More mouseguns

I get a lot of links here from Mouseguns which is great, because it’s an awesome website; it’s an awesome website because it focuses on my personal favorite niche of the gun world. That of course is mouseguns (I bet you figured out where I was going with that). Wikipedia actually has a pretty decent entry on mouseguns, and of course you can always visit the website linked in the first sentence for more information.

What is a mousegun?
Well, that’s sort of a funky question; because it really depends on to whom the question is being asked. The general consensus is that it’s gun chambered for a light caliber (usually .380 or lower) that can be readily concealed and carried. Mouseguns.com moves superlight 9mm and larger caliber handguns into a category of their own, that of the “ratgun”; which I think is a great name.

Operating off the definition of a mousegun as .380 or smaller in caliber, the next defining criteria would be the weight. The Wikipedia article mentions less that 16 oz, I’ve personally heard less than 20oz, less than 18oz, and from a 1911 fan “anything not a full size 1911a1” which did make me chuckle a bit.

What I can do with a mousegun?
Well, carry it for starters. A lot of mousegun fans (myself included) are fond of saying that “a .25 that you carry is better than a .45 you leave at home”, or “the first rule of gunfighting is have a gun”. While these are true, I would say that if you can carry a big gun, you probably should. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, back to mouseguns.

The purpose behind a mousegun is generally considered to be for last ditch defense at extremely close ranges (<7 yards). I’m generally opposed to people who drop a .32 Kel-Tec in their pocket and don’t practice with it; in my opinion a mousegun requires as much (if not more) practice than a full sized or medium sized defensive pistol. The light caliber calls for well placed shots which is not facilitated by the teeny sights or the generally small grips on your average mouser. If you’ve got one and you carry it, you should practice with the thing.

Can I compete with my mousegun?
Yes and no. While Mouseguns.com has had some postal matches in the past, it’s not a regular occurrence. Additionally, at the club level at lot of IDPA matches have a “Back-up Gun” division, into which most mouseguns would fall. If you’re looking for a sanctioning body that has rules and regulations for competition specific to mouseguns, there isn’t one that I know of.

However, I’m currently working with a few friends to rectify that situation. I was griping to said friend that I couldn’t shoot my mousers in any sort of sanctioned competition, his response was “well, form a sanctioning body, you’ve been shooting for years – and the internet is a great tool.”

With that in mind, if you’re a person that would be interesting in shooting a mousegun in competition, drop me a line in the comments section or to admiralahab at gmail dot com.

Are mouseguns fun to shoot?
Damn skippy they are. The biggest downside is that you can’t buy .32 ACP ammo in the sort of bulk that you can buy 9mm ammo; but it’s not that much more expensive.

If you’re looking for more info on little guns, head over to www.mouseguns.com and start clicking around. There’s a lot of great information on them.