American Survival Blog

It’s no secret that I like my .410. I like the .410 000 buck loads that have been available (thank you Judge owners) and since my main .410 is the .45/.410 Survivor by Harrington & Richards I keep a few hundred rounds of .45 colt rounds around (thank you cowboy action shooters) for in case I have to do a little social work. Before the Judge came out my .410 was was basically a single shot .45 carbine for defensive purposes but now there’s more options which give the little .410 much more versatility. Nowadays the popularity of the Taurus Judge means that ammo companies are scrambling to find hard shooting .410 rounds that aren’t too hard to shoot out of a snub nose barrel leading the creation of  exotic loadings that are being touted as THE load for .410 pistoleros.

The Firearms Blog posted about one such round being developed by Winchester called the PDX1 which will be available in a .410 loading  comprised of three 000 buck “defense discs” backed by 12 bbs. The press release available on Winchester’s website has this to say about the round:

Highly effective in both shotguns and 410 compatible handguns, the PDX1 in 410 gauge features a distinctive black hull and black oxide high-base head and combines three plated Defense Disc™ projectiles and 12 pellets of plated BB shot. The result is the ideal personal protection load for short range engagement with the performance needed to stop threats. This load is also suitable for varmint hunting and pest control. Designed for use in the Taurus Judge, this new personal defense round provides maximum protection at close range.

The rounds have theoretically been available since February but I haven’t seen any. For Survivor owners out there the PDX1 rounds might be of interest because the discs are designed to engage the rifling of the barrels (though they had the short barrels of Judges in mind when they designed it) while the bbs take advantage of the spreading effect rifled barrels have on shot. Thus with a center mass shot the three discs should produce accurate hits to vitals while the bbs will hopefully score hits in the neck, face, shoulder, stomach and groin. Like this:

The round is the best of both worlds, in theory. I haven’t seen the round fired from either smooth bore or rifled long barrels. This American Rifleman video from The Shot Show has some scenes of the round being shot from a Judge and the round seem to work fine, though the fact that if you blink you’ll miss the patterning scene does not inspire me with confidence.

But from a longer barreled judge or a Survivor the ammunition will perhaps be exciting, and I’m curious to see how smooth bore shotguns handle the rounds. But frankly, is this round going to be much more lethal than the 000 buck that’s available now? The 3in 000 has five .36 caliber balls in it, the 2 1/2in has three. Will flattening out the three buck balls and adding 12 bbs really make a difference at close range?

I should start by saying I happen to be a fan of the .410 even though there are many limitations to its performance when compared to 12ga, 20ga or even the once again popular 16ga. But the scrappy little .410 bore is no more limited than the .22  which has long been known as an everyday survival workhorse cartridge. The problem the .410 runs into is that most people compare the .410 to other shotguns only in terms of amount of lead thrown and “knockdown” power. While the .410 certainly cannot throw lead like a 12ga and should not be anyone’s first choice for a combat shotgun the erstwhile survivalist would do well to remember that guns are tools that will be used for more than killing hordes of looters/zombies/U.N. Blue helmets that populate the day dreams of too many survivalists.

I was reading a post on the excellent site The Survivalist Blog about bug out guns where the author made some really good points, and the comments were the usual mixed bag of commonsense, armchair gunfighting, and pure fantasy that serves only to confuse survival newcomers. The most commonsense advice I saw in those comments and anywhere else is this: carry what you are comfortable with that is suited to your circumstance. Vague to be sure, but it is a general guideline that you should keep in mind when purchasing any weapon. It was this principle that lead me buy a New England Firearms Survivor shotgun in .410/.45 nearly a decade ago. With Taurus’ Judge revolver creating a renewed interest in the .410 for self defense (which has led to the availability of .410 buckshot loads to the public) the .410 deserves some serious thought for a good survival arm or bug out gun.

My reasoning for not dismissing the .410 out of hand if you’re looking for a good survival arm has to do with the characteristics of the .410 itself, which is often where the main criticism of the round comes in. I am not claiming you should or shouldn’t make the .410 your main weapon in your survival battery, but it is a tool that has some benefits for realistic survival scenarios: (more…)

An interesting albeit flawed penetration test conducted by YouTube outdoor sport celebrity Heather LaCroix which seems to indicate that .22 magnum ammunition doesn’t outperform .22 long rifle cartridges by wide enough margins to justify the higher price. I was particularly impressed with the ease with which a 36 grain Winchester High Velocity penetrated sheet metal. The rub comes when the .22s are fired into a row of paper back books at close range and the 45 grain Dynapoint .22 mag doing 1550 fps just barely outperforms the little Winchester which not only weighs almost 10 grains less but leaves the barrel 270 fps slower.

