Monthly Archives: February 2015

Free For All Friday 2-27-2015: Steel Core Ammo, Cylinder Spin, and lots more!

Free-For-All-I’ve spent the last week updating and migrating my servers. We’re on completely new hardware in a completely new datacenter. This means that, with the exception of occasional updates to the site’s software, there will be almost zero downtime moving forward. This is awesome for you, as the reader but it’s also great for me because it means I won’t be getting notifications at 3:00 am telling me I need to go fix a hung server. A well rested noob is a good noob.

We’ve got a lot of questions this week so let’s jump in to it!

About an hour from my house there is a free public outdoor 100 yd. range, which I have always went to. However, some indoor ranges having been popping up a lot closer to my home. I haven’t been to one yet, but a friend of mine told me that when he went, they used a magnet to “test” his ammo, and told him he couldn’t shoot the cheap steel cased ammo there, because of the back wall of the range. I’ve never heard of this, could you clear up my confusion here? -JD

This is quite common at shooting ranges that allow rifles. They’re not so much looking for steel cased ammo as they are looking for steel core ammo. The thing is, most steel cased ammo is also steel core so..yeah. There is steel cased ammo that is also lead core but it’s difficult to detect with the usual methods the main one being holding a magnet up to the rounds. Brass, lead and copper are non-ferrous meaning magnets won’t stick to them. You could hold a magnet up to just the bullet part but the steel casing can create a false positive. Most places err on the side of caution and just pass a magnet over the whole thing. If it sticks, they won’t let it in. Many people will claim that this is so they can sell you their overpriced range ammo and there may be some merit to that in some cases but also look at it from the ranges perspective. Ranges aren’t cheap to set up. At the same time, indoor ranges aren’t in the middle of nowhere like outdoor ranges typically are. If their backstop setup says “no steel core”, they don’t risk it. All it would take is one lucky shot to punch through the wall (which, is more than possible depending) and that range could be shut down. Then all that money and time they’ve spent on the range is down the drain.

This question only requires a one word answer, but feel free to elaborate. Do all revolver cylinders turn counter clockwise only? (From the shooters perspective) -Mike H.

I completely lack the ability to answer a question with a single word. I’m serious, it’s physically impossible for me. To answer your question, my research has shown that revolver cylinders turn counter-clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise below the Equator. To answer your question in a non-smart assed way, the direction of cylinder rotation varies greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model. It’s really down to how the designer figured out how to fit all the mechanics into the frame. Colt makes a few revolvers that rotate clockwise and Ruger has a few that spin that way as well.

Any tips on carrying full size or compact handgun in an office/business-casual environment, specifically in Florida? I’ve seen tuckable IWB holsters, but I’m worried the belt clip/loop would be a bit too noticeable. -Joel M.

Before I answer, make sure you’re legally allowed to be carrying. I’m in Florida as well and there are only a couple places where you can get in massive trouble for carrying. Everything else comes down to a question of “job security vs. safety”. The intricacies of that are another article in and of itself but still, it needs to be said. To answer your question: Very few people ever examine other people’s belts. Even if they do see belt clips, chances are they’re not going to think “gun” right off the bat. Unless, of course, you’ve spent extensive time telling everyone you know at the office how you carry all the time etc etc etc. At that point…yeah that one’s on you. They might put 2 and 2 together in that case (the first rule of concealed carry club is you don’t talk about concealed carry club). Barring that, there are some things you can do to help the odds. First off, make sure the clips on the holster are the same color as the belt you’re wearing. Secondly, flaring out the shirt a little around the waist can not only hide the shape of the gun (which is important) but also obscure the belt clips. Finally, just for some confidence building, wear the empty holster to work a few times. If someone does indeed notice it, you can say you were in a hurry when you were getting dressed this morning and forgot to take the empty holster out.

Side note: I hesitated every single time I had to type “clip” during your answer. The gun world has got me so programmed to say “magazine” instead of “clip” that I can’t even say “paperclip” without initially trying to say “papermag”. #GunWorldProblems

Is there ever going to be cheap American made 5.45×39? -Aaron H.

As soon as there is a market for it, then it shall be done. Right now, there’s not much of a need because surplus foreign ammo is so popular. Not to get political but if there was ever a ban put in place similar to the M85 ban that’s being considered, I’d expect at least one or two domestic manufacturers to step up. In the meantime, there is always the option of gun show reloads, of course.

What do you think of police trade-ins, and in your experience what can be expected in terms of extras with them? -Josh V.

