Out of the Closet – H&R 926 “Defender”

H&R?? – it sure looks like Schofield !! or a top break Smith !! Nope – it’s not a 100 plus years old revolver – but produced in 1978 in a real power house cartridge – .38 S&W – LMAO!

38 S&W on the left – 38 special on the right

H&R was still producing top break revolvers when they sold out to Marlin Firearms in 2000, which is pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. But they worked – were simpler ( and cheaper ) to produce – and within strength limitations – they worked.

This particular example is chambered in 38 S&W – which was originally produced in 1877 as a black powder cartridge and is still being used today in India. There are only 3 or 4 companies still making the cartridge and it is loaded on the light side – 146 grain bullet @ 689 fps – the reasoning behind that being that there are a lot of old revolvers out there still today and the condition on a lot of them – well let’s just be charitable and class them as marginal . . . The 38 S&W was used by the British military loaded with a 200 grain bullet in their revolvers until the 1960’s. ( the old wheel guns guns were phased out in favor of Hi-Powers chambered in 9×19 – which is another story for another time ) It was called 38/200 – which in the US we would think 38 caliber bullet over 200 grains of black powder ( I imagine that would move along at a pretty good velocity – LOL ) but the British used at as a designation for bullet weight – different strokes different folks . . .

I hope to work up some reloads for it – not so much to improve performance but to defray cost – damn stuff is about 80 cents a round!!

All that aside – at just a touch over 27 ounces it it a real soft shooting revolver . . .

Size wise it is pretty much a full size revolver . . .

With a front sight adjustable for elevation – the sight is pinned at the rear and the screw has a lobe on it – think camshaft – it’s easy to adjust . . .

The rear sight is adjustable for windage – the sight rides in a slot and there is a screw on each side to secure it – just check those once in a while to make sure they are snug . . .

Disassembly for cleaning is a snap . . .

Just push in on the tab and slide the cylinder off . . .

You can get to the cylinder face and clean the barrel from the force cone end – disassembly to this point with no tools!

And talk about nice bore condition . . .

Looking “out” the muzzle . . .

Looking towards the force cone – tiny traces of lead – not bad at all . . .

And about midway through . . .

Very good condition – either not shot much or kept clean – or both – which ever it is I’m glad as it makes for a really nice find . . .

These are still common enough that they are not really “collectible” per say – H&R produced a tremendous number of them during WW2 – Smith & Wesson and Colt were building for direct contracts and did not have any room to spare for stateside “stuff” – the biggest demand for these were from industry security forces guarding the “means of production” and they were built by the thousands – getting handed from officer to officer at shift changes – lots of holster wear. There is a niche group of collectors that look for the various plant/industry markings on the ones utilized for those purposes – folks will collect just about anything . . .

Harrington & Richardson produced a variety of firearms over the years – and for the most part a simple premise was followed – easy to shoot – rugged – simple to maintain – a solid product performance level for the money – or simply put – value. So many of today’s firearms are way more blingy or glitzy than they need to be . . . Folks guns are simply tools . . . when you start adding lasers and flashlights and radar and sonar and the GPS systems and microwave ovens and ice makers to them. . . Well you get the idea – if it does not add to functionality what are you hanging it on the gun for?? The vast ( and I emphasize VAST ) majority of money that people spend doing things to their firearms would be better spent on training – and PRACTICE . . . Damn it Bruce! – I knew you were going to say that P word again!!!!

What can I say . . . Have YOU been to the range this week ??

What’s in YOUR closet?

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Friday Music – #1 Songs Week of July 4th -Part 3

2000 . . .

2001 . . .

2002 . . .

2003 . . .

2004 . . .

2005 . . .

2006 . . .

2007 . . .

2008 . . .

2009 . . .

2010 . . .

2011 . . .

2012 . . .

2013 . . .

2014 . . .

2015 . . .

2016 . . .

2017 . . .

2018 . . .

2019 . . .

2020 . . .

What were you listening to on your favorite July 4th ??

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Out of the Closet – H&R 922

An oldie but Goodie – Manufactured in 1950 . . .

It really was not in bad shape as found – cleaned it thoroughly – slathered CLP on it – let it set for a week – then re-cleaned – came out nice . . . ( ran the bore scope down the barrel but didn’t grab any pics – but the bore is real clean )

6 1/2 inch barrel ( barrel length is measured from the force cone ) – target grips and front sight . . .

