I've been working on a project since June for a startup company that will be opening up on Oct 19th. The company is an idea and creation of my own (scary I know), but I think we have something special. Something unique and may change the way NoCo trains for CCW. On the bar just above the feature article....yes the bar that says "home" on the left side, and then "Gun Diva" and "Mrs. Mom"....way out on the right side is a button labeled "FiTS". FiTS is my baby, a new twist on an old idea. Firearms Training Simulations, is the long name, and as the name implies, will be offering high end, LE quality simulation training to the public. There are several faces for FiTS, it can be a serious training tool, virtual range time, or just plain old fantasy entertainment. Further, we'll be offering private training and courses based up simulation. Additionally, we are able to film at private locations and drop in bad guys for the company that wants to give their security team a taste of what an active shooter situation might look like in their own buildings. I've been working with Ti to get this project right, their bread and butter is the LE market and most of their sales go to Sheriff's departments and lately TSA. The "scenarios" we've been concentrating on revolve around range time and CCW applications, throw in some zombies for fun and I think we have a training and shooting combination that is not found for public consumption in Northern Colorado, or the rest of the state, maybe the rocky mountain west for that matter. I hope you'll take 10 minutes and read our introduction.
I'd love to hear any ideas, comments or warnings you have.
Shoot Straight,
2XTAP
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Dear Smith & Wesson,
I recently partook of the opportunity to become acquainted with your successful line of M&P semi automatic pistols. I chose the M&P40 over the Teutonic Brick and the many other polymer pistol offerings because the M&P fit me the best. I bought this for two reasons only: 1) I don't have so much invested in it that I won't mind it being held for evidence if the need arises, and 2) a simple barrel swap lets you shoot 9MM, .40 S&W and .357 Sig (the M&P uses the exact same recoil spring for all three, the barrel dimensions are the same and 9MM will feed from the .40/.357 mags as long as you don't count on the last round feeding due to the slight difference in case dimensions...up yours ammo shortage...I will shoot what I can find). While I can't say that I know the M&P40 well enough yet to provide you with a detailed litany of my thoughts regarding your product, I can say that I've spent enough time with it to have some initial impressions. Please allow me to share.
Aesthetics
It's purtier than the Glock in my opinion, but that's like saying a brick is prettier than a cinder block. I have lost any infatuation I ever had with the tacticool look of black on black with a light rail. Once I decide what design I like the most, it's getting a custom coating. Satin black "ghost" flames over the matte black Melonite finish might be cool. Maybe some color with the Texas and US flags. I don't know yet. However, I do like the fish scale slide serrations. They look unique compared to straight or slanted lines, and they function quite nicely.
The Sights
The sights seem to be perfectly adequate for social work out to 25 yards; however, I will have to confirm that before giving an enthusiastic endorsement. Because I have reached middle age and my eye doc says I don't have 20/20 anymore, a Hiviz fiber optic front sight may make an appearance in the not so distant future.
The Trigger
First, it's not a 1911 trigger. So, let's get that illusion out of the way up front. There is a longer than I would like take up before getting to the advertised 6.6 pound trigger pull to trip the sear. Along the way to the break, it seems like the trigger is crawling through broken glass (it is crunchy and gritty). Reports suggest that this will improve with use as supposedly repeated trigger pulls file off some stamp/tool marks that are left unpolished from the factory. I will endeavor to confirm this if I can. If we get to the 500 round mark with no discernible improvement, more drastic measures will be employed.
Many pixels have been burned into monitors regarding the alleged lack of a tactile trigger reset. Either the wailing and gnashing of teeth has been heard and mercy has been bestowed upon the market, or I lucked into a particularly good example as the trigger reset was fairly short with both tactile and audible sensations confirming for me that the trigger was good to go again. Either way, I see no need for me to drop money at Apex Tactical's feet to enhance the reset on mine. Your mileage may vary.
Full review to follow after I get the recently ordered 9MM barrel and extra magazines in and have some time and money to get rounds downrange.
Sincerely,
Daddy Hawk
P.S. Thank your for trusting your customers enough to offer a range of pistols equipped with a variety safety options including the "Is gun...is not safe...keep booger hook off bang switch" safety option.
