Gun Thread: Too Damn Hot Edition! [Weasel]

The weather forecast for the farm was back and forth all week, alternating between rain, and hotter than hell with high humidity. It finally settled on hotter than hell and high humidity, and after a period of thoughtful introspection, I said screw it and decided to stay home. So, no WeaselAcres video for you! The Gun Thread must go on, however, so let's get to that below, shall we?

First Time Gun Buyer Guide
As happens from time to time, last week someone asked in the comments for a recommendation for their first gun purchase. It's a question that isn't as easy to answer as we've found over the last couple of years, and I suggested we come up with First Gun: A Buying Guide for Morons, and solicited everyone's thoughts on the matter. During the week I received some excellent and thoughtful responses, but would like to get a few more so I need your help. The idea is to collaboratively produce a document for the first time gun buyer, so please send me your thoughts and suggestions, and I will incorporate it all to a single document and post it here in draft for comments. Once we have a final draft which we all generally agree on (ha!), I will link to it in future threads. I do not want to simply recommend a specific brand or model, but do think it's OK to list some that are good options under your personal criteria for concealability, capacity, simplicity of use, and so forth. I'd like the final product to be something which someone with no prior firearms experience could read before heading to the gun store and hopefully allow them to be a more informed buyer. If you would like to help, send your ideas to the morongunthread gmail address. Thanks!

First up, we have a very good question from our pal B738.

For those who carry, should you also carry some non-lethal defense such as pepper spray?

If the situation goes bad and you have to use deadly force, I could see this going two ways:

1) You had a non-lethal option but the situation was so bad you couldn't use it. Strengthens the use of deadly force, looks good to the jury, or

2) Why didn't you try the pepper spray before using deadly force? You are a wanna be Rambo, looks bad to the jury.

I look forward to reading the discussion.

Is carrying a non-lethal deterrent as well as a firearm a good idea? Good or bad, it would certainly add complexity in a use-of-force situation. Great question, B738! So what do you all think?

Next up, we have a new addition to the hogmartin collection!

It followed me home and I got my scent on it and now the mother won't take it back.

Very nice! Why, if I'm not mistaken, it's a Ruger SR 1911 Model 6708, Commander size, with a steel frame and a 4 1/4 inch barrel. The happy new owner goes on to tell us about his first outing with it.

Just took it to the range and put 50 rounds through it, works great. Just need some practice. The trigger is very different from a striker gun. The manual of arms is very straightforward, but I'll want to develop the muscle memory before I start carrying it.

The grips are fine, even though they look like a cheese grater, but I think I want a magazine release cutout so I don't have to shift my grip to drop the magazine. While I'm at it, might as well put on something a little more understated, like mother-of-pearl with a gold Virgen de Guadalupe, or maybe purple metal-flake. We'll see.

Not quite what we'd hoped for, but here's another look:

Until then, I've got Magpul MOEs on it. They've got a nice scoop for the mag release, and they were $10 or so at the LGS.

Here's a peek at hogmartin's target.

24 rounds at 7yd. Had a couple failures to go fully into battery. Might be the extractor is stiff? I don't know how to drive a 1911 so I'm just guessing

Sounds reasonable with a new gun. Give it a couple of hundred rounds to settle in, and as you become more familiar with it, please let us know how it's going. Again, it's a very nice handgun, and best of luck pimping it out!! Congratulations hogmartin!

Next, our pal Radioactive G-Spot sends us the following range report with his P64.

I picked up a surplus Polish P64 9mm Makarov last year, and this was its second trip to the range. The old school commie-block sights aren't the greatest, but the pistol is in great shape and is fun to shoot, with surplus ammo still available and fairly priced. I purchased a recoil spring kit from Wolff, and was trying out the different springs. Shot a box of 50, and this pic is the last magazine through using the 20# spring at around 10 yards. The low shot was the first shot in double action, with shots 2-6 in the box in single action. The double action trigger pull is a bit brisk; about 25#. The hole at the top was there before I hung the target.

