meets these requirements remarkeably
well on all counts.
Conceived as a strictly military pistol for 9mm Luger, it has even managed to stand up to the transgression to
relevant  cartridges, such as 45 ACP or the high pressure 10mm Auto.
It has good sights, it is plenty accurate and the trigger  pull is something one can get used to. It will go 10.000 rnds
plus. At some point beyond this it may start showing damage in the plastic receiver, due to reinforcements at the
front of the rails worming their way out of the surrounding plastic. It will still work for a while, but once this condition
is apparent, the only cure is a new receiver.
The price of a pistol sold on the military  market is only a fraction of the price it is sold for to the civilians and in my
opinion the "civil" price is by no means justified.
The trigger mechanism of the Glock was never meant to be used for target shooting; it is strictly utilitarian and as it
comes, it works quite well.
Any attempt to turn it into something better will fail. It will either fail to ignite or it will start to "double" or "trippel".

ERMA: These people made countless copies of little pistols, mainly as blank firing versions. There may have
been some connection with Iver Johnson in the US. They made a nice 22lr semi auto look-alike of the 30M1 carbine.
At some moment Erma decided to build a target pistol in 22lr. At about that time there were even a few prototypes of
a nice revolver in 357 Magnum. The revolver never got off the ground, but the 22 target job was built in reasonable
numbers, competing against Walthers and Hämmerlis. In 22lr it worked quite nicely (even a rubberband-and-tape
zip-gun will work in 22!), but as soon as a 32 S&W version was attempted, the thing started to fall apart.
Erma has stopped making anything that may go "pop".,

DAN WESSON:  These people made very reasonable revolvers with quick change barrels. For us here in
Germany this was not a bad idea (Yes, we have full fledged Gun Control), but this feature was not very much in
demand in other parts of the world. Until the advent of the RUGER Redhawk  and the CASULL  it was the only
revolver in 44 Magnum, that would stand up to prolonged use with full loads. The advent of the Redhawk was just
one big nail in their coffin and some time later the company quietly folded. Rumour has it, that something is being
produced under the Dan Wesson name (the usual left-overs re-started again). I wish them lots of luck. There is
competition from a lot of others and the RUGER Redhawks are so good, that there is hardly a need for any other 44
Revolver.

ROGAK Yes this thing existed! It was  the first "wonder-nine", holding 15rounds. It was commonly know as the
"jam-o-matic". It experienced minor problems with all internals parts and just never worked. The company soon went
dead. This pistol was made in Morton Grove. A short time after the ROGAK company going bust, Morton Grove had a
city ordinance prohibiting all firearms. Just coincidence?

STEYR The above mentioned Rogak "jam-o-matic" was warmed-up by Steyr and improved upon with an alloy
receiver. They tried to sell it to the military. Made by Steyr the "jam-o-matic" would work for a few rounds befor
stripping its barrel threads. In the exploded view (I like this phrase!) it was shown with the barrel backwards. Nobody
at Steyr ever noticed or cared! The thing is dead!

RUGER: Ruger is generally know for their revolvers. These have a reputation for being rugged and reasonably
accurate.
Ruger has been making a superb pistol in 22lr, the MkI, later the MkII in carbon steel and lately in stainless steel. This
is a fine pistol, the only worthwhile pistol from RUGER. The trigger is a bit rustic, but can be fixed easily to give a
superb trigger pull.
Rugers 9mm entry on the market I consider lousy, not worthy of this company.
Revolvers from RUGER are a bit rustic, but strudy and of good design. Tuning the triggers of RUGER revolvers is a
rather hopeless undertaking, escpecially so in the SUPER REDHAWK The geometry of the internal parts does not
allow any significant improvement.
Oddly enough the REDHAWK has a different trigger mechanism and can be fixed quite nicely.
It is accurate out of the box and it will stand up to the pounding dished out by the 44 Magnum for thousands of
rounds.
The Single Action Blackhawks are simple and straightforward designs and can be fixed.
The RUGER 10/22 is the most successfull 22lr autoloader in history. It woks just nicely. Generations of gunsmiths
have been building accurized version of the 10/22 and it has dawned on RUGER, that there is a demand for such
rifles. They are fun to shoot! The factory triggers are still unsatisfactory, but they can be tuned to give a safe trigger
pull of around 3lbs, crisp and clean. Lower pull weights are tricky; I do not mind full auto fire, but I want it selectively,
not by chance.
Long time ago there was a RUGER 10/44, a fine little rifle in 44 Magnum, discontinued for some reason or another.
Probaly the turnover was insufficient. This was one serious little rifle! Rumour has it, that it may be re-introduced, as
it seems in "improved" form. The jury has not yet retired for deliberation, but....
RUGER 77 A well made, safe and strong bolt action. They are better than their reputation!. Triggers are lousy!! and
certainly need some work done to them. Replace them with a good aftermarklet job. The plastic-spastic stocks are
useless on a hunting rifle. They might be suited for a percussion band, but not for hunting. Silence does help!
RUGER No.1 etc. Well made falling block single shot rifles. In their factory trim these rifles suffer from uneven
pressure of the fore arm on the barrel. There are ways and means to cure this inherent problem, but it does take
some work. In the calibres offered, these rifles are plenty strong, but they have their limitations, as some stupid
German gunsmith proved. He reamed it out to 460 Weatherby Magnum. After about 12 rnds the action just refused to
open! Nobody got hurt.