Police trade-ins (a.k.a. former police duty pistols) should be looked at the same way as any other used weapon. You can find great deals on them but the quality of the gun is going to be directly affected by how well the former owner took care of it. If at all possible, field-strip the gun down and look at the internals. Dry fire it a couple of times. Really do your due diligence  because usually by the time they hit police trade-in, they’re no longer in warranty…if there was a warranty in the first place. As far as accessories, I’ve never seen them with more than just the gun and a magazine or two. All in all, it’s a possible way to get a darn good deal on a weapon though “Buyer beware” is in full effect.

You’ve recommended glasses that you have. may I ask for the company that sells those and is there any kind of gear (glove) that would make arming the gun any easier? It’s killing my skin. -Adam

Warning: Shameless self promotion has been detected in the answer to this question. The glasses I use are made by Remington and just so happen to be for sale in our Amazon store on its main page or in the “Noob Necessities” category. The ability to swap out the lenses to different colors is very useful indeed. I use the darker tinted lenses for outdoors and the yellow tinted for indoor ranges. The red tint is fantastic to use for skeet and trap shooting as it makes the clays stand out more. As far as “arming the gun”, I’m going to assume you’re talking about loading the magazine. Loading magazines can be painful after a bit and some magazine (I’m looking at you, Glock) are downright thumb killers. There was a long time where I wouldn’t even load a mag all the way because the last couple rounds were just too much of a pain to get in. Then I got an easy loader. I don’t want to sound like a commercial for these things but I adore these devices. I can load a magazine faster and with less pain. These are also available in our Amazon store and, more than likely, at your local gun store. Have I ever mentioned that buying from our Amazon store helps out the site? I’m not sayin’ nothin’, I’m just sayin’.


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!


Like what you read?  GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical.  Check out the rest of our awesome resources:

Product Review Double Header: Hornady and Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaners

ULTRASONICLast week, we spoke a bit on why an ultrasonic cleaner is a good appliance to have in your home. We might have mentioned Doctor Who a couple of times in that article as well. I don’t really remember. This week, I want to go over a couple of options that are available. Normally I do one product review per article but I also don’t want to do three weeks’ worth of articles about sonic cleaners. There are only so many sonic screwdriver jokes my readers could take. I thought it would be fun to take a head to head-ish approach to the review of these two devices.

Before we go any further, let’s talk about something that was not covered in the original article which is: how do these things work in the first place? Every ultrasonic cleaner is nothing more than a tub which holds a liquid of some sorts and an ultrasonic transducer. An ultrasonic transducer is the technical term for a device that converts electric energy into ultrasonic waves. In the grand scheme of things, just think of it like a tiny, specialized speaker. When the transducer is activated, it bombards the liquid with a horrible noise that humans can’t hear too well. It sounds like a buzzing to us but to your pets it sounds like Justin Bieber music. Keep it away from your pets because no one deserves to be subjected to that kind of noise. This bombardment causes the liquid to undergo a process called “ultrasonic cavitation”. The vibrations from the sound cause small bubbles to form and then pop with a surprisingly incredible amount of force (20,000 lbs per square inch). These rapid and microscopic explosions essentially blast dirt and grime off of surfaces. Even though there’s an incredible amount of force being generated, it’s on such a small scale that it is completely harmless to us and won’t damage the vast majority of surfaces.

It should be noted that all my testing was done with either a 1:2 mixture of Windex and water or a 1:2 mixture of Simple Green and water. Plain water shouldn’t be used in ultrasonic cleaners as the surface tension of the water alone makes it near impossible for the microbubbles to form. Having a additive that destroys the surface tension is a necessity. You could use something as simple as dishwasher rinse aid but why not use a soapy liquid to add a bit more cleaning power?

So that’s how they work, on to the review!

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble! …err vibrate…a lot..

hfCleanerIn this corner, weighing in at 2.5 pounds, 1 pint of liquid and wearing the white plastic casing is the Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner! In the other corner, wearing the black and red casing, weighing in at 6.6 pounds and 2 liters of cleaning solution is the Hornady Lock-N-Load Sonic Cleaner 2L!

Round 1: Features. Fight!

The Harbor Freight cleaner has two buttons: on and off. Pressing the on button starts a 3 minute cycle. It also has an LED light that illuminated the solution and makes it easier to see what’s going on.

