JAB

Believe it or not, 9mm can produce a nice little slap in the old-style stocked 995. Given how little 9mm recoils in a handgun, I was honestly surprised at the recoil in the carbine the first time I fired it. It certainly isn't anything uncomfortable but is much more noticeable that I would have thought. Of course, more folks complain about the old style stock stinging their cheek than about felt recoil in the shoulder.

I have told my family that if I happen to die in a car accident and they put a 'memorial' for me at the crash site, if at all possible I will return and haunt them until they take the tacky thing down. When I first saw those 'memorials' on car windows, I added those to the list of 'hauntable offenses'.

I want one in .40 for the reason of ammo availability, too. I don't have a .40 and don't really want to add another caliber to my ammo supply but there was a time when the only pistol ammo available at any of the local Wallys were .40 S&W, .25acp and .32acp. I went so far as to buy a Phoenix .25 just because ammo was available when even .22lr was out of stock. I figured that, if worse came to worst, a cheap .25 might not be the best but it would be better than a 9mm, .38 Special, .380 or .357 with no ammo. My only hesitation is that I'm afraid if I get a HP pistol in .40 then I will want one of their .40 carbines to go along with it. Then, having a 995 carbine and a 4095 carbine, it wouldn't make sense not to have the 4595 carbine, too. And if I'm going to have the 4595 carbine then I might as well have one of their .45 pistols to go with it (don't currently own anything in .45, either) - and pretty soon buying a cheap gun just to have the caliber covered could end up costing me a little money!

Check out this link. Goldenloki has performed gel tests with various ammo from a P3AT. In his tests, Remington Golden Sabers did not expand, at all. I seem to recall others getting similar results in various test mediums (water jugs, etc.) using Golden Sabers in their P3ATs. I know that Golden Sabers are supposed to be good stuff and they probably work well in other calibers - I guess they just don't get the velocities they need to expand out of a .380, or at least not a P3AT. Not sure I'd want to pay premium prices for something that might not expand any better than Remington UMC JHPs - or FMJs, for that matter. He hasn't tested Pow'rBall but has tested DPX and Critical Defense along with a few others. GoldenLoki.com I have heard a lot of good things about Critical Defense ammo. Interestingly, in GoldenLoki's tests, regular ol' CorBon 90 grain JHPs seem to have performed better than the Hornady stuff - giving better average penetration and expansion - while DPX and a few others seem to have performed pretty equally with Critical Defense. Speer GDHPs did really well, too. Of course, this is just one set of tests. Others may get different results.

I have the (Braztech) Rossi .357 stainless snub that belonged to my late father in law. My grandfather in law has a Ruger SP101. Just for the heck of it, I compared them 'side-by-side' one day, with the idea of finding out just how much better the Ruger is. I fired both with .357 Magnum rounds. Felt recoil was about the same. Not using a scale, the weight felt about the same (the Rossi is a six shot while the Ruger is a five-shot but the Ruger is built like a tank and so is quite heavy.) Accuracy, in my hands, was the same. To my surprise, however, I liked shooting the Rossi better. The little Ruger dumped hot gases and debris out the cylinder gap onto my hands. Not enough to be unbearable but enough to certainly be uncomfortable. The Rossi did not dump hot gases, etc. on me - and never has. The Rossi factory grips also fit my hands better. The Ruger would outlast the Rossi with constant, heavy use. For occasional use, however, I believe the Rossi would hold up just fine and, because of the reasons listed above (grips, no hot gases dumped on my hands), I'd prefer shooting the Rossi. There, I said it. I would and have carried the Rossi, although infrequently. I do often carry my five-shot Rossi .38 snub and (obviously) trust it.

Even harder when it was only a few months back that I shot up the last of some American Eagle that I had gotten at Frontier Firearms a few years ago for $7.99 a box! At that rate of price increase, as much as the hoarding mentality annoys me (note: IMO, simply having a ready supply on hand is not hoarding) I am starting to wonder if I shouldn't buy a boatload of 9mm ammo before the price goes up, again. I live in Loudon and so am periodically at the Lenoir City, Madisonville and Maryville (411) locations of Wally. All of these seem to be getting WWB 9mm in fairly regularly but they seem to mostly sell out within a couple of days (mostly 50 round boxes but have seen a few 100 rounders.) I haven't seen the less expensive (by a couple of bucks) Federal or Blazer Brass at any of them in a while. WWB .357 Magnum JHP seems to be getting pretty common (especially at Madisonville, at least the last time I was there) but I have seen no .38 Special. I have enough .38 Special SD ammo for now but am starting to run low on range fodder.

