That’s right, Gun Nuts Radio is back and better than ever tonight at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. You can listen live at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts or wait until tomorrow and download the show. It’s good to be back on the air, after a long hiatus for work and the election, and so tonight with the first show since 2010, it’s only appropriate that we talk about 1911s. For whatever reason, maybe the 100th year centennial, lots of people have been talking about the 1911, and so we’re happy to bring that discussion to you tonight at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific from the Gun Nuts Radio World HQ! Don’t miss it at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts!
1911 links
At the Cheaper than Dirt blog, I look at 1911 magazines.
And over at the GunUp Discussion section, we look at the Citadel 1911.
My life in gun sales
Most of you know that my days are spent behind the counter at West Coast Armory’s Indoor Range and while I don’t actively sell guns, a majority of my time is spent having this conversation (at least in my head):
New Sig 522 Commando
At JayG’s blog. Looks pretty awesome. The fake can at the end can be removed and replaced with a real suppressor if that’s legal where you live.
1/9/11
I know 1911 day was yesterday, and I missed it. In honor of that, here’s a post on the Shooter’s Log about low-cost/high value .45 ACP ammo.
A great loss
Amongst all the media attention on the shooting in Arizona, it has not been widely reported that Major Dick Winters, who became famous thanks to the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers passed away yesterday. As a nation, we are a little bit poorer and a little bit smaller today with his loss, as it is no less a tragedy when an actual hero dies. While Major Winters may not have considered himself a hero, preferring to say that he served with a company of heroes, he was.
Rest in peace. As a nation, we are forever in the debt of men like you.
The Sig Sauer P238
It’s not exactly a secret: I love my little Sig Sauer P238. It’s small, it’s easy to shoot and for what it is the firearm is accurate, Caleb can hold an 8 inch group at 25 yards with it. The gun is easily concealed and, especially with Sig’s new extended mags, fits a wide variety of hand sizes but what interests me most about this miniaturized 1911 is what a girls’ gun it is, and I don’t mean just because it comes in rainbow.
I’ve spoken before about how I don’t consider a double action trigger an ideal carry option for women and my P238 has a single action trigger weighing in at around 8 pounds. Which means it’s not going to go off if you breath on it, but it also won’t make your wrists ache.
Another thing to take into consideration is this little gun’s weight. The reason it is more pleasant to shoot than some of the other .380s on the market has in part to do with the fact it weighs a few ounces more. I’ve found that this small weight differential means a lot more to men than women because we aren’t trying to carry the gun in our front pant pocket or suit pocket, which is when those few ounces make the most difference.
Also, the P238 closely parallels the 1911 platform I have found to be very popular among women. This popularity makes a lot of sense when you consider the single action trigger pull and the fact that single stack firearms tend to fit our often smaller hands better. There are a lot of good reasons to carry a pocket gun that matches a platform you are comfortable with, not the least of which is that in a stressful moment you will do what you have practiced. As such I encourage 1911 shooters to take a close look at the P238 when shopping for a pocket pistol.
On a final note the P238 is a lot of fun to accessorize. With 11 models available and literally hundreds of grip options on the market customizing my P238 appeals to the same side of me that owns 4 pairs of black stilletos. Do I need carbon fiber grips on my gun? Probably not, but they sure are cool.
Imagine you’re a He-Man
And you shoot Heavy Metal 3-gun division with an M1 Garand. I don’t know off the top of my head anyone that does that, but let’s just pretend for a second. Because to be honest, that would be pretty much the coolest thing – running 3-gun HM division with a Garand, a GI-style 1911, and an 1897 Trench Gun. Normally you’d run in Heavy Metal Iron sights, but say you wanted to shoot in optics and put a scope on your Garand. Most Garand scope mounts are heavy, kludgy, and fragile.
Until now. Meet the Ultimak M1 Garand rail which puts the scope forward, perfect for long eye relief scopes or red dot optics. Sure, some people may say it’s blasphemy to put an optic on a Garand, but those people probably also don’t like beavertail grip safeties and rails on their 1911s.
I don’t own an M1. I really probably should, if for no other reason than it is a piece of American history, the rifle that won WWII. In fact, I should probably buy 2. One for historical purposes, and another for shooting. The shooter would get the Ultimak rail system put on it most rickey-tick.
This is pretty cool. The Ultimak guys make good stuff, helping bring guns like the M1 Carbine into the 21st century, and now they’re offering a similarly slick set-up for the Garand.
Gun Owners of America opposes gun rights
Short version of the story: GOA opposes that a law-abiding resident be granted a carry permit. The NRA stands up for this person’s rights. I guess “no compromise” actually means “compromise if we don’t like the person”.
Smith & Wesson 622
I’ve had a lot of questions lately regarding what firearm I’ll be using for my rimfire training. I’m currently using a Smith & Wesson 622, it’s a family gun and while trying to find out more about it I discovered there wasn’t much information floating around the internet on this particular gun so off to the library I went.
The Smith & Wesson 622 was manufactured 1989-1996, I know my particular firearm to be from between 1992 and 1994 since that’s the only time period when they manufactured them with 12 round mags. The version that I have with a 4.5″ barrel and stainless alloy frame is a field gun weighing in at about 22 oz. They also make a 6″ version that is only an ounce heavier and, in ’96, was manufactured with a ventilated rib as the 622VR. Since that model was only manufactured in ’96 it is considered a bit of a collectors item. Sadly, mine is far more boring than that.
The gun is single action only with an internal hammer and a bladed front site with a fixed grooved rear sites making it a great target pistol (some generations of the 622 did have adjustable sites, mine is not one of them). For me it has always run reliably even with dirty ammo and minimal cleaning. I have run about a thousand cheap Remington rounds through this gun in the past year and have never had a problem with it. Recently I’ve been running about 300 CCI Minimags a week through it and still no issues, not altogether surprising considering CCI is the end-all be-all of .22 ammo. These guns are extremely accurate and often end up with a scope mounted on them for distance pistol target purposes.
Personally, I’m just excited to have a gun that’s easy to shoot and that I know will run. Reliability is always a concern with .22s, however this little gun has always functioned well for me.