Happy Boxing Day!

I'm sitting around this morning watching LOTR, as I do this time every year, hoping for some scrap of inspiration for the new year to face whatever edicts slime out of Mordor-On-The Potomac or the Wolf's Lair in New York. Tomorrow my Sweetie and I are going to visit the new Secret Hidden Bunker, which is being forged deep beneath the ground by dwarves. We're excited...am hopeful of finding a wizard or 2 to cast some spells of protection and high Nielsen ratings.

I wanted to catch up on a couple of things this morning. The new little Glock 4 has been outed on the Boomershooter Forum:

It appears to be a single stack .380, a bit smaller than the G26 9mm in most dimensions (5.94 inches in length for the .380; 6.41 inches in length; 4.13 for the height; 4.17 for the G26). Of course the real difference, of course (aside from 9mm vs. .380) is the width...the porky little G26 is 1.26 wide. The new .380 is only .836 wide, approaching my ideal dimension of .75 inch. The size is closer of a Kahr CW9 9mm or the Ruger LC9 than the current generation of .380s, making it — if the leak is correct and not a false flag — more along the lines of the Ruger LC380.

I would suspect a 9mm will follow pretty quickly. I'm surprised a 9mm wasn't the first offering, since the .380 gold rush seems to have given way to the mini-9s. No doubt Glock will sell a zillion of them. You note I don't mention pining away for mini-40s...that's because I think they suck.

Amazingly, read Time Magazine's latest cover story (part of it on the website is behind the subscription firewall): America's Pest Problem—It's Time To Cull the Herd:

Too many deer, wild pigs, raccoons and beavers can be almost as bad for the animals as too few. This is why communities across the country find themselves forced to grapple with a conundrum. The same environmental sensitivity that brought Bambi back from the brink over the last century now makes it painfully controversial to do what experts say must be done: a bunch of these critters need to be killed.

Yes kiddies, it's a very pro-hunting article where you'd least expect it. It comes at a time when anti-hunting forces are ramping up, aiming for the "weakest link" after the antigun mega-fail this last year. Paul Erhardt and I have been talking for the last couple of months about the new convergence of hunters and shooters. After more than 20 years of diverging (which, I'd like to add, Erhardt and I were the first to point out and document), shooters are moving from competition and training to hunting, and, in fact, see the 2 activities as one in the same. This is being driven by Gun Culture Ver. 2.0, who came into the gun culture through shooting, as opposed to the generational transfer through hunting that was common in Gun Culture Ver. 1.0 (I'd also like to point out that Erhardt and I were the first to identify and quantify Gun Culture Ver. 2.0).

Last week while filming SHOOTING GALLERY I outlined 3 additional trends that were all intertwined with the profound shift on hunting:

• Feral hog hunting, which has given the hunting industry a massive shot in the arm.
• Returning veterans, who are helping reshape Gun Culture.
• The rise of (and final ascendency) of the AR-15 as a hunting platform.

I could have added the "localvore" phenomenon, which is huge here in the People's Republic of Colorado. There are a lot of implications for all of us in the industry with this market shift

Home from NRA...

...in the wee wee hours of this morning!

You'll perhaps not be surprised to know I turned the 3 days of the NRA convention into days 5, 6 and 7 of the SHOT Show. A lot of meetings and several GREAT autograph signings at the OC booth and at Burris Optics. I also ended up doing a ton of interviews; I said that I was shocked...SHOCKED!...that there had been no "active shooter events" in a big room filled with 70,000 mostly armed people!

The BANE-A-PALOOZA event at the Slippery Noodle went off just super...I don't know how many people we ended up with, but it was well over a hundred. THANK YOU Forum members and pod people! It was great to meet so many of you, and I got a LOT of ideas to steal wholesale!

I was heartbroken that I didn't get to go play with with the "substantial" crowd of antigun Bloomberg shills...there were fully 100 of them...as many seats as there was on the bus that brought them in! Wow! Unfortunately, they were apparently members of the United Federation of Shills, Lowlifes and Bums, so they were unable to protest longer than the time it took to do the interviews with MSNBC.

Here's a few random data points, and I'll be talking about Indy on this week's podcast:

• It is clear from the convention especially that women are playing a much greater role in the business and the culture than ever before. Obviously, the demo still skews older, male and white, but with this convention the effects of Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 are beginning to show. Faster, please!

• Interestingly enough on the same subject, one of the most common things I was asked by those very same older,male,white demo guys was how can we do a better job of reaching out the both the African America and the Hispanic community. I was heartened to see that, overall, our culture seems outreach as a major TO-DO list item, and it's something I'll be working on as well.

• I am a little concerned on the NRA's slight drift away from a laser-focus on gun rights. I'm going to refer you to Charles C. W. Cooke's excellent piece on NRO, tagged "The NRA Is Winning:"

The NRA is winning — and thank goodness that it is. So effective has it been that it must be tempting for its acolytes to branch out, fighting the good fight on more front than one. It should resist the lure, and — even at this moment of unprecedented success — remember what it was that made it so effective in the first place: discipline.

BTW, Cooke was at the convention, obviously. I saw this same sort of drift duing the Bush The Younger years when we weren't in a DefCon One battle mode...I started getting calls from political folks that started like this: We know you're a gun activist, and that's why we think you should help us with [fill in the blank] issue. As a small "l" libertarian, I am very attuned to the depredations of our Constitutionally guaranteed liberties and the necessity to fight against those depredations. However, on a strictly pragmatic plane, movements typically can't be made to scale horizontally because of hugely differing depths of commitment on the other issues that might be tagged onto the primary issue.

I would say a large percentage of the gun culture — and an overwhelming percentage of our new shooters and hunters — fall more into my arena than the traditional GOP tent. While I will unconditionally agree with you on liberty issues, not only do a not agree with the mainstream GOP agenda, I think most of it is pure looney tunes. In the Bush years I found the big push was to draw gun rights advocates into GOP social issues. Not saying this is a huge issue yet, but it is something we need to be monitoring closely. 

• When any government bans guns based on essentially "cosmetic" issues, manufacturers will simply change said cosmetic issues and motor on. It is not a question of "getting around" the laws, but the simple fact that laws drafted by cretins seldom make sense. If any legislative body should decide to ban, say, Manolo Blahnik Jeweled Pumps in Deep Sky Blue" because they cause harm and suffering to women's ankles, it should not surprise said legislators when consumers snap up Manolo pumps in Passion Purple and Vampire Lick Red (okay, I made those colors up!). The Troy Pump Action AR, the Black Rain really weird stocked New York compliant AR (which, by the way, doesn't feel nearly as weird as it looks) and the stunning Ares Defense Sporting Configurable Rifle are evolution in action and intelligent responses to stupid laws.

• It was Big Fun! As always, I am humbled and honored to meet the people who make SHOOTING GALLERY, THE BEST DEFENSE, GUN STORIES WITH JOE MANTEGNA, DOWN RANGE Radio, DOWN RANGE Television and all our other projects possible. I cannot thank you all enough!

