It’s time for Desert Brutality 2021! This match is a bit different from previous Brutality matches; it required three guns: pistol, rifle, and precision rifle. I chose to enter the Cold War division (all guns dating form 1946-1991) using a couple of French classics: my FAMAS and new FR-F2. For a handgun, I considered a MAB P15, but decided instead to take a risk and use a Manurhin MR73 .357 Magnum revolver. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Well, let’s see if that was a wise choice…
Semiauto pistol
“Grey Ghost” – The French Occupation Production P38 Pistol
When the French took over control of the Mauser factory complex in May 1945, the plant had some 85 tons of pistol parts on hand – 7.3 million individual components in various stages of production. […]
Light MGs
.30-06 M1918 American Chauchat – Doughboys Go to France
When the US entered World War One, the country had a grand total of 1,453 machine guns, split between 4 different models. This was not a useful inventory to equip even a single division headed […]
Antiques
System Kuhn: A Novel Single Shot Breechloader
This is an interesting single-shot breechloading system built by Kuhn of Besançon – a city near Switzerland in eastern France. It is clearly a sporting rifle, firing an 11mm black powder cartridge and probably dates […]
“Ce n’était pas une bonne chose.”
Well, with more revolver practice and thus more hits and less reloads, it would have been better I guess. The FAMAS and the FR-F2 on the other hand were very good choices for the match. The FR-F2 especially cleared its stages and probably doubled the prices for these surplus rifles.
I made a similar choice a few years ago on a steel match, bringing a compact 9mm Smith w 8 rd capacity. Most of the stages were at least that long. I had to reload quite a bit, and in fact, squadmates reloaded mags for me on the clock. Not my finest hour.
As long as everybody had fun it is all good. 🙂
An 8-round revovler puts one not as much of a disadvantage as a six-shooter, but still only about half, what common pistols today have per magazine and their much faster reload with filled magazines of course. Though depending on stage design eight hits may be all you need.
Too bad that you were using American ammunition in a Euro revolver. Since Europe isn’t full of antique revolvers, their revolver loads are much hotter than SAAMI.
The aforementioned problem caused your revolver to shoot high.
Good point. Most of the ammo sold in the USA seems to err on the safer lower pressure side. I guess because of safety concerns and being sued if a gun explodes from too hot a load. Whereas the MR-73 was designed to shoot boxes after boxes of full power .357 Magnum.
So, it was not a good idea…however, it would have been interesting for the Partisan role, as partisans use what they can find, eh?
I never see the ads for this event – where is it and is it open, or invitation only?
It is run by Karl/InRangeTV, and essentially only open to people on his Patreon (at least, it tends to sell out in the early access to Patrons). It’s previously been in January, but moved to November this year – and it has not been held yet at the same site twice.
Dragging the weighted sled, throwing the “bell”. Are your sure this isn’t training for the foreign legion?
Ah, understood.
Revolver shooting 101, Ian: always count your shots. There’s no reason to drop the hammer on a spent cartridge.