Guns

Ruger LCR in .357 Magnum

/ hsoi

So, Ruger just put out a version of their LCR in .357 Magnum.

I’d be very curious to shoot one.

When I was researching a snub for myself, the original LCR was very attractive to me. The only things I did not like about it were the internal lock and the relative newness of it to the market. I wasn’t sure I wanted to bet my life on such things. But there wasn’t much question of how nice it felt in the hand and how nice the factory trigger was. I haven’t gotten to shoot one (don’t know anyone that owns one), but reports are that it’s actually quite pleasant, all things considered. Supposedly a mixture of the gun’s frame and overall construction, plus the Hogue grip.

So that’s what makes me curious about the .357 version. How pleasant is a .357 LCR going to be to shoot? Could it actually be manageable? And then, could you have .357 oomph in your pocket instead?

Very intriguing.

If Ruger or someone else wants to send me an LCR for test and eval, I’d be happy to do it. 🙂

Finally! My T-Grip arrived (with pictures)

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

It’s been a little over 2 months since I ordered a Tyler T-Grip for my S&W 442. But finally it arrived. I was starting to think it would never get here! To be fair, they warn you it could take 6-8 weeks. When I called a few times to inquire about status, the impression I received was they don’t keep a lot of inventory but make them as orders come in. But as well, they try to accumulate enough orders before doing a batch. Very understandable. I could be wrong about how they do things as I didn’t ask about their internal processes, but that’s just the impression I received based upon how the folks spoke with me.

As an aside, everyone I spoke to there was very polite and friendly. In fact, the guy that seems to do a lot of the actual fab work I ended up speaking with for quite a while and explained the Werner Carry System to him. He thought that was pretty darn cool. Nice folks.

So anyway, the Werner Carry System is why I obtained the T-Grip. My Hip Grip arrived a little while ago. Now with the T-Grip I can start to put it all together.

All photos taken with my crappy iPhone 3GS camera and what lighting there was in my office. Photos can be clicked to enlarge.

That’s the T-Grip itself. It’s just a piece of powder-coated metal (I think aluminum, not sure). Mine is a flat black to fit a J-frame. See those little copper tabs sticking out of it? Those are what hold the grip to the frame.

All you do is take off your grips (and you must have “standard size” grips, else it won’t fit) and slide the copper tabs over the frame. That’s it. You do NOT bend the tabs. It’s all held in place by the tension of the grips. So you put the grip panels back, screw them together, and the pressure of the grips against the frame provide enough tension/friction to hold the T-Grip in place.

So why get this?

Because it helps fill the hand.

That little dinky J-frame grip just does not fill my hand. Oh sure, I can put on my Pachmayr Compac grips and they are awesome: fill the hand, good grip, and absorbs a lot of the recoil/shock. But the downside is those grips are HUGE and concealment isn’t ideal. But this? The T-grip helps to fill the hand, and since it goes in front of the grip instead of behind, not only does it change how the filling of the hand works, but it also doesn’t add to the profile of the J-frame, which really aids concealment.

Take a look. Here’s the gun without the T-Grip:

It’s a little hard to see with my crappy iPhone camera, but if you look between the base of my middle two fingers and the frontstrap of the grip, you’ll see airspace. Sure some of that goes away when I close my hand around the grip, but without question there’s still airspace and wiggle room in there. Now compare to the same gun with the T-Grip installed:

Look at that same area at the base of my middle fingers against the frontstrap of the gun. See how that space is now filled in? Fantastic! It feels so much better in my hand. One downside is you can see how the T-Grip takes up some space at the top, where it rests upon the top-edge of the middle finger. That then raises the gun up a slight bit and if you compare where the butt of the gun comes to on my pinky, you’ll see there’s less pinky on the grip with the T-Grip installed. I’m not yet sure how much of a problem that is, as I haven’t shot it yet. But my guess is it won’t make a huge difference because even without the T-Grip there’s just not enough room for me to get my pinky on there anyway. YMMV.