From what I hear, the M38s are not as plentiful as the M44s or the m91/30s. If for that reason, alone, I'd want to leave the 38 in original trim. That's just me, though.

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Because they use the same ammo and launch the same bullets as other pistols chambered for that ammo - meaning that (once tested for reliability - as any firearm should be) they are just as effective as a firearm costing two, three or even four times as much?

Sounds like a good idea. Would work along lines similar to this product that is being sold for use with shotguns/rifles. The Back-Up :: Home Protection Within Reach

Danged duplicate post

I went to this show the last time it was at the Maryville Nat'l. Guard Armory and have been looking forward to their having another one there. Yes, it is small. In fact, I am a little surprised to hear that it actually has as many as 100 tables. Folks looking for beef jerky were surely disappointed. Folks looking for an actual deal on a firearm, however, might have felt better - not that all the prices were all that great but there were some pretty good ones. That show has the distinction of being the only local show where I have actually bought a firearm - and the only local show where I saw at least one dealer with prices that I couldn't beat at my LGS. In fact, that dealer (the one from whom I bought a firearm) is the reason I am going to this show - if he isn't there, I may join the disappointed. The firearm I bought? Well, nothing spectacular and probably not exactly a 'steal' but I got a Winchester 190 for $79 (picture below.) The dealer was selling that and other firearms that he had gotten in trades, estate sales, etc. for what seemed to me to be decent prices compared to what I have seen similar firearms priced at in this area. Of course, he had not personally tested most of them so they were being sold 'as is'. There were a few other .22 rifles for about the same price (some with pretty distressed wood were actually priced at $59 or $69.) I missed out on a Ruger .22 pistol (not sure which MK but it was an older one) that looked to be in good 'shooter' shape that another guy in line next to me picked up for $150 (unless I am mistaken, the dealer had tried that one out and said that it ran well.) The same dealer had some Hi-Points that he was selling for somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 bucks. I'd like to have one in .40 S&W as a beater gun. Doesn't even matter if it works or not because Hi-Point will fix it no questions asked. He only had 9mm and .380s the last time, though. An adjacent table (I actually think it was the same dealer and he just had another guy helping him work them) had some single-shot shotguns (mostly 12 gauge, I believe) that were priced at 3 for $89 (actually think he marked them down to 3 for $79) and a few old pump shotguns (again, mostly 12 gauge) for $79 - $89 each. I was disappointed that there was no ammo to speak of at that show but was quite happy with the little Winchester. I did have to replace the inner mag tube assembly - the old one worked, sort of, but the spring was too weak to push the last round in the tube up into the chamber. With the new inner tube, it now shoots great. Personally, I consider the shows at the Jacobs Building, etc. to be a 'ripoff', I don't care how many tables they have. I have simply never seen anything I would consider to be even remotely a deal at any of those and get so aggravated every time I attend one that I have pretty much sworn off of going to them. Hopefully there will be some more decent deals at the one in Maryville tomorrow. If not, I'll swear off that one, too.

My grandfather in law has one of the Ruger semiautos (can't remember which Mk) and they are fun. I really like the grip angle. I don't have either of the specific firearms you mention but will go against the grain on the SA revolver vs. semiauto 'fun factor'. I have a S&W 22A semiauto (5.5 inch barrel) and a Heritage single action convertible. When I want to plink, etc. usually the Heritage goes with me and the semiauto stays at home. I just think the single action is more fun to shoot - plus it slows me down and, for me, creates better shot discipline in general which translates to shooting better with all of my handguns. As a bonus, with a convertible single action you can shoot just about any .22 rimfire ammo out there - the LR cylinder will fire long rifle, longs and shorts while the Magnum cylinder will fire WMR and (I believe) .22 WRF. You can even plink with the super quiet rounds that might not cycle a semiauto. Hard to beat such versatility. Of course, I prefer revolvers, in general. I also carry my Heritage with the WMR cylinder as a 'yard gun' in the warmer months to use as snake/varmint medicine with a shotshell as the first up. I went with the 6.5 inch barrel because a WMR round from a handgun with a barrel of at least six inches or so will supposedly give velocity/energy comparable to a .22lr from a rifle (haven't tested this, myself.) Also, I like the look of blued better than stainless in this style gun and would only want stainless if it would be used in a role that exposed it to the elements pretty often (such as a camping gun, etc.) Anyway, obviously, my .02 would be to go with the Single Six.

