Category: The Gun Thing

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

Unassuming Company

The Gun Thing

I’ve always wondered why the excellent Aguirre y Aranzabal (AyA) gunmakers get no love from American shotgunners — love that would be richly deserved, I think.  And here, Jonny Carter talks about them with a boffin from Holts.  As one commenter notes, it’s always a pleasure to listen to knowledgeable people talk about guns.

Take 20 minutes out of your day, and enjoy.

I would own an AyA shotgun any day of the week.  Take some time now and browse their offerings at their website.

That may take you longer than 20 minutes, though.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Boss 12ga

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Whilst idly browsing the shotguns at Collectors, I happened upon this wonderful piece:

Now, one might balk at paying $27,500 for a gun made in 1907, but one would run the risk of being called ignorant of Boss & Co.’s storied heritage.  And unlike some other marquee shotgun brands (Purdey coff coff ) who are part of the Beretta conglomerate, Boss is independently owned.  And as Boss has been in existence since 1812, one might assume that the London-based gun company is well-known to many discerning gun owners because of the excellence (“Best”) of their products.  And one’s assumption would be correct:

It should be remembered, by the way, that it was Boss & Co. who designed and made the very first over-and-under shotgun, back in 1909 (okay, I’ll forgive them this heresy) so in this, at least, John Moses Browning was a copier and not an originator.

And Boss haven’t made only long guns, either:

Boss & Co. are unashamedly devoted to making a premium product, and only a premium product — hence the term “Best Only”.  And yes, that premium comes at a steep price;  but to own a Boss shotgun is to own a work of art and a piece of history and heritage like few others.

And that’s the reason why I think that the old 1907 shotgun at Collectors is an absolute bargain.

Light Posting

Anarchist thugs, Illegal immigrants, Psychos, Terrorism, The Gun Thing

Sorry about the paucity of posts today, but I was busier than a $5 whore during Fleet Week yesterday, only not engaged in any sexual congress, of course.  (New Wife is out of town, and I’m just too damn old for such shenanigans.)

Anyway…

What kept me busy yesterday was that after seeing the news for the past few days (Bondi Beach Escapades, Brown University Learning Experience, Turtle Island Liberation Fun & Games, etc.), I decided that it was time to up my game.

Now should any trouble come to my door, so to speak, I am reasonably confident that I could give a good account of myself in the sense of repelling boarders.  (Cue the Son&Heir:  “Pity the fool.” )

But even though I don’t leave the house to drive around that often, the fact is that I do occasionally have to venture out Where The Wild Things Are.  And if the past week has shown us anything, it’s that The Wild Things can be just about anywhere.  I mean, if the International Asshole Set is going to sprinkle bullets around Bondi fucking Beach, FFS…

…so I decided to fortify the old Tiguan (just went over the 140,000-mile mark, it did) with something a little more than my 1911 and backup trunk gun.  Ergo:

Yup, if I’m going to have to own a damn Mattel gun chambered in 5.56 poodleshooter, then what better location for it than as a replacement for Ye Olde Trunke Gunne (of ancient vintage and slow rate of fire)?

One would think that I would have in my possession the proper-sized gun bag to hold the poodleshooter, but this proved not to be the case [sic]  when I went rummaging around in the Gun Accoutrement Closet — don’t ask — because all I had on hand was a collection of gun bags suitable for scoped bolt-action rifles and shotguns, which were all hopelessly too long.

So… off I went to find a suitable carrier, dimensions: 36″x12″.  (I know, I could have just ordered one online, but I prefer to shop for stuff like this in a store so I can handle the thing and check it out for durability, defects, etc.)

Oy.

One thing I knew for sure is that I do not want to look like some tacticool G.I. Joe:



…because apart from making me look like an idiot, those things are a.) too damn expensive, b.) too heavy and c.) too easily visible through the car windows, tinted though they are.

What I wanted, therefore, was something akin to the above, but smaller and black.  But “hen’s teeth” and “honest politician” are the mots justes  when it comes to those size/color specs.

So what did I end up getting?  This, a Ruger 10/22 “Flagstaff”:

It’s actually 40″ long, but what that does is allow me to stow the first (of several) spare mags in the toe of the thing, which makes the loaded bag more balanced to carry.

All I have to do is apply some matte black spray paint over the red bits, and I should be good to go.

So to speak.

(For those interested in such minutiae, my “load out” is 100 rounds, i.e. what you see there plus three other 20-round mags in the bag’s pockets.  Way I see it, if I were to need more than a hundred rounds — plus whatever I carry on me for the 1911 — then I won’t have been doing my job properly and deserve to die.)

