The Last Gun

Apparently, these posts are going to become a lot more erratic than I had originally thought. I seem to have lost the steam I had in the beginning when I was posting at least one article per week. I will try to do better.

I was having one of those odd thoughts running through my head the other day and started wondering... If I could only own one gun, what would it be? To me, this is a VERY difficult question because I have worked my whole adult life to build my collection so the thought of it being reduced back down to one gun is unthinkable. However, you never know when financial or political forces could give you no choice. Hopefully, the day will never come that this is anything more than a fun hypothetical discussion, but it is a good way to prioritize what is important in a gun choice.

To do this right, I had to set some ground rules.

1. One firearm, period. Not one pistol and one revolver and one rifle and one shotgun. Just ONE firearm.

2. So that it is realistic, I set a price limit. For a rifle, the max would be $2,000. If I chose anything else, it would be $1,000.

So, I had to figure out what things I use a firearms for and then prioritize them into what is the most important for me. Here is my list in order of what I feel is the most important...

• Concealed Carry/Self Defense
  
• Home Defense
• IDPA
• Teaching new shooters about firearms
  
• Recreational Target Shooting
• Wilderness Survival Tool
• Hunting

I chose concealed carry as my top priority because it is the one thing I do with a firearm EVERY day. That greatly narrows down the list of possible choices. It completely eliminates rifles and shotguns from consideration. The whole reason for concealed carry is for self defense, so it would have to be in a caliber that is adequate for self defense. That means 9mm or bigger in my book (I do carry a .380 occasionally, but only as a backup or when I can't conceal anything else). Since it needs to be concealable, that means no BIG guns so scratch off N-frame revolvers and particularly large pistols like the HK Mark 23 or Desert Eagle. For home defense, pretty much anything that is good enough for self defense while carrying concealed can do the job at home too, so that's not a problem.

Since I really enjoy IDPA and would want something I could be somewhat competitive with, I can't go too small on the gun size or too big on the caliber size. That means probably sticking to a compact or full sized pistol or a medium framed revolver and limiting my calibers to 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP or .357Magnum. Since single column .45's have too low of a capacity as compared to other similar pistols and double stack .45's are too big for smaller hands, I eliminated it from the list. If I went with a pistol, I'd rather go with 9mm than .40S&W just because ammo will be easier to find and less expensive, but with the hotter defensive loads, it will still do the job.

Now, I needed decide between a pistol and a revolver. My first instict was to go with a revolver. They are durable, simple and (in my opinion) beautiful. However, as I looked at the next two items on the list (teaching and plinking) I realized that both of these are best done with a .22LR. Since I can't get a second gun in .22 in this scenario, I need to limit my choices to guns I can buy a .22 conversion kit for. So... scratch off revolvers.

The last two items are a problem. If I'm going with a pistol in 9mm it isn't going to be great for outdoor use or hunting, but there is a reason they were at the bottom of my priority list. Besides, in a pinch, you could use a 9mm pistol for hunting smaller game (I'd say anything smaller than a boar) and while not ideal, it will fend off smaller 4-legged predators in a wilderness situation. It wouldn't be too great against bears, but choosing one gun means making compromises.

Now, I need to find a 9mm pistol that is reliable, durable, decently accurate, is small enough to conceal but big enough to compete with in IDPA and you can buy a .22 conversion kit for it. There are probably others, but the only one I know that fits all those criteria is a Glock 19. I guess that would be my choice. Hopefully, it is a choice I'd never have to make.

A few other reasons for this choice would be that Glocks very rarely break. If they do break, they are very easy to work on and the factory parts are available from plenty of retailers. In fact, you can put together a fairly complete spare parts kit and all the tools you need (one punch) for less than $75. Plus, you are getting a very handy sized gun that is not overly heavy that has a great capacity and there are tons of aftermarket accessories to make it fit your needs.

If there was any way I was able to keep a second gun, I have no questions about what my second gun would be. I'd take an M4-style AR-15 for my other gun without a second thought.

