Monthly Archives: January 2015

Free For All Friday 1-30-2015: .22LR and other guns

22I am sitting on a huge backlog of stuff to get to. I hate getting behind on work. If you’ve sent me an email in the past week/week and a half and I haven’t replied, I’m not ignoring you. Real life is just being real life and, well, yeah. We’ve got two questions this week, one from THE Chris H. who occasionally writes for the blog!

Why on earth is .22 ammo still so hard to find? -Our Very Own Chris H.

Remember when you could get, like, 500+ rounds of .22LR for around $15 at any given point? Heck, stores had so much that they could do buy-one get-one boxes and still not run out. These days, even though the vast majority of ammo has returned to the shelves in bountiful and (more importantly) affordable amounts, the .22LR sections of the ammo aisles are still a bit sparse…to say the least. What gives?

Part of it, as Lawrence on the Facebook page pointed out, is due to people buying a bunch of with the hopes of reselling it. There is also a not-insignificant number of people who are just hoarding the heck out of it in the fear that there will be another huge shortage at some point. The problem is, those people alone can’t really account for the massive void we’re seeing at the moment.

For starters, we need to consider why .22LR was so cheap to begin with. The primary reason was because there was a metric buttload of it around. Now, that’s a metric buttload which, if you want to run the conversion is a little over 3 times an imperial buttload. Not only was there a huge surplus but the production levels were still at the same levels even though there were piles of it in warehouses. Supply and demand rules always apply so when you have a huge supply and the demand stays the same, the price will always drop. It’s the primary reason why .22LR was popular in the first place: they’re just freaking cheap.

Then the scare hit. People, in their panic, burned through store’s inventories then they burned through what should have been a couple of year’s worth of surplus in a matter of months. They didn’t just burn through .22LR, mind you, they burned through all of it. Every caliber there was got consumed by the panicked masses. Demand outpaced supply. Everything got turned on its nose. So there’s where the initial void came from. But what about the void that has remained?

Let’s take emotion and personal preference out of the equation for a moment put yourself in the shoes of a manufacturer. Having a business is pointless if your goal isn’t to stay in business, right? Even though the machines are different, the raw materials and human resources needed to produce ammo is in a finite pool. If your entire inventory is depleted, where do you dedicate the majority of those production resources? Do you put them into the most popular round on the worldwide market (9mm)? Do you put it into the the round with the most profit margin (.40 or .45)? Or do you put your resources into the round that, while popular, is surprisingly expensive to make per round and only nets you a fraction of a penny per round sold?

The reason why .22LR is still not to where it was is because that’s what the market has deemed it to be. Manufacturers are producing at max capacity and the glut of excess inventory isn’t there. One other factor to keep in mind is that the number of gun owners has skyrocketed over the past few years. The manufacturers are producing at a capacity geared towards the industry a few years ago. We’re going to have doubled the amount of gun owners in the country at some point in the near future. So at the same time that manufacturers are running at maximum capacity, they’re also trying to increase their capacity to keep up with the market.

It’s a risky game to play, however. You don’t want to misjudge your market then start producing far more than are needed because, at that point, the prices go down and you start to lose money. Now, before people start screaming “See?! They’re purposely keeping production down to keep prices up!”, remember what I said earlier. Businesses need to stay in business and they don’t want to kill themselves. They’re going to continue production at a rate that keeps them competitive with other ammo manufacturers. There will always been those that sell stuff cheaper and others that sell stuff at a premium.

You often hear names like Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Taurus on firearm forums but not H&K or Sig Sauer as much. Why is that? -Gordon L.

Great question and you can bet that the marketing departments at SIG and H&K spend 40+ hours a week pondering the same thing. As an outsider, I have my own theory. Let me just say up front: I’m going to have to tread lightly here. You’ll understand why in a moment.