The Hornady Cleaner has a ceramic heater that can bring the water up to 135℉ and the heater is controlled by an on/off button. It has an adjustable timer that can be set between 5 and 30 minutes. Finally, it has a function that will clear any trapped bubbles in the liquid. Large, existing bubbles can affect cleaning so it’s a good idea to pop them first before initiating microbubble nuclear holocaust mode.

Round 1 Winner: Hornady Cleaner! No surprise here, really. It’s a $30 device versus a $100 device. The Hornady is bound to have more features. I do wish the Hornady had an LED light in it as well, mind you. That would have made round one a very decisive victory.

Round 2: Pros and Cons. Fight!

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times but that 3 minute timer on the Harbor Freight cleaner is really annoying if you have to do more than 1 cycle. Lack of a heater also makes me feel like I’m missing out on some cleaning power. Its tiny size means you can put it just about anywhere and it won’t be in the way. At the same time, it doesn’t take much liquid to fill up at all so your bottle of cleaning solution will last longer. Unfortunately, that tiny size is also going to restrict you on what you can clean with it. You’re going to be restricted to jewelry and smaller individual gun parts.

The Hornady cleaner, on the hand, can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. Want to clean some casings? This will clean about 300 .223 brass at once. Gun? Wash all your slides at the same time! Need the acrylic stripped from your Space Marine Dreadnought model because you messed up the painting? Toss that thing in! Heck, throw the airbrush in at the same time! Turn on the heater for some extra beef in the cleaning. It’s not all rainbows and lollipops, however. First off, the heater causes massive levels of condensation to collect on the lid. There is no way to lift that lid off without dripping that condensation over everything. Fortunately, the condensation is just plain water so you don’t have to worry about your countertop or workbench’s finish. Still, it makes a mess. Secondly, it’s not a tiny device. At 8x8x10 inches, it’s going to take up some real estate. Also, with a 2 Liter tub, it takes a bit of liquid to fill it up. Now, you don’t have to fill it all the way unless you need to but the minimum fill line takes the same amount of liquid as the max fill line of the Harbor Freight cleaner (1 pint). It’s a hungry cleaner and will drink your milkshake cleaning solution fast. According to Hornady, depending on what and how often you clean, you can get a few cleanings out of one tub of fluid. It’s not recommended to store the liquid in the cleaner, however.

Winner: Close but still Hornady! I know it’s hard to believe but this was a much closer match than round 1. They both have their pros and cons and it really comes down to what you’re ultimately looking to do with the cleaner.

Round 3: How Does it Clean? Fight!

First, I have to apologize for the lack of before and after pictures here. The memory card in my camera got corrupted and all the photos I took during testing were lost. I’ll do my best to describe the outcomes.

  • Airbrush Test – Took about 7 cycles in the Harbor Freight cleaner to get my airbrush sparkling. That’s opposed to one single cycle in the Hornady. Now, to be fair, both came out to about 30 minutes of soaking in both devices but, with the Hornady, I didn’t have to get up every three minutes to hit the on button again. (Point: Hornady)
  • Figurine Test – The Harbor Freight cleaner was never able to get much of the paint off the figurine where the Hornady cleaner got it completely clean in 2 30 minute cycles. I firmly believe the heat of the Hornady played a big part here as the acrylic paints I use becomes very soft in high temperatures. (Point: Hornady)
  • Paint Stirring – You read that right. The paint I use for my Warhammer figurines will separate if it’s not shaken on a regular basis. If it’s a particularly long time between uses, the paint solidifies at the bottom of the bottle is very difficult to mix together. Dropping the paint bottle into the sonic cleaner breaks up the solidified pigment and mixes it together with the thinning medium. With both cleaners, it was about 10-15 minutes to make my paint good as new. (Point: Tie)
  • Gun Barrel – My use of dirty, nasty ammunition is well documented on this site. The Harbor Freight cleaner loosened stuff up but I still needed to do some final wipe-downs. The Hornady cleaner powered through the carbon and grime like was was just dry-erase marker. (Point: Hornady)
  • Casings – Yeah, the Harbor Freight cleaner didn’t do much. The Hornady cleaner, on the other hand, did a good job. I mean, I should hope so because brass cleaning is what they market it with. It should be noted that it still wasn’t as shiny as the brass that comes out of my steel media tumbler. It’s clean enough for most people but I like my brass to look like C-3PO. Still, good enough with less work than my tumbling so if I was in a hurry I’d totally use this method.

Ultimate Winner: Hornady!