SMITH & WESSON: They are still in business!! In the last few years they have concentrated on their main
business and cleaned up their mess of assorted side shows. In the 70s and 80s they certainly got their foot in their
mouth on quite a few occasions; their "Eastfield" pump action shot gun was abysmal! In the old days a lot of
"export" quality was dumped on the market. Export in the firearms trade is a means of putting a significant terrain
feature (at least, that is what I consider the Atlantic Ocean to be) between yourself and warranty claims. Here in
Germany it was close to impossible to buy a new S&W without some or other major flaw. I have seen cross
threaded barrels, misaligned barrel threads, barrels drawn up  far beyond the proper index, bent frames etc.. Rotten
timing was the rule. So-called police distributors in the US were the only scource for a reasonable S&W. Did S&W
really split their production into 3 separate categories? Good stuff to the cops, reasonable stuff with a few lemons,
thrown in for good measure, to the domestic market and the scrap for "export" (see above)??
S&W's early pistols were not too good. The early M39s were quite nice, they still had steel receivers. Of course,
these were "improved" with alloy receivers. As the receiver takes up some forces in this design, it does not take
claire voyance to know the results. Same story for the M59, its fat bellied brother. Based on the steel version of the
M39 S&W built a very good target pistol in 38 Wadcutter, the M52.  A used one can still be a good buy.
The M39, especially with a steel receiver, is a nice pistol, but most people I know have stopped carrying them, as they
suffer from occasional failures to extract, due to the very small extractor hook.
Revolvers: Current S&W revolvers are as good as they were designed to be. In recent times I have not seen a
single one with serious defects and on all but very few the timing is OK. S&W's barrels were very good. In latest
production they are usually jug shaped inside! The double action mechanism is extremely easy to tune and then
they will have a delightfull DA pull. Despite sometimes shaky accuracy on recently produced S&W, they are still good
revolvers. The only exception is a S&W in 44 Magnum. It simply does not have enough beef to stand up to a lot of
use with full power loads. It is beautifull, but for serious shooting the RUGER is a lot better.  I predict S&W loosing a
lot of ground in 44s.
If you want to carry a revolver with a lot of 44 "overkill" and plan on shooting it only once in a while, then a S&W is
just fine.

S&W offers a few very fine Pistols in assorted calibres as "TARGET CHAMPIONS". These are very accurate , have
decent sights and good triggers. Above all, they work and they will not come apart from serious use. Extraction is
still a bit shaky.

PARDINI: These Italians make a fine target grade pistol in 45ACP and lesser calibres. Accurate, good sights and
a very good trigger.
They work with all sorts of ammunition.
The trigger is fully adjustable and, sadly enough, most shooters are too stupid to have anything on a pistol that they
can screw up! Read the instructions (RTFM!), they are simple and straightforward. If you cannot read, go and find
someone, who can! You may find the sear adjustment screw a bit too short. Replace it! It is a 3mm metric thread.