Aesthetics
It's purtier than the Glock in my opinion, but that's like saying a brick is prettier than a cinder block. I have lost any infatuation I ever had with the tacticool look of black on black with a light rail. Once I decide what design I like the most, it's getting a custom coating. Satin black "ghost" flames over the matte black Melonite finish might be cool. Maybe some color with the Texas and US flags. I don't know yet. However, I do like the fish scale slide serrations. They look unique compared to straight or slanted lines, and they function quite nicely.
The Sights
The sights seem to be perfectly adequate for social work out to 25 yards; however, I will have to confirm that before giving an enthusiastic endorsement. Because I have reached middle age and my eye doc says I don't have 20/20 anymore, a Hiviz fiber optic front sight may make an appearance in the not so distant future.
The Trigger
First, it's not a 1911 trigger. So, let's get that illusion out of the way up front. There is a longer than I would like take up before getting to the advertised 6.6 pound trigger pull to trip the sear. Along the way to the break, it seems like the trigger is crawling through broken glass (it is crunchy and gritty). Reports suggest that this will improve with use as supposedly repeated trigger pulls file off some stamp/tool marks that are left unpolished from the factory. I will endeavor to confirm this if I can. If we get to the 500 round mark with no discernible improvement, more drastic measures will be employed.
Many pixels have been burned into monitors regarding the alleged lack of a tactile trigger reset. Either the wailing and gnashing of teeth has been heard and mercy has been bestowed upon the market, or I lucked into a particularly good example as the trigger reset was fairly short with both tactile and audible sensations confirming for me that the trigger was good to go again. Either way, I see no need for me to drop money at Apex Tactical's feet to enhance the reset on mine. Your mileage may vary.
Full review to follow after I get the recently ordered 9MM barrel and extra magazines in and have some time and money to get rounds downrange.
Sincerely,
Daddy Hawk
P.S. Thank your for trusting your customers enough to offer a range of pistols equipped with a variety safety options including the "Is gun...is not safe...keep booger hook off bang switch" safety option.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
9/11-- Never. Forget.
By Mrs Mom- Shared from my horse blog.
It's funny. I can't remember the events of three days ago with much clarity,
but I can remember 9/11/01 in great detail.
I can't remember all that I ate yesterday,
Yet I remember what I had that morning.
I can't remember exactly who I talked with 2 days ago,
But I can see and hear each and every person from that day.
I remember being with clients- getting ready to teach 2 homeschooled kids their riding lesson for the week. I remember the cup of coffee, with just a dollop of Bailey's in it, that was presented to me as a pre-birthday gift by my student's Mom.
I had exactly three sips of that coffee.
One, in the kitchen, as we gathered up the kids.
The second walking up the drive to the barn to get the horses ready.
The third before I went to help check tack and get the kids ready.
It was the last time I had Bailey's.
And I don't know that I'll ever be able to drink it again.
I remember the horses- an older white-ish/ gray-ish gelding, retired from a dude string, and a mouse brown gelding who was a camp horse for several years. They had a resigned look on their faces, one of "Oh no. Not this AGAIN."
I remember the excitement in the kids faces, the sheer joy of being NEAR a horse.
I remember the feeling of Fall in the air.
I remember, just before we were going to get the kids mounted up, the sound of their Dad's truck screaming up the mountainous driveway. I remember the look on his face.
I remember his words like he said them just now.
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"
The details spilled from him with intensity- and a pit of dread opened in my stomach.
I remember stripping tack from the horses, tossing them into their field, and seeing the family running to their house to gather information and news. The father- a veteran of Desert Storm- looked at me and told me that if this went as bad as he feared it could, for me to get my son and come back to their house- he would protect us.
I remember the truck race down the mountain to the school to get my pre-K aged son- the radio blaring the news, the shock, the feeling of sickness and of not knowing what was coming next.
When I arrived at the school, the faces of those with me reflected the shock and horror, the uncertainty. School closed- parents were swarming in to pick up their kids, buses were being scrambled for the rest. We were only 2 hours from Ground Zero- less as the crow flies. Better to send all kids home, to be with their parents, than leave them in school *just in case*. No one ever finished that *just in case* thought.
