Monthly Archives: September 2014

Grow Your Brain With Guns!

brainWe spend countless amounts of money getting in shape. We spend hours at the gym grunting and sweating. We eat foods like kale and tofu. All of this so that we live longer with the added bonus of attracting a mate. With all this health junk we do, when was the last time you did push-ups with your brain? I mean, what does it matter that you can bench press a car if your mind goes? Believe it or not, exercising your brain is just as important and, frankly, far easier than exercising your body.

There are a lot of mental exercises you can do to sharpen alertness and concentration. These usually involve a computer and such but, as it turns out, shooting actually exercises a lot of those things as well. Granted, it depends on the kind of shooting but there are some things you can do at the range to give your brain a boost.

First off, skeet shooting is probably one of the best shooting sports for your brain. Let’s take a look at the process. Your brain has to find the clay, focus on it and then figure out its trajectory. Then, it has to process the angle of the gun based off of the feedback from your hands and arms (remember, looking at the gun is bad when you’re shooting clays). These are the mental equivalent of cardio. It doesn’t really build muscle but it keeps things healthy. You burn a bunch mental calories so that you have that Oreo Cookie without guilt, metaphorically speaking of course. Keep in mind, no amount of mental conditioning will let you get through the Twilight movies with no lasting effects.

But what if you want giant, sexy biceps on your mind? You’re going to have to spend some time with the free weights. Believe it or not (or believe it because it’s true), learning new things is a great way to improve your mind. Now, going out and reading a book on quantum physics is never a bad thing but learning a new motor skill will actually create new neural pathways inside your brain. So learning to shoot a rifle or learning to shoot 3 gun will do wonders. What if I told you, however, that there’s an even easier thing you can do?

Learn to shoot with your other hand. That’s it. Studies have shown that learning to do things with your weak hand has an amazing number of benefits. First off, they’ve found it causes an overall increase in creativity. Because the right side of the brain is what handles our creative side, using your left hand can actually stimulates that part of the brain. According to the studies, it also works for people who are already left handed due to the fact that both sides of the brain are activated when using a non-dominant hand as opposed to only having one side working overtime when you use your dominant hand.

The benefits go beyond that, however. Getting proficient with the opposite hand actually increases the size of the part of the brain that connects the two hemispheres. We’re talking a physical increase in size here. There are some experts that believe this increase in communication between the hemispheres can actually lead to increases in intelligence.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that using your weak hand to shoot will make you smarter. I’ll leave that to actual scientists. What I will say is that using your weak hand to do tasks has surprising benefits and you can exercise that part beyond just shooting. Try brushing your teeth with your opposite hand or forget convention and switch which hand you use for the fork and knife. Your brain will thank you. Remember: Smart is the new sexy. Work out that brain!

Image used courtesy of Wikipedia


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Free For All Friday 9-26-2014: Ankles, Gun Fit and Shooting with a Cane…

Datacenter-telecomI worked for a couple of Dot-Bombs back in the day. For those not familiar with the term, there was a big industry growth in the 90’s where tech and internet companies were given absurd amounts of investment money to come out with stupid websites that never had important words like “profit” appear in their business plans. A large percentage of these “dot-coms” went belly up in hilarious ways which earned the name “dot-bomb”. Once such company I worked for was one of the first completely online banks. It had no branches or ATMs and was about 10 years too early. Even those who were knowledgeable about the internet at the time didn’t trust the internet (and the smart people today still don’t) and didn’t like the idea of putting all their money in with a digital bank.

Anyway, you know that phrase “just enough knowledge to be dangerous”? This place had an amazing in-house datacenter (the “datacenter” is where all the servers sit). They spared no expense and this thing was so well put together that they should have taken a photo, framed it and sold it as a work of art. As such, anytime any of the reps wanted to impress potential investors, they would give them a tour of the datacenter because even to an untrained person, it was that spectacular. Now, one day while I was there, the VP of marketing was giving a tour to some bigwigs who showed up in a Bentley. At some point prior to this tour, who knows how long ago, this VP was either told or overheard at network administrator talking about “hot swap drives”. A hot swappable drive means that, after going through a certain (and very specific) process, a failed drive can be removed and replaced without powering down the server or losing the data. In an attempt to impress these Bentley driving checkbooks, the VP said something to the effect of “and you can even remove the drives while the computer is running” and before anyone could stop him, yanked the main drive out of the most important server in the room.

