blogs

Help a blogger

Posted on by Caleb

Sam & Denise at The Ten Ring are apparently moving to Virginia; which in terms of places I’ve lived is one of my favorites.  Sam does have a question about the gun laws in that area:

Is Maryland really worse than Virginia as far as gun rights are concerned?

Yeah, it is.  By a lot.  You can ask PGP-Sebastian about all the drama he had to deal with to get a carry permit in Maryland, as opposed to Virginia which has unlimited open carry and is a “shall-issue” state.

I don’t live there any longer, but they’re concerned about how the Governor of Virginia is pushing gun control legislation, and they’re (rightfully) worried that VA may become a clone of Maryland in terms of gun rights.  Honestly, I doubt it, because the pro-gun community is huge and well organized – when you look up “grass-roots activism” in the dictionary, it says “See Virginia Citizen’s Defense League”.

handguns

My perfect carry gun

Posted on by Caleb

Everyone who carries has a preference in their carry gun; some people are fans of 1911s, some people love Glocks, etc. What makes a good carry gun for me may not make a good carry gun for you, people are different sizes/have different size hands, modes of carry, etc.

I did get an email from a reader asking me why I carry revolvers and DA autos pretty much exclusively.  Instead of replying back, I’ll explain what criteria I use to select a good carry gun, in the order that they matter to me.

  1. Reliability: That’s factor number one.  A gun I’m going to carry has to absolutely go bang every time I press the trigger, I don’t want to sit there wondering in the back of my head “if I need this, will it shoot?”
  2. Ease of function: I don’t like manual safeties.  They annoy me.  I really hate grip safeties.  If I’m drawing from concealment against a threat, the fewer manual steps I have to take with my firearm to get into the fight, the happier I am.  That’s actually my biggest dis qualifier for  1911 style guns, the grip safety combined with the manual safety are two big strikes against the platform for me.
  3. Ease of carry: Clint Smith says that guns should be comforting, not comfortable.  I agree in that the purpose of carrying a defensive firearm isn’t to look fashionable, but at the same time if a gun isn’t comfortable to carry for long periods of time, I’m going to leave it at home.  It’s got to carry well in a variety of methods for me to use it.
  4. Shootability: I love made-up words, and shootability is one of my favorites.  It’s referring to the traits of a gun that make it easier to place accurate hits on target.  The trigger pull, sight radius, grip angle, felt recoil, etc.  Shootability is my last criteria in selecting a defensive handgun.  A gun with a high shootability score is a Ruger 22/45, which isn’t a great carry gun.  My Taurus .45 ACP Tracker has a much lower shootability score, but it’s one of 3 guns I carry on a regular basis.

A lot goes into picking a carry gun; when people ask me for advice the first thing I say is “carry the most powerful gun you can use with accuracy and consistency”.  If the biggest cartridge you can handle is a .32 ACP, then get a great .32 ACP and carry that.  It still beats a pointy stick in the eye.

In case you’re wondering, my regular carry guns are a Beretta 92D Centurion DAO 9mm, a Taurus Tracker w/2 inch barrel in .45 ACP, and then for those rare days when I can’t conceal either of those guns, a Walther P22 in .22LR loaded with 60 grain Aguila SniperSubSonic rounds.  Prior to getting the Beretta 92D, I carried a Taurus PT92, which is now my full time nightstand gun.  The PT92 and the Walther are both DA/SA autos, which I carry safety off with the hammer down on a live round.

news

Castro Resigns

Posted on by Caleb

Fidel Castro has resigned as presidente and commander-in-chief in Cuba.

The odds that this will lead to an actual democracy in Cuba are pretty much slim-and-none, as his worthless brother has already been named publicly as the successor to the position, and will surely be “elected” in the sham elections coming up.

There are some folks calling for an uprising/revolution to throw off Castro’s regime during the transition of power; those people aren’t really thinking.  Raul Castro has pretty much been running the show for the past couple of years, the “transition of power” isn’t going to cause any turmoil whatsoever, because it’s in name only.

I would love to see Cuba get rid of all the Castros, and actually hold open, democratic elections instead of the fake elections they’ve been running.  I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon; the retirement of Fidel in favor of Raul isn’t enough of a catalyst to start shooting; we’re going to have to keep waiting for that legal vacation to Cuba.

Uncategorized

Fair winds and following seas, Grits

Posted on by Caleb

You’ll be missed.

Grits Gresham, noted outdoorsman, writer, author, and television personality, died on February 18, 2008, in his hometown of Natchitoches, Louisiana, at the age of 85.

I lost a very dog-eared and worn copy of “Grits on Guns” when I moved from the East Coast to Indiana.  I still miss that book.

handguns

Boberg XR-9 live fire video

Posted on by Caleb

From the guys at Boberg Engineering comes a live fire video of the XR-9 in action.

Video link here, hosted on nrahab.com for your convenience. Edit: Video may not play correctly in all browsers, I recommend you save the video.

If you don’t remember from my SHOT ’08 coverage, the XR-9 is a truly unique new handgun design, which by using an unconventional feeding mechanism inspired by machine gun design allows you get to get a much longer barrel into a package smaller than a Glock 26. The longer barrel allows for better terminal performance and more velocity from the 9mm round, which performs best at higher velocities.

