Old Dog

I am not against RDS at all. I became left eye dominent a few years ago (apparently happens to 10% of men) and am right handed. I cannot use iron sights on a long gun anymore. For handguns it is easier since I just hold my gun under my left eye a little gangster style. I guess my point was that iron sights are fast enough for distances typically found in homes. Red dots may be faster but if you are skilled and trained I do not think the small difference in time to acquire the target outweighs the disadvantages of using an electronic device. That is all. Use what you want. I do.

Well I shot a few VC that ran into our hootch in Nam with a plain old pump Rem 870 shotgun with a bead sight. It was like a house with one big room. Got a medal for that one. Cleared many huts and buildings and a few spider holes with that shottie. Used the 1911 mostly for the tunnels. Most times my M16 was being shot in extreme anger and/or fear. I also shot action shotgun matches and Sporting Clays for about 8 years and much prefer it over shooting at things that shoot back with automatic weapons. Heck, even my retired LEO friends never shot their guns in anger. I think I have more experience in using a shotgun at HD distances against people who shoot back than most people I have run into. How about you? Just training or have you seen the devil? Big differene between the two. One thing I learned is that most people's mental image of how they will react to being shot at never involves soiled pants, extreme fear and an uncontrollable urge to run away and yet I saw it happen all the time. Training never duplicates the physical stress of life and death so it only takes you so far. A lot of things sound good and logical in training but the real useful stuff I learned in the field. I hope that I answered your question about my qualifications to support my opinion.

Yep, they never look like a dot to me. However I am left eye dominant and right handed so if I want to shoot a long gun well I have no choice. I used to put RDS on all long arms but now I just sold off my last rifle and just have handguns. No need for a rifle or shotgun at all. My handguns are my goto weapons for carry and self defense. Just practice real life home defense with a long gun and you will find that things like holding a gun on a burglar while calling 911 may pose a problem. Similarly, flicking light switches, turning door knobs, etc.. Gun just more handy for home defense and if you cannot hit someone the furthers distance in your house one handed you either need more practice have more money than you know what to do with to own such a large house.

If you think the BB gun law is silly listen to this. I am a ham radio operator and they sell sling shot like devices to shoot your wire antenna over tall trees. They are illegal also so I ended up giving some tree trimmers 50 bucks to run my wire antennas about 50 feet into my trees. Would have been much cheaper to buy the sling shot but they would not ship it to NJ.

S&W 617 4" barrel. Use it for competition shooting. Holds 10 rounds and two companies make speed loaders and belt speed loader holders for competition use. Perfect for this time of year when I cannot get 200 9mm rounds a weekend to shoot area competittions. Much easier and cheaper to get a few thousand rounds of .22lr plus lots of fun as recoil is not an issue and good practice for speedloading my carry revolvers.

To be honest I see beliefs that pass for facts on both sides of the coin. We seem to live in a time where belief is fact. If you want to have fun someday, just ask people you know, pro or anti gun, what the population of the United States is, how many people are killed by a gun each year, how many children are killed in swiming pools, how many die in car accidents and how many die due to medical malpractice. You may laugh at the numbers you hear. If you really want to have fun, ask someone to point Belgium on a world map. Choosing Montana usually works too. Changing someone's mind is like trying to change their religion. I have family members who insist that dinosaurs are a fraud, the earth is only a few thousand years old, carbon dating is rubbish, etc.. No amount of my facts will change their beliefs. I do not even try anymore.

None. I do not want anything that may interfer with any of my HD firearms. Over the years I have learned that despite my best intentions, there is always a time that the batteries in the red dot are dead when I need them for an event or practice. HD shotguns tend to spend a lot of time in bedrooms; years in some cases. You want something you can just grap and shoot and not something that you have to remove a scope protector cap and/or turn on under stress. Plus for HD distances you do not need much. You already have the best sight setup for HD use and do not give in to buying toys and gadgets for your guns no matter how cool they may be. Been there, got that and bought the Tee Shirt. None of the typical stuff people put on their guns does much at HD distances. I would add a good light that takes Litiium batteries with a 6 year shelf life as it is hard to use a handheld light with a shotgun. Having a light is very important as you may find yourself using your HD firearm after your power has been cut or simply out do to a natural disaster, like Sandy.

