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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1690 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm picking up Hankins and Guelzo's The Golden Thread, Volume 1, on the strength of this review. So far it is hitting the right notes.

Working my way through a collection of Harlem Detective novels by Chester Himes.

He does a superb job at capturing how the criminal class talks to each other and interacts with each other. The setting is black Harlem, but it could easily be my white and hispanic clients, too. Just endless jabbering that goes nowhere, trying to pull one over each other or the cops with "clever" blather, trying to hype themselves up, etc. Utterly transparent once you see the pattern and usually only works at fooling themselves or other criminals who are stupid/high.

Always interesting to read pre-70s crime fiction and see the guns mentioned (not that the authors are necessarily that accurate or know much about guns). Mostly revolvers like 38 specials or .32s, maybe the occasional .25 auto, but rarely a .45 or 9mm. Whereas now when my clients get caught with guns, 90% of the time it's a 9mm, with a .45 or .40 putting in an occasional appearance.

According to the ATF, in years 2022 and 2023:

Among the 770,000 traced pistols (part 3 table CGT-03):

CaliberProportion (%)
9 mm60
.4013
.3808
.457
.224
.251
7.62 mm1
10 mm1
.57 (typo for 5.7 mm?)1
5.56 mm0.8

Among the 25,000 pistols recovered in Mexico (part 7 table SWB-10):

CaliberProportion (%)
9 mm45
.2217
.38012
.457
.406
.254
.383
7.62 mm2
.322
5.7 mm0.4

Was that 7.62 a Tokarev or is there another 7.62 handgun cartridge?

I'd guess it's cut-down AK "pistols".

I've seen people one-hand an RPK-74 when shooting into the air, but 7.62x39 has 1.5 the energy of 5.45x39. I doubt anyone would want to shoot that from a pistol.

1.5x the energy

Recoil is based solely on momentum, not energy; energy is not conserved in explosions. m(bullet) * v(bullet) = m(rifle) * v(rifle).

Accounting for similar impulse (since the bullet spends about the same amount of time in the barrel for each of these), here's what we see:

7.62x39 out of a Draco is 124 grains * 1700 FPS, and a Draco weighs about 7 pounds (or 49000 grains), so if you let the rifle freely recoil it'd hit you at 4.3 FPS. Oh yeah, and that's after the action's done cycling; the peak impulse is only going to be about 6/7ths of that because there's about a pound of mass that takes a while to hit the back of the assembly.

Compare to-spec .357 Magnum out of a typical pistol, which is 158 grains * 1400 FPS, and the gun weighs about 3 pounds (or 21000 grains), so if you let the handgun freely recoil it'd hit you at 10.5 FPS.

This is why Dracos are manageable one-handed from a pistol; but the fact you're holding 7 pounds out in front of you makes them kind of unwieldly.

TIL, thanks

They exist. Tokarev is a niche handgun for collectors in the USA. Handguns chambered in rifle cartridges appeal to gun nuts for some reason, IDK why, but you can easily find both AK caliber and AR-15 caliber handguns.

There are 3 reasons why:

  • it's an end run around the 1989 Federal import ban of "non-sporting" rifles (pistols are not rifles), which in addition to AKs also tends to affect clones of HK products, particularly MP5s
  • it's an end run around SBR laws, especially after the advent of the "pistol brace" (it's a stock with a fig leaf over it); yes, the lack of tax and registration is part of it, but there are a bunch of other rules around SBRs that don't apply to pistols
  • because rifles that short are kind of stupid and impractical, and memes are a great reason to own guns (usually Dracos and TEC-9s, but also applies to AR-18s around St. Patrick's day, Carcanos around President's Day, FALs in certain paint jobs, etc.)

the "pistols" in question are essentially AKSU-style carbines with no stock installed. I'm given to understand they're fairly popular.

New "handguns" (PCCs? SMGs?) currently available for purchase on guns.com:

  • 7.62×39 Soviet: 130

  • 7.62×51 NATO: 6

  • 7.62×25 Tokarev: 2

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