by Douglas DeBono, 2006

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT StandingOrders.BlogSpot.Com, September 23, 2005

I was busily conducting ballistic research (eh, don't you mean you took a bag full of guns down to the shooting range?)

Yes.

Anyway, one of the other guys comes bounding up to me (much like Ripper the Black Lab). In his hand he had a shiny new piece.

"Would you like to shoot it?" he asked.

I eyed the gun. It looked a bit overbuilt for a 2-inch snubby revolver. "What is it?"

"A .454 Casull," he said proudly.

The .454 Casuall chamber can best be described as cavernous. Ruger built the Alaskan as a trail gun for back packing where the possibilitity of close encounters with Grizzlies is a possibility. (Thus the name Alaskan). Personally, I have no desire for close encounters with Grizzlies or 2-inch revolvers chambered in .454 Casull.

Anyway, this guy had to test fire it. The .454 had a significant recoil as I watched his wrist pull up 45 to 60 degrees, and a fireball (in broad daylight) was clearly visible two feet off the muzzle.

After test firing, he said, "That wasn't so bad. You sure you don't want to try it?"

I assured him I didn't. Now we were on an outdoor range, so the heat flash from muzzle blast dissipated, but inside this thing probably sounds like Godzilla and you can feel the blast effects three lanes over.

Of course, if he doesn't meet a Grizzly, he can probably use the Alaskan to punch holes in granite.