Free For All Friday, 5-23-2014: shotgun tubes, R.I.P. ammo and Monty Python…
First off, it’s Memorial Day weekend. I know I have a bunch of international readers so I’ll explain: Memorial Day is a day we set aside here to honor those who have died while serving in our armed forces. It saddens me that so many people look at it only as a day off to grill meat or go to the beach and forget what it’s really about. As far as I’m concerned, one day isn’t nearly enough to even remotely honor our fallen. They should be remembered and thanked every single day. It takes a certain kind of person to wake up and say “I’m going to dedicate my life, and possibly give my life to protect a whole bunch of people who will never know my name.” That kind of mentality, that kind of thinking is the greatest kind of thinking and they are far greater people than I. We at Gun Noob thank all of you for your service to protecting the freedoms we hold dear.
There’s not really a good way to segue from that and stay respectful in my mind so we’ll just get to the questions:
I found a site called Nordic Components. I was researching extension tubes for my shotgun. My question is, are they a good idea? What else do I need to use the extension tube? The site mentions low drag followers. Are the necessary? Thanks as always. -Skyler R.
I checked out the Nordic Components site you mentioned. It looks like the extension tubes you were talking about were to increase ammo capacity. As far as I’m concerned, more ammo is never a bad thing…unless you’re shooting at clays or birds. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to have more shots, but clay rules (and most ranges as well) dictate that you can only have two shells loaded at a time. Pretty much every state I’ve looked into also has a 2 or 3 shell limit with hunting. If you’re doing something like 3-Gun, however, load that mutha-luva up.
If you do slap a bigger magazine tube on there, the spring and follower will more than likely need to be replaced as well. The low drag follower they mention is because there’s more chance of it getting hung up due to the longer tube as well as the seam where the extension is attached.
Have you had a chance to check out R.I.P. bullets. if so how do you rate them? -Bob H.
I have not personally shot them yet, but that’s due to not being able to get my grubby little hands on some. My first impression was “gimmick” and that seems to be reinforced by everything I’ve read about them so far. Mostly everything is showcasing how it tears ballistic gel apart. The problem is, ballistic gel isn’t nearly as good of a human analog as people think. Frankly, I’m tired of people using it as the be all, end all, “well, this is how it would perform in the wild” type of test. All it shows is how a bullet would react in some thick Jello. Until they come up with a ballistic dummy that has gel, liquid, bone and other human-esque features, it’s still just a block of Jello.
It really comes down to the concept that, when it comes to personal defense ammo, anything is better than full metal jackets. My personal preference is the Winchester PDx defense rounds. I know that a fellow blogger is really huge on the Hornady Critical Defense rounds but I’ve had troubles with my guns not liking the conical shape of those. That brings me to another thing that troubles me about the R.I.P. ammo: the shape of the bullet itself. Having had more than one gun refuse to eat the Critical Defense in the way a 6 year old refuses to eat his Brussels sprouts, I’m a bit wary of any bullet that doesn’t have a bullet-y shape now. I can just see the ridges on the R.I.P. bullet getting hung up on a feed ramp in the worst possible moment.
Keep in mind, this is all speculation and logic based on previous experiences. Until I actually get my hands on some, my specific opinions on the ammo should all have an asterisk by them.
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? -Chris H.
You never clarified European or African swallow so I’m going to assume European as it’s a more prevalent species. Most birds don’t follow a constantly speed due to the tendency to only flap their wings when necessary and even then, the flapping isn’t a constant. With that in mind, the only way to determine said speed is to average it. Oddly enough, this has been studied by various universities and they have come to the conclusion that the average speed is around 24 miles per hour.
Thanks for the questions!
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