Jonnin

welcome! While I have not made anything from the ground up, modification is fun for me and I make most of my ammo now except .22 and 12 ga and buying some for a reload unfriendly range. Its very satisfying even to just tinker to make something better. 22 LR is a good thing to start with as it is one of the best calibers for practice and range fun due to the costs. I am not 100% sure but you may be able to use a 223 barrel for a 22 LR upper, if you plan to convert to the 223 later on, but someone here can comment on that, I am not an AR expert and just shoot one that is mostly untouched from the factory build.

I think you need to find a vendor for the brand / size you have or make your own. I know mine are a perfect fit from the factory and another inch wider or thinner safe would not be able to use most of my shelves. For the same reason, if you make them, they will have to be made pretty close to spec, and of something that will not burn and possibly soft (depends on how you store your stuff but the shelves are padded so I have a few guns sitting directly on them).

I pocket carry. You would be surprised what you can get in a pocket with some creativity. I can get my px4 storm .40 subcompact in there, and at one pont had a kel tec p-40 (same a p-11 in .40 cal) in there. Before that I carried a makarov in there. When I need it smaller I do carry a 380 (sig p238). Makarov is a bit more powerful than 380, not a lot unless you handload it, heavy but a good pocket gun. The 380 is a bit weak but the biggest problem with the caliber is many of the JHP defense ammo designs expand too fast for the light velocity to drive the expanded round deep. Ball ammo is often recommended for the 380 and that does pretty well. I personally alternate the 2 in my magazine, just to cover the basics. While it is very hard to beat a small 380 for size and pocket carry, careful study of the 9mm and .40 family will show you a number of alternative weapons that WILL fit in typical men's jeans or dress pants pockets (womens pockets are much, much smaller). I have found 6.5 X 4.5 X 1.25 or smaller frames will go nicely into most of my pockets, for reference. My next pocket gun will probably be my last; I am getting a cz rami custom made for my left handed needs as I have grown tired of the right hand issues.

Its where the biker shop was, the gun shop is there, I think, if you know what I am talking about?

I am not sure either sportsmans or academy do anything with used firearms. They both have a good selection of new. Silvers has his used guns on his website, best to just look there first as his hours are odd. Carters, depo, and bentons are the big gun shops that buy and sell used but most (over half?) of the small pawn shops have a few random guns at random times, usually less than 10 or so.

It happens regularly in LA and a couple of other towns. We are about due for another one though.

welcome! As was said, you can find parts online or take it to a smith who will find them for you, install it, and make sure everything is working, depends on how comfortable you are about it and whether the part needs to be fitted to the gun (a bolt, probably just pops right in) and so on. I hope you can find what you need to get it working!

a couple of "brands" use starline, actually, but I don't think you want to buy that.... hornady for example, or they used to.

The fellow with the blown up S&W said they went out of their way to replace everything that was damaged.

I am the same, launching bullets that make my 380 seem large out of a rifle just bugs me, somehow. Yes, I know its moving 4x as fast and quite destructive on the target, but I like the big stuff.

Eh I consider the glock trigger to be horrible If I touch it and it does not go bang, I am not really thrilled by it. I didnt expect a tuned 1911 trigger on a $100 gun but was curious if it was like a cheap/sloppy/gritty "out of the box" 1911 trigger.

Check out the link I put up, it says what to bring and so on, and from where that link is you can see how their site works to find more info easier. But that range says 223 or smaller. The distance of the range in question, I did not see it. If I go I want to take a specific rifle that would not be allowed here, and I am 900 rounds short of a weekend anyway, and I want to do it on a 300-500 yard range if possible not 100 on a simulated target. So this event is out for me but I am going to take a look at their other events to see if I can find a more suitable one. First I gotta buy a sackfull of brass for my rifle... a real love/hate relationship with the oddball calibers here It looks like you can do 1 day on 400-500 rounds if you want to only do half the event, and your wife can go ultra cheap (women price is very low) if she is interested, and kids are also cheap if they are of age to shoot.

oh, and the S&B 380 is probably labeled 9mm browning, not 380*

sellier and belliot make a good, inexpensive 380 that has good brass. For 9mm, many will do, PMC is good, WWB is good, S&B again (I like most of their brass ammo offerings). To be honest, once you discard the steel, aluminum, berdan, and other junk, the only thing left that causes me trouble is crimped military 9mm brass (of which wcc stamped is the most common of what I pick up). 380 is not a military round so for the most part any brass cases I have found have worked well and the ones that have not were more of individual cases with issues rather than a brand. No clue on the 38 or 357 but I would think the same holds true, any brass is probably fine once you chunk the other metals in the trash. I have only bought brass one time, and that was remington 30-06 which I converted to 765. It has done well, those cases are on their 4th firing now and still look as good as day 1. The remington brass I pick up is always pretty strong as well, its well made. Blazer may be the thinnest, least good of what I find, it just feels thin and cheap though it has reloaded fine I do not trust it to survive dozens of firings.

we had one, it functioned well but I could not hit anything with it (this is not the gun's fault, probably). Wife got it to carry and it served her well for several years before she changed her mind on what she likes. Personally, I think this may be one of the best of the small DA 9mm pistols. To go smaller means a DAO and many of the others in this class are much wider, so it sort of stands alone in the small, thin, DA category, or if not alone, one of less than 5 good choices.

gunshows of any size ALWAYS have a half dozen or more AK47s. I have not noticed that the 74s are terribly common, but you may find one of those as well. Educate yourself if you do this, there are many types of AK and you need to know what you are getting for how much money before you go in the door, or take a portable web browser so you can research whatever model you find at the show...!

My safe took a forklift and a transfer truck to move and over a $1k bill (just to move it across town) time it was all done. Dinner for 5 was definately a bargain. If I ever move again, I will just buy a new one, that was an experience I do not care to repeat, esp since this last move was DOWN the hill, going back up, no way...

Thanks! I sort of want one but its mixed in with 100 other wants =) Maybe someday...

western makes 2230 (accurate), right? Is there a bad lot of powder, or a gremlin in the reloading machine at the one company? I use the same powder, and just got a keg of it, so this could be important to me -- and I use the 223 powder in some larger calibers that could make a REALLY EPIC kaboom that the 223 could only dream about... Update: Currently western has this up on its site for recalls: Recall Notice « Accurate Powders which does not include any 2230.

the smaller round is better.... in a full auto... as it cuts down the recoil. You won't be getting a full auto, so the larger round packs more punch and is probably "better" for any sort of use apart from range time. If you have no practical use for the gun (home defense, hunting, etc) then either caliber will do for a hole punch. I am not sure if the lighter caliber is more accurate or not, the larger one is not known to be a tack driver.

how is the storm carbine? I have the .40 pistol, so that would be a thought for me. I dunno the shared mags thing is neat but time I buy a carbine I could get an awful lot of mags for the rifles I do have....

the kel tech's configured for glock magazines are a great choice for a low cost answer. However, they are also hard to find, I have seen 1 in the past year and it was a 9mm setup.

I listed the 12ga. The cons, well compared to what? The ammo is heavy, but the gun isnt much heavier than a large caliber rifle, really any rifle that is not a tatical lightweight build or scout build is about the same. And, the pros include a very wide variety of ammo types. At short ranges, to defend my area, yes indeed. If they are out where I can pick them off with the rifle, that works too. If I have to reload my shotgun, it was the wrong tool for the job, more than 10 showed up and I should have grabbed the zombie rifle.

Its a valid concern. Before my eyes were fixed, I had to consider what I would do if someone broke into our home in the night and I could not see who or what I was shooting at in the chaos. I would never say anything to discourage her from having a weapon, esp if she is being stalked or harrassed or the like, but I would not wish upon her the issues created by shooting the wrong person either. At the end of the day, she simply needs to be made aware of these issues and resolve it for herself (which may include some 1 on 1 specialized training). Part of the burden and responsibility of carrying a gun is the liability -- it is not more important, but it is also not unimportant. That is true no matter how well a person can see! I think a person would have to be sort of living under a rock to not consider the lawsuits that can happen if they are forced to use their weapon; that does not mean they should not carry, just that the consequences have been thought about.

Shorter isnt the problem. The makarov is wider, and if someone manages to cram on into a 9x19 barrel, it may overpressure/obstruct due to the fatter bullet. You can fire a 380 in a 9mm (it may not cycle the action or feed well, but its safe). The mak is not safe. It has a unique diameter, the next closest caliber is the 38 S&W (not 357/ 38 sp). It really should be labeled 9.2X18 for clarity of this point.