I'm Not Sure, But I Think It's Friday...

Had a GREAT day Wednesday filming episode 13 of SHOOTING GALLERY Season 17 at the Liberty Firearms Institute (LFI) in Johnstown, CO, with John Carter producing/directing and my good friend Mark Passamaneck as guest blatherer. We shot a bunch of pistol caliber carbines (PCC) and, as Mark coined, pistol caliber pistols (PCP, a gateway drug). Was Big Fun! You'll see it around mid-March on SG.

LFI is one of the new generation of "guntry clubs," about as far away from the old dingy basement ranges from the Old Days as you can get. They have 2 25-yard ranges, a 50-yard range,  a 100-yard range (with televised targets so you don't even need your spotting scope), a steel range (frang only), a spectacular retail facility, classrooms, in-house training and gunsmith, an executive lounge, safes for rent, a coffee shop, space for a full-fledged restaurant and even a substation for the local cops on premises. Very impressive! I'm looking at doing a lot of my shooting there until winter loosens it grip.

The guns we had for the episode include, my JP 9mm GMR-13, a Stag 9mm carbine [not currently in production, but slated to come back at some point in the future] set up as a 3-Gun "trainer" Mark's home built (on a QC-10 lower) competition 9mm carbine, a Sig Sauer MPX, an Angstadt Arms pistol, my now-ancient Spike's Tactical 9mm pistol, a Kel-Tech Sub-2000, my QC-10/Dead Foot Arms 9mm pistol build, an IWI X95 9mm and a CZ EVO carbine that we ran out of time before we could shoot!

This is obviously not a survey of all PPCs! SG is now 19 1/2 minutes of edit (for a 30-minute program). I couldn't get in another gun on a bet — no diss on the Beretta CX-4 Storm, the Hi-Point, everybody's favorite cereal box, the KRISS, the AR-ish carbines/pistols (Aero Survival Rifle from TNW, Thureon's GA Carbine, Just Right, Tresna Defense's JAG9G, Flint River Armory's CSA45 (in .45ACP) and the upcoming FightLite MXR) and the insta-carbine, Mech Tech. I reached out to Mech Tech Systems, since I've used them in the past, but we couldn't get anything put together in time. Ditto the "oldies but goodies:" Marlin Camp Carbine, Ruger PC9, the lever guns, the bolt guns (Seen the Rock Island .22TCM bolt guns converted to a suppressed 9mm? Cool!), the other AR-15 platform manufacturers (the uber-AR 9mm was from Olympic, I believe, which just folded; Rock River Arms is still big into 9mm pistols and pistol caliber carbines, as is CMMG). Finally, no Auto Ordnance Thompsons (although I own a great one, rebuilt by Stan Andrewski years ago) or any of the current flood of MP5 clones, including the one from H-K and assorted different flavors of Uzi,  the Chiappa 9mm M1 Carbine that I have NEVER seen in the wild, or the great granddaddy of them all, the Colt 9mm SMG in its semi auto version, the Colt 6951. Oh, or pistol-to-rifle conversions...I already mentioned the Mech Tech, but there's also C.A.A.'s RONI system and the Sig Adaptive Carbine Platform. Did I mention specialty guns, like the 9mm carbine from Trojan Firearms that feeds from an STI 2011 magazine; Nordic Components' interchangeable magazine well carbines, Glock specialist Lone Wolf's Glock magazine carbines and components and a bunch of other pistol caliber lower manufacturers. This is why I launched SHOOTING GALLERY ONLINE on MyOutdoorTV.com.

The ultimate feral cat whacker...

Wow! I need a nappie!

I talked to the TNW Corp guys at SHOT, and I am interested in the Aero Survival Rifle in 10mm, which should be a wicked-good home defense weapon...the 200-grain Buffalo Bores are closing out at almost 1200 fps, according to their website. A Brethren MP-5 has been in my sights for a while, but the price tag is still daunting. In all likeihood, my next "pistol caliber carbine" will be an M1 Carbine in .30 Carbine. I have a Hamilton Bowen .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk from the Old Days, and it is a very loud hoot to shoot. I'm set up to load .30 Carbine, and I always meant to get a M1 Carbine to go with it. When we were filming the Finals of AMERICAN MARKSMAN, one of the guns our finalists had to use was the M1 Carbine...it looked like a lot of fun to shoot.