wilsonblog

Bye-bye

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 15:02:01 -0500

This blog is moving! My scribblings can now be read at:

wilsonblog (at blogspot)

People with guns collection - Photo # 23

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:14:52 -0500

From my own personal collection!

Watch-U-Carry?

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:54:32 -0500

I have received several emails from readers asking me about my personal choices concerning guns, ammunition and holsters that I use when carrying concealed in public. So without further ado...

First, let me start off by saying that I don't pretend to be some great gun expert. I'm just an average guy that has had a concealed carry license since 1996. For the first few years I only carried sporadically, since May of 2000 though I have had a gun with me every time that I went out in public (as the law allows). No I am not a "gun expert" but having carried a gun for many years I have learned a few things and like everyone else that carries a concealed weapon I do have my opinions and prejudices on the subject.

Main Carry

Colt Government Model (1911A1) .45 ACP - Despite all my talk and my admiration for the Smith & Wesson hand ejector, I must admit that my first pick when I am about to leave the house is an semi-automatic pistol, specifically a full size Colt .45 Government Model pistol. I would say about 75% of the time that I carry it is the Colt that is under my belt. It is in my opinion an excellent combination of power, controllability and concealability (if that is a word). Yes, I do carry the Colt "cocked and locked", what other way would you want to carry it? For ease of concealment I much prefer an inside the waistband holster (IWB) and that applies to most of my other carry guns as well. Despite the size and weight involved a good holster can make carrying the big Colt a manageable chore. My Brommeland Max-Con V makes that chore quite a bit easier, it locks the gun solidly in place and distributes the weight well. With this setup I can comfortably carry the Colt for many hours. I have numerous other holsters for this pistol but the Brommeland is by far the best and the one that gets used the most. On occasion I have also been known to carry the Colt "Mexican" when on a short trip such as to the gas station. Using a good gun belt (I have a 1 ½ inch Galco) the gun is secured and moderately comfortable when carried this way for brief outings. As for what type of ammunition I prefer when I carry (this also applies to ALL my carry guns) I must say that I am not a devoted fan of any one particular brand or another. All of the major manufactures make great self-defense ammo. While I might favor a specific bullet weight I have no brand loyalty for any particular "name" as long as it's accurate and reliable. As for .45 Auto a standard pressure hollow point of the 230 grain weight is my usual preference.

Smith & Wesson Model 649 .38 S&W Special - There are times when I just don't want to carry the Colt, particularly if it's a hot and humid summer day and I have on light clothing, or sometimes there might be other special circumstances. Those are times when the little S&W J Frame Smith substitutes very well. In the summer months my stainless Bodyguard .38 and a Kramer pocket holster (with a light shirt for coverage) is all that I need. That setup is great for shorter trips but for longer ones another Brommeland IWB suits the bill to a "T". I can carry the revolver all day and actually forget that it is there because it's so comfortable. Just like the Colt I have purchased numerous holsters for my little Smith & Wesson over the years but most of them look new, as these are the two that always seem to get used. Defense ammunition preferred is 125 grain +P hollow points. The +P ammunition has a little more snap in them (compared to standard pressure) but the heavier steel frame makes for faster recovery and more tolerable recoil.

Occasional Carry

On occasion I just want to be different, at those times other guns see the light of day. A Smith & Wesson 4566 customized by Novak is one of those. Believe it or not this big block of steel gets carried IWB in a Milt Sparks Versa Max 2 and is more comfortable than it has any right to be. I am a big fan of the Sparks VM2 and have bought some for my more used carry guns. I recently added one for my Sig Sauer P228 but haven't used it much yet. So far the alloy framed Sig seems a real pleasure to carry in my Sparks rig, you almost forget it's there.

But my main "other" carry gun is a S&W Model 27 with a 3 ½ inch barrel. This big revolver weighs in about the same as my Colt Government Model but because of the huge size of the frame and cylinder it takes more effort to tote it around. Believe it or not the big Smith & Wesson isn't that hard to carry or to conceal if you use the right gear. I am writing a much more extensive article on carrying the N Frame Smith & Wesson which will be appearing here in the near future.

