Packin' Heat

[white avenger]

Blondie Bear and Rowan Hawthorne just got me to wondering: How many pistol packers do we have on the Boards? Come on in and let's talk a little gun talk. Anyone else interested, come along, it might be fun.

 

[GATEGOD]

Not me ......... sorry.... ^_^

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

: peek:

Well, me, obviously... 🙂

Like WA, I prefer revolvers, although for concealed carry I usually go with an auto because they're a little more compact. I used to separate my stuff into the "just for fun" models (the .22s and percussion cap revolvers,) the "just in case" models (usually something like a compact .380 auto or snubby .38,) and the "dead serious" models - sometimes a .357, 9mm, or .44 Magnum, more often some kind of .45 (a Colt Commander for about the last ten years.) My first love is the Single Action Army, and if I could only have one pistol, it would probably be some variant on that - likely a Ruger Vaquero or Blackhawk, as they're not as delicate as the Colts and their clones.

Now - if there isn't the start of some kind of conversation or argument (or three...) in there, I don't know shooters!

 

[palabravampiress]

My hubby's the gun guy, not me. He inherited his guns from his dad. We live in another state, though, so most of his guns are in his mom's gun safe back east. We do have two handguns out here, though. One's a .44 Magnum (I think. Don't quote me) and one's a revolver of some sort. A Colt, maybe? I've been to the shooting range and tried my hand at both. Apparently, I have a knack for it. It was my first time and I hit the target like 95% of the time (until my arms got tired). I even got a bull's eye. My hubby cheered. It was cute. Anyway, I'm no expert, but it's a hobby I'd like to pursue.

My sister is freaked out by the guns. Her boyfriend comes from a family of cops, so he's into the whole gun thing, too. Last time we were in town, then, my husband invited the boyfriend to go shooting with him. My dad joined in, too. It became this male bonding thing. I was a little miffed that I didn't get to go, but my mom made a big fuss over wanting to hang out with her girls. Anyway, my dad liked it, so he asked for a gun for Christmas. Now, my sis blames my husband for the boys' new interest in firearms. lol.

I wish she'd go with them, but she refuses. She's got some moral objection to guns. She's even thinking that the boyfriend's gun friendliness might be a deal breaker. I, for one, think she'd feel better if she actually went shooting with them. I know I did. We went with my hubby's work friend and his wife and I felt surprisingly safe at the shooting range. There were cops everywhere and everyone was very focused on safety, ear protection, and rule following. Honestly, I have felt myself to be in greater danger while rock climbing and white water rafting and stuff than at the shooting range.

 

[white avenger]

R H, you mentioned the commander, so I'll tel you about mine. A friend and I both had service model 1911's, and I traded mine, I have no idea why until yet, because I loved that old cannon, for a Smith & Wesson Triple Lock in .45 LC. I never could shoot that thing out a door for some reason, so I started looking around for another 1911. I found this Commander in a local pawn shop and worked up a trade where I didn't think I got screwed too badly.

You know how many bells and whistles there are out there for these things, and my friend and I both got the urge to try our hands at amateur gunsmithing. I ramped and polished it (a whole lot easier for me than him because of the Commander;s alloy frame), put in a flat mainspring housing and a wide grip safety, and a new set of springs throughout. (Brownell's made quite a bit of money on me in those days). Then Danny and I got ambitious and bought a whole bunch of files.

I put a set of Bingham combat sights on it, and ramped the front sight and rounded the rear to get rid of the sharp edges. Danny had bought a sight insrert kit, so I put a fluorescent orange insert in the front and two white dots in the rear.

Then I did something I regretted almost from the first, and swear I'll never do again. For some reason, I gou the idea that, because of that alloy frame, I could cut out the triger well and install a Gold Cop trigger. Somebody we knew had a Gold Cup, and I liked the way it shot. Of course, by the time I realised that I really didn't
want to do it, I'd already cut away too much stock for the standard trigger to ever work right again, so I was committed. I finally got the trigger in not too sloppy a fit, but it never would adjust to my liking. It did serve to put an end to my gunsmithing days, though.

Through it all, and for all these years, that old .45 has been one of my favorite handguns, and, while I don't carry it much (cocked and locked may be great for Jeff Cooper and his bunch, to me it's just a single action handgun with the hammer in full cock, and it gives me a case of the shivers) I got lucky and won a few bowling pin shoots and combat contests before I decided that I preferred shooting tin cans and paper plates to all that stress (not the stress of the shooting as much as the stress at home for being away so much.)

And that's the story of my Colt Commander .45 and our years together. If I had it to do all over, I would have probably not have done nearly as much to it as I did, but on the whole, it didn't turn out too badly.

 

[Kean]

I'm with Palabra's sister, guns freak me out. Maybe it is to do with where I live, a couple of houses in my estate have been shot at recently, theres really nothing scarier than waking up to the sound of gunshots.

