Jonnin

That got most of it, yes. There is also the internal/external hammer issue. For example, a 1911 is a single action, exactly like a SA revolver: you pull the hammer back before it can be fired (racking the slide pulls the hammer back each shot, however, and the gun is stored cocked with a safety, so its rare to actually pull the actual hammer on such a design). DA pistols with an external hammer are more common to hand-cock, done to avoid the heavy DA pull for the first shot (after which the slide keeps pulling the hammer back for you as you noted already). Internal hammer guns are at the mercy of using the slide or a DA pull to move the hammer back with no option to do it yourself. Internally, the 3 basic types of autos work exactly like a revolver. The hammer is pulled back and trigger drops it, thats a SA. The trigger pulls the hammer back with leverage, then drops it, thats a DA shot (either from a DAO or a DA). Combine the 2 and its a DA gun. The striker fired stuff is a little different internally, but the basic behavior (from the user's perspective and in terms of the 3 basic types) of a glock or similar style trigger is a single action with internal hammer (recognise these by the safety button on the trigger). Related to this, almost all DA autos have a junky trigger pull for the SA shooting, unlike most revolvers which have a very short, light pull when cocked. It is not uncommon to move the trigger several mm before the hammer falls, some of that travel spongy and doing nothing internally beyond pushing on a spring. SA semi's tend to have decent triggers but still not as good as SA revolvers. So if you have not spent the time there and buy a DA auto expecting it to be like a revolver, this can be a bit of a shock. The 10-cent way to tell what is what from looking: almost all external hammer guns are DA unless it "looks like" a 1911. Almost all single action guns look a lot like a 1911. All striker fireds that I know of have the trigger safety and internal hammers. DAO can be difficult to spot but most have a trigger guard with room to make a very long trigger pull and have internal hammers -- its still difficult to spot a DAO vs an internal hammer DA at times. Combine this with brand names (most brands tend to stick to a type, for examle Khar is mostly DAO, beretta is mostly DA, ...) and you can make an educated guess correctly most of the time. However, if you see something you like, better to ask if you have any doubts since there are too many grey areas to be sure.

the ammo thing... having 2 different ages for the same product depending on the customer's answer to a question. If you trust the customer to answer truthfully, the check is not needed. Since almost all handgun calibers can be found in a rifle, almost all ammo can be answered as rifle. Even the few rounds that do not have a rifle, would the wallmart ammo person know? I get the feeling the one at our WM has never even held a gun.

Dumb law, there is a rifle in nearly every handgun caliber and a lot of handguns in rifle calibers as well. What is this, the honor system? If so, just ask if they plan to do anything bad with said ammo instead, that will work, won't it?

Not sure. The exemption I was told about (and never confirmed, as it did not apply to me) was that emergency personel can carry automatic knives to remove clothing etc. That would be medical teams, police, firemen, etc. I do not know or really care if it is true.

Maybe we can donate to a fund to get him a teleprompter. If public speaking were required for election, Obama would never have even made it past dog-catcher in his hometown.

There are a lot of PPKs and the stats vary a bit across the family. I thought it was slightly larger than what you have listed but I am no expert on the brand. I thought it was roughly a 6.5 X 4.5 platform, but thats from whatever I was holding back when I last looked at one closely. I am not upset at being wrong on that but I was pretty sure the ppk was close to a makarov in size... which is 6.5 X 5.0 roughly... the one you listed would be a good fit into a pocket, regardless of any larger variations. In that same thought, 6.5 X 5 is toward the upper end of what will fit into "average" (men's!!!) pockets -- women's pockets are often unable to hold a gun at all. The absolute biggest thing I pocket is my px4 .40 subcompact. That is 6.2 X 4.8 X fat (the fat is a large part of the trouble) X boxy (the rest of the trouble) so a slightly larger, thinner, and less boxy gun will fit in places the PX is tight. For what its worth, I did carry a makarov for years in a pocket. My advice, if you want a heavy gun like this (I love them heavy, they shoot so much better than lightweights) is to get a good belt. I have to have a belt for the PX or I lose my pants... the sig is not much of a burden but a lot of what you are not seeing here is the weight of the ammo. 10 or whatever it is .40S&W is a lot heavier than 9 makarovs or 7 380s.... (or whatever, I dunno how many are in them off the top of my head). The sig has a low capacity so the ammo weight is lower making the package less of a burden; be sure to look at the loaded weights when you make a choice. If those are the 3 guns you are looking at, its probably more important to give a hard look at the action, safety features, and so forth rather than focus on the dimensions (however keep that total weight in mind, its important). All 3 of those specific models will fit well into typical pockets. The real question then is capacity, weight, dao - DA - SA actions, and the like. I have rarely seen 3 guns so very different listed as contenders for carry, so I will leave you with a thought: get some range time with each one & choose it off the entire package, not just the dimensions. I wish you well in your search. All 3 of these are popular guns, and with a little effort and luck you can very likely find one of each to test drive.... for sure everyone and their brother has either a kel tec or a copy pistol or other clone of the design, and in the past year I have seen a good 20 folks with the sig, ppk seems a little more rare.