I remember getting home, turning on the news, and seeing the first tower collapse.
And then the second.
The people jumping from the base of the sky, falling towards the city streets and certain death below.
I remember.
I remember with such intensity it hurts at times.
I remember the friends I lost that day.
I remember the 343 brother and sister first responders lost that day.
I remember the police, the port authority, the innocent civilians.
I remember Flight 93, who said NOT ON MY WATCH.
I
Will
Never
Forget.
Have you?
Now, we also have to remember Bengahzi. The four people lost there- and still- no answers.
Have you forgotten them?
9/11
Never
Forget.
It's funny. I can't remember the events of three days ago with much clarity,
but I can remember 9/11/01 in great detail.
I can't remember all that I ate yesterday,
Yet I remember what I had that morning.
I can't remember exactly who I talked with 2 days ago,
But I can see and hear each and every person from that day.
I remember being with clients- getting ready to teach 2 homeschooled kids their riding lesson for the week. I remember the cup of coffee, with just a dollop of Bailey's in it, that was presented to me as a pre-birthday gift by my student's Mom.
I had exactly three sips of that coffee.
One, in the kitchen, as we gathered up the kids.
The second walking up the drive to the barn to get the horses ready.
The third before I went to help check tack and get the kids ready.
It was the last time I had Bailey's.
And I don't know that I'll ever be able to drink it again.
I remember the horses- an older white-ish/ gray-ish gelding, retired from a dude string, and a mouse brown gelding who was a camp horse for several years. They had a resigned look on their faces, one of "Oh no. Not this AGAIN."
I remember the excitement in the kids faces, the sheer joy of being NEAR a horse.
I remember the feeling of Fall in the air.
I remember, just before we were going to get the kids mounted up, the sound of their Dad's truck screaming up the mountainous driveway. I remember the look on his face.
I remember his words like he said them just now.
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"
The details spilled from him with intensity- and a pit of dread opened in my stomach.
I remember stripping tack from the horses, tossing them into their field, and seeing the family running to their house to gather information and news. The father- a veteran of Desert Storm- looked at me and told me that if this went as bad as he feared it could, for me to get my son and come back to their house- he would protect us.
I remember the truck race down the mountain to the school to get my pre-K aged son- the radio blaring the news, the shock, the feeling of sickness and of not knowing what was coming next.
When I arrived at the school, the faces of those with me reflected the shock and horror, the uncertainty. School closed- parents were swarming in to pick up their kids, buses were being scrambled for the rest. We were only 2 hours from Ground Zero- less as the crow flies. Better to send all kids home, to be with their parents, than leave them in school *just in case*. No one ever finished that *just in case* thought.
I remember getting home, turning on the news, and seeing the first tower collapse.
And then the second.
The people jumping from the base of the sky, falling towards the city streets and certain death below.
I remember.
I remember with such intensity it hurts at times.
I remember the friends I lost that day.
I remember the 343 brother and sister first responders lost that day.
I remember the police, the port authority, the innocent civilians.
I remember Flight 93, who said NOT ON MY WATCH.
I
Will
Never
Forget.
Have you?
Now, we also have to remember Bengahzi. The four people lost there- and still- no answers.
Have you forgotten them?
9/11
Never
Forget.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Ridiculous
Okay, this whole ammo panic has gotten way out of hand. It seems that Double Tap has fallen off the wagon along with 1000 of his nearest and dearest ammo hoarding friends.
A while back (so long ago, in fact, that I forget exactly when), I requested that MidwayUSA notify me via email when they got some .22 LR CCI Mini-Mags back in stock. Well, today they sent me an email at 3:18 PM telling me that, yes, they really did have some in stock. By the time I checked my personal email at about 3:30 PM while in the midst of my second boring meeting of the day, they were sold out.
Again.
Not a scrap of brass, lead or powder with CCI's name on it anywhere on the website.
12 MINUTES to sell out even with a five box per customer limit.
COME ON PEOPLE. Cut a working guy a break. Some of us can't sit outside every gun store in town or hit refresh on our browsers every 30 seconds to see if there is any new stock to be hoarded. You people are worse than dragons.
