gun stuff

Atypical Gun Lovers

Posted on by Gabby

20131106-104605.jpgOne of my favorite things about attending different shooting events as “press” is that I am given access that allows me to hear the stories of many different types of gun lovers. I can also ask just about any question and nobody thinks it’s weird when I take notes while they answer. While attending the NSSF’s First Shots class at Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna Georgia this weekend, I heard a wide range of interesting tidbits, some of which I’d like to share and discuss.Continue reading →

Bianchi Cup

Big year for NRA Action Pistol

Posted on by Caleb

2014 is going to be a big year for NRA Action Pistol here in the USA. Obviously, the 35th Bianchi Cup is going to be kind of a big deal; this year will also see the NRA World Action Pistol Championship hosted here in the states at the Rockcastle Shooting Center in Kentucky.

12-BianchiLogo

I have very much enjoyed the resurgence of NRA Action Pistol as a top tier shooting sport. When I first shot the match in 2009, it was at the beginning of its impressive climb back towards prominence. In the four years since then, I’ve seen attendance and prize tables grow each year. It’s also been fun to watch new shooters and friends attend the match and become suddenly passionate about it. There is a certain sense of importance to Bianchi Cup; partly because of the great history of the match, and partly because of how well it’s run by the NRA AP team.

I’m excited to see how the World Championship goes down. I’ve never had the chance to attend a match at Rockcastle, but everyone who has tells me it’s an excellent facility. It’s going to be a blast to shoot the World Championship and then head down to Columbia for the Bianchi Cup itself.

I encourage everyone who can to get out and shoot the Cup this year. I’ll be there, along with Shelley Rae from GunUp the Magazine covering and shooting the match. Every year, shooting NRA AP I learn a little bit more about my personal marksmanship and shooting skills, because the match is so challenging. If you can make it, you absolutely should.

revolvers/Rimfire

Rimfire Revolvers for self defense?

Posted on by Caleb

I’ve always wondered about rimfire revolvers as self defense tools. Right out of the gate I need to establish that we call agree that .22 LR and .22 Magnum are not ideal self-defense rounds. We’re not going to re-hash that discussion, because it’s been done before.

Ruger LCR22

But I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of mouseguns in general, and rimfire revolvers especially. Obviously, there’s something to it, because people keep buying them and manufacturers keep making them. For the longest time, I pined for a Smith & Wesson 351PD, a 7 shot j-frame chambered in .22 Magnum. I even for a brief period owned a Taurus 941 in .22 Magnum. My fascination with the guns doesn’t mean I “get” them. I get a rimfire revolver as a kit gun, the S&W 317 and Ruger SP101 (in .22) are great examples of that. They’re small, handy guns that have good sights and won’t be a bother to carry for general outdoors work that doesn’t involve large, scary animals. I get rimfire revolvers as trainers for full size guns, and to teach people the fundamentals of marksmanship. But for defensive purposes?

Aside from the obvious issues with terminal performance, a rimfire revolver has all the problems you’d associate with a centerfire small revolver: difficult trigger pull, small sights with a short radius, and of course relatively low capacity, although the 8-shot Ruger LCR pictured is on par with other mouseguns. So what do they have to offer?

To that end, I ordered a pair of LCRs from Ruger. One in .22 Magnum, one in .22 LR. I’ve shot small revolvers in .22 LR before, and I have an inkling as to the appeal, and it’s the lack of recoil. Even my all steel 640 Pro Series j-frame isn’t fun to shoot for extended practice sessions, but a .22 LR revolver, even one so light as the LCR I can shoot all day long until my forearms get tired. We’re going to spend some time diving into these guns here and on GunUp the Magazine, but my initial feeling about their niche is just that – they’re for people who’ve been sold on the concept of a revolver, but don’t like recoil.

It makes sense when you start to think about it. The micro .380s and small .38s aren’t exactly fun to shoot and practice with; a .22 wheelgun though is going to be something you can put serious trigger time into without getting beat up by muzzle blast and recoil. Once I take these guns to an indoor range and do some shooting, I’ll have more thoughts and feedback.

shooting/Team Gun Nuts

USCA US Carbine Nationals

Posted on by Shelley

rifle-closeup

In a couple weeks I’m headed down to Florida to shoot the United States Carbine Association (USCA) Carbine Nationals. Since I’ve been off the bandwagon, so to speak, for the past couple months and have not been able to get much shooting in, I figured I had best start preparing for the competition.

I’m relatively unfamiliar with USCA and had to start by getting acquainted with their rules and deciding which division to shoot. After flipping through the rulebook, I put together a table to help myself understand what was going on each division.

Continue reading →

NSSF/training

NSSF’s First Shots Classes Explode in Atlanta, GA

Posted on by Gabby

20131104-112405.jpgThis weekend the National Shooting Sports Foundation brought their series “First Shots” to the Atlanta area. 11 locations signed up to host classes, which were offered almost hourly from Friday morning until Sunday evening. In total the event saw a registration of about 500 people, although they could have accommodated up to 900. The full class that I observed on Saturday morning had more women than men, and not all the women were there at the request of their men. A number of student groups were families, some of whom brought their teenage children.

Continue reading →

editorial

The fearful mindset

Posted on by Caleb

I got the idea yesterday evening for a photo series called “Blue steel and brown liquor,” featuring classic old guns and great booze. I posted one of the photos on our company FB page and was surprised by the instant backlash. Here’s a photo from the series:

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Now, what surprised me about the backlash is that people took one look at the photo and immediately said “GUNS AND ALCOHOL DON’T MIX THAT’S A TERRIBLE PHOTO”. I was perplexed by that reaction, because nowhere did we say “hey, let’s get drunk and go shooting,” all we did was post a photo of a blue revolver and some great brown liquor. But people jumped to the conclusion that we’re advocate for drinking and shooting together based on…nothing.

That escalated to people saying things like this photo was “giving ammo to the antis” which finally broke my personal threshold for annoyance, and I started deleting comments. That’s really what prompted this post and its title – the fearful mindset.

I have noticed of late that many pro-gun people are so afraid of “giving ammo to the antis” that anything that isn’t a perfect picture of gun safety is immediately decried as terrible and unhelpful to the cause. It comes from good intentions, because I agree that we shouldn’t post pictures of people doing unsafe things with guns, or doing illegal things with guns, or acting in a threatening or unsafe way. I’ll never post a picture here or on Facebook of a shooter actually firing a gun without ear protection, or someone standing around with their finger on the trigger.

But at the same time, there needs to be a line and an understanding that we shouldn’t live in fear either. I’ll use the example of guns and alcohol because it’s appropriate to this situation. I would never say that you should drink and shoot. I don’t recommend drinking and carrying, just like I wouldn’t recommend drinking and driving. A bad example would be if I posted a photo of someone chugging a beer and open carrying with the caption “looks like a good time.” That would never happen, because it’s a bad example. But I think it’s important to realize that sometimes a picture is just a picture.

We often have a very sheltered mindset in the gun community; we’re so afraid of looking bad to the public that we proactively decry stuff that may not need to be called out as bad. Is a photo of guns and booze contriversial? Of course it is; that’s why I posted it. But it’s also not hurting anyone, and as long as it’s not suggesting that drinking and carrying is acceptable, perhaps we as a community can be upfront about the fact that many of use enjoy guns and brown liquor.