January
is the traditional month for the firearms industry to gather for its
annual Shot Show gala, and 2005 was no exception. The Shot Show is
essentially a trade show that is not open to the public. Here, the
manufacturers who make products having anything remotely connected to the
shooting sports gather to show off their new wares to the distributors and
dealers that will eventually sell them to you and me. Almost all of the
new things on display are prototypes and the real stuff won’t be hitting
the dealer’s shelves until several months later, typically in the
Summer or even the Fall.
It seems
like the Show has pretty much settled on Sin City (Las Vegas) as being the
best location for its extravaganza since Nevada is certainly one of the
most firearms friendly states in the nation. (Occasionally, the Show will
be held in Orlando, Florida as well.) Previous Shot Shows in Atlanta and
New Orleans were met with a wild frenzy of antigun opposition from those
city governments, despite the fact that the Show brought in well over
twenty million dollars worth of business to those cities. Based on those
city’s reprehensible behavior, members of the industry are passionate
about never holding a Show there ever again.
As usual,
the Show keeps breaking it’s own attendance records. This year there were
1726 exhibitors jammed in the LV Convention Center along with 23,771
buyers, nearly 1200 members of the press, over 13,000 exhibitor personnel,
and a gaggle of others. Total attendance of the Show was over 37,000
people. One statistic really got my attention i.e. companies from over one
third of all the nations on the whole planet were in attendance at the
Show. Wow!
I also
found that I could personally relate to another statistic. If a person set
out to visit every booth at the Show over its four day run, they’d only be
able to spend a little over one minute in each booth before they’d have to
move on. Well, I was at the Show for only three days, and there were times
when I was on a very tight schedule running from one appointment to
another (usually at opposite ends of the Center), so it definitely felt
like I only had one minute to spend at each booth. It was fun though, and
it’s always nice to see industry friends again.
By and
large my general impression was that this was a year of consolidation for
the industry as I just didn’t see that many products that really grabbed
my attention. It seemed “Business as Usual” could have been the theme for
the Show this year. However there were two clear exceptions to that
rule. These were companies where there was honest to goodness excitement
in the air. You’d just walk into the booth area and you could actually
feel the electricity snapping and crackling around your body. Here they
are.
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Smith & Wesson 460 XVR |
This was the
undisputed star of the Show in my book. Smith & Wesson has introduced a
new eye popping cartridge, the 460 Mag, and is coupling it with the same
frame as their wildly successful 500 Mag revolver. The 460 is a big
straight walled cartridge (1.8” long) which uses a large rifle primer to
light it up. If you can imagine a shortened, straight walled 45-70, you
can get an approximate idea of what the 460 looks like.
One of
the prime things that makes this gun unique is the fact that the 460
shoots a 200 grain Hornady SST, spire point 45 caliber bullet. Yes,
that’s right - a spire point. As you know, all blunt nose bullets commonly
shot out of revolvers start dropping like a rock after 100 yards. The new
spire point will definitely improve the ballistics of this cartridge. This
is a gun and cartridge that’s meant for very serious business at long
range. The neat thing that makes using a spire point possible is the fact
that the revolver is using the same long cylinder which was designed to
accommodate the 500 mag. Hornady is making plastic tipped loaded
ammunition as we speak, and it should be just hitting the shelves about
the time you read this story.
First
priority for the Hornady made brass and bullets will go to making loaded
ammo, but once that pipeline has been filled, I’m sure that reloading
components will be hitting the market sometime soon after that. I also
have been able to confirm that Starline will be making brass, which if all
goes well with the testing currently underway, should be on the market in
the April/May/June time frame. While spire point bullets as a reloading
component won’t be available for a time, any heavily constructed bullet
that can be safely used for the 454 Casull should be suitable for the 460
as well. In fact, both cartridges actually work in the same pressure range
(60,000 psi +). Smith also says that for further flexibility, both 45 Colt
and 454 Casull ammo can be used in the gun.