Project Non-Permissive...

...is moving right along. My Browning BLR went to MPI fiberglass gunstocks to lose about half a pound or more. In finally found one of the Browning Scout Scope mounts (which is, sadly, steel). I'm rethinking cutting the 18-inch barrel to 16 inches...probably not worth the cost and the aggravation of building up a much higher front sight. I will need a taller front sight regardless of which BUIS I use — Skinner Express, XS or the classic Williams WGSR. Lengthwise, the longest piece of the take-down is stock, which will with the new stock be right at 20 inches, so I'm not buying anything with the shorter barrel.

That leaves a much-needed trigger job, a leather wrap for the lever and the decision on optics to be done.

Here's a picture from an old AMERICAN RIFLEMAN article on the BLR with a forward-mounted red dot, and I have to say a red dot is still in the running.

The new fiberglass stock will include sling swivels, and my inclination is to reach out to Andy Langlois for one of his "Rhodesian" slings.

Ideally, the entire package — rifle, handgun, ammo for both, holster for handgun, magazines/speedloaders — will fit into one of the Negrini or equivalent case designed for multiple handguns...essentially a large, nondescript briefcase.

Interestingly enough, the BLR may turn out to be the "EDC" for the New, Improved Secret Hidden Bunker, assuming we can get it finished before I pull all my hair out and run away to join the circus. There are more wild critters on the 35-acre new property, and I'd likely keep a rifle handy.

Couple of interesting reads for today. The first is from The Arms Guide on "Keeping a Clear Mind:"

At first approach, it may seem that concentrating on the self defense encounter, planning the best course of action—and taking it, while minimizing risk of injury to one’s self and any potential bystanders, while remembering the rules of law, is an overwhelming challenge. Trying to recount all the details of a frenzy of thought and activity after the fact only adds to the complexity of the task. Fortunately, with a few simple exercises, you can train your brain to handle these high stress moments like a champ. Here are some of the training tips I practice.

Read the whole thing...all good tips. One thing I would add that we've talked about a lot on the podcast that goes a little a little beyond event rehearsal...you need to tell yourself that you are in fact quite capable of handling a chaotic encounter. Yes, that's one of those weird little Happy Talk things, but it does work. The particular little mnemonic that works for me is the simple phrase, "I'm good at this!" Has to be simple, BTW, or it won't work...think of it as a programming bug for your head.

Example...right before SHOT I was in Planet Boulder on an icy, icy day. I was just driving slow-speed  down a 4-lane city street in the trusty Honda Element when I hit a patch of pure black ice invisible in a light dusting of snow. The rear wheels just dropped toward the curb and the car began to spin...yes, there was traffic behind me and in the on-coming lanes. The first thought that popped into my mind was, "Hey, I'm good at this!" I managed to stay in my lane, spin the Element 360 degrees and motor on like, "I meant to do that." My Sweetie even said I was laughing as I spun the car.

Competence is the antidote for panic. I have in the past taken ice driving courses, so I knew there was a good chance I could "get the car back" as long as I didn't fight it. Panic shuts down the mind, and anything that keeps the mind in the game is good.

The second interesting read today comes from the Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 blog summarizing an American Society of Criminology paper on who gets shot and when are gunshots fatal.

The victimization in Rochester [NY, the site of the study] was also concentrated in just a few geographic areas, with a single zip code accounting for 30% of all shootings. In some areas, gun violence is even more concentrated. Assummarized by prominent researcher Anthony Braga (Rutgers University and Harvard), 5% of street blocks accounted for 74% of all shootings in Boston from 1980 to 2008. Just 60 locations experienced 1,000+ shootings.

Interestingly, the report goes on to note that, "The only situational factor that is a statistically significant predictor of lethality is if the victim had a weapon." While there is a lot of head-scratching on this point in the blogpost, it makes perfect sense to me in light of the earlier geographic and social findings in the report. What we can read into those earlier findings are strong evidence of a thriving gang culture (surprise). At the top of the pyramid in gang culture are those individuals whom we may refer to as "violent criminal actors," or VCAs. They are, to borrow a phrase from the movies, stone killers, people who routinely and reflexively use violence to accomplish their goals. Violence, sometimes lethal violence, is simply a component of their "day job."

As I said in TRAIL SAFE, predators always recognize other predators...assuming an apex predator is a prey animal is a mistake that will only be made once. When predators hunt predators, they play for keeps. A VCA will assume his target is like him- or herself, armed and ready for the attack. As Ralph Waldo Emerson notes, when you strike at a King, you must kill him. Same applies to violent criminal actors.

BTW, kind of cool to see a blog focused on analyzing the Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 concept!

Gun Sales Booming

You've already seen that Ruger is on order-taking hiatus because of the massive sales in the gun industry. My own industry contacts tell me that handgun demand right now is simply unprecedented (and it even made Fox News). I'm going to go out on a limb and say this demand is not the pre-election "bubble" I've been predicting for months. Rather, I think we're seeing the strength of Gun Culture Ver. 2.0, with literally millions of new people coming into the culture. As we've talked about extensively, the new shooters are being driven by concealed carry, the rise of the training community and more and more by the practical shooting sports. I'm hearing that the sports are experiencing growth levels they haven't seen since the glory days of the 1980s.

We've been talking for a year or so now that we're well past the tipping point and the mainstream culture has shifted wholesale in our favor. I would say that's one of the reason the now-collapsed antigun "industry" has so drastically seized onto the sad shooting story out of Florida. I'm not going to discuss that case, but I thought I might link to an unlikely comment, on the DemocraticUnderground.com, strangely enough:

Why Gun Control advocates will end up with egg on their face once again...
...all the gun control advocates are giddy, and think this is a turning point in their movement, LOL. Time for a reality check. I took this photo a while back at a grocery store's magazine rack... This photo shows the entire rack.. If you look closely their is about 17 different publications dedicated to firearms...And not a single "gun control monthly" in sight. They would not be for sale, if their was not a demand.

Gun control is not coming back as any kind of national movement, as if it was ever a national movement.

I will make two points on the Florida shooting, points I've made before in the blog, the podcast and THE BEST DEFENSE: First, do not ever give chase! A concealed carry license is not a junior police badge. One of the issues I talked about last week on the podcast (and will be talking about this week) is the complexities of intervention, that is, an armed civilian intervening in a violent situation in which they are not directly involved. Secondly, do not, either by intent or ignorance, escalate a situation! Your focus as an armed civilian is to deescalate the situation if possible and be ready to respond if the situation escalates.

We have our first planning meetings on the next season of THE BEST DEFENSE next week, and I intend to build in both escalation and deescalation scenarios, as well as at least one "giving chase" scenario for 2013.

