Guns

2023 Wish List?

So many bloggers did a 2022 in review post that it was boring. That’s why I didn’t do one. Instead, I thought it would be more fun to do a 2023 prospectus post. List what I would like to accomplish this year.

My wife doesn’t like SCUBA diving, my son no longer dives with me, and I haven’t heard from my other dive buddy in years. As a result, I can count the number of times I have been diving in the past 5 years on one hand. I have about $10k in SCUBA gear that sits unused in storage. The vast majority of my fun money goes into shooting now, and that is a huge change from ten years ago. I think shooting is where most of my wish list is going to go.

I have enough guns that the wife complains and says I have so many that I don’t shoot most of them now. I will grant her that. I have a few favorites, and aside from project guns like the skirmish rifle, I only shoot my favorites. Still, it’s fun to buy something new or at least different. My in-laws think I am nuts for owning as many as I do. Compared to my gun shooting friends, I don’t think I have all that many guns. Owning a lot of guns is a relative term.

Starting in 2020, I began making my own guns from 80 percent lowers. That’s been taken from me as a hobby. If I am going to be a manufacturer, I might as well pay the SOT and start making machine guns. I would do that, but I don’t want my house getting inspected and raided by the assholes from ATF.

I own pump actions, semi-autos, break opens, lever actions, and revolvers. Shotguns, rifles, PDWs, rifle caliber handguns, and all sorts of other handguns. I don’t want any more long guns for the time being, simply because it’s more of a pain in the ass to shoot them than it is a handgun.

So a handgun it is. I currently have, or have had, handguns from Beretta, Glock, Smith and Wesson, Sig, Taurus, Ruger, and more. Been there, done that. There are two noticeable holes in my current collection: I would like to own a .44 caliber revolver. I have been thinking of buying a Smith and Wesson Model 629 in .44 Magnum. I already own a 629 686 in .357 Magnum, and it’s fun to shoot. Having one in .44 Magnum would also allow me to shoot .44 Special. So there is that.

The other thing I have been thinking about is a gun I already owned four examples of, and found them wanting. The 1911 didn’t work well for me when I had them before, but I confess that I am drawn to the 1911, purely because I find them to be aesthetically pleasing. They are just beautiful guns.

I want to give the 1911 platform another chance. Perhaps I just need a really good one. I am thinking that it would be cool to have a custom Ed Brown Kobra Carry. Sure, it’s a $3,700 handgun and I know that I was against buying them in the past, but I have every other handgun I want (except that .44). It’s a beautiful handgun, and Ed Brown has a stellar reputation. It’s just a hefty price tag.

The problem is that I don’t want to put down that kind of scratch until I can get a reliable 1911 for less and make sure that I am not wasting my money. So perhaps I can start with another Kimber. If so, I would try a Kimber Ultra CDP. They “only” cost around $1200 and would let me try out another 1911 without laying down two weeks’ pay to get it.

The other possibility is a Suppressor for the Skirmish rifle. I am thinking a Dead Air Sandman.

So that’s my list. I don’t know if I will get them all, but it looks fun.

  • Smith and Wesson 629 in .44 Magnum ~ $900
  • Kimber Ultra Carry II in .45 ACP ~$1,200
  • Ed Brown Kobra Carry in .45 ACP ~ $3,700
  • Dead Air Sandman ~$900

So what do all of you think?

By Divemedic, ago

An Open Letter to Credit Card Companies

I have a way that I save money. My wife and I have four different cashback credit cards that we use on a daily basis. Each one gives us great terms. One gives us 5% cashback on fuel and groceries. Another, 5% cashback on Amazon. A third is 5% on dining out, and the fourth is 5% on travel and hotel stays. There are other deals. All in all, we probably spend $50k a year on those cards. We pay the cards off every month. It’s like giving yourself a raise. I get money, the issuing bank for the credit card makes money, the processor makes money.

Why is this important? Because Giffords is pressuring banks to flag and prevent credit cards from being used to buy guns and ammunition. That kind of shit has been tried before. When Citibank did a similar thing back in 2018, I immediately canceled by credit card with them. The company that the card was for was Best Buy. I haven’t bought anything from them since, nor have I done any business with Citibank.

So here is my announcement: You aren’t going to stop me from buying guns and ammo. You are just going to stop yourself from making money on the deal. I won’t hesitate to cancel every credit card that I have with your company. Someone will make money on the deal, it just won’t be you, and I will still have my guns and ammo. So die on that hill, and see what happens.

I know that $50k a year doesn’t seem like a lot, but there are millions of people who buy guns every year. Now imagine that you not only lose the processing fees from those sales, but losing the fees from every purchase those people would have made. Now it’s billions of dollars in lost business. Every. Single. Year.

