Meme Dump!

Meme Dump!

End-Of-Week Memes!

Gratuitous Gun Pr0n #267...

I've been low-key chasing one of these for some time.

The full-size five-inch Smith & Wesson Model 1026 is one of the rarer 10mm Third Gen autos, with a little over 3,100 pistols manufactured over a two year run. Only the DAO Model 1046 and Model 1086 are less common.

Over two thirds of those went to the Virginia State Police. This one's got the "CAUTION: Capable of Firing With Magazine Removed" legend on the slide, so it was likely sold to an LE agency. 

It also has the punch mark on the bottom of the grip showing it has the upgraded grips that won't break when dropped like the early Xenoy units, as well as the two punch marks under the decocker lever showing it had been back to Springfield for the upgraded lockwork.

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Well...

The baseball season is over for both the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves. 

On the upside, the Yankees are out, too, and in extra special humiliating fashion.

Meme Dump!

Jumping Hot Flash, It's a Gas, Gas, Gas!

It was pretty cool to get a bit of the barrel-cylinder gap flash on this shot, especially because I wasn't shooting in burst mode. I had the Canon EOS R5 & RF 70-200mm f/4L IS in single shot mode and was just pressing the shutter release when the vibes felt right.

This dude could really run that Ruger GP100.

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Over the HumpWith a Meme Dump!

Unusual Kill

One of the F/A-18F Super Hornets that had been operating off the USS Abraham Lincoln was photographed while returning to its home base in San Diego sporting an unusual kill marking on its snout...

On Oct. 1, a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet that flew from the USS Abraham Lincoln on combat missions in the Iran war was spotted returning home to California with an unusual kill marking. Above rows of other icons representing bombs the plane had dropped was a submarine split in half, embossed with the words “Sub Buster.”

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Meme Dump!

But Tam, a .40?

The problems with .40S&W came from a couple areas.

For starters, most of the early .40 pistols were hastily converted from 9x19mm designs and that's understandable, since part of the design brief of the cartridge was that it fit in 9mm blasters. The USP was designed around the cartridge, and the Smith & Wesson Third Gen autos were beefy chonks that were easily up to the job.

SIG Sauer wisely realized that the original P-22x architecture, with a separate breechblock held in a stamped slide by a roll pin, would not be up to the job and came up with the milled slide P-229 for the role.

On the other hand you had pistols that were really marginal for the chambering. Beretta 96's ate locking blocks like popcorn, relative to their 9mm siblings. Even the ubiquitous Glock 22/23 pistols had issues, being more prone to feeding issues from improper grip or a mounted weaponlight than their sewing machine reliable 9x19 progenitors.

Also, in typical duty loads there just wasn't enough difference in terminal results to justify the loss in ammo capacity and the reduction in shootability. No matter how good you shoot .40S&W, you shoot 9x19mm better.

That being said, it's not like the chambering doesn't work. It works great. It was specifically designed to meet the current benchmarks in terminal performance; it was "taught to the test", to steal a term from education jargon. You can pick up some really great LE trade-in SIG and HK pistols in .40 for a song these days. Ammo's more expensive, sure, but if you aren't going to be shooting it a ton, who cares?

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Facing Monday With A Meme Dump!