So, more questions from my blog stats:
do or do not dry fire a .22
Generally no, you should not dry fire a rimfire gun. It will eventually lead to damaging the gun. However, it is worthwhile to ask the manufacturer. For instance, Ruger’s 10/22 specifically says in its user guide that you can dry fire it — certainly more the exception than the rule. On my Buck Mark, it didn’t say either way so I called Browning’s customer support to ask and they said no.
That said, you could use snap caps, but I’ve had a hard time finding .22 LR snap caps. There are some that claim to be, but online reviews say they’re too short and thus may not feed right. Probably not a problem if you have a .22 revolver, but in things like the Ruger 10/22’s rotary magazine they won’t work. YMMV.
how to accurately shoot a 9mm pistol
Slow down. 🙂
Seriously. Accuracy and speed are somewhat of an inverse relationship. Granted as you get better you can shoot both faster and more accurately, but ultimately one will have to be sacrificed somewhat for the other.
You can check out my posting about how to correct handgun shooting problems for some target helps.
I would also recommend attending a reputable school and obtaining training. Having a good teacher does wonders.
why 9mm so expensive 2009
Short answer: Obama.
Longer answer: Obama got elected US President, and a Democrat-controlled Congress. It has long been established that Obama is no friend to gun owners and gun rights (his actions speak clearer than his words). People felt once he got elected that resurrecting the “assault weapons ban” was going to happen so there was quite a run on guns and ammo. The run on guns seems to be quieting down since people are tapped out for money. Ammo is still trying to regain stability but signs are pointing towards things improving (both prices dropping and stocks building).
are guns free on tax free weekend?
Probably not, but I guess it depends how you interpret that question.
Guns will likely not be free on any weekend, or weekday for that matter. Someone somewhere wants to make money and just won’t be giving them away. 🙂
What tax free weekend? Here in Texas when you say “tax free weekend” it generally refers to the sales tax holiday used to help kids get ready for back-to-school. Guns are not on the list of approved items; in fact, not a lot of stuff is. Generally sporting goods are not considered necessities for schooling (e.g. cleats, helmets, pads, rollerskates, etc. aren’t tax free).
Or if you mean maybe a sales tax holiday for guns, earlier in this 2009 Texas Legislative season, Sen. Jeff Wentworth proposed one, but it went nowhere.
preferred shotgun for home defense
There isn’t one. 😉 To paraphrase John Holschen: AR, AR, AR.
That said, if you really want a shotgun, most any will do so long as it is reliable and works well. I’d prefer one with a shorter barrel, e.g. an 18.5″ or 20″ vs. say 26″ or so… dealing with navigating in the tighter confines of hallways and such. I’d prefer 12 gauge, but 20 can be fine too. Buckshot (00 for 12 gauge, #3 or #4 for 20 gauge). Use reduced recoil loads, if possible to make it easier to fire and fire again. Semi-auto may be more finicky and require more maintenance, but it will be a lot easier for the untrained to operate vs. a pump, whereas a pump is likely to be more reliable and run whatever you feed it but you gotta know what you’re doing; consider who will be using it. Make sure you pattern your gun and your load, and go through various loads until you find the one that works best; change chokes if needed too. Read this to see why patterning is important.
And practice, practice, practice.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Try Brownells for .22LR dummy rounds in boxes of 50.
Have a direct link? I can’t find anything.
I have found some .22 dummy rounds before, but they’re either too short and you can’t guarantee feeding out of magazines, or you cannot fire against the rounds (you can use them to demonstrate/practice loading/unloading, but they’re not made to withstand dropping the firing pin on them).
I want something you can load and fire against, repeatedly.
Look into #1 buck as a defense load, it might surprise you.
As for dry firing a 22 rimfire, most modern designs can handle it with ease. However, like the poster above notes dummy rounds are available. I recommend dry firing, accompanied by visualization to all of my students.
That said, find a good instructor if at all available! I recommend Front Sight Training if you can make it out to the Las Vegas area.
I’ve heard others speak well of #1 buck for 12 gauge. My main thing is it’s harder to find than 00 buck. But either should do the job.
On the .22 dummy rounds, if you have a direct link to somewhere that sells ones you can actually fire against, please refer me because I can’t find any. Any I can find can’t take the repeated strikes of the firing pin.
As for Front Sight, I’ve heard their instruction is good. A friend of mine went there and he speaks highly of the experience. Me, I’m fortunate to live near a great school: KR Training.
http://www.krtraining.com/
You can use fired casings as snap caps in a pinch. They will work for a bit and if you rotate them, they will work for awhile.
