Category: firearms

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firearms handguns rifle

Which Of My Guns Do I Hate The Most?

I’ve a bunch of guns. Some I shoot a lot while there are some that I rarely shoot.

For example, my first gun, which is a very nice gun (Sig Sauer P220 Equinox), has less than 300 rounds through it. It was a Christmas gift from my wife. I love the gun, but it’s difficult to control. It’s chambered in 45ACP and has an alloy frame; that and the grips make the gun difficult to shoot, so I don’t shoot it all that much. I do have some Hogue rubber grips that work well with it, but the grips aren’t as pretty as the wooden panels it comes with.

There are some guns that I don’t shoot because I flatout don’t like them:

I’ve a Canik TP9 Elite Subcompact – it has less than 600 rounds thorugh it (that’s actually a fair bit of ammo being shot through it, in my opinion). What I hate about this gun is that the recoil spring is super stiff – I hate racking the gun. As well, it’s grip doesn’t have the best traction, so it’s difficult to control.

My wife’s Ruger SR9C is in a similar space as the above-mentioned Canik. The recoil spring is stiff as hell. That gun has less than 130 rounds through it. It shoots extremely well (it has an outstanding trigger), but I just can’t stand racking it.

I’ve a Rock Island Armory Rock Ultra that is chambered in 10mm. I hate it. It’s a huge and heavy gun and it wasn’t even cheap ($700). I’m not accurate with it. The grip is so wide that I’ve issues with grip control. The recoil spring on that gun is stout AF, too, which I hate, even knowning that the spring’s stiffness is a necessity. I’ve 199 rounds through that gun.

I also have a Ruger AR-556 that I’ve not shot at all. I bought it back in 2016 (owned it 9+ years). I’ve just not been driven to shoot it, mainly because it’s all I ever shot when I was in the military. I’m familiar enough with the platform to where there’s no drive to shoot it at all. I’ve extra mags for it, and I’ve stockpiled some ammo for it. I’ve also bought optics for it, as well as harnesses (I eventually plan to take it to a carbine course).

I have two AKs (of four) that have very low round counts. One is an Arsenal SAM7-UF, which has like 30 rounds through it. I love everything about that gun and had held off on shooting it because I kept hearing folks say that underfolders were the devil and that they’re difficult to shoot. When I took it to the range, it wasn’t uncomfortable at all to shoot – there’s nothing wrong with it. The other AK, a bastard build by Classic Firearms (AK-63D), has a total of 223 rounds through it. It has a flawed FSB (front sight block) install, I believe, as it was difficult to zero.

Most of my guns that have low round counts are great guns. I don’t shoot them much because I’ve so many and I’ve favorites that hijack most of my time and interest.

That being said, the guns I truly dislike are the TP9 Elite Subcompact and the Rock Ultra 10mm. I would not miss those two guns if I got rid of them.

The ones that I like the most are the Bul Armory SAS II Ultralight, the Alpha Foxtrot S15 1911, and the Fusion Firearms XP Pro (new gun). In fact, I love all of the 2011s and 1911s (all but the 10mm Rock Ultra). I live the PSA AK-V too (that’s my favorite AK pistol).

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The Rock Island Armory Tac Ultra MS 9mm Is Now Dialed In!

I went to the range maybe two weeks ago and my main goal was to dial in the sights on a particular 1911. Instead of spending a significant amount of range time zero’ing the gun, what I’d been doing was shooting 1-2 mags every range visit, bringing the targets home, and making sight adjustments at home. I’d then bring the gun when next visiting the range and testing the sights to determine if further adjustments were necessary. I did this maybe 3 times before I was satisfied.

Why not just spend a whole range session to do this? I’ve other guns that I want to shoot (to work out similar issues in adjustment)…timesharing guns can sometimes be problematic and I don’t have my own range or know of anyone that does.

The below video highlights the culmination of properly adjusting the sights on this gun.

