Old Dog

People are funny like that. We want things that are hard to get. Probably has to do with our hunting instinct. Same thing happens with popular xmas toys that are in short supply. People will pay twice as much and stand in line for hours to get it even though it is not a great toy. DeBeers controls the amount of diamonds on the market to keep the prices high and supply low. We just love to buy things that cost more than they should because they are hard to get. Human nature. Then there are those who really have no idea of what is going on with gun control and think that all guns will soon be banned and rush out and buy anything they can find. I cannot even find a decent revolver around here and they are not affected by any of the proposed gun control bills. Men want to feel as they are the protectors of their family and a big part of that is weapons. Even though the liberals try to deny our human nature, we are still controlled by it; perhaps some more than others.

I own padded shooting gloves and shooting gloves for when I used to shoot outdoors in the NJ winters. I seldom use shooting gloves but I will list the reasons when I did; 1. Padded gloves are good when shooting 50 .357 magnum rounds through an 11 ounce snub nose revolver. In fact, they are good to use whenever shooting small and light carry guns for extended periods of time in large calibers. 2. During the summer my hands sweat a lot. In fact, I have to use a glove when I play billiards for that reason since our billiards hall does not allow the use of chalk. A very thin pair of shooting gloves gave me a better grip. 3. My Browning HiPower's hammer used to bite my hand even with the smaller commander sized hammer and I did not want to spend the money to have it filed away so I used shooting gloves to prevent my hand from bleeding. In general padded shooting gloves will help those whose hands hurt when shooting their guns. Some guys I know get sore hands from shooting a 9mm. People do have sensitive hands. I have developed arthritis in my hands so after two dozen rounds of .45 my hand starts to shake from the repeated recoil impulse. I am going to start using a padded shooting glove to prevent that from happening.

I am like you. I love guns with hammers. In fact, all but my most recent purchase has a hammer. I like to know where the hammer is and put my thumb on it when I holster my gun. One thing I learned from combat is that you cannot rely on your brain to do things right in the heat of battle. Anyway, I have the FNX-9 and love it. It is my home defense, competition and range gun. Great trigger and you can keep it in single action with a manual safety cocked and locked, in DA/SA mode without a safety or in DA/SA mode without a safety. I like all those choices. The best part for me is that with the safety on you can work the slide and cock the hammer so I keep it in DA/SA mode with safety on in my night table. If I hear something I can just thumb back the generous hammer knowing that the manual safety is on as well as the drop safety. So I can easily go from DA to SA with the manual safety on. The gun shoots very accurately and soft. Easy to disassemble and comes with different gripstraps to suit your hands. You can have an aggressive backstrap or a milder one in two sizes. I also own an HK and am a fan of HK guns. The FNX is very HK like in operation but has ergonomic grips. I have tried 5 different brands of JHP and FMJ ammo through it without a hiccup. It shoots anything I put into it even the cheap stuff I am getting now. If you like the HK reliability and variety of modes but want a less expensive version with better ergonomics than the USP line, the FNH guns are the ticket. I call them the poor man's HK's. However the newer HKs are very ergonomic and one of my carry guns in the HK P2000SK. When I wanted a full sized gun I did not like the HK prices and the FNX had all the HK features I liked in a modern design.

Having lived in NJ, TX, NYC and FL it seems to me that it is very difficult to get a State to do something they do not want to do. State Judges can interpret things as they see fit. You have to take them to Federal Court and that is a long and expensive proposition. Even if you win in Federal Court there is no guarantee that the State will make comply willingly or make it easy to exercise what the Federal Court wants. Look at Chicago and Illinois for an example. What I have noticed living in two gun restrictive and none restrictive States is that you have to win over the hearts and minds of the majority of citizens of the State. That in turn results in electing officials who agree with the citizens. If you have the majority of State citizens against guns and not caring about any politician's stance on guns, you are not going to get far no matter how vocal of a minority you are. In FL and TX even non gun owners are for gun rights and the politicians know it and the general atmosphere is gun friendly. I can talk about my gun in my pocket while getting a haircut or among people at the community pool or recreations center and no one is telling me how terrible guns are. In fact, we often talk about what guns we all have. It was the same in Texas when I lived there. Everyone I knew thought guns were good and/or owned one or more. The only people around here that are vocally anti gun seem to be those that moved to FL from NYC or Illinois. You have to live in a State where its people are pro gun to notice the big differences. I am sorry to say that I do not see things getting better in NJ. In fact, I fear that they will get worse because it is all about the majority of voters and what they think and challenging a State in court is not going to do much when most in power are anti gun. The Federal Government has to be careful of not trampling on State rights so while they may tell a State to allow ccw they will not dictate under what circumstances that must occur. High fees, extensive training requirements, etc. may all prevent people from taking advantage of any gun rights the Federal Government says they have. I venture to guess that given the current state of affairs and the ages of the Supreme Court Justices, that Obama will get to select one or two of them in the next few years and since we are only one vote away from a different interpretation of the 2nd amendment I fear the worst.

What I tell those who say the second amendment did not foresee assault weapons and that civilians have no need for them, is that the whole idea behind the 2nd amendment was to give civilians the ability to fight oppressive governments by being armed and therefore the intent was to make sure that civilians were armed as well as any government troops. This is basic common sense that very few people seem to talk about. It does appear that most are afraid to discuss the 2nd amendment in terms of providing citizens a means to fight against their government when in truth that is what it is all about. It was not about concealed carry or self protection, it was about making sure we could fight oppression just as the fledgling U.S. did at the time.

I went back to the regular ones with the finger grooves. I found the biometric OK when you had the time to do it properly but after trying to open the safe quickly like I would in a real situation, I found it unreliable and slow to reset so that I could try again. I can open my safe quicker by setting a combination of four key presses. I timed them and the push button was faster and more reliable. But then again I have the same problem with my laptop biometric reader. If I try to do it in a hurry it rarely reads it correctly. I think this is the problem with all biometric readers. Try to use one in a panic situation sometime to see what I mean.

Take a look at the new S&W models. Gorgeous guns, very reliable and features found on more expensive guns. S&W has made an effort to place themselves between the production and custom guns by adding some of their performance shop features to their 1911's Price is about $1200-$1300. I owned one and it was 100% reliable and a great shooter. One thing I learned that has always been good advice to follow is that you can tell the good guns by looking at the used guns at gun stores. The ones you do not or seldom see being sold used are the good ones because people keep them. I find that to be true.

We are lucky here in Florida as every Pawn Shop, and there are many in each town, are also gun stores and carry ammo. Some of these shops have been around for 50 years or more and they have very long time connections with vendors and a good ole boy network. They often surprise me by having hard to find guns and ammo in stock when no one else has them. I have been buying ammo from my local Pawn shop cheaper than I can get it online although the prices are still higher than normal. I am lucky that I saw this coming and bought a 1000+ rounds of the calibers I needed at the time. However I saw a guy checking out a new XDs on Friday and as he went to look at a PPS I bought it. You snooze, you lose. So I needed .45 ammo and the Pawn Store had about 25 boxes of PMC at $30 a box so I bought 200 rounds plus 3 boxes of Golden Saber JHP for carry. Checked today online and they want $34 per box plus $15 shipping and a month or more wait for it. This will be enough to test the gun for now and I have plenty of .22, .38 and 9mm to shoot for the rest of the year. If I reduce my range visits from once a week to once a month I will have enough ammo for two years which is more than enough.

That is nothing. 2 weeks ago I had added ammo to my cart and was still shopping. When I went to checkout, most of the items were sold out. From now on I buy quick and do not spend 15 minutes browsing the website looking for more ammo.

She's killed several birds and Gekos. Will stay out all night if there is something to hunt. Will even take on rabbits bigger than she is. She does not know how to point but she can draw a map.

I can understand why some people would not want it know that they own a firearm so their privacy should be respected. However at one gun club I used to belong to they put cameras in to stop the damage that was being down by members shooting up the roof and other things.

I am a firm believer in a 9mm in a sub compact. You control for follow up shots is better as is the recoil. No handgun is a good stopper and the one shot stop stuff is just statistics. You can expect to shoot someone several times unless you are planning on shooting once, stopping to take a look and then shoot again, stop and look again, etc.. In real life you shoot as fast as you can until the threat is gone. With the right ammo a 9mm is up to the task. BTW, if you get the 26 try the DPX 95 gr. ammo. It is designed to mimic the 115 DPX ammo out of a short barrel. All copper bullet gives you those nice long and sharp petals and the design of the bullet for short barrels ensures expansion and the all copper bullet gives you penetration through barriers. Sure you can deal with the .40 out of the 27 but you will not shoot it faster than the 26. One thing I learned in combat is to fire fast and often and being able to use light and low recoiling ammo is a big plus in putting them on target as quickly as possible.

I had bought a used X-5 for about $1200 a few months ago. Great gun for Steel. Mine was SA with a trigger that was adjusted to about a 2lb pull. However the Steel competition that used to be held on a nearby farm was discontinued so I traded the gun in for two carry guns.

Glad I moved or I could have been arrested for ignorance that NJ knife laws are tougher than NYC. I have an original Balisong Butterfly knife in my collection for a very long time. Worth much more than I paid for it. I also have a few original SpyderCo's and Cold Steel knives from when these companies first started making knives. When I eventually retire I may photograph them and sell them on ebay. Many are worth a few hundred dollars now.

The Stingers prove to have the best velocity out of real world guns. However, they are a little longer than other .22lr rounds and some semi auto's will have problems feeding them. I know that S&W tells you not to use them in its M&P15-22. Here is some info from the CCI website: FEATURES & BENEFITS 1640 feet/sec—the fastest 22 LR with varmint-class accuracy Special 32 grain hollow point bullet with tear-drop cavity for complete disruption Clean-burning propellants keep actions cleaner Sure-fire CCI priming Reusable plastic box with dispenser lid There is a note at the bottom of their page: Use only in firearms having standard ANSI sporting barrel/chamber dimensions.

I have a Sig P238 but mine is "The Man". Real macho looking. Seriously, I love my P238 but it has been replaced by my Sig P938. Just a quarter of an inch bigger and it shoots 9mm. Feed it with light Hornady FTX or 95 gr, DPX and it is a pussy cat, Having owned a lot of small guns (still do) I will say that the Seecamp is ammo fussy, has not sights and is only good at very close distances which may or may not be the situation you find yourself in when you need a gun. The Shield, although a great gun, is large compared to the others on your list. If you want a 9mm get the Sig P938. Same form factor as the P238 but in a more powerful caliber. Yes, there is a substantial difference between a 9mm and .380. Google it. My P938 was the same price as my P238. I never carry my P238 anymore as the P938 is almost identical in size and weight. Get the extended mag with pinkie grip. I still can pocket carry with it. I would also suggest that you look at the Hogue wrap around rubber grips. I have them on both of my two small Sigs. They make a big difference to me in controllability of the guns.

Carried a Shield at one time and loved it but traded it in on a Colt Defender that I was also briefly in love with. I am fickle that way. There are always guns that you regret selling and the Shield is one of them. As for the safety, every semi auto I own, with one exception, has a manual safety. A safety that relies on your brain assumes that you are not capable of mental errors and commonsense tells you that it is not true. No one bitches about manual safeties on the beloved 1911 but when it is on a different type gun they are all of a sudden a bad thing. Never could understand that. Does not take long to get used to swiping a safety off even if you forget. Just try to find documented cases where forgetting to take a gun off safe resulted in the owner's death. You will find many more stories of a manual safety saving lives. If I find one again, I will buy it on the spot. Stupid me found one of the first ones sold before they became scarce but I had too many small 9mm guns at the time and traded it.

Seems that the ammoland article failed to mention that the guy was in possession of a NJ illegal rifle and magazines. There is always more to the story than biased media print. I have moved in and out of NJ 3 times in my life and each time I sold off all of my firearms before moving back to NJ. Once there I bought new firearms. Just did not want to take any chances for obvious reasons. Finally kissed NJ goodbye for good and never looked back.

Take a look at the one Blackhawk sells. Good reviews on its current version. I have put them on my shotguns when I lived in NJ and they work very well.

I tried renting once an no more. I rented to a so called single guy who moved in with his dog (no pets were allowed) and two children. Turns out that he was a compulsive gambler who did not work and I had to do some things I am not proud of in order to get him to pay the rent. Even then each rent check was made out by a different woman. Finally the lease was up and he refused to move. Ever try to evict someone with two little kids? The court kept giving him extensions for the sake of his kids until I finally took my own action to get him out which worked better than my lawyer's methods. Even so, the house was trashed and I sold it for a loss. The only home out of 12 that I ever sold for a loss. The kicker is that I paid a real estate company to do a background check on him prior to leasing and they did not uncover his financial situation. I just asked around with some friends in low places and learned not only that he was a compulsive gambler but how much and to whom he owed money. Never again.

I believe in voting with my feet and wallet so I left NJ 3 years ago to move to a place near a shooting range in sunny Florida and could not be happier. No State and City taxes with a low cost of living. Plus no more dealing with the snow or extended period of cold weather. One of the benefits of our system of Government is that we have Federal and State Laws. This allows us the freedom to move to a different State if we do not like its laws. However, few people take advantage of this great and seldom mentioned benefit and tend to spend the rest of their lives where they live. Many are similarly reluctant to leave their jobs also and both State Governments and Employers count on this tendency of people to avoid change. If not they would worry more about the consequences of their policies and laws. No one would like a mass exodus.

Why? The majority of people are in favor of gun control now. The people who elected Obama are in favor of gun control. Only a third of Americans own guns and not all of them are against some form of additional gun control. I would think that the smart move is to pass some small gun control laws and ten round mags is my guess also as it shows he wants to save lives but it does not abolish any weapons and it only effects NJ which is not a big pro gun State anyway. Us gun owners apparently do not turn out in large numbers to vote for Presidents or else Obama would not be here. I think anyone who wants to run for president needs to appease the majority of voters who want something done about guns and he will do it by limiting magazine capacity which is the lessor of two evils.

First I will say that I like Sigs. I currently own two of their smaller ones but have owned some of their bigger ones as well including several P220s, X-5, P229s and P239s. Some were high priced models. Great guns and never jammed once except for the P238 and P938 that I carry which are ammo fussy but with the right ammo they are 100%. I have recently sold off all but my two carry Sigs. The reason is simple, they are big and heavy guns for what they are and I have grown to dislike DA/SA as I get older and have arthritis in my hand and that first SA trigger gets harder and harder to shoot well with. At the range it is OK but since I carry a gun I know that the first shot is all important as there may not be time for another. I still have Sig luv and carry the P238 and P938 small SA models whenever I leave my house. However when it comes to their bigger and heavier guns I have sold off the 5 I owned and switched to polymer guns that hold just as many, if not more, rounds, are light and cheaper. A Sig is like a Rolex. It is a status symbol, precision mechanical device, tacticool, just like the professionals use or just a great gun to shoot. It covers all the reasons why people buy a gun and covers more than one most times. There is a pride in ownership with a Sig that I just do not get with a Glock, for example. Having said all this, everyone should own a Sig once in their life. It is one of those things that most of us can afford. It is top of the heap. We may not be able to afford a Porsche, Lamborghini or Ferrari but we can afford a Sig so go for it if you can. You will never regret owning and shooting it but if you intend to carry it I would suggest something lighter.

I joined the Army after qualifying for OCS but after actually being in the Army I declined not only OCS but AIS as well. They wanted me to go into Army Intelligence and I just wanted to fight.

For me I mean that I shot those weapons at the enemy. I had shot more types in practice or from friends who had them that let me try them, but the ones listed I used in combat.