This was in yesterdays Baltimore Sun...the very liberal and anti-gun non-newspaper here in MD.
Looks like they are taking the ".50 cal" and demonizing it...even though a .50 magnum isn't what they think that it is.
New 5-shooter is biggest from Smith & Wesson
.50 Magnum's bullet can down a charging bear, handgun maker says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press
Originally published February 14, 2003
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Dirty Harry is now outgunned: Smith & Wesson has introduced its biggest handgun ever, a .50-caliber Magnum.
The five-shot revolver with an 8 1/2 -inch barrel weighs about 4 1/2 pounds - roughly a pound more than the big, black .44 Magnum wielded by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies.
It fires a new .50-caliber cartridge that the company said produces nearly three times the muzzle energy of the .44-caliber - or enough stopping power to bring down a charging bear.
"The primary market for it is hunting" big game, spokesman Ken Jorgensen said.
Steve Comus, publications director of the Safari Club International, said he expects Smith & Wesson to sell several thousand of the weapons to sportsmen interested in hunting with handguns.
Some questioned the wisdom of producing a more powerful handgun.
"It boggles the mind," said Tom Ortiz, executive director of the Violence Policy Center. He predicted the new Magnum would create "a new order of threat to law enforcement."
Smith & Wesson first brought out the .44 Magnum in the 1950s.
The new gun, which sells for $989, is one of nine models Smith & Wesson introduced this week at a trade show in Orlando, Fla. President Roy C. Cuny said it was the largest number of new introductions in recent years.
The introduction of the big gun marks a sharp departure for the 150-year-old company, which for the past five years has concentrated on the development of lightweight revolvers using alloys of rare metals.
Among the other new guns being introduced by Smith & Wesson is the industry's lightest ever: a .44 Magnum that has a 4-inch barrel, scandium frame and titanium cylinder, and weighs in at 1 pound, 10 1/2 ounces.
"We see this as an opportunity for backpackers," Cuny said. "A light firearm of this caliber, in fact, provides protection against bears and other big things."
Despite a spike after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, handgun sales have long been on the decline in the United States, and Smith & Wesson has struggled along with other gun makers.
But Smith & Wesson, long the industry leader, also lost business in recent years after striking a deal with the Clinton administration in 2000 to install safety locks on all its guns and change its marketing practices.
Other gun makers decided not to follow Smith & Wesson's lead, and gun advocates accused the company of selling out.
In 2001, the ailing gun maker was sold by its British owner to an Arizona start-up company that has all but abandoned the agreement with the government and adopted a more aggressive and unapologetic marketing stance.
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun
Also see
Looks like they are taking the ".50 cal" and demonizing it...even though a .50 magnum isn't what they think that it is.
New 5-shooter is biggest from Smith & Wesson
.50 Magnum's bullet can down a charging bear, handgun maker says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press
Originally published February 14, 2003
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Dirty Harry is now outgunned: Smith & Wesson has introduced its biggest handgun ever, a .50-caliber Magnum.
The five-shot revolver with an 8 1/2 -inch barrel weighs about 4 1/2 pounds - roughly a pound more than the big, black .44 Magnum wielded by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies.
It fires a new .50-caliber cartridge that the company said produces nearly three times the muzzle energy of the .44-caliber - or enough stopping power to bring down a charging bear.
"The primary market for it is hunting" big game, spokesman Ken Jorgensen said.
Steve Comus, publications director of the Safari Club International, said he expects Smith & Wesson to sell several thousand of the weapons to sportsmen interested in hunting with handguns.
Some questioned the wisdom of producing a more powerful handgun.
"It boggles the mind," said Tom Ortiz, executive director of the Violence Policy Center. He predicted the new Magnum would create "a new order of threat to law enforcement."
Smith & Wesson first brought out the .44 Magnum in the 1950s.
The new gun, which sells for $989, is one of nine models Smith & Wesson introduced this week at a trade show in Orlando, Fla. President Roy C. Cuny said it was the largest number of new introductions in recent years.
The introduction of the big gun marks a sharp departure for the 150-year-old company, which for the past five years has concentrated on the development of lightweight revolvers using alloys of rare metals.
Among the other new guns being introduced by Smith & Wesson is the industry's lightest ever: a .44 Magnum that has a 4-inch barrel, scandium frame and titanium cylinder, and weighs in at 1 pound, 10 1/2 ounces.
"We see this as an opportunity for backpackers," Cuny said. "A light firearm of this caliber, in fact, provides protection against bears and other big things."
Despite a spike after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, handgun sales have long been on the decline in the United States, and Smith & Wesson has struggled along with other gun makers.
But Smith & Wesson, long the industry leader, also lost business in recent years after striking a deal with the Clinton administration in 2000 to install safety locks on all its guns and change its marketing practices.
Other gun makers decided not to follow Smith & Wesson's lead, and gun advocates accused the company of selling out.
In 2001, the ailing gun maker was sold by its British owner to an Arizona start-up company that has all but abandoned the agreement with the government and adopted a more aggressive and unapologetic marketing stance.
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun
Also see
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