Old Dog

I only drink on occasion but my bottle that lasts me almost a year is filled with Jack Daniels. My favorite for celebrating is Glenlivet. It is whisky as I learned the first time I ordered a glass of Scotch in Scotland.

Just keep repeating, "Glock Reliability" and Sig's "to hell and back" often enough until you believe it. I have had two guns from each manufacture jam so bad that I was given full refunds for each.

That is good news as I have a HK with a paddle mag release and once I out a bigger one on it, love it. I just use my middle finger or my gun hand to release my mag without having to twist my hand around like I have to do with other guns. I do not have big hands.

For me, cleaning my guns is second only to shooting them on the enjoyment scale. Like a woman's cosmetic case, I have my cleaning box filled with various lubricants, cleaners and lead/carbon removers. Each gun gets a specific lubricant and/or oil. I have a set of dental picks both in plastic and metal to clean those hard to reach areas. I have bore snakes and cleaning rods/brushes for all my calibers. There is an assortment of Qtip in various lengths and different brass and nylon brushes to choose from. I always keep a small bottle of oil used for precision medical devices that develop a high RPM. It has a very long metal tip that can reach places where others cannot. I can easily take 2 hours to clean 3 guns as I stretch it out enjoying the feel of the oily metal in my hands. Just thinking about it gets me going. First I make sure it is cleared and then I disassemble it. I spray everything down with a non toxic cleaner. I discovered that BreakFree causes blisters to form on my fingers when left there too long. I let it set for a while and then I use a paper towel to wipe away the old lubricant and carbon from my range session. I then switch to cotton patches custom cut to my needs to get the rest of the gunk out. I will also use lead remover cloths, Scotch Brite pads and very find sandpaper to remover any carbon stains like the black cylinder rings on revolvers or the ones around the firing pin hole in a semi auto. I usually sell off most of the guns I buy in a few months so I like to keep them in as new condition. When all reachable parts are bone dry and clean I start my lube process. First I shine the feeding ramp of my semi autos with Flitz until they feel so slick that they appear to be wet. I find that a slippery feed ramp solves a lot of problems. If there are nicks in it from bullets hitting it I will use the fine sandpaper first to smooth it out. I then use a combination of grease and oil to lube gun. I have two different densities of grease depending on the size of the gun. Small guns get the thinner grease. Grease goes into the rails and on every spot that shows marks from metal against metal. Oil goes in other areas that move or have slight friction. I tend to pretty much put oil on all interior surfaces as past experience has shown me that it makes my guns run more reliably. I clean them often so I am not concerned about them picking up dirt and mixing with the oil to form a sludge as some say. I switched to grease since moving to hot Florida as I found that the oil would evaporate too quickly on guns I did not carry a lot. The grease stays put. Once every thing is lubed I then inspect the slide and frame and buff out any scratches using the Scotch Brite pad of fine sandpaper followed by some polishing with Flitz. I even have a Bluing pen for small scratches and just use a black sharpie for the black finishes like Tennifer and Melonite. As I said, I try to keep my guns as new. I have a little problem with imperfect mechanical things and I just cannot tolerate them. I put it all back together and rack the slide a few times to work that grease around. Then I go to work on the mags. I rarely take them apart but I do at least twice a year. I use a can of compressed air to blow out anything that may have gotten into them but that rarely has been the case. Then I blast them with Mag Slick for a finishing touch. I also make sure that the follower is clean as a whistle too. Then I do the same to guns two and three. MaKes for a fine afternoon when the wife is out playing bingo. I usually turn on the outdoor channel to watch a gun show while cleaning my guns. I am not even going to list all the brand names of stuff I use because I have a lot. My current favorite is M-Pro-7 as it is non toxic. I do this even if I shoot one round through the gun. If you think this is too much you have to see what I used to do with my AR-15. A lot of this comes from the fact that when I was in Nam, the M-16's we were issued were not very reliable unless they were absolutely clean so I developed a fetish about cleaning all guns to make them as new. I can think of worse things to do.

Congrats. I had bought the M&P9 Pro but hated the trigger so I sold it after two weeks. I think it has to do with their safety system as I could feel it drag over that raised circle that releases the firing pin, I think. Not the kind of trigger I was looking for in a target/range/competition gun. I thought that it actually was worse than the regular M&P9 I used to own. I believe Ajax? sells a drop in trigger replacement that you can look into should the trigger not be to your liking.