It’s not really a surprise that the Hornady won. As I said in round, this isn’t really an apples to apples comparison. Yes, they’re both ultrasonic cleaners but it really comes down to what they were intended to clean. If you want to get a cheap cleaner to test how it would work for you, then the Harbor Freight is a great choice. Admittedly, it’s why I bought mine in the first place. Now, Harbor Freight does make a 2 liter cleaner but, at its price, it isn’t much more money to get the Hornady cleaner instead. Keep in mind, just because the Hornady won this fight doesn’t mean the Harbor Freight cleaners are bad. There are very strong opinions about the longevity of Harbor Freight tools. I haven’t personally had any problems with any of their stuff but your mileage may vary. Either way, there are ultrasonic cleaners available for every budget and their usefulness makes them well worth the money. You won’t regret it!


Like what you read?  GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical.  Check out the rest of our awesome resources:

Free For All Friday 2-20-2015: Safe guns and new holster designs…

ffafThere’s a reason why people move to Florida: it doesn’t get that cold here. It’s been said many times, however, that Jacksonville Florida is actually the southernmost city in Georgia. If you’ve never been here, you’re probably scratching your head but if you’ve spent even a couple of hours in this city you’d be laughing your head off right now. With that, I don’t really consider it to be “Florida” until you hit I-4 and beyond. While Florida has the stereotype of being sunny and perfect beach days all year around, the reality is that there’s only a small part of Florida where that is true. Here in Jax, it’s 27 degree as I type this. Someone from up north will read this and say “don’t you DARE complain about that!” and I won’t. While many of my follow Jacksonvillians will be wearing snow shoes and complaining about how freezing it is, I put on a warm jacket and will enjoy it while it lasts. I actually kind of prefer this weather and here is why: I can put on layer after layer and eventually get toasty warm and comfortable. When it’s scorching how out, however, I can only take off so many layers before I get arrested. Even if were to walk out in just a bathing suit (enjoy trying to bleach that mental image out of your mind), it would still be scorching hot. Nope, I like the cold. If I could get it year around without piles and piles of snow in the winter, I’d be happy as can be.

We got a few questions and a great suggestion for an article this week. I also got a bunch of questions asking some non-gun related stuff about me personally (favorite movie, food, etc) and some opinions on things like computer brands, programming languages and such. While I do tend to stray into some odd directions on a regular basis, I’ve been hesitant to answer these kind of questions publicly. I recognize the irony in saying that after writing a long paragraph about my feelings on colder weather. I’ll leave it to you all. Would you like a Free For All Friday where it’s a true free for all? It wouldn’t be a super-regular occurrence (like once a year at the most or something) but still.

Think it over. For now, gun stuff!

How many weapon designs are simply unsafe to own? -Lawrence M.

Pretty much every gun on the market is only as safe as its owner. That’s why myself and other gun teachers stress the safety rules so much. Without them, a Glock can be just as unsafe as being trapped in a room with a honey badger that’s hopped up on PCP. That’s not to say some guns don’t make you work harder than others. A large portion of antique guns, for example, didn’t have the focus on inherent safety that modern gun have. Even among newer guns, there are occasional design choices that can lead to some serious head scratching. The USFA Zip 22 pistol, for example is noteworthy for it’s definite “out of the box” design but also for the completely idiotic choice of having to place your hand in front of the muzzle in order to chamber a round. In the antique realm, there are quite a few rifles with floating firing pins where, when waiting to be fired, the pin rests against the primer of the round. Jostle it enough and there could be some issues (to put it mildly).

Lever action rifles also come to mind. Ever notice that the majority of lever action rifles are in calibers with flat tipped or at least very round and wide ammunition? This is because, while sitting the the tube, the bullets sit tip to primer. If the bullet was really pointy, it could cause a chain reaction that sets off every round.

In the end, saying that something like a Glock is the “safest gun on the market and is near impossible to fire accidentally” (as I’ve seen in many forums) is creating a false sense of security. If you assume the gun is super safe then there is a chance that you might cut a corner on your safety rules at some point. One of the tips I always give people I teach is to assume every safety on the gun is broken at all times. By all means, use the safeties but don’t rely on the safeties. The ultimate firearm safety device sits on top of our shoulders. Be smart about your guns.

What’s you opinion of these auto-loading holsters I see being advertised? You know, the ones where you push the gun down into the holster to quickly rack the slide as you draw? They look kinda cool, even though I’m a revolver guy. What say you, Mr. Noob? -Mike H.