Another
rousing characteristic of this gun and cartridge is the absolutely
sizzling velocity that they produce. Smith is reporting over 2300 fps! (By
the way, as you might have guessed, XVR stands for “Extreme Velocity
Revolver”). This is just absolutely phenomenal. I don’t know of any
revolver that can match the Smith 460 in velocity, especially in 45
caliber. No doubt, some of this velocity can be attributed to the spire
point design and the fact that the bullet is fairly light for its
diameter. Additionally, because of its lighter weight, recoil is very
likely to be much milder than its big brother, the 500 mag. The fact that
the revolver has a very effective removable 1” compensator on the end of
the muzzle, as well as its meaty 73 ounces of mass, should also help keep
recoil under control.
An unusually flat
trajectory is another advantage for this gun and cartridge. Smith & Wesson
tells me that when zeroed at 200 yards, the 460 should be in the kill zone
for any deer sized game from 50 to 250 yards without any holdover. The
practicality of this literally blows me away. Just think what it could do
on the silhouette range.
Besides
producing fantastic revolver velocities, I’m also told that accuracy has
been very good when working with just the preliminary test ammo and
prototype guns (one inch at 50 yards). I would guess that it’s probably
gotten even better as any early kinks were eliminated. However, I’m not
too surprised that the preliminary accuracy has been good. When handling
the 460 at the S&W booth, I noted that when I pulled the hammer back and
held it, while pulling the trigger, cylinder lock up was very tight. In
fact, it just may have been the tightest of any double action revolver
I’ve tried. As you know cylinder “shake” is a major enemy of revolver
accuracy.
The
barrel also sports a couple of interesting features. For one, it’s a
tensioned barrel with a shroud aka Dan Wesson. Smith is an enthusiastic
supporter of this proven concept for reducing barrel vibrations and
tightening up groups. The 7 3/8’s inch barrel also uses a gain twist. This
is a very old concept that enjoyed quite a bit of popularity around the
late 1800’s and early 1900’s among cast bullet target rifle competitors.
The idea is
that a barrel at the throat would have a very slow rate of twist to eliminate
or reduce any rotational shearing that might occur when the bullet first
entered the bore. Then, as the bullet gained velocity, the rate of twist would
gradually be increased. The idea was to not only minimize damage to the
bullet, but also because the bullet didn’t have to “fight” as hard against the
twist of the barrel, a possible velocity advantage could be achieved as well.
The 460 barrel starts off at an extremely slow 1:100 twist and then tightens
up to a fairly standard 1:20 twist rate. This is the absolute first time that
a major manufacturer has used this technique in a revolver. If you’re a cast
bullet shooter, you’re going to love this gain twist barrel. Great idea!
So there you
have it. This is certainly one of the most innovative and exciting revolvers
that I’ve seen in a long time. Anyone who is interested in getting XP-100 type
velocities and tons of long range performance in a revolver certainly needs to
take a careful look at this new gun and cartridge. There are only 5500 guns
being produced in this first production run and I’m sure they going to be
snapped up quickly. I hope as the guns reach the shelves, I’ll be able to get
more info on what it’s like actually shooting this big boy. Stay tuned.
Redfield
In my last
column, I broke the news about how Meade, the owner of Redfield, Simmons, and
Weaver, had totally reinvented the Simmons brand with a series of absolutely
new technological achievements. I also predicted that Redfield would be the
shining star in Meade’s galaxy and would be making use of exotic materials
that would enable it to match or exceed the performance levels of any scope on
the planet. My prediction was correct. Redfield has pulled out all the
engineering and optical design stops in putting together its new line
up. There is not another rifle scope on this earth that uses the technology
and the quality of materials that’s incorporated in the new Redfield. Let’s
take a look at the highlights by starting from the front of the scope.
Objective
Lens - An apochromatic design using ED glass. If you’ve read my some of my
past reviews of spotting scopes, you know that this is the most advanced lens
design available. This lens design is used on only the very highest quality
spotting scopes. To the very best of my knowledge, this is absolutely the very
first time this type of lens has been used on a rifle scope.