The gun is a Rock Island Armory Tac Ultra MS with the 9mm barrel (it came with two). I’ve never shot this gun well, accuracy-wise, and I’d thought it was due to it being bushing-barreled. I’ve another RIA MS 9mm gun and it is bull-barreled – that gun is a low-effort gun as far as accuracy is concerned. I’ve always been accurate with that gun and I always thought it was mainly due to the bull barrel.

Both of those guns lack front strap checkering, and I sometimes struggle with maintaining a proper grip on those two guns. I added a strip of Talon Grips tape on each on their front straps. I think that is why I had such a great session with the Tac Ultra.

Note that I’m shooting at 15 yards, at 2″ sticky bullseyes. I could barely see those sticky targets at that range, but tried to just aim as best I could and tried to maintain proper grip and trigger discipline. I think it worked out well!

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anti-gun blog firearms ownership politics stewardship

About those recent comments…

About the political aspect of this blog: please do not leave offensive comments and later say, “no offense.”  Please do not assume I’m a “Tea Bagger”.  I’m not.  Please do not bring any anti-gun mentality to this blog.  If you don’t like what you read, move on, because I probably didn’t have you in mind when I decided to create the blog…the internet is HUGE and you should be able to find something more to your liking than this blog.

What you think is radical may in fact not be as radical as you think.  It’s only radical because you don’t believe or understand the subject matter.  Radical Islamics…THEY’RE radical.  Fostering gun ownership in a nation that gives it’s citizens the right to bear arms…that’s not radical.  You also may think that some of what’s posted here is dramatic.  If you think so, this blog isn’t for you.

Gun topics tend to bring out the nastiness in people.  Guns are tools, just as anything tangible in today’s world is.  I speak of politics because of today’s stance against firearms (and stewardship means talking about ALL aspects..you don’t dodge subjects because people might not respond well to the subject matter).  I speak to educate those that are curious about firearms and the laws governing them (and there are a LOT, so you tend to see a lot of posts on this blog regarding politics — there’s no way around that).  I’m not waiting for someone who is against gun ownership to start a debate.  That’s not what this blog is about.

I’m trying to foster stewardship and education.  If you hate guns, this blog is NOT for you.  I’m not trying to appease those that are against gun ownership nor those that think “they’re not out to take your guns”.  I’m not trying to cooperate with anti-gun folk, so there’s no compromise when it comes to my posts on my blog.  I don’t need convincing, either.

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Facebook’s Attack on the 2nd Amendment

I wanted to share a few quick notes on my opinion of Facebook’s recent attacks on groups that involve firearms.

Here’s one thing I really hate about FB. They’ve hacked pages and if you’re not careful on what you click, you can have your page hijacked. Now that’s not the only worry…personal information can be stolen and some of that information can be used to damage other aspects of your life.

When I report a hacked page, FB does nothing. Nothing at all. But yet they’ll make it a mission goal to shut down gun groups for things they don’t understand. In many states, private sales of guns is legal (ie, Virginia). Another thing is, they seem to not even be investigating…they respond based on reports. Anyone can claim a page/group is in violation, but you’d think FB would be validating the claims. I don’t think they are.

When the public was outraged that the US government was serving notices to social media, Zuckerberg was all over it, insisting that he was fighting “the man” because of privacy concerns. Yet he’ll tromp all over 2A. WTF. You can’t choose what Bills within the Bill of Rights you’ll support. If you tear one down, what’s to stop the rest from being torn down? You can’t love 1A, speak bad about 2A, try to get 2A removed, and expect 1A to be safe. These people are seriously retarded.

 Yes, I know that FB isn’t the only social media service that has issues with firearms.  And I also know that FB is a private organization.  FB isn’t the only social media outlet that does this type of thing:  Google shut down Hickok45 twice last month for posting/linking his videos to Google+.  Does that make it right, though?  No.  This has nothing to do with the Patriot Act (there are no parallels and just because the PA exists doesn’t mean we need to be tearing down basic freedoms), as a recent responder mentioned.  This also has nothing to do with supporting a Republican cause (this is another labeling of the aforementioned responder).  I’m not a Republican — you can be Democrat and still love and support guns, but just because I’m speaking out against FB and anti-gunning tactics doesn’t mean I’m Republican.