Erratum

Housekeeping, The Gun Thing

When talking about my recent acquisition, I referred to the S&W .38 revolver as a Model 60 — my mistake, as Reader Ken had originally told me that it was a Model 10 M&P (Military & Police, for those not familiar with S&W’s various nomenclatures).

Of course, I’m an idiot and can only plead Old Fart’s Disease plus (if I may make just a feeble excuse) my complete confusion with Smith & Wesson’s cuneiform-style of model numbering.  (And I mean “cuneiform” in terms of its incomprehensibility and not how they write it — although it wouldn’t surprise me if their next revolver model is termed as a.k.a. M&P, I mean why the hell not?)

Anyway… I seem to have wandered somewhat off the track — yet another symptom of OFD — so let me wind this up by making a fulsome apology.

And yes, I’ve gone full Winston Smith and corrected the earlier post, not because I’m like the New York fucking Times, but because for some reason people sometimes use me as a reference, and I wouldn’t want the mistake to cause confusion.

All that apology stuff aside, I should point out that this lovely gun shoots a lot better than I can shoot it:  at 25 ft distance, 2″ groups rested and palm-sized groups offhand.  Interestingly, I’m more accurate shooting .38+P than regular .38 Special ammo.

It has replaced the little Model 637 snubbie as an alternative carry piece to the 1911 if my clothing requires a smaller profile.

The only question remaining to be asked is:  Why the hell did it take me so long to get one of these fine guns?

[exit, kicking myself]

Reader Suggestion

The Gun Thing

Yesterday I told you to expect a story about how I came to possess that S&W Mod 10:

Here’s that story.

A Longtime Reader of my acquaintance — i.e. we’ve met in person and spent more than a few minutes chatting away — wrote to me and asked me a favor.

You see, his personal circumstances are changing (and not in a good way, which absolutely sucks), to the extent where he’s going to have to get rid of all his guns.  He’s managed to do that for most of them, but for reasons that everyone here will understand, he didn’t want to get rid of his treasured Model 10 because of all the history he’d had with it.

So he wanted to find a “good home” for the thing, with someone who would treasure it in the same way that he had, and not neglect it or gawd forbid, just sell it.

Hence:  the above gun, which now resides chez  Kim.  (And thank you again, Ken, for this most wonderful gift.)

Now comes the interesting part.

He didn’t just send me the Model 10;  he also included in the box* a little gun which I’ve always been fond of, fired quite a few times but never owned:  a Bersa Thunder .380 ACP.

Now, as I explained to Ken, I need another semi-auto pistol like I need a second New Wife (to paraphrase another Longtime Reader GT3Ted), and besides, if I think the 9mm Europellet is an inadequate self-defense cartridge, the weeny lil’ 9mm Short (.380 ACP) is going to be even less adequate.

However, I have taught plenty of women to shoot over the years, and I can recall at least three who ended up owning a Bersa simply because the little gun fit their hands nicely, the operation thereof was easy and the recoil very friendly.

And here’s the thing:  I know a woman who doesn’t own a gun herself, but who works from home and is there alone during the day while her man is at the office.  True, she lives in a decent neighborhood with a nearly-non-existent crime rate, but “nearly-non-existent” is not zero, as any fule kno.  She’s not anti-gun herself — she grew up hunting with her father — but she’s never owned a handgun, and would like to try it out.

So, as I explained to Ken, I’m going to pass it over to her with the proviso that there is absolutely no obligation for her to keep it:  if she likes it, all well and good.  And if she doesn’t, she can just return it to me.

Ken, by the way, was perfectly okay with this plan when we discussed it, and told me that as he’d read about how I’d done the same thing with a couple of my previous lady shooters, he’d passed the Bersa on to me with precisely this end in mind.

Side note:  Longtime Readers would about now be asking me why I would saddle someone with an inadequate sidearm chambering, but there are two responses to this:  any gun is better than no gun, and a “friendly” gun will always be used if necessary.  Also, Ken being the thoughtful man he is, he’d included a couple boxes of Hornady’s Personal Defense loads (which make the 9mm Kurz cartridge a lot more lethal) as well as a couple boxes of FMJ practice boolets.

So there is is.  I’ve taken the Bersa to the range already to test it for function, and it does perfectly well, chugging through the Hornady as well as it handles the FMJ rounds, with no stoppages.  And when next I see the young lady in question, there’ll be a gift from Santy under the tree for her.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking about something else that Reader Ken and I discussed.

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*which, by the way, went to my Merchant Of Death; so the transfer was perfectly legal, and fuck you ATF.