AN ADDITIONAL ASIDE:

What I see happening in Florida right now is on a social level the opposite of deescalation. The President's comment that if he had a son, he would "look like Trayvon;" Louis Farrakhan tweeting that "the law of retaliation may be applied;" the blame blame blame (It's the GOP! It's Rush Limbaugh!") and the steady class war/race war drumbeat from people who should — dear Lord! — know better!

I grew up in the Jim Crow South, in Memphis...I saw the neighborhoods burn when Dr. King was killed...I've seen bright red blood in the streets from "race riots"...I've seen machingeguns turned on snipers in an American city...and I know what spit feels like when it hits your face because people whom you thought were your friends can't understand why you support "those n&^$#rs."

That people in power, including the President of the United States, would throw gasoline on a racial fire is utterly appalling — and terrifying — to me.

This doesn't end well.

Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 in HUMAN EVENTS

Written by my friend Richard Johnson:

Instead of the image of the white male father dressed in flannel taking his son off to the woods for the traditional deer hunt, the new image of gun ownership is much broader and more diverse.  The members of the 2.0 gun culture are more likely to own an AR15  with a suppressor than a Winchester Model 70.  And, you can rest assured that a new gen gun owner is likely to be carrying a Glock or KelTec when you run into them at the local coffee shop.

Whew!

Have survived another premiere week! As of this morning, both Tim Cremin and I are extremely pleased with the response to both GUN STORIES and the new season of TBD/SURVIVAL, and at least for the time being, no one wants my head on a block. Before I head off to shoot the 2-day Hell on Wheels cowboy action shooting regional up in Cheyenne, I wanted to touch on a couple of subjects.

First (and speaking of wanting my head on a block), years back — good grief, can it be almost a decade? — I stepped up to the podium at the largest hunting conclave ever to say that taxation without representation was still tyranny. I was speaking of the Pittman-Robertson funds, of course, derived from tax monies on guns, ammunition, components, etc. Those monies, in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year, have gone to wildlife restoration, wetland purchases, hunter education and funding state fish and game departments and programs. A tiny tiny trickle of the money also went into shooting ranges.

The problem that we saw, based on research from me and Paul Erhardt, was that the there had been a profound change in the market from hunting to shooting, and that change had not been reflected in the allocation of P-R funds. The steady decline of hunting, combined with the meteoric rise of competition shooting and training, coupled with CCW-driven birth and rise to prominence of Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 meant that we represented a majority of the taxes being paid. But 99.99% of the funds were going to hunting/conservation.

I'm not knocking hunting/conservation at all, but come on! We're dying for shooting ranges and awash in ducks! I made the decision to step up to the plate and declare the emperor had no clothes. I will say it got a bit (a big bit) hot in the kitchen......axe...block...neck, etc.

But we won.

The industry has come around to the view that the shooting/training/CCW Ver. 2.0 gun culture is the future. By industry numbers, hunting now ranks 4th as a driver. And now the next steps...refining Pittman-Robertson. This from Senator Mark Udall's (D-CO) office, about Senate Bill S-1249 — Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act:

Today, Mark Udall re-introduced legislation to help states construct and maintain safe public shooting ranges. The bill, the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act, would help ensure that there are enough accessible ranges where hunters and marksmen can safely practice recreational shooting.

Under current law – the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act – an excise tax is collected on sporting equipment and ammunition, which states can use for activities such as wildlife restoration and hunter education programs. However, it has limited effectiveness in establishing and maintaining shooting ranges, which are declining in number. Udall’s Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act, co-sponsored by Senators Jim Risch, Michael Bennet and Jon Tester, would amend the law to give states more flexibility to use existing funds to create and maintain shooting ranges.

“The number of places in our communities and on public lands where Colorado sportsmen and women can safely shoot and target practice has steadily dwindled,” Udall said. “This bill would give states more flexibility to use federal dollars – that have already been allocated to them – to create safe, new public places to shoot. It would be a triple win for sporting and conservation communities: states can create higher quality and safer shooting ranges, more Coloradans can take up the sport, and it would generate more money for future conservation and hunter education efforts.”

Udall’s bill would:

• Increase the amount of money states can contribute from their allotted Pittman-Robertson funds to 90 percent of the cost to improve or construct a public target range from the current limit of 75 percent. This would reduce local and state matching requirements from 25 percent to 10 percent.

• Allow the Pittman-Robertson funds allotted to a state to remain available and accrue for five fiscal years for use in acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing a public target range on federal or non-federal land. Under current law, states must use these funds within one year.

• Limit the legal liability exposure to the federal land management agencies regarding the management and use of federal land for target practice or marksmanship training.

• Encourage the federal land management agencies to cooperate with state and local authorities to maintain target ranges on federal land so as to encourage their continued use.

The bill is fully supported by NSSF, which has taken the lead in allocating P-R funds to shooting ranges through their innovative grant system.

NSSF Applauds Introduction of the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act in Senate

June 27, 2011 By Larry Keane

NEWTOWN, Conn. – The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry, applauded the introduction of the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act by Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO). This bi-partisan legislation will give states greater flexibility to use more of their designated federal wildlife resources (i.e. Pittman-Robertson funds) to establish safe recreational shooting areas. More specifically, the legislation will help facilitate the construction and expansion of public target ranges, including ranges on federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

“We appreciate Sen. Udall’s leadership in fighting for safe, accessible shooting facilities,” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “This legislation clears the way for new shooting ranges and allows for the proper management of existing ones. Access to these facilities is paramount to continuing to pass on our hunting and shooting sports heritage to younger generations.”

A recent survey by the Responsive Management Company has show that the biggest obstacle to participation in hunting and the shooting sports is access. In addressing this concern, the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act will not only help sportsmen and target shooters, but wildlife and conservation efforts as well. Active participation in hunting and the shooting sports means increased production of firearms and ammunition. Manufacturers of firearms and ammunition pay a federal excise tax — 11 percent on long guns and ammunition and 10 percent on handguns — which is used to fund wildlife and conservation efforts. By giving gun owners better access to ranges, the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act will help to encourage participation in these pro-conservation pastimes.

By allowing the states more latitude in determining how excise tax dollars are used to enhance and develop public shooting facilities, wildlife conservation funding will increase. This benefits all sportsmen and is a strong return on investment.

This is HUGE! One of the baseline strategies of our enemies — perhaps the only one that has been working, BTW — has been to deprive us of places to shoot. A significant amount of revenue flowing into range development, coupled with pushing federal land management agencies to allow land for ranges (a big issue here in Colorado), is a very important start.

Personally, I will not be happy until we have parity, that is, until the P-R funds are allocated by percentage based on industry-derived numbers. If shooting/training/CCW represents 60% of the purchasing activity in an given year, then 60% of the P-R funds should be allocated for programs that benefit that segment of the industry.

Taxation without representation is always tyranny, no matter how well-intentioned the goals for that taxation are!

Thank you, Senator Udall, and thank you, NSSF!

