Jonnin

Subcompact is a marketing term that means the model in question comes in more than one size. There are some huge subcompacts and some tiny ones... there is, out there, a gun that will fit your hands without being huge, though it may not be a 45 -- most 45s are big even the "compact" ones. If being made concerns you, between holsters, clothing style, and gun designs, there is a package that will work for you to keep it hidden. If you are not concerned, its a good way to meet other gun people =) If you want to hide it better, I would suggest spending the next month looking at holsters and small changes to your clothing (perhaps longer shirts? A different holster? A fanny pack or other item to obscure the gun?) first, or use this as an excuse to hit a gun show to look at alternatives. While 45s are mostly huge, there are a lot of 40s out there with double stack mags (makes a large, wide grip) in smaller frames that may fit your hands reasonably well. The single stack guns probably have too narrow a grip. You can also put a wrapper on the grips, that little extra width can make a big difference!

Chad Kandros is in nashville and does 1911 work. I cannot comment if he could do it for you in a jiffy, though. I have rarely had less than 1 week turnaround for a busy smith ... so be prepared to give up your gun for a few days if you cannot find somone who has the sights you want in stock and a free moment to get you ahead of the line.

From what little I know of it, this is controlled by the site and not the user. So TGO David would have to increase the delay or set an option for you to disable them (???). The delay could be increased by 1 second to make a more friendly approach. You personally can turn of the appropriate settings in your browser (probably javascript) but it may break other things including the entire forum (not sure) and other web pages. Its just part of the web and not something with an individual control that I know of (if its there, its well hidden). There may be third party mouse software or add ons that can do the trick, I am not aware of such but logic says someone out there has one.

The KSG is going to be one of the most gouged items in the industry for about 2 years after we start seeing them unless kel-tec buys a new plant just to make those. The PMR is a toy, a cool one but its been done before (equally troublesome, the 22 mag remains an elusive gun to make in an auto) and its has little practical value, an interesting/odd self defense option for a few folks and a plinker/range toy. The ksg however.... there is an entire industry dedicated to making tatical shotguns, and AR/shotgun/pistol competitiors love to stash more rounds into a gun and currently have to manage ammo (slugs vs birdshot) manually. With a ammo type selector and more rounds, it will really go over well even though its a pump. Vendors are going to buy them from keltec and triple the price for at least the first year of production on that gun, if it works well in the first generation. Keltec has had pretty good function from larger weapons, its their smaller/cheaper/lighter/more plastic small handgun lines that suffer a bit of quality control whenever a new design is released.

Its not always too much powder. Could be a bore obstruction too, either a no-powder round followed by a live round or a totally ammo unrelated piece of trash. I have had 2 "primer only" reloads already (taking steps to prevent additional ones, I now look into the case each round to verify a powder charge exists and is at least deep enough to be close to the desired charge) and if not for the good folks here and elsewhere who helped me get started I would probably have racked the slide and fired another round after the fail to eject. The warnings and advice from others made me take a look and sure enough, a slug in the middle of the barrel, could have been ugly... And it was annoying, ended a day of shooting both times. Hate to hear the guy lost his gun, but better that than a face... sounds like he needs to listen, learn, and re-think if he believes his loads are perfect and that he could never make one mistake in however many thousands of rounds... it only takes one goof up with this stuff.

I would say that there are many, many thousands of people in this country that are in this or a very close to it situation. Many of the older (1940s birthday) folks I know have 1-2 guns, often a revolver and maybe one rifle or shotgun, usually low tech stuff like a double barrel or bolt action etc. Many of the younger folks I know do the same with a modern handgun, usually just a typical 9mm like a glock. All these folks want is to defend their home, many do not have a HCP, do not hunt, going out to shoot is at most a once, maybe twice a year thing. They have little to no interest in guns apart from having one for defense, and often treat it as a good luck charm more than a weapon: simply having it makes them feel safer. You probably will not see a lot of this type of person here in a gun forum, at most they may pass thru the site to read from a google redirect or something, however I would be willing to bet the 1-2 gun households outnumber the "gun nut" community by more than 10 to 1. I could see having 1 or 2 if not interested in shooting, but I will never understand not having at least a little practice and familiarity.