Been there and done that. Learned to let my body swivel with the recoil rather than try to stand still and let my shoulder be smacked by the shotgun. I did not find padded vests that helpful but I did change the recoil pads on all my shotguns to a recoil absorbing one and that did help a lot. After shooting it awhile I had no more problems with my shoulder but I took a friend with me one day and the next day his shoulder was a mass of black and blue. Since then I learned to handle a lot of recoil with no paid and got a 7mm rifle and some .44 mag handguns and even an 11 oz. .357 that actually was the worse of all.

Agreed. I tend to prefer the J clips as they fold under your belt so they cannot be yanked off. Do not recommend those other kind of clips that you find on cell phone cases that easily come off. In Florida it is warm to hot all the time so my normal dress is Tee Shirt and shorts. An IWB holster works fine even with my HK P2000SK. I like CompTec Minotaur holsters for my bigger guns. Nice leather cushion and changeable shells.

I agree and only use belt threaded holsters myself mainly becuase they hug the gun closer to my body than the ones with loops or clips on the side. If I have to remove my gun I simply remove the gun and keep the holster on. I like leather too but lately I have bought a few of the hybrids. Leather against my body and a thin kydex shell. Put a fat Glock 26 in a leather holsters like the summer comfort with a reinforced mouth and it adds quite a bit more thickness to the total package compared to kydex.

Probably more holstes for Glocks than any other similarly sized gun on the market so Google is your friend. Small of the back and shoulder holsters are usually not the recommended choices no matter what your job will be. They mostly tend to be bought by those who see them on TV and think they are cool so your friend may want some expert advice. I am ex military and because I carried both a pistol and rifle in combat, it did not prepare me at all for civilian carry and I wasted a lot of money on holster that I saw on TV or in the movies. SOB holsters are uncomfortable if you have to sit down like to drive and most stay away from them in LE because if you fall on your back you can be seriously injured by your gun pressing into your spine. As far as shoulder holsters go you have to always wear a jacket or large outer garment and worst of all you are muzzling anyone near you either all the time if using a horizontal type or when you draw from a vertical one. Also must make sure you have a thumb strap as your gun can and will fall out when you bend over. Plus your arm will always brush against it as you have a thick gun between your rib cage and arm. Very uncomfortable and they usuall print if you move around. On TV the actors do no wear them until the scene calls for them to show them. I urge your friend to speak to a professional or just read a good book by Massad Ayoob before spending money on a holster of these types. The fact that he even paid for a piece of garbage holster to being with tells me he is not yet knowledgeable about holsters the same as I was when I moved to Florida. I have 4 drawers full of concealed carry holsters and sold off 4 more drawers recently. My suggestion, since I have carried a Glock 26 and have bad hips, is one of the hybrid holsters for IWB (like the Galco King Tuk) which can be worn with a tucked or untucked shirt. Very comfortable and adjustable. For OWB you cannot beat a pancake type holster. Surprisingly enough, the Glock made pastic holser for the 26 that sells for about $12 works conceals very well and is comfortable but just about every holster maker has a pancake or similar design for the 26. A word about gun belts. Something very few ever consider is the gun belt. I know first hand, lord do I know, what a difference having a gun belt makes in not only comfort but concealability. Most people buy a good gun and holster and then carry it either on a Kmart dress belt or a thick dress belt. A good gun belt will preven the gun/holster combo from torquing out from your body, distribute the weight better and prevent your pants from being dragged down by the weight of the gun. I personally use the instructor type frequent Flyer web belts from Wilderness Tactical. Justs two polymer rings and a web belt. You can infinitely adjust them and have a choice of about 3-4 different levels of thickness. Tip, large guys like me find the stiffest one, with polymer insert, to be the most comfortable. However, most of the holster makers make good plain or fancy gun belts in all widths for dress, casual or duty wear. Do not skimp on the gun belt as many a holster that was uncomfortable for me ended up being comfortable with the right gun belt. Take or leave my advice but after 3 years of learning the hard way, this is my advice. The two carry methods you mention are not near the top of the list for those of use who carry guns daily whether as a civilian or a professional. That you can find out for yourself on the internet or just looking at the holsters sold by companies. They may have one SOB and one Shoulder holster model but the rest of them are traditional belt holsters because that is what works the best and is most comfortable. Ever try to draw you gun from a SOB holster after a bad guy broke your gun arm. Cannot be done but I learned in class that I can draw my gun from a traditional belt holster worn at 3-4 o'clock with my opposite hand. Little things like this and trying to draw a gun from a SOB holster while driving (better pray that the bad guy gives you time) in training taught me which holsters are best. As far as easy on and off you can select a paddle holster (not my first choice as they can be twisted off you), one that has a metal clip or one that uses snap leather loops. I take my gun and holster off a lot since I have to enter federal building for my job and find the one swith a metal clip to be the best but for OWB a quality paddle or my favorite, snap on leather loops offset to the side of the holster, are the most comfortable for me. Since the Glock 26 is so common you can buy ready made quality holsters from Galco or Desantis. Just go to their websites and enter your gun model and see what holsters they offer for it. Then DO NOT buy them directly from them. Instead go to Opticsplanet.com and search for the holster you want and save a bunch of money and have it shipped in a day or two. Maybe longer now as every one is overwhelmed with orders.