A Usual Fun Weekend

Spent yesterday shooting a cowboy match up in Ft. Collins. No scores yet, but I did well. This was a 5th Saturday match, so more prone to weirdness in stage design...which is fun. Once again, am running a little slower, but am dreadfully consistent. In October, I'm going to focus on speed. Interestingly enough, my Sweetie and I will be shooting a 3-Gun match next weekend, the kind with ARs instead of lever action rifles. Should be interesting, and different.

John Richardson (and many others) are at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Orlando...am looking forward to his reports. I'm glad to see how much the industry has adopted the Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 meme. Just a quick note — I've been credited with pointing out the birth of Ver. 2.0; more correctly, Paul Erhardt and I made the initial observations.

I've been rounding up magazines for the Sig Sauer P938, which is harder than one might think. I bought the only one at Midway, then a couple of more from Sig's online store. A bit pricey, that. I want to shoot the little 9mm in a IDPA Back-up Gun match (the 3-inch barrel is easily under the IDPA 3.8 inch requirement). Am also waiting for extra Taurus "Slim" mags. Have actually been carrying the "Slim" with a CT laser in a Simply Rugged Cuda holster (the same design holster I use for my knockaround Ruger SR22 pistol. I'm pretty much convinced that the mini-9mms are a real breakthrough in concealed carry...yes, they are harder to shoot than both their slightly smaller .380 brethren (from which they sprang) and their slightly larger "compact" sized cousins, but the more I carry them, the more I like them as carry guns. I'm planning on filming my second Panteao Productions "Make Ready With" concealed carry video in March of next year, and the mini-9s will play a big role.

Interestingly enough, I have a Charter Arms 9mm snub on the way for T&E. I've shot the .40 S&W version, but am much more interested in the little 9mm. Shame it doesn't come in red and black...

There's an on-going battle at the University of Colorado in Boulder on CCW for students. You can get a good idea of the shape of the battle from this article in the local dead tree media. A part of me wanted to gear up for an expedition to Boulder to attend Brady shill and professional "victim" Colin Goddard's talk on campus just to ask him how he lives with himself.

I note that Brother Ted has a new series coming on the Discovery Channel. I also hear that several other gun shows are in the works on networks other than the one for which I labor.

Next week is an AR build week. We'll be putting together the .22 LR tackdriver based on the Spike's Tactical Lothar Walther-barreled upper and the JP custom lower (probably MagPul or ACE furniture). Hopefully, we'll also build the ultralight breakdown on the ATI Omni polymer lower and the TAC2 Discreet Carry Kit. Upper is still undecided, although I have a Stag here. Both of these builds will be filmed for SHOOTING GALLERY and our still-hidden-in-the-box Internet project. The suppressed Ruger Charger, sort of a crash tutorial in overhauled the 10/22, which is so easy to overhaul that even I can do it, is also on the menu.

Well, a long blogpost is a good excuse not to address the wreckage in both my office and the gun room, the consequences of too much travel...I suppose I'd better at least try to clean up one or the other!

Need Sinus Transplant

Sorry for the light post-Thanksgiving blogging...as usual I'm cleverly using my time off to suffer through my endless travel head cold. And, as usual, I have managed to transfer the virus to my Sweetie, who has been suffering piteously. I've spent my time reading Patrick O'Brian and studying up for my first set of interviews for GUN STORIES early next week. I had hoped to have a major announcement about GS by now, but "negotiations are still under way."

I'm also headed out to OC for a day next week to talk about changes in the gun culture and its implications for 2011, sort of an expansion of my Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 concepts. Based on preliminary sales figures from 2010 and talks with industry execs it's safe to say that self-defense/concealed carry are unequivocally the primary drivers of the market. The big trend for 2010 is the bigger than expected successes of shooting competitions on television, led by TOP SHOT on History and 3-GUN NATION on Versus. I hear channels are scrambling for more shooting programming. I think this is part and parcel of the "normalizing" of firearms ownership and use in the U.S....in short, we're winning the cultural war as well as the political and legal war. If we continue to consolidate our cultural gains and continue our successes in the legal/political arena — especially in the wake of this month's midterm elections — 2011 may well be the year the put the final nails in the coffin of the already largely irrelevant "antigun movement."

Yikes!

Once again looking out windows at mountains and snow. Every time I visit NYC I get a strange sense of dislocation...in all my memories of living in Manhattan, I'm young, which I am demonstrably not...anymore. Loved my time in NYC, but for the life of me can't remember how I did it.

Couple of YIKES points after the past couple of days comments...

1) RE: AMMUNITION...first, you guys drastically overestimate my influence. I can't cause or stop any sales event, especially the tsunami that's coming. I am, however, in a pretty unique position...I have sent a month traveling to gun companies, walking the production floors, talking to both executives and manufacturing managers, looking at orders, backlogs, production planning, etc. Because I am a very lucky person, I have been talking to quite literally the smartest people in the industry

I am in the position I'm in because for my entire career I have been an expert at analyzing trends. I was trained early on by masters in the field...my last years in college, when I was thoroughly sick of physics and math as a major, I was assigned a "professor/advisor" with dual PhDs in statistical analysis and mass communications...he was happy to have a student who didn't get queasy looking at equations and I was fascinated by the concepts of predictive analysis. Trends are what they are...they don't care about me at all.

Secondly, consider my mindset, which is laid out on a regular basis for everyone to see (and debate). I created and produced THE BEST DEFENSE /SURVIVAL, I served as an expert for the landmark History Channel special AFTER ARMAGEDDON, I live up in the mountains in the Rocky Mountain West and am working on plans for a new, completely off-grid Secret Hidden Bunker, and I am writing a book titled The New Survival Guns...what might my mindset be on "stocking up?" Again, feel free to disagree. If you don't want to stock up on ammo and components, by all means, don't. Keep in mind that there are 2 competitive shooters here at the Secret Hidden Bunker...we routinely maintain a stockpile of components.

I was staggered by the current flood of gun orders (and the resulting backlog, of which about 70% will "disappear"). Yes, it is the leading edge of the coming bubble, but it also represents a flood of new people coming into our culture (and keep in mind that I and Paul Erhardt predicted this flood, Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 years back by, duh, analyzing trends). Even a straight-line extrapolation says:

more guns in the market = more ammo sales

This isn't going to change until we return of a peacetime economy and the big ammo manufacturers divert a larger portion of their manufacturing resources to the civilian market.

2) Modern post-assembly line manufacturing techniques are aimed at reducing the human component of manufacturing, which is expensive, lowering the cost per piece and increasing throughput speed. As it happens, those things tend to have a positive effect on quality, but quality is not necessarily the primary driver.

As I have said over and over, based on my own crash study of manufacturing while working with the manufacturing consultancy R. D. Garwood, Inc. for a decade, appropriate technology need not be the bleeding edge of technology. CNC machines are indeed magic, but you do not need that kind of horsepower to manufacture a widget. Now, you might need that horsepower to produce a lot of widgets, especially if there is significant variations between different types of widgets.