Go ahead, FAFO.

By Divemedic, ago

Caliber wars? Not here.

The point of my post on stopping power isn’t to engage in caliber wars. Nope. I think that the suitability of a handgun caliber for self defense (against human sized opponents) is, like many things, a bell curve. On the left side of the curve, a caliber is unsuitable because it is underpowered, and on the right side of the curve handgun cartridges are so powerful that they are unsuitable because the handguns that fire it are just too large for practical carry.

In the center of the bell curve, the differences between one cartridge and the other are small and not really significant from a self defense standpoint. At that point, the features of the handgun itself overshadow the effectiveness of the cartridge to everyone except the writers of shooting magazines (the publications, not the feeding devices).

For the reasons above, I don’t get into caliber wars. My criteria is this: the left side of the curve for a self defense begins at the .380 level and progresses through .38 Special, 9mm, .40S&W, .357Sig, .44Special, .45ACP, and on to the right side of the curve with .357Magnum, .44Magnum, and 10mm. Mixed in there are the less popular calibers of similar capabilities. Outside of the ends of the curve are calibers like .22lr, .32ACP, and the .500 S&W.

The trick is to locate your handgun on that curve. Do you need a smaller caliber handgun like a .380 for concealability or control reasons? Or can you make a large from handgun like a 10mm work for you? I have a large selection of handguns, in most of the above calibers. (I don’t have a .44 or a 10mm- yet) I have guns by Beretta, CZ, Glock, Sig, Smith & Wesson, Taurus, and others. I have owned pistols by Colt and Kimber. I have revolvers and Semi Autos. I have each for a reason. Some I carry, others are only range guns.

Don’t become too much of a fanboi of one gun, brand, or caliber. Guns are tools. Buy quality. Learn to use them. I’m a gun guy. I, like many gun guys, have heard from my wife about how many guns I own. She thinks that it’s overkill. I just like guns.

By Divemedic, ago

Teacher Arrested with Gun in Car

A Levy county teacher was arrested for having a gun in her car on school property. I think that the cops may have screwed up on the charges. She has been charged with a violation of 790.115 2b, possession of a weapon on school property, and two counts of 827.03 2d, willfully or through neglect endangering a child. The first charge might not fly. Granted I am not a lawyer, but the law reads:

A person shall not possess any firearm, electric weapon or device, destructive device, or other weapon as defined in s. 790.001(13), including a razor blade or box cutter, except as authorized in support of school-sanctioned activities, at a school-sponsored event or on the property of any school, school bus, or school bus stop; however, a person may carry a firearm:
<snip irrelevant parts>
3. In a vehicle pursuant to s. 790.25(5); except that school districts may adopt written and published policies that waive the exception in this subparagraph for purposes of student and campus parking privileges.

The question here is whether or not the school board has published a policy that states that no one may park on campus with a firearm in their vehicles. Most school districts in Florida don’t publish rules like that. A sharp lawyer might be able to beat this.

The child endangerment charges though, those are likely to stick. I mean, she gave two 4th grade children the keys to her car, knowing that there was a loaded handgun in it. She deserves to go down for that.

I would certainly suggest a plea deal.

By Divemedic, ago

When is it a Firearm?

When does a piece of raw material become a firearm? Is this a firearm?

Most people would say that it isn’t. It requires some work and machining to become a firearm. Is this a firearm?

It still requires a good amount of machine work to make it a functional firearm. What about this? Is this a firearm?

Even the ATF told the company that it wasn’t a firearm. (pdf warning) Until they changed their minds and decided that it was. Now a judge did as well. So now the company has to pay $4 million in damages for defrauding customers by “lying” and saying that their product wasn’t a firearm.

How about this? Is it a firearm?

By the same rules that were just applied to Polymer80 by the ATF and the judge, they are. I have the plans right here. (pdf warning) Anyone can build a full auto SMG with less than $100 in parts from Home Depot.

By Divemedic, ago

In Common Use

The AR-15 is the most popular hunting rifle in America. So much for the theory that “assault weapons are only good for killing humans.” Also, since there are approximately 20 million Ar-15s owned in the US, making that rifle the single most popular firearm in America. The AR-15 is in common use, meaning that banning it would be unconstitutional under the Heller decision.

One thing I take from the article:

Of that total, around 741,000 are fully automatic machine guns registered in the US, up from almost 457,000 in 2010, per ATF reports.

Since the registry has been closed to privately held machine guns since 1986, that entire increase has to be dealer samples and police machine guns. I can’t see more than 300,000 dealer samples, so that must mean cops have greatly increased their inventories.

By Divemedic, ago