HÄMMERLI: Somewhat the sporting arm of SIG. Absolutely gorgeous free pistols in 22lr and special versions
of the K31 is what they used to be known for for decades. We always joke about the slow ways of the Swiss, but
Hämmerli is a company that is typically "Swiss" in all respects. They have invaded the more export oriented fields
with superbly made target pistols. Their 150/152 is the finest free pistol on the market. I have not used their latest
model Free Pistol yet, but it will probably be very, very good.
They used to make a P240 in 38 Wadcutter first and later in 32 S&W Long. The P240 undeservedly got a bad
reputation. The barrels would go kaputt!!
With some brands of commercial European Wadcutter ammunition , the bullets could occasionally leave the hollow
skirt sticking just inside the muzzle. The next bullet coming along would bulge the muzzle. If you can pick up one of
these wonderfull target pistols, feed them your reloads with cast (solid) wadcutters and these pistols will live
forever. In 32 S&W this problem has never been manifest. However, it suffers from the same inconsistent accuracy
problems associated with most 32 S&W Long target jobs. See "WALTHER".
Hämmerli's "plastic spastics" are very fine target pistols.

SIG: Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft
The pistol P210!! A fine pistol in 9mm Luger (there are even some specimens around in 30Luger!!), made to standards
the layman expects from a SWISS pistol. Occasionally some pistols developed minor cracks in the rear of the
receiver. They can be welded. These rare occurrences have now been cured, once and for all! The SIG P210 barrel is
sensitive to corrosion. If you want to shoot obscure cheapo ammunition through it (it may even say "non corrosive"
on the box), then make sure to clean your barrel. Otherwise you will wind up with some shoddy cavern instead of a
fine barrel.

ISU Target shooters please note, that the Swiss shoot to point of aim. The adjustment range ot the target sight is just
not sufficient for a 6 o'clock hold. The elevation screw, plunger and spring will just disappear. For a 6 o'clock hold
you need a lower front sight, available from Hämmerli, or you may file the existing sight.

SIG built one of the finest self loading rifles ever. The SIG AMT in 7,62 x 51. It was discontinued a long time ago; it
was just too good to gain any military acceptance.

SIG's entry in the bolt action rifle field is not convincing, at least in my opinion. I do not like the very small thread
diametre of the barrel stub onto which the locking shoulders are threaded. It may work in the M16, but in serious
hunting calibres, such as 300 WIN MAG, I have my doubts.

SIG SAUER: Belonged to SIG, used to be Sauer & Sohn. Now called SIG ARMS or so. I lost track..
They once built a superb Drilling in 12/12 - .30-06. It was marketed by COLT (of all people!) in the USA. An excellent
Drilling. Personally, I have no use for this typically German instrument.
The SIG/SAUER P220 is a good pistol and it is the current Swiss issue side arm. It works very well, otherwise the
Swiss would never have adopted it! It was never meant to be used as a target pistol, but, as a testimony to its quality,
it has won a few major events. I regard this tin can as being singularly ugly, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
For the cops and similar people SIG SAUER builds the P225 and its fat bellied brother P226 with various chop-job
variants of these. The German police version has an extremely narrow bore! These pistols are very accurate, out of
the machine rest. Due to the barrel camming down a bit early, you may find, that out of a box of 50 rounds there may
be one round missing on your target. Don't waste your time by looking for the impact on the paper, it went about 5
feet over the target! I have yet to meet a shooter, who can put the inherent accuracy of these pistols onto the target.
Handling is absolutely lousy! There are good aftermarket grips, adjustable sights etc. available for these pistols. The
triggers are a bit "military", but a few minor and simple ministrations, paired with the addition of a simple trigger stop,
will result in a very fine trigger. To no avail.
After haveing been extensively re-engineered, the receivers will still develop minor cracks, caused by vibration.
This pistol is a prime example of modern German firearms.

The very latest: The Sig Sauer 226 is now, after about 20 years!, being offered with a STEEL receiver. The alloy
frames, re-engineered, will still crack up.

VALMET: These people make agricultural machinery. Their tractors are fine.
For some obscure reason they once decided to build a nice looking version of the Kalshnikow in 308WIN. The
Russians tried this idea and rejected Michail Timofejwitsch's design as a basis for a serious rifle, adopting the
Dragunow instead.The Valmett was so erratic, that even German hunters cannot use it. Maybe it is OK for a moose a
zero range, but it certainly is no good for any reasonable use.

TIKKA: Rifles made by Tikka were imported and distributed in the US under the Ithaca name.
I can find nothing wrong with these rifles. However, some people have reported sudden loss of accuracy. I presume,
that these people just never cleaned the fouling out of their barrels. It is a very decent rifle. All Tikka rifles in 308 WIN
passing through my hands show exceptionally long forcing cones.

SAKO: Another one from up there. Both their older rifles and the newer Model 75 are fine rifles. Just like that.
Sako once built the Tri Ace, a good Target pistol.