Now, a while back I spoke of disaster planning and how there comes a point where you have to stop because there’s no way to plan for every eventuality. In this case, no one ever figured that someone would just yank the main drive out of the most important server in the room. Keep in mind, there are quite a few steps one must do before one can “safely” remove a hot swappable drive. Failure to do so can have disastrous and permanently damaging results to the drive and the server itself. The network went down. It went down hard. The website flat out stopped. Everyone in the office stopped being able to work. The main server was fried. Network alarms were going off left and right and the beeper (yes, beepers) on every netadmins’ belt was flashing with the code “911” as even the automated notification system knew the apocalypse had just happened. Due to some events there were also hilarious in hindsight, there were no spare parts available (genius management decision of “let’s either sell off or repurpose these spare parts sitting around because it’s a waste of money to not use them). All in all, it was well over 12 hours before the minimal skeleton of the network came back online and a couple of days before it was back to 100%. The 40+ year old VP wasn’t fired but he left the CEO’s office crying that day and there were only 4 people who were ever allowed to be inside the datacenter ever again. Even the CEO barred himself from being able to enter, as a precaution. The IT budget was also doubled to implement a failover site in another state so that if this place got flattened the site wouldn’t go down. Why do I tell this story? Because I think it’s hilarious and there are multiple lessons to be learned from it. Someday I’ll tell you the story about when the know it all manager spilled his coffee on a $200,000+ stack of servers. Fun times.

Oh wait, it’s Friday. There are questions…

I want to get an ankle holster for my derringer. What do you recommend. I pocket carry my primary gun. -Fred S.

Full disclosure: I would never recommend ankle carry or a derringer for your primary defense. The “something is better than nothing” rule always applies, of course, but neither of those two options are idea for your main defense choice. As a backup to use in case your main gun breaks? That’s a whole other story. Brand-wise, Galco makes some of the best ankle holsters out there and you can get them for a variety of guns. I’ve seen them for sale at Gander Mountain and Bass Pro Shops and, of course, online.

How to tell if a firearm ‘fits’ or not. -Kurt S.

First and foremost, comfort is key. Can you grip is securely? Can you reach the controls without having to twist your hand into some crazy configuration (a small amount of adjustment of grip to reach the controls is perfectly fine)? Gun companies spend a lot of money on ergonomics and such so many guns are going to feel good. The difference in hand size and shape, however, means that some guns are going to feel noticeably better in your hand. Finally, take a look at the gun’s natural point. Having a gun whose aim matches up with your body’s aim is a huge advantage. We did an article on just this subject a while back. Check it out here for more details.

Got any advice for concealed carry while physically disabled? My wife recently had her second surgery to correct a broken foot from 9 years ago. Neither surgery helped much and she is now forced to walk with a cane, which seems like a major obstacle for CC. Any suggestions? -Mike H.

The good news is, requiring a cane isn’t the end of the world. The bad news is, it’s going to require a bit more work. In the interest of conserving text, I’m going to continue under the assumption that your wife (or anyone else reading this with a similar problem) is right handed. If you’re left handed, just reverse the stuff. The first requirement is that you get proficient with shooting one handed. That’s not as hard as it sounds. You won’t be able to fire as quickly, mind you, but with a little work you’ll quickly build up the strength to deal with it. Having a lighter gun or one with a smaller round (which means less recoil) makes a big difference in accuracy here. That’s the first bit of practice you’ll need.

Secondly, doctors recommend you use a cane on the same side as the good leg. With that in mind, if you’re right handed and you’ve hurt your right leg, that’s not as much of an issue as your left hand will be the one holding the cane. If that’s the case, simply learning to draw and fire one handed is your only worry. If, on the other hand, you are right handed and you’ve hurt your left leg, things get a bit funkier. This means that your strong hand is going to be occupied holding the cane. Now you’re going to have to shoot with your weak hand. The bright side is, this isn’t nearly as bad as you would expect. Pretend you’re learning from the first time again and start off slowly then work your way up. Let your body and mind get comfortable with the new configuration. After a couple of hours, you should be arguably comfortable. After a couple more range trips, you should be at your normal skill. Then it’s time to start drawing and firing with your weak hand. It goes without saying that dry fire practice is infinitely beneficial in this situation and will only help you get that comfort level faster.

Also, it helps to seek out guns that are ambidextrous friendly. Some guns have full time ambi-controls and others let you swap the location most (if not all) of your controls.


