Tag: guns

The Taurus Paperweight

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I’ve had a couple of inquiries about the Taurus that I bought, and then shortly later traded in last year. BAG day 2009 I bought a 605 2″ barreled, blue, snubby .357 revolver. It sat for a few weeks before I had a chance to take it to the range. I actually loaded it up and put it in the console of my pickup for a while, even before I tried it out on the range.

I was later reminded of a scene from the film The Ghost and the Darkness:

You went into battle with an untested weapon?

Thankfully, I didn’t.

On that first trip to the range I brought both .38 Special and .357 Magnum loads. Factory loads. I haven’t handloaded .357 in a while, and I pretty much never load .38. The first cylinder of .38’s went fine. On the second, the lockwork locked. Solid. On the second shot.

I had a revolver with three live rounds in it, and I couldn’t fire them, and I couldn’t get it to open up.

The three fired rounds looked fine. The projectiles hadn’t backed out of the cases or anything, the mechanism was just LOCKED. I suspected the “safety” lock, but I had the key, and THAT wasn’t it, or at least I wasn’t able to use the key to clear the problem. I ended up taking the gun home and DISASSEMBLING it. I blew it out with carb cleaner, in case something was loose inside the lockwork, I lubed everything lightly, reassembled, and it worked fine – empty.

Another trip was made to the range. Again .38’s were loaded. On the second round, it locked up again. By playing with the cylinder and hammer I was able to fiddle with it and get it unlocked. I loaded up some .357’s. ONE round, and it was locked up. I was able to get it open, but I was DONE with it. A five-shot revolver that only goes “BANG” at most TWICE is useless.

It sat on my desk in paperweight mode for quite a bit while I debated either returning it for warranty repair, or trading it in. I finally decided on trading it in. Hey, it was hardly used!

Once the trade was agreed to, I told the dealer about the problem. “You can’t trade in a defective gun!” he said. “Why not? You sold it to ME that way!” I replied. We agreed to knock $50 off the trade-in value for them to handle the warranty return, and I came home with a (perfectly functional) Kel-Tec PF9.

I don’t think I’ll be buying another Taurus.

B.A.G. Day

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Today is B.A.G. day – “Buy a Gun” Day. B.A.G. day was created by blogger Aaron back in 2003. I’ve participated many times. In 2004 I bought a Makarov. 2005, a S&W Model 60. 2006 brought a Winchester ’94 in .45 Colt (a month early, but still. . . .) I missed in 2007, but in 2008 I bought a scope instead of a gun. Last year I bought a Taurus revolver. (Got rid of it, too, traded it in on a Kel-Tec PF9 that actually goes ‘BANG’ every time I pull the trigger.)

This year? Well, this year I’m still waiting for my Ted Brown M14. He has the receiver. He’s expecting the barrel shortly. The stock is on order.

And still I wait . . . .

Interesting Statistics

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Reported recently in an Arizona paper comes these statistics on concealed-carry permits in Arizona:

BY THE NUMBERS: CONCEALED
WEAPONS
• Total number of permits in the state as of April 4: 154,279
• Number of permits suspended: 1,785
• Number of permits revoked: 1,011
• Number of women who have a permit: 33,053
• Among women, the 50 to 59 age group has the largest number of permits at 9,050.
• Number of women over the age of 80 who have permits: 177
• Number of men who have a permit: 125,582
• Among men, the 60-69 age group has the largest number of permits at 28,380.
• According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, some of the revoked or suspended permits may have been reinstated since the state started keeping records in 1994.
• The four counties with the largest number of permits in the state: Maricopa: 81,375; Pima: 25,246; Yavapai: 9,521; Mohave: 8,726

So, out of 154,279 permits issued, 1,011 (0.655%) have been revoked.

The largest groups taking advantage of concealed carry permits are older men and women.

There are some feisty octogenarian ladies in this state.

Somehow, 33,053 + 125,582 = 154,729

And What Do The Anti-gun Groups Have

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This was a topic of discussion at both the Para-USA weekend and the last 2nd Amendment Blog Bash: What do the anti-gun groups have to offer their supporters? Anti-gun ranges? Anti-gunshows?

