Firearm Fun

REVIEW: Ruger LC9

2012-02-12T23:52:00.000-05:00

When the Ruger LCP was announced, there was instant anticipation that lead to a buying frenzy that lead to huge back orders. The colossal success of the little .380 caused writers, reviewers and bloggers to speculate that a 9mm had to be in the works. It was obvious that if Ruger built a Light Compact 9mm it would become an instant hit and sell like hot cakes, just like the LCP had.

It didn't take a psychic to predict they'd build it, so it wasn't a surprise when Ruger announced the LC9. I read everything I could get my hands on and from what I was reading, it looked like Ruger had build an amazing little firearm.

Luckily for me, my best friend was looking for a new carry gun to replace his KelTec P-3AT and he fell in love with the Ruger LC9. So, it was easy for me to get my hands on one. Today was cold, windy so we took his brand new LC9 to the indoor Range at Shooter's Depot to brake it in.

This first thing I noticed was how freaking thin the grip is. It's truly mind-blowing how thin Ruger was able to mold the polymer grip. To keep a small pistol with the recoil of a 9mm, you need an aggressively checkered hand hold, like Ruger molded into the LC9. The thinness makes the pistol disappear when worn inside the waistband (to the wearer and others) even when wearing form fitting clothing. I carried the LC9 for a few days and it's the most comfortable 9mm I've ever carried.

At the range, the little pistol shoot really well. There are a few minor irritations that I need to address so bear with me and I'll get back to the good stuff really quickly. First, the trigger pull is really long and must be fully released to reset it. It's not a hard pull, just a really long one. The length of reset makes it really hard to keep the pistol on point during shots over 15-feet and during quick fire drills. It's not impossible, it just requires a little more concentration. In reply to this consistent complaint, Galloway Precision built a $60 trigger kit that is supposed to cut trigger travel in half and it doesn't look all that hard to install. Also, I've read that removing the magazine disconnect lightens the trigger pull. See the video in this review to see what I'm talking about.

While I'm at it, Galloway Precision also sells a kit that allows you to replace the loaded chamber indicator with a piece of metal that matches your slide, in essence making it disappear. Personally, I like the indicator, and while big, it's effective. I've left mine on my Ruger SR9.

My second niggle is that the rough textured grip, that keeps the little gun from squirming around in my hand while shooting, began abrading the skin over the bone at the base of my thumb. I noticed it after just four magazines but it got worse as we kept shooting through 250 rounds.

Lastly, like most all semi-auto pistols, when the magazine is empty it's very difficult to release the slide using the slide release lever. But when the magazine has at least on bullet in it, the slide release is easy to actuate. Not so on the Ruger LC9. Even full of rounds, the slide release is extremely difficult to actuate. This might be due to the stiff newness of the gun but it seemed unusual to me. I'll update this review as time passes. Also, comment below if your experience is different than mine in this respect.

That being said, the gun is built like a tank. Something that's really important for a small gun. Unlike the little Ruger LCP, the sights are useable and spot on. Most importantly, right out of the box the Ruger LC9 never failed once as it ate it's first 250 rounds of Winchester White Box, Federal and Remington ammo.

If you've read my review on the Taurus PT709 Slim, you'd know the it's my concealed carry gun. I love it. So, it was natural for us to compare the two small 9mm pistols that were designed specifically for concealed carry.

Holding the two guns side-by-side, you'll notice that the Ruger feels more solidly built than the Taurus. I have had nothing but perfectly reliable functionality from my 709 Slim, but the LC9 lives up to the solid build reputation that Ruger has earned and feels like a top quality piece of hardware.

A couple other Ruger wins: I've had to buy Pearce magazine extensions, the Ruger comes with both flat and extended base plates. I added a Hogue grip sleeve to increase the texture, the LC9 has plenty of grip. The one nicety that the Taurus has going for it is the trigger pull thing I mentioned earlier.

Both pistols ended up delivering more than acceptable accuracy at defense distances but the Taurus repeatedly gave us tighter groups especially as shot cadence increased. We both took turns testing this at a variety of distances from four to fifteen yards and the results were consistent.

We believe the difference was in the trigger, the fact that the Taurus has had about 800 rounds through it (the Ruger was cleaned only test shot at the factory) and the comfortable Hogue grip I installed (which makes the grip much, much thicker than the LC9 and less concealable). This shooting result surprised me. I truly expected Doug's Ruger to outshoot my Taurus in every test. Needless to say, the pride in my little Brazilian shooter went up a notch but so did my growing admiration for the LC9.

Just for the fun of it, we ran our targets out to 15-yards and shot several magazines to see if we could hit anything at that distance. I did fine at 21-feet, but I don't mind saying that Doug consistently kept his shots on the paper while I was all over the place and even missed the target entirely a couple of times. I've included a photo of his best group at a crazy 45-feet. He took his time, slowly pulled through the long take-up and measured every shot; the results were impressive. Very nice shooting if you ask me.

Personally, I feel that Ruger hit a solid triple with the LC9. The gun is crazy thin, it's built like a Hum-vee and it gobbles cheap ammo without complaint. If the trigger reset was shorter and the slide release easier, I'd call it a home run. Would I bet my life on it? Yep. Do I want one? You know, I kind of do.

REVIEW: Browning Buck Mark–The Valentine's Day Gift

2012-02-11T17:31:00.002-05:00

What'd you get your wife for Valentine's Day? Flowers? Chocolate covered strawberries? I've done all those things and they're great gifts but I went for something different this year. I got my wife a Browning Buck Mark and mounted a TruGlo reflex Red Dot sight on it. In addition, I got her three additional magazines and a thumb-saver loader. Happy Valentine's Day. I've already done a Buck Mark Review (click here) so I'm not going to completely re-review the gun. The reason for the purchase is that my wife loves to shoot .22. I do too for that matter. The problem was that my Ruger Mark III Hunter with 7" barrel was a little nose-heavy for her. Plus, it never hurts to have a couple different brands of .22 pistol in the house.

The stock Buck Mark:

Weight: 34 oz.

Overall Length: 9.5"

Barrel Length: 5.5"

The stock Mark III:
Weight: 41 oz.
Overall Length: 11.12"
Barrel Length: 6.88"

That extra seven ounces and couple of inches in length isn't immediately noticeable but after a fifty rounds or so I noticed that she'd begin to wobble a bit causing shots to fly.

Since Valentine's Day is on a Tuesday this year, I though it'd be fun to get it sighted and broken in this weekend, so I gave her the gift early. It was a freezing cold day with snow flurries so we went to the indoor range at Shooter's Depot. I thought it'd be fun to see how it shot against my ever-reliable Ruger Mark III Hunter. We shot around 350 rounds, about 250 though the Buck Mark and about 100 through the Mark III. We were shooting while both standing and seated, bench-resting.

First off, the Buck Mark was brand new and the Mark III has over 2,000 rounds through it. Everything about the Buck Mark was stiff--the trigger, the slide and the magazine drop. So, the results are a little bit skewed, but not by much. I feel like the stiff trigger was the only think that effected groupings at the distance we were shooting.

My first impressions were that I really like the soft Ultragrip RX (URX). The grip feels like it could have been made by the grip-masters at Houge. I also liked the crisp trigger release. Also, I loved the weight.

While standing, the Browning was significantly easier to keep on target. I felt like I could keep the red dot from wobbling with less effort than with the Ruger. If that was true for me, then I knew I had to be even more of a factor for my wife. After a few magazines, she smiled at me and said she liked the pistol. That's good. She seemed to be shooting it well.

After about 15 magazines, we put the two guns head-to-head. Instantly we realized that while the Ruger was heavier, we were still producing tighter groups with it. While sitting and bench resting, the results were the same, the Ruger produced tighter groups. My assessment was that the lighter trigger, longer barrel and extended break in were the reasons but whatever the reason, it was a consistent result.

Seated: On a two-inch target we were easily staying within the confines of the target and with a little concentration shooting one-inch to half-inch groups. Remember, we were only 21-feet away. The smallest group we could get out of the Buck Mark was just under an inch while the Ruger returned a several of .4" groups.

Standing: We shot at 5.5" Caldwell Orange Peel Targets and were easily staying within the 5.5" inch target rings. The Buck Mark returned several scattered 4" groups but the Ruger gave us better gouts and sub 3-inch groups time after time. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Toward the end of our time at the range I got an unpleasant surprise. When the Browning's slide blows back, it opens on both sides. My natural shooting grip put my left hand thumb in the bite of the closing slide. Look at the accompanying photo and you'll see what I mean. This isn't a big deal, but something to be aware of.

Despite the bite, I love the Buck Mark and look forward to seeing how it shoots after it gets broken in a bit more. I'll update the review once that happens.

REVIEW: Pearce Grip Extensions

2012-02-06T21:35:00.006-05:00

When I needed a thin conceal carry gun in 9mm, I opted for the Taurus PT709 Slim and I love it! It shoots well, never jams or fails to feed through hundreds and hundreds of cheap practice rounds and has eaten a box of expensive 9mm Hornady Critical Defense and a box of Federal Hydra-Shok Personal Defense Ammo without a single problem. I've even ordered a Crimson Trace Laserguard for it (hasn't arrived yet)!

While I can handle a .380ACP or .25ACP with one finger on the trigger, two on the grip and a pinky dangling free, the recoil of +P defense ammo makes it hard to keep the pistol from squirming around in my hand. To get all three fingers on the grip I ordered Pearce Grip Extensions for the magazines. I instantly liked them but worried that they would compromise the purpose of a short grip pistol, concealability. A quick test in my Crossbreed IWB holster revealed that there is virtually no difference in the ability to conceal the PT709 Slim with the Pearce Extensions installed. It does make it tighter in baggy cargo pant pockets but in a holster, no difference.

The Pearce Extensions are well made and fit perfectly in the notch at the bottom of the grip. I'm really glad I bough them and would recommend them to anyone that has a compact conceal carry gun that wants to cure dangling pinky syndrome. Even though I said I could handle my Taurus 738 TCP with two fingers on the grip, now that I've used the extensions on the Slim, I'd like to see Pearce make them for the little TCP.

www.pearcegrip.com

Sig Sauer 522 vs. Smith and Wesson AR15-22

2012-01-29T16:49:00.001-05:00

What's your definition of fun? Let me rephrase, when it comes to SHOOTING, what's your definition of fun? I got the opportunity to shoot a Barrett Model 82A1 and that was FUN! But at around $3 a shot (military surplus prices, store prices are closer to $5 a shot) the experience is expensive fun. I shot a .44 Mag Ruger Super Redhawk with a Simmons scope and that was fun...for about five rounds. The second five shots moved the needle from fun to painful. Personally, I prefer cheap all day fun.

Two friends of mine got a couple of .22 rifles, one was the Smith and Wesson M&P15-22 (MSRP $499) and the other was the Sig Sauer 522 (MSRP $734), and asked if I wanted to take them to the gun range. How could I say no? I was about to find out how easy it is to run through 1400 rounds of .22 in just a few hours.

Rising ammo prices haven't decreased people's desire to shoot. It's just "encouraged" people to be more frugal. It's similar to gas prices. Higher gas prices don't stop people from driving, but is has influenced car buying and trip decisions. As ammo prices have increased, people are shooting less 308 (or 30-06, .30-30, etc) and are shooting more .22 or .223. While .223 isn't all that expensive in comparison to some calibers, it's not .22 cheap but it is a lot more fun. If you and a couple of buddies want to throw 500 rounds down range, it'll cost at somewhere around $150 (on average at the time of writing). On the other hand, 500 rounds of .22 LR will cost you about twenty bucks. Swap enough .223 for .22 and you've bought a Sig 522 or a S&W M&P15-22 with the monetary difference.

Remember, this article is about maximum fun with minimum expense. Enter the Sig 522 and S&W M&P15-22. Out of the gate, these rifles shoot as differently as they look. The S&W .22 has a gritty trigger that seems to break with less consistency. It feels like the same hard to pull, gritty trigger that's on my S&W M&P15 (read review here). On the M&P15, I can tolerate it, (though at some point I'm going to replace it with a Timney or Gazzelle drop in) but on on a .22, it's ridiculous. I had to seriously concentrate to keep shots on target at 50 to 75 yards as I pulled through the sandpaper trigger pull.

On the other hand, right out of the box the 522 has a light trigger that's buttery smooth and breaks at a consistent point shot after shot after shot. To me, that's how a trigger should feel and it's perplexing that a company as big as S&W doesn't share that belief. Chock a big one up for the Sig.

Both rifles have adjustable, telescoping composite stocks. In addition to telescoping, the stock on the Sig folds, Swiss style, so the rifle can be shot from the hip and/or packed in a small space. I think the folding stock if more beneficial for storage than shoot as it felt extremely awkward (and inaccurate) shooting it without wedging it against my shoulder and looking down the barrel.

Speaking of feel, to me, the Smith felt so much more natural as I alternated between the two guns. The Sig has a cool, futuristic look that I like but I couldn't get the same secure purchase on it that I could get when holding the traditional looking M&P15-22. Personally, the Smith was just more comfortable for me to shoot. That's a small advantage to the M&P15-22.

When you're shooting .22, you'll go through a lot of ammo, or at least you should, and the Smith has a really handy feature that makes loading the magazine really, really easy. The magazine has a slot that runs down the side with a thumb relief tab attached to the follower. This allows you to take out the spring tension and drop rounds into the mag with blazing speed and virtually no thumb pain (see accompanying photo, click to enlarge). The Sig doesn't have this feature thus forcing you to press the tiny round against fully sprung round at the top of the stack. This isn't an issue as you load the first few mags, but my thumb quickly got a tender spot on it that made me dread loading the Sig's magazine while I could load the Smith all day with no fatigue. It's crazy how a simple addition make such a huge difference. Chock up a big one for the S&W.

Lastly, I found the groupings tighter and more consistent with the Sig, even though it has a shorter barrel. I attribute the better accuracy to the smooth trigger. I casually picked up the rifles and shoot them downrange from a standing position and could not get the accuracy out of the Smith that I could out of the Sig. In a seated position with the rifles in a rest, the accuracy was much closer. In my opinion, pistols and rifles are meant to be held in combat or sport positions, not vice clamped into a rest. The enjoyment is a test of person AND equipment and a hard, gritty trigger effects both of those variables at the same time. I have to give accuracy to the Sig even though they were similar in the rest.

Both of these guns are extremely fun, and cheap, to shoot. The Smith is more comfortable to hold and easier to load while the Sig is more accurate and has that buttery smooth trigger that I love. If I were to buy one, I'd buy the Smith and Wesson M&P15-22 and get a trigger job done to it and it would still be less expensive than the Sig. Then, I'd shoot the dog out of it, probably 1,000 rounds a session for the same price as a 25 count box of .223!! That's what I call fun.

REVIEW: Taurus 738 TCP (with Crimson Trace Laser Grip)

2011-02-06T15:31:00.008-05:00

Kel-tec started it. Ruger aggravated it. Now Taurus joined it.

Public demand for pocket-sized, polymer .380 semi-automatic pistols is insatiable. They are selling as fast as manufacturers can make them and just about every mainstream gun maker builds one. So, if a category is so hot, get on the band wagon right? That's exactly what Taurus did with the 738 TCP (Taurus Compact Pistol). This review will focus on options, actual shooting and size (the only reason a person buys a tiny .380).

If you're going to succeed in a category, even one as hot as the compact .380, you need to stand out and have a few points of differentiation, so Taurus built it's .380 with some neat bells and whistles, and options, that it's best-selling competitors don't have.

First, the Taurus 738 is built with something that the Kel-tec P-3AT and the Ruger LCP lack, a slide lock. Ruger has a manual slide lock but it won't lock the pistol open after the last shot, like all full-sized semi-autos. Taurus decided that this would be a great feature that would help them sell against competitors to they built it into the TCP. If you search the web, you'll find several articles that mention a malfunction of this feature–where the slide lock won't lock open after the last round leaves the barrel. In shooting 200 rounds through this pistol, we didn't experience a single failure to lock. We did have another problem, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Second, the Taurus 738 TCP is a really nice looking piece of hardware. I know function trumps looks but I still want my guns to look nice when they're sitting in my safe or in a holster. On looks alone, it's a winner, but there's more to the review...lots more.

Third, as of this writing, Taurus offers the TCP in six configurations–Blued, Stainless Steal Blued, Stainless Silver, Titanium, Pink Polymer SS Blued and Pink Polymer SS Silver. That's a lot of options. You might not think guns should be made in pink, but someone else might disagree. Either way, if pink didn't sell, they wouldn't waste time and money manufacturing it right?

Lastly, just like every other Taurus, the TCP comes with the Taurus Security System that allows you to render the pistol unusable with a quick twist of a special Taurus key so it can be safely stored.

If any of these option are enticing to you, then Taurus has done it's job in giving you a reason to select the TCP over one of it's competitors. But there's another important factor in choosing a pistol, how it shoots.

Fortunately, I've pulled the trigger of several great .380s, Ruger, Kel-tec and Walther to name a few. And like most comparisons, there are definite differences in how the pistols feel and shoot. The first thing I noticed when I pulled the trigger on the Taurus TCP was how comfortable it felt in my hand. Comfort is a subjective thing, but most people will agree that the word "comfortable" isn't an accurate descriptor when shooting the Kel-tec and the Ruger. As a matter of fact, the first time a shot a small, polymer .380 I was surprised how much my palm hurt after only two magazines! I was expecting the experience to be more like shooting the Walther PPK or PK380, but the extremely small, rock hard, knurled grips squirmed around in my hand and punched into my palm like a hammer. There was nothing fun about shooting these little guns. Now, in the heat of battle, I don't think I would notice the discomfort, but at the range, I noticed it every time I pulled the trigger. Shooting the Taurus, on the other hand, was slightly easier and more 'comfortable' then shooting either the Kel-Tec or the Ruger. The shape and size of the grip gave my small hands a better purchase. In contrast, my friend David, the owner of the gun, has big hands and even he could shoot the pistol without the squirm we felt when shooting the Ruger and Kel-tec (see video).

As for accuracy, this is where the Taurus was a little bit of a let down. Remember, accuracy isn't the point when shooting, at more than 15 feet, with any little .380, but we really struggled with the TCP. Standing free-hand, it was hard to hit a 5.5" Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C. Three of us tried and three of us failed to "dial the gun in" at 15 feet, so we moved the target in to 10 feet. Again, we struggled for consistency even when taking our time between shots. In the real world, if the pistol were to be used in self-defense, I can believe that an 18 x 12 inch torso could be hit multiple times at 10-12 feet. And since that's the designed purpose of the TCP, a person should be able to adequately defend themselves against a lethal aggressor, but I was hoping for more from the TCP. As you saw in the video, my wife comments on her inability to hit the target and she's a pretty good markswoman.

Average Target Results from 15-feet

So you know, our best experience was with the Walther PK380 (but it's bigger in every way than the other .380s and that made it easier to shoot but harder to conceal), next was the the Kel-tec (I have to believe that it's white sites had something to do with that). After than was the Ruger LCP and last was the Taurus 738.

Another disappointing, and recurring, issue was a nagging failure to feed problem. We experienced at least 10 feeding "jams" in 200 rounds (maybe more but no one was counting). Way too many for a defense pistol in my opinion. In all fairness, the owner had not cleaned the TCP prior to taking it to the range. We found out, after a thorough cleaning, that was the primary root of the problem but even then an occasional cock-eyed round snuck up on us. It was another disappointment, and personally, I think he should send the gun back to Taurus for a factory examination.

Last on the review list is the size comparison. I've taken a couple of pictures of the TCP next to a Taurus 709 Slim and a Ruger LCR. There wasn't any reason to compare it to the Ruger LCP since they are very similar in size, but I was surprised as so how close in size it was to the Ruger LCR.

As you can see in the picture, when you set the Taurus 738 on top of a Ruger LCR, the profiles are surprising close in size for a revolver and semi-auto. The real size advantage is in the Taurus's thinness. It's really thin.

Even as thin as it is, I found that it printed pretty badly when dropped into the front pocket of my cargo pants.

The pistol is light too. The stainless models weigh only 10.2 ounces empty and the titanium weighs 9 ounces empty. That 1.2 oz might not seem like a lot, but think of it as more than a 10% reduction in weight.

To sum it up, I liked a lot of what the Taurus 738 offers. I like the finish options, I like size and weight, I like how it felt in my hand, I really like the looks. I was a little frustrated with it's accuracy and the failure-to-feeds issues. The problems are more than likely unique to that one pistol and not indicative of the model itself, but since color, comfort and looks aren't important when defending yourself, I'd run a lot of rounds through one before you trusted you life to it.

UPDATE #1:
On 2/19/11, I bought my own Taurus 738 TCP. Academy Sports had a stainless version on sale for $259, a price too good to pass up. I thoroughly cleaned the pistol and ran 100 rounds of cheap Winchester, flat nose .380 though it without a single failure to feed or extraction issue. Not one.

Not only did it feed well, it shot well. I didn't have the problem keeping shots centered like I did with David's TCP. The photo to the left shows the result of two magazines, standing free hand at 21" on an 8" target. In my opinion, not too bad for a tiny .380 that I had just started shooting. I wish the three strays hadn't happened but they are still in a lethal zone and in my level of experience, strays happen. And how about this, Doug and I were 'dinging' torso-sized steels at 75 yards with the TCP standing free-hand. I was consistently ringing the steel 4-5 times out of six shots at 225 feet!

The gun still needs another hundred rounds through it to keep breaking it in, but I feel confident enough to carry it as a personal defense piece. I put five rounds of Hornady Critical Defense through it and they fed perfectly too, so as summer approaches and shorts and T-shirts become the dress code, it'll be nice to have a "pocket protecter" with me at the lake, and I don't mean the nerd kind.

UPDATE #2:

I added a Crimson Trace Laser Grip to the TCP. I found this one on Amazon.com for $179. As you can see it doesn't alter the profile of the pistol very much and weight and balance changes weren't noticeable at all.

Installation was extremely easy and took about five minutes, including sighting it in. The device is two half pieces that attache to the trigger guard with two tiny allen head screws. Using the same allen wrench, you adjust for windage and elevation. I adjusted the dot on my pistol so it sits on the front sight when "painted" on a target 12-feet away from the muzzle.

Activation is "no-brainer" automatic. The activation button is right under the trigger guard and is activated by your middle finger. If you grip the pistol normally, your finger will activate the laser without the need for any additional thought. Grip the gun, laser turns on. Relax your grip, laser turns off.

On my Kimber Ultra Carry II, the laser is at the back of the gun attached to the grip. The benefit of this position is that gun smoke does not coat the lens during use. In a defensive scenario, this isn't an issue in any way, but on the TCP, the laser lens is right under the crown so residue does accumulate as you shoot. Again, it's not a big issue, you just need to carefully clean the lens after you shoot. Speaking of cleaning, care needs to be taken not to get any solvents on the lens. I personally believe that keeping solvents off of the entire mechanism is a good idea. The activation button is rubber and strong cleaners will break down the rubber over time and will do who knows what to the inside of the unit.

If you've read my reviews, you know my stance of laser sights. I think all concealed carry pistols should have them. In a panic situation, even with tons of practice, will you look at the front sight (especially the dinky TCP sights) as a 200+ pound bad guy charges at you? What about in low light? Do you really want to focus on a gun sight and not the attacker or attackers? Can you accurately shoot from the hip in tight quarters? As laser isn't magic, but it does allow better situational awareness, better aim in awkward positions and it gives you a trigger pull practice tool (some say it can decrease an attackers aggression, who knows).

Once you put a laser on your pistol, make sure to practice using it. Shoot hundreds of rounds from a variety of positions several times a year. Find a pistol defense instructor and get proper training with it. Remember, a laser doesn't magically guide a bullet to the red dot. It just shows where the gun is pointed as you begin to pull the trigger. Good techniques are still needed to keep the dot on target as you pull the trigger.

Enough preaching about lasers and back to the TCP. The Taurus 738 is a fantastic, inexpensive, easy to conceal defense gun. I know, some of you think .380s are barely powerful enough to penetrate bare skin. I agree that they are on the bottom of the caliber food chain, but I don't think of them as pee-shooters.

While at the range, I spoke to an active police officer that helped clear up my thought on the matter. As I handed him the TCP, I shrugged and said, "I know, not a bear killer." He held up the little pistol and looked down the tiny sight line, "Maybe not a bear killer, but I've seen way too many dead people that were shot with cheap .380s and .25s. I wouldn't want to be shot by one."

To paraphrase Dick Metcalf: A full-sized 1911 in .45 ACP is my first choice, but sometimes it's not practical to carry one, especially when running to the corner store for a gallon of milk. Or in my case, in the summer when wearing shorts and a T-shirt. In those instances, I think my little Taurus TCP will do just fine.

REVIEW: Barrett 82A1 .50 Cal.

2010-12-04T15:16:00.011-05:00

You've seen them on TV, online, in magazines and in the movies. One of the most recent as of the writing of this article is the sniper shots taken in the Hurt Locker which won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture (I didn't think it deserved it but that's another story). But most people haven't actually pulled the trigger of any Barrett .50 cal. model.

This summer, my wife and I had the good fortune to shoot a Barrett 82A1. This isn't a technical review of the rifle but rather a commentary on what it's like to shoot a rifle that in less than 20 years has become a legend. Not a legend like the Winchester .30-30 but a a legend in it's unique power and range.

Some quick specs. The 82A1 is manufactured in the Murfreesboro, TN. It's 57" in overall length and weighs 31 lbs. with a 29" barrel (a 20" is optional) and without accessories or scope. There are two caliber options, .416 Barrett and .50 BMG (tested). It has a semi-automatic action with a 10-round magazine that's the size of a small cigar humidor. The base price is $9,345 MSRP (another "Holy Cow"). Add some options like an accessory rail and high powered scope and you're paying as much for a gun as you would for a low-mileage, two-year old, fully-loaded Honda Civic. Street prices at your local shop can be $800 lower but the demand for these rifles is keeping prices pretty high.

If you think it might be fun to shoot a .50 cal, you'd be right. When you see the size of the rounds, you can't help but feel a little nervous excitement. And you can't help thinking, "Holy Cow." The second "Holy Cow" comes when you find out that rounds cost $5 each unless you find a good online supplier of military surplus, then they can be a slow as $2.75 a piece. Holy cow!

.50 BMG on the far left

We pulled a fast one on my wife and sat her down behind Barrett with zero briefing on it's recoil. She's shot a lot of pistols and rifles so she knew that a rifle of that size would pack some punch, but as you can see in the video, she had no idea it'd kick as hard as it did.

We would have had a lot less recoil shooting prone, but the ground was wet from rain the previous day so we shot off of a makeshift table. The wooden slats weren't bolted down so they moved a bit adding to the backward shift in momentum. When you are about to pull the trigger for the first time, you keep thinking to yourself, "relax, squeeze easy, relax, exhale" knowing there's going to be a big bang after a millimeter of finger travel. BANG!

So how bad was the recoil? Actually not too bad. Lift a pump-action 12-gauge shotgun to your shoulder and pull the trigger and you'll feel more pain than the Barrett dishes out. The recoil system in the 82A1 cushions the blow so it's not like taking a whack from a wooden baseball bat (like a pump 12-guage). Rather it's like a an offensive lineman giving you forceful shoulder push. It doesn't hurt but it's hard to stop yourself from moving backward. As you can see in the video, us heavier guys aren't as displaced as my light-weight wife (sell love that I called her light weight) but we still get pushed back quite a bit.

We were shooting at about 80 yards - way too close for that rifle. Shooting a Barrett 82A1 at 80-yards is like shooting a .38 Special at 80-yards. Neither were made for that distance. While we were blowing the heck out of the small barrel we were shooting at, we didn't do any real accuracy tests except one. But most shots were pretty close to where we were aiming. The owner of the rifle did shoot a golf ball off of a golf tee, but again we were only at 80-yards. It was a direct hit first try.

If you get the chance to shoot a Barrett 82A1 or any Barrett model, jump at the opportunity! Shoot as many rounds as you can afford. I say "afford" because at $3-5 a round, do the kind thing and offer to pay for the ammo you shoot. At least offer. Then brace yourself a thrill and make sure someone is shooting some video with your digital camera.

REVIEW: Taurus PT709 Slim

2010-03-13T11:52:00.006-05:00

UPDATE: 2/13/2012 at the end of the review.

Carrying concealed is a exercise in compromise. The variables are almost limitless, due not only to gun caliber, but also due to people's body sizes and shapes. Google search, "What is the best carry gun" and you get back 29,000,000 hits, each author giving his/her own advice or, as many articles do, leave you with no real suggestions just some broad ideas.

For me, I'm always looking for that balance of caliber, gun weight, gun size, price, ease of concealment, etc. I love the size of the Ruger LCP, but the little pistol feels awkwardly small in the hand and day-to-day is a .380 enough? I have a Kimber Ultra Carry II in .45 ACP, but fully loaded, it's heavy and harder to conceal than my Taurus Model 85 .38 Special. I love the little revolver, is 5-shots in the Model 85 enough? Can I really reload a revolver under stress? See what I mean?