Thanks for the questions!

So do you have a question burning in your mind? We answer them every Friday so send them in! It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s arguably gun related we want to hear it! Head over to our Facebook or Twitter or Contact Page and send them in. See you next Friday!

 

Image licensed under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons


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Rifle Cartridge Explanation: Clearing the Waters and then Muddying them Up

Rifle_cartridge_comparison_300pxI think people fail to appreciate how easy it is to buy handgun ammo. I’m not referring to ammo inventory levels, mind you, I’m talking about picking out the right ammo for your gun. If you have a .45ACP pistol, you go out and buy a box of .45ACP ammo. At the same time, with few exceptions, it’s easy to tell the size of the round by the caliber alone. A .45 is bigger than a .40 and that’s bigger than a .380 and so on. Sometimes there can be a little confusion with the ammo that uses the metric system (hello, 9mm) but beyond that, it’s pretty straightforward. Things get a bit odd in the terms of shotgun ammo as the smaller the gauge, the bigger the round but it’s an easy rule of thumb to remember. When it comes to rifle ammo, however, It’s like they’re just trolling us.

You’ve got 5.56 which is what your average AR-15 uses but that’s the same size as a .223 but the two aren’t exactly interchangeable because 5.56 is a hotter round so you can use .223 in a 5.56 but not the other way around. You’ve got the .308 Winchester which is almost the same as the 7.62×51 round but not exactly the same but still interchangeable but not exactly interchangeable. The 7.62×51 is nothing like the 7.62x54R or the or the 7.62×39 rounds.

In fact, there are so many different ways of describing a rifle cartridge that, even though there are a couple of rules of thumb, there are so many exceptions to the rule that it’s kind of pointless. It’s the firearm equivalent of “I before E except after C”. They don’t even really teach that in schools anymore because there are more exceptions to that rule than there are words that adhere to it.

Let’s try to narrow it down a bit.

Imperial Sizing

This is exactly like handgun ammo in that’s it’s the width of the bullet in inches. So a .308 bullet is .308 inches in diameter or just over a quarter of an inch. These are the easiest sizes to picture in your mind, at least in terms of the bullets themselves. Imperial sizes, unfortunately, feel the need to muddy up the relatively uncomplicated waters. More on that in a moment.

Metric Sizes

Things get a bit funkier when you start dealing with the metric style. In the grand scheme of things, much like the metric system in general, it’s actually a much easier way to measure and describe cartridges. Let’s look at the 7.62×51 round. First off, the name isn’t a multiplication equation. Believe it or not, I heard a clerk at a store tell this to a buyer once. I’ll never forget it when I heard him say “you just multiply the numbers together and that’s the size of the bullet”. I noped the heck out of that store with haste. Here’s the way it works. The thing before the “x” is the diameter of the bullet itself in millimeters. In this case, the bullet is 7.62mm across. The stuff behind the “x” is the length of the casing, in this case (case…get it?) it’s 51mm long. So I can quickly see that a 7.62×51 round has the same size bullet but longer case than the 7.62×39 round. Boom, done. Crystal clear.

Everything Else

Then you have stuff like the .30-06. It’s named that because it’s a .30 caliber round that was introduced in 1906. Some of these are just…you just have to go with it.

Now Let’s Screw Up a Good Thing

Remember how I said that the imperial system muddies the waters? A better term would be “shot themselves in the foot”. Some say it’s marketing but, personally, I think it’s partially due to ego as well. That’s why we have things like the .308 Winchester and the .308 Marlin Express or the .338 Winchester Magnum and the .338 Lapua Magnum. None of those are compatible with each other. At the same time, based on the name alone, you would never know that the .308 Winchester has a slightly longer case than the .308 Marlin unless you spent some time on Wikipedia or compared the two side by side in the store. With all the Winchesters, Marlins, Savage, Remingtons, Swifts, Fireballs, Hornets, Krag, Springfields, Blackouts and SOCOMS that follow imperial rounds, it’s a wonder why more people don’t say “forget it, I’m buying a shotgun”.

So the Official Gun Noob Rule of Thumb Is…

There are a large number of rifle cartridges that are interchangeable. There are also many that are interchangeable with very specific rules. Finally, there are an absurd about that are so similarly named that you would swear they’re interchangeable but they’re dangerously not in any way, shape or form. So the best thing to do is stick with the size that is stamped on the side of your rifle and don’t swap things out unless you are 1000% certain you can. Doing otherwise can cause severe injury to yourself and others nearby.


