Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Rebuilding From Scratch

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

(I wrote about this very topic many years ago, but I can’t find the original article.  So I’m going to start from scratch.)

A Reader once wrote to me, telling me that he was moving out of NYFC and back into the United States.  He’d been a gun owner before, but had sold all his guns prior to moving to Manhattan.  Now, smelling the taste of freedom, he wanted to buy some guns again.  He had $5,000 set aside for the purpose, and wanted my ideas on what I would suggest he look at.

I don’t remember what I recommended, nor can I access the original post;  but it’s a fun mind game to play on a Saturday.  Before I get going, though, let me say that the guns I’d choose would not only be “serious” guns — self-defense and so on — but because I consider shooting to be fun (what a concept), some of the guns I pick would have to cover that part as well.

The categories of firearm, therefore, are:  self-defense (carry), plinking, home defense (however you define it), sporting and all-round utility.

Here, then, is my list of new “starter” guns I’d either buy or consider buying, with a budget of $5,000 (granted, five grand won’t buy you as much as it did back in 2005 or whenever, but that just adds to the challenge).  They’re not necessarily my favored choices, but they are the best choices in terms of utility and price.

And on the latter topic:  I’m mostly going to use Bud’s Gun Shop for pricing and pics, because his prices seem to be reasonable on most guns and I don’t want to spend hours and hours looking around the various gun shop websites just to save $5 on, say, a plinker.  I’m also going to ignore accessories like spare mags and such — this is about guns, and they’re listed in the order that I would buy them.

 1) Carry piece
This the very first gun I’d buy because it’s the one I’d most likely need the soonest, all things being equal:  the Springfield Armory 1911 Defender  Mil-Spec .45 ACP 5″ ($510) — it’s the cheapest Springfield 1911 on the market, and while there are lots of cheaper .45s (and 1911s) out there, the Springfield is the one I’ve used and trusted for twenty-odd years, and for me this is no area to compromise on.

2) Semi-auto rimfire rifle (.22LR)
It’s a commodity item, like a kitchen knife.  I’d choose the Marlin 795 .22 LR 18″  ($170) — I’ve shot one before, and for the money, it’s fantastic value.

3) Do-it-all rifle (.30-30)
What’s the best centerfire rifle you could get that, in a pinch, could do everything, from home defense to hunting?  My choice would be the Marlin 336C .30-30 Win 20″ ($565) —  it’s been doing it all for well over a century, and who am I to argue with tradition and heritage?  With practice, the lever action can be worked almost as fast as a semi-auto.

4) Bedside gun / backup carry (.357 Mag)
This is the gun you buy when you absolutely, positively have to depend on it to work, every time.  I’d get the inexpensive but reliable S&W LE Mod 66 .357 Mag 4.25″ ($650) — I’d love it to be a Model 65, but they’re unavailable nowadays, and forget about a Colt Python.  (A close second would be the Ruger GP100 for just a few dollars less, but the Mod 66 just seems to fit my grip better, and has a better trigger withal.)

5) Shotgun (20ga)
Here I’m going to ignore the pump-action type and go for a double-barrel instead, because I prefer to use a shotgun for sport, not home defense (sporting clays being one of my favorite fun sports, of course).  There’s really only one choice in the inexpensive-but-quality category:  the CZ Bobwhite SxS 28″ — ($695).  It has all the things I want in a shotgun:  double trigger, long barrels, “English” (not a pistol) grip and splinter forearm.

6) SHTF rifle
You all know my feelings on this topic.  As the man said, “When civilization falls, the gun you want in your hands is an AK.”  Hence the semi-auto AK-47 7.62x39mm — ($650)

7) Long-range scoped rifle
Everyone should have a “reach out and touch” rifle, capable of consistently hitting a target at 500 yards.  Given the budget constraints, I’m going with the Savage 110 Tactical .308 Win — ($630) Still the best value for money.  The nearest competitor is the CZ 557 Heavy Barrel — and that’s nearly $900, which would leave little money for a scope.  And speaking of which:
Minox 3-15×56 ZX5 30mm — ($680) I love this scope (it’s the one I have mounted on my Mauser M12).  For what is really a “mid-priced” optic, the clarity is outstanding, the light-gathering stupendous, and it’s as rugged as hell.  If the money was there, I’d spend an extra $150 on the illuminated reticle, but such is life under budgetary constraints.