If you look at the price points of Ruger, S&W, Taurus, Glock and similar lines, they weigh in at a price tag below $600 for the most part. With companies like SIG, H&K and other “premium” pistols, they usually start at $600. This means that those premium brands are just naturally going to have a smaller market share to begin with. I don’t have any numbers that I can find but I’d hazard a guess to say you’ll probably come across 5-10 Glock owners for every one H&K owner. This is because, even for those with the money to do so, it’s FAR easier to justify $450-$550 on a Glock than it is on a $950 H&K. It’s a numbers game there and it can make it appear as though guns like H&K and SIG just aren’t popular but you really are comparing apples to oranges.

Let’s look at it another way. Is it fair to compare the Toyota Camry to the BMW 428i? Both are 4-cylinder sedans with around 34 mpg. The Camry, however, outsells the BMW by huge margins. Going down the highway you’re more likely to see a Camry than a 428i. If you look purely at the numbers, one could say that the BMW just isn’t a popular car. However, if you compare the numbers to say Mercedes and Audi, you’d see that the 428i is actually hugely popular among that segment.

So the reason you’re not seeing much about SIG and H&K on forums (and I apologize because I can’t figure out a way to say this that doesn’t sound jerky to me) is that the people on the forums you’re visiting just aren’t SIG or H&K people.

 


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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Free For All Friday 1-23-2014: Defense ammo?

ffaf1-23The SHOT Show is in full swing. There’s been some interesting stuff being showcased. Remington is claiming they’ve fixed all the issues with the R51 and are putting it back into production. Springfield has announced some new variations of their XD lines. Glock is Glock. The Taurus Curve is getting a lot of attention. All in all, it looks like it’s been interesting. At the same time, it always seems that more interesting stuff has always been announced at NRAAM. Never understood that, really. The SHOT Show is where media and vendors get to see what’s out there so it seems to go without saying that SHOT is where you’d get the most exposure. While I understand production schedules and so on don’t always coincide with show schedules but it seems like it would be a good idea to adjust production schedules so you can get the most exposure possible. Just my $0.08 which is my $0.02 adjusted for inflation.

We had one question this week:

Self defense shotgun ammo: gimmick or good idea? -Dave J.

With handguns and rifles, I typically consider the majority of self defense rounds to be nothing more than a gimmick. With few exceptions, it’s just a hollow point round that’s been given +P powder loads where possible then they change the color of the casing, put it in a shiny box and charge an extra $5-$10 per box. Shotguns, however, are an entirely different story. While we’re planning on doing a more in-depth article about it in the not too distant future, I will say now that I love the self-defense ammo options for shotguns. You can do some crazy things with the shell loadings due to the “cannon” like nature of the shotgun structure. There are rounds that are made of little barbed spikes instead of pellets and even wilder stuff. My own shotgun at home is loaded with Winchester’s PDx Defender 12 gauge rounds (also available in many other calibers). This is a rifled slug that is packed behind 3 buckshot rounds. It’s a nasty combination and great because, when someone is kicking in your front door, there’s no such thing as overkill. Other companies make self defense shells as well but, having tested them, I personally prefer the PDx line.

 


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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Double-Ought What? Demystifying Shot Shell Terms

shotshellwhatNine Millimeter Hollow Point? Straightforward. Forty Five ACP Full Metal Jacket? Makes Sense. Twelve Gauge Number Two Game Load? Lol wut? I mean, I get the 12 Gauge part. That “number 2” thing can’t mean what I think it means because who’d want to advertise THAT about their ammo? What kind of game? Is it a first person shooter or a real time strategy game? Why do shotguns have to be so complicated?!

Let’s just take a deep breath and break this down a bit. There is a lot of different shotgun ammo out there. Each individual shell size has more variations than any other type of ammo. As a result, people new to shotguns or shooting in general may be a bit overwhelmed or confused. I know I was when I got my first pump action. While different boxes may state things differently, a full description of shotgun ammo goes a little something like this:

Shell Size | Shot Size | Shot Type | Shot Material | Shell Length

Shell Size

The Shell size is probably the most straightforward of the descriptions. If you have a 12 gauge shotgun, get 12 gauge shells. There’s not really any “interchangeable” rounds like in rifles or pistols. As for the shells themselves, the smaller the number, the larger the shell. So a 20 gauge shell is going to be smaller than a 12 gauge. The only exception is the .410 round. Don’t make the mistake of calling it a “.410 gauge” because, for some odd reason, they decided not to use gauge with that particular size. The proper name for that is “.410 bore”. Fun fact: the .410 bore shell would technically be a 68 gauge round.

