I apologize for the lack of updates. Been busy lately and ran out of things to write for a while. I'll try to be more active. This will be a short post though. Next post will be about common calibers, their traits, costs, etc.
I figured I would write today on those self-proclaimed "gun experts". These can be anybody from gun store experts, to Call of Duty players. I want to say one thing first: Never take anybody's word as fact. Always do your own research when you can. Many questions people ask in the gun community are ones that can only be answered with personal opinion. Some seem to believe their own opinion to be fact.
Some of the things I've heard
"A .45 will throw a man into the air!" Lol no.
"You never have to clean an AK!" I must admit that I believed this when I was somewhat less educated.
"It's illegal to own X" Hear this one often. People often see a firearm in a movie or video game and assume it's automatically illegal. Of course this was Texas and you can own everything short of a biological weapon, and I'm pretty sure there are people lobbying for those.
Sorry about the short post. The next one will be much more informative and lengthy.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
New posts incomming.
Sorry about the silence for the past couple of days. Scheduling around my new job has been a little awkward.
I'll be having some posts coming up soon but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions they would like to see?
My good friend (irl) over at Malicious Malfiction will be doing a review of his Taurus PT92 soon. In the meantime check out some of his fiction/writings!
That's it for now. Thanks for reading.
I'll be having some posts coming up soon but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions they would like to see?
My good friend (irl) over at Malicious Malfiction will be doing a review of his Taurus PT92 soon. In the meantime check out some of his fiction/writings!
That's it for now. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Building an Arsenal on the Cheap.
This is for those of you who for some reason or another want to get into firearms without breaking the bank. Maybe you need some home protection or just a fun new hobby. I hope you find this helpful.
In order to be on this list the firearms must meet the following criteria; <$500, reliable and availability.
Mossberg Maverick 88: The Maverick series of shotguns are manufactured by Mossberg almost identically to their well known 500 series but assembled using foreign made parts. These shotguns are very reliable and easily available under $200. My brother picked one up at a WalMart in Texas for $150. Gotta love Texas.
Ruger P95: The Ruger P95, 9mm can easily be had for under $300 new. 15 round magazines can be found for less than $20. The pistol also includes a picatinny rail for attaching accessories. These pistols are well liked by most who have shot them.
Mosin Nagant: The ultimate in budget firearms. This 7.62x54r rifle carried soldiers through two world wars and can be yours for the excellent sum of $80. Recoil is stout so it's recommended you put a recoil pad on the end of it. There are plenty of after-market stocks and scope mounts available if you want something a little bit more modern looking.
Taurus 605: The 605 is exactly what it looks like. A compact revolver meant for concealment in .357 magnum. For those of you wanting a gun to carry around daily this would be a good place to start. At $330 it still leaves you enough for ammo and a holster
Rock Island Armory 1911: The 1911 is a historic firearm nearing it's 100th anniversary. It still remains in wide spread use a century later because of its ease of use, and reliable operation. RIA has been putting very affordable 1911s onto the market for years now and they are perfectly reliable and functional firearms. They're usually seen for around $400 new. I wouldn't pay much more then that myself. Like most 1911s it is in .45ACP. Magazines are available for as low as $5 for 7 or 8 rounders.
WASR-10: The AK-47 is possibly the most iconic firearm in history, with millions made and numerous versions available, it can be yours for around $450. The Romanian copy of the Kalashnikov rifle is imported by Century Arms International, who has had some problems in the past with quality control but seems to have finally gotten stable. When buying a WASR-10 be sure to make sure the magazine does not wobble too much and that the sights line up properly. If you walk out the door with these things checked you will have a reliable, versatile rifle in 7.62x39. There are countless accessories for AK-pattern rifles out there for whatever you want your rifle to be.
In order to be on this list the firearms must meet the following criteria; <$500, reliable and availability.
Mossberg Maverick 88: The Maverick series of shotguns are manufactured by Mossberg almost identically to their well known 500 series but assembled using foreign made parts. These shotguns are very reliable and easily available under $200. My brother picked one up at a WalMart in Texas for $150. Gotta love Texas.
Ruger P95: The Ruger P95, 9mm can easily be had for under $300 new. 15 round magazines can be found for less than $20. The pistol also includes a picatinny rail for attaching accessories. These pistols are well liked by most who have shot them.
Mosin Nagant: The ultimate in budget firearms. This 7.62x54r rifle carried soldiers through two world wars and can be yours for the excellent sum of $80. Recoil is stout so it's recommended you put a recoil pad on the end of it. There are plenty of after-market stocks and scope mounts available if you want something a little bit more modern looking.
Taurus 605: The 605 is exactly what it looks like. A compact revolver meant for concealment in .357 magnum. For those of you wanting a gun to carry around daily this would be a good place to start. At $330 it still leaves you enough for ammo and a holster
Rock Island Armory 1911: The 1911 is a historic firearm nearing it's 100th anniversary. It still remains in wide spread use a century later because of its ease of use, and reliable operation. RIA has been putting very affordable 1911s onto the market for years now and they are perfectly reliable and functional firearms. They're usually seen for around $400 new. I wouldn't pay much more then that myself. Like most 1911s it is in .45ACP. Magazines are available for as low as $5 for 7 or 8 rounders.