I was just made aware of this very good idea, the April 24 Rio Salado Open House:

Open House and Swap Meet

Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club in Mesa

Saturday, April 24, 2010 9:00am – 4:00pm
Yes, it’s time to enjoy a FREE day of fun and activities for the entire family at one of the best outdoor shooting ranges in the country.

Open House at Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club is a day to invite the shooting and non-shooting public to an enjoyable, educational, hands-on day exploring the many shooting activities available at Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club. This is your chance to discover one of the best shooting ranges in Arizona where you can bring your entire family for a safe, fun experience and improve your marksmanship skills.

Experience the fast paced, run and gun of USPSA Action Pistol, or the very family-friendly, Tuesday Night Steel. Go back to the 1880’s with the Cowboy Posse dressed in period clothing and shoot a Western SixGun, or get your adrenaline pumping with some fully automatic machine gun fire with our Full Auto Division. Slow it down a bit and learn how to load a black-powder rifle or pistol and try your hand at throwing the hawk and knife. Maybe a .22 will be easier but those targets are mighty small! The Sporting Clays Range has fast become one of the best in Arizona, and the recent addition of a 5-Stand allows you to shoot flying clays.

Each of our competition divisions will be available for you to experience the many competition opportunities the club offers. For each event, we will provide equipment and orientation, or you can use your own. Here is your chance to try something new!

We will have a number of exhibition events to demonstrate various shooting techniques by some of our own members who have become National and World Champions. They make it look easy but it takes years of practice and thousands of rounds to get there. We will also have a number of community organizations putting on demonstrations, so stay tuned for details as we fill in the schedule!

This year is going to be even bigger since there will be tables where you can buy, sell, or swap that excess stuff from the back of your safe!

If you are interested, please email Scott Durkin at [email protected] for more details.

The Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club Open House is FREE to the public. Eye and Ear protection is required for everyone. Bring your own or we will have them for a small charge. There will be activities and information for the entire family. Bring your friends, work associates, and anyone you can think of that might want to see what this shooting thing is all about. Food and drinks will be available.

Come spend A Day at the Range!

Sounds like fun!

Guns. Is There ANYTHING They Can’t Do?

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– there we all were, an amputee librarian, a gay man from the Northwest, a retired globehopping Navy guy, a Lear jet pilot, a Texan in a kilt, a couple of Nerds from New Mexico, and a young woman who castrates calves – all brought together by the most unlikely of things, an apparatus designed to hurl little lumps of lead at high speeds. – Breda, community

Oh, and blogging.

Cleaning/Organizing

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I should do it more often.

I’ve been cleaning up my reloading area, trying to sort through all the stuff I’ve accumulated over the past several years. I have reloading bench where I keep my dies, a lot of components and tools, and then I have a fairly sizeable cabinet on wheels where I keep more components, loaded ammo, etc. The place has gotten to be a real mess, and it finally hit that threshold that makes me want to clean it up and organize it.

I’ve found 50 rounds of .30 Carbine, 250 rounds of .45ACP and 200 rounds of .357 Magnum I didn’t know I had, plus fifteen rounds of 12 gauge 00 buck, and 100 Hornady 75 grain .224″ BHTP Match bullets I had no idea were in that cabinet. (They should have been in the reloading bench.) I have also discovered I have a LOT more .357 and .38 brass than I need, so I’ll be taking the excess with me to the range tomorrow next Sunday (match was rescheduled) to give away to whoever wants it. I even have a box of .44 Magnum brass, about 50 pieces. I haven’t owned a .44 Magnum in several years, and that was a T/C Contender barrel.

It’s like Christmas!

Happy 155th B’day, JMB!

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Happy 155th Birthday, John Moses Browning!

This is also the 101st anniversary of the Tottenham Outrage, which I posted about last year.

Given the fact that 2009 was a record-breaker for firearm sales in the United States (thanks Barry!), I’d say we’re safe for at least a few more years from America following (formerly) Great Britain down the civilian disarmament path. And while Tam extolls JMB’s classic M2 heavy machine-gun design, I have to give the nod to his timeless 1911 – a gun built by more manufacturers today than even the ubiquitous AK-47.

Someday that tank commander may have a pintle-mounted cyan-spewing 2-cm. tribarreled plasma cannon, but people will still be shooting Pepper Poppers with 1911s chambered in G_d’s own .45ACP.

(Edited to change the JMB’s age. He was born in 1855, not 1845. Thanks Chris.)