Nice job, Radioactive G-Spot! Holy crap, 25# in double action? That's pretty heavy! Not sure I have a gun with that heavy a trigger pull, and I'm not a fan of really light triggers in the first place. I'm used to around maybe 8# in DA. It's a great looking gun and appears to be in excellent condition. It's nice that you're getting out and having a good time with it. Thanks for sending it in!

Next we have a nice setup sent to us by our pal Coelacanth, who has ATN scope on a FNAR with a 1903 sling and a Magpul bipod.

Well, made it to the range to work with a rifle and an ATN electronic scope. Lots of buttons to push and not totally intuitive but once sighted in it's almost spooky. It needs a little more fine tuning but I was able to consistently ring the 300 yard gong with no holdover. It moves the reticle to compensate for distance and angle.

Coelacanth goes on to tell us:

It's an ATN X-sight 4.5-20X native, can be electronically zoomed much further at the cost of pixelation and blurring. Color rendering is poor in daylight. Significant low light capability. Internal battery life is 18 hours continuous. The pouch on the stock adds a bit of height for a better cheek weld and storage for a much larger battery that adds a lot more function time. You can control it through an app on your phone or iPad via Bluetooth. It will also talk to their Laser rangefinders and automatically adjust the reticle for distance. Compensation for temp, altitude, barometric pressure, angle of shot and compass direction as well. Can be programmed for 8 different rounds or different rifles. Has other features as well. Fairly steep learning curve but with a bit of practice...

Well that's pretty damn interesting. I have a friend who is interested in an ATN scope. Once you have some more time behind it, I hope you will give us an update, particularly on the function of the ballistic computer effectiveness. Very cool! Thanks for sending this in!

Does anyone else have experience with the ATN product line, and care to share your thoughts? If you haven't noticed by now, I'm Old Skool when it comes to shooting, particularly long distance shooting. I've always been of the opinion the shooter needs to know how to make these computations quickly on their own, but the technology really seems to be advancing quickly in this area, and something like this to ease the workload is definitely worth a look. I don't think it should take the place of good solid fundamentals, but there's noting wrong with a product which makes your job behind the gun easier.

What do you think?

Another question we see a lot is whether it's OK to store magazines loaded. Our pal and most excellent Gun Thread contributor, redc1c4 sends us a great video on the subject from Classic Firearms. Thanks redc1c4!

So video guy is of the opinion it's OK to store them loaded, but he seems to be talking in terms of relatively short periods of time - on the order of a month or so. He does mention setting a magazine aside for a full year to see how it does over a prolonged period, but we don't know the outcome. How about you all? Do you store them loaded, unloaded, or both? Any Rocket Surgeons out there with the science behind springs?

Glock Innards
Last week we had a great conversation on the pros and cons of Glocks. You're either a Glock fan, or you're not. It was nice, however, to have the conversation without it devolving into a melee in the comments. Anyhoo, I ran across this pretty spiffy cutaway animation of a Glock 43 and thought you might enjoy taking a peek inside.

Stabby Things
I'm going from my typically unreliable memory, but I think it was our pal and delightful 'ette VoterMom who asked for a section on pointy and stabby things. So here's one from the Weasel collection to kick things off. It's a Wasp Pattern Commando Knife made by J. Nowill & Sons of Sheffield, England. The company has been making knives for something like 400 years, and this particular example makes a very efficient letter opener. The .223 cartridge is shown for reference.

Letter opener for those difficult mail pieces

So what do you have in your sheath? Send in a picture and description and I'll include them here!

Sad people who cannot make the new NoVaMoMe date of August 29th

Due the Chinese Cooties hysteria in Virginia, the NoVaMoMe 2020 has been postponed until Saturday, August 29th. The time and location remain the same. If you haven't already, please check your email and let the Central Planning Committee know if you are unable to make this new date. If you are unable to attend, your registration fee will be refunded and we will open your spot to someone on the wait list which is now closed to new signups. Questions? Just email us at NoVaMoMe2020 at gee mail dot com. Thank you!

Link-O-Rama

I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo.
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA

This week we have a great find from our pal Zakn!

Please note the new and improved gmail account morongunthread at gmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!

That's it for this week - have you been to the range?

posted by Open Blogger at 07:00 PM

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