I have some handguns for specific purposes. I have a long-barreled .44 Magnum for hunting. I have a number of smaller guns for concealed-carry, and some just for recreational target shooting. Most of them aren’t quite as specialized as my Taurus Model 415 .41 magnum. That’s my, ‘Peeing-in-the-woods-oh-crap-is-that-a-bear?!’ gun.

There isn’t much chance I’m going to run into a dangerous animal in the woods while hunting, but it could happen. It makes sense to have a carry gun; something powerful enough to deal with an irritable or inquisitive Black Bear.

To be clear, this is not a ‘hunting handgun,’ it’s a sidearm to carry while hunting, just in case. IN Washington state a handgun used to hunt big game must have at least a 4″ barrel, so this one is right out of the running.

So, relatively small, only slightly larger and heavier than a S&W K-frame but firing a very powerful cartridge. Easy to carry, doesn’t get in the way too much… but it kicks hard. The stock grips do a pretty good job of making the recoil tolerable, but they are a bit ‘sticky,’ tending to grab clothing, and the squishiness of them isn’t ideal for control in rapid-fire. I made a set of custom grips, and while they impart excellent control they are painful with full-power loads. That’s a compromise I can live with; I mean, it’s not like I am going to care if I need to use it. But if I could come up with something better…

A couple of years ago a friend gave me a set of grips for a large-frame revolver for Christmas. Very fancy, with black enamel and mother-of-pearl inlays. I have a large hand, so these worked out nicely. Some time later I sold that gun, but I kept the grips. I mean, I was bound to get another gun they fit sooner or later.

I ran across those grips last night and thought, ‘I wonder…’ The thing is the Taurus is based on their Tracker revolvers, meaning it has a non-ergonomic grip-frame; one piece grips are slipped on over the frame and secured with a screw at the bottom of the grip. So they might fit, but they’d need some adaptation to secure them.

The solution was pretty simple; I cut some wood pieces and glued them into the grips to properly surround and secure the tang.

So, quite a good fit and provides a really nice grip. But it seemed out of place against the matte stainless finish of the gun. OK, that’s easy enough to solve; some buffing, some 3000-grit sandpaper and Flitz metal polish and the now-shiny gun looks much better with the grips.

So, How’s it Shoot?

Better than I do, but that’s not unusual. The large grips have done the trick; while recoil with full-power loads was not what I would call pleasant it wasn’t bad, and with .41 Special loads (210gr. LSWC @ 900 fps.) it was downright tame. I mean, relatively speaking. This gun consistently shoots high and right; I’m likely to modify the sights.

OK, But… Why?

Not many people will bother to work on a Taurus, and the reason is simple; they can be an iffy proposition. Quality control on Taurus has been… let’s call it whimsical. Generally the Model 85s are consistently good, and some of their new semi-auto pistols are well regarded. Others are catch-as-can; if you get a bad one it’s bad. If you get a good one it can be very good indeed. This irregularity has caused people to regard them, somewhat unfairly, as junk.

This is a good one. But leaving that aside the question remains; why spiff up a working gun like this? My response is, why not? Why shouldn’t I have a ‘fancy’ gun as a sidearm for hunting? I’m not stalking perps through dark alleys; it doesn’t matter if the gun is reflective or has fancy grips. If the gun is holstered the shiny bits are covered; if I need it the shininess is irrelevant.

Anyway, it’s my gun, it’s cool and I like it. Good enough.

Michael Tinker Pearce, 18 January 21

The other day I picked up some .22 Hornet brass intending to make some .251 TCR cartridges. On my way out of Pinto’s Guns Chris asked, “Going to make some Velodog ammo?”

“Nah,” I responded. “Going to make some .251 TCR.”

He nodded, I left and went home. When I got there I thought about it. Making Velodog cartridges from tube and turned down .25 ACP cartridge bases is a bloody lot of work and the results are not really optimal; the tube is just a bit to thick. How would I go about making .22 Hornet into 5.5mm Velodog?

First I need to straighten the cartridge. It needs to be approximately 5.7mm outside diameter. It occurred to me to try my 5.56mm sizing die. I mounted my .357″ ram, screwed the die into the press and had a go. The result wasn’t bad, but the ram would only go so far into the die. OK, I needed a narrower ram to mount in the press.

I grabbed some 1/2″ round brass stock, chucked it up into the lathe and got to work. I used brass because I wanted the manufacture to be quick so I would have more time to refine the design. I put a nub on the face to sit in the primer-pocket to keep the case centered. I tried it in the press and the results were good. I have to remove the case by inserting a rod through the top of the die and tapping it out. As expected it left a fat area around the base of the cartridge next to the rim.

So now I had a mostly .22 caliber cartridge. I got a .224″ rod and mounted it in the lathe, slipped the cartridge on to it and pinned it in place with the live center in the primer pocket. I carefully cut away the thick ring of material in front of the rim, then turned the rim down to approximately .300″. I did fifteen cartridges this way.

I used a divider to mark the overall length of 1.15″, then cut the cases off with a cut-off wheel in the Foredom tool. After deburring it was time to load a cartridge… umm, OK; how?

The first problem is priming the case. I don’t have a shell-holder that will work with the reduced rim. In the end I pressed the primer in place with my thumb and seated it with a wooden dowel and a soft-hammer.

OK, load data… uh… there doesn’t seem to be any. I found a forum post where someone had opened an old case and it contained 1.7gr. of powder of an unknown type. OK, Unique was actually around when this cartridge was in common use. I figured I’d try 1.5 grains of Unique. Bullet? Easy-Peasy- I pulled bullets from .22 LR cases. These bullets are nominally 40gr., but they actually weigh .38gr. Pretty close to the 34gr. weight of the original jacketed bullets used in the cartridge.

I don’t have reloading dies for 5.5mm Velo Dog, and the only other dies that work are .22 CCM… which I also don’t have. So I simply pushed the bullet in against the workbench until it was fully seated, and it was too tight to remove or twist. Seemed good enough, and it fit in the chamber. Time to try it. OK, it worked. it went bang and the bullet sank into the gel. I don’t have a velocity for it; the Chronograph has gone wonky because the illumination on one end has gone out. I’ll need to replace some parts. I loaded four more cartridges and fired them into the gel. Average penetration for three shots was 7-1/2″, and one shot fell far short at about 6″. All the bullets tumbled on impact and came to rest base-forward.

All the tracks indicate the bullets were traveling straight on impact. A recovered bullet shows clear rifling marks, so it appears they were stabilized in the bore.

Ignition was inconsistent; two of four cartridges required multiple strikes before they fired. Federal primers are relatively soft, so I attribute this to the gun rather than the ammunition. Upon examination the un-sprung floating firing pin seems rather short; if I were planning on firing this gun regularly I might address that. I don’t expect to, so likely I’ll just leave it alone.

I think I will spring for the .22 CCM reloading dies though; the Velodog’s younger sibling intrigues me. I might have to chamber a gun for it and experiment.

Michael Tinker Pearce, 6 January 2021

I got started on this tumbling bullet thing by considering what could be done to improve the performance of bullets from short-barrel guns with relatively low velocity. That’s yielded some interesting results, and this week I’ll be sending some bullets to a fellow to test on feral hog carcasses.

Next .38 testing for me will be the 158gr. bullets through the 1-3/4″ barrel of my custom Taurus Model 85, but I need to recast the block again to get good photos of the wound-tracks.

As regular readers will know I also tested a bullet in .32 S&W Long, again with interesting results, and I got to thinking, ‘What other rounds have trouble getting enough penetration with expanding bullets?’ I thought I might see what I could do with .380 ACP.

I pulled out some 90gr. TMJRN and adjusted the swaging die until I got the shape i wanted. These load to .982 OAL, right on-spec for .380 ACP ball. They feed perfectly in my wife’s P238 Legion, and I’ll be using that for a test gun. Again, I need to wait for a ‘clean’ block of gel.

I have another, very different project in the works, but it’s not ready for prime-time yet. It’s going to take some time; it’s pretty involved.

I hope you all have a great 2021.

Michael Tinker Pearce, 4 January 2021