Firearms enthusiasts, oddly, tend to be the biggest luddites in the world. I’ve even noticed it growing in my own mentality over time. Keep in mind, I love technology. The only thing I love more than technology is new technology. When it comes to guns, however, I tend to stick with the tried and true. I think it stems from the fact that, unlike my shiny new smartphone, my life and the lives of my friends or family might depend on the firearm. Did you know that NASA, when I worked there, wouldn’t allow anything that wasn’t newer than a 286 processor? Remember those old, dual 5 ½ in floppy powered monstrosities? If you’re too young, ask your parents. We were using Pentiums and such for programming and every day work but if it was going into space, it was a 286. This was because the 286 was tested and bullet proof. If you were going to spend billions of dollars to send something billions of miles away, you don’t want it overheating or getting a floating point error if it had to calculate too big of a number (a common problem with Pentiums at the time).

It’s the same thing here, really. I love the idea of these holsters and I love the out of the box thinking. It certainly solves a problem that some people have where they don’t like to carry pistols with one in the chamber. Until I see a large number of police forces, military or what have you using it successfully, I don’t think I want to put my trust in it yet. Stick with what we know works for now. When it comes to my life, I tend to let someone else do the beta testing on stuff like this.


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!


Like what you read?  GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical.  Check out the rest of our awesome resources:

Let’s Get a Little More Sonic!

letsgetsonicJack Harkness: Who has a sonic screwdriver? Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, “Ooh, this could be a little more sonic!”?
The Doctor: What, you’ve never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?

The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver has gotten him out of a lot of sticky situations. A bit too many situations, as it turns out because the writing team had been chewed out by the show’s producers many times over the years for using it too often. Darn useful tool though. It does pretty much whatever The Doctor needs it to do. From remotely controlling the TARDIS to scanning the area to cutting and welding. As the Doctor once said “Harmless is just the word. That’s why I like it! Doesn’t kill, doesn’t wound, doesn’t maim. But I’ll tell you what it does do. It is very good at opening doors.” It just doesn’t work on wood.

Where did everyone go? See, this is why I limit myself on Doctor Who references. For those that are still here…all three of you…I’ve recently discovered something else that’s sonic that has made my life so much easier: a Sonic Cleaner. You know those water filled things in jewelry stores that makes that annoying buzzing noise? Yeah, those things. I’m here to say that you don’t need to be a jeweler to have a use for one.

Many years ago, I coined the term “the TiVo effect”. This referred to something that makes you say “why the heck would I need one of those” when you first see it but, when you wind up with one at a later days you find yourself saying “how did I ever live without this!?” Ah the DVR, to think of all the productivity you’ve killed. Anyway, a sonic cleaner is another great example of the TiVo effect in action. I’d heard a few people throughout the years say that they were awesome but my brain always said “Nah, dude. You’ve got brushes, cotton swabs and paper towels. You don’t need one of those to clean your stuff.” And I was right. I didn’t need one. The only people that really need a sonic cleaner are jewelers. Let me tell you why you absolutely should want one, however.

hfCleanerRemember how I’ve always stated that I enjoy cleaning my guns? As it turns out, it wasn’t so much the cleaning I enjoyed, it was the shiny, pretty super clean gun at the end that I liked. I still obsess over having my guns as sparkling as the day they came out of the factory. That was all well and good when I had 2 or 3 guns total. Nowadays, thanks to this site, I have more than 3. To sit down and clean them all to my standards is now a chore that takes an entire day. Which means that rarely do I get to take all my toys to the range, so to speak, because that would kill an entire weekend thanks to having to clean them. I like my weekends. Clearly, something had to be done to save me some time.

Oddly enough, I didn’t buy my sonic cleaner for my guns. It started because of Warhammer. You see, I use an airbrush for a good portion of my miniature painting process. The airbrush is a very precise instrument and acrylic paints, well, they’re not exactly friendly to precision instruments. When I was done painting for the day, I would have to break down my airbrush and spend a great deal of time with cotton swabs and acetone (one of the most vile substances in my house) and clean all the paint out of the tiny crevices. Sadly, there are too many tiny crevices and it was never possible to get all the gunk out. Then I say that Harbor Freight had some sonic cleaners meant for jewelry on sale for 30 bucks. I figured I’d give it a try. Then my process became break down the brush, drop it in the cleaner and hit a button. After about 10-12 minutes in the cleaner, the brush was sparkling with zero traces of paint anywhere. It was experiment time!

