D.E. Watters

The Belated Commercial Acceptance of the .223 Remington Cartridge

Gunwriters established the conventional wisdom that although the 5.56mm was the US military standard, the .223 Remington couldn’t possibly be as accurate as the .222 Remington, nor offer any ballistic advantages over the .222 Remington Magnum.

Colt Sleeved Barrel Experiment

Alas, I don’t have access to the Colt letter on this experimental project. It appears to be Lawman Mark V fitted with a Dan Wesson-style sleeved barrel. The great irony here is the latter system was patented by a former Colt employee, Karl R. Lewis, who also helped design the original Colt Mark III revolverContinue reading “Colt Sleeved Barrel Experiment”

Geco Action Safety Family Data Dump

Some of you may remember the old “Blitz Action Trauma” or BAT, imported by Phil Engeldrum. Here is a data dump on the original Geco Action Safety and its modern offspring.

A Brief History of FBI Semiauto Pistols

After the Miami/Dade Shootout of April 11, 1986, the FBI was not completely satisfied with the commercially available pistols in 9x19mm and .45 Auto.

Magmatics – The Magnum Semi-Auto Pistols

Today, we are going to provide a data dump regarding Magnum caliber semi-automatic pistols.

The Tragic Tale of the CP 9x23mm Super

In the comments to my previous article on the .356 TSW, Shawn mentioned that I should revisit his older article on the 9x23mm Winchester. And oh, what a twisted tale that was. We have to go back to early 1990s when the high capacity, Major Power Factor 9mm pistols were taking over USPSA competition. First,Continue reading “The Tragic Tale of the CP 9x23mm Super”

A History of Speedloaders

Revolver speedloaders appeared not long after the first top-break and swing-open cylinder revolvers hit the market in the late 19th Century. Here is their history.

Garand and the SPIW Concept #1

Mythbusting time: This is NOT the Garand T31!

ASP “SWT” Ruger Revolver Conversion

For Forty-Four Friday, I thought that I’d mention the rare Armament Systems & Procedures (ASP) .44 Special conversions of Ruger Service Six and Speed Six revolvers. Given that they lost one round in cylinder capacity after the conversion, one wag dubbed them the “Fast Five.” Supposedly, only 96 of these conversions were completed, with theContinue reading “ASP “SWT” Ruger Revolver Conversion”

Remington Golden Saber Data Dump

By 1992, it seemed that everyone in the cartridge business had a premium hollowpoint…except for Remington. While their scalloped semi-jacketed hollowpoints were looked on fondly for revolver cartridges, Remington’s existing JHP for autopistol cartridges were best known for feed reliability and little else. The FBI had briefly approved their 185-grain JHP in .45 Auto inContinue reading “Remington Golden Saber Data Dump”