Reloads

I must admit that I am not very judicious about carrying reloads for my carry guns. Sometimes I take them with me and other times not. This is one area that I will concede that I need to make more of an effort. When I carry the Colt I have a Galco single magazine pouch that I sometimes use, it can also work with my S&W 4566. When I have one of my Smith & Wesson revolvers on me I usually bring along a Bianchi speed strip in another pocket. Sometimes, mostly depending on the weather and how I am dressed, I will carry speed loaders. I prefer Safariland brand carried loose in a pocket or on my belt in a pouch.

Having carried a gun for many years now, and thru a lot of trial and error, I have come to know very well what will work and not work for me. It should be the goal of every person that carries a gun to test themselves to find out what combinations of guns and carry styles that will work best for them too.

Finally...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:54:00 -0500

After 18 years of window shopping I finally found a Colt Python at a price that I could live with, and that wasn't easy considering they only go up year after year after year. Wish I had purchased one of those first Pythons that I drooled over way back in 1992 but it wasn't really financially possible for me back then. Since then I've had plenty of opportunities to buy but never found the "right" one. A few years back I started getting more serious about finding an example of the fabled Python .357 because by then it was one of the few guns left that I wanted but had never owned. This revolver is an excellent condition (98% easy) 4-inch blue model and was made in 1979. With all of the bad weather we have been having I doubt that I get to shoot this one until at least March, until then I'll just have to wait and suffer. More to follow...

Please continue buying

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:55:00 -0500

Have been continuing my wallyworld® ammunition buying program into the new year, but have scaled back a bit. For a while I was buying ammo on every single visit (if only a box or two). Now, it's every other visit. I would continue as I have been but I am now running out of space to properly store it. My last two visits found me purchasing .22LR. You can't ever have enough .22 and even though it has gone up in price (like all ammo) it still seems a bargain compared to other cartridges. I mean a twenty dollar bill will buy you a 550 round "bulk pack" with some change left over. Not as cheap as it used to be but still sounds

pretty good, doesn't it? Especially compared to something like .357 Magnum which will take that twenty of yours, plus another five spot just for one 50 round box. But to make your "gun money" work its hardest you do need to price compare, the lowest price for the previously mentioned .357 was found not at our local chain store but at a gun shop which is not usually known for their low-low prices. You wouldn't think that would ever happen but it does occasionally. You can also save money by buying in bulk. But in many areas stores are still enforcing limits on ammunition purchasers started during the buying frenzy that began in late '08. My local chain store will still only sell you 6 boxes at a time. I'm thinking that prices are never going to get much lower than they are now, stock up while you can because this stuff has nowhere to go but up.

 Since late last year I have been...

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:51:00 -0500

Since late last year I have been making a concerted effort to standardize my gun ammunition. Actually I have been whittlin' down on the various calibers that I own for longer than that and have finally got to the point where I don't think I will be eliminating any more. Last month I got rid of the only .22 Magnum that I own, it was the last of what I consider my "odd man out" calibers and that leaves me with exactly 9 left to buy, every gun that I now own is in one of these 9 calibers. They are: .22LR - .38 S&W Special - .357 S&W Magnum - 9x19mm - .45 ACP - 5.56 NATO (.223 Remington) - 7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester) - .30-06 - 12 Gauge. I like the mentioned calibers for their overall usefulness, wide spread availability and price (compared to similar, but less produced calibers). I probably would even get rid of the 30-06 but I already have a great rifle in that caliber and plenty of ammo for it so I'll just keep it. Don't know if I'll buy any more though. I also have numerous boxes of ammo for calibers that I no longer own. My first thought was to just get rid of them now and clear out some space. But they only take up one ammo can and they might make for some great barter material sometime...

 When I saw the Bill's Gun Shop...