I dropped in a gun barrel. The carbon and grime started flying off of it! Dropped in one of my older miniatures that needed the paint stripped off of it! Boom, bare plastic. Heck, it even took some of the caked-on paint off my brushes! All my tools and wife’s jewelry are sparkling now. Everything that can be sonicked in my household has been sonicked. My only complaint was that this little home jewelry one was a little too conservative, power-wise, due to its intended purpose. Plus, at having only a 3 minute cycle max, I was having to babysit it. I went out and bought a powerful, high grade sonic cleaner meant specifically for gun parts and cleaning spent brass for reloading (Will there be a review of that one? You bet your sweet TARDIS there will be next Monday). My dreams have come true. This thing gets my gun parts and airbrushes clean with almost zero effort! 

If you do decide to go the sonic route, which you should, you’re going to love it. Just remember this, if you do decide to clean gun parts with it:

  • First off, don’t just use water. There are sonic cleaning solutions available that are designed for gun parts but, barring that, a solution of Simple Green and water will power through just about all carbon and grime or anything else you can throw at it. I personally use a 1 part Simple Green to 2 parts water solution.
  • When it’s done with the cycles, make sure to dry it off quick and get some protectant (oil or, preferably, Ballistol) on it as quickly as possible. The solvents in the sonic cleaner’s liquid are going to clean the ever living hell out of those parts including whatever lubricant or oil you have on it.

As it turns out, when Captain Jack Harkness was making fun of the Doctor for having a sonic screwdriver, he was very wrong. Adding a little sonic to something can be incredibly useful. I don’t know how I ever lived without this thing.

 


Like what you read?  GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical.  Check out the rest of our awesome resources:

Free For All Friday 2-13-2015: The “other”…

BESTThings are calming down a bit on the home front and I’m finally getting caught up on work. One of the things I had started working on before things went nuts and have since resumed working on is trying to set this site up in a way that could ultimately lead to my working on it as a full time job. It’s a slow process and, frankly, I never expected the site to get as big as it is now in the first place. Admittedly, it was a fun hobby in the beginning. Now, it’s still a load of fun but it’s no longer a hobby. I remember back in the beginning I wrote an article about getting out of your comfort zone. Let it not be said that I don’t follow my own advice. This whole process is so far outside of my comfort zone that I could probably qualify as an astronaut.

I promise that, no matter what happens, Gun Noob will always be Gun Noob. The stuff that keeps you coming back to this site won’t change. It’s the side stuff that most people don’t see that will evolve and needs to evolve to meet my goals.

Speaking of goals…which is a terrible segue because this question isn’t really about goals:

What can I do to help convince my wife to support me purchasing a gun? She is afraid that I will accidentally kill either her or my daughter.  She is also afraid of how other families might react if they know there is a gun in our house. -Scott M.

Take comfort in knowing that this is an age old problem in which you are not alone. The bright side of that being that there is a tried and true way to handle it. It’s not a guaranteed success route, mind you, but it works more often than not.

You first need to understand where this is coming from and that’s a lack of knowledge. I’d be willing to bet her only experience with firearms is movies, television shows and countless “accidentally shot _____” news reports. In movies and shows, guns accidentally fire all the time. Heck, it was a major plot point of “Pulp Fiction” and I can think of a dozen other movies right off the bat that used the “oops” as a gag. We already debunked this concept last November so I won’t dwell on it much here.

Ultimately, it’s a lack of accurate knowledge that has lead to her opinion. Fortunately, we in the firearms world don’t follow the “knowledge is power, guard it well” mentality of Terran Imperial Inquisitors. Step one would be to find a good firearms instructor who doesn’t require you to have your own weapon and hire that person to give some lessons to you and your wife. We all know that our wives are immediately suspect of anything we say when it pertains to something we want. Having a 3rd party explaining things will have much more weight.

I say this because the first thing any instructor worth their salt will do is drill in the safety concepts. They’ll focus on exactly why you’re unlikely to accidentally kill someone. They’ll show that the gun is nothing more than a mindless hunk of metal that is no more dangerous in the grand scheme of things than the chef’s knives in the house.

After that, the instructor is going to ease her into shooting and get her comfortable with the firearm itself. That goes a long way to alleviating fears and, if handled correctly, is likely to get her interested in firearms herself. If that happens, be warned, you will spend more money on her guns than you will on your own. It’s just the way things go.

After that, look into a good drawer safe. This will help to keep a child’s curious eyes away from the gun until you’re ready to introduce them to firearms as well.

