SayUncle has one. A picture, I mean, not a 4th Gen Glock. I’m bummed that I’m not going to be able to make it to SHOT this year to handle the new gun. I wasn’t really impressed with the RTF/Gen 3 Glock, but I’m curious about the interchangeable backstraps and other internal mods.
Precision Delta Backs Youth Shooting
From USPSA/Steel Challenge:
SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — The Scholastic Steel Challenge (SSC) has picked up another prominent industry partner who will be supporting the program though an exclusive product discount for SSC shooters. Precision Delta Corporation has announced it will provide SSC teams with a 20% discount on new or reloaded 9mm ammunition.
“We are proud to be an SSC industry partner,” said Joe Tranum, president of Precision Delta. “Since our founding in 1982, we have grown to become one of the largest manufacturers of remanufactured pistol ammunition and we recognize how important it is for companies like ours to give back to the shooting sports. That’s why we are thrilled to provide SSC teams with a 20% discount on the ammunition they’ll need, not just to train and compete, but to win.”
The Scholastic Steel Challenge is a national team-oriented youth shooting program developed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) and funded in part by a grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The program is open to young men and women ages 12 to 20 and offers them the opportunity to compete as a four person team for a national title in the action pistol discipline of speed shooting.
Already the program has received support from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Smith & Wesson, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network, Glock, Action Target and EOTAC which have committed over $150,000 in funding and product.
“I appreciate Precision Delta coming on board with SSC in these trying times for ammo buyers” said Scott Moore, director for the Scholastic Steel Challenge. “Giving teams ready access to high-quality ammunition at a special discounted price will be a big boost to the SSC program and help insure the growth of the sport of Speed Shooting.”
For more information on the Scholastic Steel Challenge and the Steel Challenge Shooting Association please visit www.steelchallenge.com.
IndyStar gets their database on
Apparently, the IndyStar has had a database of concealed carry permit holders up for quite some time. Unlike the HTO’s database, the Star’s database only lists the number of permit holders in your particular zip code…but it’s also horridly out of date, as it doesn’t even include the 46037 zip code that was created when 46038 was split into two zip codes.
However, although the IndyStar’s database manages to be less of a public safety risk (but not by much) for gun owners, it also manages to be more insulting than the HTO’s database. From NRA:
The searchable database of law-abiding carry permit holders is included in the “Public Safety” section of the paper’s website.
The paper seems to believe that it’s a matter of “public safety” for people to know how many permit holders live near them. Apparently the Star thinks that law-abiding concealed carry permit holders are to be regarded with caution.
You stay classy, IndyStar. Of course, the database does contain neat information for muggers and other criminals looking to target unarmed people: statistics! Each zip code is broken down into demographics, i.e. how many women have permits, how many Asians have permits, etc. For example, in the 46038 zipcode, fully 15% of the permit holders are women.
The IndyStar has been kind enough to provide us with a toll free number though to call and complain: 1-800-669-7827 is their switchboard. Again, the Star is not publishing names or streets, just demographic information with the insinuation that gun owners are a public safety risk, and you should know how many live around you. If you’d like to see the database yourself, click here.
The best of the worst
With regards to the post below on pistol gripped .410 shotguns for home defense, if my only choices for a home defense gun were between a Smith & Wesson M&P-22 (the .22 LR AR trainer) or a pistol gripped shotgun in any caliber, I would choose the M&P-22 every time. Assuming for the moment that those two types of guns (pistol gripped stockless shotguns and an the S&W) were my only choices, the .22 wins hands down for one big reason: only hits count. I’ve shot a ton of rounds though one of those, and if the balloon went up at midnight in my house, I’d much rather have a semi-auto .22 with 25 rounds in the mag than a 5 or 8 round shotgun that I can’t aim properly.
Sure, a .22 isn’t ideal, but a light, accurate, easy handling carbine with big ol’ mags that you can hit with in .22 makes a lot more sense than a shotgun that lacks a proper stock.
Armed American Radio
Quick FYI, I’ll be appearing on Armed American Radio this Sunday night at 9pm Eastern time, hosted by Mark Walters. Interestingly enough, in the “it’s a small world” category, Mark and I both write for US Concealed Carry Magazine – he writes The Ordinary Guy column, and I suppose I’m their token freelance gun games guy.
Check out the show on Sunday – apparently the Herald Times sent Mark an email about the database, and we going to shred it on air!
Home defense shotguns
The proliferation of self-defense loads in .410 has started me thinking down a road that I normally wouldn’t go down, namely that of pistol grip shotguns. See, normally pistol grip shotguns are fail upon fail when chambered in “serious” calibers. The whole point of putting a stock on a shotgun is so that you can mount the gun to your shoulder and use your whole body to absorb recoil, thus making follow up shots faster. So when you take that shoulder stock off the platform, you’re left with an unwieldy super-pistol that’s difficult to accurately aim and challenging to manage the recoil on.
With that in mind though, I recently happened on a Mossberg 500 in .410, that actually had a pistol grip on it. Initially I looked at it like you’d look at something “created” by a cat, but then I got to thinking about the little shotgun. Hefting it, it was light and pretty easy to swing around. With the addition of a sling so you could shoot it SAS-style (the British Special Air Service used a technique of pressing their MP5s against all the slack in their sling) this could actually be a reasonable HD gun.
In .410, the pistol grip shotgun actually makes a lot more sense. Then you get all the benefits of a short overall length, and with the light recoil of even the stoutest .410 loads it would be much easier to aim and manage recoil when firing without the benefit of a shoulder stock. I do feel like the sling is a must have though, if for no other reason than it allows the shoot a way to retain the weapon if you’re in a CQB situation in your house, as well as providing a more stable firing platform when the shotgun is pressed out against the sling.
While a .410 is certainly not the “optimum” platform for home defense (the optimum platform being a 12 Megawatt pulse rifle that vaporizes badguys) I certainly wouldn’t volunteer to stand downrange and catch five or so rounds of Winchester’s new buck and ball load.
A life in fear
I couldn’t support gun control. I think most of you know that about me already, but after the events of the past week, I’ve discovered a new reason: advocates of gun control are afraid. One of the lines I have seen repeated several times is that “I want to know if my neighbor has a gun because I’m afraid of what they might do.” What a terrible life that must be – seeing monsters behind every fence, living in constant fear. It’s no wonder so many gun control advocates are mentally imbalanced, that kind of strain would be nearly impossible to bear.
Winchester adds .380 ACP to their "Bonded" line of ammo
From the Winchester Press release:
Winchester® Ammunition’s Supreme Elite™ Bonded PDX1™ line generated a lot of attention in 2009. To continue meeting the demands of consumers, Winchester has extended the Bonded PDX1 line by offering it in .380 Automatic and .45 Colt for 2010.
The Bonded PDX1 line uses the same technology the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses as its primary service round. The Bonded PDX1 is engineered to maximize terminal ballistics, as defined by the demanding FBI test protocol, which simulates real-world threats.
…
NEW Offerings:
Symbol Line Grain Jacket
S380PDB .380 Auto 95g JHP Bonded
S45CPDB .45 Colt 225g JHP Bonded
FTC stuff: I received nothing from Winchester for this post, I’m just printing a press release. Anyway, if you’ll recall a couple of weeks ago, the post from ENDOTactical that had the Winchester Ranger penetration/expansion diagram – the bonded rounds performed much better when fired through barriers than the non-bonded rounds. Introducing a .380 in the “bonded” format will provide another option for the literally hundreds of thousands of shooters that rely on the .380 for their defensive pistol.