VOERE: The Austrian VOERE builds fine rifles. They make a very nice autoloader in serious calibres. The Target
version of these is one of the finest and most accurate auto loading rifles around. Triggers are a bit "rustic", but a lot
better than most of the competition's.
VOERE made the only relevant 22lr. It was called the ALL AMERICAN 180. Full auto only, drum mag holding 177 rnds.
At the awesome rate of fire of somewhere around 2,000/minute it made a perfectly controleable longe range
chainsaw. Rumour has it, that some more or less clandestine outfit from a country in the Middle East used it in
Entebbe. I have seen pictures of the victims! Personally, I have only used it to saw down little trees!.

VOERE: This outfit was VOERE from Vöhrenbach/Germany.
They made one of the best bolt action rifles in history. The were sold in the USA under the Kleinguenter brand as
K14 or K15.  Fine rifles , even for the biggest of magnums.
Get one, if you can find it second hand. Rebarreling to a calibre of your choice is a snap. It will accept any barrel
threaded for a M98 Mauser, just like that.
These people were conned into bankcrupcy by their export manager, who had previously accomplished the same
feat with KRICO. He then moved on to MAUSER and did his thing there. Mauser (Firearms) closed down and the
brand name was sold!
 

WALTHER: Walther is known to shooters for milestones such as the PP/PPK and the P38. These were good
pistols, accurate and well made. Certainly up to the job they were designed to do. After WWII the Walther P38 was
improved with an alloy receiver, probably making it the first ever "throw-away item" in the firearms business.
INTERARMS marketed good versions of the PP family in the US

In more recent times Walther's great feat was the introduction of the GSP: The first modern target pistol in 22lr. It is
very forgiving and reasonably accurate. The trigger is not what it should be. Even after-market special triggers (sold
at an outrageous price!!) cannot come anywhere near to what a target trigger should be.
Even in 32 S&W Long this GSP will work. However, here the stupidity of the people responsible at Walther becomes
evident. This pistol was designed to shoot a 100grs hollow based wadcutter. Out of the short barrel this bullet will
attain about 700ft/sec. The very slow rate of twist(1in18") can only marginally stabilize this long bullet at these
speeds (rpm). The result is, that some lots of ammunition may shoot reasonably well, the next batch, from the same
manufacturer!!!, may throw the shots all over the target. Use short cast bullets from NOBS Products and you will
nevermore have any accuracy problems.

A lovely little pistol: The Walther TPH. Discontinued, of course!
A nice and very accurate pocket pistol in 22lr or 25ACP. The 22lr version, of course, is the better buy. Cheap to feed
and unbelieveably accurate. The pistol usually needs High Speed 22s to work 100%. It must be kept clean. If you can
pick up a used one at a reasonable price, buy it. The reason for this pistol being so finnecky is, that a surprising
number of models in 22lr were delivered with the 25CAP recoil spring installed! Fit the correct spring and it works!
It is fun to shoot and I would rather have a 22lr in my pocket, than a big 45 at home.
First rule in a gunfight: Have a gun!

The latest creation of Walther's is the P99. A lousy German/Japanese effort at producing a "modern" pistol.

Surprisingly enough the P88 is a reasonable piece of kit. A friend of mine has fired 70.000rnds through his without a
hitch. Meant as a replacement for the P38/P1 it turns out to be a bit prone to lost parts on field stripping. Not the thing
you want on a fighting iron.

There once was a Walther WA2000. A somewhat futuristic autoloading rifle, offered in 7,62 and in 300 WIN Mag.
The best thing to it was the construction of the bi-pod. The rifle does not stand on top of the bi-pod, but it hangs in
there. No problems getting it level!! no matter how un-even the floor may be. Getting good groups with this rifle was
not easy (impossible?); the trigger was lousy and lock time was gigantic. You pulled the trigger and waited for
something to happen.

Walther was sold lock stock and barrel to the Japanese. (UMAREK).
Sorry, the ENOLA GAY is in the museum. BOCK's CAR is at the USAF Museum.

MAUSER
Mauser is no more! Flat, bust, finished!
This company brought the world the first working, safe Pistol. The famous C96, sometimes called the
BROOMHANDLE and the Mauser M98 rifle.
Some bits and pieces were sold to Blaser and some left over spare parts to Gustav Jehn.
There is some rumour, that the name may be refloated.

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