WASR-10: The AK-47 is possibly the most iconic firearm in history, with millions made and numerous versions available, it can be yours for around $450. The Romanian copy of the Kalashnikov rifle is imported by Century Arms International, who has had some problems in the past with quality control but seems to have finally gotten stable. When buying a WASR-10 be sure to make sure the magazine does not wobble too much and that the sights line up properly. If you walk out the door with these things checked you will have a reliable, versatile rifle in 7.62x39. There are countless accessories for AK-pattern rifles out there for whatever you want your rifle to be.
Firearm Terms
So this will probably be a multiple part post because there is just so much to cover, however I will be posting the first part covering the basics before making the "Building An Arsenal on the Cheap" post.
Double Action/Single Action: This is one of the more common types of handgun trigger types, the first trigger pull is rather heavy with the following trigger pulls being very light. E.g. 8 pounds for the first pull, 4 pounds for the remaining pulls until the firearm is empty. Many guns utilize this type of action to get around the need for a manual safety. The operator can just draw the firearm and squeeze the trigger.
Grain: You'll often see ammunition for sale labeled as "9mm 124 grain". The grain (like I thought for a long time) does not mean grains of gun powder but rather grain as in the weight of the projectile.
Magazine
Polymer: You'll see the word polymer used when discussing many modern handguns. Polymer came into handgun use with the HK VP70 and is still common today. Polymer is a very strong and light material that is perfectly suitable for a firearm.
Picatinny Rail: This is a rail on the front of the pistols frame that allows you to attach accessories such as lights, lasers, and even pistol bayonets.
That about covers it today. I kept it short so I could move on to the next post.
Double Action/Single Action: This is one of the more common types of handgun trigger types, the first trigger pull is rather heavy with the following trigger pulls being very light. E.g. 8 pounds for the first pull, 4 pounds for the remaining pulls until the firearm is empty. Many guns utilize this type of action to get around the need for a manual safety. The operator can just draw the firearm and squeeze the trigger.
Grain: You'll often see ammunition for sale labeled as "9mm 124 grain". The grain (like I thought for a long time) does not mean grains of gun powder but rather grain as in the weight of the projectile.
Polymer: You'll see the word polymer used when discussing many modern handguns. Polymer came into handgun use with the HK VP70 and is still common today. Polymer is a very strong and light material that is perfectly suitable for a firearm.
Picatinny Rail: This is a rail on the front of the pistols frame that allows you to attach accessories such as lights, lasers, and even pistol bayonets.
That about covers it today. I kept it short so I could move on to the next post.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
New posts.
Thanks for all the comments! I appreciate the input. Based on some questions asked by a personal friend and an idea for the comments I plan on making my next two posts "Building an Arsenal On The Cheap" and "Firearms and Shooting Terminology Explained.". The latter will be explaining things like MOA, bullet types, common firearm myths, grains, and other things the average person may not know.
If anyone has any ideas for future projects or any input please put them in the comment section!
If anyone has any ideas for future projects or any input please put them in the comment section!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Mossberg 702 Plinkster review
Alright, so here's the review I promised last night. Yesterday left me pretty beat so I didn't get around to it. That'll teach me to make promises.
Mossberg 702 Plinkster
I'll start by saying I bought this as a spur of the moment decision without doing any research. I strongly encourage you to do as much research as possible, from as many different sources as possible before purchasing a firearm. Take my word nor anybody else's as fact.
Your mileage may vary!
- Price: The average running cost of a 702 is less then $150. I bought mine at a WalMart in Texas for ~$100. I can't comment as to what the used price is as I've never seen any. It's something that's so cheap it's not worth selling or buying a used one.
- Accuracy: The rifle was fired at a range of 5 feet up to 30 feet. Perhaps not the best way to test accuracy but at the time I wasn't an exceptional shot (still not). It has a hooded front sight, which I happen to really like. Personal preference. See picture for example.
- Reliability: This is where my number one gripe with this rifle lies. The first thing you should do when buying this rifle is clean it well. However doing a complete take down of the receiver is a major pain in the ass. There are however guides on Youtube on how to do this. I did this after my first two boxes of ammo (100 rounds) and noticed a definite change in reliability. The number of failure to extracts went down significantly. I would also encourage trying out different ammo. I tried CCI, Federal, and Remington, mixing hollow points and lead nose rounds. I found the best performer were CCI 40 grain, 1700fps lead nose rounds. I put about ~400 rounds through this rifle while living in Texas. Need to find some land in Colorado to shoot on. Not a fan of public ranges. YMMV
- Accessories: Let's face it, when it comes to .22 rifles you simply can't beat the Ruger 10/22 here. The Ruger has a wide variety of stocks and magazine that's simply incredible. The 702 has much, much more limited options. Standard (only) magazine capacity is 10 rounds with magazines costing about $15 a piece depending on where you shop (thank you CheaperThanDirt) and replacement stocks aren't very common. I think I recall seeing a bullpup stock for the 702 but couldn't find it again.
Conclusion
The premier .22 rifle is the Ruger 10/22. I'll review one when I get my hands on it but
it is quite possibly the most popular rimfire rifle on the American market. They can usually be had for around $250. Though for some first time gun buyers this may seem a bit of steep price to try a hobby they may not enjoy. Or you may just not have the cash to spend. Whatever the case if you're looking for cheap rifle to learn shooting basics then the Mossberg 702 Plinkster will fill this role perfectly fine.
Any and all thoughts, criticisms and baseless insults appreciated.
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