I was definitely going to get a small 9mm semi-auto but I hadn't done it. After shooting the Kahr PM9 several times, I was really leaning toward it. But when Taurus announced the 9mm PT709 Slim I was intrigued. My interest increased when a friend of mine bought one and reported that he loved it.

While at a local gun shop, I had the luxury of handling lots of small 9mm pistols side-by-side.

After deliberating, I purchased the Taurus PT709 Slim. It seemed to strike the best balance of size, caliber, capacity and price for my purposes. The first thing you notice when you pick the pistol up is the thin grip. The grip is the hardest part of a conceal gun to keep hidden so Taurus kept the one on the 709 thin and short. Your pinkie hangs off the end - yet another compromise - but it's a carry item. Overall, the gun feels really good in my hand and the checkering molded into the provides a good, solid grip. The way a pistol feels in a gun store isn't very telling in regard to how it performs.

Even before real shooting, the double action pull seemed a bit heavy and the single action break was a bit hard - just a bit. So, I popped in a snap cap and dry fired it about 100 times and it seemed to smooth out.

The Taurus PT709 is a SA/DA with second strike abilities. I got to test this at the range when a round of cheap Wal-Mart Winchester white box didn't fire. It worked as advertised, after pulling though the double action, the primer popped and the gun fired.

At the range the PT709 proved itself. I sent 100 rounds down range at a variety of distances. The pistol was shooting low and to the left at first, but after adjusting the sights, it seemed to be dialed in. The recoil of the gun is very manageable. For a short nosed semi-auto muzzle lift isn't very bad. To put is in perspective, it's not nearly as bad as the Kahr PM9 but worse than a Walther PPS.

My friend Doug (really accurate marksman) picked up the PT709 for the first time and snapped off seven rounds, in 1-1.5 second intervals, and kept them all in a three inch group at seven yards. Not a bad accomplishment for a regular guy his first time 'at bat' with a new gun. I didn't have the same result my first time. My grouping was about 5-inches but I started pulling them in the second and third magazine.

Notice the target pictures above. Standing freehand, I was able to shoot a 2.6-inch group on an 8-inch Orange Peel target and a 1.7-inch group (on a 5.5-inch Orange Peel target) at 50-feet resting on a sandbag. On the bags, I loaded the pistol with the full 7+1 rounds. I was pretty happy with the outcome. The PT709 isn't a target pistol (and I was using cheap Walmart ammo), it's a short barrel defense pistol, so these results are more than satisfactory. I'm sure a professional marksman shooting high quality match grade ammo could do even better.

After a two boxes of 50, I started noticing that the trigger was much smoother and the break was much lighter. As the trigger improved, so did my shooting.

Overall, there's nothing really "blow me away" impressive about the Taurus PT709 Slim. It does have a nice mix of things that make it desirable to some and will make it less so to others. It has a SA trigger, that after some break in, is really nice. There's the critical DA second-strike ability if a round doesn't fire the first time. It has a thumb safety for those that feel better using it (I don't use it when carrying). There is a built in trigger safety. It has low-profile, adjustable sights (similar to the Glock). It's thin and really easy to carry concealed, even for a medium framed guy like me. It's holds eight rounds of a proven defense caliber. It comes in all black, stainless (mine) and titanium. It's super easy to breakdown and clean. It's very accurate. And it's relatively inexpensive, $415 for the stainless version, under $379 for the blued version.

Some of the negatives: It's a little longer than the Kahr. Some people dislike Taurus (I agree that they have had a past with ups and downs but they seem to be really dialed in now). It has a thumb safety (don't like it, don't use it).

While the gun lacks 'super wow factor', I really like it and am glad that I bought it. I'm carrying it in a CrossBreed Super Tuck where it's invisible and extremely comfortable.

Taurus has really upped the ante and it producing some inventive, good-looking and reliable firearms. I have no problems trusting my safety to the Taurus PT709. Plus, it's so easy to conceal, so there are no excuses to leave home without it. My conclusion is that the price to performance ratio definitely puts it in the 'consideration' category when shopping for a small, carry 9mm.

February 13, 2012:
My Taurus PT709 Slim now has over 800 rounds through it and it's performed flawlessly. Other than a few feeding issues early on, the last 700 rounds have fed and fired without a single hiccup. As you can see in the accompanying photo, I've added a Pearce Magazine Extension and a Hogue Grip Sleeve. Both additions have really improved the purchase I can get on the grip and have improved accuracy.

Also in the picture is my friend's Ruger LC9. We shot these to guns side-by-side and surprisingly, the Taurus actually outperformed it in several tests. Click this link to read that review. I've read several reviews of people getting 709 Slim lemons and I can believe that could happen. Luckily, I purchased a peach.

REVIEW: Ruger LCR

2010-02-23T00:22:00.007-05:00

The Purchase: I was at a local gun store to buy 9mm and while looking at pistols, my wife announced that she wanted to get her carry permit and thus wanted to buy a handgun. I was floored because for the past few years, I've been trying to get her to do it. The next step was to find a gun she liked and was right for it's intended purpose - personal defense.

We were in luck, the store just received 88 firearms earlier that morning so there was a lot in stock. The thing I didn't want to do was be overly suggestive to any one gun. I wanted my wife to look at a variety of items then narrow it down to two or three then I would make suggestions to help her pin it down to 'the one'.

The sales manager, Bob, was very helpful. He held nothing back. He sat gun after fun on the counter. She got to handle things like a baby Glock (grip too thick), Walther PPS (ugly), Kahr PM9 (reviewed here) and CW9 (too hard to pull the slide), Ruger LCP .380 (too small), Smith & Wesson .38 Feather Weight (trigger too hard to pull), Taurus PT709 Slim (slide too hard to pull) and on and on we searched. She mentioned to Bob that she didn't like having to pull a slide back and was a little concerned about jams that semi-autos can have. I bit my tongue and kept quiet as Bob's eyes lit up. "Hey, I have something that just came in that you might like, I'll be right back."

Bob reappeared with a white box with RUGER written in red letters on it. He sat the box down and opened it. My heart skipped a beat when he pulled out an LCR (the polymer framed Light Compact Revolver). I had read about them but had never handled one. It was all I could do to not to grab it out of my wife's hands. Bob said, "Go head and pull the trigger."

She did and her eyes lit up. "It's light like the Smith but easy to pull the trigger."

I couldn't stay quiet. I piped up, "They built a new trigger mechanism from scratch. It's supposed to be really light." I held out my hand, "Can I try it?" She handed over the polymer gun. Oh, it felt so nice in the hand. It was so light and the Hogue grip was very comfortable (this won't matter in the long run as you'll soon see).

We all three weighed the pros and cons of semi-autos vs. revolvers. Semi-autos: more capacity/lighter triggers - but can jam. Revolvers: fewer rounds - but work every time you pull the trigger/don't need to be as meticulously clean to work. The choice seemed simple and even better, it was my wife's decision alone. She went for the LCR. Deep inside I was thrilled.

The Gun: The revolver is revolutionary. From the inside out, it's been designed from scratch. But just like when the Glock came out in the 80s (like 'it's a plastic gun that can go through airport security), there is some misinformation about the LCR. It's not an all polymer revolver. The back/bottom part of the frame is polymer (grip, trigger guard and back part of the frame) while the top frame around the cylinder and outer barrel are aluminum. The cylinder, trigger and inner barrel are steel. For some reason, I thought the whole frame was polymer with the key stress parts being steel (in 2010 Taurus is releasing an all polymer framed .38 Special).

There are two things that set it apart from other small framed, snub-nosed revolvers - the trigger and the distribution of weight. Immediately you notice that steel snubs are front heavy while some of the UL models are actually too light and can really punish the palm of your hand. The LCR feels perfectly balanced and weighted. Second, the trigger pull is like nothing you've ever felt in a small frame revolver. After 500+ rounds, my Taurus Model 85 has a really smooth trigger, but the LCR is smoother and lighter right out of the box (and after 150 rounds and about 150 dry fire cycles - with snap caps - it's like butter).

Shooting it: Once loaded with target rounds, the guns weight shifts back a bit but it's still light. As I pulled the trigger for the first time, I was expecting that Smith & Wesson Feather Weight palm slap. But interestingly, recoil felt lighter than my Taurus Model 85 UltraLite. One reason is that I use a hard plastic Crimson Trace grip. The hard plastic won't catch on clothing but it won't absorb recoil either. Make no mistake, the gun kicks but it's very manageable. The Hogue grip really helps and the finger slots make it easy to keep ahold of the gun as it fires.

The first time my wife pulled the trigger she flinched like crazy anticipating the recoil. After the first shot, she was amazed that it didn't hurt her hand and started gaining confidence with each shot. By the end of the day and 100 rounds, her hand was a little sore but geez, she shot 100 rounds!

The sights are VERY useable for a snub. The black sights provide lots of contrast and there's just enough light between the sides of the back and front sights to allow for pretty good aiming. My Model 85's sights are useless in anything but bright daylight. It's one reason I put a CT laser on it. I wrote earlier that the nice Hogue grips were not going to be an issue because we will be putting Crimsom Trace Laser Grips on the LCR too.

When push comes to shove, nothing beats the simplicity of laser sights. They allow you to keep your eye on the perp while aiming and shooting, they are great in low-light situations when a lot of crimes take place (black sights are useless at night unless they are illuminated by Tritium) and they increase the perceived threat level to the bad guy (for better or worse). The LCR will have them installed soon.

After some warm-up shots, we really tried to free hand some shots at a target 10 feet away. The results were acceptable for the distance, cadence of fire and newness to the firearm. See the accompanying picture (target rounds were used in the photo - 9 shots in the 8" ring, we never saw where the 10th hit).

We then switched to some +P Hornady Critical Defense rounds. I have to say, I really couldn't tell the difference in recoil. Next time, I'm going to have someone blind load the cylinder with both +P and target loads to see if I can tell which is which. Some say the polymer helps absorb the recoil, I don't know if its true, but the recoil is very tolerable for such a light weight gun.

I've shot many "exciting new guns" that were let downs in action. The Ruger LCR is not one of those. I was excited to shoot one and I hoped it lived up to the hype. It did. I was impressed with every aspect of the firearm. This is rare as guns are really an exercise in compromises.

If you need or want a conceal carry revolver, this is your gun. Skip the S&W Feather Weight, the trigger is way too heavy (especially for my wife and probably your wife/girlfriend too) and the thing kicks way too hard for the same wives. Ruger has built a perfect defense gun that will very likely change the future of revolvers. Just look at Taurus following suit (see photo to the left).

Start by finding one (good luck), then feel how nice it feels in your hand, then pull the trigger and feel the silky smooth action, then feel the money leaving your bank account as you walk out of the store with your new Ruger LCR...

UPDATE: We took the Ruger LCR back out for another workout. My wife shot 90 rounds through it again (I only got 10 this time). Her consistent accuracy was impressive. The trigger on the LCR continues to get smoother with every pull. Personally, I love shooting this revolver! The more rounds I put through it, the more you realize how nice it is. I think I'm going to try to sell my Taurus Model 85 and get one for myself.

Review: Kahr Arms PM9

2010-02-15T22:28:00.029-05:00

Saturday I went to a local gun store to buy some overpriced .45 ACP ammo and the parking lot was packed! Normally, there are a few cars there and on CCW class days there are about 10 cars, but yesterday there were easily 20. It was hard to find a place to park!

Whether they’re carrying on a daily basis or not, there’s no doubt that carry classes are overflowing. Gone are the days when a card carrying, permit holder was in a small fraternity. Now days everyone has one. Since so many people are getting licensed to carry, it stands to reason that small, easy to conceal pistols and revolvers are going to be more popular than ever. Well, they are and Kahr knows it.

Kahr Arms is an American pistol manufacturer that was founded by Kook Jin "Justin" Moon, son of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon. For all of you familiar with “Moonies” this church will sound familiar to you.

I chuckled when I heard that but it’s true. The good news is that “Justin” loves guns, got a carry permit at 18 years of age and didn’t like the quality and selection of many of the small guns on the market. So in 1995, he started a company who’s goal was to build high quality, compact, semi-automatic pistols.

When my buddy Bruce told me over lunch that he was going to buy a PM9, I had to bite my lip to keep from yelling, “Hallelujah!” I shot a PM40 a few months ago and was impresses but didn’t get a lot of time with the gun.

You see, Bruce was looking for a Ruger LCP so he called our local Sportsman’s Warehouse and found out that it was going to be a while on an LCP but that a Kahr PM9 was on the truck coming in on Wednesday. I don’t know how things are in your part of the US, but out here guns are strangely scarce. So if you find something you want, buy it right then and there.

In my opinion, Bruce did a very smart thing. He burned a vacation day, showed up at Sportsman’s Warehouse at 10 am sharp (as they opened) and bought the beautiful, all black PM9, with Tritium night sites on the spot. He wasn’t taking any chances.

He took the gun out on Purchase Day and ran 100 rounds through it to make sure it was ready for testing. I spoke to him on the phone and anxiously asked how it shot. He replied very calmly, “Well personally, I think it shoots pretty nicely.”

The gun is a Kahr PM9094N, in black stainless (very cool) with night sites. It comes with two magazines, a standard 6-rounder and an extended 7-rounder with pinky extension.

Saturday at the range, we shot a variety of guns before getting to the Kahr. But once I picked it up, I knew it was something special. It was very well balanced, very light - but not too light, and very small- but not too small. It was pretty close to perfect. BUT it does have one very interesting flaw. For that, you’ll need to keep reading.

We took some pictures and video then loaded the magazine with 6 rounds. I knew this first mag was going to be a bit wild as I got used to the trigger so I asked Bruce to shoot some video.

The guns shoots well. Very well. Even though the gun had only 100 rounds through it, the DA only trigger was light and easy. Because it’s DA only, the trigger must be completely released before you feel the reset “click”. It’s like shooting a revolver with a super light, 5 pound trigger.

After two mags, I shook my head and wrote these words in my review journal, “Sweet. Light DA trigger, easy to shoot, recoil is very manageable. Very Sweet,”. For a small gun, the recoil is surprisingly light. The gun kicks way less than the Kel-Tec P-3AT we reviewed. I was yet again impressed. The DA only trigger is so easy to pull, it's hard to believe. It makes one wonder why all DA triggers can't be this smooth and easy and why it took so long for a company to figure it out.

As for accuracy? At 10/75 yards, my standard pistol test ranges, the gun was surprising. As you can see in the accompanying photo, there are four magazines that were shot into the target. They are clearly labeled. The first two were loaded with 6 rounds each, the last two were loaded with 5 rounds since I only had 10 left.

Target at 30 feet, standing, shooting two-handed.
Set 1: I still hadn’t figured out if the gun was a dot-on-the-10-ring or dot-below-the-10-ring pistol. I put the dot below the 10 ring and shot six holes in the neck. (The 5 shots in the black circle below were shot with my Taurus Model 85 .38 Special)

Set 2: With the front dot on the bull, I was all over the head but not too bad as this was my first outing with the gun (one lucky bull and five real shots).