Finally, as to her final concern, there really isn’t any reason to tell someone you have a gun unless A) you trust the person and know they’re interested in firearms/own guns as well or B) the person is a criminal trying to kick in your front door.

As I said, knowledge goes a long way to getting rid of fear. The more you can educate her, the more likely she is to relent. Don’t push, just gently nudge at the most. She’ll come around eventually.


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!


Like what you read?  GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical.  Check out the rest of our awesome resources:

Shotgun Actions Guide

shotgunGuideIf you walk into a gun store and say “I want a shotgun”, the next question the clerk will ask you will most likely be “what kind?” You could, of course, say “12 gauge” but he or she will probably say “ok, but what kind? Pump? Break action? Semi-auto?” Shotguns, much like their distant cousins (twice removed) the rifles, come in a variety of flavors called “actions”. The name that is assigned to each kind of action really refers to how the rounds are cycled through it and/or reloaded and each style is tailored to particular a task (sort of) and each has their own strength and weakness. I say “sort of” because it wasn’t like the designers had a particular task in mind when they were designed. It’s more like each style of action has settled into the tasks that they do best.

So let’s take a look at those kinds. I mean, after all, this is a gun site for beginners. At the same time, it would be weird if I started out with that introduction then just left it there. Although, the look on the readers’ faces would be hilarious if I could see them. They’d be all “What the heck?! Did he not upload the whole article or something?!” and I’d be all “lol”.

Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah, shotgun actions! We’ll start with the most basic of them.

Break Action

overunderThis category covers your over/under, double barrels and so on. It’s called the “break action” because you have to break the gun in half in order to reload it. These are, essentially, the revolvers of the shotgun world. The mechanics of them are incredibly simple which means they’re about as reliable as can be. Also, because of the almost complete lack of moving parts, they’re quite accurate…as far as shotguns are concerned, mind you. You’re not going to be making 1000 yard shots with these. It’s more where things like waterfowl hunting and clay sports are concerned. In terms of competition, most are going to want the most accurate thing they can get if means a slight edge. There’s also the fact that these will fire as fast as you can pull the trigger. Follow-up shorts are instantly ready. Granted, I think only someone like Jerry Miculek could outperform the cycle rate of a semi-auto shotgun but it’s the principle of the thing, really. The downside is that you only have 2 rounds in the gun. There are some awesome gimmick break actions that hold 3 rounds but, still, it’s pretty limited. Keep in mind, most clay ranges and hunting regulations don’t allow more than 2 rounds to be loaded anyway regardless of what kind of shotgun so for hunting and clays, no big deal. For home defense? That’s another story. Speaking of defense…

Pump-Action

If you have seen any action movies…or cop show…or video game…or any large scale gun fight in any kind of entertainment what-so-ever then you’ve seen a pump action shotgun. It’s the one where you have to manually cycle the new round in by pulling and pushing on the foregrip which makes that legendary “schlick schlock” sound that we all know and love. This is, by far, the most common kind of shotgun you’re going to run into today. While only slightly more complicated than a break action, you’re gaining a lot more versatility. Most shotguns can hold 6 to 8 rounds with extensions allowing for many more. They can fire any kind of shotgun ammo that you can find. They can be quickly reloaded, ghost fired (another article), slam fired, reloaded one shot at a time at more. If Swiss Army Knives were firearms, they’d be pump action shotguns. Typically, if someone says they want a shotgun for home defense, the pump action is what myself and 99% of the gun geeks out there are going to recommend. The only downside to them is how long it takes to pump the gun. Fire **schlick schlock** fire **schlick schlock** etc etc. With some practice, you can get surprisingly fast at that cycling, mind you. Still, in a race to empty rounds, the pump is going to usually come in behind the break action and the semi-auto.

Semi-Auto

semi-autoSemi-auto pistol, semi-auto rifle and semi-auto shotgun. The firing of the gun causes a bolt to move backwards which extracts the fired round from the chamber, ejects it from the gun then loads in a new round. It’s a complicated dance that means you just have to worry about aiming. These are used in hunting, clay shooting, home defense, and national defense. Like all semi-auto applications,they can be a bit finicky about ammo. They can also suffer greatly when it comes to poor maintenance. As long as you keep them clean and feed them good, healthy shells then it will work fine for you.

