Danger Rane

I should query the OP whether he wants to know what I think is the best or what I think is the best that I can afford I recently had the opportunity to shoot a Nighthawk 1911 in 9mm that made my pants tight in weird ways and gave me the warm fuzzies like a teenager copping his first feel. But alas, I have 4 kids so that gun won't be in my budget this side of who knows how many years of college. As for what I think is best that I can also afford; a G17 Gen 4 for full size, a G19 Gen 3or4 midsize, and a Kahr for compact/single stack. As to the why....I'm a fan of Glock for their affordability, shoot-ability, reliability, ease of maintenance, ease of upgrades, etc, etc, etc. I'm also a fan of having a work gun that I don't give any thought to it getting banged around. While I do have a few safe queens that I'm proud of, none of my Glocks are in that category, and I don't think I've ever spent more than $500 on any of my Glocks. I mentioned the Kahr as my preference for compact 9mm. While I do like the single stack Glocks I like the Kahr in that size a bit better, and I like the Kahr trigger a lot better. I have the MK9 which is a great shooter for that size, but the all steel construction makes it pretty heavy/awkward to pocket carry at times.

Not sure if this qualifies for this thread as I don't have any pics to add and I technically wasn't the one doing the shooting, but I would be remiss not to mention a shooting event that occurred this weekend at Strategic Edge in Chapel Hill. Strategic Edge hosted a group called A Soldier's Child Foundation which is comprised of Gold Star kids of various ages (there were 9-20year olds at the range) that come together from around the country and hang out together and participate in various outdoor activities. I had honestly never heard of the group before this, but it's worth reading up on. They are out of Murfreesboro as best I can tell and have a lot of their gatherings based out of the Deer Run Camp. Anyway, seeing these kids come out to the range, some of whom had never shot before, was truely awesome! They shot everything from .22 pistols, ARs, recurve bows, shotguns, all the way up to a bolt action .50 cal! I think the joy on their faces was equally matched by that of the range members that brought their own guns and ammo out for the kids to shoot. There were some truely amazing guns on the line, and the kids got to shoot as much or as little as they wanted. There were several that even hit the 1000yrd target with the .50 and a couple long range rigs. While the kids may or may not have realized that they were experiencing a once in a lifetime opportunity that many firearms enthusiasts would have paid dearly for, it was sobering to contemplate the sacrifice and loss that these kids and their families had experienced. As you can imagine there were certainly some underlying emotions at play, probably just as much for the volunteers that participated. I'm just glad to know that there are organizations out there like A Soldier's Child that are trying to enrich and brighten the lives of these youth that we all owe a dept of gratitude for.

Welcome to the group!

Nothing wrong in my mind about carrying that 1911, bare bones or not. But since you are asking about a compact 9mm I'm guessing you are not wanting to carry the size/weight of the 1911, is that correct? So the next hurdle would be whatever your budget is. If at all possible I would keep the .45 and the ammo reserve you have for it, and buy yourself a compact 9 and start building your reserve for that. Either way, welcome to TGO!

I think you made my point. Who's going to look at their friend's gun that he is clearly proud of and talk crap about it? The conversation would likely have gone differently had your Beretta not been the opener. Back in 1987/1988 while the Beretta was in acceptance testing my with the military, several NSW operators were injured due to slides breaking and the back of the slide coming off the gun striking them in the face. As a result NSW as a whole went away from the Berreta and went with the Sig. Non-SOF Navy and the rest of the services went with the Beretta, but only after an engineering change to prevent further injuries. If you remove the left side grip panel of your Beretta you will see a penny sized circle that sits right below the slide. A portion of this circle rides in a slot in the slide and will prevent the rear of the slide from coming of the frame if/when there is a slide breakage, which usually only happened at a very high round count. A round count beyond what most service members and civilian users will reach. If you note, the Brigadier model is substantially reinforced in the troublesome slide area. To be clear, I think the Beretta is a very accurate gun in single action, and I have shot more rounds than I can count through several of them. I have had some malfunctions with them, but as I said it an earlier post, they were environmental related. If they had been even reasonably clean, which was impossible at the time, I have no doubt that they would have performed flawlessly. The Berettas are not my cup of tea, but I would never put down someone that had one, as it will most likely serve them well. Not that my opinion should matter to anyone at all, just as yours does not matter to me, but I am happy that you like your Beretta. With as many options as we have, no one should have a gun they don't like. My only reason for engaging with you at all in this thread was your antagonistic approach and responses. While I don't care about your opinion I do take issue with your attitude which is why I responded in kind.

And their opinion on the M9 was?

Awesome! I sincerely appreciate your son's service. I will note that unless he is in MARSOC he probably doesn't have a choice in his handgun selection like I mentioned above, and one of the excellent traits about Marines is they make do and accomplish the mission, even under less than favorable conditions and often with antiquated equipment compared to the rest of the services. It does not surprise me that you know many SEALs, but it does surprise me that you have the view of the M9 that you have if you talk firearms with them very often. I encourage you to ask them about NSW's opinion on the M9 and then please share with the group.

That's a very presumptuous, uninformed, and ignorant comment to make (fake news). Have you actually talked with many military personnel that have routinely had their M9s in the sand and swamps that had great things to say about them? Just because someone is in the military and carries an M9 does not mean it gets used, and certainly does not mean it sees harsh conditions, aside from dust bunny accumulation in a holster. Hell, less than 10-15% of the military even work in harsh conditions, especially in the last 15 years. I think it is telling that the units that have discretionary funding and authority to test, choose, and purchase nonstandard sidearms started going away from the M9 as far back as 2005. While many of their support personnel still carry M9s, the guys getting down and dirty in the sand and swamps have been carrying Glocks for years. Next time you run into SEAL ask them why they won't touch a Beretta and instead use MK25s (Sig226) and Glock 19s. Your trolling skills suck, at least put some effort in.

Just curious what your end game is with this post? You asked for people's opinions but are responding to their responses like a dick. I don't think anyone here is trying to talk you into a Glock. You asked for opinions and people are giving them. Regardless of the topic (Glocks, 9mm vs .45, Kardashians) your methodology here is flawed and rude. Im happy for you that all your guns are great, and I'm happy that mine are great for me......what's the problem with that?

This is an instance of beauty in the eye of the beholder, I love the way my Glocks look; plain, black, simple lines.......and they work, every time I pull the trigger. I've used Glocks, Sigs, and Berettas extensively overseas, and I've had several environmental induced malfunctions with Sigs and Berettas, but not the Glocks. Don't get me wrong, these were tough conditions that would have choked out most weapon systems, but the Glocks kept chugging, even grittier than a wet SEAL rolled in sand. As for esthetics, while I have nothing per say against the look of most Sigs, I dislike the look of most Berettas, and pretty much all H&K handguns. Thankfully, the beauty of Americas' great gun culture is that it is a cornucopia of options, so even though we may not agree on which ones we favor, we can all walk away with a lighter wallet and a bang stick we can be proud of.

Following, as I'm curious too. I've been very pleased with my other Vortex products.

That's a great idea! Visual training aids work a lot better for most than just saying "don't put your booger pickers up there".

We have enjoyed Rock City and Ruby Falls on a couple of our visits to Chattanooga. Both involve walking but nothing strenuous. http://www.seerockcity.com/ http://www.rubyfalls.com/

Prayers sent for your little guy.

Me thinks Bilzerian should stick to poker and coked up instagram models.

I was not at all surprised by the Seahawks and Steelers dong this, but the Titans.....didn't see that coming. The whole thing is a disgrace. They obviously need to think a bit about what the "N" in that little NFL logo on their uniform represents.

RLTW!

That's a great point, I think it's kinda crazy how expensive .410 shells are.

That was awesome!.....and we're going to hell.

I've taken (x2) Turkeys with my little Rossi Circuit Judge using 3" .410 shells. The first one was shot at about 14 yards. There were enough pellets in the head/neck area that I felt comfortable pushing out a bit further the next year and took one at right around 20 yards. That would be the furthest I would feel comfortable taking one with my setup. I think the key is to conduct extensive pattern testing with whatever you go with to establish a realistic working range, and make a mental "range card" of your hunting area to determine the distance beforehand to key features like distinct trees, your decoys, creeks, sticks or stakes you put out etc...I usually do this with my LRF as soon as I get into an area, helps me quite a bit. As long as you know your realistic (humane) range for what you are working with and stick with that you should be good. The .410 will require more patience and maybe field craft to let them get close, but it will get r done. Im not necessarily a cheapskate, but I do like to be able to fill multiple roles with my tools. A couple years ago I used a 12 gauge Stoeger Double Defense O/U coach gun to take a turkey at 46 yards. But again, that was after extensive patterning and trying about 5 different loads before finding one that really let me reach out there with that gun. Good luck, and happy hunting.

Welcome to the group!

I haven't ever used the soft packs, so I have no feedback on those. I buy the 40 gram rechargeable canisters from Midway (probably available on Amazon as well) and they fit perfectly into my ammo cans. I put one canister (similar in size to an Altoid tin) in each ammo can. It's taken a couple years to weed out which cans have good seals and which ones don't, but I am able to go 6-8 months without recharging the dessicant in my long term storage cans. My cans with crappy seals I keep in the garage, these are my cans that see more use and usually get recharged every couple months or whenever I notice the dessicant has changed color. I can fit about 10 of these canisters on a cookie sheet and "recharge" them in the oven in a couple hours. I have not noticed any smell left behind in the oven, and more importantly neither has my wife

Welcome

Check out the Miller 215 Multimatic. As it's name suggests it is a multi process welder; MIG, Stick, DC TIG. Runs off of 120 or 240. Very user friendly for the novice welder and very easily tuned for the more experienced welder. It is my smallest welder but it gets used quite often for jobs you are describing that don't warrant firing up the big stuff. Cyberweld.com frequently has decent rebates going. For general farm/field use I would recommend getting yourself a roll of Hobart or Harris .035 Flux Core wire along with some quality 6011 and 7018 welding rods. For infrequent use buy rods in small, sealed containers as they (particularly the 7018) go to crap once their flux has absorbed moisture. If you are ever in the Columbia, Spring Hill, Franklin area drop me a message and I'll let you check out the 215 and try to answer any questions you might have.

They are notorious for not cycling in most semi's and some pump actions. I use them in a Stoeger Coach gun with my kids and they love them. I have a trail through the woods behind my house set up like a 3gun course for them, .22lr pistol, 22lr rifle, and a couple different targets for the coach gun requiring them to choose the Aguila buck, slug, or shot. It certainly wouldn't be something I would use as my go to defense round but it has been a great training round and transitional round for people I have taught to use a shotgun. It's also kinda neat that my KSG holds 20 or more and cycles them fine. And I have taken one turkey with the 7.5 shot out of the coach gun without issue, at about 18 yards.