I am in Central NJ. It is considered subtropical. Miami is in the tropics so it is hotter there. Do you have a non-resident ccw license or resident? If non resident I suggest you switch over to resident one. There is a difference in reciprocity with other States as they will only recognize resident ccw licenses from Florida. I think if you go to switch your address from an out of State one to a Florida one they will issue you a resident license. No sure if you have to pay all over for that or not. I do not know for certain the laws on non resident ccw permits as I never had one but the three local gun stores I buy from will not sell to anyone with a non resident ccw permit unless they have a Florida ID. YMMV. It might just be store policy due to the many snow birds we get down here buying guns to take back up to NYC or NJ because they do not know the laws in their own home States.

I had bought and sold the LCP. The LCP is the most popular gun choice for many of the retired men and woman around here. It is also the worst to shoot if you listen to them. There is no such thing as a free lunch and the trade off for small and lightweight is more than most can handle. Then there is the issue of a world of difference between a .38 +P and the best .380. I actually had two LCP's; both jammed too often to be considered reliable enough to carry. I also sold the LCR .38 but it was so that I could buy the .357 mag and .22 mag LCRs. The extra weight in the .357 mag makes a significant difference in recoil and ability to get back on target with .38 +P ammo. Also not too bad with mild .357 magnum loads which apparently guys half my age find too harsh. I would think that playing a lot of video games would strengthen your hands and wrists. My old .38 was lighter to carry and that only mattered for pocket carry. I usually carry a small Sig P938 or XDs in my pocket these days and the LCR goes on my belt. I do not know one person who has an LCP that likes to shoot it or can shoot it at self defense speed and make good COM hits. I am sure that some can but nobody that I know. All I hear is how small they are and how well they fit in a pocket. I personally have two family members who pocket carry them daily and only shoot them once every few years.

I did what you did 3 years ago and am so happy that I cannot stop gloating about it. I got my ccw license about 2 months after I got here because you need to prove residency by providing utility bills for a month or two or a deed to get your driver's license. A driver's license is the easiest way to get your ccw. If you are a veteran you do not have to take the mandatory class. If not you do but you can find them all over the place. We love it here. I did not even have to wear a jacket all winter. The most I did was put a long sleeve shirt over a tee shirt. It is nice to wake up to sunshine most days and always feel that warm sun on you. People are friendly around here and always wave and smile at you. Range and gun club fees are inexpensive where I am in Central Florida. Cannot speak for SW Florida though as I have never been there. I sold off most of my guns before I moved because I did not have room in the van for them (we ended up leaving a lot behind much to the dismay of the new owners who chased us down the street to try to get us to take away another van load of stuff) and my handguns were all duty sized and not suitable for ccw. If you have never carried before just keep in mind that while a gun may feel OK in a gun store tucked in your belt for a few minutes, carrying it all day is a lot different. I no longer have the guns I bought when I got here. Summers in Florida, especially where you are going, are hot and humid and you will want the thinnest and lightest gun you can get. I settled on the Sig P928 and XDs which I can pocket or belt carry. They work great with any type of clothes I wear but I mostly wear flip flops, Tee shirt and shorts most of the year. This is where I now live and it cost me half of what my NJ house costs and I have more land here.

I always have the urge to say "NO" when someone asks if something is legal in NJ. Just a knee jerk reaction. I wrote an article in my blog about you poor souls in NJ and the new proposed gun control measures. It is surprising how many people in other States do not know what you guys have to put up with. When you are raised in a place where you can simply walk into a gun store, buy anything legal according to Federal laws and walk out with it after a 5 minute NICS check, you assume everyone can do the same. Even down here, a lot of the people are aghast at the NJ gun laws. They all seem to know about NYC but not so much about NJ.

This is killer. Has a few birds, frogs and Geckos under her belt. A natural born hunter who spends her nights laying in wait in the shadows ready to pounce on her prey.

What I am seeing is more ammo but at ridiculously high prices like $130 for a 100 round value pack of 9mm WWB ammo that I used to buy for under $30. I think what we will see is a return of ammo but a lot of places trying to keep the prices high to make as much as possible. Remember it is all about supply and demand and if demand outpaces supply we can expect prices to remain high. When the stores cannot sell their inventory they will have to lower prices.

For more details please see my Beretta Pico Review

If the State does not honor your out of State ccw permit than you are subject to that State's laws and those of the Federal Government applicable to firearms carried interstate. Just make sure that your locked up gun is not loaded and separate it from the ammo. I carry gun and ammo in separate locked boxes going as far as keeping my ammo and the gun in the rear. In the distant past some LEO would consider a loaded magazine as a loaded weapon. Heck, I even sometimes disassemble my gun just in case.

