New holster

My day-to-day carry guns are twofold. When I’m at work, and have to not be obviously armed, I carry a Smith 642 snubbie in an ankle holster under my khakis. Better than  nothing.

When I can wear whatever i want, I usually carry a Glock 17. If I’m running errands, shopping, at the post office, visiting friends, etc, etc, I am going to be, most likely, toting the G17. My holster of choice is a DeSantis that I picked up brand new many years back and have given a tremendous amount of ‘character’ (read:wear and tear). Its a holster that says “I’ve seen things, man.” Its pretty scuffed and battered. But it works fine.

The problem is, about fifty percent of the time it is dark. And while my G17 has a nice set of night sights on it, when lighting is a bit dim its nice to have a weapon-mounted light. However, carrying a pistol with a weapon mounted light is always a bit annoying because you have to get a holster specifically made to accommodate such a protuberance. But, as the world increasingly gets weird, I am taking my personal safety more seriously than before. So…time to get a holster that will accommodate a light.

I like leather, and my two main go-to guys for gunleather are Galco and DeSantis. Finding a holster/light combo compatible holster is dizzying. You have, generally, two sizes of Glock frame – the 9/40 and 10/45. (Discounting the smaller Glocks.) For weapon-mounted lights you’ve got at least…at least…a dozen variations. So, in theory, thats at least 24 possible combinations that may require a unique holster to fit them. But, where there is a will, there is a way.And, like all new leather holsters, it needs a little elbow grease here and there to loosen it up a little. But it seems like a decent enough product.

More importantly, it adds a bit of advantage in my favor, I believe, by giving me the option of having a way to illuminate a target. And, of course, i can also simply not use the light if I don’t feel the need…but at least its there to give me an option I might not otherwise have.

I know that there is a contingent of people who feel that weapon lights are ridiculous because all they do is telegraph your location to the lurking bad guy. I can see the argument, but I can also see arguments in the other direction. As I said, at least this way I have the option as I deem the situation warrants.

The holster, by the way, is a DeSantis “The Tac-Lite” Belt Holster For Glock 9/40 With Streamlight Right Hand Leather Tan 117TAW8Z0 [FC-792695319375]

One more thing to cross off my list….

Sighting in

While upgrading the sights on a firearms is always a worthy endeavour, the real pain in the tuchus comes from having to re-sight the bloody thing in. But it’s gotta be done.

As I mentioned, I had installed night sights on my favorite GP-100. It’s a very nice pistol..I got it from Caleb Giddings a number of years back and its got a nice smooth action to it. It really is my favorite .357 at the moment. And..wow, is it accurate. My preferred ammo is 8.0 gr. of Unique under a 158 gr. JHP. Not an earthshaking load, but not a powderpuff either. Cases eject cleanly from the cylinder, recoil is manageable, and, in my two GP-100s, it’s really really accurate. I shoot really well with this gun.

Anway, with the new night sights there was a need to re-sight the gun in and….it was great. Took about three cylinders to get things where I wanted and confirm where they were hitting and it was some tight groups. I’m pleased. I wouldn’t want to run the apocalypse with a revolver if I had a choice, but if I had to carry one through Ragnarok…. this little package would be hard to beat.

Sighting in the new 8-shot Redhawk, however, was a different story. I just could not get it to group nearly as well as the GP-100. I think part of the problem is the grips on the gun. Smooth hardwood that doesn’t really fill the hand well. I normally like Pachmayr Grippers on my revolvers, but the GP-100 has a Hogue Monogrip on it an I shoot that gun quite well. The smooth grips on the Redhawk make it hard to keep the same grip, recoil whips the gun around in my grip, etc, etc. Why do gun companies go through the expense of making these types of grips that are just going to call for replacements anyway? Frustrating.

But..I got to spend time at the range, had a very satisfying time with my GP-100, and crosses some stuff off my To-Do list. Calling it a win.

Night sights

As pretty much everyone has noticed, it’s dark at least 50% of the time.

One of the nice things about the Ruger GP-100 series of pistols is an easiliy swappable front sight. In fact Ruger sells different colored inserts inserts of color so you can find pretty much whatever you want. Unfortuantely, a self-luminating (self-luminous?) front sight was not one of them. Not to fear, the free market abhors a vacuum. I went with the Meprolights since, to be honest, there’s not a huge amount of choices when it comes to revolver night sights, unlike, say, Glocks where everyone makes them.

The rear sight was an easy install, the front sight took a little time with a stone to remove a bit of excess material from the sight.

The finished product, of course, needs to go the range and be sighted in with my usual load of  Unique under a 158 gr. JHP.

I have met people who have said that night sights are pointless…if you can’t see your sights, then its dark enough you can see your target. I want to call this a rather stupid argument but I’m a bit more diplomatic than that so I’ll just call it ‘shortsighted’.

These arguments discount the possibility of scenarios where, for example, you may be standing in a darkened area but your target is in a lit area. Or the light is dim/fading and theres enough light to see a target but not quite enough light to rapidly acquire your sights.