Let's look at EDM machining...because in electrical discharge machining, the cut is by spark — the wire doesn't every touch the metal being cut — it can do very clean, very precise cut on complex angles. Ruger uses EDM to cut the 1911 breech face on the slide. That cut then requires virtually no additional "prepping" before use...fewer hands touch the gun, the cost to produce the piece is reduced. Quality is also increased. Does that mean that the first 1911s to roll off Colt's assembly line on January 1912 had inferior breech faces because EDM had yet to be invented? I have examined first day, first hour 1912 production 1911s, and I have spent hours with master gunsmith Bill Laughridge going over the specs for those first 500 guns...they were and are masterpieces.

I have also handled a 1911 built quite literally with raw steel and a flat file by some unknown Pakistani gunsmith...I would't want to shoot it myself, but it would go bang. Look at S&W revolvers front the early part of the 20th Century...no CNC...just plain old boring metal lathes, drill presses and milling machines, handled by some of the greatest gunsmiths ever...tell me that a pristine Triple-Lock isn't a breathtaking example of the gunmaker's art!

I don't know everything...hell, the older I get, the less I realize I know...I knew a lot more when I was hanging out at CBGBs in NYC in my 20s! LOL! But I am a student of the way widgets, especially guns get made, and I'm not afraid to ask the stupid questions. I am also very lucky in having a strangely checkered career. I have been in most of the major, and many of the minor, gun manufacturing facilities in America and some around the world, but before I was in those factories I got a crash course in manufacturing working with Garwood.

I am the co-author of the standard text on structuring bills of material and a text on creating new products for a world-class manufacturing environment. I am also very proud of a book Garwood and I wrote, Shifting Paradigms — Reshaping the Future of Industry. In the glory days of personal computers, I was a technology correspondent for the Chicago Tribune News Syndicate, and I got to spend time with the legends of the industry before They ascended onto Mt. Olympus...in fact, it was Michael Dell, who created Dell Computers, who patiently explained to me how factories would evolve beyond building one specific product to general places that built "stuff"— what we see now in China. I got to hang out at the MIT Media Lab (I've never felt so dumb in my life, but they were patient with me...mostly), where the future gets invented, and some of the big think tanks.

Because of what I do, I get to spend a lot of time with people who design, make and market firearms, and because I spent so many decades as a journalist, I tend to obsessively ask questions. What ends up presented here and in my other media outlets is pretty much my opinions...I'm wrong a lot, but I'm occasionally right.

As always, your mileage might vary...

Ruger LCR

As I have mentioned, I've been doing a couple of months' experiment with carrying a small-frame revolver, a Ruger LCR in .38 Special, as my primary carry gun. I wanted to give it a try because it has been a long time since I carried a J-framed sized gun as my primary, and I've been getting a lot of questions. I'm thinking that many new CCW holders, what we refer to as Gun Culture Ver. 2.0, has opted for the classic revolver as their carry gun of choice.

Let me give you a quick set of bullet points of what I've learned so far:

• The LCR carries amazingly well on the belt. It's light (13.5 ounces in .38; 17 ounces in .357). The short revolver, combined with that light weight, allows the gun to be easily carried in a hi-ride holster without the dreaded "tip" outward of the gun away from the built. I've been using a Ritchie holster on a Wilderness Tactical Instructor's Belt.

• The LCR has the best trigger pull of any snubbie I've ever shot, including the other 3 I own. I've put anouth rounds through it that it's very smooth and, thanks to the patented trigger system, doesn't stack at the end.

• Polymer frames and soft grip panels work...felt recoil is reduced and the second shot comes quickly, even with the Corbon DPX I routinely carry.

More later...

BTW, here's Jeff Quinn's old review and an excellent look at the LCR .357 from My Gun Culture. You guys know I'm in the .38 Special camp, right?

Michael's Rant de Jour...

I think I gotta go all Big Bang Theory nerd boy on you today and talk about Niels Bohr, a Nobel Prize winner for physics in 1922 and one of the fathers of quantum mechanics. He was also 'way cool...Bohrs proudly referred to himself as a "dilettante," because he felt it was important to approach each new question from a starting point of total ignorance. When the Nazis invaded Denmark, Bohr's home, in 1940, he wanted to make sure the Nazis didn't find the Nobel gold medals awarded to Max von Laue and James Franck. He dissolved the gold medals in acid, then stored the acid on a shelf in his Physics Institute throughout the war. After the war, the gold was precipitated out of the acid and the medals re-struck by the Nobel Foundation. That, my friends, is the ultimate Nerd Save.

There are 2 quotes from Bohr that should be carved in the digital marble over the entrance to the Internet and memorized by everybody who passes that way. The first is:

An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field. 

I'll tell you the second quote in a minute.

There are 2 memes on Ye Olde Internete that are driving me bonkers crazy these days. The first is this pompous navel-gazing on how we all might determine which are the "good" — read, people who agree with me — gun blogs versus the bad — read, people who either don't agree with me or are actually making money at this — gun blogs. Who's an expert, and who's not. Sort of reminds me of a "law" about science fiction a few decades ago, I believe attributed to author Ted Sturgeon, something along the lines of, "Ninety percent of all science fiction is crap, but that's okay since 90% of everything is crap."

Pantheon in Rome, built A.D. 126 and never restored

Of course that was a few years ago, and the percentage is not doubt higher today. When my Sweetie and I went to the Pantheon in Rome a couple of weeks ago, she marveled that this amazing structure, built in A.D. 126 was not only still standing, unrestored, but still amazingly beautiful. I noted that, hey, our culture has created Hangover 3!

Let's stipulate that, based on Sturgeon's Law, 90% of all gun blogs are crap. Okay, cool. But I would say our challenge is to sift wheat from chaff...even in the crappiest of the 90% there is still wisdom to be found. Even the least "expert" of experts might bring us the single nugget of truth that might, just might, be the one that saves your life on the day when the balloon goes up. And here's what I think is a critical point...experts, even experts under Bohr's definition who have actually done as opposed to reading about other people doing, often have radically different interpretations and opinions about similar topics. There are quite legitimate experts with who I drastically disagree (not to mention dislike), but that doesn't mean every word that comes out of their mouth is total dreck.

We live, for at least a little while longer, in an open marketplace of ideas. A key point of living in that open marketplace of ideas is that the individual is responsible for sorting through those ideas. Gosh, doesn't that sound just like what we say about self-defense, that the individual is ultimately the only person responsible for his or her self-defense? Do both those responsibilities put more pressure on the individual? You betcha!

Never trust "gate-keeprs," including me. The problem with gate-keepers — people who ostensibly want to steer you toward those blogs/experts/products/whatever that are "certified" (by said gate-keeper) — is first that they want to be gate-keepers at all. LOL! Use your own brain!