Wolf 7.62X39 seems to be running $7.99 for boxes of 20 in most places I have seen that actually have it in stock - and that would be mostly at Gander Mountain of High Prices and Dick's Overpriced Sporting Goods. To be fair, though, even the few smaller LGS that have a box or two seem to be charging pretty much the same. At least that is down a little bit from six months or so ago. I haven't noticed anywhere selling it by the case, lately (seems like all they can get goes out on the shelf to sell as individual boxes.)

Have you tried an 'old school' pancake-type holster? I made one for a Rossi .357 that is of similar dimensions to your Ruger. I don't carry it a lot but it is comfortable and with my build and the way I dress in the summer I can hide it (usually have a tucked in t-shirt to keep the grip from rubbing my skin with an unbuttoned, untucked printed shirt as an overshirt/concealment garment.) Of course, our builds are different - I am a good bit 'thicker' than you. Here is the Rossi in my home-made, wet-molded holster. If I make another like this, I will probably put a thumbreak-type retention strap on it but the wet molding does surprisingly well at holding it in the holster (not the best looking holster but it works):

I like Dickies work belts, too - and I prefer the ones that have two rows of holes instead of just one as they seem to stay put better. Checked Wally recently, though, and even the Dickies belts they had were a bit too thin and flimsy for what I wanted (if I can place my thumb on one edge of the belt and my index finger on the other and cause the belt to fold with barely any pressure, I figure it isn't sturdy enough.) Luckily, there is a Dickies outlet at one of the outlet malls in Pigeon Forge (the 'blue' mall.) Went up there a couple of weeks back and they had exactly what I wanted. I seem to recall it costing 11 or 12 bucks. I don't carry IWB. I usually carry my P11 or .38 snubbie in a FOBUS but have carried my Ruger p95 in a belt slide with this belt. If it will support that brick, I figure it will do what I need.

I am no expert tactical shotgunner (or 'expert tactical' anything, for that matter) so take this as just my .02: I have a Maverick Security 88 as my HD shotgun. As was mentioned, Maverick is made by Mossberg and the 88 is basically an 'economy' version of the Mossberg 500, just a few bucks cheaper, and many aftermarket parts for the 500 will work on the 88 - for my purposes, the differences are negligible. I have the 20 inch barrel model which bumps the tube capacity up by one over the 18.5 inch model. The Security 88 model is a cylinder bore (basically, wide open choke.) Unless I am mistaken, there are also field models of the 88 but I already had shotguns for hunting so went with the more HD oriented Security model. Like RoDan, I generally just use the Remington 00 loads from Walmart. From my shotgun, they give a pattern of about nine inches in spread when fired from 10-12 yards or so. I personally don't like the idea of a pistol grip only shotgun for such use. My brother in law has a pistol grip only shotgun (just for fun) and you would be surprised at how easy it is to miss a target when shooting from the hip from a few yards away - yes, you do have to aim (actually, point if the bead is used) a shotgun. I like the factory stock on mine just fine but might swap it out for the thumbhole stock that Mossberg offers. Other than that, I have a light with remote button switch and a simple sling on mine and consider it ready to go.

Personally, I'd like to see TN adopt open carry and 'vehicle carry' without a permit. To me, that would acknowledge the Constitutional right to bear arms without government infringement. As in Vermont, if you are legal to own the firearm you should be legal to carry it. Concealed carry - which is the method of carry I choose but admittedly (IMO) is not necessary to the basic right of bearing arms - could require a permit and (in my system) would require a basic class and background check, much like the current requirements for getting an HCP in TN except that there should be no fees involved. The restrictions on where one could carry at the 'open carry' or 'basic concealed carry' level would be similar to what we now have in place. Renewal (with no fees) would require background checks and happen every four years. Call this a 'Class One Concealed Carry Permit'. These two options would meet the needs of most average citizens who wish to be legal to carry in a basic sense. Finally, after obtaining a basic concealed carry permit and having had that permit for a period of at least one year, a citizen could elect to take (free or for a very nominal charge) an advanced carry class and then meet more rigid qualifying standards for both shooting and classroom knowledge along with (possibly) more extensive background checks. Upon obtaining this 'Class Two Concealed Carry Permit' a private citizen would be legal to carry anywhere that LEOs can carry, period. The only restriction would be on private property where the property owner legally restricts carry. This permit would require the holder to requalify for the range portion every two years and update knowledge of laws, etc. by taking a refresher classroom course (and passing a written exam) every five years. Renewals would be free of charge.

The aforementioned Farnsworth's is my favorite LGS. Robbie and the other guys there are good folks. Robbie has actually talked me out of buying certain guns from him because they weren't the best choices for the purpose I had in mind even when he didn't have the 'right' gun in stock at the time. I think he'd rather have a longterm satisfied customer than simply make a sale. I went into Gunny's once, about a year or so ago. Not bad (then) but I wasn't impressed enough to have returned.

I have semiautos but tend to prefer revolvers, partly because of the way they feel in my hand. To me, a wheelgun just 'feels' right - and (believe it or not) the most comfortable ones I have held are probably my Rossi 351 and a Rossi 462 with the 462 probably having a bit of an edge. The factory rubber grips on the (Braztech) Rossis feel really good in my hands. I pick that 462 up and it feels so right in my hand that I honestly don't want to put it down. As for the size/shape of my hands, here is my right hand with a KelTec P3AT (which has its place but is not the most comfortable, even with a Hogue grip sleeve) lying in my palm for an idea of scale:

For those who have camped at Frozen Head, are the 'skeeters a problem there in the Spring and Summer - any worse than anywhere else, I mean? I've been to the park but haven't camped there and it kind of looks like a haven for the little buzzing vampires. Also, any good fishing in or around the park?

I think the real problem is that I don't ever recall seeing the 'MISDEMEANOR' sign posted at any restaurant that doesn't have an actual bar area and serves beer but not liquor or wine - you know, the places where it isn't obvious that they serve - and I have actively looked for them. That, coupled with the fact that liquor and beer are treated so differently in this state, can make it appear to a reasonable person that restaurants that serve beer but not liquor are okay for carry. There is also the 'common sense' factor (which we should obviously never count on when considering matters of the law - especially TN gun laws) which says that a Sonny's Barbecue or Pizza Hut that offers beer as a beverage choice is obviously a different setting than a beer joint or even a restaurant that has a bar and serves liquor. I had to do a good bit of research when I first started carrying to figure that one out, myself and - although I know it is the law - it still makes no sense, to me. Personally, I think that since the law applies to any place that serves even beer then they should all be required to prominently post the 'MISDEMEANOR' sign. Not only would that make things more clear but would also avoid innocent violations of the law. By innocent violations, I mean what if - hypothetically speaking, of course - an HCP holder was carrying a firearm, say, a Kel Tec P3AT in a pocket holster. Let's say our theoretical HCP holder then went into a restaurant with which he wasn't very familiar. Let's say this hypothetical restaurant didn't have up any signs nor any table placards advertising beer and no one was drinking beer when the HCP holder entered and was seated. Imagine how surprised the HCP holder would be to then learn, after looking at the menu, that the restaurant did, indeed, serve beer - especially when a very large table between his position and the door was occupied by a hypothetical group of LEOs on their meal break, meaning that he'd have to walk right past them to take his firearm to the car and they would likely see him disarming (or he could choose to sit still, keep his mouth shut, eat his meal and leave.) Ummm...all hypothetically speaking, of course.

Some Wally locations still sell long guns so the background check and applicable forms still must be filled out.

Has Charter actually brought their 9mm revolver to market, yet? I had heard that they had one in the works and that it will be capable of firing .380, as well but haven't seen one, yet and couldn't find a 9mm listed on their website. I'm wondering because I've been thinking that might be a good one to consider for my wife, as well. According to this: Charter Arms Rimless Revolver Charter planned to release the .40 S&W revolver first - in late Fall of last year (although I still haven't personally seen one nor do I see it listed on the 'Products' section of their website) with the 9mm revolver and one chambered for .45acp to follow (but they don't give a timeframe on that.) I really like that they are designed to not need moon clips, etc.

Well, at least you know the equipment still works! Best wishes for a healthy baby. BTW, we've never met in person but we've been acquainted in a virtual sense for a couple of years. I'm JBFordowner on BroncoII.org (haven't been on there much lately, though.) Is that new Jeep gonna have enough room for everybody or are you going to end up trading - again?