As an interesting side note, I posed this question on one of my favorite gun forums. I was surprised at the variety of answers I got. Some people went as large as a FAL or M1A and some went as small as I did with a Glock 19. The point is that there is no one answer. Everyone has different things they do with guns. That is the beauty of our hobby is that it is so diverse.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

Building an AR-15

First, I apologize to my readers (if I actually have any) for the lack of posts lately. I've just had a bit of writer's block and couldn't seem to come up with anything worth writing about. Today, I'm going to try to cover the basics of what is involved in building your own AR-15. This could get a bit on the long side, but I'll try to keep it as direct and to the point as possible.

The first part you will want to purchase is the Stripped Lower Reciever. This is the part that has the serial number and is considered the firearm by BATFE. This means it's the only part you will need to actually go through an FFL dealer to buy. There are many many brands to choose from and to be honest, most of them are the same other than the logo on the side. I personally don't care for billet lowers because they tend to be overpriced and they leave less room for customization. Avoid the cast lowers because they are of poor quality. If you stick with a good aluminum forged lower from a reputable maker you should be fine. A couple to avoid are Vulcan and Hesse. They are rarely within spec and not worth the trouble. A few that are good and safe bets are DPMS, Stag, Rock River Arms, CMMG, Spikes Tactical, LMT, Bushmaster and Mega. I'd avoid Colt lowers because they use a non-standard pin size so it just adds a level of complication that is not needed.

Once you have your lower, you will want to find a lower parts kit. At the moment, that may be pretty tricky. It seems everyone is out of them. Stick to a name brand on this. I personally like the Rock River Arms LPK's, but Stag and LMT are also excellent. This is where the first customization starts. You can get different safety selectors, grips, trigger and hammer pins, trigger groups, etc... A lot of this will depend on what you plan to use the rifle for when it is complete. I can tell you what I chose, but that does not mean it is necessarily the best. I used a Rock River Arms Lower Parts Kit that included their 2 stage trigger group. By buying the upgraded trigger as part of the parts kit I avoided paying for parts that I was going to just replace immediately anyway. I also replaced the standard grip with a Magpul MIAD grip. However, if I had it to do over again, I'd use Magpul's new MOE grip since it is configured just the way I liked it and is much cheaper. I also bought the AA battery core for the grip so I could store batteries for a light or red dot sight. I upgraded the safety selector to RRA's star safety selector. I already had it installed on another AR and just really like the feel of it. I also replaced the standard trigger guard with the Magpul Enhanced Trigger Guard. This gives you the ability to shoot with gloves on without having to modify the gun. The last modification I made to the lower parts kit is that I replaced the standard trigger and hammer pin with KNS Gen 2 Mod 2 anti-rotation pins. There have been cases of AR's with heavy use wearing out the lower from the rotation of the pins during use. These pins prevent that situation and they look cool too.

The next thing you will need to decide on is the stock. If you plan to shoot High Power rifle matches, you will want to stick with a standard A2 stock. If this will be a self defense gun I recommend either the Magpul CTR or UBR depending on your budget. The new Magpul ACS might be a great option, but is has not started shipping yet. For a long range target rifle, the Magpul PRS stock is great. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a big fan of Magpul stuff. However, if they aren't for you, LMT and Vltor make excellent stocks as well. If you do go with a collapsible stock, do some research on how to properly stake the castle nut so that the stock stays where you put it during heavy firing.

Once the stock is attached, the lower half of the AR is complete. Picking an AR upper can be pretty tricky. This part is very much personal preference, but I'll give you some personal opinions that you can use as a guide.

1. Get a flat top receiver. Even if you plan to put a removable carry handle on it and never use optics, get the flat top. You never know when you might change your mind and that is a hard thing to change after the fact.

2. If you plan to use this gun for precision target work, get a stainless steel barrel. Otherwise, stick with chrome lined barrels.

3. Stick with a quality manufacturer. Good ones for uppers are BCM, LMT, Noveske, CMMG and Sabre Defense. Rock River Arms, Stag and Bushmaster also make pretty good uppers but some consider them a step below the ones I listed first. I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I feel confident in recommending.

4. Get a good quality Bolt Carrier Group from either BCM or LMT, but do not waste your money on the Enhanced version. Do get the Full Auto bolt carrier though. It has a bit more mass and is more reliable. Buying this part will NOT make your gun fuction full auto and it is not illegal to use.