 

[white avenger]

I'm with Palabra's sister, guns freak me out. Maybe it is to do with where I live, a couple of houses in my estate have been shot at recently, theres really nothing scarier than waking up to the sound of gunshots.

Unfortunately, there is. Waking up in the middle of the night and realizing that you're not alone in the house, and you're lying there defenseless. That happens much too frequently in this country, and regrettably, there's absolutely nothing that the police can do about it. I don't advocate everyone going around armed all of the time, and I'll be the first one to admit that firearms are abused quite often, both in this country and abroad, but the fact remains that predators, either the human kind or animals, prefer helpless victims.

There's absolutely nothing dangerous about a gun in trained hands, and nothing more deadly than one in the hands of someone who has no idea how to safely handle it. I was raised in a home where both of my parents took the time to teach me that guns and knives are not toys and are not to be played with, and I tried, successfully I believe, to train my son the same way.

I understand the situation that you describe, and it is certainly frightening. Regrettably, there is no way to stop criminals and terrorists from getting and using guns.

I think I'd better stop there and climb down of of my soap box, because guns and their abuse are subjects I feel very strongly about, and if I don't stop we may be here all night,

 

[Kemy]

I can't own real guns, it being the UK and all, but I do have a full collection of realistic Tokyo Mauri Airsoft guns including a P90 (Suzie) and a G36K, a GBB M92F Tact.Mas. And from a market in town a full size real metal and wood Winchester Repeater replica (no firing mechanism).

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

Then I did something I regretted almost from the first, and swear I'll never do again. For some reason, I gou the idea that, because of that alloy frame, I could cut out the triger well and install a Gold Cop trigger. Somebody we knew had a Gold Cup, and I liked the way it shot. Of course, by the time I realised that I really didn't
want to do it, I'd already cut away too much stock for the standard trigger to ever work right again, so I was committed. I finally got the trigger in not too sloppy a fit, but it never would adjust to my liking. It did serve to put an end to my gunsmithing days, though.

Ouch. Well, I've made my share of "wish I hadn't'a done it"s over the years, too; luckily, though, my eyes are getting too bad to try the fine work that's required to do extensive 'smithing. I make it a rule to polish the feed ramps on any auto I own, but that's about it for them - the stainless Combat Commander I have suits me fine as is.

I did take the trouble a couple years back to do a full slick-up job on my Cimarron SAA, but trying to fit a new cylinder bolt to it was just an exercise in frustration because of my vision, so I gave it up and just put the old one back in. It works fine, anyway, I was just hoping to time it a little better. But it's a butter-smooth action, so I'm happy...

 

[white avenger]

...and then there's my "John Wayne Special"...You remembere. I'm sure, back quite a few years ago when Winchester came out with their John Wayne Commemorative, a Model 94 with a shortened barrel and the belled lever handle for twirling. I wanted one, being a John Wayne fan, but I've never liked guns that just hang on the wall because shooting them takes away from their value. To my thrill and delight, Rossi introduces their Model 92 replica about that time, so I decided that I could make myself a shooter like the Duke's.

This one worked out pretty well, since all I had to do was a little modification on the lever, then send it to a gunsmith to have the 20 inch barrel shortened to 16 1/2 inches (I'm not crazy enough to try THAT job in my garage). The results was a sweet shooting handy little rifle, small enough to carry easily on a saddle or in the back of a pickup with enough power to do anything I asked of it with no more recoil or report than a .22 rifle.

Of course, I just HAD to try twirling it. It worked fine except that the lever handle broke where I had welded it back together. Luckily, it was an easy fix, and the end of my gunsmithing career.

 

[StuckinTraffic]

I have a Sig Sauer 9mm that I love, but I don't have a concealed carry permit so it stays locked up at my house. I haven't had it out of the case in forever. I'm not that big a fan of handguns, the one I have is for protection purposes....but my dad has a Browning Hi-Power I'm dying to get my hands on. Since he lives in another state, that's probably not going to happen any time soon, tho.....darn it. Love rifles and shotguns, but I don't currently own any. The last one I had was a Remington 1100 that I sold several years ago.

 

[Old Master 3.0]

Okay, I'm not quite the big gun enthusiast that you guys are, but I do own a handgun. Not for fun, but for work. I am an armed guard by trade, working for an armored car service here in NYC.

My weapon is a full size Glock 17 using a 10-round clip. Excellent manstopper. There's nothing fancy about the weapon by way of customization or anything of that ilk...it's just a regular damned Glock . 😛
I must have fired that bad boy a million times...but only on the range, never at a live target. Not to toot me own sax, but I'm pretty bad ass with it. I can put a round in a flea's ass at 5000 yards.
Ok, ok, that was an obvious exaggeration 😛....but you get the gist of my meaning.

Being that I live in NYC, I had to jump through flaming hoops just to get licensed for the ONE pistol....which effectively puts the kibosh on collecting.

 

[white avenger]

I never really set out to accumulate a large stock of guns, just wanted a few to take out and shoot targets once in awhile. After the Navy, I think I had four handguns, a .22 rifle that I had grown up with, and a double barreled shotgun. When I married, my wife had several guns that had belonged to her first husband, then about five years later my dad, an avid huntrer and collector died and left me all of his guns. Suddenly I have an arsenal! By the last count, I think there are over 30, ranging from a Walther P-38 war souvanier and a Browning "Sweet 16" auto 5 to a Walther p-22 that I bought recently. Each one has a story, and each one, except the P-22 and a couple of shotguns, are old friends, members of the household for years.

 

[Blondie Bear]

Oh-kay. I've been not listing my gun collection (and my hubby's) in an attempt to not look like a crazy person, but it appears I'm less crazy than some others. 🙂

I personally own my aforementioned Glock 26 for concealed carry and an AR-15 (which I do NOT concealed carry). Both are fairly plain; the Glock has no messing, though my mags have a little extender for my pinky to rest on since the grip is so short. My AR has a forward grip and a pistol grip, a short solid stock (it came with a collapsible one), and a mounted flashlight.

My hubby has the same AR, only his is a lot more tricked out. He conceals a Glock 22. He also owns a Mossberg 500 shotgun, a Savage 110 rifle, and a .22 rifle that looks a lot like an M16 (it's some special deal; he'd have to explain it to you).

 

[white avenger]

My son has a Glock, a model 27, I think, in 9mm. I've shot it, though not a whole lot, and it's a decent gun, but in 9mm I prefer my Beretta 92, an older version from before they got the military contract, though as I've said before, in an automatic, I prefer my Colt .45. If the job can't be done with 7 rounds of .45ACP, 15 rounds of 9mm aren't gonna do it either. The only centerfire rifles I have are a Winchester 94 and the Rossi Mod 92 I mentioned earlier. We have several hunting shotguns, plus a Winchester Mod 97 trench gun and a Remington Mod 11 riot gun from World War 2.

I don't shoot the long guns too much anymore. Since I started wearing bifocal glasses, the sights are just a blur. Thee handguns are another matter, however. I can still see well enough to hit the target with any one of them, which is just fine, because I prefer them, anyway.

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

Oh-kay. I've been not listing my gun collection (and my hubby's) in an attempt to not look like a crazy person, but it appears I'm less crazy than some others. 🙂

So YOU say...: peek:

and a .22 rifle that looks a lot like an M16 (it's some special deal; he'd have to explain it to you).

Jager Arms, maybe? I used to have one of those with wood stock and forearm. Gorgeous rifle, very accurate, but not particularly reliable (it had a habit of "cooking off" rounds on occasion - going full-auto with no warning. Needless to say, I got rid of it pretty quickly.)

Your list doesn't sound very crazy to me. My problem is, I could never afford to keep all the ones I've had, eventually I ended up having to sell or trade most of them. Over the years I've gone through about thirty pistols alone. Some I hated to let go, others I couldn't get rid of fast enough - I had an Astra Constable .2 once that was the worst piece of crap I've ever seen. The only automatic I ever had that would stovepipe jam at least three rounds out of every clip full. And then there was the Colt Double Eagle; nice pistol, good trigger, but huge, and not very accurate. Mine was one of the early ones, and I discovered it had a flaw: if you pulled the double-action trigger back almost to the firing point, then eased off on the pressure, the action tended to freeze - you couldn't squeeze it again and actually fire the gun without releasing the trigger all the way first. Within a week after I found that, I traded it for the Colt Commander I have now. Dead reliable, much better shooter, and much less awkward to handle.

And, of course, there was the S&W model 25-5 in .45 Long Colt that taught me a lesson the hard way. It was my carry gun for several years - 6-in barrel, sweet trigger, accurate (I've taken rabbits with it more than once, and picked a wasp off the side of a tree 30 yds away.) The lesson? Never price anything that you don't really want to sell...

Edit:

Oh-kay. I've been not listing my gun collection (and my hubby's) in an attempt to not look like a crazy person, but it appears I'm less crazy than some others. 🙂

So YOU say...: peek:

and a .22 rifle that looks a lot like an M16 (it's some special deal; he'd have to explain it to you).

Jager Arms, maybe? I used to have one of those with wood stock and forearm. Gorgeous rifle, very accurate, but not particularly reliable (it had a habit of "cooking off" rounds on occasion - going full-auto with no warning. Needless to say, I got rid of it pretty quickly.)

Your list doesn't sound very crazy to me. My problem is, I could never afford to keep all the ones I've had, eventually I ended up having to sell or trade most of them. Over the years I've gone through about thirty pistols alone. Some I hated to let go, others I couldn't get rid of fast enough - I had an Astra Constable .2 once that was the worst piece of crap I've ever seen. The only automatic I ever had that would stovepipe jam at least three rounds out of every clip full. And then there was the Colt Double Eagle; nice pistol, good trigger, but huge, and not very accurate. Mine was one of the early ones, and I discovered it had a flaw: if you pulled the double-action trigger back almost to the firing point, then eased off on the pressure, the action tended to freeze - you couldn't squeeze it again and actually fire the gun without releasing the trigger all the way first. Within a week after I found that, I traded it for the Colt Commander I have now. Dead reliable, much better shooter, and much less awkward to handle.

And, of course, there was the S&W model 25-5 in .45 Long Colt that taught me a lesson the hard way. It was my carry gun for several years - 6-in barrel, sweet trigger, accurate (I've taken rabbits with it more than once, and picked a wasp off the side of a tree 30 yds away.) The lesson? Never price anything that you don't really want to sell... ::crying2:

 

[white avenger]

You had a 25-5? I've got one in 4 in. that I used to shoot bowling pins with. It's the gun that got me into hand loading and bullet molding. I used a 255 grain semi wadcutter over a fairly hot charge of Unique. It didn't have as much recoil as the .44's everybody else was carrying, and that great big slug would send those bowling pins sailing! You must be a heck of a lot bigger than I am, cause at 6ft and 225 lbs, there was just no way I could conceal that cannon, belt or shoulder holster. As you say, money won't buy it. If you remember, the 25-5 came out first only as a commemorative, with a 6 in barrel and, if memory serves me, ivory grips. A local gun shop had one, and it was love at first sight, but I wanted a shooter, not a collector's item. I told him to call me when he got the first production model in, and he did a couple of months later. It was a 4 in, but I prefer the shorter barrel, and I've never been able to shoot the longer ones with any appreciable difference in accuracy. My only regret in getting the 25-5 was that I had to trade a sweet little original Ruger Bearcat for it.

I had an Astra Constable in .380 back in the late 70's and I never had anything but good service out of it. Suprevel .380 ammo had come out about that time, and the little Astra would handle it without a skip. I've heard that the .22's weren't that dependable, though. I wound up trading it for a Walther PPK/S that someone had completely disassembled, then couldn't get back together. It's the only time any of my friends or I had heard of anyone willing to trade a Walther for an Astra and pay boot to do it. Amazingly, all of the parts were there except a single grip screw, which I was able to get from Numrich Arms. Unfortunately, the Walther had to be traded a couple of years later for a new transmission for my Mustang.

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

You had a 25-5? I've got one in 4 in. that I used to shoot bowling pins with. It's the gun that got me into hand loading and bullet molding. I used a 255 grain semi wadcutter over a fairly hot charge of Unique. It didn't have as much recoil as the .44's everybody else was carrying, and that great big slug would send those bowling pins sailing! You must be a heck of a lot bigger than I am, cause at 6ft and 225 lbs, there was just no way I could conceal that cannon, belt or shoulder holster.

Not really, that was about my size, too. I carried it in an S&W vertical spring-break shoulder holster. Under a light denim jacket, you could see a bit of a bulge, but it was fairly hidden under my leather jacket or the old army field jacket I wore in colder weather.

As you say, money won't buy it. If you remember, the 25-5 came out first only as a commemorative, with a 6 in barrel and, if memory serves me, ivory grips. A local gun shop had one, and it was love at first sight, but I wanted a shooter, not a collector's item. I told him to call me when he got the first production model in, and he did a couple of months later. It was a 4 in, but I prefer the shorter barrel, and I've never been able to shoot the longer ones with any appreciable difference in accuracy.

I seem to have a problem with 4" DAs. I've had a couple, and couldn't hit well with either of them, not something I'm used to. But I don't have any problem with 4-3/4" SAs. Go figure. I have similar issues with .357s - for some reason, I don't shoot them very well. I had a friend of mine check me out once, and his response was: "It's a classic symptom of flinching, but I don't see any movement at all, and you just put six in the center with that .44 Magnum, so I'm damned if I know."

 

[Blondie Bear]

*lost*

I don't know much about any guns except the ones I own; I didn't really care one way or another until I met my hubby. After being dragged out of the physically and religiously isolated place I grew up, I realized how dangerous the world is and how imminent the removal of our 2nd Amendment rights are and became an (almost) activist. It's not that I LIKE guns, it's more that the bad guys have them, therefore we'd better have them to be able to fight the bad guys.

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

*lost*

I don't know much about any guns except the ones I own;

Don't worry about it; those are the ones that count. Practice with them until they're part of your hand and don't be concerned if you can't talk about a thousand models you don't own - that's not important.

It's not that I LIKE guns, it's more that the bad guys have them, therefore we'd better have them to be able to fight the bad guys.

Good enough reason...