But here’s the most important reason for me: because I believe they have a utility to me.

Crom forfend, but if I am ever in a situation where gunplay means the difference in terms of my immediate and long-term safety, I’m going to want every advantage possible. Night sights are an advantage.

I put night sights on all my Glocks, and whenever possible I add a tactical light as well.  I am surprised that night sights on revolvers are such a seemingly rare commodity these days. I understand that it’s kind of a pain in the butt to make a Model 60 with an interchangeable front sight blade and a dovetail for what would normally be a fixed frame, but, cmon, a gun designed for self-defense should recognize that often those moments take place in less-than-ideal lighting conditions. Ruger, at least, recognizes this and offers a version of their excellent SP101 snubby with front and rear dovetail sights.

I’m pretty sure someone in comments is going to say something about how night sights give your position away to anyone with NOD/NVD’s and therefore you’re not being tactical by having them on your gun, etc, etc. For that, I refer you to the paragraph three above this one.

 

Article – A California man was found with 1 million rounds of ammo and 248 illegally owned guns in his house, state authorities say

No one I know.

A man in Richmond, California, was arrested last month with a cache of 248 illegally owned guns and 1 million rounds of ammo in his home, the state attorney general said on Thursday.

The man, who was not named, is “alleged to be legally barred from owning weapons,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

Bureau of Firearms agents searching the man’s home on January 31 found 11 military-style machine guns, 133 handguns, 37 rifles, 60 assault rifles, 7 shotguns, and 3,000 large-capacity magazines, Bonta said.

I know absolutely nothing about this event but I’m going to hazard a guess that this guy may have some amigos in Mexico, if you know what I’m suggesting.

My normal response to an article about someone getting caught with x number of guns and y rounds of ammo is to make a smart-ass comment about how “Those are rookie numbers”. Not this time, thats actually a fairly impressive pile.

MP5 magazine issue resolution

I had mentioned a while back ( here and here ) that I was having some trouble with MKE metal MP5 mags in my MP5k clone. I diagnosed it as some sort of issue with the magazine catch. Plastic mags worked fine, but the metal mags just would not seat and lock in the gun. I tried the mags in my other MP5 copies and they worked fine. No doubt, the problem was this particular gun.

I contacted Bill Springfield, whom I have used for at least eight or nine guns by now, and he said he could fix the issue. So, I sent the gun off to him and received it back about a week and a half later. All my mags seat and lock just fine. I asked him what the problem was. Apparently the catch that engages in the magazine notch of the mag was just slightly (he said .5 mm) off spec. I can’t imagine that half a millimeter makes a difference on anything, but, whatever, all I care about is that the gun does what it’s supposed to.

This is the second time I’ve had to send an MP5 clone to him. Both were PTR’s that exhibited magazine lock/release issues. On one gun, the magazine release lever wouldn’t budge. And on the other gun the mags wouldn’t lock. In both cases, Mr Springfield fixed the issue and got the gun back to me quickly.

While I am a bit disappointed with PTR’s QC, I can unreservedly recommend Mr Springfield for the work that I had performed. I can’t say anything about the other services he performs on other guns. But…for putting paddle mag releases on G3 clones, and for diagnosing and solving magazine seat/lock issue, I recommend him.

Now, you may ask why I didn’t send the guns to PTR for warranty work. Easy reason – my experience with returning guns is that a) they often take forever to get returned and b) too often the problem is never fixed to my satisfaction. To me, it was worth the $60 I paid to get my gun back to me in a hurry and to know the job was done right. YMMV.

Now, don’t think I’m dumping on PTR. The MP5 is a relatively new offering from them so maybe theyre still cutting their teeth. I own eight of their HK91 copies and havent had a problem with any of them…but then again they have had a longer history making those than they have making MP5’s. I have high hopes for the .5.56 gun they are working on but I have no intention of being an early adopter. Let someone else find the land mines.

Anyway, for the work I’ve had done by Mr Springfield, I am quite pleased and wouldnt hesitate to use his services again.

Best millimeter stuff

Took the 10mm ( aka Best Millimeter) out for a spin this weekend. I was curious to see how it shot with the .40 barrel in it vs. the 10mm barrel. The difference in point of impact was negligible which makes me think that there is some merit to the notion that most factory 10mm isn’t  different, in terms of exterior ballistics, from factory .40 S&W ammo. So..I’ll order up a shiny new set of Redding reloading dies and start loading my own 10mm.

As for the gun itself, I had swapped out the factory sights for a set of quality night sights. In addition to that, I think I might actually go down the rabbit hole of finding a better trigger. Although this gun is specifically for shooting things at a range that is close enough to let you find your target using the Braille system, I’d still like to be able to have a trigger that doesn’t work against me.

And, I hate to sound like a wuss, but that stippling on the Gen4 frames isn’t terribly comfortable under recoil. But, as I said earlier, this is a gun for emergency use so I think that when I do have to shoot it I will have bigger (and furrier) things to worry about than a little abrasion.