The second meme that is irritating me to death is the seemingly endless tripe about how the ammo shortage is the result of "hoarders." I have written and talked about on DOWN RANGE Radio my thoughts on the ammo shortage (here's the short list), to wit, that it is the result of a "perfect storm" that includes increased demand from the flood of new shooters (Gun Culture Ver. 2.0) and the changing shooting habits of existing shooters, the increased demand caused by the very real attempts by the state and federal government to restrict ammo purchases/possession, increased world-wide tensions resulting in preparatory ammo purchases by numerous governments, the continued U.S. war footing (including a depletion of the National Reserve of ammo) that guarantees massive Dot.Gov ammo purchases for the foreseeable future, the exhaustion of the massive WW2 and Cold War surplus ammo caches in Europe, the drastic increase in demand for baseline manufacturing commodities like lead and copper, necessary for ammunition production, from countries like China and India and probably a couple of other factors I have totally overlooked.

Whenever I read that everything would be just ducky if we all only bought only what ammo we needed instead of a case, it reminds me of where that thinking comes from: "Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen!" That rollicking Karl Marx! What a card! But in the last couple of weeks I read forum posts where shooters who always picked up a single box of ammo at Wally-World on the way to the Saturday match now bitterly attack "hoarders" who have made this stupid practice impossible; other shooters who explain how they have refused to take up reloading because it is 1) expensive, 2) boring and 3) takes a lot of time and now those damn hoarders have ruined it for them.

I have said this before...my definition of a "hoarder" is someone who was smarter than you. Given the current vicious meme about ammo hoarders, what does this tell us should the feces really hit the Schumer (as Jim Rawles says)?  How quickly do you think your neighbors, your friends, your relatives, will turn on you about the "hoarded" food in your basement, your "hoarded" medical supplies, that "Hoarded" Big Berkey water filter you bought to guarantee your family's fresh water or the solar panels you're "hoarding" on your roof? We are a nation of grasshoppers who like to tell ourselves we're ants right up until the point that we're tested on the very things that ants do. And keep in mind that a horde of locust can quite literally overwhelm a country.

For years I and many other people have talked about the necessity of taking responsibility for the safety of ourselves and those under our care. We have urged you to simply follow the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared!

For those of you bemoaning those damn ammo hoarders, what did you think "Be Prepared!" actually meant?

Finally, Niels Bohr's other great quote:

Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.

Remember it!

Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 Soars!

From USA Today:

Research by the National Sporting Goods Association shows female participation in target shooting grew by 46.5% between 2001 and 2010. And an October 2011 Gallup Poll found 23% of women own a gun.

The world is changing, and for the better. It's interesting that the story is based on the NSGA report, which mentions "target shooting," but the story ledes with women "hunting." That's basically an MSM fail, the inability to believe that people use guns for anything but whacking turkeys. Yes, they get into it later in the story — congrats, Haley! — but that material should have been the lede. Still, we're winning!

Tequila Tuesday!

My favorite 30-30 Reposado, Patron Orange Liquer and lemon juice...along with chili-rubbed halibut and my Sweetie's trademark Spanish rice.

Today was a push push push...lot of stuff had to get done by end of business day, and, miraculously, I just slid under the wire. I am looking forward to a long-range rifle class with the Ruger SR762 end of March, and the Crimson Trace/GUNSITE 250 pistol class in May. I'm thinking of using the Ruger Match Champion revolver in the GUNSITE class...I've never shot the 250 class with a revolver, and I think it might be instructive (as in how much I don't know).

I'm also thinking about going to the ICORE World Revolver Championships in June for SHOOTING GALLERY 2015. We haven't been to ICORE in a while, and it's time to go back, I think.What put me in the revolver mood was a phone call from my old running buddy Paul Erhardt, who outlined his plans for shooting ICORE and writing about it for the SHOOTING WIRE. Looked like it might be fun. Plus, I'm getting a lot of requests for information on revolvers for self-defense...interesting! Why should that be? Maybe because Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 has now had a couple of years shooting guns, and they've discovered that revolvers, with their one single manual of arms — pull the trigger — seem more and more attractive.

I think I have a semipermanent cold...my nose is never...let me repeat,never...going to stop running. I can't be allergic to something...it's, like, 7 degrees below zero. Nothing is alive out there. Just snow snow snow. And yet, I sneeze as if I'm in Kansas in the spring. Sucks massively. I've been reading a novel from Bernard Cornwall on 1356...it's grim and it keeps me awake at night. It also makes me think I'd like to write historical fiction when I finally run out of steam on television.

Which, I hope, isn't soon. Am working on the pilot of a new reality show, which I'll show you when I can. I think it's a hit, but, of course, I'm largely deluded. I still have an African hunt scheduled for June. Not that far away...not that far away...hang on...

Big Paw Prints

I leave home for a weekend, and my Sweetie starts consorting with bears! Apparently, B'rer Bear is awake and checking and checking out the Secret Hidden Bunker where, yes, it is still snowing. The other foot is my anonymous Sweetie's. Of course, the other print might be a Yeti, which would erxplain why my rimfire ammunition keeps disappearing...Yetis are big rimfire shooters...of course you knew that...

And speaking of big paw prints (how's that for a cheesy transition?) I had dinner at Breda's blogger dinner last night with attorney Alan Gura — fascinating guy! Glad he's on our side. I also talked a bit with Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation, who asked me to head up a panel at the 2010 Gun Rights Policy Conference in September on Gun Culture Ver. 2.0.

Also planning to me with Dave Kopel later this morning...oddly enough, Dave and I live near each other, but we're never in town at the same time.

Gunwise, I going over to Tactical Solutions for see the production version of the Glock .22 caliber conversion unit, then stop by S&W. I'm actually going to get a chance to walk the floor later today! The one thing I missed big time yesterday was Steven Hunter and Major John Paster's standing room only talk on modern sniping. Of course, both Steve and John are friends...I talked to John briefly yesterday, and hopefully I'll bumble into Steve sometime today.

Okay, off into the fray...even though all I can think of is arming bears...wow, what a crappy pun!

Whipped (reprise)

After a perhaps less-than-stellar performance at sporting clays yesterday. Larry Potterfield and I shot as a 2-man (well, I think I only clocked in as half a man)...was Big Fun, though, and I loved shooting Larry's superb restored 1950s vintage Belgium Browning Superimposed "Diana." THAT is a shotgun, by golly and gosh!

Shooting cowboy this weekend in Ft. Collins...meetings in Tulsa next week on the new series (nudge nudge wink wink say no more)...time to kick things up another notch! Formal announcement forthcoming.

Because of the added pressure on my time, I will not be presenting at SAF's Gun Rights in San Fran next month...if you recall I was going to present on Gun Culture Ver 2.0 and it's implications (I did a talk at Midway Thursday on the very subject). I've asked Caleb Giddings over at Gun Nuts Media to sit in for me.