Here’s what it looks like all together: S&W 442 with Hip Grips and T-Grip:

In dry fire, it feels a lot better in my hand. I really like it. But the real test is how it shoots. Since I got the grips in I haven’t been able to make it to the range, but I hope to remedy that soon.

When I shot 5 rounds of my carry ammo (Buffalo Bore 20/20C) with just the Hip Grip, it stung like hell. My intention is to try that again, shooting 5 rounds of the carry ammo and see how it goes. Then I’ll try shooting something like the Texas CHL test with the snub (and practice ammo) and see how that goes… if my hand isn’t in pain. My hypothesis is it’s still going to hurt because there’s nothing but a metal backstrap, but it won’t hurt as much as the Hip Grip alone because the T-Grip fills the hand, I’ll have a better grip, and the gun will wiggle and move less on recoil so it won’t just be freely slamming into my hand. Better grip, hopefully will lead to less pain.

I’ll post results when I have them.

Logic fail

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Colorado State University’s ban on concealed carry is no more. (h/t Uncle). But… logic fails:

“It’s unfortunate that the school (CSU) will be allowing guns on campus,” said Daniel Vice, senior attorney at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “It will be one of the few colleges in the nation to do so and will endanger the lives of students at the school.”

Not that the Brady’s have ever been about logic. But the implication is the mere presence of guns makes a place more dangerous.

Fact is, the world outside the bubble of college is loaded with guns. The data shows that states enacted concealed carry, violent crime rates went down.

Furthermore, it seems that when someone opts to go crazy, it’s always in a gun free zone.

So, while it’d be nice if the Brady Bunch could show their work on how they came up with this conclusion, we know there’s no work to be shown.

A couple links

/ hsoi

KR Training attended the 2010 Polite Society event. Here’s a write-up. I highly recommend visiting the page and reading up on the 4 Force-on-Force scenarios. The write-up describes the scenarios and “results” from them. Very enlightening, and as with many FoF situations, a sober read. Many implications on what we need to practice, and it’s not just our marksmanship skills. There’s also a few videos of their shoothouse runs.

Rangemaster’s May 2010 newsletter is posted. Congratulations to Lynn Givens for her recognition by the Shelby County AG. This newsletter contains a good article about safety while traveling, especially in regards to hotels.

Ignorance is the best policy? *sigh*

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

The Commonwealth of Virginia is seeking to establish a gun safety program in their public schools. It would be based around the NRA’s highly successful Eddie Eagle program.

Naturally, some people are freaking out about it:

“It’s not the wisest thing because, for instance, [my daughter]. She doesn’t know what a gun is. But, if she sees gun safety, then now she’s curious about it,” says Nery Washington, who lives in Harrisonburg.

So what you’re saying is, your daughter is ignorant, which is understandable for a child, but what’s not understandable is why you as a parent think ignorance is acceptable and the best way to keep your child safe.

Do we keep our children ignorant of the chemicals and cleaners we keep under the sink? Do we keep our children ignorant of “stranger danger”? Do we keep our children ignorant of electrical outlets? Do we keep our children ignorant about running on wet floors? These are all things that are potentially dangerous to children, and we go out of our way to teach children about them all in the name of keeping the children safe.

When you tell your kids about the chemicals under the sink, does Junior go and decide he now needs a Windex cocktail?

“Nothing about this program should make children curious about firearms, and we don’t encourage children to own a gun. So, as to any of those kind of fears, I would say they’re totally unwarranted,” says Alexa Fritts, a spokeswoman for the NRA.

I do take odds with such a flat dismissal. Yes in fact a child could become more curious about firearms as a result of this program. If so, why is that horrible? Any topic we introduce to our children could be met with massive indifference or whole-hearted curiosity. Is that reason to not discuss the dangers of drugs and alcohol? Is that reason to not discuss sex? Yes, discussion of these things could lead to increased curiosity and experimentation. My take as a parent? Don’t ignore the subject with your children. Raise them in an environment where they can learn, explore, and freely ask questions of their parent. Don’t make them scared to come to you, else they will sneak things when you don’t want them to. That’s when the danger can truly start. We are to teach and guide our children, so foster an environment where that can be done.

