I've long been an advocate for a rimfire variant of one's carry gun. With ammunition prices rising all the time, it can be prohibitively expensive to shoot one's carry gun on a regular basis. 100 rounds of .45 ACP is going to run upwards of $40 - shoot that a couple times a month or more, and you're dropping over a $1,000 a year on ammo for that firearm alone. Change that to .22LR and you can shoot for a fraction of that cost - that same $80 a month will buy over 2,000 rounds of .22LR, enough to shoot all year long.
So... Smith & Wesson, are you listening? Here's my idea:
A .22LR slide and barrel for the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380
(artist's conception)
With .380 ACP ammunition selling for about the same price as .45 ACP, it wouldn't take long for a ~ $250 rimfire slide to pay for itself. A year or two at moderate use and the difference in price between .22LR and .380 ACP would cover the cost of a conversion. Plus it would significantly decrease the recoil of the Bodyguard *and* allow it to be used on rimfire-only ranges. It could be used to get new shooters used to the weight and size of a pocket pistol without the recoil of a centerfire round. Not only that, but you could fine-tune the built-in laser without it costing a small fortune in ammo. It's hard to see how this could miss!
This would also work for the Ruger LC9, Kimber Solo, Kel-Tec PF9 (although the conversion there would most likely be less than the actual centerfire pistol...), etc. Heck, Smith & Wesson could offer one for the new M&P Shield. Given that S&W hasn't been all that keen on producing rimfire slides for their red-hot M&P series, I don't know how serious they would be about making something like this - but then again, the aforementioned aftermarket companies could step in here.
All I ask for my revolutionary idea is a unit for T&E - such a bahhhgain!
That is all.
9 comments:
there IS a conversion for the pf9, at least
Twisted Industries makes it, I have one and it turns the pf9 into a fun plinker rather than a masochistic tool of hand destruction.
Your argument for casting bullets and reloading .45ACP has been accepted.
Since the lead was free, my cost for a box of 100 .45's is approximately $6.00. That's primers, powder, recycled brass, and cast bullets.
Interesting. I'm not sure it would be a great gun to introduce to new shooters, however; if their hands are large - or even normal-sized - it's not great for their learning the proper grip.
What ASM said. I can, but generally don't cast my own bullets. As long as I can buy very nice cast and lubrisized bullets for 7-9 cents each, it's not worth the time and effort to me to cast them myself. That said, my current total cost for 230gr .45acp is about 14 cents a round, or $14 per 100rnds compared to your $40. My .44 mag loads cost about the same, comepared to $70-$80 per 100 rounds of store bought stuff.
Mopar,
I understand. I only cast .45 and 9mm in bulk a few times a year. Even buying the bullets, reloading is an easy financial decision.
I got a Jennings here that kinda does that. :)
Nice idea.
Weer'd
The problem is finding a Jennings that functions well :D
I had to do a lot to get a Jennings I had sitting around to go. Most of the problem was that someone dry fired it (deforms the soft barrel).
Casting bullets does not work well when all of your rifles and pistols (save .22) exceed the sound barrier by a rather healthy margin. Lead builds up when that .243 Winchester is doing nigh-on Mach 4...
Other than that, yeah, I would cast as well.
AND, one for my P238, please.
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