I am hearing, "this is the most profitable year in our history", quite often. I have a hard time with some gun dealers who decry gun control and yet spread the fear so that they can sell guns they have had in inventory for months at 2-3x the original price. If I hear get them while you can once more ........

I bought my first gun at Shore Shot and my first rifle at Brick when I lived in NJ. I have since moved to Florida, the Gunshine State, and now have about 10 places to buy guns within a half hour drive. However I have learned through many instances of being overcharges considerable amounts, that supporting your local gun store seems to be a one way street. The mom and pop gun stores here are hopelessly living in the past and want nothing to do with the internet. Few will do FFL transfers and those that do so charge ridicuolously high rates and make it known that if you would have called them and ordered through them you would have saved money. I did that once and they tried to charge me more than if I bought the gun from them using Gun Genie. They gave me some song and dance and a bad attittude and since then I buy a lot on the internet unless I am buying a used gun or something I cannot get on the internet. Perhaps it is best that these dinosaurs who refuse to take advantage of technology and steer their business into a position where they can be competitive with others, head into extinction. When I learn that I paid $100 more for a gun than I could have bought it for on the internet (even after adding shipping and FFL costs) it bothers me. I have caught a few of them in lies because they forget that I bought the gun from them and tell me what they can get a new one from their distributor for as a basis for giving me a low value for a trade. When someone sells you a $800 gun and tells you that they are only making $25 and two months alter tells you that their cost for a new one is $600, you know you are stupid for supporting these local stores. As I said, it is a one way street.

I lived in NJ during the old AWB ban and got along just fine with 10 round mags. I mostly use 5 or 6 shot revolvers and have no delusions of extended shoot outs with anyone. My 5 shot saved my butt twice, once against 3 attackers. Studies show that over 90 percent of the time the encounters end without a shot being fired so do not worry. Your home defense plan should be to go to a safe room, not walk around taking shots at anything that moves. You will be fine. If you are concerned about a SHTF situation take a tip from rebels or resistance fighters. Get good with your handgun so that you can use a gun to get a gun. Simple as that. Let the other guy buy the expensive fancy stuff and then take it from him because odds that they have not received any professional training in using their weapon and will be fumbling to remember how to turn on all that stuff and remove the lens cap and turn on the red dot, etc.. In the mean time your gun is ready to go immediately and you can politely ask them to lend you their rifle. Most mail clerks do not turn into Rambo simply because they own a gun just like the real soldiers do. I have been there and seen that and smelled the soiled pants. Use a gun to get a gun. Words to live by.

