Thursty

You can get into some old axe heads pretty cheap at yard sales, then rehandle it yourself. I have a ton of axes, most all of them were heads that I acquired and put handles on. If I was buying one it would be Gransfors.

I would also be interested in a class

I had a boss who carried everywhere, including military bases. He always said, they won’t know I have it unless I need it, and at that point I’ve got bigger worries than a gun free zone. He paid close attention to keeping it concealed, probably more than most of us.

If you subscribe to the Warrior Poet Society Network, Ryan Cleckner has a pretty good long range course on there you can watch. Cleckner also has a pretty good book on long range shooting.

I would also go 870 or Mossberg. Personally I like the tang safety on the Mossberg, but I know a lot of people don’t, so that’s a personal preference thing.

My dad, who is obviously older, has a few optics on pistols. I’ve tried them and like them, but never can commit to getting one myself. I find that, when I’m practicing defensive shooting at average engagement distances, I’m reasonably accurate at point shooting, and often don’t even pick up the sights at all. I also have a beef with the dots that turn themselves off and on when they are “shaken” awake. If I’m carrying a gun on my hip I feel like it will get shaken a lot. I’m waiting for someone to come out with a self illuminating pistol sight like the Meprolight or ACOG.

I prefer the G20 for barrel availability, I generally run an aftermarket barrel with better chamber support because I reload ‘em hot. I’ve split a few cases in a factory Glock barrel, but I’ve yet to split one in a Lone Wolf or Storm Lake barrel. I just picked up a G29, so time will tell on that, but the G20 seems the best do it all gun. Even at 5’6 and 160 I can still conceal it if I need to, and it makes a great woods/hunting gun.

Mine is similar, also worth noting, the factory trigger is adjustable for pre-travel and over-travel. Also, with basic tools and a YouTube video the trigger can be removed and polished, making it buttery smooth. These things are awesome guns. Mine is the only gun I will never part with (other than the sentimental ones).

It definitely sounds like the round is not going all the way into the chamber, which is causing the slide to stay slightly out of battery. Could be that you've had a few rounds that were loaded long, but if they fit in the mag then they should fit in the chamber. On the round that got stuck, if you noticed rifling marks, then you don't have enough freebore, as Ken pointed out. Although, on bulk round nose ammo without a roll crimp I would think the bullet would just push back into the case... I'd try to clean the chamber really well, in case there is something stuck on the chamber that is preventing the round from properly head spacing on the case mouth. I will also add in my vote for greasing the rails. I've got a few RIAs and some nicer 1911s. A liberal coating of grease smooths out the slide and makes it feel like a more expensive gun.

I've gotten some Anderson lowers at Outpost Armory for $40, wish I bought more, last I saw they were $49-59. Nashville Gun and Knife has closed trigger guard Anderson lowers for $60, which isn't a terrible deal, if you like the closed trigger guard. Royal Range has Spikes lowers for less than $100, Noreen lowers for $70, and I think I saw Aero lowers for $60-70. I would prefer cheap Anderson lowers, but their prices are creeping up to that of higher quality brands.

I would highly recommend Vortex if you can swing it for what you are looking for. I've got Nikon, Leupold, Bushnell, Sightron, and Vortex scopes on various guns. You really can't beat the value for the money on Vortex products. I have used Swarvoski and NightForce scopes on friends guns. Are they better than a Vortex? Yea, but marginally, and no where near worth it in my opinion. I have a Strike Eagle on my AR and love it, the 1-6 Strike Eagle is around $300, my dad runs the 1-8 Strike Eagle and he really likes that version, but it is pricier. Depending on what you do with your gun that you need the optic to be tough (traversing the woods, hunting, run-n-gun) I prefer the lack of a large objective lens, like on the Strike Eagle, if you are doing a lot of early morning or late evening hunts you may need a larger objective lens.

I run at least 200 rounds through a gun before I consider it fit for carry, and I want the last 100 rounds to function flawlessly. I will keep shooting until I get a solid 100 rounds down range with no failures. I actually prefer 500 dirty rounds, I feel like that round count really helps smooth out all of the internals and does a sort of de-burr job. I don't know that I wan't to pay for 500 rounds of .380, so I would probably just shoot until I got 100 rounds straight with no failures.