New Empty Mags content coming soon!

Hello dear readers, this is Big River Jake coming to you for the first time in what I hope is a regular vehicle for me to package together what little thoughts I have, and transfer them into your brain via text. If all goes well this will be entertaining, because I have no delusions that it will ever be informative.

The QnD on the FN Five-seveN

Quick stats
Manufacturer:FN Herstal
POU: PDW
General Design: Semi-auto Pistol (Poly)
Action of Arms: Delayed Blowback
Chambering: 5.7x28mm
Weight: 21.4oz
Barrel Length: 4.8in
Capacity: 20 round DBM

My entire lack of experience with the Five-seveN lasted 100 rounds of ammo. Overall fun to shoot. First thoughts on the gun was how good it felt in the hand. I know way too much clout is put into how good a gun “feels” or “points”, but what struck me about the Five-seveN is how much it feels like a steel frame gun. I have handled a lot (very specific number which has never been documented)of Poly guns, but none have the bottom heavy feel of a big steel frame with a lighter steel slide. A Glock feels about balanced, and my little Kel Tec PF-9 feels top heavy, but the Five-seveN has a bottom heavy steel frame weight distribution.

Second thoughts you say? Quality, quality, quality I say, and for the MSRP it damn well should be. One hiccup on the particular rental gun I am reviewing (the USG model) the magazine was less than reliable and had some chewed-up bits which I am most certain was the cause of two failures to feed. After I received a different Mag from clerk, I did not experience any more failures. Also of note, the trigger pull was deliberate,consistent, and intuitive.

Final thoughts, are cloudy. I think the firearm looks very good in most on paper gun reviews due overall to how well engineered and manufactured they are. I am also aware of how many forum wars have been waged on the 5.7x24mm cartridge. All this in mind, I don’t see many people ask the basic question of “does this Gun fill it’s POU?”. I would have to say “Yes”. That POU being a NATO replacement for a PDW 9×19, with better terminal ballistics against soft body armor. That being said US civilian sales are a telling sign that it does not meet the Philosophy of use for personal defence in social situations (or lawful response to dynamic critical incidents). Basically this is the part where I throw the gun review out the window and rant about the 5.7x24mm. The loading that FN sells to Civilians are not adequate to comparable 9×19 loads available. Current Loads can be found online )wikis), but are summarized in one word “improvable”. The 5.7x24mm concept in a 5in barrel has potential, but from evidence I’ve seen (see links) all over penetrate, even when the bullet performs as intended (yaws, or expands). Perhaps if someone was to bring out a new load which would not overpenetrate (maybe a hollow base bullet design like the 5.45x39mm at 2500fps in a 5in barrel) I would completely change my mind considering the complete lack of recoil and shootability, but as it stands right now I would have to say the Five-seveN does not fit any need I, or any readers lifestyle. Unless your lifestyle includes dispatching prairie dogs with ubertacticoolness at 15 yards from a Bugatti.

At this point I am guessing it will be another two to four weeks before I am able to get a recorder. If I am able to fix the laptop, I might be able to get the show running again before the recorder comes.

Thanks for the support and I’ll be back soon!

Or maybe Santa looked at my Amazon Wish List? We’ll see. Sorry folks.

A few weeks ago I noticed quite a few people using an application called Foursquare, on Twitter. If you are unfamiliar, Foursquare is a mobile phone app that allows you to ‘check-in’ at public locations such as restaurants and grocery stores. It then shares that information with the social media networks of your choice.

There is some social media tools or websites that I understand, and others that I do not. Foursquare was one of the latter. I wanted to know why people used it so much, so I downloaded it and started using it. The app turned out to be a game. Check in somewhere, get some points, earn badges, and titles. Now I understand – who doesn’t like earning things, even if trivial?

The one thing that stuck out to me most, after figuring out what specifically this does, and looking at most of the Foursquare check-ins I saw on my timeline in Twitter, one thing I quickly realized was that this is a great tool for someone looking to do you harm. My very first big observation on this was noticing a lot of female people using it to check in, publicly displaying where they are at, on Twitter, so anyone who was viewing their feed could see. If you have a stalker, or someone looking to find an easy target to rob or rape viewing your check-ins, they know exactly where to find you!

So how can you use Foursquare and lessen this risk? The only true way is to not use it, but there are some steps you can take to lessen your exposure. Don’t share to Twitter or Facebook, keep your check-ins inside the app only. Another option is to not update your check-ins until after you’ve actually left the place you’re checking into.

While using this application I got to where I actually enjoyed earning the points you get for checking it. (I’m easily amused, leave me alone)

This past weekend I had checked-in to a few places and pushed those check-ins out to Twitter. Miguel from GunFreeZone.net replied to one of them, asking something to the effect of: “why are you broadcasting that you’re not home and its a good time to go rob your home?”