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Free For All Friday 9-19-2014: Conversions, Cleaning and Youths…arrrr

self_portraitAhoy! Well, today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. It’s one o’ me absolute favorite internet created holidays. Why? Because I get t’ annoy t’ heck out o’ me mateys and family. In other news, it looks like t’ NSSF be startin’ their promotion for SHOT Show 2015 and I’m as excited as can be! I’m used to t’ craziness at this point and can really enjoy t’ show. It’ll be interestin’ t’ see how it turns out this time. I’ve got some predictions for it already but that’s a different article. On t’ t’ questions ye scurvy dogs! Yaharr!

[What is the] cost versus application to convert a 1911 Colt from 9mm over to a 45acp? -Billy H.

While there are numerous decent .22LR conversions, moving to 9mm is an entirely different story. The problem with moving a 1911 from .45 to 9mm isn’t just a matter of swapping a barrel, magazine and possibly slide then calling it a day due to the different size requirements of the internals (like ramps and such). There are kits available, mind you, but the reviews I’ve seen on them are typically a bit dubious at best. I don’t want to sound like one of “those guys” but this is one of the cases where getting a 1911 that was built from the ground up to handle 9mm would be a better choice. There are quite a few good ones that run right about the same price or slightly more than your average conversion kit. Personally, all things being equal, I’d rather have the purpose built item than one where the functionality was shoe-horned in.

 

How soon after a range session would you recommend cleaning the guns? Is it best to do it right away? Or will the “I’ll get to it when I get to it” attitude make things more difficult? -Mike H.

I always jump on the cleaning as soon as I get home. I’ve talked about it before but that tendency is really just my borderline insane need to have shiny guns. I don’t like fingerprints on my gun. Dirty, nasty fingerprints. I think I’ll clean them again when I get home tonight. Sorry, Gollumed myself a bit there. That’s right, I’ve turned Gollum into a verb. Anyway, the best advice I can give on it is this: Make sure you clean and lube your guns before you would actually need to use them. I think that’s a good rule of thumb. Keep in mind that the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to clean.

 

I have a nephew (he’s like a son) who loves his bb gun and is always begging me to take him shooting. I’d like to take him to a range and have him try a small 22 rifle (with the proper safeties as always), but I don’t know if he is old enough. What’s your opinion on when to really bring your kids into the gun world? -JD

This is a sensitive subject to many. Personally, I’m all for removing the mystery and stigma of guns early on. The problem is, there’s not clear cut answer. I wish there was a hard guideline like “At exactly 2 minutes past their 8th birthday they are perfectly ready for the responsibility”. Actually, raising kids would be so much easier if we had those kinds of schedules for everything, wouldn’t it? Some big document that lists stuff like “At exactly 4 years, 6 hours and 27 minutes they will start using the toilet on their own.” Right now all we have is driving a car at 16 and getting thrown out of the house at 18 and possibly bailing them out of jail after their 21st birthday celebration.

But I digress. In this case, it really comes down to the point where you realistically feel the child is ready. I don’t have kids myself but I can use the annoying neighborhood kids who live around me as an example. One boy that lives nearby, about a year ago I wouldn’t have trusted him with a nerf gun, much less a live one. Now, in just over a year he has noticeably matured to the point that I think he could easily handle the responsibility now. His older sister, on the other hand, I would have been more than comfortable putting her on the range quite a few years ago as she has always been remarkably responsible and behaved for her age. The kid across the street who thinks it’s fun to run head first into walls and cars? I would never let him even hear the word “gun” in any context.

So it all comes down to your gut feeling. If you think the kid is ready, then by all means go for it. Be realistic, though. You’re starting him out with a .22LR rifle and that’s perfect. A .22LR gun is the absolute best gun to start any kid out with. Try and make it as fun as possible for them. You can even go so far as to make the safety rules and stuff a bit of a game. Good luck!


Thanks for the questions!

So do you have a question burning in your mind? We answer them every Friday so send them in! It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s arguably gun related we want to hear it! Head over to our Facebook or Twitter or Contact Page and send them in. See you next Friday!


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Gear Review: Versacarry Holsters

versacarryFrom the cars we drive, the television we watch to the internet that you’re using to read this article, some of the greatest inventions of our time have come from some person saying “forget the status quo, let’s rethink this.” At the same time, some of the worst and dangerous inventions have also come from that same line of thinking. When it comes to reviews, I try to be as diplomatic as humanly possible. I honestly don’t like publishing bad reviews. At the same time, when I find something that I feel is fundamentally dangerous, I feel the need to warn people.

Today, I’m talking about the Versacarry “holster”.

On the surface, it seems like a neat idea. Take advantage of the features present in every gun to rethink the holster as we know it. What you get is a holster that goes into the gun rather than around it. They’re inexpensive and work based off the caliber and size of the gun instead of the shape itself.

I originally picked one up at Academy Sports thinking “well, it’s inexpensive and different. Could make for a neat review at GN…”. While I’ve come to learn that there have been quite a few, I hadn’t read any reviews of it at the time and until well after I tested it so as not to sway my thoughts on the matter.

If you’re not familiar with the device, it’s a small strip of plastic that curves around the top to clip to a belt then, at the bottom, it has a spike that you insert into the barrel of your gun and that’s what really holds it in place. There’s also a plastic shield that is attached on the side to protect the trigger.

While I mentioned a couple of good things about it earlier, I feel I should mention the rest of the positives about it. Setup is easy. You just decide which side on which you want to carry it then attach the trigger shield accordingly. Once everything is in place, it is comfortable enough which is notable as I’ve only ever found a couple of holsters that I could truly call “comfortable”. It can also be used in just about any position including appendix carry.

As far as the bad, well, it outweighs the good in my opinion. For starters, the very design of the gun means you are creating an obstruction in the barrel. If you’re wondering why that’s bad, do a Google search for “gun barrel obstruction”. It’s not pretty. If there is a negligent discharge… which if you follow all the safety commandments there won’t be but if there is, instead of the bullet going through some fatty tissue in a path travelling away from you, you will instead have shrapnel flying away perpendicular to the gun and into your soft, squishy interior.

There’s also the issue of the retention rod breaking off. Now, Versacarry claims that this is a non-issue as their rods are sized “0.015 under the barrel”. As tight as the fit is in the unit I tested, I can’t honestly say I buy that. After a lot of use it might wear down but as much as I test it, that fit was still VERY tight in my gun to the point I typically had to force it in. Drawing was difficult as a result and, even though I’m using a high quality gun belt, the holster came off with the gun more often than I’m comfortable with. While retention is important in a holster, this was a bit too much retention. If the fit wasn’t so tight, I’m not sure how there would be much in the way of retention at all which gives it a whole different set of problems. If that retention rod sticks into the barrel, boom. No thank you.

I did say the holster was “comfortable enough” but that really depends on the gun you’re using. With my Glock 19, it was fine. When I tried it with my FNS-9, the stippling on the gun and texture of the handle rubbed me raw. This is because the entirety of the gun sits against you. The aggressive texture on the FNS-9 was enough to actually cause an issue through the underwear I had on. I’ve never run into that issue with traditional holsters. At the most a bit of the handle bothers me with those.

Finally, the trigger shield doesn’t exactly give me much comfort. It really seems to be there to protect the trigger when you’re putting it on. Oh, side note: you’re not able to re-holster a gun with the Versacarry. They expect you to remove the holster, attach it to your gun then put it back into your waistband. Anyway, as you jostle around, things can happen. The trigger is completely exposed. There’s another danger point for me.

In the end, the Versacarry is a neat solution in search of a problem. It gives absolutely no advantages over a traditional holster and adds several significant and potentially deadly disadvantages. I file these in the same category that I put the Uncle Mike’s holsters: save your money and get something better. There are lots of much better options out there. They are more expensive, mind you, but you definitely get what you pay for.


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Free For All Friday 10-12-2014: Holsters, new guns and stuff!

10689615_10202754167680086_2524888533288199707_nEver notice how we often try to make solutions far more difficult than they need to be? As a long time programmer, I find myself running into this quite a lot these days. I’ll have a feature I need to implement and I’ll start coding. After hundreds and hundreds of lines of code, I’ll have something that works but not as well as I’d like. I’ll sit back and stew on it for a bit then, after yelling a swear word or two, delete those few hundred lines of code and replace it with about a dozen lines that does exactly what I need and exactly how I need it. I recently heard another programmer mention that he could “complicate the heck out of a ball bearing”. Keep this in mind when problems present themselves to you. As is stated in Occam’s Razor (although paraphrased greatly): the simplest solution is often the best one.