These days you need to buy the ammo before the gun. I bought a .22 mag and could not find ammo for it anywhere nearby and the best I could do was buy it online with a 4-6 week delay and I had to buy the expensive stuff. Try Luckygunner.com online. They actually will ship next day if in stock. Also Midway ships fast. However unless you are buying a good number of rounds the shipping cost tend to negate any lower prices you may get online. If I just need a box or two, despite the high prices at my range, which sells decent commercial ammo at about $5 above online prices, it is a wash price wise and I get to shoot immediately rather than wait for the ammo to be delivered.

The guy should have stayed in the car and his gun was poorly concealed. However in Florida you are not required to show the police your ccw license or tell them you are armed unless asked. It is usually better not to tell them unless they ask you to leave the vehicle. It goes a lot smoother if you do not mention a gun and you are perfectly in your rights to not mention it. Once you say gun you will be handcuffed and treated like a criminal for all passerbys to see. It is also not illegal to briefly and inadvertantly display your concealed weapon although no one has defined "briefly". The LEO was wrong about brandishing also as brandishing only applies when your gun in displayed in a reckless or threatening manner. Some LEO's are more frightened than others, especially the younger ones here but then again who can blame them. There were mistakes made on both sides with this one and that driver really needs to conceal his gun better. I buy my shirts one size large and get the tall size so that they hang much lower than a regular shirt. No way is my gun even going to be accidently exposed but then again some guys just need to carry full sized guns in undersized shirts. I also lost 40 lbs due the problem displayed by the driver when he bent over slightly. Big stomachs pull up your shirt real easy.

Those darn high capacity knives need to be banned. Actually what happened in England is that when they banned most guns, the number of knife attacks increased prompting England to try to, or maybe they already did, pass legislation to require that the tips of all knives be rounded so that they would be ineffective for stabbing. I think next they will require that rocks be under a half a pound and be rounded so sa to not cause much damage if used as a weapon. All knuckles will need to be moiturized to soften them to reduce injury in a fist fight. Jeeezh, what a world we live in and I feel sorry for the young people because it has been my experience that things like this do not get better, only worse.

Heck, in Florida, despite the national publicity of the Zimmerman case, a panel was formed and presented its conclusions which were some minor changes to clarify sections of the stand your gun law and that was it. Our State held it ground and upheld our gun rights. I keep forgetting what it is like living up North. At first I thought this post was in the humor section but apparently not. Whoever introduced it obviously did not think that revolvers do not leave empty cases behind. I really feel for the New Yorkers having lived a good part of my life there. I thought it was bad before but now it is even worse. We all know what will happen next. Either reducing the capacity of magazines will not work or work. In either case they will say either that they have to reduce magazines to 4 as 7 is still too many or say that reducing has worked so lets reduce it further as who does not want to do something that saves the life of even one child. It is disgusting how politicians are using children to make it sound like anyone who does not agree with their anti gun sentiments is against saving the lives of children while they send their kids to private schools and live in very safe neighborhoods. Do I really want to lower the chances of saving my kids to save someone else's. Hmmm. Interesting delemma.

What guns does it refer to? I must have missed the section that listed them. It can be argued that it refers to muskets because that was all they envisioned back then. So many people think that nothing can happen to our guns simply because of some words whose meaning is decided by the Supreme Court whose Justices are appointed by the President. If it was so clear as to its intent so much time and money would not have been spent on debating what it means over the years. Can you carry a gun on you like I do in NJ? Does the 2nd amendment mention concealed carry too? It does not say that we can have unrestricted access to guns or RPGs or a lot of other weapons that are banned for civilian use. It does not mention any background checks or magazine limits and yet we have all of that and no one has been successful it having those controls and restrictions declared unconsitutional. If we pay attention we can see the strategy being used. Gradual reduction in the number of rounds we can carry as mass shootings will continue and people will want to reduce the round count further. After all, who doesn't want to limit a magazine to 6 rounds to save the life of one more child if a 7 round mag was used? Ban some guns now, a few more later and pretty soon we will end up with bolt action rifles and revolvers, which in my case, happens to be what I prefer.