To that I say excellent question, and its a two-part answer. The first reason is, I am still using this app because I find it fun (the points thing – again, easily amused!) and I have been using it as I was preparing this post (and another article meant for a tech site I am still working on!) The second reason is my own laziness. Most of my check ins using this app have never been publicized. You have the option of not sharing. In this case, I did not unselect the sharing options when I posted them – because I was being lazy.

Now, Miguel brings up another great point. When you are publicly checking in at Starbucks, everyone who sees that check in will figure you are not at home. On Twitter, anyone can view the posts you push out, except for Twitter handles that you have specifically blocked. If someone has been looking to rob your home, and has been watching you, and somehow has found out your social media profiles, or if you have an acquaintance that’s not so good – they know right when to bust in and take your stuff.

Using social media is fun, but think about what you’re doing with it. I know it sounds paranoid, but your safety may just depend on it.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) is pleased to announce a new Ruger® SP101® five-shot revolver chambered in the venerable .357 Magnum cartridge and featuring a 4.2″ barrel with improved sights. [full press release here]

I really enjoy my SP101 with the 2.25″ barrel and now I have to add another one to my collection. Built like a tank and sexy too.

Ruger SP101 - Image from Ruger

Shooting the Breeze: This is a great, laid back, conversational podcast. It covers firearms related current events, and covers topics having to do with carrying concealed, competitive shooting and more. As a bonus, each show includes a cigar and drink pairing recommendation. I quit smoking some time ago, but I still enjoy hearing about the pairings.

Roadgunner Podcast: This is a fun podcast to listen to. The host, Un-named Trucker, talks about carrying a firearm through various states during his travels as a truck driver. Lots of good information, tips for traveling with your gun, funny rants and tangents and a restaurant tip or cooking tip (he was a chef) to boot.

GunDudes: If you’re not listening to the GunDudes and you’re listening to other podcasts, you’re probably doing yourself a favor. These guys are hilarious, crazy, and you’ll lose IQ points for listening – but once you start, you can’t stop and in the end you’ll truly be a better gunner for it.

Handgun World Show: A ton of great information and interviews about practical, every day Joe type firearms usage and ownership, as well as competitive shooting. If you like what you hear on this show, you might also wish to check out Bob Mayne’s Today’s Survival podcast as well.

New Shooter Podcast: This one is by someone who is new to shooting, and who lives in a very anti-gun state. Lots of great information can be found in this podcast for both new and experienced shooters alike.

And of course, check out all the other great shows on the Gun Rights Radio Network!

This week is going to be pretty light for a few reasons. If I am not able to record another podcast within the next three days, there will not be one this week. So if I don’t talk to yall again before then, have a great Thanksgiving!

Another thing that I think will happen, if this is passed and made law, is that the may-issue states may possibly ban CCW all together. Some states don’t want visitors to be able to carry concealed and if faced with only “allow all” or “allow none” options, what do you think a may-issue state like Massachusetts will do? Goodbye CCW permits for all their law abiding citizens.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

It is only logical that people try to break away from the mainstream and create sites that cater to a specific industry or interest. With Gunway’s recent launch there are now at least three social networks built specifically for shooters. Each one offers something a little different, and with the fact that social media plays a huge roll in today’s politics, I feel these specialized networks are vital to maintaining and strengthening our right to keep and bear arms. Join these networks if you have not already, participate, network with other like minded people, build a relationship between yourself and the industry. You’ll have fun and learn along the way.

GunUp:

GunUp was the first major shooting related site that I heard about. The site maintains a unique database of firearms so that users may easily search out specs and costs on firearms in the database. GunUp also has an articles section where users may publish articles on just about any firearms related topic they want. The biggest feature at GunUp in my opinion is their bloggers network. Bloggers who have opted in to the program have snippets of their posts featured on GunUp and when a user wants to read more, they are referred back to the Blog. It is almost like an RSS reader specifically for shooting blogs. The only drawback is that it is opt-in, so some bloggers are not featured here.

Gunway:

Gunway is the newest of the shooter’s social networking sites. Since it is still in its infancy, it is currently growing its user base and new features are forthcoming. The big thing here is discussion. Users use their own names, rather than aliases so the discussion is more personal. Gunway allows you to share thoughts and photos, via a status update feature similar to Facebook, but the really valuable part is the Questions feature. The Questions section allows users to post questions, and other users can then answer them. From there, readers can “like” certain answers, driving them to the top of the answer list so that the most commonly accepted answer is at the top. Because you choose a “badge” when you sign up, stating whether you are in part of the industry, a competition shooter, veteran, law enforcement officer, and many other options, readers will be easily able to determine what your background is and take that into consideration when digesting your answer. Gunway has only been live a few days at the time of this writing, but I am enjoying it.