Well take that even deeper... what is "sporterized" anyway? To me, any long gun that is not fully automatic *is* for fun/sporting purposes if we are talking "sporting" vs "military" categories, on the grounds that "sniper" rifles are just uber hunting rifles. A 100 year old military BA gun is... a hunting rifle (a sporting rifle), whether someone has chopped it to pieces or left it alone. Does it matter who did the chopping? I think it does. Upgrading 10k guns in a warehouse with the same parts and same process to make them modern is a military operation. A guy with a hacksaw, welder, and some spare parts is something else, and the two must be distinguished. I do not think this is a true sporter (under the term as it is commonly used). Its just one of many examples of a government that has a pile of parts (captured, left over, whatever the source) that were put to good use in a new design --- the same thing happened several times during the world wars and smaller conflicts.

Its on the upper-middle size of what will fit into average men's pockets. There are much smaller 380s, this old design is too large for the caliber in the modern world but its still a rugged, comfortable, and good shooting design. You can get a 9mm into that real estate, and shave off the better part of an inch both directions for a 380 and the ppk is heavy (not a bad thing) to boot. Its a solid choice.

Thanks guys, that gives me a lot of stuff to look at. My experience is pretty low, I can make stuff that goes bang more or less but do not have the experience to find and fix the little things that crop up from time to time. The concern with OAL is just from trying to keep everything in spec in hopes that by doing that, it will work. When the stuff is in spec and does not work is what I need to learn more about. I suspect it may be the die settings, I followed the generic instructions and have not played with those much to adjust them. Or, to put it clearly, my experience is limited to making the suggested starter loads from the data books exactly as stated and some very minor changes such as adding a tiny bit more powder to get the 9mm to cycle (the starters would not). I have also made 9x18 from 9x19 brass and am starting to try different powders to see which I like better. I am, in short, a noob =) Its a lee turret press, 4 stages. It may not be the best thing in the world but the problems here are not caused by the press, but the operator or the setup etc. What it makes is pretty consistent -- the problems I listed are consistently wrong and my good loads are consistently good. I am pretty sure that if I can resolve the 223 for the pistol, the mini-14 will work too. That rifle just does not seem to care, it will shoot anything, if not I can make them to different specs. Both are capable of shooting the 5.56 for whatever that is worth, I know it changes where the rifling starts but not what else is different vs a "223 only" gun. I have the differences written down but have not made much use of it. I will try some of these ideas this weekend if I can, or next week some.

well, the 5 rings does have some commentary about guns in it as they were just coming into being.... and it might help you shoot better if you are into that self meditation stuff, but its mostly swordplay/zen.

Larry Hillis Ammo but I am not sure if the web stuff is current or not. It was pretty cheap last gunshow I got some at, but I bought 45 acp not 9mm, and forget the price, maybe it was $12 or so for 50? Might give it a try.

Heh -- that would be about right, the chinese selling us lead bullets that were lead free, like their toxic dog food and toys... at an inflated price with the option to cut off the supply if we go to war with them or their allies.

The "true" pocket guns can be in your pocket and in a holster. Those are usually 380 or weaker caliber, though. If you want to jam a 9mm (most, a few are true pocket size) or better, it does end up going in without a holster or in large pockets. You have to work at it to get it in and out cleanly, took me a lot of practice to get the hang of what I needed -- my tricks include having a very thin (DL, HCP, credit card, not much else) wallet in front of it and nothing else in that pocket, giving lots of room to make a clean pull.

A variety of things can be used but its all more costly than lead. Since your taxes pay for it (or not... more debt?), the army can afford to shoot tungsten or non-radioactive uranium or whatever. We cannot --- that stuff would be $10 a shot. I firmly believe it is possible to produce an inexpensive alternative, but so far, the R&D is not there yet nor is it worth doing. The lead from all the shooting in the world combined is less danger than one wrecked power plant in japan, or one production plant in china, or any of the other real sources of pollution.

I would third trying for a tipping job. Waiter at a good place, or parking cars at a nice place, etc can net you around $20 an hour with any luck, and those sorts of jobs are often available. That or the armed guard should get you something with a little bit of luck. The internet job search is a thing of the past. It was hot back when new, but it became overused -- I can tell you I throw out the resume's that are emailed to me unless the person called first and has expressed interest (rather than paid some robot to mail resumes to everyone in the country). Don't give up on it, but don't rely on it either. A phone call to the right person, word of mouth, or going on walkabout to look for help wanted signs is also in order. Start with any likely places you frequent, and with friends if you have anyone you haven't asked yet. Best of luck. Its tough out there right now.

Just got my 1909 cleaned up & shot it this past weekend, amazing guns. I hope you can find a replacement for yours. I am researching my options for a no-damage scope mount to take it to the next stage; I can barely hit an 8 inch target at 100 yards with iron and have no idea how those guys were shooting 800-1000 meters with iron sights in the heat of battle, under ideal conditions I doubt I could hit a guy at 300! I think they had more muscles too; after a box of 20 my shoulder was starting to get sore. A solid steel recoil pad ftl ...

I use a sig p238 for pocket carry in small pockets or if concealment really, really matters. I use a beretta 40 caliber when I have larger pockets, go to "more dangerous" areas, or do not have as much concern about printing. There are a lot of 9mm and so forth in between these 2 sizes, mostly dao though, only a few non dao pocket sized guns are out there.

Let me recommend something like this CORBON .45 LC +P 300 gr. JSP Ammunition for sale, gun classifieds or gun auction from Jonsea. Buy or bid on this CORBON .45 LC +P 300 gr. JSP in the category Ammunition on GunsAmerica. or similar heavy JSP ammo.

LMGTFY: The Range Inc. - Class Schedule

The only thing about the PLR is that its velocity (due to short barrel) means you may not get your frag/tumble effects if used as a defensive weapon with some ammo types and medium-longer ranges. It works well, the only malfunctions I have had are on handloads that I messed up. I do not know about the part that it does not have but it performs well, it reliable and pretty accurate up to 100 yards. I havent tried to go farther than that with it yet. A lot of gun for the money and in a small package, its a great piece of hardware. You can get the manual online to see the expanded view of how it is made.

wish I could have been there to pay $3 for it... =)

Google says to float the barrel, recrown (extreme) or "lap" (need some oddball tool that I have never seen before) the crown if in decent shape, to work up a handload for it, deep-clean the bore and chamber areas. There is also some concern that no amount of work/effort/money can help some guns while others will shoot 1 inch groups at 100 yards without much effort at all -- its a case by case sort of thing. Another suggested reducing the trigger pull, you can apparently (very carefully, this can be dangerous if you do too much) grind down a washer and put it under the trigger spring (google it for a picture?) to make the trigger very nice --- some of the guns have a heavy pull that can cause the shooter to pull too hard & move the gun. You probably already saw these if you searched the web so not much new there. I dunno, I always start with the cheap, DIY stuff and work up to the gunsmith stuff, so here I would clean it to perfection, seat/float/whatever the barrel, and try various ammo or handloads to see what works well. From there at least inspect the crown with a quality magnifier, whether you do that work yourself or pay, you can at least examine it. Just be sure you want to go there (damage the gun) before doing any of the major operations that cannot be un-done. Good luck with it. As I am resorting to google to help out I will just leave you to it from here...

$53.50

I have a couple of ongoing issues that I could use a bit of expert direction with. Its mostly the same issue a few times over, I think. First, my wife just got her new 9mm (eaa witness), and it will not chamber any of my reloads (which worked fine in the glock, beretta, and ruger). The slide simply will not close on them, 3 different types (LRN, JFN, FMJ). Its as if the gun cannot take the "fat" part of the bullet, only the narrow cone-nose part. My rounds are less than the max OAL for a 9mm, but are seated a touch on the shallow side as I was making weak loads for target practice. I can shove them in deeper, I guess, but is it normal for this to happen? A similar thing happened with her 30-30. I got some 30 carbine bullets (same diameter, but lower mass) to make some weak loads, and those are also too fat, though the OAL of the cartridge is the same as factory ammo. The official 30-30 have a long cone nose and fit, of course. The 223 is giving me a different issue. I trimmed the brass and all seems well, but my PLR cannot hit the primers (not seated deep, flat to the case) on a lot of my reloads. My mini-14 can shoot these same rounds (and any other, never fails). Here it seems the cartridge is too short but they are between min and max OAL for 223. The plr eats any factory ammo I throw at it, and some of my reloads, but this is getting old fast... and I cannot seem to find a cause for it. The primers are not even scratched, let alone dented, but shouldnt the back end of the case seat the same no matter what the front end is doing? Or is that not true for this type of gun? Is it normal for certain guns to not accept certain ammo that is within the specs? If so, is it just trial and error to resolve these issues or is there a better approach? I can fix the first 2 easily (seat the 9mm deeper, use the heavy 30-30 bullets, etc) and am close to resolving the 223 problem but the "how do I not have these types of problems" question is beyond me, apart from costly (in time, mostly) trial and error approach.. Thanks for any thoughts!

Paula is so fake southern it makes me sick to watch her. Yall this and yall that and the rest of it... its embarrassing. I don't really like banannas in any form, but the pudding is tolerable if its done right (no soggy wafers!). Got turned off to most of this stuff as a kid, the local specialty where I grew up was punch, which my sister dubbed banana-barf punch... it was awful and is largely behind my dislike of anything banana.