8) .22LR Pistol
Every home should have one (or two, or three) of these… and I’m going with the gun I know, with the best trigger:  Browning Buck Mark Plus Stainless 5″ ($500).

…and that, in covering all my bases, takes it to $4,950.

Note that in working with so small a budget on “must-have” guns, I was not able to indulge my passion for old military surplus rifles… and man, does it hurt.

Feel free to take issue with me on my choices, in Comments.  Obviously, everyone’s going to have different likes / dislikes / preferences, but if you keep my categories in mind as you suggest others, I don’t think you’ll go wrong.

Good And (Maybe) Better?

The Gun Thing

I have waxed lyrical before about pistol-caliber semi-automatic carbines, and I remain fond of them, for all sorts of reasons.  However, a couple of recent articles are making me rethink my fondness — not towards total rejection of the concept, but perhaps towards a better option.

I speak firstly of this article, about the TNW Aero Survival Rifle LTE – 9mm:

There’s a lot to like about this:  it uses Glock mags, it has an AR-15 clone action, you can get it in multiple barrel lengths, it breaks down easily for storage, and so on.  (Of course, as it shoots the plentiful 9mm Europellet, practice is cheap too.)

My antipathy towards said cartridge is well known, however, and I would far rather have such a carbine chambered for the .45 ACP — but from what I’ve read about the Aero, it’s going to be offered solely in 9mm.  Fine.  But then we come to the retail price of $650 (street), and about a hundred more for the short-barreled “pistol”.  That makes me wonder whether one couldn’t do better, cartridge-wise, for about the same money.

And right on cue came this article, suggesting that it may be time to reconsider the venerable Ruger Ranch Rifle (Mini-14 or Mini-Thirty):

Now my own experience with the Mini-14 has been dismal — it couldn’t hold zero, the hot barrel whipped like a cooked noodle, and the larger magazines (aftermarket, because Bill Ruger thought that nobody should ever need more than 5 rounds) were Jammin’ Central.

But apparently, Ruger has fixed all that — even unto offering 20-round factory magazines — and they’re apparently now manufactured as they should have been made in the first place.

What I’ve always liked about the Ranch Rifles is that they’re not threatening to the gun confiscators, appearance-wise anyway.  (That doesn’t mean that the bastards wouldn’t go after them with similar fervor to the hated AR-15, but there’s less justification for doing so — at least, in the public’s eye.  Yes I know it’s all bullshit — the AR and Mini-14 are functionally identical — but these are the times we live in.)

The Mini-14 retails for just over $800 right now — and given that you’re shooting the 5.56mm poodleshooter instead of the 9mm Europellet, the price difference might be justified.  (You know where I’m going with this, right?  Yup, the Mini Thirty in 7.62x39mm Commie is the one I’d pick, if I was going in this direction.)

All the above assumes that the boys at Ruger have fixed all the old problems with the Ranch Rifle, of course.

If anyone near north Texas has recently bought one of the latest generation of the Ruger Mini (with the 20-round mag) in either caliber, I’d love to give it a little impromptu range test.  I’ll supply the ammo.

Comments, as always, are welcome.

Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

Oh yeah, baby.

A Michigan woman caught on surveillance footage fatally shooting her 43-year-old partner at an indoor trampoline park won’t be charged after prosecutors determined she had reason to fear he would kill her 14-year-old son.

Here’s a profile of the corpus delicti:

Genesee County prosecutors said on Monday that Hodges has a violent criminal history dating back to 1993.
Nine different people have alleged they were the victims of domestic violence at the hands of Hodges, WJRT-TV is reporting.
Hodges’ criminal history includes a 13-year prison stint for child abuse.
According to MLive.com, Hodges was charged in 1995 with assaulting his 16-month-old daughter, leaving her with brain damage, deafness, and vision impairment.
He was eventually released in August 2008.
Hodges also has a history of choking women.

No wonder Our Heroine isn’t going to be charged.  She should get a damn medal.

You can all start applauding, now.

ULD Rifle Reminder #3

The Gun Thing

(Several people wrote to me and pleaded with me to extend the deadline because of the dreaded Post-Christmas Poverty so common in Western society.  So I have.)