Also, I’m not sure I agree with the AR as a home defense concept. For starters, all my shotguns are shorter than my rifles. Second, I don’t find the manual of arms to be overly complicated for a pump shotgun. Finally, I specifically chose to NOT opt for 12-gauge in my home defense gun. Instead, I opted for 20-gauge with a stout 2 3/4″ #3 buck load. It patterns great and everyone can control it with easy. The vent rib on my Remington 870 youth gun makes aiming stupid easy. Realistically, the AR is an excellent platform and makes a viable home defense weapon, but so is the shotgun. Some people prefer one over the other, since I have more practice and training in the use of a shotgun, I use it.
AR would be cool, but I can’t justify $7-800 on a rifle, that shoots another caliber, I don’t reload for these days. So, I stick with the old, cheap, stand by.
-Rob
But will fired casing feed out of say a Ruger 10/22’s rotary magazine? I’ve honestly never tried it and of course I have no spent casings handy to try it now. But that seems a reasonable thing to try.
As for the shotgun vs the AR, I’ve got a 4-part series on that:
https://hsoiblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/on-a-home-defense-tool/
You’re local, so next time KR Training offers its Defensive Long Gun class (probably January 2010, at the earliest) you should take it. it’s an eye-opener, and not through any agenda slight-of-hand. It’s just an honest assessment of uses of any long gun (shotgun, rifle, any sort of either) as a home defense weapon.
For me, my AR’s are shorter than my shotguns (even with 18.5″ barrels… I do have shoulder stocks, no shotgun pistol grips here). 16″ barrels and 6-position collapsible stocks, and my AR’s are shorter.
While no it’s not hard to work a pump shotgun, it depends upon the person. For instance, we’re gun guys and happy to practice. You might have someone that lives in the house that isn’t willing or able to practice, but grants a need for home defense. A semi-auto shotgun is just a simple “point and click” interface, whereas a pump is “point and click and rack”… it’s one more thing to have to think about and work, and if they’re not used to it it may cause costly delay or failure for them. I do think the better thing is for people to be trained and practice, but that just doesn’t always happen. 😦
20 gauge is fine. I keep one of those myself, prepped and ready. As for aiming, I found a, I think TruGlo, magnetic fiber optic sight… just attaches to the vent rib and adds a bit more “eye catching” ability to the front sight. Was inexpensive and sure improved things.
You are right that the AR’s main problem is cost: the gun itself is expensive, the additional caliber and getting ammo for it adds to that price. But there are other rifle-based avenues to consider as well, e.g. Hi-Point Carbines. But in the end, the key is to know your tools, know how they perform. If the shotgun works best for you and your needs, stick with it. IMHO there’s no 1 perfect recipe for everyone in all situations; you have to pick what answers your questions best.
http://www.rimfiresports.com/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RSC&Product_Code=22LR%20DUMMIES
The rest appear to be for training only. There used to be several available on the market. Go figure! That, or buy a small lathe, and go into business! 🙂
KR is great, as is Prairie Arms program in the Denver area. If you are LEO or military Gunsite in AZ is still a great school as well.
Some years ago I attended a symposium dealing with home defense, and some very solid ideas were generated, as well as a few that, based upon actual history, might be considered “off the wall.” I’ll try and locate the final report that was generated, and I’ll email it to you.
Ah, dummy rounds! Thank you. My Google-Fu was weak and finding nothing.
If I have the opportunity to travel and train (matter of time and money), the places I’d like to consider would be Gunsite, Thunder Ranch, Rangemaster, Insights Training.
If you can find that report, I’d love to see it. Thank you.
I’ve looked all over the place and can’t find the diskette… GRR!
I’ll try and put something together from memory, and post it over at Conservative Libertarian Outpost.
Wrong thread, but I’m short on time today. During my time as a Paramedic I saw at least three instances where the 38 Special was used from a snubby for self defense. The load was the Federal so-called “Treasury Load.” A Plus P that was a federal Hydra Shok. My duties at those scenes was short, and to the point. “In the name of the state of Colorado, this person is dead.” Each bad guy had been hit in the torso at least twice, and dropped right where he had been shot. Yes, it is anecdotal, but, the point is made.
Darn. Oh well. I’ll keep my eyes on your blog’s RSS feed, like I do every day. Just make sure it’s got a good title. 🙂 Sometimes time is tight in a day and I can’t read everything… just browse the headlines. You seem to understand time being tight tho. 🙂
On the snub load, that’s a fair point. Thank you for the info.