With the advent of the SSK-50 (long ramble)

by Paul , Friday, September 22, 2023, 08:59 (363 days ago)

once more the idea of a single shot pistol dances through my fevered brain. For years I've looked on gun show tables, pawnshop shelves and gunshop displays, but rarely have I found a Contender or Encore of any vintage for sale at a reasonable price. Still, the idea of a 10", straight wall chambered pistol tickles my fancy. I'd given up on the idea with the demise of TC, but SSK's bringing their new frame to market caught my attention.

The problem being, what caliber? I can't see spending a bunch on multiple barrels, would rather have just one frame dedicated to one caliber as I don't get up north often enough to put much lead through them anyway, so why complicate things more than need be?

So far my cogitations have yielded a 10" barrel with a straight wall case chamber. I don't see any need to mess around with bottle neck cartridges in such a piece, although the WCF family DOES beckon enticingly. A 38-40 or 32-20 or 25-20 could be entertaining in a 10" barrel, but brass is a forlorn hope in today's market and I can't see tooling up for producing such rounds as the cost of the firearm itself is considerable.

So now I'm thinking along the lines of "What do I have that could be interesting in such a platform?"

Calibers I load for when up north include:

• 32 SWL
  
• 327 Magnum
  
• 38 Spl
  
• 357 Magnum
  
• 44 Spl
  
• 45 Colt