Tag: Miscellaneous Gun Stuff

Gun Show Report

This weekend there was a gun show at the River Center in St. Paul. It was done by the Minnesota Weapons Collectors Association who generally put on pretty good shows. And it was a pretty good show overall.

I was able to control myself so I didn’t walk away with a new gun but I did walk away with 1,000 pieces of .45 auto brass for a pretty reasonable price. When I go to the range I have no problem finding 9mm and .40 S&W brass but rarely do I find enough .45 auto brass to make much of a difference, hence I still have to buy a supply once in a while.

Handguns are obviously one of the big ticket items yet as I would estimate at least 60% of the guns there were handguns. There were the usual slew of Glocks, XDs, M&Ps, and snubby revolvers. As for rifles there was a ton of AR-15s. You couldn’t throw an anti-gunner without him hitting a rack of evil black rifles. Although I declared the AR-15 drought over before I can now officially say the drought turned into a flood.

Surprisingly there weren’t many AK-47s. There were plenty of M1 carbines but since those appear to be rather popular at the moment the price is high and the ammunition is non-existant. I will get an M1 carbine some day but I think it will wait until after my C&R license shows up and I can just nab one from the CMP.

I actually saw somebody selling primers. You must realize I showed up an hour after opening so seeing any primers remaining was rather shocking. The price tag of $40.00 per 1,000 didn’t surprise me at all but even at that price I know local shops have a hard time keeping stock. It’s nice to see things are starting to lighten up.

There were the usual assortment of space guns going for exorbitantly high prices. It still amazes me that guns made mostly of space plastic cost more than guns made of Earthly materials like metal cost so much more. I guess if you’re part of an elite space marines unit price isn’t an object when fighting off the denizens of alien worlds and parallel dimensions.

Overall it was a good show. It’s nice to finally realize I have a good enough assortment of firearms now that when I go to one of these large shows I don’t find much that trips my trigger. I was seriously considering a CZ 75B that somebody had for a good price but the fact I’d need to get reloading dies allowed my laziness to prevail over my want of a new gun.

Why It’s Smart to Have a Spare Carry Rig

This post is two fold, first an explanation why you should have a complete backup carry rig and second to compliment a company.

Earlier this week I noticed a small crack on the Kydex of my carry holster. The crack appeared where the Kydex curves down from the part that covers the top of the slide and meets the rivets which fasten the Kydex to the leather. Well anyways the holster is a Crossbreed SuperTuck which has a lifetime warranty. I decided to test it out and on Saturday I shot them off an e-mail. They responded, on a frickin Sunday. Anyways I just have to ship it off to them and they’ll take care of it. Sweet deal.

Oh and of course I’m required to give my FTC disclaimer when talking about products. Dear FTC please send me your mailing address so I can ship you a retractable baton. You know the rest.

Anyways the also brought up the fact I’m glad I bought a carry holster for my Glock 30SF. A lot of people have a spare carry gun but many of those people don’t have a spare carry holster. The idea is the gun will fail at some point but most people don’t stop to think that the holster may also fail. If you carry a gun you should have a complete backup carry rig. Sure you can buy to of the same gun and two of the same holster, but you should have backups to everything you need when carrying. You never know what is going to break nor when.

Nerf Gun, The Same Thing as Real Gun According to Colorado University

More hysterical stupidity brought to my attention via Snowflakes in Hell. From this day forward Colorado University will be treating Nerf guns exactly the same as real guns. I’m glad I didn’t go there because I had several Nerf gun fights at my college. Also I can carry a gun on campus since I’m not a student or faculty of any college here in Minnesota.

Anyways Nerf guns are becoming popular on that campus for a fucking awesome reason:

Nerf guns have been popping up around CU this week, after some students started playing the popular game “Humans vs. Zombies.” It’s similar to the game of tag.

The humans are supposed to shoot the zombies with Nerf guns to keep them away.

I think this should be done at every college. We need more zombie defense and awareness training.

This Should Restart the Caliber Wars

Not that the caliber wars ever ended. But people supporting the 9mm always say it has to be good since our military dumped the .45 for it. Well more evidence is showing our military is looking at reinstating the .45 with a firearm to be designated the M45.

Lets the pissing match CONTINUE!

Airsoft for Practice

Here is another article found via Says Uncle. I hear about the whole concept of using replica Airsoft pistols to practice shooting. Cheaper Than Dirt has a nice write up on their opinion of Airsoft and dry-fire practice.

I mostly agree with what is written there. Airsoft and dry-fire practice is good for doing first shot drills. The problem is neither of the two replicate the recoil of a real gun. This means if somebody spends all of their time practicing with either of the two methods they will lack the ability to properly do multiple-shot drills as those require compensating for recoil.

I do dry-fire practice quite often, usually when I’m watching a show. It helps build good muscle memory for proper trigger pulls. It also helps alleviate the flinch reaction some people (including myself before actually practicing) have. But I also go to the range as often as I can and practice with real ammunition.

I never got on board the whole Airsoft idea because I can’t justify spending as much for a replica gun as an actual gun. For just a little more money I can buy the actual gun, and then I have something I can use for gaining full familiarity with a firearm.

I also agree with the Cheaper Than Dirt post on holster draws and reload drills should be practiced a lot at home as opposed to dry-fire. Remember you can be the fastest and most accurate shooter on the planet. But if it takes you ages to get the gun from your holster to aiming at an attacker you’re screwed. Likewise if you run out of ammunition, or Odin help you you’re magazine fails, being able to reload quickly could make the difference (be in competition or a self defense situation).

But overall the key is practice. That fancy $500.00 gun is meaningless if you can’t use it effectively.

If You Build it Somebody Will Put Rails On It

Via Gun Pundit I have found another example of somebody needing to tacticool up old guns. BEHOLD! A Tommy gun with rails.

Actually what was used to design it is the true story. A web application called Pimp My Gun allows you to drag and drop different features on various guns. It’s rather cool (it would actually be cool if it wasn’t written in Flash). I think I could entertain myself for a couple hours with this.

Loaded Chamber Indicators

Tam has a post mostly talking about how loaded chamber indicators are a bad idea. I agree with what is said, what purpose does a loaded chamber indicator serve other than a false sense of security. I carry an XD which is a gun equipped with a loaded chamber indicator and still physically check the chamber when I want to see if the gun is unloaded (Dry fire practice and cleaning).

I guess I don’t care that it’s on the gun since if it breaks it doesn’t dampen the reliability of the gun. It’ll shoot with or without it.