BTW, another event I probably won't have time for but that I'd love to attend is the Gun Bloggers Redesvous in Reno Sept. 9-12...if you're a gun blogger, or an aspiring gun blogger, you need to be there. plus, I have it on good authority that Midway USA will have a little something to help bloggers drive some extra traffic. Contact my friend "Mr. Completely" for details.

The Year of the Pistol Caliber Carbine

[I should mention that we filmed heavily with many of the products Ive been talking about, and those videos will appear on SHOOTING GALLERY ONLINE over the next couple of months!]

This was, as I predicted, the Year of the Pistol Caliber Carbine. They were all over the place on the SHOT floor, and I don't think we were able to even scratch the surface. While there were a lot of "Me toos!," with many AR manufacturers rushing to get a pistol caliber product out the door, there were some interesting new products as well as substantial evolution from dedicated pistol caliber companies.

Let me start with the one pictured above, the new FightLite PCC, an extension of their subgun project for an overseas client. FightLite was originally known as Ares Defense, and they are responsible for a couple of really cool innovations, including the first (and I think only) successful belt-fed upper (and complete guns) for ARs. Gary Paul Johnson, the author of the standard reference text on assault rifles and a contributor to both DOWN RANGE and GUN STORIES WITH JOE MANTEGNA, has waxed poetic about this conversion. Another significant contribution from Ares was the SCR rifle, which we featured on DOWN RANGE last year. It brought the AR platform to a more standard rifle configuration for those benighted locations with ridiculous laws on "assault weapons."

I talked to Geoffrey Herring, the CEO of FightLite, about the new pistol caliber gun. The one FightLite had at the SHOW was a 9mm version feeding from Glock magazines. Note that this is NOT an AR platform gun  — upper and lower are proprietary, designed from the ground up for modularity in caliber conversions and different magazine wells. Initial focus will be on .22LR and 9mm, with maybe a .40 S&W (but with that cartridge down for the count, I doubt that it's much of a priority). Geoff said that a 10mm and .45 ACP versions were a little farther out. Magazine offerings will include Glock, Beretta, CZ, S&W, Sig and Springfield. Geoff noted that because this was based on their SMG design for LEO/Military, they wanted to create a gun that was easily modified to fit whatever pistol magazines.

It's a side charger with the handle on the right, and, boy, is this thing light! They didn't have the exact weight, but it'll come in low. This is definitely one to watch. Geoff said both pistols and carbines will eventually be available, and the price he hinted at was sub-$1000.

While we're talking about modularity, I shot video with Nordic Components and their new modular AR-based PCC (that's the 8.5-inch pistol version above). If you shoot competition, of course you're familiar with Nordic Components — shotgun magazine extension tubes, custom competition .22 rifles, AR parts and accessories.  The magazine well is replaceable ($149 for each different magazine well) and right now offers Glock and M&P magwells, with more on the way.

These are relatively higher priced guns, in the $1500 range, and given Nordic's solid footing in the competition world I would expect to see their carbines on the line in USPSA PCC matches.

And speaking of competition-oriented PCCs, I spent some time with my good friend John Paul at JP Rifles going over the upgrades in the GMR-15 9mm PCC. As you know, I've had a GMR-13 for years, and it is a superbly accurate carbine — 1.5 MOA @ 100 yards with Wilson Combat Match 125-gr. The upgrades will definitely catch the attention of the competitor looking to give the Sig MPXs, which currently dominate the fledgling PCC division, a run for their money; they include a flared magazine well for easier reloading, an improved magazine release, bolt lock back on last round (more important to competitors than in the Real World, I would contend) and JP's excellent trigger.

John told me how he fought producing a 9mm carbine until he finally threw up his hands and told his talented staff to "go build one if you want to." The GMR has now become one of their best-selling products. I can't recommend this carbine enough. At $1700 it's not cheap, but JP has proven itself to be one of the great master riflemakers in the country. The GMR is available for either Glock or the plentiful Colt-style magazines.

You probably know War Sport from their top-of-the-line LVOA carbine and SBR, with their distinctive shock cord bungee wrapped handguard that extends to the front of the barrel with cutaways on the side for the BattleComp muzzle brake. This year they're rolling out a 9mm WS-9 pistol and a Honey Badger-styled collapsable stocked version of the SPR, both running off Glock magazines.

I wanted to visit War Sport because they represent the high end of the AR-based pistols.SBRs — enhanced triggers, superior finished, their own muzzle device, short throw safety lever Nitrided bolt, and their own barrels. No word on pricing yet.

You already know I'm a big fan of Angstadt Arms and their UDP pistol and carbine. After last year's SHOT Show I ordered a UDP-9 pistol with a Shockwave Brace from KAK (above photo), and I've been very happy with it. My plan is to SBR it later this year.

For this year Angstadt upped the ante by partnering with KGmade suppressors to produce an integrally suppressed 9mm carbine. They had a prototype at the show and think the MSRP is going to land in the $1600 range. A 9mm from a 16-inch barrel is already quiet, and an integrated suppressor should get it down into the "Pufft" range.

Everything about the Angstadt Arms pistols and carbines scream quality. I've only shot my pistol out to 25 yards with ARSCOR ball,  but it grouped very well. Once I get it SBR'ed and have a proper stock, I'll run it out to 50 and 100 with match ammo and see what we get. I think this is a company at the right place at the right time!

As you know, my last build (for this season's SHOOTING GALLERY) was built off Quarter Circle 10 components (including an upper with a 5.5-inch barrel) along with the Dead Foot Arms folding system, shown above with my IWI X95 in 9mm for comparison. This one is going to stay a pistol, and I've been happy with the results. On SG, you'll see how the folded package fits easily in a 5.11 Covert Messenger Bag with room left over for a G26.

(Photo from AR15.com)

Obviously, if you're doing a PCC build, QC10 is the place to go for quality components. When I stopped by the boot they showed me the newest project, a 9mm lower for MP-5 magazines. You have to admit that the MP-5 lower looks darn cool, although the MP-5 magazines will put a dent in your wallet for sure!

I also got by TNW, largely by accident to se their Aero Survival pistols and carbines. As I mentioned before SHOT, these little pistol caliber carbines have garnered some excellent reviews (and here), and I wanted to see and handle them myself. 

One thing that caught my attention is that the Aero Survival guns are available immediately in powerful 10mm…although there are many announced 10mm carbines/pistols, there are only a few on the market. I believe Olympic Arms has had 10mm as an option pretty much forever. A 10mm carbine makes an outstanding home defense carbine.

The Aero Survival carbine easily changes calibers by switching barrels, bolt heads and magazines. In fact, TNW offers multi-caliber packs in both the pistol and the rifle. From a prepper standpoint, the Aero Survival rifle (especially in the muti-caliber packs) would make an excellent secondary rifle — your primary being an AR platform gun, natch. Keep it it in your EDC pistol caliber with caliber change kits in the other common calibers. BTW, the backpack for the breakdown rifles is designed to carry plate armor sold separately, of course.