I suggest gun owners and the firearms community utilize services that support firearms and the 2nd Amendment.  One such tool is MeWe, a social media tool.  I’ll be creating a MeWe account soon.  There’s also GunDistrict.com.  Both of these are good social media tools that are less tyrannical than FB.

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Condition 1 Carry VS the “Israeli Method”

Semi-automatic pistols can be carried in various conditions of readiness. First defined by the legendary  Lt Col John Dean “Jeff” Cooper, these conditions are commonly accepted to be:

  • Condition 0 – A round is in the chamber, hammer cocked, and the safety is off.
  • Condition 1 – known as “cocked and locked”, means a round is in the chamber, the hammer cocked, and the manual thumb safety on the side of the frame is applied.
  • Condition 2 – A round is in the chamber and the hammer is down.
  • Condition 3 – The chamber is empty and hammer down with a charged magazine in the gun.
  • Condition 4 – The chamber is empty, hammer down and no magazine is in the gun.

These conditions are/were designed with a 1911 style pistol in mind. The Glock with no external safety (but with its “safe action” safety measures) technically can’t have the thumb safety applied so it’s condition when loaded and chambered is a matter of debate amongst handgun owners and experts but it’s commonly accepted that a Glock is in “Condition 1” when loaded with a round in the chamber.

More @ http://tgace.com/2011/11/08/condition-1-carry-vs-the-israeli-method/

 

Another page on the subject is @ http://www.sightm1911.com/Care/1911_conditions.htm and it elaborates on the different conditions.

In which condition do you carry and why?

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anchor carry CNN firearms self defense shooting

Former CNN Anchor After Self-Defense Shooting: “If you don’t want to carry please don’t. Then, shut the f— up about it.”

Excerpted from a recent NRA ILA newsletter:

Last week we shared the harrowing story of former CNN Headline News anchor Lynne Russell and husband Chuck de Caro, who exercised their right to armed self-defense to stop a gun-wielding robber who forced his way into their Albuquerque, N.M. motel room.  Espousing a straightforward logic that even gun control supporters should be able to grasp, Russell stated, “If you don’t want to carry please don’t. Then, shut the f–k up about it. Make your own decisions.”  Both Russell and de Caro are Right-to-Carry permit holders, and in an interview with Fox News following the shooting Russell had some choice words for anyone that would deprive them of the right to bear arms.

Espousing a straightforward logic that even gun control supporters should be able to grasp, Russell stated, “If you don’t want to carry please don’t. Then, shut the f–k up about it. Make your own decisions.”

Makes sense to me!

Read more here.

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So, You Don’t Like A Particular Firearms Online Reviewer?

Every once in awhile when conversing a particular gun or accessory that might be highlighted in a YouTube review or article, I get the following or sometime similar:

“James Yeager SUCKS!  Please quit sharing his content!”

Please realize that it’s easier for you to filter (mentally or physically) the things you don’t like about the firearms industry than for you to personally inform me of your distaste…I’m not going to cater my thoughts, forum banter, or blog content to every individual that’s displeased with some online firearms entity.  Why should I care what you think about him/her?  I’m only trying to share information about a particular product and many times (especially if a product isn’t popular or if it’s new), there will only be one online reviewer posting about it.  When I share the data with others and they don’t particularly like the reviewer, either move along or vent elsewhere…hammering me about your loyalties (or lack of) isn’t going to get me to remove or alter my content.

