Category: The Gun Thing

Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them

Gratuitous Gun Pic — Ruger PC-9 Carbine (9mm Para)

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I was wandering idly through my Inbox, deleting just about 99% of it as always, when I stumbled across an ad from these guys which featured this thing:

Now, Ruger’s PC-9 has been around with us for a long time, and deservedly so.  This particular model (one of many) has been gussied up with a barrel-cooling sleeve and a Picatinny rail, and for under $650 is a pretty decent deal.

If only they made them in .45 ACP, using either 1911 mags or their own 10-round double-stack ones, I’d be seriously tempted.  But in the 9mm Europellet?  Not so much.

And I’m not the only one.

Just Be Careful, Kristi

Law and Order, The Gun Thing

In the face of L.A. cops being fired for refusing Rona jabs, SDGov Kristi Noem says:

“To LA County law enforcement officers facing potential firing: In South Dakota, you will not be fired for making personal health decisions. We respect law enforcement and everything you do to defend our freedoms. We would love to have you come join us.”

That’s all well and good, Governor, and let’s hope some of them take up your offer and come on up to the Mount Rushmore State.

But please make a few ground rules clear before you send them out to police your citizens, especially in terms of the Second Amendment.  While cops generally are quite conservative, I’m not so sure about California cops, because they’ve been enforcing some pretty shitty un-Constitutional anti-gun laws in the Golden Shower State and they’ll probably need a training course in SD gun laws to remind them of the “shall not be infringed” stuff.  They’ll also need to become free of the fear of seeing citizens carrying guns openly, never mind concealed.

Just a thought.

Use Enough Gun

The Gun Thing

…especially when you’re attacked by a moose:

“As he charged me I emptied my gun into him and he never stopped,” she wrote on Facebook. “I ran for my life and prayed I was fast enough to not be killed in that moment. He trampled the team and then turned for us.”

Yeah, well.  Read the piece for the details about her “gun”.

Of particular interest to me is this statement:

She said no musher would ever travel with a rifle or a large caliber gun, instead preferring to scare off animals with a flare gun. And with all the jostling of the sled, the larger guns could easily go off.

Firstly, if your gun goes off because of “jostling”, you need some training and/or a better gun.  The thought of something like this Ruger Redhawk .44 Mag going off by being jostled,,,?

Ain’t gonna happen.

As for mushers going out without a rifle or large-caliber handgun:   if what this idiot says is true, they’re bigger idiots than I thought.  FFS, even realtors carry a heavy gun when they’re showing cabins and houses in the Alaska boonies.

Damn Immigrants

Politics, Resistance, The Gun Thing

…coming over here, sleeping with our Murkin wimmins, taking our jobs, and now (gasp) wanting to destroy our beloved Department of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms:

Born an Englishman but a U.S. citizen since 2006, Martin Hyde knew the danger such lists pose. He’d seen how they had been misused in England, Australia and elsewhere.

“When a government has a list of the people who own guns, it almost always leads to confiscation,” Hyde said. “When I saw this, I knew the ATF had to go – it has to be abolished or broken up. Besides, no one makes a better case for abolishing the ATF than the ATF.

“I grew up in London without the right to keep and bear arms. Englishmen were never unarmed; we were disarmed by the government. Americans don’t understand what that’s like, thankfully. Our Second Amendment prohibits the government from disarming the people, and it needs to be protected – enshrined, if you will.”

And yes, he’s become a keen gun owner since becoming a citizen.

Bad Influence

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Longtime Reader and Friend JohnC writes:

Well, you caused me to impulse buy a Ruger SP101… and I thank you for it! When you suggested one for my sister, I found some French Police trade-in guns for $450 chambered in .38 spl, which is fine, I’m not the type who enjoys shooting .357 magnums out of small guns–it’s like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer because it feels so good when your head stops hurting. Anyway, I have a nice new carry gun for use with plenty effective +P loads. So here is a post I put up at Ruger Forums, thought you’d appreciate it and the pics. Thanks for helping me make an impulse purchase!  I love this thing!