"OOOOOooooo, it's shiny and it goes bang....must....hoard....ammo....."
Don't mind me...I'll just be in the corner...moping....
A while back (so long ago, in fact, that I forget exactly when), I requested that MidwayUSA notify me via email when they got some .22 LR CCI Mini-Mags back in stock. Well, today they sent me an email at 3:18 PM telling me that, yes, they really did have some in stock. By the time I checked my personal email at about 3:30 PM while in the midst of my second boring meeting of the day, they were sold out.
Again.
Not a scrap of brass, lead or powder with CCI's name on it anywhere on the website.
12 MINUTES to sell out even with a five box per customer limit.
COME ON PEOPLE. Cut a working guy a break. Some of us can't sit outside every gun store in town or hit refresh on our browsers every 30 seconds to see if there is any new stock to be hoarded. You people are worse than dragons.
"OOOOOooooo, it's shiny and it goes bang....must....hoard....ammo....."
Don't mind me...I'll just be in the corner...moping....
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Confessions of an Ammo Junkie
Alright, alright, alright, My name is Double Tap, but my friends call me 2X. I have a problem. I'm an ammo junkie. There I said it. First step to recovery right? Thankfully, my problem is limited, I only horde ammo for guns I have, so I can't be that bad right? I know many of you out there buy ammunition for guns you don't even own. You think it'll come in handy some day, but it doesn't it just sits out there and collects dust. So before you haters start judging me for my problem, pull up a chair and listen.
My addiction started right after Christmas 2012, before New Year's. Our Governor had stated that he was interested in gun control. My part time job at a gun shop exposed me to the horrors that became my addiction. The thin man came to the counter, asked for 22 and as I pointed to the rack of some 40 bricks of 22, he turned and and hustled double time across the store...the fat man and the bald man followed, each coming back to the register with 3 or 4 bricks a piece piled high in their arms. The signs went up proclaiming box limits, which made things worse. As the rules of the game changed, the buying behaviors changed as men drug their wives and girl friends in to purchase ammo for them. Gun Gals brought their boyfriends in and the store became twice as crowded. 2 box limit, here's my 2 and here's her 2. Damn, I thought, I better get some too before it's gone, so I put 2 bricks away to pay for later and just like that I began my spiral into uncontrollable ammunition purchasing. I felt guilty...don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you, maybe I was depriving some father from taking his kid shooting, or some grandmother from shooting a neighbor's noisy ass dog. Reluctantly, I put one brick back on the shelf and took the other home. I dwelled on that brick all night long, how it needed to come with me, how I might not be able to find another, what if I couldn't take my daughter to a match because we didn't have ammunition for her gun?
The next day, after my other job, I hustled back to the shop and to my horror found there were no more bricks, none, nada, zip. Ha I thought, I must not have needed it anyway...but it got worse. I grabbed 2 boxes of 9mm and a 40 for good measure (those would disappear soon). I didn't even own a 9mm, but I was going to get one, I wasn't going to be one of THOSE people. I had 200 rounds of 9mm before the Glock 17 made it off the shelf and into my hands. I was NOT one of those guys.
I thought it was over and that my flirtation with "using" was on the draw down, but no, 223 was flying off the shelves and I only had 3,000 rounds of that, so I better get another 500.....Ok another 1000 rounds for good measure. The zombie apocalypse might start any day according to DHS and I should be prepared....My Government told me to "be prepared, make a plan, get a kit", which translates to buy ammo, acquire ammo, and obtain ammo - I listened. It didn't take long for the disposable income to dry up, but just one more box....it couldn't hurt right? I could just find one more box for under $10 so I could end my hording on a happy note...but no, it didn't happen that way - $12.50 - damn them. Forget that supply and demand necessitated a price increase, I wanted to pay $8.50, but those days were gone. I looked for new suppliers and new dealers to satisfy this craving, but they all wanted $12.50...and some even wanted more. $12.50 plus shipping. Cheaper than Dirt became Cheaper than Gold, but I had to have it...oh and another 30 round magazine for my AR....and my basement office became my arsenal with ammo cans piled in every corner and hiding under my desk and even one box hiding behind a Coke in my tiny office fridge. Ssssshhhhhhh. Boxes from Magpul lay about the floor...