Now, if you’re using a slug, you can pretty much stop at the shell size. There are some descriptors used only on slugs but those typically mirror that of pistol and rifle ammo. You might see “12 gauge hollow point slug” or “20 gauge fragmenting slug”. It means the same thing as if it were “9mm” and “5.56” instead of the gauge. Just a side note about slugs: in my testing, they seem to have a noticeably higher amount of recoil than their pellet filled siblings. Your mileage may vary.

Shot Type

We’re going to jump ahead a bit however and look at the “Shot Type” trait. For the most part, you’re going to be looking at 3 flavors:

  • Target Load

    As the name implies, these are really for target shooting. The bright side here is that target loads are no different from birdshot. They just have a smaller amount of powder and a pretty limited selection of shot size. Typically, you’ll see Number 7 ½, 8, 9 sizes. For the most part, you can use 7 ½ for pretty much all your clay shooting but if you want to get picky, #8 and #9 are better for Skeet and #7 ½ is best for Trap.

  • Birdshot

    This style of shot shells are used for…you guessed it: birds. They’re also good for snakes, critters and rodents as well, I might add. Birdshot is typically labelled with either the shot size itself (#1-#10 and higher in the U.S.) or by the game it’s intended for (Pheasant, Quail, Squirrel, etc). While some would say it’s acceptable for home defense, those people should be ignored. That discussion is for another article but for now, if you want a home defense shot, take a look at….

  • Buckshot

    You want to shoot something big? Buckshot. You want to remove a threat from your home? Buckshot. You want to slow down a T-1000? Time to get some buckshot. Buckshot is often labeled with the # similar to birdshot but it almost always has “buck” following it. For example: “#1 Buck” or “#3 Buck”. Once again, the smaller the number, the larger the shot size. With buck, however, you get the added bonus of #0, #00 and #000. Think of those as 0, -2, and -3 in the “smaller number scale”. The 0’s, which are also called “ought” are some big mamma jammas and typically the most readily available. Your double-ought buck is probably the most common you’re going to find and more than appropriate for hunting deer or stopping a home invader.  It should not, however, be used for birds or clay shooting.

Shot Size

ammoBoxAs you may have noticed, each type of shot also has its own variations of measurements. These are standard sized that can easily be calculated…although each type has its own calculations. For birdshot, subtracting the shot size number (i.e. #8) from 17 will give you the size of the pellets in hundredths of an inch. So 17-8 would be .09” in diameter. For buckshot, I can’t for the life of me figure out how they’re calculating it. Still, the typical rule applies: smaller number = bigger pellet.

Shot Material

This part comes down to two main options: steel and lead. Most skeet shooting ranges don’t like you using steel shot as it is more likely to damage their machines if you miss. Conversely, a lot of states don’t like you using lead ammo as it can pollute water supplies. There are also some more exotic materials available like bismuth or tungsten but, in all honesty, I’ve never seen those for sale in any of my local stores. Heck, I don’t think I’ve seen them at my local gun shows either. Either way, the best way to decide here is check the rules and regulations of wherever you’re planning on shooting them.

Shell Length

The bigger the shell, the more powder and shot in it. Also the more recoil and more stress on your gun. The vast majority of shells you’re going to come across are 2 ½ to 2 ¾ inches in length. Three inch shells are also widely available but many shotguns warn against using them. It’s kind of like pistols and +P loads: if your gun doesn’t explicitly say you can use them, don’t use them.

Hopefully this article will act as a bit of an Enigma Machine for your as you browse the shotgun ammo section of your local sporting goods store. It’s not that bad once you break down the code. Now go get some ammo and get out there and practice!

Ammo images used from our friends over at Ammunition Depot. Check them out for all your ammo needs!