So what is a apochromatic lens and what is ED (extra low dispersion) glass? For a detailed
explanation, go to
(www.lasc.us/rangingshotNikonFieldscopellled.htm).
In brief, this type lens is a sandwich of three different types of optical
glass (including the ED type). By using this sandwich in the objective lens,
chromatic aberration (color distortion) is reduced to total irrelevance.
Additionally, light transmission, resolution, and contrast is also
increased. There is no better lens design and there is no better glass than
what’s on the front of the Redfield's. Additionally, Meade has used it’s
astronomical telescope expertise to provide very high transmission optical
coatings to increase light transmission 2.8% higher than any standard fully
multicoated product.
Scope Tube -
Instead of using the standard aluminum alloy used by everyone else, Redfield
uses a magnesium alloy instead. The benefit is that it’s a much lighter tube
and just as strong. Like Simmons, this is also a true one piece scope tube
design. As I mentioned in my last column, even though almost all manufacturers
say they have a one piece scope tube, they really don’t. They have a scope
tube with a eye piece lens assembly screwed on to the back. So in reality,
their products are a two piece design. Two piece scopes will tend to flex in
the rings under the brutal recoil of many modern cartridges, and when that
happens, unpleasant things can happen can happen to the internals. The
Redfield's are composed of one solid tube into which the rear lens components
are inserted, making it an honest mono tube design with all of the structural
advantages that goes with that technique.
5X
Magnification Range - All variable scopes give you either a three power or a
four power magnification range i.e. 3X9, 4X12, 6X24, etc. Redfield, uses a
unique design to give you a five power boost in magnification over the lowest
setting i.e. 4X20, 5X25, 6X30 etc. No other scope in the world does this. You
benefit by having more flexibility in magnification choices.
Rear Eyepiece
- OK, this is an aspheric lens using Lanthanum glass. Let’s talk about the
lens first. Aspheric lens are flatter than normal lenses. So what? Well,
curved lenses give you the very best, very brightest image in their very
centers. As you move your eye from the center, resolution starts to fall off
and the lens is less able to transmit all of the light which entered it from
the front. This is why many lenses in less than ideal conditions are
noticeably darker on the edges. An aspheric lens by design minimizes this
effect. Result? A crisper, brighter image all across the width of the lens.
To make the end
result even brighter, premium Lanthanum glass is used for the rear lens.
Lanthanum is a very expensive rare earth that increases light transmission in
glass. It is normally used in optical laboratory instruments or other similar
applications. Again, this is the very best type of glass that there is as far
as light transmission is concerned.
The greatest
benefit of the Redfield eyepiece design however, is that the image cone or
“eye box” that the rear eyepiece produces, is much larger than that produced
by a standard eyepiece. What this means in practical terms, is that it’s much,
much easier to pick up the image with your eye - especially at the higher
powers i.e. there’s no hunting around for the picture. Eye relief is also a
constant four inches, no matter what the magnification power that the scope is
set for. That in itself is a huge optical achievement. Whether you have a
Redfield scope mounted on a TC or your favorite hunting rifle, when you bring
the scope up to your eye, the image will be there with no fumbling around.
Because of
time and space constraints, I’ve only touched on the highlights of the new
Redfield. Believe it or not, there are even more features that you should know
about, but we’ll save them for another time. In summary, it’s easy to say that
this is the most technologically advanced rifle scope on the plant. Just the
combination of the apochromatic ED objective lens on the front and Lanthanum
aspheric eyepiece on the rear sets it head and shoulders above the rest of the
industry.
One last
point. Fittingly, all Redfield scopes are made right here in the good, old USA
and carry a no bull, 48 hour turn around warrantee. No one else does that. No
one. These are truly exciting products and I’m really looking forward to
getting one in my hands and running it through some practical exercises. We’ll
keep in touch.
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