I posted in a forum that a revised DA/SA TP-9 was just released to the public and one person asked for an information source.  There is only one source of information thus far, review-wise, and that’s James Yeager.  The video isn’t really a review…it’s more of a notice that a review is coming and that they’ve a gun on-hand to review.  Wouldn’t you know…several guys got bent about the fact that it happened to be Yeager that provided video coverage of the gun.  They shared their displeasure by attempting to share out that I didn’t know what I was doing and that by linking his videos, I was hurting the firearms community.

My response was that no matter who it might be, people always complain.  I’m not going to try to make everyone happy by trying to appease them when they make such trivial complaints.  If you don’t like reviewer X, that’s YOUR problem, not mine.  Forums have ignore features.  If you don’t like what you see and I’m not violating a forum’s terms of usage, then you should use the ignore feature…if you don’t and you become irrate, I’ll use it on you.

I never think like I know more than people who make their living selling guns or firearms training, the only exception would probably be TheYankeeMarshall…that guy is a total tool, as he give bad reviews on guns he’s never touched/shot, which makes him less than credible on the whole, IMO.  And while I can’t stand TYM, I never try to force my opinion of him down someone else’s throat.  You might think James Yeager has no firearms knowledge, and to be honest, I don’t really like the guy personally, but I do agree with a lot of the knowledge he shares about certain firearms or his logic on self defense.  That’s me taking what I want from him while not caring for his personality traits.

As an individual, I’d prefer choosing on my own what knowledge is good for me and what knowledge I consider to be junk.  I don’t need anyone trying to decide for me…I’m no sheep.  If I need help deciphering or deciding on a particular issue, THEN I’ll ask for forum input.  Unsolicited “advice” that turns into rants?  You can keep it to yourself.  If you don’t like a particular person, what’s it worth to me?  Nothing…such things do not add value to discussions.  I take what I can from most online firearms personalities, even if I don’t like their demeanor.  Another thing:  if someone is judging these reviewers, what’s the criteria in deciding who sucks and who doesn’t?  Who says I have to agree?  Does it matter if I agree when I’m trying to get a point across that doesn’t relate to that particular person?  Most of those things are highly subjective…each person will look at things differently but I refuse to play the groupie and hunt down other opposing groups.  I’m an outlier…I group to no one.

When I state these thoughts, it’s certainly not to be dickish.  If you share your opinions, be prepared for me to share mine, and if it doesn’t agree with yours, don’t get bent.  We’re all sharing a passion for firearms…it’s stupid to let such trivial things get between us, especially when continuing to struggle in ensuring our 2A rights aren’t eroding.

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2A carry concealed carry firearms training

Some 2A Food For Thought

I posted the following yesterday to my friends and family on Facebook:

Yes, folks, I carry. I’m carrying 70% of the time I’m not showering, not sleeping, or not on the work campus. Do I care that others don’t know that I carry? No…that’s not what the 2nd Amendment is about. The 2A doesn’t say that I’ve the right to bear arms as long as other people know I’m carrying and that they’re comfortable with it. Why do I carry? Because I choose to. Basically, I’ve the constitutional right to carry. There’s nothing conditional about it. I do not have to let other citizens know. Yes, open carry is an option (it’s legal here), but not for me…why would I let potential bad guys know that I’m their first priority?

Those that see me occasionally…I was probably carrying when you last saw me. You probably never knew. You probably felt comfortable then. Will you feel as comfortable the next time we meet, now that you know? I hope so, because I wasn’t a nut then and I’m not a nut now.

Why advertise that I carry? You all already know I own guns…I’ve been posting pictures and articles the last 9 months. I’ve been a gun lover since 1986, when I enlisted. That’s the total of my adult life. You’re also my friends, which is why you’re seeing this now. The assumption is that you already suspected that I carry, so it’s not a big deal for me to keep this a secret amongst a certain group of people. Some people hide such facts. I don’t.

Again, this isn’t a big deal for me. YMMV.

Where’s this coming from? An opinion on 2A from someone that doesn’t exercise the right.

I got the reply, which I agree with:

Now more than ever, it’s an option that every law abiding American should exercise.

Someone then replied to him with the following:

I know enough law abiding Americans who are generally a danger to themselves and others to appreciate that not everyone should have a gun.

What does someone say to that?  Well, the same can be said of anything. Some people have no business driving, for example, yet they’re never noticed until they’ve been in several nasty accidents.  And, when this happens (it happens a LOT with chronic drunks driving home), is there overwhelming support to ban people from having easy access to cars?  Nope.

As with anything, some people either require more training than others or need to not do that particular activity. The slope becomes slippery when additional criteria is added to basic rights…the rights are no longer really rights. The system doesn’t need to be tweaked every time someone gets emotional about an issue that, on the whole, isn’t all that much of a problem.  If someone becomes problematic, deal with that particular person, not the whole group.

In VA, you’re required to pass a basic firearms handling course before you can carry concealed…if people still are considered to be a danger to themselves and others even after meeting the state requirements, then what do you do? Limiting the population as a whole isn’t a good answer, especially if those types of people are outliers.  Until that person accidentally kills himself or someone else, there’s really nothing you can do.  Regulating a whole population because a few are inept is bad, and there’s nothing that can be preemptively done that won’t affect the people that are carrying properly.

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basics cardinal rules firearms gun safety

Changing the Rules: Revisiting the Basics of Safe Gun Handling — USCCA

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/changing-rules-revisiting-basics-safe-gun-handling/

You know the rules. They are: 1. Treat every gun as if it is loaded. 2. Never point your firearm at something you are not willing to destroy. 3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you have made a decision to shoot. 4. Know your target and beyond.

So, do you agree with all those rules? Do they make sense in every situation?

I learned recently of differing definitions that more clearly relate safe gun handling techniques to the tasks of personal defense than do those four cardinal rules. While attending a class at the Sig Sauer Academy, my eyes were opened to the difference between safe gun handling and “range rules.”

I read the article and I totally agree with everything that was mentioned.  The rules, although considered “cardinal” are taken too literally.  It’s not a problem with the rules, but a problem with how they’re understood.  For example, if you watch some people check to see that a weapon is clear, you’ll see many rack the slides 10 times (in a row)  when it’s only necessary to do this once.  As well, some people stick their finger in the chamber to check if a round is there…really???  Simply looking is enough…there’s no need to feel for something that you’d normally see (and a slide catch letting go on a finger can cause injury).  If you don’t see it, it isn’t there.  We’re not talking about weapons with chambers so deep you can’t see ammo that might be chambered.

This one is a pretty good read.  It is good suggestive reading material, IMO.

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AZ CA California CCW CO firearms moving NM NV OR VA

Nope, Not Moving to CA!

I’ve had a change of heart and cancelled my plans to move to CA.  Why?  After thinking on it for months, I’ve determined that I’d be a fool to move to a state that limits it’s citizen in the manner that CA does (and not just with guns, but with everything).  After submitting for my VA CCW, I had a license in hand eight days later.  In CA, depending on the county, the CCW permit process could take up to 1.5 years, with a year wait almost guaranteed.  The gun laws are generally very restrictive, even if you’re not carrying.  10-round mags.  A highly restrictive list of guns that can be sold to you via retail.  Lots of red tape even selling used guns from one CA citizen to another.  I’ve lived there before…I didn’t like it then, either, and I wasn’t even into guns then.  Some advice:  never ever try to ignore yourself when your conscious is giving you bad vibes about a decision you’re trying to make.  I already feel much better about myself, now that I’ve decided not to move to that state.

I told my wife that I’d be receptive to moving to a border state (NV, AZ, OR) or states that are relatively close to CA (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico).  She only wants CA, but that’s not going to happen.  She thinks someone influenced my decision.  No, I just woke up.

So, I’ve got 10 guns now, and the only reason I bought the majority of them was because they aren’t available via retail in CA.  That doesn’t bother me since they’re excellent guns.  It does mean that I probably won’t be getting any guns for awhile, but that’s fine too.