Monthly Archives: June 2014
Hollow Points vs. Full Metal Jacket Ammo
There’s kind of an unwritten rule of firearm ammunition: use hollow points for your carry/home defense guns and use full metal jacket (FMJ) for practice. This is mainly due to the fact that FMJ rounds are significantly cheaper than your average hollow point. It’s also due to the fact that, from a “put the attacker down” point of view, FMJ rounds aren’t exactly ideal.
That’s not to say that FMJ rounds are useless for defense. Far from it, in fact. Our military uses only FMJ rounds. This is due to an international treaty that was signed many (MANY) years ago that forbids the use of expanding rounds. That same treaty also bans the dropping of grenades from hot air balloons, mind you, so some of the stuff might be outdated in the grand scheme of things but that’s a conversation for our Facebook page at some point.
But I digress, the FMJ is still a bullet and will still punch a hole in your average bad guy. Stories of people “shrugging off” FMJ rounds because they “just passed right through” are rare and often exaggerated. So why do we use hollow points then?
While a full metal jacket round will still drop a bad guy, a hollow point will do it just a little bit better. That’s not to say there aren’t all kinds of misconceptions about hollow points as well. What I want to do today is talk about both rounds and touch on the misconceptions of both. Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Free For All Friday 6-27-2014: Rare guns and CCW positions…
I got married a couple years ago to the lovely Mrs. Noob. Due to various reasons, we weren’t able to go on our honeymoon right away. Last week, we finally were able to go. We spent a week in Buffettstan a.k.a. Key West, Florida. Amazing how a week of being almost completely unplugged from everything helps clear the mind. As much as I feel refreshed and ready to go, it’s still hard to get back into the swing of things. I came back to a bunch of emails and messages and I’m slowly working my way through them. Side note: there are a surprisingly large number of gun ranges in the Florida Keys. Didn’t expect that, for some reason.
Time to trim up our pencil thin mustaches, have a cheeseburger in paradise and change some latitudes and attitudes with this week’s Free For All Friday questions! Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
A Review Retrospective
Have you ever bought something and immediately loved it? Then, after more and more time using it, you start to notice little issues with it here and there. Initially, they’re just filed away in your brain under the “huh, that’s weird” category. Eventually those little issues either get more and more annoying or you start noticing glaring problems. After enough time, the honeymoon is over and that thing you initially loved turns out to be a festering hunk of crap. No, I’m not talking about my first marriage. I’m talking about the guns we’ve reviewed here at Gun Noob. Actually, let me clarify that a bit: I’m going over the guns that I’ve personally reviewed. Some of the guns were reviewed by other writers who have since moved on so I can’t realistically give an update on those.
So with over two year’s worth of gun reviews let’s look back and see my thoughts on those guns after two years. Memory lane time! Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Free For All Friday, 6-13-2014: Clay shooting, magazine springs, point shooting and Archangel stocks
Usually on Free For All Fridays, I start out with a few random thoughts then get to the questions. More often than not, those random thoughts have nothing to do with guns or even the questions themselves. They are just whatever I happen to be thinking about whenever I go to put the Q&A’s together in a presentable format. Today, we have the largest number of questions in one FFAF so far so I’m going to skip the randomness for now and jump right into it! Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Mostly Platonic Love. Mostly… (Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22)
I wanted to start off my GunNoob reviews with a gun I felt very comfortable writing about. I have personally owned two of these plastic marvels and have shot a few belonging to others. Introduced in 2009 in both rifle and pistol configurations, the Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22 Rifle (that’s a mouthful) is a wonderful platform that can be used for three distinct purposes. 1) to introduce rifles to new shooters 2) to train with instead of a full-sized AR, and 3) hunting small varmint. I use mine regularly for the first two (as i don’t hunt) and have over 5000 rounds through my rifles. Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Free For All Friday 6-6-2014: 10mm Glocks and Grip Technique
Summer is here. In Florida that means two things: crippling heat and the constant threat of hurricanic apocalypse. The first makes it difficult to shoot at my beloved outdoor gun club. The second will drive you crazy if you sit there worrying about it all the time. Now, I know I’m not the only one that shoots outdoors and Florida certainly isn’t the only place that gets hot. We’ve talked in the past about how heat can affect your guns. The short is: you might notice them acting a bit more…lively…when you shoot them. Just as important: stay hydrated. Getting overheated saps your strength and impairs your thinking. Drinking a large amount of fluid will do wonders to alleviate that. Heat stroke is a horrible experience and one that’s pretty easy to avoid.
Let’s get to some scorching hot questions, shall we? Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Blinded by the Light…
Humans are incredible creatures. It always amazes me how far some are able to push themselves to the limits. Just watch some of those Parkour videos to see what I mean. Sadly, one thing we’ve never been able to develop is the ability to see in the dark without some kind of external assistance. Until the day comes that they’re able to transplant a cat’s eyes into a human, we’re stuck with flashlights and night vision goggles. The transplant idea is still awesome though. Especially if I could do that thing where a cat’s eyes get all big and look all cute and stuff. Then I could talk my way out of any trouble I get into with Mrs. Noob. I’d just be like **big eyes** “Look how cute I am” then she’d be all “Aww! You’re so adorable! I can’t stay mad at you for hiding your socks all over the house.” Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources:
Let Me Introduce Myself
Good day to all the wonderful Noob readers out there. My name is Chris and I am pleased to introduce myself as the newest member of the GunNoob writing staff. While my writing may not be quite as humorous as Mr. Noob (we all need to aspire to something greater), I’ll do my best to stay both informative and entertaining. I look forward to covering topics ranging from gun reviews and gun safety to my experiences as a newb competative shooter. I’ll even toss in some embarrasing anecdotes (mine as well as others) from my time spent on the range.
A little bit about myself… I am a practicing architect in Atlanta, Georgia. I have a few years experience as a gun owner and shooting afficianodo and have been a Range Safety Officer (RSO) for the past two years at an indoor range just outside of Atlanta. I also have some blog writing experience, as I have writen for the women’s shooting blog, Armed Candy, in the past. I am currently looking to get into some competative shooting, both indoor pistol as well as outdoor 3-gun competitions. When i’m not working or shooting, I ride my motorcycle (Buell Lightning), play way too many video games (currently stuck in a Borderlands 2 loop), and play on a number of adult (aka: beer drinking) softball teams. Feel free to ask me anything gun related. Cheers!!! Continue reading
Like what you read? GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical. Check out the rest of our awesome resources: