Have a little fun.
Posted on 10/14/2012 9:35:04 AM PDT by A Navy Vet
Thinking about all the new gun owners out there, I thought this might be a good time to discuss gun/ammo facts, safety issues, training, and legalities within Fedgov and various State laws.
This thread should also include various other self-defense items, such as: pepper spray, tazers/stun guns, batons (including extendable), other material items, and various forms of Martial Arts (including Krav Maga).
I silver soldered a rear peep sight onto my SKS. It shoots as well as I do.
It shoots better than I do if one of the young second cousins with good eyes and a steady hand is shooting it. ;)
/johnny
Will it have similar accuracy and add-on ability as the Ruger?
Yes. What I have for a stuffinthepocket is an Astra in 380 - a bit fatter than a walther but still good.
But if I was buying an alltime carry gun today, I’d probably have a look at one of the really small 38 snubs.
I really want Texas to get open, Constitutional carry.
/johnny
Williams Gun Sight Co. makes W/E adjustable aperture and square notch replacements for the standard SKS. There is also a fiber optic Fire Sight front sight blade for the Williams rear sights. A W/E adjustable ghost ring rear sight called the Mojo Sight is available to replace the standard SKS rear. Last, there is the Tech Sight TS200 that attaches to the back of the SKS receiver using the take down lever holes for the attaching bolt for the sight bracket. The problem I see for this sight is you're likely to change the zero if you remove/install the sight to strip the rifle.
Bottom line: an aperture sight is a very desirable improvement for the SKS iron sights.
The peep sight makes the SKS much better. If the dead feral pig in the freezer could testify, he would agree. I'd rather take the SKS for pig plinking than my sweet tack-driver .22-250. I don't have to worry about the finish, bumping the scope, or do mil-dot calcs in my head.
I find the rifle good to 300 meters on a man-sized paper target, most of the pigs I've taken have been within 50 meters.
My young cousin, the competition shooter, can do much better with it.
I sold my AK style to help pay for culinary school. I'm still happy with that sale.
/johnny
I am entering this thread as a ‘60-ish’ military veteran, with medical caveats, that I will insert as I go.
Home defense: Check your state laws, to see if they reflect the current trend of “Castle laws”, or that require you to ‘retreat to the last defenseable position’, before using a firearm, inside your home, BEFORE, you purchase a firearm.
For this purpose, some say a shotgun. It has been proven at home defense operating distances, a 20 gauge shotgun can do as well as a 12 gauge shotgun, preferably a pump design ... most reliable, and good for both left or right handed folks. Mas Ayoob has a video demonstrating this on YouTube.
For the rest of the folks, they, and I, would choose a handgun. Now, herein lies the quicksand! I accept that there are all sorts of calibers, in either revolvers or semi-automatics, (almost as many as a full deck of cards), and it is a matter of personal choice. I have both semi-automatics, and revolvers. Some new, and some I happened upon at a very good price, for me. I have both 9mm Luger (there are other 9mm’s in existence), and .38 Special chambered firearms. As they are designed, both calibers perform ‘as advertised’.
Now, semi-automatics have a few more ‘bells-and-whistles’, compared to revolvers. The ‘manual of arms’ is a little more intricate, and ‘oopsy’, for new shooters, than for revolvers. (BTDT!) They are wonderful pieces of machinery, and some have an intrinsic beauty to them. The newer generations of blocky black plastic, er, polymer framed semi-automatics, do not have the appeal of a nice looking Colt 1911A1, or it’s brother, the Browning Hi Power, to me. Different guns designed in a different age and time.
Revolvers ... you shoot one, you can any other manufacturer’s revolver, unlike a semi-automatic. Sleepy head GI’s have grabbed their issued Smith and Wesson or Colt revolver, while on perimeter, in years past, and were at the ready, as would anyone in a house that was just broken into, from a sound sleep would be. There is a saying that a revolver was an original point-and-click device. I was one of those GI’s long on sleep walking the base perimeter with a Smith and Wesson issued to me. Revolvers can hold 5, 6, or 8 rounds in the cylinder, depending on the design and caliber. Those chambered for .38 Special are either 5 or 6 round design. Revolvers come in a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 inch barrel length. The Colt Python (not a ‘budget gun’) can be found with an 8 inch barrel. Snub nose revolvers can be found from quite a few gun makers. They are handy, kick real good in some calibers or gun weights, and are employed as house guns across the nation. If you choose a snub nose revolver, spend a little more time at the range since they take a little more than a ‘standard length barreled’ revolver.
Why a 9mm, Terry? Why a .38 special, Terry? Why not a magnum caliber, or a ‘simple .22 caliber’, Terry?
I started with 9mm, because I bought a snub nose revolver chambered for 9mm Luger, that was manufactured in 1993. I qualified with that revolver for my CHL, too. I, then, found a few semi-automatics, some brand names I knew, also in 9mm Luger. They shoot well, and work flawlessly, when the ammunition of choice is correct. That is something you will have to figure out. Each firearm reacts differently to all the choices of loadings within caliber! That can be a Murphy Moment when you need it least!
For .38 Special, i was in my local armorer’s shop, and saw this Smith and Wesson revolver. I found out it was the same kind that I had carried on perimeter duty. I bought it, and like all things of kind, somehow ‘another one or two followed me home’.
As to .22 caliber handguns, they have their place, other than when I read in The New York Post of the Gambino Wars. Maybe that’s why they are low on my list?
Take any NRA-sanctioned class that a local gun range is offering, or what the Sheriff’s Office advertises. Knowledge is life, in these regards.
For any books, I would recommend reading anything that can be found by the late Col.’s Applegate, Cooper or Fairbairn, or Bill Jordan.
For videos, look up ‘Clint Smith’, or ‘Hickok45’ on YouTube.
I would suggest that you also read these gunboards - The Firing Line and The High Road. A lot of knowledge to pick through in their archives.
For any “newbies” if you get a hollywood style shotgun, like shown in the picture, Never attempt to shoulder and aim it...you’ll literally knock your eye out. Call me old fashion but get a shotgun that you can properly shoulder and aim correctly. With a shotgun, you can use all kinda of ammo. Birdshot, buckshot a slugs...good all around weapon. Go take professional lessons and practice, practice, practice.
I’m fortunate that I have a friend who has a machine shop in his garage and we can build just about anything. However, for guys who don’t have this luxury, it’s good that there are inexpensive aftermarket sights available.
I’ve always been a fan of the aperture sight for precise shooting over the conventional open hunting sight. A good aperture focuses the eye to make a better and more precise shot. Hits are what count and not near misses.
The ruger mini 14 is lighter than ar and cheaper if you get a ranch rifle it is easy to mount scope and it dose not look like black rifle
Also look at ruger mini 30 in 7.62X39 the new ones are accurate and fun to shoot ammo is cheep.
“New handgun owner (less than 2 months). SA XDM 3.8 Compact .40. I am looking at getting the Remington 870 also (if I can figure out which version), and probably a Ruger .22LR of some type.”
I like your SA XD(M) choice, though mine, an XD .45 acp makes a bigger hurt, and I have 13 rd mags (legal here where I am in OH). I have a Mossberg 500 12 ga pistol grip w/20” barrel and another Mossberg 500 (standard stock) with two interchangeable barrels...a 28” Accuchoke & a 24” Slugster - note, having them both being the same mfg, everything is the same, safety, releases, etc. A Ruger 10/22 is a nice rifle for learning, varmints and scoped it could be used when necessary on 2 legged varmints. A Ruger Mark I (22 LR) is a favorite...low cost ammo in a semi-auto for training and for fun.
I am naturally left handed, but semi-autos are more easily handled in the right hand. I have learned that I can shoot either right or left handed, so I am practicing/training myself to shoot the handguns right handed. For me, accuracy is good with either hand.
I am into my 4th quarter century, and have been a gun owner only a little more than a year. I have had good advice from those who know, and they have worked with me. My ‘range’ is outside my kitchen door (I am in a semi-rural area, and the ‘range’ is backed up by a rather dominant hill. Neighbors do not complain; some have joined me in practice sessions.
My son, a marine (active 8 yrs) and in law enforcement, says I need to add both an AK-47 and an AR-15 to my defensive armament. Shopping for those.
I like my peep sights, especially at twilight.
/johnny
The S&W Airweight fits that bill. Drop it in your pocket and it doesn’t even look like a gun.
But, you will have to wait until your assailant is within 15 feet or so. Assuming you want to hit him. Definitely for close work.
Used to use a Rossi snub for Field (a Norwegian discipline with several classes - one of them the snub - where you’re handed shooting problems over the course of a 1-2 hr hike, with ranges of 20 - 80 yards. Would make the trek once w the Rossi, once with a 9 or 45acp (mil class) and once with a 22.
And then: Barbeque!
Good way to spend a sunday :).
When I lived in Kansas, I knew a 90 something grandma that could shoot your eye out with her .22LR pistol. Dang scary accurate.
We put up a poster of a bad guy, you know one of those full length bad guy with gun type posters. Ran it out of 10 yards, and made a joke about what she could or could not hit.
So she says “Pick the shot”. My buddy laughs and says “Ok shoot him in the eye”. Grandma turned to me and said “Which one?”
Woman was DANG SCARY ACCURATE.
A laser sight can make all the difference, judging by my experience with the (similar) Ruger LCP.
“Yes, and a semi 22 has little recoil and will stay on the target for another shot a lot better than the 44 magnum.”
I don’t agree with that at all. In the first place, who says a 44 magnum will miss on the first shot and it’s a fight stopper if you don’t miss? Second, have you ever shot a Smith & Wesson 329 44 Magnum? It’s my bear gun, and I’ve shown that all 6 rounds can be placed on target in 3.5 seconds at 25 yards. That’s hardly an incapability to “stay on target”.
Also, what if you do hit the target with a 22 magnum? Will that actually stop the fight? Probably not. You’re going to need multiple shots unless you can somehow sneak up on the bad guy and hit him in the head. In that case, just pistol whip him and don’t waste the bullet.
BTW, if your strategy is to pistol-whip, I agree that a 44 magnum will probably do that better than a 22. ;>)
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