5. Don't go cheap on the sights. There are a lot of cheap, airsoft quality sights out there. Don't use them. They will fail you.

6. If you decide you need a quad rail, don't go cheap on that either. I would say that YHM is the bare minimum, but you'd be better off with MI, GG&G, Troy or Daniel Defense. Larue Tactical also makes great stuff. If you don't need a quad rail, don't buy a quad rail. It is a lot of money for something that you don't actually have a need for. This same tip can be used for red dot sights. EOTech, Aimpoint and Trijicon make good stuff. Most of the rest is not worth messing with.

7. Avoid hanging too much "stuff" off your AR. It is meant to be a high speed, low drag fighting rifle. It is very easy to start buying red dots and magnifiers and lights and lasers and vertical foreward grips and backup sights and coffee makers and DVD players and turn a 7 pound battle rifle into a 15 pound boat anchor. If you don't NEED it, don't attach it.

8. Unless this will be for target use ONLY, make sure it has a 5.56mm chamber and not a .223 chamber. You can shoot .223 in a 5.56 chamber but you cannot shoot 5.56 ammo in a .223 chamber. With ammo as difficult as it is to find right now, don't limit yourself.

I hope this helped at least some. If you do some research on some of the forums I have linked on the right you can get a lot more specific info and ar15.com has some great instructions on how to actually put it all together. Good luck with your build. Your biggest challenge will be just finding the parts in the current market.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

2009 may be remembered as the year of the .22

If you've had your head in the sand for the last 6 months, you may not have noticed that the price of ammo is going sky high and that is IF you can find ammo at all. Some calibers have become flat out impossible to find. This trend will really hurt the firearms training industry because people can't find or can't afford enough ammo to complete the courses they'd like to take. At the same time, concealed carry classes are booked solid. The shop I used to work in is now putting 75 people per week through the class and said they could easily do 100 if they had another instructor. That is just in one single shop.

For all those reasons, more and more shooters are turning to the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. It is cheap and at least for the moment it is still fairly easy to find. You can shoot all day for $20 worth of ammo. In comparison, I spent 1 hour at the range this past weekend and used up $90 worth of ammo shooting mostly 9mm and a little 12 gauge. If I had been shooting .45ACP I can't even imagine how much I would have spent.

There is a lot of value out of a day at the range with a good .22. Without the recoil and without the limited quantity of ammo, you can spend your time working on proper sight alignment, trigger control or drawing from a holster. I truly think you can improve your shooting just as much shooting a .22 as you can shooting your chosen self defense caliber. Now, of course you need to practice some with the caliber and gun you will use for self defense, but I think if you put 200 rounds of .22 down range in an afternoon (about $8 worth of ammo) and then a single box of your chosen self defense caliber, you'd be just fine.

Save some money, shoot more often and have more fun. If you've forgotten your .22 pistol or rifle in the back of the safe for a while, pull it out and give it some use. If this ammo shortage continues, that .22 might be your new best friend.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

My wife is a keeper

Well, I already knew that, but it got confirmed again last week. April 4th was our 5th wedding anniversary and my wife gave me the gift every gun nut wants. A shiny new gun. Last month, I had put a $100 deposit down on a Glock 19 to start a lay away. My plan was to slowly pay it off after our anniversary because my extra cash until then was going to buy my wife's gift. For my anniversary gift, my wife paid off my lay away! We went this past Saturday to the gun shop to pick it up. It was just a plain jane Glock 19 like millions of others that have been made but I really like that model. Then, I look in the case and notice they have a new one with the OD frame (that is Glock's Olive Drab frame for those that don't know). Other than the color of the polymer frame, it is identical to any other Glock, but they make a very low percentage (I don't know the exact number, but I've heard about 5%) with the OD frame. I decided that since this gun would be sentimental to me and would never get sold, I'd like it to be a little more unique. So, I swapped out the standard black Glock 19 that was on lay away for the OD one. I like it a lot and have not regrets. I'll be heading to the range this weekend to break her in. I'm just hoping that between now and then I can find some extra ammo.