Shooter’s Legion:

Shooter’s Legion is closer to what you may be used to with MySpace or Facebook. It offers a more traditionally styled message board, a place to write blog posts, events planning, photo albums, friends status updates and a whole lot more. I really have not used this one too terribly much, but it looks like a good place to be to discuss firearms and everything that goes with them, as well as partake in all the usual things you do on a social network.

If you have any firearms related social sites that I didn’t mention, tell me about them in the comments!

I really like the Apex free float tube on the front of that. I may have to introduce it into consideration for whenever I finally finish my BWA lower I have sitting on my bench. I am also extremely thankful for the fact that I can use 30 round mags and don’t ever have to touch a “bullet button”. Nick I think it’s about time you move to the USA.

Balloon Goes up has some dry fire training tips that may help.

This reminds me that I still would really like to get the SIRT Training Pistol. They even have a laser training bolt for your AR rifle on the way, which resets the trigger. Awesome stuff.

They plan on offering semi-automatic SAWs to California residents with either a pistol grip-less rifle stock or a radical Motorcycle based spade grip version designed for vehicle mounting. It will come with a SureFire muzzle brake instead of an evil (banned) flash-hider.

 

I think it’s great that someone is willing to modify a firearm to the extent needed to allow Californian’s to own something like this, but this is really an even better example of what is wrong with California and it’s gun laws. Features like a pistol grip do not make the gun any more deadly, and legislation against features such as that is ridiculous.

I know there people who don’t mind Disqus, and then there are people who really just don’t like it. I’m mixed on it myself but I want to know what you, as users of this site feel about it. Please leave some comments and give me some feedback on it.

I ran 200 rounds of .223 and 100 rounds of .380 through my two firearms that have been treated with Mr. C’s Super Sekrit Gun Oil.

Taking note of how the firearms performed, and constantly thinking about doing a review on the oil, the first thing I noticed is: I don’t know how to review gun oil, so I  kind of made up the parameters of what to look for as I went.

As you may have read in my first impressions post, this oil is extremely slick. I could feel absolutely no metal-on-metal friction in my AR upper as I slid the bolt carrier group in and out by hand. It also quieted up the action some.

When the AR was actually being used – it performed flawlessly. After 100 rounds I took it apart and inspected inside to see if the oil was doing anything weird, like congealing, gunking up or burning off. It got no more dirty that any other oil and there was still enough there to keep the gun lubed. The action was still very slick. I did the same thing after the next 100 rounds and the quality of the oil was not noticeably changed.

I checked for similar things when I was shooting the Bodyguard, looking after 50 and 100 rounds. I was using cheap ammo that seems to be quite a bit dirtier than other brands, and I had no problems. In the Bodyguard, the slickness of the oil is not as noticeable as it is in the AR, but it functioned nicely.

Aside from swabbing out the barrels, these two firearms will remain uncleaned and will have no more oil added to them until they really need it. The Bodyguard will continue to live in my pocket and I’ll also be checking to see if the oil attracts and traps any more lint than normal. Then we’ll see how long and how many rounds I can put through each firearm before needing to reapply oil.

To sum it all up in a single sentence: I will buy this gun oil.

I recently received a can of Fiocchi Canned Heat in .223 to test out, from Ammo.net. I am going to get a bit more in-depth with this information on an upcoming episode of my podcast, but I wanted to get a little mini-review up here on the blog as well.

First, let me start off with a little about Ammo.net. They are obviously an online retailer of ammunition, but one thing that sets them apart from the other sites out there is that they take a portion of the money they’ve made from each order, and send it off to a pro-freedom organization as a donation on the customer’s behalf. Right now, there is a select list of organizations you can choose from, some bigger, some smaller, but there is bound to be one you wont mind being charitable to. When you order, you’ll be able to specify which organization gets the donation. This list includes: Blue Star Families, Campaign For Liberty, Homes For Our Troops, Liberty PAC, National Rifle Assocation (NRA), Patriot Action Network, Small Wars Foundation, Soldiers’ Angels and Tea Party Patriots.

From the Ammo.net Donations Page:

Why do we do this?  It’s simple really.  We believe in supporting those who protect our freedoms.  Of course, we hope you’ll choose Ammo.net as your preferred ammunition dealer as a result of knowing that not only will you get your order super fast and at a great price, but that you’ll also be doing a little bit of good for those who are actively protecting our freedoms.

After you submit your order on our order confirmation page, you’ll see a drop-down of all the available organizations you can donate to.  This is the point at which you choose who will receive 1% of your order’s value as a donation from Ammo.net.

Now, I have never done business with Ammo.net before this, but the above reason alone is enough to earn my business in the future.