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Free For All Friday 1-16-15: break actions, shotgun practice and CZ pistols

ffaf_smWhile I realize it’s a bit late to be talking about New Years Resolutions, I haven’t had the chance to talk about them with my other FFAF posts thus far. It’s still January, however, and if my friends’ Facebook posts are any indicator, the gyms are still filled with NYR people. Typically, the majority of people give up on their resolutions around the end of February with the major holdouts giving up around April. Personally, I think a lot of people waste their resolutions. What are most people’s resolution? Typically it’s lose weight, exercise more, go outside more often, etc. When you think about it, those are things we should all be doing to begin with. Doing that is like throwing a dart first then drawing the bullseye around where it lands…and statistically speaking drawing the bullseye wrong. I’m not one of those “I don’t make resolutions” type of people but I don’t like to waste mine either. I prefer to use my resolutions to do something new. I pick something that I’ve never done before and have no real reason to do in the first place. I do this as a way to force myself to grow and exercise my mind. As I’ve spoken about before, learning new things is good for your brain. It may be something simple like “learn to make good bread”. A few years ago I learned how to knit. Last year was to learn a programming language I’ve been wanting to learn. This year, it’s learning to solve Rubik’s Cubes.

In the meantime, guns are far less complicated than those stupid plastic cubes…

Shotgun barrels – over/under, side by side, triple barrel. What’s that all about? -Mike H.

Shotguns come in three main varieties: pump action, break action and semi-auto. Of those varieties, the break actions are the most simple but also the most popular for certain applications. Go to any clay shooting competition and you might notice the majority of the competitors will be using over/unders. There’s a reason for that but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

overunderThe over/under, side by side and triple barrels fall under said break action category. This is because you have to “break” open the gun in order to chamber new rounds. The upside is that there are very few moving parts to the gun as well as a faster rate of fire. The downside is you only hold a couple of shells and it takes a moment to replace those. Also, with only 2 or 3 shells in the gun, that whole “faster rate of fire” thing is a bit relative.

But that wasn’t your question. The side by side shotguns are the arguably oldest of the multi-barrel break actions. These days, you will see far more over/unders because the barrels are both in line with your sight. In over/unders and side by sides, the direct line of the barrels cross at some point but with side by sides, that means the barrels are crooked left and right relative to aim. When you’re shooting at birds and clays, they’re typically moving left or right so logically, it could cause problems to have your aim off in those directions. The up and down elevation differences of an over/under, however, don’t come into play as much but I’ve yet to figure out a reason why.

The triple barreled break actions are pretty much just a gimmick. It’s an awesome gimmick, mind you, but a gimmick none-the-less. You wouldn’t be able to use them in most competitions, a lot of clay ranges only allow you to load two shots at once and I believe many states have similar restrictions for hunting.

Fun fact: Remember how I said the barrels criss-cross at some point? In many cases, that distance can be adjusted by a talented gunsmith. If you were to take your double-barrel to a gunsmith that’s been in the business for a long time and ask him or her to make your shotgun “well regulated” (hmmm…where have I heard that phrase before?), he or she will ask you “at what distance?” According to scholars (and previous editions of the Oxford English Dictionary), “well-regulated” is a term very commonly used up until the early 1900s that means “in proper working order” or “correctly calibrated”. Now I’ve just got to figure out where I’ve heard that term. I’m sure it will come to me eventually. Either way, many gunsmiths still recognize and use the term.

None of the ranges around here will let you shoot [a shotgun] and the nearest outdoor range that will is a long way away. I have zero interest in shooting clays and everyone says that’s the wrong shotgun for that anyway. So how do I become proficient enough to use it for HD? I have no confidence in being able to effectively use this weapon. Any ideas? -Ron

You’ll be happy to know that this is a very common problem or maybe not happy. Misery loves company, right? Anyway, I ran into the same issues when I bought my first shotgun. For some reason, indoor ranges don’t seem to want a giant cannon firing a couple hundred tiny bullets in their places. Weird, huh? This is one of the reasons I’m sometimes hesitant to recommend shotguns for home defense as there aren’t many places where people can get comfortable with them. I do have some tricks, however, that you can try. For starters, a lot of ranges say “no shotguns” but they really mean “no shot”. If you ask, most of them have no problems if you use slugs. Make sure you ask first. I can’t stress that enough.

