Saturday, October 27, 2007

Gun Shop Blues

America is great! Freedom in capitalism, freedom of choices, freedom of guns. So when I have some spare money from paychecks working a job, I can buy a gun of my choice, because it's my hobby. Where do I go? A locally owned gun shop. Now, new gun owners often will go to a gun shop and look at their choices, ask the clerk/owner about them based on their experience, and it's good information. Then there's people like me who are experienced in firearms, and often this is where the trouble begins.

Gun Shop Blues (2)

Because there are so many companies and so many guns, there are so many opinions. The most recent time I went to one, I was looking for a scope base rail for my AR15 rifle, I didn't want to wait for delivery from online. I asked them if they had them, and they said no, because "they were getting away from the 'black rifle.' GIVE ME A BREAK!!! The AR15 is the most accessorizable rifle in the world, and places can make tons of money selling them for that particular gun alone. I don't know what they were going with that statement. I've been to another place that when I mentioned the company that made my AR, he alluded to it being a piece of crap, then tried to promote a Colt AR15. "Well, if you want a real AR, you go with a Colt, the best AR with the best value."

Gun Shop Blues (3)

Well, for some reason it is true, Colt has the best value, they are much more expensive than other ARs, and they tend to resell a lot higher, but in terms of quality, Colts are mediocre and average. Many companies strive to make better quality and fit and finish than Colts. It just amazes me that many people twice our age make up claims that are not true, and have not been tested, when I have seen for myself that they are not true, and it is just an opinion that they mix up the facts in a blender. It makes me wonder what misleading information gun shop proprietors give to new gun owners.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Nearly Endless choice of Handguns






I've taught my cousins and some friend how to shoot, and they all love it. I chose the Glock 9mm because its utterly reliable, sexy looking (yes, you hang around me long enough, and guns can be sexy!), easy to maintain, and magazines are everywhere. But I've always been well rounded on handguns, I've owned Rugers, and if I were to go to something not a Glock, Ruger would be my choice. They can be a little big, but they are utterly reliable and well built. I feel that some people hold .45 to a pedastal that wasn't there to begin with. Pistol cartridges are mediocre at best. 9mm is an all around excellent cartridge. It's suited to any service size design, and compared to it, calibers smaller than it don't even compare. So in the family of common pistol cartridges, there's lots of choices, and there are so many companies competing for your money and praise. The way I look at it, you have to choose a caliber your going to like, and chose a pistol that works well for you. If it isn't comfortable for you, you wont like it. Some may have characteristics that don't work well for you. So its all choice, and so there isn't room to judge one from another, unless you've had physical mechanical problems and/or finish problems and premature wear. So when I teach people, I imbue them with that part of the fun is researching and trying each one out, even shooting them before making a choice. Then, ones you've shot, you can tell others based on your experience that it may be good for them.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Magpul Masada


Magpul from what I have seen in recent months makes a lot of devices that make AR-15s run even smoother, such as magazine followers. They also make other supportive devices for .308 powered rifles. Their focus seems to be forward thinking ideas to make current battle type rifles possibly work even better. They just came out with a whole new concept assault rifle, using many modern battle rifle conventions, and showing some improvement ideas. We'll get more into its features soon. This is just to illustrate that in a way, a lot of these smaller companies making new weapons ideas is like when Armalite came out with the AR-15 and the military wanted it and had Colt mass produce a militarized version what became the infamous M16. However, these days I don't see the military adopting anything new anytime soon. It appears that no matter how much many of us complain about some of the 5.56 NATO cartridge properties in combat, it's not going away when so many NATO pact countries have adopted it. Is the military sticking with the M16/M4 for a little longer? It does work very well, extremely accurate, and when absolute shot placement is practiced, it kills enemies. Is the military thinking far ahead of these designs? Are they not even caring and just staying with the tried and true? Are they in a state of 'we'd like to, but we have too much of what we already have, and fielding a new weapon system would take too long'? I don't think any of us knows exactly. But as time goes on, in the near future, aspects of this will be covered in this blog.

Friday, October 19, 2007

The long exhausted 9mm vs. .45 debate


After much thought and discussion with my two best friends, it just seems to me that the military should just use .45 cal automatic pistols again. Their using the Beretta M9 9mm, and sure it has a capacity of 16 rounds, but it's Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) and it doesn't have the stopping power as a result. They should go back to .45, because though it's a big honkin' caliber, its relatively easy to shoot, especially in the tried and true M1911.

As for here in the states, the good ol Pacific Northwest, and targetshooting in the woods and at ranges, 9mm works great. Its cheap and reliable, and if I'm concerned with stopping power in a rare and mostly unlikely defensive situation (getting mugged, robbed, assaulted, ect.), heavier weighted hollow point (HP) add a lot more stopping power and more factory cartridge choices. To each is their own. I have a 9mm Glock, and I have shot a .45 Glock, and I am tempted to own one. But to sit there and say .45 is better, isn't totally right. Yes it has more stopping power, but each has their own characteristics, and we shouldn't all be too terribly worried about the rare defensive situation. If your only sticking to the .45 because of the stopping power in defensive incidents, then I feel your missing out on part of the fun, because I think the Germans back over 100 years ago have engineered the single greatest all around pistol cartridge in the world, and yes the .45 is good company and competition.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

AR-15 accessories lessons

Long story short, I have an AR-15, and I am proud of it. It shoots good. I recently started reloading my own ammunition, to have when the retail shelves get low in quantity, and I can shoot my factory ammo and turn it around right into reloaded ammo. Well, I wanted to make sure they shoot consistant, so I put a fairly nice scope on it. One slight problem was that the fixed front right might get in the way of the scope being mounted directly on the flat-top upper reciever, so I bought a raised picatinny base to mount the scope. I got it for like $30, checked it twice, everything seemed to be right, and the left dial adjustment pegged out about an inch and a half to the right of the center of the target, AND I WAS 10 YARDS IN FRONT OF THE TARGET STAND!! It was so bad that I couldn't do it at the normal 25 yards, I had to get closer. I took the mount off, put the scope right on the flat base of the reciever, and found that the scope, even at 3X magnification, was more than powerful enough to look beyond the front sight. Your eyes kind of do the same thing, if you close one eye, then the other and focus in and out at an object well before a wall, it can move and change a bit of perspective. I can take my glasses off, and all of a sudden the fuzzy view of my nose is now bugging me, and it's not like I'm pinnocio. Anyway, I found that the scope lower, worked well, and it sighted in flawless, and the next week when I had more time, it shot 1" to 1-1/8" groups at 100 yards. I am Mr. try out the cheapest and hopefully get lucky. This was not one of those. So it sometimes is worth paying the extra dough, so that the scope base isn't looking in a far right direction.