Oh, and the grips are made by now defunct Trausch, in Germany. Those are the grips they put on the Manurhin revolver you wrote about a while back. Atlantic Firearms still has some if this makes your trigger finger itch.

🙂

And an update:

Well, had it out to the range already. Love it! The trigger is not bad, but I do have the Wolff spring kit and plan on trying the 12# spring. If I like it, I’m not after the lightest pull and I’ll stop. If I feel like I should try the 10# it will take 300 rounds of practice ammo to get me confident in it, but I bet the 12# will do the trick. Other than reaming the trigger return spring channel, I’m not planning on doing all that Mcarbo polishing, I doubt it’s needed.

Love the gun, especially the grips, as has been mentioned. They are terrific! I did not have any issue with a speedloader at all with them. Very comfy little gun. I can see this is the .357 sized gun, the chambers are just reamed a bit shorter, it’s very obvious, so no measuring needed. I’m confident enough in the +P stuff, I’m not really interested in reaming it out to shoot .357 Magnum, I do that in my Security Six.

Finally, I got a Galco Combat master for it, and it’s a great holster. They usually have some kind of 15% off promo deal, and I got one. Yeah, I’ve had fancy one-man-shop holsters, but IMNSHO, you can find a cheaper holster than the Galco, and you can find a better holster than the Galco, but you can’t find a better holster for less money than a Galco. They are top quality products at reasonable, if not cheap prices.

Other than the spring replacement, the only other thing I plan on doing is easing the edges of the trigger and the trigger guard, they are a bit sharpish. Maybe I’ll polish it up like I did my little Taurus 85CH snubby, but not sure I have that much energy. We’ll see.

Here is a shot of what I took to the range yesterday.

I love a well-turned-out range session, myself.  Lovely.

Yeah, that’s me:  a Bad Influence.  As I recall, when John first came to this website, he only had one or two guns.  Since then, he’d accumulated well over a dozen — until that unfortunate canoeing accident, that is.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Hammer Shotguns

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Smart-Ass Reader Joe G writes and asks me:  “If you’re as old-fashioned as you say you are, why have you never considered a shotgun that uses hammers instead of those newfangled hidden devices?”

It’s a good question (if a trifle impertinent), but let me open the discussion by showing one such, the (new) CZ Hammer Coach (~$900):

It is a strange thing that while we gunnies are all over the idea of single-action handguns (e.g. Colt Single Action Army revolvers), the same principle doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to shotguns, and it shows in the sales thereof.

Not many gun manufacturers make the old-style hammer guns anymore, other than in a style reminiscent of the old “stagecoach” short-barreled things (like the above).  And I’m not interested in a 20″ barrel, unless in a designated self-defense piece like a pump-action.

But if one wants a long-barreled hammer shotgun, the choices are scant:  either a hammer gun that is so old it’s unusable, like this old Gibbs from 1885:

…or else one that is old but still usable, like this Purdey Best Bar Action 12ga (~$16,500):

By the way, this Purdey would already be mine apart from reasons of poverty, because it is drop-dead gorgeous (right-click to embiggen both pics):

So why don’t I have or want one of these oldies?

It’s a simple reason, really:  nobody makes (or has ever made, apparently) a hammer gun in 20 gauge.  My days of shooting 12ga shotguns are over (brief as they were to start off with) because my shoulder just can’t take the sustained pounding of the big guy anymore.  And given that I mostly shoot clays nowadays, I am likely to pull the trigger upwards of a hundred times or more in a session.  And even that creates a sizeable bruise with 20ga, not that I care — but with a 12ga?  Yikes.

Of course, there’s this fine W&C Scott offering, which although originally barreled for 12ga, has been re-sleeved to 20ga, and is a steal at a mere (coff coff ) $7,500:

Hmm…

So I’m not that averse to the idea… but practicality gives me a kick in the ass, as it usually does (sigh).