Production took a turn recently for a new barrel design. Shipping halted for a bit, check the offical kel tec site for details. They are having a time getting this gun to be reliable, so there have been a few glitches to change the design which messed up already sluggish shipping. Where they are, is kel tech is selling them to dealers on a rotating basis and the limited supply is slow to spread. I have seen 2 so far, and one was gone in like 2 days after it arrived at a shop. I do not want one yet, waiting for the final design revision before I go there.

I was using jacketed ball rounds, 100 gr, with accurate #2 3.2 grains of that. I was having trouble with the powder; too little powder is difficult to measure, so I am swapping to #5 once the #2 is gone just to make it easier to control.

My wife does not hang out on the forums, but I can give you her words =) She carried one of those "gun in the middle" carry purses for about 10 years, at a rough estimate. The pros were that it was easy to carry this way, and always ready to go, IE basic ease of use. A couple of incidents in parking lots got her to give it strong consideration and she finally reached a few conclusions. 1) Reaching for the purse is not easy to do casually. Most of the troublemakers were wanting money and reaching for the purse was, instead of a threat, seen as a good thing! 2) She felt it would be awkward to make a fast draw if needed, and as she has grown older and wiser, I think she finally realizes how fast a situation can start and how little time one really has. 3) The purse is a target for stealing, so if being robbed, they are going to take that from her right off and going back to #1 and #2, it would be hard to pull a gun from the center of attention in the process of handing it over... She feels 1000 % more confident now with her sig p238 in her pocket. Its invisible, easy to draw and fire, she can rack the slide under pressure (sometimes the bigger ones gave her trouble, she has MS which makes for random physical problems), reload it, clear a jam, and use the gun very very well. She does still use the purses from time to time, as a form of deep concealment or convience when I am with her, or other times. She recommends having a carry purse to all women but does not think it is the best primary carry option. She does not recommend trying to jury rig a regular purse for it, it may work for a few specific handbags but the carry design is well thought out.

In a very general sense, the most unreliable guns are going to be the really, really small ones. I like small guns for defense (I pretty much will not carry it if I cannot get it into a pocket) and the small 40s, 9s, and 45s often have issues ranging from user caused (large caliber in a small gun can lead to holding it wrong which can jam a semi auto) to mechanical (the small ones just have less room to do their cycle, and some of them cut it short or have borked up feed ramps or questionable ejectors, etc). Smaller guns in smaller calibers are usually better but even those can be troublesome. If you want reliable, go with a slightly larger one or choose your small gun very, very carefully.

the stats just dont match up. Not only are kids who cannot have guns somehow getting them in spite of the laws, the problems are in large citys which tend to have overbearing gun control laws on top of the age limitations. In addition such areas usually will not sell ammo to a minor. On top of all this, it is just not legal to shoot at people, not legal to fire a gun inside city limits, and other such things. All told, the gun control laws being broken here point to a much more important but grossly overlooked fact: no one is enforcing the laws in these areas of the country! They outright admit that all this crime is going on and no one is doing a darn thing about it! If these towns cannot even stop small children from breaking the law, its no wonder they have so many problems!

If recoil is an issue for you, take a long hard look at some heavy guns instead of plastic. The more it weighs, the less "felt recoil" you will have (the actual forces are the same for the same ammo, but moments of inertia come into play). You also do want to buy one box of manbuster ammo not only to test the JHP shape and feeding, but those are high pressure (+P) ammos with more recoil, so you want to experience this. The general population will say that when actually using self defense ammo in a situation, your adrenaline will prevent the recoil from being an issue, but on the range you will surely notice the extra power (its too pricy to shoot much of this stuff unless you are well off!). Recoil is a total package (springs, weight, shape, ammo, even grip style) but all things being equal, get a heavier gun if you are bothered by what you see in the plastics.

Too much modern warfare? Looks like the skins you can put onto the guns in a game, except he really, actually did it. Ive seen worse, but rarely on an antique test subject. Usually the really bad ones are on modern guns, and often enough, as a joke.

If you are looking for a carry gun, for the 9 and 40 try out some cheap hollowpoints of various shapes. Not all JHP are the pricy defense rounds, you can find bulk packs for the same prices as solid ammo from time to time. For the 380, inform yourself about the caliber if you need to then decided, if you were to carry it, if you want ball or JHP ammo, then try it out with one or both types as you see fit. All 380 is expensive, unfortunately. If you are looking for a range gun/toy/etc, then just use the cheapest ammo you can find. That is what you will be using on paper anyway, most likely, since few folks buy the $1 a round stuff for messing around on a range. The biggest trouble you will see in semi-autos, esp a new in the box gun, is the feed ramp will be shaped wrong or too rough to feed certain styles of hollowpoint ammo. The roughness can be polished out easily when it is an issue, but if the gun's ramp is the wrong shape for certain types of ammo, you just have to live with it and buy another brand. The weapons you listed here are all quality firearms that should handle any ammo thrown at them, by and large, so you are unlikely to have these sorts of problems. Anyway, the flattest, "biggest hole" and least "cone shaped" ammos are the worst for any gun and if it can feed those, it will work with almost anything.

I don't get messing with them when you can do both... pull the orig, matching stock and replace with a nice one from a parts gun (lot of shot out or corroded barrel mosins out there), refinish the mismatched one, and in 50 years if the thing is worth 2k or whatever original, you can put it back... just a thought, though I do not know how easy it would be to grab a stock from a parts gun these days. We said the same thing about other guns and they went from millions in original condition to a fraction of that in a few decades. Or don't worry about it, you can always say you are doing your part to make everyone else's guns worth more: the only way *any* of them will ever be worth much is if some of the supply is decreased by sporterizing, shooting to death, etc a few of them, and if you enjoy it better with a nice finish, go for it.

This movement has a number of doctors upset as well, not just the patients, when they are forced to comply with policy handed down from on-high. Its not always the DR's fault. I do not mind my DR knowing, but I trust him with my life already, and he can decide if I need to be checked for lead exposure or something. It really boils down to trust, and unfortunately a lot of docs are not to be trusted, takes forever to find good ones these days. To his credit, he has not asked, but I would tell him if he did. I would not if it were a question on a form, or something from a nurse, etc, but if the actual man asked me person to person, yea I would talk about it. Both sides of this thing stink legally. On the one hand, govt is telling your DR what you can and cannot discuss. On the other hand, the DR really does not need to know most of the time, unless you do have lead exposure or shot yourself or are mentally unstable or a few other circumstances where the subject could matter to your well being.

Not sure, but I suspect the police car has a bullet stopping barrier between the back and front in case a perp manages to sneak a gun that far along. I know some police cars have this but not if all of them do or not. Even taxis have this in some areas of the country.

If stopping power were a total myth we would all carry .22s or bb guns. There is something to physics, else the army, police, etc would all carry a .22 LR for the economics.... again, educate yourself on it, the term is surrounded by nonsense and myth but I can assure you a 230 grain 45 has "something" that a 30 grain .22 does not. Both can kill, sure, but which one is more likely to be effective at ending an attack on your life if your shot is nonfatal? Why? That is what has to be understood. There is a reason that chart starts at 9mm. Again, its a touchy subject with too much baggage to really ramp up a debate here, but IMHO every HCP holder should be able to answer my 2 questions at a basic level for their own peace of mind and so they can discard garbage encounted on the web as they happen across it.

I went with the 40 when faced with this choice. However, after it was all said and done, I think that was a mistake. .40 is pricy, and 33% or so of the brass you find is ruined from a glock if you want to reload it (need extra step and aggravation). Its a bit more powerful than a 9mm but its like bowling... you can get a strike with an 8 pound ball if you hit the pins right, or you can leave stuff with a 16 pounder... its all about what you hit and for any handgun that means you have to hit heart or CNS areas, period. The main thing I would say going for a .40 over a 9mm is the bullet weight. Heavier bullets just do better in almost any realistic testing you can research. Gel testing does not make as big an impact but if you look at cadaver/rib-slab testing with bones and such, the heavy stuff does a better job, a slow moving .45 round tends to outperform a hypervelocity 9mm, half the speed and twice the mass, mass wins every time (placement being equal). This is a touchy subject so from here I invite you to read the studies and results and form your own conclusions. Before you make a decision, you really, really need to understand that "stopping power" is a silly, nonsense term -- equal and opposite reaction tells you that a cannon is required to "stop" a man in his tracks by sheer physics (IE the heart and CNS are not hit). The 40 is not that much heavier and if you have less of it in the mag, the weight difference is a wash. You will not notice the difference. The price of 40 is a huge drawback if you like to practice. Availability is another issue. On top of those, same caliber for your weapons is a big bonus. Having extra shots in each mag of 9mm balances out most of of the advantages of a 40 caliber. In your situation I would use the 9mm.

=) I was amused as well. You have to spell everything out or you get this sort of siliness, at least its entertaining. I guess I have to explain that the exemption I mentioned has zero effect on me (I am not an EMT) or the thread (the one armed fellow may or may not qualify, but either way, his EMT status has nothing to do with his lack of arm) therefore looking it all up to verify an exemption to the law that does not apply to anyone here had no interest for me. It still does not. I am still not an EMT and that is still not the thread topic, so the one known exemption (if its accurate) still does not apply to either of us. In short, no exemption for the guy so he should use a sheath knife or a thumb-open design of some sort. The one I carry has a thumb lever on the back of the blade that vanishes into the handle when open, very easy to operate one handed, as are the ones with thumb knobs etc.

Not sure but a lot of 1911 optics mount to the frame, so you want the slide/frame to vary as little as possible so that the optics are dead on rather than subjected to that wobble (??). I am not 100% sure on that, but this seems to be the slide fit issue. That and the tight fit just feels better in hand, to some shooters (I know I like it on a well fit gun).

I didnt like the handheld at first but it has grown on me. Once I moved from stuff that can stay on the press (turret press) to calibers that require trimming and so on, its usefulness became more clear. I dunno about handling explosives while watching TV, but then again, its still fairly new to me too and I prefer to dedicate all my attention to the task for now. For a single stage, the hand tool looks even better than for my setup, definately worth it as they are fairly cheap.

I recently got a para (ssp version) and it has been a good pistol so far. Its not the same model but if the workmanship is representative of the brand, you would do well with it. Good fit and finish, mine made 2 inch groups at 30 yards and that is about as good as I can do with any gun with iron sights (IE its not the gun..). It did not like JHP ammo (cheap bulk pack, not good SD stuff) during the break in period, and I have not tried any JHP again since polishing the ramp and putting some rounds down the pipe (and it is still not totally broken in, 250 rounds or so). While I got mine for accuracy as an intro to bullseye gun, you might look at their small and/or higher cap models if you plan to carry the gun or use for defense as you stated. Most of their products are a bit pricy but given how well fitted my one example was, it was worth a couple hundred more to me. I have heard nothing but good things about the RIA guns from many, many owners over the past few years. Their guns appear to be a very good choice for the basic 1911.

Our glock could not even cycle "starting loads" from our load data tables, and it jammed when doing action shooting (multiple targets, double tap each rapidly moving the gun from side to side) up until nearly the max load (not +P) data. They do not have to be ultra-light loads to cause problems. The starting loads worked fine in 4 other brands of 9mm pistol but glock springs are too strong for target loads. As for lead, hardcast works fine if you work up a load that does not lead up the barrel. Its important to keep an eye on this issue, but the cast bullet problem is largely a soft-lead problem, not a lack of jacket. Honestly, poly or regular, I would keep a eye out for buildup in any gun that you used cast bullets in, just to be safe, clean it / check it after each range trip. I have shot hardened hardcast in 3 poly rifle guns, a makarov and 2 glocks, without any trouble but I clean most of my guns after each trip (I dont clean my 22s this often, just the centerfires). I looked at the usaammo site but their calibers are very limited and it wasnt much of a deal at the bottom line. I didnt finish the order so I have no idea how it shoots.

Its going to be hard to beat a 9mm/38/357 combo gun such as ruger makes, if you want to shoot it cheaply. However you can buy moon clips to shoot 9mm in any 357 or 38 if you find a different brand that you like -- the ruger ones just have a second cylinder that you swap out (easily done) so you do not need the clips (the clips hold the rimless shells in the cylinder; revolver ammo has rims that hold it in place and rimless ammo like 9mm would fall thru without these). While the 9mm is fun, be sure to shoot up a box of 357 once in a while to get the true revolver experience. Another option is a 22 magnum revolver which can shoot 22 short, long rifle, or magnums. If you want a large gun, you might look at a taurus model 66 which is a 7 shot 357 with a large grip and 6 inch barrel. Taurus Model 66 Revolver « Gunner’s Journal The ruger would be a single action, most likely (not 100% sure) if you look at those just google ruger blackhawk 9mm and you should find it. Might also look at the rossi R97206.