Specialty/Miscellanious

There are some other, crazy configurations out there as well as some that you just don’t see anymore. The bolt-action shotgun, for example, just isn’t really popular these days for some odd reason. There’s also the “gimmicky” types of shotguns like the Taurus Judge and such. If it’s in this category, you’ll either be lucky to even find one and even luckier to find a need for them beyond pure fun or collecting. I really only included this category so I don’t get dozens of emails saying things like “you forgot to mention the rotating barrel pistol detachable stocked Gerflurgen Prosecutor shotgun”.


If you’re looking to buy a shotgun and you don’t know really what you’re going to be using it for beyond “I want a shotgun” then your best bet is the pump action. If you’re saying to yourself “I want a shotgun for _____” then I’d recommend looking at the one that best fits your task.


Like what you read?  GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical.  Check out the rest of our awesome resources:

Free For All Friday 2-6-2015: AR-15s and stuff

FFaF3You may remember a couple weeks ago where I mentioned a family emergency. While I don’t want to get into details, I feel that I should let you know that I’m still dealing with the problems at hand and it’s taking up a great deal of my time. I know a lot of people would say to put GN on hiatus for a bit until it’s all taken care of but this site and moreso its readers are very important to me. At the same time, it provides a much needed way to get my mind off things. That being said, I may have a bit of trouble keeping to my usual update schedule for a little bit.

On that note, there were a bunch of questions for FFAF this week. Some of them require a bit more research than I’m able to get done in the time between the question request on Wednesday and the post on Friday. I haven’t ignored you. I just want to make sure I get the best info out as possible. For the questions I AM able to answer today, let’s get going!

I have a few questions I’d like you to answer about building an AR-15. I’ve decided to take the project on, and since i’m still sorta new to guns, i’m not exactly sure what parts to get. I tried finding the part you had used in your project, but I had quite a bit of trouble. What should I do? -Matthew W.

The specific parts kit I used in my series was from Palmetto State Armory. They tend to drop old listings on their site and replace it with new SKUs every time they run out instead of just replenishing the inventory of the existing product. This makes finding the kit I bookmarked near impossible. The bright side is, however, that pretty much all the lower parts kits are the same, regardless of manufacturer. In fact, pretty much every parts kit on the market regardless of the brand on it is made by only a handful of manufacturer. There may be small differences here and there but they all go together the same way or at least close enough that an educated guess will get you the rest of the way.

The Walther PPQ M2 9mm is on my short list (5″ barrel). Any plans to buy it yourself and test it. I really enjoy reading your reviews. Keep up the good work! -John F.

The PPQ is certainly on my list of guns to test out. Being a smaller blog, it’s sometimes hard to get a company’s attention for testing guns. Now that I’ve hit the 100K+ views a month club, I might have an easier time persuading some companies. Hey! I’ve got an idea! Everyone contact Walther’s Twitter and tell them to let Gun Noob test out their guns! I’ll be curious to see if that actually works. In the meantime, I have had a bit of experience with them, just not enough for a full blown review. Even with the small amount of time I’ve had with them, I was impressed. The ergonomics are great for my hands and I really loved how the trigger felt.

I have been thinking about getting an AR. Is there anything I should look for when I start to narrow my selection? Also, what would you use a 7mm for? I see the round available just about everywhere, but I don’t know what application would be best. thanks as always! -Skylar R.

Right now is the absolute best and worst time to buy an AR. It’s the best in that the prices are awesome and there are plenty of options to choose from. It’s the worst in that there are so many option to choose from that it’s near impossible keep track of good and bad brands. The best thing when starting out is to stick with the tried and true builders. The Smith & Wesson M&P line of ARs are great platforms with which to expand on and tweak. If you’re wanting something with a little meat on it right off, then I’m a huge fan of Spike’s Tactical and, considering they’re local Florida dudes, I am inclined to recommend them over some of the other small shops around the country. Florida represent! Outside of that, Rock River Arms, Daniel Defense, and Colt are good ones to look for. They’re in the “can’t really go wrong” category. As far as features, the three schools of thought are

  1. Get the best package you can get for the best price right off the bat
  2. Find the gun with the best core parts (lower, barrel, etc) then add and upgrade over time.
  3. Build the lower yourself (easy) and then purchase an awesome pre-built upper.

I’m a fan of #3, personally. It all really depends on your budget.

For your other question, the 7mm round (depending on the exact flavor) is typically used for similar applications as the .30-06. In many cases, it has far better ballistics than the .30-06 but the .30-06 can be found with heavier bullets. Typically, you’d be looking at it for medium to large game hunting applications.

 


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!


Like what you read?  GunNoob is now part of Pew Pew Tactical.  Check out the rest of our awesome resources: