Step into the twilight zone of calibers

[misunderstood]

Hey everyone. Not been reading past couple days then first thread got me thinking. It was about rock island and the 22 tcm. I shoot the popular calibers like 45 acp, 9 luger, 556 etc etc. Now what i am asking what weird or unusual calibers you shoot? Does it have a purpose and why did you choose it? Just curious. Bet some of you have some i haven't heard of.

 

[MADnMO]

One of my favorite is the 7.62x25 Tokarev. I have a CZ52 and a Yugo M57 that shoot this round. 1600 FPS out of a hand gun that spits fire and ejects the shell have way across the range.

 

[S&W645]

.32-20 WCF in a Colt Police Positive Special that is 93 years old. Rifle cartridge in a revolver. Makes a whole different sound compared to my 85 YO Colt Police Positive in .32 Colt Police CTG/.32 S&W Long.

 

[misunderstood]

Cool. Never heard of the 32-20.

 

[dustoffuh1]

Not sure if its "unusual" or not, but it is hard to find sometimes. .30 carbine for my Ruger Blackhawk.

 

[werky123]

The most unusual round I shoot is the 7.62x38r nagant gass seal, in my 1895 nagant revolver. I use this as a pack gun and occasional plinker, and as soon as I start hand loading for it I will be making shotshells. I chose this gun and the cartridge with it because it was inexpesive ($130 for the gun) and the full military loads(108gr @ 1100fps) match or slightly exceed standard 38special (depending on the load and who you ask). By the by, The commercial loads are way underpowered(98 gr @ 650-750 fps). I wanted more punch than a 22 revolver, and you can load shot in these casings without using those annoying plastic capsules. Yes it's a little slow to reload, but there is no real recoil and it feels great in the hand. As a pack gun, the heavy trigger means you less likely to have an AD if you need to use it and stumble on the trail. And if i am real careful and haven't had any caffeen, I can keep 1 inch groups at 25 yards single action and 5 inch double action, though they go up to 2-3 inch groups with the slower commercial stuff. Um, if you haven't shot one, double action pull is 20-25 pounds, single is a very crisp break at 8-12 pounds depending on the gun.

 

[MADnMO]

20-25LBS? WOW I am going to have to go home and put a gauge on mine as I don't think they are anywhere close to that.

The most unusual round I shoot is the 7.62x38r nagant gass seal, in my 1895 nagant revolver. I use this as a pack gun and occasional plinker, and as soon as I start hand loading for it I will be making shotshells. I chose this gun and the cartridge with it because it was inexpesive ($130 for the gun) and the full military loads(108gr @ 1100fps) match or slightly exceed standard 38special (depending on the load and who you ask). By the by, The commercial loads are way underpowered(98 gr @ 650-750 fps). I wanted more punch than a 22 revolver, and you can load shot in these casings without using those annoying plastic capsules. Yes it's a little slow to reload, but there is no real recoil and it feels great in the hand. As a pack gun, the heavy trigger means you less likely to have an AD if you need to use it and stumble on the trail. And if i am real careful and haven't had any caffeen, I can keep 1 inch groups at 25 yards single action and 5 inch double action, though they go up to 2-3 inch groups with the slower commercial stuff. Um, if you haven't shot one, double action pull is 20-25 pounds, single is a very crisp break at 8-12 pounds depending on the gun.

 

[UATKP]

I never shot it, nor had I even heard of it before Saturday. There was a .204 caliber rifle for sale at an auction. Just blew my mind when I heard the caliber.

 

[carracer]

.204 Ruger?

13mm Gyrojet. Nearly bought one before they were outlawed. I guess it doesn't count as it isn't one I am currently shooting.

 

[S&W645]

20-25LBS? WOW I am going to have to go home and put a gauge on mine as I don't think they are anywhere close to that.

I have also seen that figure quoted before. Now just waiting for a Nagant pistol to show up reasonably priced.

 

[S&W645]

Cool. Never heard of the 32-20.

Some say it is the first Magnum cartridge. Article on them is at [Guest Post] .32-20 WCF: The First ?Magnum? Pistol Cartridge? | The Firearm Blog
A .32 S&W Long with bullet is the same height as the casing for the .32-20 WCF. Both use the same size bullets. Here are both rounds side by side. .38 SPL on left, .32-20 WCF, .32 S&W Long, .22 LR.Link Removed

 

[MADnMO]

Just put a gauge on the 3 that I have and all were between 12 and 14 LBS on double action. Between 7 and 9 LBS on single action.

Am I lucky? What gives?

I have also seen that figure quoted before. Now just waiting for a Nagant pistol to show up reasonably priced.

 

[S&W645]

Just put a gauge on the 3 that I have and all were between 12 and 14 LBS on double action. Between 7 and 9 LBS on single action.

Am I lucky? What gives?

They may have had trigger jobs somewhere along the way. According to some, factory specs were 20# DA and 12-13# on SA.

The downside of this design is that the pistol has a 13 lb. single action trigger pull (trigger's only function is to release the hammer, the hammer must be manually cocked each time) and a 20 lb. double action trigger pull (trigger is responsible for both cocking and releasing the hammer in one motion).

The Nagant M1895 can also shoot resized and reloaded .32-20 WCF casings.

 

[S&W645]

And for some interesting reading on how to lighten the trigger pull, see Surplusrifle Forum ? View topic - How to adjust the trigger pull of the 1895 Nagant revolver Seems even the Russians did it.

 

[escapedthematrix]

My grandfather had an old .32 S&W Long CTG hand ejector model that I inherited. Lots of these around but I guess it is somewhat odd due to not being very popular this century.

 

[revjen45]

1) Not sure if its "unusual" or not, but it is hard to find sometimes. .30 carbine for my Ruger Blackhawk.

I have never shot a gun with a more vicious muzzle blast than that gun/cal combo (painful thru 2 layers of hearing protection). Also found that rounds that functioned in the carbine showed excessive pressure signs in the revolver, and loads that ejected easily from the revolver short-stroked in the carbine. Anybody else observed this?

2) Love me some .30 Tok. Not weird at all.

 

[werky123]

My poor old trigger pull gauge only goes 8lbs, and it doesnt go high enough. Other than that the heaviest gauge I have is a fishing scale that goes to 20 lbs. After repurposing it (I.e bending the hook straitish and padding it with rubber tape) my 1895 nagant breaks at about 9 lbs single action, and exceeds the scales 20 lb max on double action, feels pretty close to 25 lbs. After some practice dry fire with empties, every other gun I own, including my other revolvers, feel like the trigger pulls are nothing. As for pricing, I got mine at cabelas with a $20 off coupon, usually they and gander mountain have them for $150. Still a good deal, though they may show up in the used counter at your local gun shop or show for less.

 

[jcreek]

Not really into all the older guns and obsolete or obscure calibers. Love to look at them and learn from them but I prefer to shoot and practice with modern guns that are practical today.

My father-in-law had an old .30 Remington, pump-action carbine ranch rifle that got from his father-in-law that was pretty cool. Never shot it because like me he's into newer guns so he never felt like custom ordering ammo for it. Looked awesome though. The tube magazine was twisted into a slight spiral. Never clicked with me why that was until the dealer he sold it to explained that the .30 Rem was a Spitzer round. The spiral made the rounds sit off centered from each other so the rounds wouldn't set each other off if dropped. Old solution to still common problem. The predecessor to the soft-polymer-tipped rounds used in tube mag. carbines today.

 

[wolf_fire]

When my brother-in-law passed away, he willed to me his lever action rifle. It shoots true and was hitting steel target 100 yds away with the open sights. It is chambered in .38-55. It was the first time I had heard of that caliber.

It's a beautiful long gun and I only shot it on the 1 year anniversary of his death. Today it is highly polished and in a glass case in my living room.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

I'm told the .38-55 still has a following in places like the Maine woods, in deer season.
I think it was the original caliber for the Model 1894.
I seem to recall there are three rounds, large/medium/small, that have almost the same trajectories.
The .45-70 is the big one, .38-55 the middle one, and .32-40 the small one.

I guess my "odd" one is 38-40. All these years of avoiding the ".40 Short & Weak" as JD Jones calls it (I'm a .45 ACP guy), and I end up with a "forty" that has almost the same exterior ballistics. Yes, it's a .40 caliber. This particular old round is written "backward." I guess someone didn't want to call it .40-38, but it's a .44-40 that was necked down to .40 and loaded with 38 grains of black powder.

I've always had a soft spot for the Model 1892, and I found a fair deal on a nice rifle at a time when I had a few bucks. It turned out to be a .38-40 instead of .44-40, but it's mine now. This slick old rifle is fun to shoot, virtually recoil free, and "takes you back." I suppose a Kel-tec Sub 2000 in .40 would be more Tacti-cool, but this hundred year old rifle is still functional and would do fine at defending the homestead.

Now I am looking for one more bullet mold and G-H sizer, though.... :wink: