Try a range day with a .40S&W chambered compact. My Firestar is manageable only because the thing masses just shy of a kilogram when loaded. Even with that mass, it is still a tad “whippy.”
Meh; I have a Sig P239 in .40 S&W, and while the 135 grain is a bit snappy it is about the same as firing 115 g 9mm +P+ loads in the same platform. I find shooting the heavier 180 grain loads in .40 S&W is quite manageable; similar experience with the Kahr. Note that the pistol has a heavy slide milled out of stainless bar stock, so the weight helps absorb the recoil and slow down the slide, and Sig Sauer wisely didn’t trying to make the barrel any shorter. I can put 200-300 rounds through that pistol in a range session without feeling like somebody beat my hand and wrist with a hammer.
By comparison, shooting one of micro-compact 9mm P even with plain 124 grain ball ammo is punishing and from what I’ve seen they aren’t that reliable with the hotter ammo, likely because of how little mass the slide has and notwithstanding that you are probably blowing a lot of that extra energy out the muzzle in uncombusted powder. The 10mm Auto, however, is a beast in full power loads. I’ve fired it in a full-sized aluminum framed 3rd Gen Smith & Wesson and I can see why the FBI gave up on having agents carry it in a compact version of the pistol. That is basically a .41 Magnum in an autopistol round and really demands a full-sized, all steel pistol to manage it.
For a compact carry pistol the .30 Super Carry looks interesting but I’m not convinced it is a big improvement other than a couple of rounds of magazine capacity, and frankly if you’re relying on some pocket pistol for defense you should really be fighting your way to an exit or a bigger gun.
Stranger
The novels had that too, Q sneering at the Baretta as being too light and nearly getting him killed in From Russia with Love. Unlike the movies, they were 5th and 6th in the series.
Yeah, Bond was in Jamaica to recover and recuperate from almost getting croaked in From Russia With Love. They were out of order.
It’s been a long time since I read the novels. ISTR Bond liking a Colt or Smith & Wesson revolver. Do you recall? Do you recall the calibre?
Ditto, 60 years ago. I had to consult Wiki to be sure the switch was in Dr. No, the novel as I remembered.
I don’t recall any preferences for American-made pistols – it would sound more like Felix Liter.
Smith & Wesson Centennial Airweight. First shows up in Dr. No. .38cal. Bond didn’t especially like it so much as Major Boothroyd forced him to use it “for more long-range work.”
Thanks, silenus! Having grown up on the movies, the weapon in the book rattled my perception of reality.
Major Boothroyd’s definition of “long-range work” must not be longer than about 30 feet because that is about the working distance for a J-frame snubbie.
Stranger
.32 ACP in semiautomatic pistols is completely different and not interchangeable with revolver cartridges .32 Colt/Long Colt or .32 S&W (Short) or .32 S&W Long.
Link’s not working for me, but .22 as a rimmed cartridge is inherently less reliable in semiautos, which can be mitigated with careful loading. In revolvers even quality varies and some just suck, looking at you, Remington. Of course .25 ACP was mostly made in two categories: WWI era pocket pistols, and shitty zinc “Saturday Night Specials” later.
But of course. After all, Bond is an assassin.
An Assassin must always act with style. Without style, he’s just an expensive thug. They must always dress stylishly in black (which, although not the best colour for being unseen at night, is the correct colour for being an Assassin) and must always seem vaguely bored and, if possible, slightly foreign.
Stranger
I was hoping someone would mention this.
Here’s a good brief description and image of this issue. In revolvers, the rims aren’t touching each other so it’s not an issue.
I have a particularly stupid question on this, as my exposure to guns of any kind is minimal.
In my understanding, there are two types of rounds (roughly, there may be more). One is like standard revolver rounds, where the bullet and the casing are close to the same diameter.
The other is “necked” with the cartridge being larger in diameter than the bullet. Handguns tend to use the former, rifles (and artillery) the latter.
I have a metal ammo box marked 7.62 x 39, bought empty, but conforms to what I remember from the Rhodesian “bush war” in the 1970’s - though I was only born in '76, my memory is hazy. I am fairly sure that this box used to house AK-47 rounds, which certainly have a “neck”.
If I describe a gun that takes 9mm or .44 or whatever is that the diameter of the bullet or the cartridge?
I get that some ammunition is also described in terms of the length of the cartridge (presumably including the bullet)
Diameter of the bullet. Sorta. Earlier in the thread people talked about the nominal diameters of bullets. 9x19 Parabellum and 9x18 Makarov are both “9mm,” but the bullets aren’t interchangeable. The 9x18 cartridge is shorter and the bullet is a fraction larger in diameter.
Yeah, nominally it’s supposed to be the diameter of the bullet, but often it is actually the diameter of the lands in the barrel bore through which it travels (e.g. 7.62mm NATO or 7.62mm M43 (Kalashnikov) both refer to 7.62mm land diameter, the actual bullet widest dimension is 7.8).
As mentioned you get branding issues and legacy history whereby Maker A named theirs rounding down and Maker B named theirs rounding up and Government X made it even more confusing by just saying “or equivalent” in the order… as well as deliberately different namings in order to distinguish types of round e.g. the .357 Magnum and .38 Special are the same diameter but you most definitely want to identify them as very different things in actual use.
When you do the length designation as in 9x19mm or 5.56x45mm it is usualy bullet caliber first, case length second.
With weird exceptions like the .45-70 Government, which is caliber of bullet and powder load (70 grains of black powder.)
Or other weird exceptions like the .30-06, which is the caliber of the bullet and the year it was introduced (1906).
And .38 Smith and Wesson is also quite different, and closer to a true .38,
being .361. My first duty gun was a S&W .38 S&W revolver, with a beautiful deep blue, given to me by a buddy. I gave it back soon after when I got my own. .38 S&W being kinda puny.
Which was designed for the M1903 Springfield Rifle, introduced in 1903. Apparently they just stood around admiring the rifle for 3 years until the ammo became available.
Ok, technically there was a .30-03 round which was tweaked a bit and became the .30-06 round, but it is weird that the rifle and the bullet that was designed with it have different dates.