I'm sorry for the short post, but things have been busy. I'll try to write something with more meat next week. Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

"2 is 1 and 1 is none" - Clint Smith

That saying is a famous "Clintism" from Clint Smith at Thunder Ranch. Clint Smith is considered by many to be the top firearms instructor in the country. This particular "Clintism" though has always made a great deal of sense to me. Basically, what he is saying is that any tool you use (be it a gun, knife, flashlight, etc...) is a man made thing and can fail. If you don't have a backup, you having nothing when it fails.

This is one of many reasons I believe anyone who owns a gun for self defense should own more than one gun for self defense. Many years ago, I worked part-time in a very large gun shop. I was talking to one of the other sales staff during a slow period. This guy also worked there part time and his full time job was as a law enforcement officer. He told me a story he had heard from a fellow officer he had met in NYC.

For those of you that don't know, the gun laws in NYC are ridiculously strict. It is very difficult to get a permit to own a handgun, and the process can take many months even if you are finally approved. There was an owner of a small jewelry shop who apparently had been robbed by some gang members on several occasions. He got fed up and applied for a permit to buy a handgun. After about 6 months of red tape, he finally got his permit and bought a handgun. Not long after, a couple of gang bangers tried to rob him again, but this time they got lead instead of gold. It was a perfectly legal, self defense shooting. The gang bangers had him at gun point and he prevailed by pure luck. When the police took his statment, they took the gun as evidence. He pleaded with them that those gang bangers had friends and that was his only gun. It would take months to get another permit and he'd never survive that long. The police had no choice but to take the gun until the DA ruled that it was a self defense shooting. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later, friends of the original robbers showed up and killed ths shop keeper in his store. Think how much different that story would have ended if he had owned more than one gun.

You don't just need a second gun though for an unlikely event like that. What if it is something much less dramatic like one of them breaks. What if one is stolen? What if you find yourself in a fight and your primary gun is wrestled away from you? If you don't have a backup gun, I hope you have your affairs in order.

Here's another scenario to consider... You buy a gun for home protection. You have practiced with it and you feel confident you know how to use it. One night you and your wife and sleeping the sleep of the righteous when you are awoke by the sound of broken glass. You do what most people would do. You tell your wife to dial 911, you grab your gun and you go see where the noise came from. Now, if it was just a limb breaking a window in a storm, you will be fine. If it is a bad guy who flees when he sees you, you will be fine. If it is a bad guy that you manage to defeat in a gun fight, you will be less fine but you will be fine. However, what if you lose? What if the bad guy is faster than you and he kills you or at least injures you badly enough to take you out of the fight? What about your wife now? What about your kids now? If you had the only gun, you just left her unarmed with a pissed off bad guy in the house. If you had two guns, you could have left one with her. Better yet, you shouldn't go clearing a house anyway unless you are going to retrieve a kid, but that is another article.

The point of all this is... there are many many scenarios where one gun is not enough. Since none of us can know what circumstance we will be faced with, we have to prepare for as many of them as we can. You will be much better prepared with at least two guns in your arsenal than you were with one. Remember, 2 is 1 and 1 is none. Thanks for your wisdom Clint.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

How many mags?

I see this question all the time on different gun forums. How many mags should I own for each gun? Well, there is no right answer to this question to be honest. However, that has never stopped me from answering it. The honest answer is that it depends on the gun, how often you shoot and how much you can afford to spend. However, I do think that there are some good guidelines to follow.

First, I think if you ask someone who lived through the 10 dark years of the '94 Assault Weapons Ban this question you will get a VERY different answer than if you ask someone who was either too young to remember or wasn't into firearms at the time. Those of us that remember having our rights stripped away are much more wary of it happening again. Those of us that remember gun show vendors charging $100 for a Glock magazine will think we need more than someone who did not go through that. As of right now, the momentum toward passing a new AWB seems to have dwindled, but that does not mean we should let our guard down. Personally, I prefer to have too many mags so that if that day ever comes again, I won't have to pay the gouger prices as my old mags wear out.

Ok, now to the original question. Let's break it down into types of guns.

Type 1 - Plinkers and Range Toys. By this, I mean a gun that was bought just for the fun of shooting it. It is not intended to be used in a self defense role. It won't be lying on your nightsand ready to defend the home and it won't be carried concealed. For most people, this would include a lot of .22's.

For these guns, it is not as important in my opinion to have a lot of mags. If you shoot the gun often, get more mags since it will make range sessions more fun. If it sits in the safe and looks good, get a few and be done. For me, it depends on how often I shoot the gun, how hard it is to reload and how expensive the mags are for it. I always like to have at least a couple of spares so I'd say minimum of 3, but more if you shoot the gun often.

Type 2 - Self Defense Handguns. My hard and fast rule is a bare minimum of 5 mags for any gun that could be used for self defense. My one exception to that is my Ruger LCP. The reason is that the gun is unpleasant to shoot often and is not built to be shot a lot. I have 4 mags for that gun and I doubt I'll ever put more than that through the gun in a single range session now that the gun is broken in. For all others, at least 5 but I prefer 8.

Type 3 - Self Defense Rifles. This would be a gun like an AR-15 that could be used for home defense or to hold of the hoardes of zombies. I like to have a minimum of 15 mags per rifle. More is always better. If you have an AR-15, more is definitely better. There are a lot of other semi-auto rifles out there than use AR-15 mags so having a good supply of those is a definite plus. I know of people that have 400 or more AR-15 mags. I don't go that far, but I like to have a good supply of them. They do wear out and you never know if you will be able to replace them.

To summarize, the important thing to remember is that you never know when legislation or supply will make it difficult or impossible to replace mags as they wear out. Without them, your guns are single shot devices or paper weights if the have a mag safety. Buy as many as you think you are likely to ever need, now.

The joy of a new toy

For me, and I think for most gun enthusiasts there are few things that bring us as much joy as the purchase of a new gun. It's like Christmas came early for us. I got the extreme pleasure of having this feeling last week. However, this one comes with an interesting story as a bonus.

Back in 2001 - 2002, I took a part time job at a very large gun shop in Charlotte, NC. I ended up spending far more money than I earned, but it was a fun job. One of the guns that came in while I was there was a Fabarm FP6 imported by HK. This is a pump action, tactical/LE style shotgun with a carbon fiber finish. I liked it a lot but it was $700 for a pump and I just could not justify that.

Fast forward to present day. I had my XD-40 up for sale in the classifieds of a regional gun forum. I had decided to sell it to reduce the number of handgun calibers I had in my collection. After bumping the ad for the night, I sat down and watched an episode of Best Defense (great show on Outdoor Channel hosted by Michael Bane) on my DVR. Rob Pincus was showing a tactic for taking corners in your house with a shotgun and I noticed that the shotgun he was using was a carbon fiber HK/Fabarm FP6. I recognized it immediately because of the unique look. I had been wanting to get a good home defense shotgun for a while and that made me start thinking that the HK would be a good choice. However, HK stopped importing for Fabarm in late 2002 so finding one would be near impossible.

The next day, I got an offer on my XD for cash and arranged to meet they buyer the following afternoon. I collected the cash ($440) and decided to head down to Charlotte to browse the shelves of the gun shop I used to work at for a new shotgun. When I arrived, I talked to a buddy of mine that is the manager there. I told him I wanted a new shotgun and had he ever ran across one of those cool carbon fiber shotguns that HK used to import. He laughed and said he ran across one just the other day and it was still on the wall. He looked up the inventory number and it turns out is the SAME shotgun I saw when I worked there. Somehow, it had been there all that time and had never been sold. As large as their inventory is, it probably got rotated to the back to make room for something else and forgot about for a long time.

I talked to the owner and ended up getting the shotgun for $440 OTD. My buddy says he can't be sure after all this time, but he thinks I probably got it for less than they paid for it.

Anyway, I just thought it was rather weird that I got reminded of a gun I wanted all those years ago by a TV show and then happened to find that VERY shotgun on the shelf and haggled the price down to the exact amount I had just received for my XD. It's a strange strange world and apparently I was just meant to have this shotgun. I ordered a magazine extension tube for it which arrived today. Installing it was a pain, but I got it on eventually. Now I just need to find some ammo and me and my new gun can head to the range.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.