Like I said a bit surprising although I’d be curious to see if using round nose ammo gave different results. I’d still be uncomfortable shooting a raccoon or coyote with a .22 LR (something people claim to do with .22 magnums all the time) but I think this just makes me rethink the usefulness of the .22 Mag in those situations, especially given the economics. 500 round bricks of .22 LR are still under $20 whereas people are slapping down around $12-15 bucks for 50 in my neck of the woods. The magnums are still significantly cheaper than centerfire handgun ammunition, but not cheap enough to make the small boost in power worth spending extra money per round.

Of course shooting through paperbacks is not what we use guns for. The .22 mag still discharges much more energy into a flesh and blood target which is why rabbits and such game shot with the round suffer wounds that waste a lot of meat. This is also a strike against the .22 Magnum in my opinion. The hyper velocity .22 LR ammo being produced these days will do anything a .22 Magnum can do cheaper, and other rounds will pick up where the .22 LR leaves off. I assume people interested in the pelts of animals too big of the .22 LR may like the Magnums but I have heard of professional trappers putting down almost everything on their ‘lines with a .22 LR to the back of the head from a pistol. For predator hunters the .22 Hornet teamed with a pistol in .22 LR seems more utilitarian than the .22 Magnum.

I had considered buying a .22 handgun myself but when I started itching for my .327 Federal Magnum I found that other rounds I could feed it like the .32 S&W Long were still widely available and figured that the little .32 filled the niche for a .22 handgun close enough (except for the expense) that I put the money I would have spent on a .22 rig into a few boxes of watermelon killing .32 S&W Long. I don’t see how a .22 Magnum could be more indispensable than the underrated and inexpensive .22 LR so I’m going to agree with  Heather and her husband Jeff on this one.

I went out to Luthi’s Sport and Pawn in Greenville today to do my own ammo hoarding, looking for cartridges for my Charter Arms Patriot chambered in .327 Federal Magnum. I bought the gun because it’s a versatile “kit gun” which will fire several commonly available calibers beside the new .327 including .32 H&R Magnum and .32 S&W Long. That last round, anemic by today’s standards, has enjoyed quite a comeback thanks to the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting which spurred an interest in working antique revolvers, many of which were chambered in various permutations of .32. Modern ammo shouldn’t be fired from an antique though, so don’t blame me if you try this and hurt yourself.

But although these calibers are available they aren’t, or I should say weren’t, particularly popular. When it looked like Obama was going to win I saw the writing on the wall and wanted to stock up. I chose what are called “oddball” calibers knowing the rush on 9mm, .223 Remington and anything 12Ga would drive prices through the roof and make getting these rounds a competition of who can get to the gun store the fastest and charge the most. Unfortunately I underestimated demand for the unique calibers because Luthi’s is completly out of .327 Federal Magnum and .32 H&R Mag even though two or three weeks ago they had plenty that wasn’t moving.

I guess some big mouthed blogger tipped someone off as my wife said to me as we left. I ended up buying a hundred rounds of .32 S&W Lead Round Nose, which will go well with the couple of hundred rounds of .32 wadcutters I have. But I’m still looking for more .327 and .32 mag for my hoard which is a little thin in the stopping power department. How thin? Less than I want of .327, but hopefully more than I’ll ever need. But I only have one measly box or .32 H&R mag which is a nice intermediate between the .327 and .32 for situations where you need more firepower than the .32 but aren’t quite ready for a mankiller (raccoons and foxes, which we’re lousy with here come to mind) so any readers who want to help a brother out and let me know where I can get some will have my gratitude.

The guy at the counter said basically they weren’t sure when they’d get more in, and that their last shipment of 9mm has increased in price by $8. Their ammo counter was looking sparse and they were doing brisk gun and ammo business at 2:30 in the afternoon, so if you need a piece don’t wait.

I noticed that Cheaper than Dirt, where I’ve also had great success with the “oddball” calibers I like are basically out of the stuff considered unpopular a year ago. This includes most of the 20 GA Buckshot and slugs and .410 buckshot rounds (I told you I like the odd stuff) and if their website is any indicator they have been unable to restock .45 LC for the last couple of months. All the popular calibers (9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP) are down to the bottom of the barrel discount Russian stuff or $3 a round specialty stuff few people can afford. Luckily my shotgun shell stash is deep enough that I’m not worried about getting more pistol ammo, but if you’re relying on a handgun as your primary firearm it’s time to worry.

Cabela’s is basically the same, and were already running light on revolver loads thanks to CAS shooters. There are still some deals there but you need to move quickly to get them. Most calibers I’m interested in are on back order.

The counter person at Luthi’s said to just keep checking back in and in these times it pays to have the number of the gun shop so you can check in and have them hold a box for you as soon as they know they’re getting a shipment. But the ammo shortage is is spreading out to rounds that are usually collecting dust on the shelves so if you don’t have what you need there’s no time to waste.

Cross posted at Red Alerts.

For me a gun needs three attributes to be considered a proper kit gun:

1. Portability
2. Versatility
3. Reliability

For many decades snub-nosed double-action .22 LR revolvers have been the standard because they fulfilled these three requirements. The small size and light weight made such revolvers less likely to be left behind by campers and hikers looking to shave weight from their “kit” and there are few firearms designs as fool proof as the double action revolver.

Chambered in .22 Long Rifle, a double-action revolver becomes one of the most versatile tools available to the woods loafer, outdoorsman or most importantly, the survivalist. For example, when heading into snake country the first two chambers could be loaded with snake shot while the other four could be loaded with whatever rounds you thought you’d need for the trip, including less powerful .22 Longs and Shorts if you want some extra small game.  The size of the .22 cartridge also allows more chambers on the frame of a revolver. I’ve seen kit guns with as many as nine, something gun makers could  never accomplish with larger cartridges.

The only problem with the .22 Long Rifle as a kit gun is that it really is a last resort as a defensive cartridge. Don’t get me wrong, any gun of any caliber is better than none when you need it, and many a life has been saved by a tiny revolver firing a tiny bullet, but the .22 LR is, in layman’s terms, about as deadly as a swing with a baseball bat. It may kill an assailant, it may not and when you move up to larger critters it’s more likely luck or divine intervention that will pull you out of  a run-in using a .22.

Despite that shortcoming, I’m admittedly a kit gun kind of guy. So you can imagine my glee at seeing a Charter Arms Patriot with a 2.2 inch barrel chambered in the new .327 Federal Magnum sitting in a local gun store. And yes, mine came with the nifty folding knife. For many the new cartridge seems to be a solution looking for a problem, but for me revolvers chambered in this new caliber make kit guns even more useful and desirable. Certainly portable, the Patriot can be fed .32 H&R Magnum, .32 S&w Long and even .32 shorts (if you can find them) which along with the new .327 gives you much more versatility than a .22, especially in the self defense department.

Lower powered .32 S&W Long wad cutters are actually a great small game taking round if you keep ranges reasonable, and frankly I’ve never been one to claim the .32 H&R was under powered. Then again I don’t think any bullet under 9mm bounces off muggers like so much hollow point confetti. And while still not strong medicine for “ol Ephraim” the muzzle blast from the tiny barrel when using full powered .327s should scare off a curious black bear. Those galena pills are also just what the doctor ordered for feral dogs, which in the case of a disaster are sure to be a nuisance in many areas including my stomping grounds where I’ve already spotted a pack.

It is as portable as any .22, with a little more “heft” and weight to it but it can still ride on your hip, in a satchel or a tackle box with no problem. Post-TEOTWAWKI it will comfortably take it’s place among my foraging gear, giving me some added (and covert) protection while gathering wild vegetables or setting up traps for game should the world be more post-Katrina than post-Civilization. It will also carry nicely while bartering with shell shocked post-collapse folks and while simply puttering around in my off time or on an impromptu hike.

So far I’ve had no problems with the gun, though I’ve seen in forums some people claim to have problems with the cylinder, and the Charter Arms is priced right for the price conscious survivalist. Best of all, because it’s so new I have yet to have any problems getting ammunition for it even as gun store shelves empty as Americans go on a ammo hoarding binge in the face of new gun restrictions. As more people find this handy little cartridge that will change, but as of now ammo availability has not been hurt by current events.

Charter Arms makes a 4-inch barreled version but since both hold six shots I stick with the snubby, the trade off in less recoil isn’t worth making it less portable. If you’re looking for a kit gun, I recommend the Patriot.