I know you said you aren’t interested in clay shooting but there’s something at every clay shooting area that might interest you: patterning boards. This is just a big slab of wood that you tape a target to so that you can shoot it with your ammo (target loads only) and figure out which choke tubes you need and such. Nothing says you have to then go and shoot clays afterwards. Make sure you stop in at the office to clarify the rules of the patterning board. Nine times out of ten, they don’t even charge for it. You’re not going to learn to run and gun that way but you can at least put a bunch of rounds through your gun to get an idea of the recoil, aiming and spread. Keep in mind, your defense ammo will have significantly more recoil but that’s how it goes for most guns.

Worst comes to worst, you might have to make a couple of special road trips to a range that does allow shotguns. Personally, I drive an hour away to my favorite outdoor range to shoot as opposed to the similar outdoor range that’s 10 minutes away just because my favorite range allows me to shoot whatever I want, however I want as long as I follow safety rules. The closer one has so many weird and, frankly, pointless rules that it’s hard to test or even gain proficiency with any gun there.

I am looking to buy a first civilian handgun, having never used a sidearm in the military. My local gun shop recommends a CZ 75B .40 cal, and I am curious how you would rate this choice. Thanks for your time and the great articles! -Chris N.

I have never read a bad review of a CZ 75. At least not from a reputable source. Your Glock and 1911 fanboys will poo poo anything that isn’t Glock or 1911 but beyond that, the love of CZ’s is near universal. They have the best factory trigger out of any gun I’ve ever shot and they are solid as can be. Factor in the excellent price and you’ve got an incredible pistol. The fact that I haven’t done a review of one yet is a major regret but it also isn’t due to lack of effort on my part. They’re just so popular that CZ just doesn’t have any to send out for tests. The only thing I would recommend is to go with the 9mm version instead of the .40. The gun was designed and balanced for the 9mm. The .40 was…well…shoehorned in..for lack of a better term. There is a significant increase in recoil moving from 9mm to .40 and because of the weight and such of the pistol, it’s going to be much more prominent. If you’re ok with the extra pop then go for it. Then again, I have never liked the .40 but that’s an article for another day.

I have been trying to convince [my parents] to get a stripped AR lower and then build our own rifle as a way to ease into the idea of gun ownership. I have been exploring the feasibility of the idea myself, and I am wondering if from a technical aspect it would be possible for my Dad and I to do so. If so, are there any online guides we could use? -Josh V.

I have put together LEGO sets that were far more difficult than assembling a lower. As long as you have the proper tools, it is a breeze and will make you wonder why people charge so much for it. When it comes to building the upper from scratch, however, you couldn’t pay me enough to do that again. I still have a couple of scars on my hand from that. Besides, with the glut of AR-15 parts available thanks to the fallout from the shortage, quality assembled uppers can be found for as cheap (if not cheaper) than if you were to piece them together yourself. The lowers, however, are still a bargain to build and quite fun at that. They’re also the only part you have to go through a background check for. So my recommendation is to build your lower then just order an upper. You can get a barebones upper then accessorize the heck out of it or just buy one already tricked out.

As far as online guides, you can always check out my AR-15 Project series. Outside of shameless self promotion, Brownells has an absolutely brilliant video series which is, admittedly, far more detailed than mine. My series wasn’t meant so much as a “how to” but a “watch me do it and see the pitfalls you might run into”.


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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Why do Shotguns use Gauge Instead of Caliber?

ShotshellsI’ve been working on a bunch of guides for the Year of the Shotgun. As I was working, there was a question that kept coming up in my brain. Namely, why are rifles and pistols measured in “caliber” while shotguns use “gauge”? I mean, if you really want to get pedantic about it, gauge technically is the caliber of the shotgun. You don’t really hear people refer to shotguns as a “12 gauge caliber” gun. Maybe sometimes a “large caliber” shotgun, perhaps.