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:51:00 -0500

When I saw the Bill's Gun Shop DVD at a pawnshop for $2 I wasn't really expecting much from the direct to video production and after seeing it I must say it was about what I thought it would be. The movie stars John Ashton (a favorite character actor) so since it was cheap I decided to give it a chance. Ashton is the gun shop owner and Scott Cooper plays a young man that has been a "gun nut" all his life and finally gets his dream job at the shop as a salesman. Intertwined with this is also a subplot about Bill being a bounty hunter and how one of their jobs goes wrong and they have to cover up a murder. Did I forget to mention the part where the young man is a loser with girls but his preoccupation with guns makes him a more self-confident. Mostly though I guess this little production is a commentary on how a gun can change a person's personality and how it (the gun) can give a person a sense of power or fearlessness, or self-assurance, or something. I don't know. I must admit I was bored a lot of time during this so maybe I missed the point the director was trying to make. What I noticed most in the film though was the supposedly adult people acting like kids when they had a gun in their hand, and that included a lot of dangerous gun handling (looking down the barrel of a gun etc.) and generally childish behavior. And then as could be expected every cliché about gun owners had to be thrown into the mix too (gun owning white separatist - gun toting gang members - guns and suicide etc.). I doubt that I ever watch this movie again and there's nothing here to really make me recommend anyone see it, but if you must you must. But you have been warned.

A face only a mother (rhino) could love...

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:37:00 -0500

I've been hearing stories for a few years now about the Rhino revolver and how it was coming to America. None of them came to pass. So when yet more reports about the revolutionary handgun began coming out from the 2010 SHOT show I felt skeptical to say the least. But this time it does seems a little different, this time there were a lot more first hand reports that included previously unheard details about the Italian firm Chiappa and the very different revolver that they are producing. Supposedly the Rhino will be available for sale here by the end of the year. I would like that to be true because I for one would like to see and handle a Rhino, to me it appears to be an interesting revolver with a lot of potential. The Rhino is a 6 shot, swing out cylinder, .357 Magnum revolver with an alloy frame and the critical parts being steel. The gun will be available in several barrel lengths, the 2-inch model would seem to be the most practical. In 2-inch form it will weigh about 24 ounces. According to Massad Ayoob's blog speed loaders for a Smith & Wesson "L" frame can be used on the Rhino, which would make this gun comparable to a mid-sized S&W. Not hardly a pocket gun, but as I said the Rhino does seem to have some potential as a self-defense gun. The odd looks are a direct result of the Rhino's barrel being in the "6 O'clock" position on the gun's cylinder. The lower bore axis, in relation to one's hand, is a proven idea (to me) and should make the Rhino easier to control and fire quickly. No doubt many will see a resemblance to another Italian made handgun, the Mateba Auto Revolver (Macchine Termo Ballistica - Unica 6). That's not an accident as both were designed by Emilio Ghisoni and his hand shows through in both designs. Mechanically however they are much different, the Rhino is much closer to a traditional double action revolver. As a former owner of a Mateba I must say that the gun was an interesting design and proved (to me) the concept of the lower barrel position to reduce recoil while increasing control. My Mateba made shooting magnum loads easier and faster, no doubt of that. The Mateba was an interesting gun on paper but as a practical matter had some problems. I never felt comfortable using the Mateba for anything more than a range/target gun, I would hope that this new Rhino will have more practical uses. But after hearing for so long about this gun I will not get my hopes up. I am just going to sit back and wait, and when (or if) the Rhino finally does come to America I'll get a first hand look and see if it's really real or just gun industry hyperbole.

Snow Day...

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 11:25:00 -0500

In the last 12 hours or so we have got about 7-8 inches of snow with another 2-3 inches forecasted for the rest of the day and into early tomorrow. Probably doesn't sound like much to those of you reading this from more northern areas of the country where this much snow is a rather normal and regularly occurring thing all winter long. Believe me, here in KY it is a big thing and this will probably (hopefully) be the biggest snowstorm that we get this winter season. Although we haven't got much snow this year we have had enough bad weather, rain and freezing rain, to ruin many plans for outdoor activities. I have wanted to go shooting every week so far this year but haven't been able to. I don't mind shooting in the cold but when everything is wet and muddy it makes getting some much needed trigger time impossible. I doubt I get to go shooting in February, but March isn't too far off...

Gothic Kittens

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 09:14:00 -0500

Yeah you read that right, Gothic Kittens.