Regardless, its always nice to get to spend some time at the range. I’ve a pile of guns here that need to go out and have me do some work on them…maybe with there being a tad more daylight after I get off work these days I can finally get on top of that. It’d be rather embarrassing to go through the apocalypse with a gun that I cant hit anything with because I was too busy to go to the range and sight the bloody thing in.

Return of the Ruger Mini-14 GB

Further proof that Bill Ruger is, in fact, still dead:

I suppose this was to be expected. Samson got into bed with Ruger to make these stocks, and for Ruger it’s a no-brainer to let Samson handle that end of the supply chain. Its my understanding the current crop of Mini-14’s are much more accurate than the minute-of-bad-guy accuracy that the originals offered. In a world of mid-tier $700 AR’s that deliver better ergos, modularity, and logistics, why would you spend (dealer price) $1230 for something thats gonna take special mags and be a pain to mount optics?

But…I’ll get one just because. I’m actually starting to amass an interesting array of non-AR .223 guns…. Mini-14, JAKL, BRN-180…..as soon as PTR gets that new roller-delayed .223 out, I’ll definitely be on the line for that one.

It’s nice to see that with Billy Ruger gone Ruger has finally been what it could have been all along…a responsive, market-driven, innovative gun business. With Billy R. outta the way we got Ruger AR’s, 1911’s, PCC’s, PDW wanna-be’s, takedown guns, and 30-rd mags. I used to have a negative opinion of Ruger, but since they changed directions I have been quite impressed with them. And, just from a survivalists standpoint, they make the guns I’d want to carry in the zombie apocalypse…rugged, durable, and nigh-unbreakable.

Glock 40 replacement barrel in .40

Its only been in the last few years I’ve been able to buy the guns I’ve always wanted. The catalyst was after finally sucking it up and getting my degree, I started making okay money. I have an advantage in that I don’t have any debt..no mortgage, no car payments, no nothin’. As a result, whatever I do make, I wind up keeping a large chunk of. This means that what might be considered ‘just enough to get by’ for some folks is ‘plenty’ for me….although more is always better.

One of the things I’d been wanting for a while was a Glock 10mm as a belt gun for when I was out in the boonies. And, I got one. I threw some quality night sights on it, bought a half dozen mags, a lovely flap holster, and thats pretty much all I really need to do. Except…10mm ain’t cheap. Nor plentiful. But what is cheap(er) and plentiful is .40 S&W. Turns out the folks at Lone Wolf Distributors make a .40 S&W barrel for the Glock 40. I suppose I might have to change the recoil spring out but given how factory 10mm is watered down to almost .40 levels, I’ll bet all I need is the barrel change.

This’ll be a somewhat more affordable way to practice since I have gobs of .40 S&W ammo laying around from the local PD. And, I suppose, from a preparedness standpoint it’s a good idea to have a couple Glocks laying around in .40 since there still seems to be a ton of badges out there still using the .40 S&W.

Personally, I plan on picking up some 200 gr. bullets and loading them up more to what the 10mm was designed for. If modern 10mm loads are loaded down to hot .40 S&W levels, why wouldn’t I just get a .40 S&W instead? Nope…this’ll be a bit of a project for the reloading bench. If I have to ruin a bruin then I want as much metal going downrange as possible.

It’s nice that I finally have the career path that lets me afford stuff like this. I just wish I had more time available to take advantage of the new toys. But, I guess thats the trade off…time vs money.

Sig Romeo4T Pro followup

Last year I purchased a Sig Romeo4T Pro as my entry into the world of dot sights. I was pretty taken with it at the time and I thought I’d revisit it since some time has now gone by.

Still think it’s great. I havent turned it off since I got it. It sits on top of my MP5A2 clone and its still functioning on the original battery. The ‘shake awake’ feature has performed as advertised – when I put the gun in the rack, the sight turns itself off after a couple minutes. When I pick it up the scope exits its sleep mode and is on. What this means is, I don’t ever need to turn the thing on or off. Just leave it on and when I put it down it’ll go to sleep and save battery life, and when I pick it up it immediately comes back on ready to use…no switches to fumble with. The 9mm in a carbine like this isn’t exactly a long-range cartridge so the lack of magnification isn’t, in my opinion, an issue for this particular type of gun and it’s particular anticipated use.However…I can ring the plates at 100 yards with it, so there’s that.

I’ve shot it a bunch and am still very pleased with it. So much so, in fact, that I’m gonna be picking up another one or two for some other longarms.

However, I decided to bump up a notch and get a Romeo8T. I’m gonna mount that on my JAKL and see how I like it.

So far, I’ve been pretty pleased with the SIG dots. And by the way, Palmetto has announced they are working on a .308 JAKL and I am very excited at the prospect.

The Romeo4T, by the way, is apparently what Obi Wan Nairobi used at his shopping mall bullet party. Who knew?