Clearly, some research was in order…

For starters, both “gauge” and “caliber” deal with the size of the barrel of the gun. The big difference between the two concerns how they are calculated. Concerning “caliber” in the non-pedantic sense, it is simply the diameter of the bullet what passes through it. So a .45 caliber bullet is so called because it is .45 inches in diameter or thereabouts. A 12 gauge shell, however, isn’t .12 inches across because that would be smaller than a .22LR round.

The thing is, a shotgun shell is a completely different beast. You’re not moving a single solid projectile through the barrel, you’re moving a whole bunch of tiny solid projectiles and many felt a different measurement was needed. Even though the slug-style of shotgun ammo wasn’t used at the time, they turned to cannons for their inspiration. Did you know that the “gauge” measurement itself originates from the old black powder cannons? They used to refer to a cannon’s size by the weight of the iron cannonball shot through it. Iron was a pretty consistent weight and so saying a “six pound” cannon meant it would shoot 6 pound cannonballs from it. Later on “gauge”, as a standard, came to mean the weight of a solid sphere of lead that could pass through the barrel (measured in fractions of a pound). That means that a 12 gauge shotgun could allow a 1/12 pound ball of lead through it. It’s actually very similar to the way they figure out the gauge of hypodermic needles.

The powers that be have since refined the measurement even more to be, according to the great Wikipedia, “a ball of lead (density 11.352 g/cm3 or 6.562 oz/in3) with that diameter has a mass equal to 1/n part of the mass of the international avoirdupois pound (453.59237 grams).”

If you want to get really accurate, there’s a formula to calculate it (n = the bore of the gun):

GaugeCalulation

Go ahead and try it out on your own!

So ultimately, because of the “wad of stuff” style of ammo that shotguns used, it would be near impossible to go off of the diameter alone because that diameter doesn’t give the whole picture. Granted, it still doesn’t but because the gauge measurement is more about volume than actual diameter, it’s a better measurement for shotgun ammo. It’s still just a starting point. Very rarely do you see shotgun ammo expressed only as the gauge beyond just a “high level” description. You might see “3 inch 12 gauge double-aught buck” or “2 ¼ inch 10 gauge bird” on boxes. Because of the near exponential number of combinations available, gauge alone isn’t enough to describe the ammo you need for your gun. As to what those extra bits of info mean, well, that’s another guide.

Images licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia.


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Free For All Friday 1-9-2015: Shotguns!

IMG_1528

I’ve been sick for this last week. I hate being sick. That’s not saying much because I don’t know of many people who actually like being sick. On the bright side, it allowed me to get some stuff done with the site that I’ve been meaning to do in terms of organization, marketing and such. On the down side, I’m trying to write stories and interact with potential advertising customers while loopy on NyQuil.

It’s the Year of the Shotgun and we’ve got a year of the shotgun question!

Since this is the year of the shotgun, I’ll ask a shotgun question. I was told by a helpful gentleman *rolls eyes* at the range that shotguns should be fired not from the shoulder like a rifle, but rather from the hip so that the arms work as a pivot to absorb the recoil. True or false? -Mike H.

Ah, range advice. If there was ever something that was equally a source of humor as it was annoyance, range/gun show/gun store advice would be it. You’ll be happy to know that this particular bit of advice is very much wrong…sort of.

Having the shotgun shouldered up with a proper grip and cheek-weld will give you not only the most stability but the most accuracy. It also is the best way to deal with the recoil. If you’ve read our “What is Recoil?” guide, you’ll remember that there is no way to get rid of recoil. The best way to manage recoil with a shotgun (or any gun, for that matter) is in such a way that allows you to get back on target as quickly as possible. With the gun shouldered, you’re in a much more stable position and it will allow you to get on target for that second bird or clay disk.

That’s not to say there isn’t a time for shooting from the hip. The first thing that comes to mind is if your shotgun has a pistol grip. We’ll be going over the pros and cons of pistol grips later but that wasn’t your question. With a pistol grip, you don’t have anything to anchor that gun down. If you try to shoot it like a normal pistol or shotgun, you’re going to wind up owing your dentist a lot of money for teeth replacements. It should be held to your side and allowed to rock with the motion. In that aspect, the felt recoil might not be as bad but it’s at the extreme sacrifice of follow-up shots and arguably accuracy if you’re not experienced with point shooting (which is the best way to shoot shotguns, I might add).

Personally, I’ve tried pistol grip shotguns and having tried them, you couldn’t pay me enough to put one of those back on my baby. I’m thinking the guy at the range has spent a bit too much time watching action movies.


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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The Road Ahead: Coming up in 2015

I wanted to start this year off with a kind of “State of the Blog” type of posting. There is an incredibly important thing I want to lead off with. Namely, thanking you. You, the person reading this right now. I want to thank you for helping to make this site what it is. Without you, I’d just be a gun loving nerd talking to himself….and that would be weird. When I started this site, 3 years ago, the only readers were my wife and parents. I just checked the site analytics; it's getting almost 110,000 views a month! That is HUGE for a blog like this! It wouldn't have happened without awesome people like you. I can’t possibly express the gratitude I feel that you stop by my little plot of land on this vast internet. All I can do is thank you over and over again and promise to try my best to continue doing the stuff that brought you here in the first place while trying to get even better.

With that being said, I’m excited about 2015!

Last year, we did the Year of the Rifle. That means that this year absolutely has to be the Year of the Shotgun! For this entire year, I’m going to be putting a focus on shotgun related articles, guides and information. Last year, my goal was at least 1 rifle related article a month. I’m upping the ante this year. Shotguns are incredibly versatile weapons and there is a surprisingly large amount of information to cover. There’s a bunch of fun reviews lined up as well as **gasp** maybe even some videos. I’m looking forward to this and I hope you are too!

As I said a while back, I’m skipping the SHOT Show this year and opting to attend the NRA National Convention. It always seems like more new stuff is announced at that show than at SHOT…which makes no sense to me but either way I’m looking forward to checking out all the fun new stuff. 

There's a lot to look forward to and I've got the best readers in the web to come along for the ride!

 


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Free For All Friday 1-2-2015: More Ankle Holster Stuff

ankleIt’s a brand new year! Let me first take a moment to give my most sincere thanks to all of you that have been reading Gun Noob. I can’t possibly thank you enough. You all have journeyed me through 3 years of running this site and I look forward to many more years with you all.

Happy New Year and thanks again!

We start this year off with a question about ankle holsters. We’ve been talking a lot about them lately, for some strange reason, and Mike has a great one:

I see a lot of arguments against ankle carry. Are there any circumstances where ankle carry would be the preferred method of carry? -Mike H.

You’re right, there are a lot of arguments against it. The biggest one is that on the ankle isn’t readily accessible. The typical rule of thumb is, in a defensive situation, you need to either be shooting, reloading or moving. Trying to draw while moving with an ankle holster is going to have you hopping around on one foot or stopping and crouching to draw. Typically, ankle carry is relegated to backup guns and most people will carry a tiny snubnose revolver on the ankle in the off chance their main gun breaks or runs out of ammo.

So should you never use it? There are a couple of great reasons why you should ankle carry, or at the very least, shouldn’t discount it. For starters, it is super easy to conceal a gun there. Depending on your body size and the kind of pants you’re wearing you could probably hide a Desert Eagle .50 down there and no one would notice. If bellbottoms ever come back, you could even hide an AR-15! If you’re wearing skinny jeans…well…not so much. Sorry, hipsters. Also, when you’re in a sitting position or if your hands are bound, the ankle holster is probably the best spot a gun could be. 

The big one, for me at least, is for women who want to carry. I always recommend against off body carry (i.e. in a purse) but thanks to women’s fashion, hiding a gun anywhere else is near impossible. With ankle carry, it allows on body carry with a variety of outfits.


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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