Soon, the range that I took my kids to were selling 22 only to those people that were going to use the range, so I would take my daughter and her 22, buy a box of CCI mini mags - gal behind the counter would sell me the 100 round count box because she liked my daughter, but I would make my daughter sit in the chair while I shot my 45 (only 1/2 a box) and I'd take the 22 home in my range bag to satisfy a future itch. The look on my daughters face said it all, the pain and the misery, and I knew that...I just had to do this 3 or 4 more times to build up a satisfactory 22 stockpile. She could tough it out, she is young and strong and....could keep her mouth shut for just bit longer. Ice cream - that would do it, ice cream on the way home. We amassed another 600 rounds of Mini Mags. That itch finally ceased, but other more exotic calibers awaited and called to me every time I walked down the ammo isle....I could hear them call my name.
I got desperate, Cabela's website told me they were out and my heart began to race and I did something I never do, I went to Dick's Sporting Goods, then Wal-Mart, and even to Sportsman's Warehouse but only to find empty shelves and the laughter of store clerks and the ghost boxes ringing in my ears. "You could have had us last month, but you were too good to come here..." They laughed at me and I heard them, I heard each and every 38 special and 357 mag round mag round that could not be had. Sleep became an all consuming nightmare, where to go next, when, how, why? Do I go to a match and use my precious rounds or do I turn into a Gringgots Goblin and sit on my piles?
My problem was just not with the 9mm, 22 or 223, no it went beyond that. I had to have 38,40 and 45 as well, I'm an instructor right? I had to have this stuff for class, how can you teach if you don't have ammunition? How could you offer a quality class if you couldn't shoot the gun, dry fire only gets you so far and snap caps do a great job of giving you look and feel, but you need to feel the power and hear the roar and feel the recoil. Yes, you do, so with credit card in hand I went shopping. When stores ran box restrictions I would get my limit and circle back around in 30 minutes if they had inventory, and if they didn't I'd bribe a kid with an icee and give them the cash to buy me a box of 38. You know how hard it is to dodge security cameras in Wal-Mart? Man, I never thought I'd use that knit hat with dreadlocks wig again...It's tough to disguise a middle aged, white haired, white guy with dreadlocks and sunglasses, but cut the hair short, stuff it under the cap and some brown shoe polish for the beard and with my Jamaican accent and best tie died peace shirt...Good thing I took up running too. Security guards give up after 1/2 mile.
I had it bad, but as bad as I had it, the guys that shot the exotic stuff had it worse. The hipsters and their 5-sevens and the guys looking for AK or worse AK-74 - those guys looked like skeletons with a twitch and pasty. Plastic in hand and ready to pay, but they couldn't even find fulfillment in a dream. They didn't believe the run would last long and even if they did, they couldn't buy enough inventory and soon they were going through range withdrawal. I wouldn't let that happen, I kept to the "easier" to find and limited myself to once a week, I limited my students ammunition count and shot the extras when they had left for the day. What they didn't know...
I'm better now. I'm feeling secure in my abilities to scrounge if needed and with the quantities at hand. It's been a tough slog, but the stuff is back on the shelves and the ghosts have dissipated. 22 while still scarce is making a come back, and for old time sake I picked up a 1600 round count of 22. I could have passed it by - I could have. No, I could have...well maybe... I'm getting better I'm on a program now.
I'm 2X and I've not purchased ammo in 6 days.
Shoot straight,
Double Tap.
My addiction started right after Christmas 2012, before New Year's. Our Governor had stated that he was interested in gun control. My part time job at a gun shop exposed me to the horrors that became my addiction. The thin man came to the counter, asked for 22 and as I pointed to the rack of some 40 bricks of 22, he turned and and hustled double time across the store...the fat man and the bald man followed, each coming back to the register with 3 or 4 bricks a piece piled high in their arms. The signs went up proclaiming box limits, which made things worse. As the rules of the game changed, the buying behaviors changed as men drug their wives and girl friends in to purchase ammo for them. Gun Gals brought their boyfriends in and the store became twice as crowded. 2 box limit, here's my 2 and here's her 2. Damn, I thought, I better get some too before it's gone, so I put 2 bricks away to pay for later and just like that I began my spiral into uncontrollable ammunition purchasing. I felt guilty...don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you, maybe I was depriving some father from taking his kid shooting, or some grandmother from shooting a neighbor's noisy ass dog. Reluctantly, I put one brick back on the shelf and took the other home. I dwelled on that brick all night long, how it needed to come with me, how I might not be able to find another, what if I couldn't take my daughter to a match because we didn't have ammunition for her gun?
