Tag: Self Defense

Ruger LCP Range Report

Well I finally had two things at the same time, time to hit the range, and .380 auto ammunition for my new Ruger LCP. Although I’ve had the gun for a few weeks I’ve not been able to actually shoot it.

I loaded up some rounds using 4.1 grains of Universal Clays powder and 95 grain Montana Gold jacked hollow points (before anybody comments I know a .380 won’t reliably expand JHP rounds, but being their center of gravity is back more JHPs are slightly more accurate than full metal jacketed rounds).

First off I want to say the gun is a perfect little piece. It fits in almost any pocket (although I won’t be carrying it until my pocket holster arrives). It’s very light even when loaded with 6 + 1 rounds of ammunition and conceals better than any other gun I’ve seen.

The Ruger LCP, like most small and light guns, kicks hard. Firing the gun can be painful after a while. The webbing on my right hand hurt quite a bit after roughly 30 rounds so I switched to left handed shooting for the remaining 20 rounds I loaded up. For a mouse gun the LCP is pretty accurate. I was able to peg steel plates from approximately 20 feet without too much trouble. If I’m dealing with ranges beyond that I’ll hopefully be able to use my primary carry gun.

The only thing about the LCP I really didn’t like when firing it was how far and erratically is flung the brass. I was shooting under a covered pistol range section. The roof was approximately 15 to 20 feet and several of the brass casing landed up on there. Other cases went flying 10 feet to the right and angles ranging from 45 degrees to right behind me. Since I load my own ammunition I like to keep the cases and that’s hard with this gun.

Working the slide is pretty simple. Several small semi-automatic pistols I’ve uses had very stiff slides. The LCP’s isn’t very stiff and can be easily manipulated with two hands. Due to the fact the LCP has little in the way of sights there isn’t much to catch it on in order to rack the slide with one hand though. Speaking of sights I wish Ruger would have made them just a hair larger. As they sit right now the sights are all but useless and I didn’t get a crimson trace laser for it (being I had enough trouble just finding the bloody gun). At short ranges this isn’t that big of an issue though since the sights are more than adequate for hitting human sized targets.

The gun came with a small extension for the, one and only included, magazine. I ended up using it simple because I couldn’t get a good grip on the gun without it. With the extension I was able to comfortably hold the gun with all but my pinky finger. I do wish Ruger would have included a second magazine so I could practice reloading it (I order a couple others but they certainly do charge an arm and leg for such a small magazine). I will say the magazine does indeed drop free when you press the release button. And while I’m on the subject of reloading do note that the LCP does not automatically hold the slide open when your magazine is empty so you do need to count rounds with this gun.

Overall I was impressed with the gun. It’s exactly what I was looking for in that it’s a small pistol that is easily placed into a pocket. I don’t see any features that make me want to recommend the LCP over any other .380 auto mouse gun on the market but for the price you really can’t complain much. If you want a mouse gun certainly take a look at one.

But I Thought Gun Control Made Us Safer

That’s what the Brady Bunch tell use at least. Well tell that to Chicago, a city with some of the strictest gun control laws on the books. In one night over 15 people were wounded in shootings…

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/shootings-wound-at-least-15-overnight.html

Once again we have proof that gun control doesn’t work. In fact I’d say this is pretty good evidence that gun control is harmful. If any of these 15 people would have been allowed to legally carry a gun they would have had a better chance of defending themselves and preventing any of the hoodlums from committing future crimes. Not to mention the hoodlums would be less likely to commit crimes if they realized there was a good chance of being shot and killed in the process.

Let Chicago be an example of what is wrong with gun control and taking away peoples’ right to self defense.

And Samuel Colt Made Them Equal

Remember that saying that God made all men but Samuel Colt made them equal? I think this story exemplifies that…

http://www.click2houston.com/news/20153320/detail.html

An 18 year old man decided he was going to steal a 74 year old man’s car. Normally the 18 year old would win any such fight due to the advantages of youth. But when Martin Baltazar put a knife to August Peters’s throat and attempted to steal his car he wasn’t expecting the aged man to whip out a gun. Furthermore I don’t think Mr. Baltazar expected the old man to shoot him.

Once again an average citizen uses a gun to stop a crime. But of course the gun banners would have you believe that Mr. Peters should have just surrendered his keys. After all criminals who are willing to put a knife to your neck certainly wouldn’t be willing to kill you even if you gave up your keys right? I mean getting rid of a witness was never a concern of a criminal… oh wait.

Mouse Guns

A couple weeks ago I came into possession of a Ruger LCP. Most of you have seen these by now it’s a tiny .380 automatic that holds 6+1 rounds. I finally found the casings and bullets to reload for it and will have a pocket holster here in a bit. But coming from a man who normally carries a Springfield XD Compact in .45 automatic I’ve been asked what I want with a mouse gun.

There are a couple reasons. The first and foremost is to have a back up gun. Most people have mentioned to me that a back up gun should be a snubby since they have a very low rate of failures. In general I agree with this idea. Snub nose revolvers are very light, small, and reliable. But they are also fatter than a semi-automatic pistol due to the cylinder. And this is where my problem with carrying a snubby resides, I can’t conceal it very well. I wanted my back up to fit into my pants pocket and not print. The LCP does this well. Furthermore the LCP is shaped in such a way that I can easily extract it from my pocket without it snagging on anything.

There is another advantage to having a gun that fits flawlessly in a pocket. If somebody wants my wallet and I happen to have my shirt tucked in over my in waste band holster I first have to pull my shirt up to gain access to my gun. This of course takes time, time which can cost me my life. Meanwhile reaching into my pocket seems like a natural motion since I could be getting my wallet. By the time it turns out I was getting my LCP the guy hopefully already had a couple rounds in him. This is a great advantage in my opinion since the chance of being mugged in a large city is pretty good.

Another advantage to semi-automatic pistols in my opinion is the profile of their reloading apparatus known as a magazine. While revolver speed loaders are cylindrical magazines are rectangular. Rectangular objects are easier to hide on your person since they present a flat side which doesn’t really print to anything noticeable. If somebody sees something cylindrical in your pocket they may think revolver while seeing something rectangular could be anything from a cellular phone to a wallet.

Finally I wanted a mouse gun so I had something to conceal at times when concealing a full sized pistol isn’t doable. For instance on a hot summer day it’s likely I’ll be in shorts and a t-shirt. Although I can conceal my full sized pistol in my normal shorts it certainly prints against my swim trunks. Meanwhile the little LCP drops right into the side pockets without any issue. Furthermore I don’t have as larger of a holster pressing against my skin making me sweat bullets.

Either way I love how the LCP fits my pocket and hand. Now that I have some ammunition components I can test it out this weekend and see how it shoots.

Interesting .45 Auto Carbine

OK I’m a huge fan of the .45 automatic cartridge. Both of my primary carry guns are .45 and I have a Beretta CX4 in .45 auto plus a Tommy Gun. It’s a good cartridge in my opinion but finding a good carbine hasn’t been easy. Well in my tireless quest for a good .45 auto carbine I came across the Kriss Super V…

http://www.kriss-tdi.com/products/kriss-crbso-45-acp/overviewcrbso.html

Now my Tommy Gun is cool but far too heavy for practical defense and the CX4 only has 8 round magazines with larger ones looking to never appear. The Kriss Super V seems to solve both those problems by being light weight and has extended magazines.

The main problem is it’s expensive. In fact it’s far more expensive than anything I’m willing to pay for a .45 carbine at the moment. The only real advantage of a .45 carbine is it would use a common ammo supply with my pistols. On the other hand an M14 is very well suited at stopping bad guys so I think I’ll continue using it.

I Survived Enemy Territory

So the girlfriend and me went to the Wisconsin Dells this weekend. It was fun but I must say not being able to have your gun on your sure is a change from the normal.

It really irritates me that crossing the boarder from Minnesota to Wisconsin also means I go from being a lawful armed citizen to a defenseless sheep. While at the Dells I noted how screwed everybody would be if a bad guy with a gun showed up and started letting rounds fly. Somehow the government of Wisconsin thinks its citizens are safer without being able to legally carry a concealed weapon (and harassed if they legally open carry a gun). I just don’t get it.

ATMs that Defend Themselves

This is certainly a unique story I found on Bruce Scheier’s blog…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/12/south-africa-cash-machine-pepper-spray

In South Africa they are testing ATMs that squirt pepper spray into the face of anybody deemed to be tampering with the card slot…

The technology uses cameras to detect people tampering with the card slots. Another machine then ejects pepper spray to stun the culprit while police response teams race to the scene.

Here is the issue though image recognition isn’t 100%. In fact it’s very spotty at best. Hence I’m guessing there will be a lot of false positives here. Either that or the machines will be set towards the safe side and not actually spray the people that are tampering with the ATM.

Either way this sounds like an interesting idea with a flawed implementation.

Source: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/pepper_sprayequ.html

Why I Read the BBC

Even though it’s an Oceania controller news organization they at least do a better job at fully covering a story than most of the media over here does. Take their article on the passing of Tennessee’s law allowing the carry of a firearm in places that serve alcohol…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8145541.stm

Most publications here leave out an important piece when they talk about this law…

State legislators – a quarter of whom own firearms – have passed a law allowing guns into bars and restaurants, but preventing their owners from buying alcohol.

Yes even a news organization controlled by an anti-gun state brings up the fact that even though permit holders will be allowed to carry in places that serve alcohol they won’t be allowed to purchase alcohol. That tidbit of knowledge seems to be missing from everybody including the New York Times and the Washington Post.

I also feel that this article does a good job at covering both sides of the issue (that would be the right side and the wrong side for those of you thinking I was being unbias for a second).