Enough weight that there is virtually no recoil – it’s a .22 – what are you expecting??

The neatest part – it has the plastic grips and they are not all beat up – most had wood grips and the ones with plastic grips intact are hard to find – not rare by any stretch and the wood target grip models are more numerous – it’s just fun to find one with the plastic grips intact . . .

A good look at the “target” model front sight . . .

And the precision rear sight – LMAO !! – actually at arms length the notch rear and front blade work good together . . .

And in favor of keeping costs down – no loading gate – less steps to produce the pistol . . .

When the cylinder is indexed the chamber are off set from the loading gate . . .

Double action trigger pull is somewhere between 14 lbs and OMG !! – Single action is a decent break at just over 4 lbs . . .

Take down is simple as can be – push the little lever and pull the pin and out drops the cylinder . . .

In keeping with the style of the times – it’s far easier and cheaper to replace a center “bushing” ( not an extractor on this model ) than the entire cylinder when worn . . .

And if you get a stubborn case that won’t “fall” out – the cylinder pin can be used to push it out – simple as it gets . . .

Can hardly wait to shoot it – the hardest part will be finding the right brand and bullet weight that it likes – no doubt in my mind the old darling will achieve “minute of bunny rabbit” accuracy at 25 plus yards – the burning question is can I ??

Folks – check your closets – there a gazillion or so nice old guns out there – all looking for a little bit of TLC . . .

What’s in YOUR closet??

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

Range Stuff – Odds & Ends

Actually remembered to get a couple of pics . . .

Indoor stuff at Inner10 . . .

My blushing bride from 7 yards with the Colt CCS 9mm . . .

She is doing good with center of mass – the transition work – not so good – gonna start working on transitions more – she is moving the pistol and her sight picture at the same time which over runs the target – then she has to reacquire the sight/target picture and that lends itself to misses – we will start this week with moving the eyes to the target “picture” then moving the pistol – once you do it enough times it is much faster and more accurate – in practice there is virtually no lag between target pic and then target/sight pic and firing – but it takes practice . . . Damn Bruce – there you go with that P word again!!

Got some rapid fire time with both snubbys – NO – NOT dual wielding – empty one and drop it the grab the other and empty it – this is 30 rounds @ 7 yards rapid fire . . . Went upper left – upper right – lower right -lower left then center . . .

Yeah I know that’s 31 holes – I had one round left with me – dumped it on the lower left – I really am not noticing a big difference between the Ergo Grips and the factory grips with 125 grain +p stuff – but running 158 grain +p ammo there is a world of difference – I mean do you want to use your hand to drive home with difference!!

Ergo Grips on top – factory grips on the bottom . . .

And not to upset the snowflakes out there – yes both are loaded – I took them out of my pockets to take the pic !! ( Really?? Not upset someone ?? Just who in the Hell do you think you are fooling Bruce ?? ) We all know you well enough to know that you’re not happy unless you upset at least one person every day !! . . . Yeah – about that upset one snowflake a day thing – I checked the tally sheets and I am roughly 162 years ahead on that – one a day ?? What the hell ?? – those are amateur numbers . . .

The Ergo Grips are really cool on a couple of points – especially when working with newer shooters – they force your wrist to “lock” -if everything else is “lined up” – that variable is eliminated – they also do a GREAT job of mitigating recoil – it sometimes takes a new shooter a while to realize that nothing is broken or damaged and Ergo Grips help with that quite a bit . . .

Chicken ranch stuff – nope ( it is kind of a mess as the range is going through a revamp at this time ) – there is a huge pile of stuff about from about 4 yards to 10 yards and about 20 feet wide – trying to get the mess out of the way and redo the back stop – the hard part is getting everyone’s schedules to overlap – hopefully get that done one first fine week and get some more “stuff” posted . . .

Have Fun! ( some people actually get upset if they see someone enjoying themselves )

Run the Gun! ( PRACTICE – PRACTICE – PRACTICE ) ( DAMN – that P word again )

and remember . . .

Fish Heads are Cheap!! ( and for those of you who have inquired – Fuck Em if they can’t take a joke – Fuck Em if they can take a joke – But whatever YOU do – Fuck Em !! – Fuck Em and feed Em fish heads – Why Fish Heads?? ‘Cause Fish Heads are Cheap!! )

and now you know . . .