On to the ammunition itself: I received one fifty round can of Fiocchi’s Canned Heat in .223. It has a 55 grain FMJ boat tail bullet, which according to the manufacturer has a muzzle velocity of 3240 feet per second with 1281 foot-pounds of energy.

The Canned Heat Line of ammo is, wait for it… canned. It comes in a metal can that is packed with a desiccant pouch and then hermetically sealed to protect the ammunition from outside elements and is supposed to prolong the shelf life of the ammo (ammo shelf life is an entire post in itself that I may touch on later). To be completely honest with my thoughts here, I think the can itself is mostly a gimmick – but don’t let that take away from the actual quality of the ammunition inside. Depending on your storage area, I think the cans may be easier to store for some people.

I put this round up against some of my own loads running Hornady V-Max bullets sitting on 24 grains of 8208XBR powder, and some Federal XM193 5.56 that I had laying around. The Eotech on the AR I was using is currently sighted in for my Hornady loads. Out at 50 and 100 yards, the Fiocchi preformed slightly better than the Federal XM193, giving me tighter groups overall and point of impact was closer to point of aim. The Fiocchi did not do better than my own loads, but that is an unfair comparison as I’ve spent months developing and fine tuning my recipe for this rifle. At 50 yards I was shooting the Fiocchi in pretty consistent 1.5″ groups and that expanded about an inch at 100 yards. In the fifty rounds of Canned Heat shot, I experienced no malfunctions or hiccups of any type.

I’ve shot Fiocchi brand before, but never this line. Combining my experiences with them in the past and this experience with the Canned Heat, I am able to say that I believe the Canned Heat is a great choice for anything you’d normally use a Full Metal Jacket bullet for: target practice, plinking, training, etc.

FTC DISCLAIMER: I was contacted by Ammo.net to do this review. The product was shipped to me free of charge and no money has been exchanged in either direction regarding this transaction and blog post. 

If keep me bookmarked, please update your links to http://emptymags.com. Thanks!

This is for a few reasons. First, it will be much easier for me to maintain one site and will save me a little bit of money on the monthly costs. Second, from the start, I had envisioned Empty Mags as a brand, rather than just a podcast. The podcast was the first step and I am ready now to push out more firearms related media under the same brand. Empty Mags will host the podcast, blog posts, video and who knows what else.

I will be working pretty hard to make sure that each different type of content posted here will be easily identifiable and readily available. This will require a site re-design and some things may act a little funky while the work is going on, but it should not take me too terribly long.

If you are subscribed to the podcast via itunes or some other RSS handler, you will not have to change anything. The original podcast feed will remain the same. However, there are additional RSS feeds available, one for only blog posts and one for both blog and podcasts posts. They are here:

Podcast Only: http://emptymags.com/feed/podcast/ or http://feeds.feedburner.com/EmptyMagsPodcast

Blog Only: http://feeds.feedburner.com/EmptyMagsBlog

Blog and Podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/EmptyMags
The reason the podcast only feed has two addresses is the first is the original, it will always work, but eventually I will redirect it all through the feedburner link. You can use either.

Note: I may have to look at changing my release schedule.

The industry, as well as the “gun culture” in general, is full of “tactical”, “high-speed”, “operator” and more “warrior mentality” than the average Joe with a handgun or rifle may be familiar with. It’s not that there is anything wrong with the terms above or the people that embrace them; but from my perspective there is a severe lack of information out there that is geared towards the “low speed, high drag” type shooters like myself.

The Empty Mags Podcast is an idea that has been jiggling around in my gray matter for some time and I figured it was about time I actually brought it to light. The first and subsequent podcasts are still a few weeks out, so in the mean time let me give you a little idea of what you will find here:

I’ve had the privilege of being “born with a gun in my hand“, but I’ve always lacked the gear, money, will or ambition to take it to the next step. Whether that step be additional higher-end training or competing in the various shooting sports, I just have not done it. I’m the regular guy with a gun and a gunblog, working a 40 hour a week IT job. I have no military or law enforcement experience, I don’t (yet) compete and my training has been limited to what has been passed down to me and a few quick classes. One of my biggest problems when it comes to firearms related activities: Empty Magazines, and I have a pretty good feeling that there are many other folks out there in similar situations whether it be the lack of time, money, will or any combination of. I hope you will join me in my quest to improve myself as a shooter, with the gear and means I have at my disposal. I will share tips, tricks and stories to in turn help you get the most out of what you have.

In addition to the above, I hope to continue my personal dive into Second Amendment and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms issues, make sense out of them, and help you understand them.

As I mentioned, the first episodes are still a few weeks away, so I hope you bookmark this or add it to your feeds so you can come back and check out the Empty Mags Podcast when it gets rolling.