Search Term Roundup

It's been a while, and this one will be less tongue-in-cheek.

champion c46514
I've had this term show up in various flavors, sometimes with "review" as an addition search term. This is the generator I bought for emergency use. It's inexpensive ($250-350 at Tractor Supply, depending on sales and rebates), made in China, and low on features. It also works just fine. I haven't needed to run the house on it yet, but I fire it up every couple weeks to keep parts lubricated properly. I have tested it with loads, and it grunts and then smooths right out.

I was asked by someone if I'd trust it to run 24/7 for a week or two. Short answer: no. It's not designed for that duty cycle, and I don't need it to run that long. One or two hours in three or four or five hours is more realistic, and I would trust it for that. If you need 24/7 reliability, then you need to cough up a LOT more than $300. In truth, you should be looking at a permanent-mount genset that runs on natural gas or propane, or a very high-end portable. We're talking order-of-magnitude price increase, though.


effectively shooting the .38 snub revolver
You're kidding, right? Everyone knows that simply owning a .38 snubbie makes you a Hardcore Badass! By holding it, you will instantly become a shooter on par with Jerry Miculek.

The only way to learn to effectively shoot anything is PRACTICE. Dry-fire practice regularly, get some snapcaps and practice reloading, practice your draw a few times a day. Try to get to the range every week or so and run at least a few cylinders through it to really learn to handle the recoil. A high grip will help to reduce muzzle flip, but you will likely get bitten by the cylinder release occasionally. Live with it.

Last but not least, and this is my personal opinion, always do your practice in double-action. A .38 snub is really a close-range (less than 10 yards) defensive weapon. If you need it, it's going to be in a hurry, and taking the time cock the hammer and then shoot is precious time you may not have. Learn to squeeze through that heavy trigger smoothly and keep your sights lined up while you do it. (I carry a S&W 642, which is a "hammerless" and therefore double-action only.)


taurus pink lady 38 trigger job
I don't know as I've ever shot a Taurus revolver. I can't comment on how the triggers are out of the box, but if you're looking for a trigger job, you don't like yours. Here's what I'd do with any snub that didn't have a trigger to my standards:

(1) Open that bad boy up and hose it out, lightly lubricate, and close it back up. If your gun is new-in-the-box, it's not uncommon for some tiny pieces of metal (leftover from machining) to still be in the works. These will make the trigger gritty and somewhat unpredictable. If you're comfortable removing the parts and really scrubbing, do that, but otherwise a good hosing out with gunscrubber or some other action cleaner should help. Lightly oil the pivot points and moving parts, and close it up.

(2) Have a professional polish/stone the sear very lightly. Either a gunsmith you trust (with references) or the manufacturer. Smith&Wesson's Performance Center will do an action job for about $150, if memory serves. You don't want to change the sear angle or depth, only polish the surfaces so they move and break cleanly. A poor hand with a stone will turn those expensive parts into expensive paperweights at best, and major liabilities at worst. (Think hammer push-off: the hammer can be dropped without touching the trigger. This is a Bad Thing.)

(3) Without having tried this, I can't speak to its effectiveness, but there are people who insist that polishing the turn ring on a cylinder - where the cylinder latch rides - will decrease some of the gritty feeling. You'll end up with a narrow band (1/8-1/4") of very highly-polished metal around the cylinder notches. This is something that needs to be done by a professional in order to maintain reliability and timing. Done right, it's beautiful - and that's, IMHO, the only reason to get it done. Looks. A turn ring from dry firing will smooth out the rough spots just as well.

That's it. Some people will change springs to a lighter setup which will decrease the trigger weight. I can't recommend that for a defensive revolver. You must have 100% reliable hammer strikes/ignitions. Every. Single. Time. If you simply HAVE to lighten the trigger by changing springs, test the gun thoroughly before returning it to service as a carry piece. Expect to run 200-300 rounds of your carry ammo through it. And yes, use your carry ammo, not reloads or cheap bulk range ammo - primers have different hardness levels, and you need to know your carry ammo is going to work.