TGO David

Thanks. The base of my right thumb is smarting pretty good tonight from where I locked the 340 into a tight two-handed grip. I think single-handed grip is the way to shoot these things with magnum rounds without getting beaten up too badly. My left hand doesn't hurt a bit and I shot at least half of the time with it and only it.

And we have a Classifieds system here on TGO too.

The NG 327 would make an excellent compliment but I think a compact 1911 for my wife is more likely to happen first.

Ouch. Sorry to hear about your luck.

Thanks for the compliments. I have to admit that after the first cylinder of magnum rounds two-handed, I was a bit hesitant to let one loose with one hand. After I tried it, I was shocked at the fact that it felt better one-handed. It was a really odd experience.

Last week I traded in my Smith & Wesson #442 J-frame for an M&P #340 J-frame. I finally had a chance to shoot it some today, so here are my thoughts: Pro Same dimensions as my #442 Great pocket gun or backup gun Love the XS 24/7 front sight 5-rounds of .357 Mag should be a nice show-stopper Con Short grip really magnifies the kick of .357 Magnum rounds I shot about 20 rds through it today using full-house 135gr magnum loads. Also shot about 10 rds through it using lighter .38spl +P loads. I really couldn't tell a significant difference in terms of muzzle blast between the two but the magnum rounds had significantly sharper recoil. I have heard some pretty silly statements about the experience of shooting .357 Mag through the 2" J-frame. I'm happy to say that none of them seemed to have much truth to them. To me at least. Example: Um, no. Concrete hurts. The magnum loads stung, but nothing like the exaggerated statement above. Granted, I don't plan on doing an extended shooting session with magnum loads but they were maybe half-again as "harsh" to shoot as the .38spl +P laods were. Not something to worry about and certainly not something that you're going to notice when the adrenaline is surging during a life or death situation. Oddly enough, I noticed that I felt less recoil in my hand when shooting one-handed, left or right hand, than I did when shooting two-handed. Maybe I get a better purchase on the grip single handed or maybe I'm imparting more of the recoil to my forearm with a one-handed stance. Whatever the case, the revolver is actually more pleasant for me to shoot one handed. Which is good, of course, since as a backup gun it is actually more likely that I would shoot it one-handed using my weak hand anyway. Obligatory gun porn:

Since what changeover?

I've rolled back all of the changes I have made so far and am going to try some different things. The forum will seem slower at times, but should be more stable.

On the main page?

Haven't noticed any problems this morning but I'll keep an eye on it.

They sure as heck aren't helping matters with the way the media over sensationalizes each and every event. All you need for balance is to look at the stories from places like Great Britain and Japan where you have mass stabbings and such. The problem isn't the tool. The problem is evil people.

A partially shot box of 9mm is a pretty hefty wager. Are you sure you want to bet the farm like that?

This morning's changes seem to be holding nicely. I've got a feature enabled that shows me (and only me) a list of stats at the bottom of each page and so far the numbers are well below the threshold that usually causes problems. I'll be monitoring this continually and making adjustments as needed to keep it running smoothly.

I'm still doing some testing and tweaking...

Should have given her a wide eyed stare and said "I'm out of my meds."

Thanks for the brief on that. My wife's employer hunts with a $7k Perazzi. There's a little bit of a difference between a "low end" Perazzi and a $120,000 one-off piece previously owned by an NFL football star, as is the case with the one that Joe listed above. That one's probably going to land in the hands of a collector.

It's not a bad analogy considering that I do believe that those people who choose to carry openly to make a political statement ARE selfish people who will ruin things for the rest of us. Do I think that there are instances where openly carrying make sense? Well of course so. I can think of a two right off the top of my head: 1. On your own property if you so choose. Your own property being commercial or residential. 2. Employees of gun shops, while in the store or on their way to and from. Beyond that, I'm sure there are other good ones. I just don't think that there is any necessity for a person to walk around the shopping mall "strapped up" when in reality it provides that person very little proven tactical advantage and carries with it a slew of disadvantages, the least of which being the fact that the police can and may detain you to ask about a permit. After a while, being stopped and asked about your permit status has got to get old. Hell, I just wanted waffle fries and a chicken sandwich; I didn't want to have to get stopped a dozen times through the food court just because some worrywarts saw my gun and ran to the nearest security guy about it. I guess I'm just different like that. I buy handguns partially based on how easily I will be able to conceal them. The largest one I've been able to pull that off with so far is my Glock 21SF.

Yes, to a small extent.

The buyer for something like this is a collector and views the firearm as an investment, not as something that he is going to take out and shoot the finish off of.

You're on! And... He beat me to the punch line! This evolution of acceptance or awareness or whatever just isn't going to happen. Look around you and consider for a moment how many "progressive" ideas you see taking hold in society. Americans have lost their identity over the past 60 years and are increasingly turning toward European ideals and morals for the basis of what they think American society should become. I blame it on failed leadership in the highest offices of our land, but that's another rant for another day. My point, if I can draw it back together, is that the progressive mainstream American thinks that firearms are an antiquity of a neanderthal age. Consider Barack Obama's accusations that we here in the South are bitter people clinging to guns and religion. That statement alone is indicative of the whole progressive, Liberal, Leftist, Socialist, Euro-poser mentality and it's a mentality shared by a lot of people. Those people may be the slim minority right now, but give it another generation or two and the tide may unfortunately turn against conservative, traditional American values. So your idea that Open Carry makes a statement and desensitizes these people, swaying them to our way of thinking, couldn't be any more wrong in my opinion. I think it's achieving the opposite result. It's inflaming them and causing them to make irrational claims that the streets will be awash with blood if we don't ban guns and ban them now. Again... your hip isn't the place to make a political statement as far as I'm concerned. No. I refuse to let the well-meaning but misguided actions of others give fuel to those who want to destroy my right to carry a means of self preservation. Read my previous statement. We're all in this together. If you were eating dinner at a nice restaurant with a group of friends and one of them was drawing unwanted attention of the bad kind to your group by burping loudly, farting, making crude remarks, etc. wouldn't you pull that person aside and tell them to cut it out before they ruined it for the rest of you? I sure would.

Steve, I like ya man but this train of logic just fails. According to the reading and research that I have done on this subject, Phil stated very accurately why we have Handgun Carry Permits instead of Concealed Weapons Permits. The purpose was to remove the gray area that would allow a police officer to make an arbitrary decision when someone's firearm was accidentally flashed from cover. I've talked about this so much here before that I am almost sick of repeating myself. And I really don't understand why this concept is so hard for so many people to grasp. I suppose it goes back to the age old adage that if you give a person an inch they'll take a mile, but whatever the reason it just frustrates the hell out of me. So, a couple of points: #1.) Your earring analogy isn't a good one. Legislators aren't very likely to outlaw the wearing of earrings anytime soon. Conversely some of them are hot and heavy to impose another firearms ban in general, and want to restrict our rights to carry in particular. If we were talking about a matter as insignificant as men wearing earrings, I'd say that sure you should wear as many as you want in protest. Makes no difference to me. But we aren't. We're talking about the 2nd Amendment. Our rights are under assault 24/7. Why do so many of us insist on shoving our lawmakers' faces into the thing they so greatly despise??? DISCRETION IS THE BETTER PART OF VALOR! #2.) The legal blood alcohol limit to be considered intoxicated in Tennessee is .08 so does that mean that just because you can drive with a BAC of .07 that you should ??? After all... driving with a BAC of .07 is 100% legal so following with your logic, we should all rush right out there and do it. Right?

I noticed another problem that was periodically generating vBulletin SQL errors that some of you may have been unlucky enough to see. I've made changes this morning that should resolve that.

Blade-Tech, G-Code, Comp-Tac and several others make Kydex holsters that are either readily available or available within short periods of time. Most in that price range. Often I hear people complain that they can't or don't want to spend $100 on a holster for their gun. That just dumbfounds me. I realize that times are tight but even the most budget strapped person can save their pennies and afford a good holster. There's no way I'd carry mine in a Fobus or one of those little closed-cell foam and nylon rigs that you see at swap markets. Some things just shouldn't be compromised on.

Agreed. Parking your $500 handgun in a $20 Fobus holster is like parking your Ferrari next to a shopping cart corral. Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should.