Here’s a still shot of the XR-9, with the slide opened up, an empty in the air and another round being fed directly into the chamber.

The guys at Boberg are also talking about producing a “Shorty” version as well, you can see an artist’s impression here. We’ll keep you posted with continued updates as the XR-9 continues it’s development and eventual production.

Uncategorized

Indy Gunshop reviews: Popguns

Posted on by Caleb

I went shooting with my friend Greg this last weekend, initially we were planning on going to an outdoor range, but our plans changed and we ended up at Popguns Family Indoor Shooting Range.

I’ve been to Popguns a lot actually, when I was still working for Hyatt, it was where I did most of my shooting.  They’ve recently completed a remodeling of their interior space, which did a lot to open the area up and give customers more room to move around.  The best part about Popguns is that it provides an indoor shooting range alternative to Don’s Guns.

  • Location: One of the negatives about Popguns is the location, located off of 10th St and Post Rd.; it’s not exactly in what I’d call a great area.  The flea market right next door can make parking on weekends kind of dodgy.  On the flip side, some of the most regular customers at Popguns are cops, so there’s often one or more police cars parked out front of the shop; as well as some of employees/proprietors being reserve deputies.
  • Selection: Popguns focuses mainly on the law enforcement/concealed carry market, so their selection outside of semi-autos and small CCW wheelguns isn’t too great.  But, if you’re looking for a good carry gun, be it a semi-auto handgun or a small wheelgun, Popguns is a great stop.
  • Pricing: Not too bad, actually.  Definitely lower prices than you’d find for a comparable gun at Gander Mountain.  They often have great deals on premium defensive ammo, when I was there this weekend they had 500 round cases of .40 S&W Ranger SXT for $350; or a 50 round box of 9mm Hydra-Shok for $30.
  • Range: Popgun’s range is a 50 foot indoor range, for pistols only.  They also have a “No Steel/Aluminum cased” ammo policy, which is a drag for me since I get great deals on Wolf Ammo and run it all the time in my 9mm and .45 ACPs.  It’s a pretty straight forward indoor range, well heated in the winter and cool in the summer, the only place they get a bad mark is that the target carriers are prone to malfunction.
  • Staff: The guys at Popguns are pretty knowledgeable, especially in terms of carry guns and gear.  They do have a little bit of a Glock fetish, but hey, no one’s perfect.  They’re a little salty with people sometimes, but I imagine that has a lot to do with their location, and the kind of…clientèle that is unfortunately attracted.
  • Intangibles: I like the way Popguns is laid out, the wood floors and sort of rustic interior make me feel like I’m in a gun shop.  Sure, the range may get crowded on weekends and the wait time can be long, but when it’s -2 degrees outside I really don’t want to shoot outdoors.

Bottom Line: The location hurts Popguns, but other than that it’s a solid bet.  Nothing spectacular or mind-blowing, just solid.  The C+/B- student if you will allow the comparison.

gun control

Internet Gun Sales

Posted on by Caleb

I brushed past this topic real briefly once before, but in light of the fact that the shooter at NIU bought some Glock magazines from the same dealer that sold the VA Tech shooter his Walther P22, I wanted to address the misconceptions about internet gun sales, and the sale of ammo and accessories over the internet.

Myth 1: You can buy a gun online and have it shipped directly to your house.

Pretty much not true. If you go to a website like Gunbroker.com and purchase a firearm, that gun must be shipped directly to a Federal Firearms License holder in accordance with federal law. Then, that FFL holder is going to run a background check on you before he can legally transfer the gun from his possession to yours. There’s no “Internet loophole”, and there never has been.

There are two types of “guns” that can be shipped directly from one individual (or company) to another individual. These are guns made before 1899 and black powder firearms. Neither pre-’99 guns or black powder guns are viewed as “firearms” by federal law, and thus do not need to involve an FFL holder. A third class of guns, Curios and Relics must be shipped to either an FFL holder, or a holder of a Curio & Relic FFL license.

Myth 2: You can buy automatic weapons on the internet.

This is sort of true, in that it is possible to go to an auction site and purchase an automatic weapon; but that purchase is still subject to all the applicable federal laws that would normally go with the purchase of an automatic weapon. Which means the $200 transfer fee, the background check, and the outrageous prices usually associated with purchasing transferable machine guns.

This is also true about the purchase of silencers and other NFA regulated items. You can purchase them online, but the same National Firearms Act rules apply on the internet as in meat-space.

Myth 3: You can buy armor piercing handgun ammo online.

Also not true.  Armor piercing handgun ammunition is pretty much illegal, and heavily regulated by the BATFE.

When you get down to brass tacks, I think the biggest problem that a lot of people have is that the internet is some kind of online Wild Wild West show where people are running around buying automatic weapons and federal and state laws do not apply.  It’s just not true; federal and state laws apply to all firearms related transactions, even over the internet.  If you’re not 18, you can’t buy ammo online, you can’t ship guns straight to your house, and you can’t buy otherwise illegal firearms.