The next day, after my other job, I hustled back to the shop and to my horror found there were no more bricks, none, nada, zip. Ha I thought, I must not have needed it anyway...but it got worse. I grabbed 2 boxes of 9mm and a 40 for good measure (those would disappear soon). I didn't even own a 9mm, but I was going to get one, I wasn't going to be one of THOSE people. I had 200 rounds of 9mm before the Glock 17 made it off the shelf and into my hands. I was NOT one of those guys.
I thought it was over and that my flirtation with "using" was on the draw down, but no, 223 was flying off the shelves and I only had 3,000 rounds of that, so I better get another 500.....Ok another 1000 rounds for good measure. The zombie apocalypse might start any day according to DHS and I should be prepared....My Government told me to "be prepared, make a plan, get a kit", which translates to buy ammo, acquire ammo, and obtain ammo - I listened. It didn't take long for the disposable income to dry up, but just one more box....it couldn't hurt right? I could just find one more box for under $10 so I could end my hording on a happy note...but no, it didn't happen that way - $12.50 - damn them. Forget that supply and demand necessitated a price increase, I wanted to pay $8.50, but those days were gone. I looked for new suppliers and new dealers to satisfy this craving, but they all wanted $12.50...and some even wanted more. $12.50 plus shipping. Cheaper than Dirt became Cheaper than Gold, but I had to have it...oh and another 30 round magazine for my AR....and my basement office became my arsenal with ammo cans piled in every corner and hiding under my desk and even one box hiding behind a Coke in my tiny office fridge. Ssssshhhhhhh. Boxes from Magpul lay about the floor...
Soon, the range that I took my kids to were selling 22 only to those people that were going to use the range, so I would take my daughter and her 22, buy a box of CCI mini mags - gal behind the counter would sell me the 100 round count box because she liked my daughter, but I would make my daughter sit in the chair while I shot my 45 (only 1/2 a box) and I'd take the 22 home in my range bag to satisfy a future itch. The look on my daughters face said it all, the pain and the misery, and I knew that...I just had to do this 3 or 4 more times to build up a satisfactory 22 stockpile. She could tough it out, she is young and strong and....could keep her mouth shut for just bit longer. Ice cream - that would do it, ice cream on the way home. We amassed another 600 rounds of Mini Mags. That itch finally ceased, but other more exotic calibers awaited and called to me every time I walked down the ammo isle....I could hear them call my name.
I got desperate, Cabela's website told me they were out and my heart began to race and I did something I never do, I went to Dick's Sporting Goods, then Wal-Mart, and even to Sportsman's Warehouse but only to find empty shelves and the laughter of store clerks and the ghost boxes ringing in my ears. "You could have had us last month, but you were too good to come here..." They laughed at me and I heard them, I heard each and every 38 special and 357 mag round mag round that could not be had. Sleep became an all consuming nightmare, where to go next, when, how, why? Do I go to a match and use my precious rounds or do I turn into a Gringgots Goblin and sit on my piles?
My problem was just not with the 9mm, 22 or 223, no it went beyond that. I had to have 38,40 and 45 as well, I'm an instructor right? I had to have this stuff for class, how can you teach if you don't have ammunition? How could you offer a quality class if you couldn't shoot the gun, dry fire only gets you so far and snap caps do a great job of giving you look and feel, but you need to feel the power and hear the roar and feel the recoil. Yes, you do, so with credit card in hand I went shopping. When stores ran box restrictions I would get my limit and circle back around in 30 minutes if they had inventory, and if they didn't I'd bribe a kid with an icee and give them the cash to buy me a box of 38. You know how hard it is to dodge security cameras in Wal-Mart? Man, I never thought I'd use that knit hat with dreadlocks wig again...It's tough to disguise a middle aged, white haired, white guy with dreadlocks and sunglasses, but cut the hair short, stuff it under the cap and some brown shoe polish for the beard and with my Jamaican accent and best tie died peace shirt...Good thing I took up running too. Security guards give up after 1/2 mile.