I am getting a Taurus Millennium G2 soon and in my state we only have a concealed carry, open is not an option. My questions are 1. What’s a good holster to start with (with cc in mind)? 2. With holsters, do you normally get what you pay for? And 3. Just out of curiosity, what do you think about versacarry holsters ( if that’s what you would call them). Thanks a lot for all your advice! -JD

Trying to squeeze three answers out for the price of one, are ya?! Well, I’m sorry to say I’m going to have to charge you full price for all three. So that’s the normal price to $0.00 times 3 which, let’s see….carry the one….ok, your total is $0.00 plus tax. I accept payment in Bitcoin. Now that’s settled, let’s get to it!

  1. I like the combination leather/kydex holsters that are becoming more and more common. We’ve done a review of Dragon Holsters here but I would recommend anything from Crossbreed Holsters as well. Stay away from those cheap nylon ones that are all over the place at sporting goods stores (usually names Mike’s Holsters or something to that effect). They are uncomfortable, flimsy and they have absolutely zero retention for the gun and that can lead to accidents.
  2. Yes. Holsters, like a lot of things in the gun world, has a equivalent quality to price ratio. There are diminishing returns at some point, mind you. I wouldn’t pay more than $100 for a holster unless it was some custom job made for competition and such.
  3. I am actually writing an article about the Versacarry Holsters for this Monday’s article. I’ll give you a hint: there’s a reason I didn’t mention it in my answer to the first part of your question. Be sure to check back Monday for the full review!

What are some of the pitfalls that a first time buyer might run into when buying a pistol, and how can new shooters to avoid the “One gun to do it all” mentality when looking for a pistol? -Steve G.

The “one gun to do it all” you spoke of is a great description, actually. Many people when they go to buy a gun will say they “want a gun for home defense and possibly to carry later on”. The best bit of advice I can give anyone buying their first gun is to go in with the understanding that there is no Swiss Army Gun. Okay, well, there is a standard issue gun for the Swiss Army, mind you but I’m talking about their knives. While there is some overlap, a gun for home defense is mostly likely not going to be your best bet for concealed carry. At the same time, the perfect concealed carry gun for you is more than likely not going to be the best for home defense. I’ve said it before many times on this site: your carry gun shouldn’t be your first gun. Get a full sized gun for your home and for practice. Once you’re comfortable with that, then look for a smaller carry gun.

Also, when you are ultimately ready for a carry gun, don’t get drawn in by some gimmicky folding revolver or neat looking cheap derringer. I wouldn’t bet my life on either of those and neither should you. Stick with the tried and true pistol styles. Find a store you can trust and talk with the clerk. They’ll help you find one that’s right for you.

You can also look through our Beginner Gun Reviews for a look at guns from the “is this a good first gun for a person” point of view. /ShamelessSelfPromotion


Thanks for the questions!

So do you have a question burning in your mind? We answer them every Friday so send them in! It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s arguably gun related we want to hear it! Head over to our Facebook or Twitter or Contact Page and send them in. See you next Friday!


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Gun Myths: Gun show reloads are wastes of money.

380There’s a lot of bad information on the intertubes. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen horribly bad advice being passed off as “expertise”, I wouldn’t need to be working anymore and could do GunNoob.com full time. With that, I’m going to start picking out bits of bad advice I’ve seen around the internet and then go all Mythbusters on it.

The first one was inspired by a strange set of circumstances. I was browsing one of my favorite forums and saw someone just ripping on those gunshow reload ammo packs. You know the ones: $12 for 50 rounds of 9mm FMJ and so on. Even though he stated that he “had never had a problem with them”, he wouldn’t “waste his money on that junk”. About an hour after I closed my browser with a chuckle, I got an email from someone asking about reloads for range practice. Part of me wonders if he was reading the same forum that I was browsing.

Regardless, those “worthless” gunshow reloads have made up about 99% of the countless number of shots I’ve made while running this site (and for a while beforehand as well). Why? Because I can get hundreds of rounds for the cost of a single 50 pack of the brand name stuff. Unlike some bloggers who are sponsored, or run their own stores, or are filthy rich to begin with, I’m just a guy running my own blog out of my pocket. The money I spend on this blog competes with things like mortgages and electric bills and such. I save money where I can and the biggest place to save money is on ammo. Granted, if someone wants to sponsor this blog, or just throw money my way for no reason whatsoever, I won’t turn it down. My first wife got my dignity in the divorce.