They were VERY popular back in my day. Most do not know that John Moses Browning invented the cartridge to replace the unreliable .22lr. Back in prehistoric days we only had a choice of a .22 if we wanted a very small pocket gun until the .25 center fire guns came along. These days few make guns for this caliber due to modern manufacturing that produces 6.5 oz. .32 acp and 9 oz. .380's. The caliber has a bad reputation for not being a good penetrator with many stories and a few tests showing that it did not penetrate a few layers of denim. However there is some good modern ammo for it which makes it more effective but why use it when you have better options. I restored a Raven .25 this year for a family member. The gun was made of cheap pot metal that bent with the slightest of pressure. Lousy safety and just generally poorly made. What do you expect of a $25 gun though. The Raven and similar pocket .25's were often sold at gas stations, drug stores, grocery stores, etc. because there were no laws back then to say you needed an FFL. They were cheap guns that the general public and criminals bought up. There are many stories about criminals buying the gun and 6 bullets because the gun was so cheap that after they used it they would throw it off a bridge to dispose of it. Beretta used to have a .25 cal. but no more. They are a relic of the past due to the advent of the new .32/.380s on the market.

Congrats and now I am really glad I moved away from NJ. Just kidding. Good gun. I used to own one and it was 100% reliable. Just did not fit my small hands.

Did they ban the death penalty because they banned all forms of deadly weapon and forgot to leave a loophole for the executioner?

I agree. For me ballistics is an intellectual exercise much like which shotgun kills better, a 12 or 20 gauge. Shot placement and penetration are all that count. Energy and small fractions of an inch in size rarely matter. Since 2003 modern bullet design has negated most of the differences among the popular defensive rounds starting at 9mm. Just take a look at this chart and see how a 9mm does when stacked against a 40 and 45. I know that I can put more rounds more accurately into a target in a given time period with a 9mm than a larger caliber. Notice how non of these bullets shown are +P and that they all pass the FBI penetration test in gel. If you have ever watched a surgery you will know that your insides can be stretched and moved more than you can imagine without suffering any injury. We are basically talking about the difference between being hit by a 20 lb. sledgehammer versus a 25 lb. one. Sure the numbers favor the great weight but in real life they both will do the job.

The NAA mini revolvers is far from a fun range pistol. Aside from it being hard to control and more suitable for hitting very close big targets, you have to disassemble it to reload and that translates into more than half your range time being spent disassembling and reassembling your gun. I thought my last student was bad with his $300 limit. Same problem and he ended up buying a small cheap gun and of course it was neither fun or suitable for range shooting so he bought a Ruger SR9 for $300. So he ended up spending a total of $550 because he had a low budget that did not meet his needs. For that money he could have got a nice Glock or M&P.

9mm and occasionally some .45 acp when it is in season.

What? You cannot lend someone a handgun for more than 8 hours? I am not familiar with that law but I often lend guns to family and friends for them to shoot for a few weeks and then return them to me. In fact when I lived in Texas, this method saved me a lot of money. Instead of each member of our inner circle buying the same gun, we would each buy one of the guns on our joint list and then rotate them around the group for the cost of one gun we got to play with all of them. We often ended up swapping guns with each other.

I agree about the paddle mag release. I have that on my HK and prefer it to the traditional kind.

My condolences. I work for a NJ company but live in Florida. I just talked to my boss two days ago and worked out a deal to stay here four more years until I retire. I will be making less money but I do not care as long as I do not have to move back to NJ. I dislike NJ so much that I have not even visited to see my parents, friends and other family members in 3 years. My wife and I gave NJ the finger when we left and swore never to return. If anyone wants to see us they can move down here. Turn to male prostitution if you have to but stay out of NJ for the love of god. They say New Yorkers are so depressed because they know that the light at the end of the tunnel is NJ.

I am even starting to see Prepper stuff being sold on various gun forums. During the Great Gun Panic of '13, as I will always remember it, I happen to be in a Barnes & Noble bookstore looked for Gun Digest 2013 when a man in his 70's walked in and asked if they had any books on Preppers. The nerdy clerk did not understand what he was looking for so I explained. I could not help myself so I asked the old timer why he was interested in it and basically the gist of it had to do with all the talk about gun control and how if it passed it would start a civil war and so forth. There was also some concern about Medicare and Social Security being stopped. It is amazing how spooked people can get from proposed legislation. I have always enjoyed reading about history and always surprised when people panic over the same things that people panicked over before. I cannot remember how many times the world was supposed to end and that the government was going to go door to door to take our guns by force. This is nothing new to me but apparently new to many.

Here is Florida where I live it is down. I now can go and shoot even on weekends and most of the lanes are free. For a few months during the peak of the panic the range was full all the time and they are not set up with a waiting area or even a waiting list. I did not shoot for a few months due to this but now it I can go any time and day and find an open lane. They even have ammo at or below online prices and if you figure that if you buy online you have to pay shipping, the range is actually cheaper. I can get 9mm for $24 a box there so I will buy from them rather than use my good stuff and some 9mm that CTD is selling for $70 a box.

Do not know because I cannot find them.