I had it bad, but as bad as I had it, the guys that shot the exotic stuff had it worse. The hipsters and their 5-sevens and the guys looking for AK or worse AK-74 - those guys looked like skeletons with a twitch and pasty. Plastic in hand and ready to pay, but they couldn't even find fulfillment in a dream. They didn't believe the run would last long and even if they did, they couldn't buy enough inventory and soon they were going through range withdrawal. I wouldn't let that happen, I kept to the "easier" to find and limited myself to once a week, I limited my students ammunition count and shot the extras when they had left for the day. What they didn't know...
I'm better now. I'm feeling secure in my abilities to scrounge if needed and with the quantities at hand. It's been a tough slog, but the stuff is back on the shelves and the ghosts have dissipated. 22 while still scarce is making a come back, and for old time sake I picked up a 1600 round count of 22. I could have passed it by - I could have. No, I could have...well maybe... I'm getting better I'm on a program now.
I'm 2X and I've not purchased ammo in 6 days.
Shoot straight,
Double Tap.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Use rentals to help you find the right handgun for you.
A common question that is asked by new shooters is which handgun to buy? The best way to answer this question is to try before you buy. Very similar to test driving a car before you commit to the purchase.
One of the best ways to test drive a handgun is to find a shooting range that offers rentals. This will allow you to try several makes and models and can help you choose between a revolver or semi-auto pistol. And find the right model that fits you.
It may seem costly to rent, but not as costly as spending $400-$1000 on a handgun you end up not liking. A little know fact is guns depreciate as fast as cars do. Sometimes faster. Choose carefully.
Expect to spend approximately $50-$100. Maybe more depending on how many handguns you try.
The cost breaks down as follows: (prices are approximate and will vary)
$7-$15 per handgun rented.
$20 per hour for lane rental
$20 per box of ammunition. (This is what really drives the cost)
Typically I can try 3-5 handguns in 1 - 1.5 hours. And has helped me choose the right handguns for me. Generally within 25-50 rounds I can determine if a handgun is right for me or not by the way is sits in my hand. Is it too big or too small. Can or cannot reach the controls. Or just is unpleasant to shoot and kicks the snot out of my hand.
Contact your local ranges and find out which ones have rentals and for how much and which models they offer for rent. Though a little expensive, use rentals to help you find the right handgun. Rentals will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
-Mez
One of the best ways to test drive a handgun is to find a shooting range that offers rentals. This will allow you to try several makes and models and can help you choose between a revolver or semi-auto pistol. And find the right model that fits you.
It may seem costly to rent, but not as costly as spending $400-$1000 on a handgun you end up not liking. A little know fact is guns depreciate as fast as cars do. Sometimes faster. Choose carefully.
Expect to spend approximately $50-$100. Maybe more depending on how many handguns you try.
The cost breaks down as follows: (prices are approximate and will vary)
$7-$15 per handgun rented.
$20 per hour for lane rental
$20 per box of ammunition. (This is what really drives the cost)
Typically I can try 3-5 handguns in 1 - 1.5 hours. And has helped me choose the right handguns for me. Generally within 25-50 rounds I can determine if a handgun is right for me or not by the way is sits in my hand. Is it too big or too small. Can or cannot reach the controls. Or just is unpleasant to shoot and kicks the snot out of my hand.
Contact your local ranges and find out which ones have rentals and for how much and which models they offer for rent. Though a little expensive, use rentals to help you find the right handgun. Rentals will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
-Mez
Friday, August 2, 2013
Promo for Tomorrow's Presentation
I found the radio interview I did for 99.9 The Point.
I'm pretty excited, actually. I was worried that I would completely screw it up, not having seen the interview questions in advance, but it turned out ok.
I'm pretty excited, actually. I was worried that I would completely screw it up, not having seen the interview questions in advance, but it turned out ok.
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