Sets 3 and 4: Two mags of five, eight on target, two that were low and to the left. Likely my trigger finger, not the gun.

For an ultra-compact, short-barreled, DA only pistol, I was more than happy with the results. Ok, light DA trigger, accurate, small, easy to handle, shoots well, etc. What’s the flaw?

Notice in the photo that there’s a small gap between the pinky rest and the bottom of the pistol grip. Every time you pull the trigger with the extended magazine in place, that gap pinches the dog out of your pinky. Every time.

If that mag was the only option, I’d be pissed! Yes, it’s more comfortable, but dang it! All I can say is that Kahr really needs to find a solution to that problem. I’ve shot lots of extended mags and have never had this problem. They all fit snug without a finger-pinching gap.

Personally, I’d rarely shoot the extended mag anyway. I’d never carry it that way as the extra length kills the concealability (my spell check doesn’t recognize that word, hmm) and why practice with a mag you won’t use in real life?

Overall, that’s a small, but real problem. If you want a small, light weight conceal carry gun and don’t mind shelling out some extra money (Kahr’s are sold at a premium price) the Kahr PM9 is a real winner. You get a great shooting, sexy little pistol that you’ll be glad you bought.

Photo: Kimber Ultra Carry II, PM9 and XD9 size comparison.

Kahr PM9 Review

Stock Ruger 10/22 vs. Custom Built 10/22

2009-12-26T20:54:00.005-05:00

Is it worth the time and money to custom build a 10/22 or is it better to take the cheaper and easier way out and buy a factory built, off the shelf Ruger 10/22?

We actually have an answer and reason to do both, believe it or not.

The two guns used in the challenge are an off the shelf Ruger 10/22 with the slightly “fancier” walnut stock (compared to the birch stock) and a fully custom 10/22 that was hand built using hand picked parts (reviewed and shown how it was built here). We used the same Federal .22 LR ammo in both guns, used the same magazines, the same beanbag-style Caldwell rest and of course, the same shooter.

The guns were not clamped into a fixed vice, rather we placed them on a the Caldwell rest shown below. The triggers are so different on each gun, the rest allowed some movement due to trigger pull. Thus one of the reasons we used bags instead of Bruce’s more stable rest with butt-stock clamp.

The Orange Peel targets were placed 100 yards out and the shooting began. We blew through several magazines to get the feel for the guns before we shot for the test.

First, I shot the gun I’m most familiar with, my factory built Ruger. I put two 10 round mags through the gun, gasping for air between reloads. I was using a Nikon Prostaff 2-7x32 Riflescope. The results are on the left hand side of the image below.

On the right hand side of the image below, are the results of the Custom 10/22. Again, 20 rounds shot out of two 10-round mags. The ‘custom’ shot much more consistently and actually gave me the impression that with some practice, I could and should keep all 20 shots in the 10 ring. The stock gun, on the other hand, gave no such impression. The lack of a hand-lapped barrel and the heavy trigger (vs. the 2 freakin’ pound pull of the custom) added enough variables that keeping 20 shots in the 10 ring was impossible - at least by me.

Nevertheless, the results speak for themselves. Now, is it worth it to spend 2.5 times the money for the results above. Maybe. But there’s more to the equation.

When you figure in the research (I consider fun), the hand selecting of parts from that research, the pride off self-assembly, picking the exact stock in the exact color and shape you want AND having it easily outshoot a stock gun...well, that makes it well worth it if you can afford it. If not, the stock Ruger will give you (and your kids if you have them) hours and hours of cheap fun that’s hard to beat.

If it had been warmer (it was about 47 degrees and late in the evening) and if we had more daylight, I believe I could have gotten a lot more out of the Custom. We’ll update the article in the spring of 2009 and retest the results.

Stock Ruger 10/22 Walnut: About $329 (without scope). $460 with scope.

Custom 10/22: About $1200 with

The final parts list:

Stock: Revolution Yukon

Receiver: Volquartsen Superlight (Silver)

Trigger: KIDD (Silver with adjustable 2 lb. red trigger)

Bolt: KIDD (w/ scalloped engraving)

Bolt Handle: Volquartsen

Barrel: KIDD

Scope: Mueller AVP

Scope Rings: 1” dia. .25” height

Extra: KIDD Receiver Pin Kit

Extra: Ruger 10-22 Magazine

Thought you’d like to know.

Ruger LCP vs. Kel-Tec P-3AT

2009-12-12T16:29:00.010-05:00

I finally got the chance to do it! I got to shoot a Ruger LCP side-by-side with a Kel-Tec P-3AT.

The first thing I noticed when you saw the pistols sitting side-by-side is that they are so close in looks, a person might confuse them in a dimly lit room. As you look closer, there are definite differences. But before I talk about the differences of similarities, I must say that I'm not going to comment on the stopping power of a .380 vs. a 9mm or a .45 ACP for that matter. This is a comparison of the Ruger and Kel-Tec pocket guns, not an article on stopping power.

What we will cover are the similarities, differences, accuracy and build quality (not in that order)

My friend Brian called me with some exciting news. His Ruger LCP finally arrived and he had picked it up from a local gun store and was ready to shoot it. As you may recall, when the Ruger was first released, it was so popular that stores immediately sold out. I read that there was a 50,000 unit back order though I can't confirm that that was true. What was true, is that if you wanted one, you had to get on a list and wait. Even some of the lucky people that actually got one early on, turned into opportunists and were selling them for double full retail...and getting it!

Brian was actually one of the patient ones that placed in order then patiently waited over two months for the gun to arrive (August 2009). Naturally, he was excited to give it a spin, but to his dismay, he couldn't find any .380 ammo at ANY of the local gun stores! So, he ordered some and after another painful wait, we finally got to shoot the thing.

As luck would have it, I have access to a Kel-Tec P-3AT (Click here to see my review) so I grabbed it and met Brian at the range. We quickly loaded both guns then decided on how we were going to do the test. We started by putting a full magazine though each gun to 'warm them up' and to get an overall feel. Just as I described in my review of the p-3AT, these guns are a pain in the butt to shoot. The tiny, hard plastic grips are really brutal on the hands. It's hard to shoot 6 rounds without adjusting your hold on the grip.

The Kel-Tec has a straight, non-contoured grip while the new Ruger actually has a thumb groove that I thought would ease the discomfort. It didn't. They felt about the same.

Both pistols have a 6+1 capacity. The Ruger weighs about an once more than the Ket-Tec. And both have a double-action only trigger.

After shooting six rounds through both pistols, I told Brian to help me with a blind shooting test. (the following was performed at an empty range and was carefully supervised). I closed my eyes and had Brian place one of the pistols in my hand, help me aim down range then swap pistols and repeat the trigger pull. Could I tell the difference? Well, yes. The Ruger had a much stiffer trigger. But to be fair, the Kel-Tec has had hundreds or rounds through it while the Ruger was right out of the box. So, that didn't really work very well. At least all of the bullets went safely down range. (This test was carefully monitored and I would not suggest anyone try it).

Second we tried an accuracy test. We placed my target stand 15 feet away and shot both guns at a 12" Orange Peel target. This is where things got interesting. Brian shot first using his Ruger and didn't even hit the cardboard and we were only 15 feet away! Hmm. I in turn shot at the same target using the Kel-Tec and hit the 12" adhesive Orange Peel target 4 out of six times and missed twice by about an inch 7 o'clock. Not too bad for a tiny mouse gun.

Next we switched. I shot the Ruger and he shot the Kel-Tec. This time Brian was all over the target. Nice shooting. But I had a hard time getting two solid shots to land in the '12 circle. Almost every shot was low. Very low. Not good.

My next test was to shoot while resting on the shooting table. Again, the Kel-Tec out shot the Ruger. I tried with all my might to use a good, solid trigger pull. I used every thing I've ever learned to get that Ruger to shoot dead on and it just wouldn't cooperate. It got close, but it consistently low and required a serious level of concentration.

One issue is the Ruger's sights. They are very hard to see. Since little back-up guns are not meant to be used for precision, target shooting, the sights are more of an aesthetic thing than a functional thing. Notice in the accompanying picture that the Ruger has solid black notched rear sight and a tiny (and I do mean TINY) black bump for a front sight (notice the front sight in the profile pictures). It's hard to really get a consistent sight picture.

On the other hand, the Kel-Tec's rear sight isn't notched but is painted bright white. The front sight is a decent little triangle that's also painted white. The correct sight picture is to set the white triangle on top of the white square making a little white "house". Overall, it you are using the sights, the Ket-Tec has sights that can actually be used.

These guns are meant for deep concealment, life-saving, close range, point-and-shoot situations. Nevertheless, you do want the bullet to travel in a predictable path that's somewhere close to the intended target. Also, knowing that guns like these will see most of their use at 10 feet or less, we pulled our target back five feet so we were within the 'statistical use' distance. That made all the difference in the world.

Instead of trying for precision, we tried shooting from the hip. The results were completely different. Both guns performed about the same. From the 'low ready' position, we would bring the pistol up and squeeze off two shots at our torso target 10 feet away, back to 'low ready', then raise and fire two shots again, etc. We were hitting the intended target 100 percent of the time.

As for build quality, the Ruger wins hands down. It's a lot more solid, the plastic feels and looks better, the metal is well coated (notice the metal in the top views of the guns). The Kel-Tec feels cheap next to the Ruger. Also, when pulling the slide back, the Ruger is smooth and solid while the Kel-Tec feels like a toy. Another nice touch that Ruger added is a slide lock. It won't auto lock after firing the last round, but you can pull back on the slide and flip it up to keep the slide locked back. A nice addition.

When the LCP came out, I REALLY wanted one! I passed on opportunities to buy a P-3AT waiting for the much anticipated LCP to come out. After shooting both the Kel-Tec and the Ruger I can't say that I would rather have the Ruger or the Kel-Tec. They both function as well as you can expect from a tiny pistol. Both have pros and cons. If you like the Ruger brand name, get the Ruger. If you think Kel-Tec is the way to go, buy that one.

There are times when it's hard to hide a Kimber Ultra Carry or a Taurus snub .38 and having a small caliber gun is better than nothing. Would I carry one of these guns day-in and day-out? No, but as a summer, pocket gun. I'd feel safer with it in my shorts pocket than nothing. And for the price, you can actually afford to buy one, even though the ammo is hard to find.

Ruger LCP Review

Kel-Tec P-3AT Review

Smith & Wesson M&P Semi-auto pistols

2009-08-05T23:07:00.002-04:00

I shoot and review guns. But the reality is, there are some reviewers out there that have more gun knowledge in their little finger than I have in my whole body. Ronnie Dodd is one of those people. He is the “real deal” and has taught me a lot about fire arms. I’m thrilled to have a firearm review from him on my site. And if you like what you read, visit www.doddtraining.com to learn more.
-Kennard.

Ronnie: "I don’t like writing reviews because I know there is so much BS out there and I know some of the folks writing the BS. But, I have been asked by Kennard to do a review on the Smith and Wesson M&P series of pistols so, here goes.
First off I am old enough that I owned and carried one of the original line of M&P – Military and Police – revolvers back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and the caveman police officer carried a revolver. Smith is doing a great homage to that day of yesteryear with the new line of weapons –both pistol and AR based rifles.
Prior to the M&P my favorite weapon was the single stack 1911 design pistol. Not being able to carry that my second choice was the Sig P220. When I took over as Chief of Police for the City of Red Bank the Sig is what we purchased for duty guns.
Since I started shooting the M&P, first the 9MM, then the 45ACP -well, my 1911s’ and Sigs get shot about once a year now and they are delegated to the gun vault! These pistols shoot great. I have shot every one of the weapons and have fallen in love with each one. The M&P initial offering was in 40 since it is such a popular round with Law Enforcement (LE). After tooling up for those, then they offered the 9mm. Unlike Glock which started out as a 9mm and then upped to a 40 without doing a lot of modification to account for the higher pressure 40 cal round. This led to a sometimes hard to control weapon, while the M&P is like shooting a 9mm+ round, VERY easy to control and not near as sharp felt recoil as the Glock.
The weapon are chambered for 9MM, 40, and 45ACP (my favorite of course).
Lets’ start with the negatives on the M&P.
The standard model comes with the three-dot Novak sights. I immediately black out the rear two dots where the sight picture is not “too busy”. If it going to be a gun I carry as soon as possible I replace the sights with a Scott Warren rear, Tactical site, and a High Viz front sight. Now this is just me! The Novaks’ are great sights and excellent shooting can be accomplished with them but at 57yoa my eyes just work better with the Warren and High Viz combo.
Magazines, not clips, are constructed like a true work horse vehicle. All metal body and good followers and springs. The down side is they are pricey. Last I checked they were around $35 a pop. And if you don’t take care of them they will rust. After every training session wipe them down good. I have had all mine coated because I am lazy and don’t keep my practice magazines as clean as I should.
In the Pro Series there have been some failure to extract which has been traced back to some of the finish on the barrels that has gotten into the chamber making the tolerances’ tighter that the standard. This is easy fix should you end up with one of those pistols. Smith has since corrected the issue
Ok, that is it for bad in my opinion, now to the good.
Price very comparable with other guns of this type, holsters easy to find, with mag poches.
One of the first things you will notice when you open the box is there are two extra back straps, a small, and a large – guns comes with a medium on it. What does this mean! If you have a big meaty grip like me you install the large back strap, if like my daughter’s 9mmC then you put on the small. This allows you to tailor the gun to your hand. This will allow you the best grip alignment and trigger pull which should be in a straight back manner.
The guns do NOT have to have the trigger pulled prior to taking the gun down for cleaning. Pulling the trigger unless I am on a target has always made me nervous. Mr. Murphy has a way of doing strange things with guns! Bullets can magically appear in a chamber when it is supposedly empty.
The guns have great “point ability”. Imagine taking your hand and on demand point at something with your finger. The ergonomics of this pistol is such that it is an extension of your hand. Also it has a less perceived recoil because of the ergonomics, especially with the 40 and 45ACP.
The gun has a polymer frame which makes a lighter weight so that in transitions from target to target it is really fast and solid. The slide is a blackened stainless steel and very durable.
Another great plus it the pistol has ambidextrous controls. Slide stops on both sides, magazine release can be reversed in about 2 minutes using the small takedown tool that holds the backstrap in place.
Overall this, in my opinion, is the best SAP that Smith has ever made. I predict that if the durability of this gun holds up it will be the weapon of choice for LE in the future. On the gun that I use when teaching I did a un-official torture test and decided to shoot the gun until I started having problems. The only thing I would do to the gun after shooting it was to wipe it down and a little lube. I was somewhere in the 5K round count when I started having some failure to extracts. I performed a good cleaning on it and we are back and running again. Not something I recommend doing to your gun, but like the guy in the original “Dirty Harry” said, I just “had to know “how good it is. Talon Tactical holster- http://www.talontactical.com/ - Mike Benedict told me several months ago that he was making M&P holsters 3 to 1 over any other holster.
If you are thinking about getting into IDPA or USPSA shooting I recommend the Pro series of the gun, 9mm. This is a gun that is put out by the Smith folks Performance Center. This is a 5 inch gun – overall length little over eight inches - with some tricks to it above the normal pistols. It comes with a green fiber optic for a front sight and a Novak-designed, reduced glare rear sight. The increased sight radius allows for a more precise sight alignment necessary in competitive shooting scenarios. The trigger pull is usually around 4-5lb range and very smooth and very little over travel. Need one gun for the competition game, this is it.
As of this writing I have just taken possession of one of the new 45ACP compacts’. I may have found my ultimate carry gun.
Good shooting and watch the front sight!"

Browning ProSteel Gun Safe

2009-03-10T22:55:00.003-04:00

Guns make us feel safe right? We keep them on our person, under car seats, in glove boxes, in purses and even on night stands. But what do you do to make your guns feel safe. Do you lock them up or do you just leave them in a range bag on your closet floor?

That’s a dumb question. But what isn’t dumb is being smart with your guns and other personal belongings.

Don’t let kids get a hold of your guns! Yours or the neighbor’s kid!
Don’t let stolen guns get onto the street to be used in criminal activity!
Don’t let your precious heirlooms and other valuables get taken!
Don’t let a fire consume these good either.

Getting a good safe is a great idea for more than just gun safety. It’s an actual investment. My wife likes the idea of the safe so we can store important documents and jewelry and I came up with an ingenious idea! The Browning ProSteel Safe I bought has a small hole in the back that lets you run a power cord into it for a dehumidifier. Well this safe will be in a climate controlled environment so I decided that since my safe was within a few feet of my wireless router, I’m going to run a USB cord through the hole (from the back of my Wireless Router) and keep a WI-FI, USB powered backup hard drive drive inside the fireproof safe. How’s that for keeping your data secure?

I went to Sportsman’s Warehouse and looked at several of their models. Then, as I usually do, I surfed the web for some research. What I found out was that most safes are made in the same factory in China. Not a big surprise but that means that the differences are in the models within the brands more than in the brands alone. See for yourself in the photos below.

See any similarities? And even those that aren’t made in the same factory use a lot of the same parts. Yes there are some differences but if you buy a reputable brand like any of those listed above, you’ll be buying a lot of peace of mind and getting a great safe.

I bought a 14-bolt, 60"x30"x25", $1500 Browning ProSteel Copper (versus Gold) with digital keypad for several reasons. Ease, it was at my local store. Function, it had a great interior with TONS us usable space for it’s overall footprint. Price, it was in my price range. Security, I felt it would more than adequately keep my stuff safe (Fire: 60 minutes at 1200 degrees).

Here’s what I mean by lots of usable space. Notice how the door (a spot normally left empty) allows for seven rifles, several hand guns and has pockets galore for anything from knives and holsters to jewelry and passports?

It’s a wonderful idea! The door alone holds the contents of many small safes!

Not only that, the entire interior is covered with a felt-like lining. I have two small hockey puck sized “tap lights” with Velcro on the back and the “hook” side of the Velcro easily sticks to the felt on the ceiling of the safe. Instant interior lighting on the cheap!

Now, I needed to figure out where to put the new safe. According to my wife, it had to be hidden from view, not in the master bedroom but somewhere easy to get to. That didn’t leave may options. So, together we decided to put it in a closet under the stairs. After some tape measurements were taken, we determined it was a perfect fit.

But what effect would a 615 lb. (empty) safe have on my floors? Instead of taking chances, I put two $30 floor jacks in the crawl space under the floor where the safe would live. $60 and a little (I really mean little, those things are EASY to install) work now means no chance of sagging floors later.

Once purchased, I had to get the mid-sized beast home. Sigh. Instead of calling my tough guy buddies, I decided to let the professionals handle it. I called a piano mover that also moved safes. He charged me $250 (about $150 more than the kid at the store) but think of this. The piano mover is insured and bonded! If he scratches you floor or rams a hole into your wall or worse, you’re covered! To me, it was worth the extra money for that peace of mind alone. Isn’t that why we buy safes anyway, peace of mind?

Once installed, I immediately reset the master combination to a crazy number that I hope I never forget (I even reset the fall back combo. The “oops I forgot the combo”, combo). The digital key pad gives you the option of timed delay opening and a cool two series combination that lets you program in two different combinations where both have to be entered for the safe to be opened.

For example, my wife could have a combination that I don’t know and I could have a combination that she doesn’t know but both numbers must be entered for the door to be opened. That way neither one of us could access the contents of the safe without the other knowing it. Overkill in my home but you might have need for this cool feature if you’re a store manager.

Also, enter the wrong code a couple of times and the safe locks you out for five minutes. There are other settings too numerous to be described here but I was surprised by all of options.

After changing the combination to 12345 (just kidding) I loaded the safe with all my firearms. Sigh. While I now have room to grow, I immediately saw that I needed more hardware to keep the safe from looking so empty.

Oh, one more thing, safes need to breath. The doors aren’t air tight. But in the event of a fire, you want that baby sealed tight! So another cool feature is that the seal around the door allows air to pass but when heated up from a fire, it expands to seal the door shut, keeping out some of the heat, smoke and water (from the fire fighters).

Am I happy with my purchase? You bet! When you stack up the incredible usage of interior space, fire-resistance (yes, there are safes with a better rating), overall break-in security and medium sized foot print, the choice was an easy one. The Browning ProSteel Copper is perfect for me.

SPECS (from the Browning web site):

1200° F/60 minute fire protection
Attractive wildlife scene available
Full DPX® Storage System (on the door)
Top door bolts for extra security

Copper Series features

12-gauge steel body
1" formed steel door
Force Deflector™ Locking Mechanism
Hardened steel pin lock protection
1" chromed locking bolts, three-sided door coverage
DPX Storage System
UL® tool attack listed
S & G® Group II lock with key lock dial and five-year limited warranty
Three-spoke handle
Available with game scene or scroll graphics
Baked on high gloss or rugged textured finishes
Elevated floor to facilitate removal of guns

1200°/60 min. Standard Fire Protection

1200° F/60 min. fire protection
Three layers of 1/2" fire-resistant insulation in the body and door
Palusol® expanding fire seal

No matter what you choose, have a way to lock up your guns. Keep them out of the hands of kids, criminals and please keep them off the streets. We have a right to own and bear arms but that comes with a responsibility. Even an inexpensive, light-weight gun locker bolted to the floor is better than nothing. Ok, I’ll get off my soap box now.

REVIEW: Smith & Wesson M&P 15

2009-03-10T22:50:00.003-04:00

You want to hear a funny story? Ok, actually I should ask if you want to know how to make my wife really mad? The answer is simple, over the Christmas holiday, go to Sportsman’s Warehouse with your father-in-law to get a bottle of gun oil and come home with an AR15.

Look my wife’ s very accommodating of my shooting hobby. Actually, she encourages it. But spending an unexpected $1100 right a Christmas, understandably, isn’t the best decision a husband can make. BUT...

Oh yea, there’s always a but. But, have you tried to find a buy an AR15 these days?! If you have, then you’ve already figured out what happened to me. I walked in to Sportsman’s Warehouse and the General Manager, Jim Rhodes, and I cross paths just inside the front door. The moment he sees me he waves me over. I know Jim pretty well and he knows I like to buy guns, many have come from his store. He ushers to a side office and whispers, “What if I knew I guy that had a brand new, Smith and Wesson M&P AR15 that he was going to sell...today. Would you be interested?”

What could I say? I’ve seen the shelves there. I’ve looked online. NO AR15s! “Sure, I’d be interested,” I said as I slipped the marital noose around my neck.

He looked around like a spy about to reveal state secrets and flicked his head to the side, “Come with me...” He turned and briskly walked past the gun counter, that was stacked with people, and threaded us into the back room that had an “Employees Only” sign over the door. There were a couple of guys in the storage room that he asked to leave. This confused me but I went along with it. As soon as he, my father-in-law and I were alone, he pulled a box from the shelf and opened it. Sure enough, a brand new M&P15.

He lowered his voice again, “Look, about every salesman here has a buyer on this. It came in about two hours ago and I bet it’ll be gone in about an hour. No big deal, but if you want it, it’s yours. If not, we’ll sell it pretty quickly.” He stared at me. I darted a glance at my father-in-law. He was wincing as he knew my dilemma. My heart started pounding, my palms sweat and I pulled the noose tight. “Jim, I think I’m gonna have to...” I bit my lip, “Dang it, I’ll take it.”

Jim nodded and and walked out of the room without a word. Ten seconds later he came back in with a sales guy. “Bob, sell this guy this M&P, but keep it back here. Don’t take it out and lay it on the counter.”

Bob looked up at Jim, “Are you serious?” Jim patted Bob on the back and said, “Yep. Take care of this young man.” Then waved and winked at me and walked out.

Bob seemed kind of pissed about something. He grouchily took my info and as he was getting my thumb prints muttered under his breath, “I have a guy that’s coming in for this thing later today.” Ah, I get it now. Well your buddy’s going to be disappointed is what I wanted to say. Little did he know that I was going to have to fight an insurgency on the home front.

As we walked to the front of the store, the sales guy was carrying the cardboard box with the big M&P printing facing outward. We passed a guy that pointed to the box and called out, “Hey!” but the sales guy charged passed him. Bob then flipped the box around so the words were hidden from view. “Damn it. I don’t want no one to know we got one of these.”

Why all the fuss? About a month earlier we got a new President that had a political history that wasn’t gun friendly and the day after his election, guns started flying off the shelves at a record pace, especially anything that could be slapped with the “Assault” label.

It’s actually ironic that a President that has a history of supporting gun control laws is actually responsible for one of the biggest runs on firearms and ammo that I’ve ever seen! Anyway, let’s shoot this thing!

The rifle is a standard S&W M&P15. Nothing fancy, no accessory rails or anything. It has a 16 inch, chromoly barrel, six-position adjustable stock, a single stage 6-7 pound trigger and 30-round magazine. I had to throw on a red dot that I use on my Ruger Mark III as a sighting instrument.

The next hurdle was finding .223 ammo. Wal-mart had it but man was is scarce. At the range, we attached the red dot, loaded the mag and with only the slightest adjustments had it sighted in. We started on the torso steels at 75 yards then moved to targets at 100. The gun shot very true.

The trigger was a bit stiff and “gritty” but I attributed it to newness. The recoil was “gentle” and didn’t match the noise the gun made. It felt like shooting a .22 magnum with the noise of a .22-250 rifle. The adjustable stock, while great for tactical situations, served another purpose. It made the gun easy to shoot for me at 5’ 9” and my father-in-law who’s 6’ 1”.

On the second outing, I only shot 50 rounds. Bruce and I were actually shooting our 10/22s for a side-by-side review of a custom built 10/22 vs. an off the shelf model (review here). But while I was there, I set a 5.5” target out at 100 yards and wanted to see what I could do with an unmagnified red dot at that distance. The dot covered 25% of the center of the target and I didn’t use a resting device but did set the bottom of the magazine on the shooting table.

For a regular guy, I felt pretty good about the results but know I can do better. Out of eight shots, I landed 7 in the target zone and had one straggler. The other way to look at it is that four were in the 10 ring and four we’re out of it. Not Quigley Down Under shooting by any means.

I love this gun and now that my wife has calmed down (mind you, I don’t blame her) I think it’ll be staying in my collection. I have big plans for it too and when she’s not looking, I’m going to add about $300 worth of accessories to it! As a side note, my good father-in-law offered me his own version of a bail out plan and offered to buy the gun from me as to ease my marital pain.

There are so many good quality options for AR15s right now. The hard part is finding one that’s not backordered. When you do find one, you might want to buy it. If we do get an “assault gun” ban, you’ll be glad you did. And even if we don’t, you’ll still be glad you did. Take my word it. Even Grandma can shoot it!

Oh and if you don’t think that owning an AR15 can get you killed, you haven’t bought one on Christmas without asking your wife first. Damn, those things are deadly!

REVIEW: Taurus "The Judge"

2009-02-21T13:20:00.015-05:00

I got the chance to shoot a Taurus Judge and jumped on it “like a rat on a Cheeto” (I stole that quote from a friend of mine) or like my wife says, “like a hobo on a ham sandwich.” No matter how you say it, I grabbed the opportunity. For you that may not know, the Judge is a revolver that can shoot both .410 shot shells and .45 Long Colt ammo.

My friend Trey called to tell me that his brother Canon (his real birth name) just bought a brand new Taurus Judge. It’s ironic that a gun-loving guy who owns a huge handgun is named Canon, or maybe his love of firearms is due to his name. Either way, it’s a cool name and he does love guns.

Due to Canon’s work schedule, I was “forced” to duck out of work early on Friday so we could get some range time with His Honor, “The Judge”. Canon’s gun is the bobbed hammer, ultra-lite model. Over the years I’ve realized that Taurus has a real problem keeping their web site up to date.

The biggest hurdle for us was finding ammo. It was easy to find .410 #8, #6 and slugs but due to the crazy ammo shortage we couldn’t find any 00 Buck or .45 Long Colt locally. We will get our hands on some and will retest the gun soon.

Once at the range, we started off taking some pictures then loaded it with some #8 birdshot and ran through a few cylinders to get the feel for it. The first thing you notice is how light the gun is compared to it’s relative size. It dwarfs my Taurus Model 85 Ultra Lite .38 Special but is only a few ounces heavier.

The first time the gun was shot (a few days before), the fiber optic peg in the front sight fell out and was lost. That’s not good but I believe it’s a fluke rather than a quality issue. Canon has a replacement on the way and since the plastic FO housing was still in place, sighting was still fine. I would like to see Taurus include a few replacements like Ruger does (as came with my Mark III). How much cost would this add? $.50?
How does is shoot? It kicks. Recoil from the shot shells is heavy, but the soft rubber grips eases the sting. Taurus uses the same, familiar “Ribber” grip on the Judge that is uses on it’s Tracker Series revolvers. It’s a great design for comfort but due to it’s terrific tackiness and bulk, it’s not all that practical for concealed carry.
Next, the bobbed hammer design (there is a model with a hammer spur) removes the option of cocking the gun before shooting. Since this isn’t a deep concealed carry revolver, getting the spur hung on a pant leg or shirt tail isn’t a issue so I’d personally have gone with the spur for fun long distance shots at the range. With a conceal carry gun, like I use my model 85 for, I’d go with hammerless or spurless. Ironically, my model 85 has a hammer spur and Canon’s Judge doesn’t. Go figure.

Speaking of hammers, just like the model 85, the Judge has a key lock built into the hammer to lock it down, preventing it from being shot by an unauthorized user.

As a new gun, the trigger was stiff and heavy. I suggested that Canon sit at home and dry fire it hundreds of times to smooth out the action. I know it works with Taurus revolver triggers because I did it with my Model 85 with terrific results.

After a few warm-up shots, we switched to rifled slugs and shot down range at one of four steel torso targets 75 yards out. These are great targets because when hit with .22 they “ding”, with 9mm they “clang” and with rifled slugs they “GONG”. I like the instant feedback.

Canon told me that the ribbed .410 shells fit in the cylinder chambers a bit tight and he was right. Not a big deal at all but the smooth-sided .410 shells slipped right in and were easily ejected. When you pull the trigger though there was no difference.

The Judge is designed as a close quarters defense or a snake gun that when loaded with light buck or scatter shot, has an effective range of about 10-12 feet. The rifled barrel scatters the pellets very fast. Loaded with heavy buck or slugs that range in significantly extended.

After shooting it, I’d only load it with #6 if I was living in an apartment and was worried about defending myself against an intruder and just as worried about an errant shot going through the thin apartment wall and killing or injuring my neighbor. In an apartment setting, it seems that most confrontations would take place in the 10’-12’ range anyway. Canon said this was his primary reason for choosing the gun.

I’d never think of loading it with anything less than small buck if using it as a hiking or camping gun. If you shot even a small black bear in full attack with #6 pellets at 10 feet, all you’d do is piss him off and make him madder. The #6 scatters to quickly and the pellets are too small to incapacitate any threat but maybe a rattle snake.

Notice in the shot pattern of the #6 shot in the video below. We were shooting at a distance of only 10 feet.

Loaded with a slug the gun would easily, quickly and certainly incapacitate just about any threat you were faced with (save for a Grizzly which aren’t an issue in Tennessee). If the first shot did knock someone off their feet, the second would.

Is the gun fun to shoot? Heck yes! It’s always a blast to shoot a heavy recoiling handgun. In this case, there was also the novelty of shooting a handgun that takes shot shells. The flexibility of the load options (when you can find them) makes the gun a very versatile defense weapon. I really can’t think of a reason to buy the hard-to-find and over-priced .45 Long Colts for defense since the .410 slugs pack such a wallop at normal defense distances. But to each their own.

See how the variety of shot shell loads tore up the target (note: there are three shotgun holes on the target). But is it good for self defense? For an in depth look check this review out - http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot41.htm.

My overall impression: When I first learned of the Judge’s existence, I thought to myself, “Cool but...”. Now after learning more about it and shooting it. There are a lot of reasons to own one. Most of those reasons are in the load flexibility. If you load it right, when it comes to self-defense, the Judge’s sentence for attackers intent on causing you lethal harm is definitely the death penalty.

REVIEW: Glock 27

2009-02-20T00:19:00.001-05:00

Glock. There’s no doubt that in recent years (post 1911) that the Glock has done for pistols what the iPhone has done for smartphones. It seems that every manufacturer now has a similar polymer framed gun design and to think it all started with curtain rods.

That’s right I said curtain rods. In the late 1960s Gaston Glock made curtain rods but soon branched out to making much cooler things like machine gun belts, knives and trenching tools. The Austrian Army was so happy with the products Glock made, they asked Gaston if he could make them a pistol. In 1982 he invented the 9mm Glock 17 (I understand the numeric designation represented Herr Glock’s 17th patent).

The gun was such a success, that in a little over a year they set up a world HQ in Smyrna, Georgia of all places. Go figure.

Here’s an interesting fact that will lead us directly into our review. S&W designed a new round - the .40 S&W. But it was Glock that first manufactured a gun that could shoot it! They beat S&W with their own round! How’s that for an impressive, fast moving company?

This review is for the Glock 27 which happens to be chambered for the .40 S&W.

My friend Doug has a “Baby” Glock 27 that he uses as a full powered carry gun. For light weight self defense, he uses the Kel-Tec P-3AT we reviewed earlier. I’d wager that over the years I’ve put about 100 rounds through his Glock and it still frustrates me.

Let’s start with the good. Glocks...

resist rust better than any gun on the market.
are EASY to resell due to their popularity.
work. Period.
sighing system low-profile and adjustable and very quick to get on target.
triggers are very light and reset with very little travel.
live up to their reputations.
are the most popular pistols on the planet.

Now for the bad. Glocks...

don’t fit MY hand shape! I didn’t say yours, I said mine.

I said Doug’s Glock frustrates me. And it’s not just his, it’s every Glock I shoot (and I’ve shot many). The grip feels uncomfortable, thick and awkward. Plus, having a fixed polymer grip, there’s really nothing I can do about it. At least the XDm and S&W M&P have replaceable palm swells and back straps (this proves it must be an issue for more people than just me).

People, I love Glocks. I think they’ve done more for pistol making than any other company since Colt did 100 years ago. Now that we’ve established the grip gripe, let’s talk about shooting it.

The first thing I noticed the first time I pulled the trigger on Doug’s Glock 17 was that the trigger was extremely light and the pull short. So light, that the gun startled me when it went off - isn’t that the secret to accurate shooting, letting the gun surprise you?

I asked him if he had the trigger worked and he said “no”. But dang, that thing is sweet to shoot! After the first shot, I actually had to force myself to press lightly. The result was a smooth, easy trigger pull that’s better than the XD, XDm or Millennium Pro, and easily as good as the Smith and Wesson M&P.

The sights are great too! The square notch rear sight that’s outlined in bright white is easy to line up with the front dot. With most guns, if you want screw driver adjustable height and windage you get a big bulky sight apparatus that isn’t conceal carry friendly. Not so with Glock. They have a relatively low profile fixture that’s completely adjustable with a small screw driver and won’t snag a shirt or jacket.

With all that going for me, I still had trouble staying on target. I found that I had to re-grip the pistol after every shot. There was just no way for me to keep my hand firmly in place and not wiggle my fingers between trigger pulls. The recoil of the .40 S&W didn’t help.

Speaking of recoil, Doug and I tried an experiment. We shot his Glock 27 loaded with Winchester white box Wal-mart ammo against my small Kimber Ultra Carry II loaded with Winchester .45ACP. We alternated shots from each gun over and over then came to our own personal, non-influenced conclusion on recoil. Our impressions identical. We both felt that the recoil was about the same but if we were forced to assign each a grade, we both agreed the Glock “popped” a bit harder. Our opinion for what it’s worth.

Doug has several magazines for the Glock. One is a conceal carry mag without the pinky rest while the others all have the the pinky extension. You want to see me really struggle, watch me shoot the Glock without the extra magazine length.

As for the real reason to buy a little pistol, the Baby Glock 27 is small enough to easily conceal. There are thinner guns out there but the overall package isn’t hard to hide and carry all day via ankle, belly-band or IWB. But that extra girth takes it out of the pocket gun arena.

If you want a Glock, there’s only one thing you need to do prior to buying one. Go to your local gun store, pick one up and see how it fits your hand. Nothing else. If it fits, buy it. If not, try an XD or XDm. It’s that simple. You don’t need to test fire one first, take my word and the word of millions of people world wide. The guns shoot great, don’t jam or fail to feed and they are “throw them off a cliff and they still work” rugged.

No wonder they have such a passionate group of followers...

Building a Custom Ruger 10/22: PART 4 of 4 - Shooting it!

2009-02-04T20:32:00.009-05:00

Kennard’s Comments:

I’d like to thank Bruce for his in-depth, step-by-step article on building your own Ruger 10/22. I know people that talk about doing it but don’t know where to begin. Well, this is a good place.

Folks, this rifle looks and shoots like a dream. The trigger is a finger-breaking 2 lbs. The scope has a wide zoom range and an adjustable parallax. I bought an off the rack, Walnut Ruger 10/22 and next to Bruce’s custom 10/22, mine feels like...well, a Lexus and mine feels like a 1979 AMC Pacer. We will have a side-by-side comparison soon.

Well, some have noted that this 4 part series has taken a bit to finish and it has. Right before the cold weekends started to hit on a regular basis, Kennard and I did manage to get out to the range and shoot the 10/22. Being new at the gun thing, I couldn’t be expected to prove much for how good (or not) the gun was.

While shooting, Kennard got the scope dialed in for me. If I recall, we didn’t have to deal with wind that day. We started at 50 yards and then moved it out to the 100 yard distance. We were shooting Federal brand, the 550 count .22 LR box for $14. Kennard shot a nice group and followed it up with an even better group. Then another nice group. Then he told me that the last two groups were using the Federal target ammo (325 count for $14). Quite a difference that made.

Kennard did pull off a bench rest 1-inch 10-shot group. We were using the Caldwell Green/Black rest bags. Now what I can’t recall was whether or not that was a group at 100 or 50 yrds. As much as I’d like to show you what was done and more details on that day, we both needed to be somewhere so we packed up and left and forgot to bring the target stand back in. And, of course, we didn’t take pictures of the target were discussing here. Sorry all.

About a week later, during a cold afternoon, I met Kennard and a few others at the range. I shot some with the 10/22 at the plinking range. Once I figured out what range we had dialed the scope into, I started popping spent 22 gauge cases on a ridge @ 75 yards. Maybe that’s no big deal to experienced shooters but it sure seemed cool to me. I also shot a couple golf balls off that ridge. I followed that up by shooting some spent clay targets up against the far 100 yard hill. I was consistently shooting broken parts and blowing them into even smaller pieces and had a great time.

So here we are some weeks later and we get a weekend day that was going to be above 45 and not too windy. Kennard wasn’t feeling great but I decided I’d see what I could do to finish up this series even though I’m new at this and can’t pull off much amazement at this point. The temp even got up to 60 right before plunging back down the next day for some scattered snow. But I’ll take it.

Crazy me, I started out at 100 yards. I was all over the place (about a 3-4” radius). The scope didn’t seem to be dialed in. The target ammo didn’t seem to make a difference and it was a bit windy. So what could I prove? I shot some targets I had up and eventually took a couple shots at the Caldwell Orange Peel target. Note the two shots on the pic provided here. And I was only shooting the Federal Target ammo from here out.

After those two shots, I moved the target up to 50 yards in hopes of having something that could be called a group and not look like buck shot. In the accompanying photo, Group 1 shows a few shots after I hit a few good ones on another target. Then I moved over to Group 2. I started feeling better. Then Group 3. Holy smoke! That was me??? The one shot out of the group was the third one. Stupid third bullet going off and messing up a nice group. But wow! Group 4 was so sweet until the 10^th shot which decided not to be a “me to” bullet and went out on it’s own at 10 O’clock. Group 5 told me the joy might be over and that it was time to quit for the day.

I then went over to the plinking range to shoot my XD9 with my new LaserMax internal laser. That will be a post for another time. All in all, I’m happy with my 50 yard groups. I’ll need to get Kennard out there and we can update this post. I’d like to have some experienced people shoot it to really gauge how good it is. So an update will be in store.

Building a Custom Ruger 10/22: PART 3 of 4 - Putting it Together (Lots of Photos)

2009-01-03T23:59:00.032-05:00

Putting the Parts Together

(This is one of the most thorough "Build Your Own" 10/22 tutorials on the web)

(Click on most of the photos for a larger view)

First off I had to get the goods in hand. I received the KID delivery first. Note to you: read the instructions before playing with your new toys. I know. So unmanly. But some times it’s a good rule.

All of the parts are just something you can take out of the packaging and admire. But the trigger works out of the box. It’s adjustable, right? Yes. You can do things with it…… like pulling the trigger, right? Yes. But…. maybe if you read the instructions that came with the trigger, you’d know that they highly discourage pulling the trigger without being mated to all the gun parts. Why? They say it could damage the hammer by not having a bolt to hit. Good to know after pulling the trigger twice. “Oh crap! Did I just mess up my expensive trigger group???” Another note to you: when you DO read the instructions and decide to put you finger where the bolt would be (you know… to NOT mess up you trigger hammer), it’s gonna hurt…. so do it 3-4 times. Not that I would do that, of course.

So what can I do with my new toys while I wait on the others to arrive? Well, lay them out on the table and admire them. Oh, admiration be your KID parts.

I couldn’t help thinking that the barrel looked so short. Well, it was a 16.5” barrel. It’s a nice and study looking (short) barrel though.

So why not wait until the whole gun is put together to mess with the trigger adjustments? Because I can even now. I messed around with the two trigger stage setting screws. I also noticed, of course after reading the instructions (Dooh!), that I could also adjust the trigger position forward or back. Nice to know it’s possible to tweak that based on hand size and finger length. But, be warned when you adjust the trigger position back and do not adjust the two stage trigger adjustments. All of the sudden, the trigger wouldn’t go for anything (of course with a finger taking a pounding if it worked). I was thinking I had indeed screwed up the trigger like the instructions warned. But it turned out that I had just tighted up the trigger pull when I moved the trigger away from the safty switch. I adjusted it back and all was good. My finger still hurt though. But I was relieved.

Scalloped edging. Just for bling. The KID site has a better pic than mine but you get the idea; $10 but a nice touch.

The FFL process slowed the building process way down. Shooters Discount was nice enough to send the non-receiver goods to me though. So one day I knew via UPS tracking that I was getting the stock and bolt handle. I left work early, got home just in time to receive the package. Shortly after, I was surprised by the FedEx guy with my scope. That was a nice day. Two+ weeks after my original order, I was able to get my receiver via FFL. I went straight to pick up some rings and head home to start building. Of course, I took the afternoon off work to get going.

First things first. Unpack all the goods and lay them out. This pic shows you everything you need to build a 10/22. Well, except for forgetting to put the magazine in the picture.

Just another layout pic of the heart of the gun.

Now part of my process in building was to see how things fit first. Sure, first time to do something like this. And, of course, this is fun stuff. Was I really going to get this built in time to get to the range? Take your time and get it right. Have a question, google it before you mess something up. So let’s see how the receiver fits in the stock.

Small gaps around. I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad. But it fit and I really couldn’t expect a perfect fit. So now I wanted to check out the receiver parts. Before buying all of this stuff, I had read online about someone having an issue with their receiver when mounting the barrel with the V-block. The suggestion was to alternate tightening the V-block receiver screws a bit at a time. This avoids over tightening one side and causing a slight bend of the barrel to the right or left.

After putting the barrel in the receiver and putting the V-block on, I could notice that slightly twisting the barrel would change how the V-block sat (or fit) the receiver.

What I did was to put my thumb over the receiver pin hole and along the line between the receiver and V-block. As I twisted the barrel, I’d run my thumb over that line to make sure the two parts were flat across the top. To add to this, I had the receiver screws mostly tightened but not all the way. Do visual and feel checks. And don’t skip loosening and tightening the screws to get it right. For the little I know, getting this part right helps you avoid feed issues down the road.

To check to see if my ring size was the right size, I put the barrel/receiver into the stock. I mounted the lower part of the ring. Then I put the scope onto the lower rings to check the clearance from the scope to the barrel.

What I had been told was that having your pinky fit between the scope and barrel was a good distance. Being the engineering/computer/math nerd, I drew out a scematic of height/widths of parts based on the info I could get from vendor/company sites. There just seemed to be many ring height options and I didn’t want to play trial and error. I geeked out and decided on a .25” ring height (the space from where the ring base touched the scope mount to the part of the ring mount where the lowest part of the scope touches the ring mount). And this worked out well enough. My pinky wouldn’t fit but this pic shows a KID bolt buffer spaced between the scope and barrel.

Putting the KID receiver pins in was a step that had me concerned going into this build. A couple posts on RimFireCentral stated that the countersink work was done by hand. The KID site noted RPM info if using a drill press. DO IT BY HAND PEOPLE. It works and you can (and should) do it little bit by bit. The pic below one pin in while I’m working on the second one. The aluminum receiver is soft enough to do the countersink work by hand. And just like the barrel and V-block screws, do a little bit on each side. Just alternate and test the pins until you have the screws going in far enough to clear the receiver into the stock. Fears overcome? Check!

What I didn’t know when buying the Volquartsen receiver was that it came with a bolt buffer. It’s the clear, hard rubber one shown. The KID bolt buffer is the black one with a pin in the middle.

A quirky thing with the KID bolt buffer was that the pin would slide out. So their receiver pin solution resolves the issue of standard receiver pins slipping out when removing the barreled action from the stock. But their bolt buffer pin slides out. I don’t get it. SOLUTION: I took some of my wife’s hair spray, sprayed it on the pin and slid the pin into the rubber buffer. A few seconds and the pin wasn’t sliding any more. Small issue overcome? Check!

I was unsure if having different brands for the bolt and bolt

handle would make any difference. There was a little wiggle room. Here you see them apart and together.

Now putting the bolt/handle into the receiver turned out to be a bit of a chore. You have to put the handle though the side receiver slot first. But then you find that the bolt doesn’t just drop in. I had read about others having grief during this step as well. I found it hard to deal with three parts with two hands. After a few tries, I sought a work around. I used a Spin Doctor hex wrench (used on my road bike), poked through the barrel hole, to push the bolt handle down which allowed the bolt to drop in without a problem. Another issue resolved? Check!

Here are a few pics after the bolt/handle were in place.

So now I reattach the barrel/V-block back on the receiver, attach the trigger group onto the receiver and put the barreled action into the stock. BAM!!! I’m in business now.

This shows the fit in the stock looking from the bottom of the trigger/magazine. The magazine went in and out without issue.

Now I just needed to put the scope on and I’d be done. I did find myself wondering how I would keep the gun steady while putting the scope on. Small head pillows to the rescue. Soft and wouldn’t scratch the stock.

The rings and scope go on and I have a finished 10/22. Day light is gone and I’m not getting out to the range at this point. What do I do? I call Kennard and tell him I’m headed over.

Change anything looking back? Once over at Kennard’s house, he put some lube in the bolt chamber. It helped after pulling the handle many times. After I got back home, I took it apart to give the barrel an initial cleaning and oiled the bolt chamber. It’s not a bad oversight. It’s good practice to take things apart and put back together. Now I’ve got to shoot this thing.

- Click Here if you want to read part 2: Buying the Parts
- Click Here if you want to read part 1: Planning and Research

Next Step: Shooting

Take Your Grandma Shooting - Talk About FUN!

2008-12-27T16:49:00.003-05:00

That’s right. I said take your Grandma shooting.

I recently wrote about taking my mom shooting (Click Here) so why not your 88-year-old Grandma-in-law?

This Christmas (2008), my in-laws came out to visit (Mother, Father and Grandmother in law). We had the idea to take everyone to the gun range over the holiday. Hey, why not?

We started her off with a Ruger mark 3 then unleashed her on a Smith and Wesson M&P AR15. She had a great time.

Three generations of well-armed, pistol packing ladies!

Building a Custom Ruger 10/22: Part 2 of 4 - Buying

2008-12-15T22:01:00.006-05:00

Buying the Parts

(This is one of the most thorough "Build Your Own" 10/22 tutorials on the web)

Once I figured out some of the options out there (hours) and reading (hours) about the options many experienced 10/22 builders choose (hours), it was time to choose the parts and determine what I can get for $1,100. Most of the laminated stocks were around $150. I figured I'd go for $200 for the barrel, $250 for the trigger, $100 for the bolt and $150 for the scope. That would leave $250 for the receiver.

Browsing the RimfireCentral site will help any gun newbie learn of the preferred places to buy parts online. Plus there are sponsor site links there as well. The other option is to Google the part name and check the links given in the "Shopping results" list often shown at the top of page one of the results. Or check some of the other results which either lead to sites that sell that item, give a review or a forum post. As in part 1, Google is your friend.

I searched the web over for the solid blue stock from the picture from part 1 of this series. No luck and I spent hours trying. Did I mention hours. I found a solid pink version. Maybe there was a time when a blue version was made. Or by forum posts, it sounds like a guy named Tuck does some stock work. Some laminated stocks come unfinished but I was not going to try sanding, staining and finishing a stock. I do wish there were some solid color stocks. But in determining what I would get based on what was commercially available, I read some good things about Revolution stocks and their Yukon looked just like the blue one I wanted. Done.

So in considering the receiver, did I really need the most expensive one? No, but so many people posted about Volquartsen. I'm new to this so I take a great deal of stock in what the masses say and use. The first time I came across the Volquartsen Superlight for $235, I decided right there that I knew my receiver. The word was on the RimfireCentral forums, I heard that KIDD was working on a receiver of their own. But it wasn't available in time for me to make my purchases and I didn't want to wait until the New Year.

I went back and forth between the KIDD and Volquartsen trigger groups. Having decided on the Volquartsen receiver, I felt tempted to stick to the same brand. But in liking to have options, I kept leaning toward the KIDD with its ability to adjust. Although some people posted about their dislike for a double action trigger (KIDD), that point didn't stick in my mind as a deal breaker or issue. The KIDD was more expensive, but I wanted to spend more on the trigger and barrel figuring both would make the most difference. So KIDD it was.

The barrel was the hard part. I was very tempted by the Whistle Pig barrels. But that was all about the color options. There are also some carbon fiber barrels but the word seemed to be that these barrels are picky with the weather. While looking over the KIDD site for the trigger, I started considering getting their parts set. Their match barrel is $200 and they do have a barreled action option where all you would need was a stock. Forum posts showed good marks for KIDD stuff. So the KIDD barrel was the one.

I couldn't tell you why one bolt would be better from another. And I could get one with a KIDD part kit. So I went with a kit that included a KIDD trigger, barrel and bolt. Plus, I went with the $10 scalloped engraving for the bling. Although KIDD had a bolt handle available, I decided to go with the Volquartsen extended handle.

The scope was based solely on forum posts. So many people speak up for the Mueller AVP and how it could be had for $125 shipped. And although most scopes are black, this was one that was available in silver.

The final parts list:
Stock: Revolution Yukon
Receiver: Volquartsen Superlight (Silver)
Trigger: KIDD (Silver w/ red trigger)
Bolt: KIDD (w/ scalloped engraving)
Bolt Handle: Volquartsen
Barrel: KIDD
Scope: Mueller AVP
Scope Rings: 1” dia. .25” height
Extra: KIDD Receiver Pin Kit
Extra: Ruger 10-22 Magazine

KIDD was the place for purchasing the trigger, barrel, bolt, receiver pin kit and bolt buffer as a kit ($571 + $10 for scalloped bolt). I also bought a bore snake ($16) and magazine ($15) plus $5 shipping.
Shooters Discount was the go to for the Volquartsen receiver ($235), the Yukon stock ($122.50) and the Volquartsen bolt handle ($25) plus $18.50 shipping.
The AVP scope ($125) was from The Sportsman's Guide and the scope rings ($40) from a local Sportsman's Warehouse.
The crappy side of the purchasing process was the FFL transfer for the receiver. Some people charge as low as $10, if you can find them. A few sites recommended by Shooters Discount was

Gunbroker
Auction Arms
Shotgun News

Unfortunately, the few local options where I might have been able to do a cheap FFL transfer were no longer in business or were in the process of moving. After a week trying to find the cheapest option, I got anxious and called a local gun store. Even though I wasn't getting a whole gun sent to me, the grumpy old fart that ran the place charged me $50 for the transfer + $10 for the background check. What a waste of money. To be fair though, the local guy need to protect their business because there’s not much in it for them for us to buy everything online and use them as a mail box, right? If you owned a small book shop and people kept wanting to have their Amazon.com purchases sent to them via your store, it would be a waste of your business dollars. And, hey, I even asked a guy over the phone at that same shop about a price on a receiver and he never called me back. I figured that they could be $50 more than online and be the same money in the end. Oh well.

But I finally had all my parts. And went a bit over budget at $1,243. This includes the bore snake and magazine. The KIDD pin kit came with the KIDD item group so no way to shave off money there to get back to my original $1,100 price. Since I was still learning, it hadn’t accounted for the $50 FFL. And I could have either gone with a cheaper priced receiver or trigger group to hit my number. But I’ll take a 10% overrun to have my ultimate 10/22. Now it's time to get building.

Next Step: Building...

(Click HERE if you missed Part 1 - Planning)

Building a Custom Ruger 10/22: PART 1 of 4 - Planning

2008-12-13T22:40:00.004-05:00

My friend Bruce decided to custom build a Ruger 10/22. So you know, when Bruce does something, he does it right. He researches everything before spending a penny on it. He compares specs, customer comments and prices on every single piece. And what you're about to read is what he did when he built his custom Ruger 10/22.

This is an impressive four part series, laid out in specific detail, on how he did it - from the idea to the beautiful finished product. If you're thinking about building your own 10/22, READ THIS SERIES FIRST. It will save you a bunch of time, help you make educated decisions and eliminate headaches. Read on...

-Kennard

Bruce:

Here is how I have theorized the 4 part post.

Planning

How Did This All Begin?

What do I need?

Start with stock or go all out custom?

Info Resources Used

Nailing it down

Buying

Parts List

Vendors

Playing the FFL Game

Building

Action in the stock

Action + Trigger

Action + barrel

Bolt Buffer

Bolt

Trigger/Action Pins

Barreled Action

Mating with Stock

Scope Rings & Scope

Shooting

Bolt Stubborn

First shot

Day At The Range
i. Ammo
ii. Shooter vs. Shooter

Final Thoughts

Planning

How did this all begin?

I'm a gun noob. I've never owned a gun and have only shot a gun once in my life. It was an old black powder riffle I shot when I was ~ 12. I've never had issues with guns or gun ownership. And I figured I would eventually buy a 9mm. I guess I had many other hobbies keeping me (and my back account) busy.

Well, I go out to a local range with Kennard, shoot all of his guns (including his stock Ruger 10/22) and go straight to Sportsman's Warehouse to buy my first gun: A Springfield Armory XD-9. Kennard had just bought his stock 10/22 within the previous couple weeks. While at Sportsman's, he mentions to one of the sales guys that he had just bought the 10/22 from them, how he enjoyed shooting it, how customizable the gun was and how everyone should have one. He later told me about the simple changes one could make to their 10/22: Bolt release, extended mag release and bolt buffer.

Being a computer/technology nerd, I started thinking about the concept of building or buying and modding my own 10/22. I've built computers from various parts from various stores and companies. I was just stuck thinking if this could be as simple as buying computer parts and putting a gun of my own together. Really that simple? Or am I getting into something I'll regret? Do I have to be a gunsmith to pull this off? Can anyone do it?

What do I need?

Repeat after me. "Google is my friend." I start searching the web for any info on building/modding a 10/22. Yes, Google is my friend. But I found it strangely hard to find a good site to put it into perspective. Then I came upon RimfireCentral. I found a thread called "To Build From Scratch" (http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239950). A couple users posted their parts list with prices. So, knowing nothing about brands and options, I start learning the Who-What-When-Where-Why of how to go about this venture. I must have read almost every thread on the "Ruger 10/22" section of the site. And then I came across my goal (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/tazlab4x4/stooting/C1022_1.jpg). This is what I'm after.

So I need the following:

Stock
Action/Receiver
Barrel
Trigger Assembly
Bolt
Bolt Handle
Magazine
Scope, Scope Rail (mount) & Scope Rings (Optional – but why not?)

Start with stock or go all out custom?

This is where "analysis paralysis" starts creeping in. Decision, decisions and more decisions. In the end, I'd say it's all about money. I saw many posts on people doing a full custom build and other posts on people discussing buying a stock Ruger 10/22 and getting one part at a time. I imagine there could be a blog post of it's own on this site about the pros and cons of doing each way. But having the green light from my wife for a custom 10/22 for $1,000-1,100, I had all plans of picking each piece and building it on my own. There are plenty of posts on RimfireCentral about customizing a stock 10/22 and on which parts to upgrade first (various opinions on that) and price ranges for the options.

Nailing It Down

Concept

Dark laminated stock with silver trigger, action, barrel, scope and rings.
Thumb hole
I liked the contrast but going with silver can have it's draw backs.

Most scopes are black
Most scope rings are black
Not likely that all the silver parts will have the same shine/finish.

.920" barrel

Buying a non-factory action

It just seemed that buying a stock Ruger 10/22 @ $250 just for the action would be the same as buying a non-factory one.
The word is that the Ruger actions are poured/cast metal where the after-market ones are machined. Well, by getting an engineering degree in college, I couldn't help but consider a machined piece of metal better. Or is it? I don't want to get into that debate if anyone feels strongly about poured metal as being better.
Options

$355 Tactical Solution X-Ring
$335 Volquartsen Stainless Steel
$235 Volquartsen Superlight
$175 M.O.A
$93 Ruger – as if you could find a site that had one in stock to buy

Buying a prebuilt trigger set

KIDD trigger group that can adjust? Not like I'm going to be the super competition guy. Do I need less than 2.5 lb pull? No. Would it be fun to turn it down to 6 oz? Yes.
Options

$290 KID two-stage adjustable pull weight from 6oz to 2.5lbs. Comes with extended mag release (3 options) and bolt release.
$241 Volquartsen TG2000 - Comes with extended mag release and bolt release

Bolt

"A bolt is a bolt is a bolt???" I couldn't and can't explain the difference.
Bolt buffer? Yes, or course.
Options

$75 KID (+$10 for scalloped finish)
$259 Volquartsen CNC machined bolt

Bolt Handle

Kennard showed me what seemed to be common with the stock (any some after-market) bolt handles: rough up your knuckle pulling the bolt back and catching it on the scope rings.
Options

$10 KID
$33 Volquartsen

Laminated Stock

Yep, just for the color bling. Not really wanting a wood finish.
It seemed that most after market stocks were channeled for a .920" barrel. By what info I could find online, factory stocks seemed to need some sanding to allow a .920" barrel.
Options

$143 Revolution Yukon (.920" Barrel Channel; 2.5 lbs)
$107 Hogue Overmolded Stock
$477 Laminated Wood Thumb hole Silhouette – Red (Volquartsen site)
$145 Boyds Blaster

Barrel

The great barrel length debate. 16.5", 18" or 20"??? That is the question.
Tapered target barrel (like Kennard's stock Ruger) or .920 bull barrel?
Options

$200 KID polished or bead blasted Stainless Steel barrel
$180 Tactical Solutions (multiple colors)
$170+ WhistlePig – If you want custom colors or fade colors, this place rules!

Scope

How much is too much?
I learned online that you just don't expect to shot a 10/22 beyond 100 yds.
Scopes can sure get expensive but I'm not going to be up in a tree aiming for a neck. Did I mention sub-100 yds?
What did I see mentioned the most online? The Mueller APV.

Scope Rings

Size depends on the size of the scope
Decided to wait until all parts were received to determine what is too small or too high
Math was what engineering was all about. I've got to make this a math problem or it just won't be that fun, right?

Extras

$30 KID Receiver Pin Kit ($22 without countersink)
$40 KID Scope Base (not needed if action comes with one)
$16 .22 Boresnake
$15 Ruger 10/22 Magazine
$6 KID Bolt Buffer
$12 Volquartsen Bolt Buffer

Info Resources Used

(Primary source) Rimfire Central Forums: http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/index.php

Ultimate 10/22 forum: http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=7779fd504c4f6eab519d27d59b85b318&f=13

"Pics of your ultimates": http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=7779fd504c4f6eab519d27d59b85b318&f=13

Rimfire ammunition (Widipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimfire

Just a site that made the simple part list, well, simple: http://www.rimfiremagic.co.uk/10_22_buildlist.html

DIY Site: http://www.ehow.com/how_4469522_custom-ruger-rim-fire-rifle.html

KIDD Innovative Design: http://www.coolguyguns.com/

Volquartsen Custom: https://www.volquartsen.com/category/13-accessories-and-upgrades/10-1022-lr-action

Tactical Solutions: http://www.tacticalsol.com/store/pc/home.asp

WhistlePig GunBarrel Co: http://www.wpgbc.com/

Click HERE for Part 2: Buying the Parts.

REVIEW: Taurus Millennium Pro 140

2008-12-06T13:23:00.007-05:00

Guns are getting expensive. Actually, they’re already expensive but it seems that every time I go gun shopping or gun “browsing” I notice prices creeping upward even more. Now it’s very possible that our latest President elect (this was written on November 30, 2008) will have a further negative impact on firearm and ammo prices before he takes office on January 20, 2009.

Thankfully, there are companies like Taurus that make great products while keeping prices reasonable. Taurus firearms are made in Brazil giving them a real price advantage since the Brazilian Real to Dollar exchange gives us a a lot of “bang for our buck”.

My cousin-in-law is in the market for a .40 cal and has looked at Glocks, Springfield Armory, Kahr Arms and Smith and Wesson. He called me after attending a gun show and said, “Man, some of the guns I looked at are really expensive.” I asked him if he’d looked at a Taurus and he said, “No”. This reminded me that my brother has a Taurus Millennium Pro 140 that I’ve been meaning to review.

About a year ago, my brother found himself in a real life-threatening situation on the front porch of his own home. He was faced with an armed individual that seriously verbalized intent to do him harm. Luckily the incident didn’t go beyond that but it did give him a new perspective on gun ownership. I got a call from him the next morning asking if I would go gun shopping with him.

I took him to a local gun shop that has an indoor range. After browsing for a while, he saw a used polymer .40 cal Millennium Pro 140 for just over $209. The price of the new one sitting in the case right next to it was only $299 (Just the other day I saw one for $349 at the same store). He picked it up and it felt really good in his hands, asked me about the Taurus name brand and decided to buy it.

Inexpensive is one thing but shooting well is another. We’ve all shot a buddies “great deal at a gun show” gun that he paid $150 for only to find out that it was a piece of junk, right? Well as an owner of two Taurus firearms, I can say that they don’t make junk. Ok, their model 1911 might not be up to Kimber quality but it’s definitely not junk.

My brother bought the Millennium Pro without shooting one beforehand and after shooting it, we were both a little worried - okay, a lot worried. The gun shot low and left real bad. I don’t mean a little like some guns do, I mean this little gun was way off. After a bit of examination, we noticed that the front sight was not centered in the dove-tail groove. We took it back to the shop and had the sights straightened.

Back on the range, the gun now show straight but still a bit low (not nearly as bad as before the adjustment). I find the sight alignment to be perfectly acceptable for a fixed sight, home defense gun.

As for function, here are some things I really like about this gun:

Grip comfort - I find Glocks to be great shooting guns, but for my hand shape and size, the grips are awkward and uncomfortable. The Millennium Pro’s grip is a perfect fit for my hand. Perfect.
Trigger reset - The trigger take up is long but there’s a reason for this and something that Taurus did that make this acceptable. First, the reset is real short (1/4 inch) and second, the single action/double action striker means that if you have a misfire, completely release the trigger, let it completely reset and get a full double-action pull for a potentially life-saving second strike opportunity. The Video below lets you see this for yourself.
Manual safety - many polymer pistols don’t have a manual safety. They really don’t need them but on the Taurus, if you want it, you’ve got it. If you don’t like it. Don’t use it.
Safety lock - All Taurus firearms come with a key that locks the gun down for safely storing the pistol. This is another “if you don’t like it don’t use it” option, but I like it. It’s a much more elegant and easy to use option than the cable lock that came with my Kimber or the Springfield XD and XDm.
Heinie Straight-8 two dot sights - I love the sights. If hundred dollar bills grew on trees, I’d replace all my fixed sights with Tritium Heinie Staight-8s. Personally, I can line up two dots faster than three. Plus, as I said earlier, the gun shoots a bit low. Put a bit of black space between the two white dots and you’re shooting in the 10 ring. Fast and easy.

VIDEO: Notice the short trigger reset (about the same as the XDm). Also notice the second strike option:

As you can see by reading this article. I’d recommend this gun to anyone looking for a small, compact polymer pistol in 9mm, .40 or .45. The gun has never misfired, failed to feed or failed to extract any ammo we’ve put through it, this includes cheap Russian Wolfe and Hornady TAP.

If you money isn’t a issue, I can see you wanting and buying a Smith and Wesson M&P Pro, or a compact Springfield XD instead. But if you’re on a budget, this gun will save you hundreds of dollars and deliver more than enough home protection performance as any brand. Personally, after shooting hundreds of rounds through it on a variety of ranges, I’d trust my life to it.

What Does the 2nd Amendment Really Mean?

2008-11-21T23:26:00.005-05:00

If you only read or watch one thing on this blog, watch this. You might have already seen it as it has been circulating around for a long time. But if not, it will add perspective to anyone's thoughts about the 2nd Amendment.

No matter who you are, what you believe or how you were raised, you can't deny she makes a strong point. After watching the video below ask yourself ONE question. Did she deserve the right to defend herself and her family and by default many others around her?

Remember, if guns kill people then...

- Food makes us fat.

- Cameras cause pornography.

- Cars cause traffic accidents.

Restrictive gun laws don't take guns away from criminals - criminals disobey laws of almost every kind! Look how well the government is doing with the War on Drugs/Prostitution/Illegal Immigration/etc!

Criminals will always find ways to commit crimes. Gun laws only take away the right for law abiding citizens (those who will obey laws no matter if they agree with them or not) and eliminate their right to defend themselves against acts of violence.

Please pass this on to one person you know. Just one.

COPIED DIRECTLY FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Suzanna Gratia Hupp (born January 1, 1959)^[1] is a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, who represented traditionally Democratic District 54 (Bell, Burnet, and Lampasas counties) for ten years from 1997-2007. Hupp is recognized as a leading advocate for the Second Amendment and an individual's right to carry a concealed weapon. She was elected to her first term in 1996 but did not seek a sixth two-year term in 2006.

Click here for the Wiki link to read Dr. Gratia-Hupp's bio.

REVIEW: Ruger Mark III Hunter

2008-11-08T12:43:00.011-05:00

I love to shoot. I can spend hours shooting on the plinking range or I can spend hours trying to practice double taps with my Taurus PT-92. No matter what, I love shooting as a hobby. Kind of like golf, shooting is a sport/hobby that can be approached in one of two ways. You can be a lifetime hacker or you can constantly try to improve your game. I lean toward the second. I like to try to improve at least one skill a little bit each time I’m on the range. The problem is, shooting can be expensive. Ammo costs are killing me! So a while ago I decided to buy a .22 pistol to enable me to shoot on the cheap.

After weeks of online research, talking to friends and shooting a variety of .22s. I finally decided on the Ruger Mark III Hunter with the 7-inch fluted barrel. It was about $100 more than I had planned on spending (I spent $469), but I justified it by telling myself that I’d recover that cost overrun by shooting one 550 count box of .22 rounds for $15 in place of 5 boxes of .45 for $150! (I still shoot plenty of .45 and 9mm)

The first thing you notice about the Mark III’s long barrel is the weight. It’s a heavy .22 and the extra barrel length makes it a bit nose heavy. The 5.5 inch barrel seemed perfectly balanced. But I was after accuracy with this gun. That extra barrel length would give me a long sight radius with open sights and a bit more muzzle velocity - not to mention virtually no felt recoil.

The gun comes standard with a scope rail, two magazines, gorgeous cocobolo grips and a fiber optic front sight with five replacement fiber optic pieces in both red and green. All that in a nice heavy duty box. For comparison, my friend Bruce bought a Browning Buckmark Camper (reviewed here)that cost $100 less but came with one magazine, no scope rail and no replacement fiber optic pieces. By the time you buy all that, you’ll spend at least $50.

The next day I took it to the range and started shooting. Boy was I disappointed. I was getting a jammed bullet in every magazine. The Remmington bullets were actually bending at the point where the bullet met the case. It happened over and over again. I chalked it up as a break in issue and decided that after a several hundred rounds the problem would stop.

On my way home I had an idea. I stopped by Wal-Mart and bought a box of Federal ammo so I could test it against the Remmington the next day. Back on the range, I loaded one mag with Remmington and the other with Federal. After only four magazines, I realized the problem was the Remmington ammo, not the gun. For some reason my Ruger likes to eat cheap Federal ammo and not cheap Remmington green box ammo. Problem solved.

With the right bullets, the gun shot like a dream. The v-notch rear sight makes for amazing accuracy. Go to your local gun store that sells Ruger Mark III Hunters and try this experiment. Pick up a square notched sighted gun and line up the sights. Then while lined up, move the gun a hair and notice the how the front sight looks as the gun moves. Next, pick up the Hunter, place the bright red fiber optic sight at the bottom of the V, right on top of the vertical white dash mark and move the gun a bit. With the Ruger, it’s immediately obvious that the bright red dot is off line as it comes out of the “v” notch and off mark with the white line. You can tell if you’re .1 mm off! With square notched sights, .1 mm isn’t obvious, 1 mm is but one tenth that isn’t. Try it for yourself. You’ll see.

During the first hundred rounds, the trigger was a bit stiff but quickly smoothed out. It’s now very light and breaks with a confident, light snap. On the plinking range, I find it relatively easy to hit cans at 75 yards out in on or two tries. I can knock spent shotgun shells off of my target stand at 50 feet at will. This gun shoots!

About a month after purchase, I decided to try putting a red dot scope on it. Not knowing if I’d like a red dot or not, I went cheap for my first one. I bought a $29 Tasco Red Dot from Midway USA. Once sighted in, things only got better. After shooting the Tasco, my friend Bruce said, “That kind of takes the fun out of sucking”, as he accurately shot a water bottle at 75 yards.

- Why did I buy the gun? For cheap fun at the range. More shooting for less money. The choice was a combination of reputation, looks and price (The S&W Model 41 is $1,000).

How long have I owned the gun? About seven months.

- Would I buy it again if faced with the decision? If I had to do it over again, I would buy the same gun. I have no regrets whatsoever.

- How have my feeling changed since I bought it? My feelings haven’t changed much. I still look forward to shooting it.

- Best and worst? Best is the trigger, sights, build quality. Worst was taking it apart. It was a pain to field strip at first but now, it’s not that bad.

Would I recommend the gun? Yes. If you want a .22 for target/plinking on the cheap. This is a great option. It’s not the cheapest .22 you can buy, but the inexpensive ammo will make up for the additional cost of the ammo over a very short time. There are also a ton of modification options out there if you want to improve the gun in any way.

When you mix the reputation of Ruger, the beauty of this stainless gun with gorgeous wood grips and pinpoint accuracy, it’s hard not to love this gun. I find it to be a mixture of beauty, accuracy and fun.

Careless or Stupid?

2008-11-03T22:02:00.006-05:00

Ok, I've been hesitant to write this entry. The incident I'm about to describe happened a while ago but it's taken me a some time to get the nerve to write publicly about it. And I only do so to help give you one more reason to use absolute caution when handling a deadly weapon.

It's not a big deal in and of itself, but the end result could have been beyond my most horrific nightmares. My friend Doug and I were at an outdoor range shooting my brother's Springfield Armory XDm for this blog (see that review here). I reached down, picked up the gun and it went off shooting a hole through the plywood range table.

How did it happen? That's the scariest part of this whole short story. I'm not really sure. I'm a stickler for keeping my finger off a trigger. I'm a freak about checking the condition of a gun. The XDm has a loaded chamber indicator. All of this failed in a split second. Luckily, the gun fired through the table and into the dirt - no one was hurt.

I was so mad at myself that I had a hard time acknowledging the incident for several days. In a split second of stupidity, carelessness and cockiness I let myself down, I let my friend down and I let the private range down (I owe them a piece of plywood).

I could have very easily shot myself or my friend in that momentary lapse of consciences. Keep your guard up. Don't get cocky handling guns just because you do it a lot. And practicing good muzzle safety can help you avoid tragedy if your finger and brain let you down.

Thank you for reading.