So yes, if your daughter becomes more curious about firearms, teach her honestly and guide her well. Ignorance doesn’t cure curiosity.

Uh huh

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

Jay comes to the same conclusion: All Pistol Rounds Suck.

It’s like that joke:

A woman sees a Texas Ranger with a gun on his hip. She asks him: “Sir, are you expecting trouble?” The Ranger replies, “Ma’am, if I was expecting trouble, I would have brought a rifle.”

The utility of handguns is their portability and concealability.

Jay mentioned an interesting data point:

Don’t rely on expansion from JHP. There were several cases where a suspect had been shot 5+ times with JHP ammunition, and only a handful of the shots actually expanded.

I can’t help but wonder why.

Jay, if you’re reading this, did your research offer up any explanations?

And then, it makes me wonder if ammo like Hornady’s Critical Defense would in fact fare better. Their marketing says so, but ballistics gel is different from flesh and bone.

Stick to the basics, slow down

/ hsoi

In the latest issue of the Tiger Valley newsletter, lead instructor T.J. Pilling recounts what should have been a routine SWAT execution of a warrant. Instead, it went wrong and had potential to go really wrong but thankfully did not.

I thought the final summary of the incident was worth repeating:

How did things go bad?  The door was blocked, divert guy hesitated and adrenaline was pumping with everyone involved.  The next thing is everyone wants to make up time, which, just like a match, can’t be done.  Even the most basic of techniques, like checking your corners went out the window.  It was lucky for everyone that the guy behind the door wasn’t armed, since he would have had the drop on the entry team, which missed him on the primary search.  When things go bad, stick to the basics, slow down and do things by the book, you can’t catch up on time you already lost.

It’s hard to remember to stick to the basics and slow down, especially when the fur is flying. This is something I struggle with myself. But success comes in mastering and utilizing fundamentals, in all areas of life.

LCP 1, Coyote 0

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

My Governor, Rick Perry, dispatched a coyote with his Ruger LCP. Apparently it was the coyote or Perry and his puppy.

So, .380 may be marginal for self-defense, but seems adequate for coyotes. 🙂

Amusing from the article:

Perry said he carries his .380 Ruger pistol — loaded with hollow-point bullets — when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He’d also seen coyotes in the area.

We must emphasize the use of those evil hollow-point bullets!!  Of course, amongst gunnies the debate is that with a .380 you may actually be better off using FMJ in order to get adequate penetration.

And honestly, for snakes? I mean, I understand and all, but a .380 against a snake? I’d rather use proper snake-loads for that.

But there’s no question folks. As we humans continue to develop land, the critters on that land won’t go away. Plus as “green friendly” as Austin is, there’s lots of undeveloped land. That land is prime spots for critters to live. While I’m in the city, I back up to a greenbelt that connects to hundreds of acres of land that will never be developed. I get deer, I’ve heard the coyotes (one neighbor has seen them), there’ve been rattlesnakes in my yard, and there’s the suspected bobcat.

“I holler, and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it. It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger. I did the appropriate thing and sent it to where coyotes go,” [Gov. Perry] said.

Perry said the laser pointer helped make it a quick, clean kill.

I can see that. It’s not like you can aim that LCP that easily, so in case like this the laser had to be most helpful. I do wonder how long the shot was.

“It was not in a lot of pain,” he said. “It pretty much went down at that particular juncture.”

DRT. It’s nice to have a Gov. that knows how to shoot. 🙂

Texas law allows people to shoot coyotes if they are threatening livestock or domestic animals. The coyote never reached the dog, which was unharmed, Perry said.

Perry’s security detail was not required to file a report on the governor discharging a weapon, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said.

“People shoot coyotes all the time, snakes all the time,” Mange said. “We don’t write reports.”

It’s good to see that time and money isn’t wasted. 🙂

Just Smurfy

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Going to the bank today to open an account (more on this eventually).

Wife and I had a little verbal exchange as I was going out the door.

The end result?

I’m now “Glock Smurf”.

That’s the Smurf I want to be.

Glock Smurf.

😉