**** Note:  the deadline for entries is now February 29 ****

For those who missed this announcement (see here for details), let me remind you that this is a good chance to get a very nice long-distance sniper hunting rifle (such as the example below), for only the cost of a couple boxes of ammo…

May not be the actual rifle selected

(FYI:  from memory, the above rig cost about $2,800 back in 200[x].  We’re not quite halfway there right now, and guns have got more expensive since then.)

We’ve moved from the BB gun with a $10 Chinese scope mounted on it with duct tape, to a halfway-decent rifle, e.g. this second-hand CZ 577 Heavy Barrel in .308 Win:

…except that it will still  only have the $10 Chinese scope mounted on it with duct tape.

Here’s an idea of what you can get, second-hand, for just over $2,800:  Remington Arms 40-XB KS 7.62x51mm NATO caliber single shot rifle,with heavy stainless barrel, Kevlar stock and a Leupold 24X BR scope.

Or else this (also second-hand), for about $2,500:

Steyr Tactical HB .308 Win caliber rifle with Zeiss 3-12×56 scope.

That’s  the kind of rig I’m aiming for.  So you know what to do, those of you who’ve been lollygagging and waiting for Godot:  get out them dusty old checkbooks and send in your entries.

Home Defense Options

Advice, The Gun Thing

Some honchos in the gun world have weighed in with their home defense choices:

Keeping all of this in mind, we sought out a variety of professionals to comment on their particular home-defense guns, and more importantly, why they have those guns — simply telling you they use a 12-gauge isn’t very helpful. You don’t have to be a Special Forces guy or SWAT ninja to consider their rationales, so our hope is that after you read this piece you’ll evaluate the contents of your own nightstand. While there are some brand-names mentioned, think of each configuration as a loose guideline for a given situation and not an internet special, where all the parts and pieces have to match exactly. This is about choosing home-defense equipment, not points on the ‘gram. Still, we’ll disclose all of those parts and pieces, because we dabble in gear nerdery.

Sheesh.  Talk about space-age stuff.

I’m not one of those “heavy hitters”, nor do I get free shit thrown at me by any manufacturers [sob]  so here are my home defense suggestions, based in my own circumstances.

Bedside:
DA revolver in .357 Magnum, because as I’ve said countless times before, your “people in the house, grope in the dark” gun has to be like a fork:  when you pick it up, it has to work simply and without any chance of failure.  My only “accessory” (which I don’t have at the moment) would be one of those laser pointer thingies that are activated by squeezing the grip.

Home defense:
AK-47.  I live in a suburban apartment complex, so there’s little call for any kind of animal varmint reduction.  Human  varmints, however, may be another (albeit remote) situation even in my affluent location, and I prefer an AK over a shotgun because 20 rounds are better than 2 (I don’t have a pump- or semi-auto shotgun, only a side-by-side).  (Also, nothing  says “RUN AWAY!” like the sight of an AK pointed at your midsection.)

Accessories:
Fenix FX-PD35TAC flashlight, because of the 1000-watt beam and the strobe option — which is so disorienting it actually causes nausea at the naughty end.  I carry one of these bad boys in my gilet pocket, and keep another next to the bed.

Sjambok for controlling angry dogs and/or assholes.

That’s it.  I have other options, so to speak, but the above are what I always keep (very) close at hand.  Well, they would  be kept close at hand, except for that unfortunate canoeing incident on the Brazos River a few years back.  This is just my wishlist.

Ratting

The Gun Thing, Vermin

Following on from my earlier post about taking care of vermin (actual rats, not politicians, of course), I had this thought.

Given my ummm tendencies, I’d rather address the rat problem like this — I mean, why let dogs have all the fun?  I think I’d prefer an inexpensive .22 rifle (semi-auto, for a quick follow-up shot if needed) over an airgun, but I’m open to suggestions.

And no post of mine would be complete without at least a brief look at the guns one would consider.  I’m thinking of a heavy barrel semi-auto, like the Ruger 10/22 Competition:

…or the Thompson TC/R22:

…or a ringer, the Browning Buck Mark FLD Target (which might possibly have the best trigger of the three):

No bad choices there.  But I’d be at a loss for which optics to choose.  Daytime, no problem:  either a red-dot or conventional rimfire scope would work.  But a night-vision  scope?  Never owned one.

Tell me your suggestions, in Comments.  And remember:  I’m a Cheap Bastard, so no $900 EOTech miracles need apply.