Anyway, here’s the thing about those reloads. A lot of people don’t trust them. They don’t have the quality controls that a lot of the big name manufacturers have and that could lead to a higher number of bad rounds. The funny part is, I’ve never personally had any. In fact, I’ve had more bad rounds from those Remington UMC boxes than I have ever had from the gun show reloads. It really comes down to volume. Let’s say that, for whatever reason, both a GSR (gun show reloader. I just made that acronym up.) and the big name brand both have an average bad round rate of about 2%. Now let’s say Big Name, Inc brand churns out 2 million rounds a day while GunShowReloader, LLC puts out maybe 10,000 a day. After crunching the numbers, we see that the reloader would have about 200 bad rounds while the big name brand would have 40,000 bad rounds. In other words, the big name brand would churn out more bad rounds in a day than the total number of rounds the reloader could churn out almost a week.

In fact, in my research, I can’t really find anything substantial. I haven’t seen anyone saying “they blew up my gun”. I’ve seen a few cases with a home reloader blew up their gun, mind you, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. All the stories I’m seeing are “they blew up some guy at the range’s gun” or “I know a guy who knows a guy who gets his hair cut from a guy that lives next door to a guy who’s gun blew up from those”.

Keep in mind, a lot of companies say that using reloads voids the warranty. My question has always been “how would they know?”. You’d have to be one heck of a self-incriminating person in that case. Am I saying be dishonest? Not at all. There’s only a couple of ways your gun can be damaged on account of reloads and both of those couldn’t be explained as a “warranty issue” by any stretch of the imagination. Keep in mind, I’m not advocating underhandedness. The reloads DO void your warranty and you should shoot them with that understanding. What I am saying is that, statistically speaking, it’s not going to be an issue either way.

So by all means, load up your gun with them, go to the range and blast away. They’re great rounds and the hate they get is unwarranted by far.

Myth: Busted Sorry, our staff of law-monkies has informed me that’s copyrighted.

Myth: torched!

What’s what you say? Would I bet my life on the reloads and use them for self defense? Well…uhm.. I would have to say LOOK OVER THERE! SOMETHING VERY DISTRACTING IS HAPPENING! **runs away**

 


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Free For All Friday 9-5-2014: Lawyers and stuff…

ferrariF1As always, I start out Free For All Friday by talking about things that interest me personally. It’s not always about guns and you can always feel free to skip right to the questions (hint: they’re always italicized). That being said, the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza is this weekend and there’s an interesting bit of drama going into it. After that crazy collision with Hamilton and Rosberg last race, there’s some noticeable tension in team Mercedes. While Merc is on top in the league this year, the competitiveness between their two drivers, I think, it going to give them trouble. It’s presenting a major chink in their armor and is creating a big hole for other teams (like my favorite Ferrari) to climb through. At the same time, I think Rosberg feels like he has something to prove because, if you look at the numbers, the only reason he’s on top right now is because they can’t seem to keep Hamilton’s car working. With that desire to prove something, he’s starting to get a bit reckless.

Side note: Next season, there will be an American team racing in Formula 1 for the first time in a while and I’m looking forward to cheering them on.

We’ve got one question this week but it’s a really good one…

I was hoping for your opinion on lawyers, more specifically should I have a lawyer on retainer if I carry concealed? -Corey M.

Great question! A lot of people stop at “I have a CCW and I know how to use it” and don’t think about the slim yet horrible possibility that they might have to use it at some point. Having a lawyer after the fact is is an absolute necessity, especially if you live in a less than gun-friendly area. I don’t think that I would spend the cash to have one on retainer, however. Granted, it’s your money and you can do what you want with it. Were it my money, I’d rather put it in savings that could be used for anything I need, even if it’s a lawyer. Now, there are some “legal insurance” type of products you can get for FAR less than paying a retainer fee. Those are great because they cover situations like auto accidents and personal injury as well as self defense situations.

A good free alternative is to locate a good lawyer in your area that has experience with gun laws and self-defense defense and just keep his or her phone number in your wallet next to your carry permit. You can use services like Angie’s List and such to find a good one. I might also recommend talking with your chosen lawyer for a bit (it may cost some money but many do a free consult) and just finding out some steps you can take after the fact to make the lawyer’s job easier.

After all, the easier the job the lawyer has, the better your chances of staying out of trouble if worse comes to worst.

 


Thanks for the questions!

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