Category: The Gun Thing

Had occasion to go over to my local Merchant O’ Death yesterday, just to browse a little and to tickle my fancy by looking at a couple of guns I’ve been eyeing out lately.  Well…

The handgun counter is usually crammed with guns — well over a hundred, as I recall — and the few guns you see under the glass are either the very expensive (Nighthawk, etc.) or else .22 pistols and single-action revolvers.

Ditto the rifle racks:  the nearly-empty one on the left is usually packed with AR-15s and AKs… not anymore.  The rack on the right has sporting shotguns, mostly, and even those have been moving out — bought by people who, when they find all their first- and second choices out of stock, are buying double-barreled shotguns just to have something on hand.

The guys tell me that they have over six hundred guns on order, but the distributors are looking after the bigger dealers first, so little establishments like this one are in a desert.  Even then:  “Have you been to Cabela’s or Bass Pro recently?  They’re almost as bad as we are.”

When I think of all the work I’ve done over the years to try and make America a Nation of Riflemen again… and all it took was a few riots in Minneapolis and Seattle to do just that.

Finally — finally! — I was able to get to the range yesterday, and I think the sighting-in is almost complete.  Good grief, it’s been so long (thank you, Chinkvirus), that I probably need to remind y’all what the heck I’m talking about (link):

Here’s the target, at 100 yards:

That was with El Cheapo (Prvi Partizan) ammo.  LOL on me, by the way:  in the five-shot group, the bottom three were the first fired;  then I adjusted the scope and fired off two (the top two that are almost touching) — only I adjusted the scope UP instead of DOWN because Idiot Kim.  Finally got it more or less right, although I’m peeved that none of the final three were touching.

Next week, I’ll try a couple different makes over two or more range sessions, see which one works best, and then hold the drawing next weekend.   Which means the Hawkeye should be on its way to its new owner around August 20.

Good luck to you all.

My first-ever carry gun back in the 1970s was actually an inherited Baby Browning (.25 ACP, about the same as a .22 Mag in effectiveness), and I have to tell you, I never carried it with any confidence.

That youthful feeling of skepticism has carried over into my later years, with a vengeance.

This article here gives all the reason why I don’t carry a “pocket gun”.  Here’s my summary of reasons:

Mostly, the caliber choices are inadequate (.380 ACP is marginally effective, but only with super-premium cartridges like Hornady or the like), and if you do carry a beefier chambering, the gun is well-nigh uncontrollable.  Newton’s law will not be denied.

I have fairly big hands, and shooting a Ruger LCP / Kel-Tec P3AT-type is frankly a real hassle for me.

I find it easier, in fact, to shoot a micro-handgun like the NAA Mini-revolver (which I do carry, loaded with .22 Mag snake shot cartridges but only when I’m in, um, snake country).

(And I have the oversized rubber grips on mine [see below], to make it more controllable.)

Here’s my take on this whole issue.  The common rationale for carrying one of these peashooters is that it’s better than carrying no gun at all.  Maybe that’s true, but I think it’s more likely not true — accuracy (in almost any chambering) is problematic, which leads to the counter-argument that these are really “under the chin” guns (or as I call it, “halitosis range”).  Quite frankly, though, I’m not comfortable with getting that close to a goblin — hell, if you’re going to be in kissing distance, a decent fucking knife is the equal of any of these peashooters, and I’m too old to be getting into knife fights or, for that matter, grappling with some asshole who’s forty years younger than I am while I struggle to put a bullet into his eye, throat or belly.

No, thank you.  My sole concession to carrying a smaller gun is my S&W 637 Airweight, and to be frank, I feel undergunned when I head out on a pizza run (the most common reason to take “any” gun when leaving the house).

Here are my primary carry choices:

Not pictured:  Browning High Power.  Still to come (from):  a Colt Python, S&W 66 / 627 / 686, Ruger GP100, Kimber K6 and maybe a couple others.

I have no plans — none — to buy a pocket anything except a watch.  But that’s a story for another time…

John Hawkins loves him some new offering from SIG:

In a world full of consumers seeking out pocket pistols, sub-compact daily carriers, and snub-nose revolvers built with a minimalist design, the Emperor Scorpion stands out as an ode to one of the most iconic, full-sized guns ever made. And thanks to Sig Sauer, the Emperor Scorpion not only captures, but actually surpasses, all the wonder and awe you and I felt when we shot the 1911s our grandpas owned.
One more point: The Emperor Scorpion is made in the U.S.A.

Well, allow me to retort.  [/Jules Winnfield]

Things that put Kim off from buying a new-style 1911:

• front-slide serrations:  never needed them, never will, and they wear on leather holsters
• ditto serrations on the front of the grip:  chafes the hand after about 100 rounds, and I don’t suffer from sweaty hands anyway
• raised nubbin on the grip safety:  these are for people who aren’t holding their guns tightly enough
• camo-Barbie color:  ’nuff said.

Oh, and lookie here:

Finally:  I’ve always made fun of SIG, S&W and Glock for their impenetrable model-numbering systems (in SIG’s case, 225, 226, 229, 232 etc.) but that does not give them an excuse to make their latest 1911 sound like a character from The Lord Of The Rings.  “Emperor Scorpion”?

Call that the fifth “nope”.  If I’m going to shell out over $1,300 for a 1911, it has to have more class.  Kinda like this one:

‘Nuff said.  And it too is made in the U.S.A.

No doubt some teenager running SIG’s marketing department would write me off as just another old asshole who’s going to die soon anyway — it’s far sexier to chase after the “youth” market, after all.

Except for one thing:  I have probably another two, even three more 1911 purchases left to me before I shuffle off this mortal coil, and yet another one as a present for the Son&Heir, maybe as soon as his next birthday, even.  None of those will be this Chief Insect 1911, though.