Coonan .357 and other flat shooting handguns really shine in the desert. They weigh less than rifles yet cover a decent range for defense. Towards the South of our country, that may be a serious consideration. A pistol in 10mm Auto would shoot as flat but the Coonan is also unusually accurate for a handgun.
Good points. Some of the more exotic, high-powered revolvers are ballistically more akin to a carbine too. I’ve used my Glock 20 at 100 yards, and it’s cartainly doable. The 10 mm will slightly exceed the exterior ballistics (BC / velocity) of the 357, unless you get into the really heavy 357 silhouette type loads using long pointy bullets. Tam says this is all mostly pointless, but I suppose it depends on how far we’re talking, and how small the targets. The 500 S&W will outdo many of the big bore lever rifle cartridges, and do it from a 10″ bbl. So in a sense, you have a “Thumper” carbine (or rifle) in the form of a handgun. It is an interesting concept.
Rossi firearms makes “mare’s leg” style “pistols” in .357, .45LC and .44 Magnum
http://www.rossiusa.com/product-list.cfm?category=17
They have 12″ barrels, large lever-loops and buckhorn sights. If I could figure out how to conceal one under a waist-length coat, I’d probably have one by now. Seems like a single-point sling with some sort of body-harness for it would be in order for the longer-range shots.
@Lyle
Aren’t the Kel-tec .223’s mostly lighter than S&W 500 with a 10″ barrel?
Besides, defending from a range? I don’t believe deserts of the South-West are inhabited by any critters from which you’d need to defend yourself from such a range.
US has a shortage of predatory wildlife to keep the feral hogs and hoofed rats in check.
Nice gun, though, I’d like it more if it came in 10mm and was short of a grip safety.
I wonder why the sight’s not further up front? If someone bothers with a compensator, presumably for a sporting gun, the additional radius would help..
Moving the site front would let the powder cover the tritium vial pretty fast. With plain sights, that would make sense.
Critters I am thinking about walk on hind legs.
I remain skeptical. Smokeless powder doesn’t foul much., and one could wipe it off.
Ah, you meant very unfriendly people.
I believe outside of warfare or a total breakdown of law & order there are few situations where one can afford to shoot someone from long range and claim it was self-defense. And in those situations, it’s prudent to carry a carbine at all times.
I can imagine shooting some armed dude who has threatened you with death or shot at you, but like I said, that’s uncommon.
Different powders burn cleaner or dirtier. Some are very dirty, leaving a persistent black film behind. I totally grok this design feature for tritium or fiberoptics, white dot, orange strip, et al.
[I believe outside of warfare or a total breakdown of law & order there are few situations where one can afford to shoot someone from long range and claim it was self-defense.]
Your loved one is 50 yards down the road, and under attack. Could be a criminal or a pack of dogs.
Active killer across the school playground.
Killer coming in the front door of the sanctuary of your church, and you’re in the choir loft.
Self-defense isn’t always about “self.”
Chris Cheng! What a stud! TOP SHOT!
Desert? How about the great plains?
I sold a short story set in the Texas panhandle c 1800s. For thecover illustration I described for the artist the two main characters, and the farmhouse they were standing in front of. Then I sad that everything else was flat.
Illustration came back with the people, the house, and rolling hills. I made minor suggestions and added that the ground was flat!
Phase two was people, house, and small hills.
I googled her a picture of the panhandle, something like this: http://goo.gl/maps/C55nW.
“Dang,” she replied. “That is FLAT.”
Might be able to shoot a ways there.
Out in SE Colorado recently, tooling down the road at night, I asked my friend about the array of little red lamps along the ground off to the right of the road. Was that a runway I hadn’t noticed in daylight?
Nope. Those were the aircraft warning lights atop the rows of 260ft-tall windmills of a wind farm miles and miles away on the horizon…
I lived in Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1980, when seven tornados tore up a bunch of the town. Afterward the city council realized that the resulting debris would overflow their landfill.
So instead they stacked it in Ryder Park and sodded over it. And now Grand Island has a hill. (http://goo.gl/maps/OE173)
At a State gun range east of Queen Creek, AZ, and using a rest, I rang a 300-yard gong 3 out of 5 shots with my Colt Anaconda 4″ in .44 Remington Magnum. Hold over was about 20″, half-factor (half-blade) for windage, using 240-gr factory JHP. I rang a 100-yard gong offhand (2-handed) at a gun range near Galveston, TX several times using the same gun. Cap’n Jim of the Sunk New Dawn then took over and did better than I, was faster, AND used double action!
I’d love to have a Coonan, but on my pension, it’s about all I can do to feed the guns I have. I AM considering selling several guns to raise money for a Coonan, though.
“Horse Pistols”, gotta love ’em.
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I watched Pat Kelley shoot pieces of clay pigeons sitting on a hill at 100 yards with a Para 14-45 that I had just handed him and that he had never shot before. He shot twice at targets on the ground at about 20-25 rounds, then immediately started shooting at larger chunks of clay pigeons that had landed on the backstop of the shotgun range. One or two shots were close enough to make them jump, then he promptly started hitting one piece after another. Its more the shooter than the pistol!
Man, I would love to have one of those.
Rivrdog,
you might consider talking to Ken Null about making a holster to work with a mare’s leg. I’m thinking of his SMZ shoulder rig, that holds a handgun muzzle up. This may allow you to get the muzzle up near your shoulder, so the butt end stays near your waist.
Unfortunately, the weight would probably require a modification to his normal holster material. Interesting challenge.
http://www.klnullholsters.com/NewHolsters/smz.htm