May I suggest that everyone just read the new law fully so that you know what you are opposing. You can have 10 round magazines but can only load 7 bullets in them. They recognized that no one made 7 round mags for anything but pocket guns. It is a misdemenor to be caught with more than 7 rounds in a 10 round magazine. However any magazine over 10 rounds have to be sold before the end of the year. If anyone has some HK P2000 9mm 13 round magazines they want to sell real cheap, let me know. Know thy enemy before you attack. They are not trying to ban guns by limiting round count to 10 as pretty much all the popular guns have 10 round mags which are required in other States. Whey they picked 7 rounds is a mystery but probably a long range plan to gradually reduce the number of rounds every time there is a mass shooting using the same excuse that fewer rounds would save lives. We will end up with the Barny Fife law, one round carried in a pocket and only loaded when you intend to shoot. I move around a lot, especially to States with restrictive gun laws due to my business so I tend to buy handguns that take 10 or less rounds but can use the larger capacity mags of their bigger brothers like my HK P2000SK which is sitting right next to me with a loaded 13 round mag and X-Grip. Moving to CA is the worse as the gun has to be on their approved list too.

OK, ammo is not protected by the 2nd ammendment. Show me where it mentions magazines and ammo. You are already restricted to what firearms you can buy, the type of ammo you can carry and how many rounds you can have in your magazine so if they are protected by the 2nd amendment how come the restrictions already in place are not declared unconstitutional? Banning the commercial sale of ammo and magazines does not infringe on the 2nd amendment. You can always buy a muzzle loader and make your own lead balls and be armed.

Problem with living so long is that you learn that things always change whether you worry about them or not.

I remember thinking the same right before the original AWB ban. Christie in only interested in doing what will get him to the White House and if he thinks being anti gun will do it that is the way he will go. I never thought I would be patted down to board a flight and be left standing there holding up my pants with no shoes on. Even our Governor here in Florida who rode on the tide of a pro gun stance is talking about saving the children. Retired people have lots of grandchildren and will vote for whatever may save their lives. After all, wouldn't you donate half your salary just to save one child's life? I say that because it seems that people are in favor of doing anything to save just one life unless it will cost them money or personally inconvenience them. Like it or not, there is a price placed on life. If not we would have a cop on every corner but that costs too much.

That would make the Springfield XDs 5 shot .45 very popular. In effect what the strategy seems to be is to eliminate guns by limiting the capacity. Magazines are not protected by the 2nd amendment so it will not raise any consitutional issues. If I lived up north I might invest in those new 8 round revolvers like the S&W 686. I used to own a 7 shot one and recently bought 10 and 8 round .22 revolvers. I have a 5 shot .357 but the other two are 6 rounders. Even my pocket guns have 6 round mags. Maybe I should not have sold my .45/410 derringer. Still have my .22 mag one though. At least I will have something until they go after the two shot guns. I am laughing but it really is not funny.

Any concern in NJ about it following NY's lead on gun control? Limiting mags to 7 rounds effectively eliminates a lot of firearms either because the manufacturer will not produce NY 7 round mags for it or people will not want to buy full sized heavy guns that only carry 7 rounds. May increase the sale of 1911 guns though. We all know that with all the high capacity magazines already in the marketplace, that those who want them for criminal purposes will get them. Does Cuomo really think that someone intent on killing will not drive out of State to buy some high capacity magazines or carry multiple weapons? I do longer ask if people are that stupid. I know the answer and that makes me sad.