I'm thinking I may get one of these in 10mm and put it through its paces for SHOOTING GALLERY ONLINE.

That only scratches the surface, of course. Some things haven't changed — the Sig MPX absolutely rules the roost. The venerable Kel-Tec SUB-2000, available in 9mm or .40 S&W with magazines for multiple platforms and a low-ball price of $500, remains the first choice for a first pistol caliber carbine — if you can find one! GunBroker is your best bet. MP-5 clones are coming on hard…I did an earlier post that covered MP-5 clones, including the HK SP5K. I'll cover the RONI instant-SBR concepts in a different post (and I've talked about them on the podcast).

Here's the link on my parts list for my QC-10 build.

Here's my post on the advantages of a pistol caliber carbine for self-defense.

Couple of additional points, sort of related. I can't remember who I was talking to (sorry!), but he postulated that part of the rise of the 9mm carbine was that Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 essentially "came of age" in a period when .22 LR simply wasn't available. The vast majority of the new shooters came in through concealed carry, then purchased ARs during the Obama Nightmare Years. Sooner or later those shooters were looking to get more our of their carbines. If it had been a few years earlier, they might have gone to .22 ARs and near ARs (for example, the Ruger SR-22 that runs off 10/22 magazines). But with .22 not on the shelves (and the carbines being hellishly finicky on ammunition…the SPIKE'S/JP carbine we built up for SHOOTING GALLERY will run on one, count em, one type of ammo, CCI Tactical), the obvious choice was the 9mm carbines since Eastern European 9mm ammo never fully vanished from the market. As the price of .22 rose, 9mm became even more attractive. Makes sense to me.

Also sorta related, with M1 Carbines from both Auto Ordnance/Kahr and Inland Manufacturing now coming on line in big numbers, the fun-to-shoot M1 Carbine could be called a pistol caliber carbine. The .30 Carbine cartridge was aways a better cartridge than people gave it credit for, with a 110-gr bullet approaching 2000 fps, which easily tops the pistol caliber ballistics even out of the longer barrel of a carbine (Cor-Bon 115-gr +P is running a little more than 1500 fps from a 16-inch barrel, for instance; .357 Sig 110-gr @ 1768). The late Jim Cirillo and I talked a lot about the .30 Carbine, as he used a cut-down version while he was in the NYPD stake-out squad. It worked for him. I shot the new Inland "sniper" T-30 M1 Carbine at Media Day, and with the "vintage" 2.5X Hilux scope I was happily ringing 50 and 100 yard steel as fast as I could pull the trigger. Shooting an M1 Carbine is like eating popcorn…it's hard to stop!

I would love to shoot an M1 Carbine in USPSA's PCC division, but that's not to be (yet). I talked to USPSA President Mike Foley about this very issue the last day of SHOT, and he told me the .30 Carbine had been considered as a pistol caliber cartridge for the division (there have been .30 Carbine revolvers and semiauto pistols, after all), but the issue was that many USPSA clubs have what, by modern standards, less than optimal steel targets. Modern steel (AR-500 and above) targets like those from MGM and Action should handle .30 Carbine with no problem, but on some older steel targets the 200fps extra velocity of a .30 Carbine over a .357 Sig is enough to dimple.

BTW, SHOOTING GALLERY is thinking of sponsoring a WW2 3-Gun match to film for the show! What do you think?

Wow! I'm sure I forgot something! But I'll be writing more about SHOT 2017 over the next few days.

Grinding to a Halt...

...for the evening. Am tired, not to mention a 4:15AM call for tomorrow...

I think my talk went well — I certainly wish it was to a bigger crown, but things are what they are. My focus was on Gun Culture Ver. 2.0, which was boistered this AM by the newest NSSF poll:

The first comprehensive survey to look at ownership and use of modern sporting rifles reveals that 8.9 million Americans went target shooting with AR-style rifles in 2009 and that participants using this type of rifle were the most active among all types of sport shooters.

"These findings underscore that modern sporting rifles are becoming commonplace in America and are among the most desired firearms by sport shooters," said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, trade association of the firearms industry. "Those who want to ban these civilian sporting rifles simply because they look like military rifles must acknowledge after seeing this study that AR-style rifles are exceedingly popular with millions of Americans. These rifles are our industry's high-tech, cutting-edge product -- rugged, accurate, versatile, fun to shoot and easily accessorized -- and they're here to stay."

Not a surprise to us, certainly, but glad to see it coming from NSSF.

Also — and I can't go into this just yet — there is very positive movement from the industry on allocating Pittman-Robertson funds specifically for range development. I brought this subject up today and got great response, so I think the fledgling industry initiative is very timely. There are also some very specific legislative remedies that are available to us, but I'd rather see the industry step up and lead.

Finally, the Remington 1911-R1 is now at least announced, in this issue of SHOOTING TIMES, a sort of GI version with a $699...looks like a nice pistol (I especially like the nubby vintage thumb safety and the classic diamond walnut grips). I should have one in my hands within the next few weeks, even if it's only for a limited time. We'll get it up on DRTV very quickly.

Ruger LC9!

Just getting back from the range with the brand spanking new Ruger LC9, 17.1 ounce 7+1 9mm...initial impressions are that it recoils less than my LCP with Corbin DPX...more when I get home!


Ruger LC9 and "little brother" LCP

A handful of 9mm!

Length differences between LC9 and LCP

Okey-dokey...Ruger surprised me with this one. We all suspected it was in the works — I've been adamant that the single stack polymer-framed 9mms would be the new competitive battleground. Especiall after Sig Sauer came into the market with the P290 (below).

Sig Sauer P290
Obviously, this niche has been dominated by Kahr Arms, who for years had the niche to themselves with their extensive jewel-like like of little 9mms, such as this P9 polymer frame gun:

Kahr Arms P9

The Kahrs have always been great shooters, but their overall acceptance has been hampered by a relatively high price point...the pictured P9 is $739 MSRP. The lower pirce point in the market has been held down by the Kel-Tec P-11/PF9 series, skating in at a feathery 14 ounces and an MSRP of $333:

Kel-Tec P-11

The Kel-Tecs have their devoted followers, to be sure, but a 14 ounce 9mm is indeed a handful. I have had mixed luck with Kel-Tecs. Last year two years ago Taurus jumped into the market with their "Slim," a slim (natch!) 7+1 9mm, 19 ounce semiauto but a price point of $485, less on the street:

Taurus "Slim" 709B

If you recall, I was very enthusiastic about the Slim, because it brought home a fact that gun companies have often forgotten — width is a critical dimension in a concealed carry gun. As much as I like hte Glock 26 9mm, it's a fat little bastard in the grips and that always ruled it our for me as a carry gun. At various times I have carried an STI-LS9, one of the thinnest single actions available and a superb little gun, and the Para USA Carry 9, again, a single stack 9mm (this one with the Para LDA system).

I recently went to the Ruger SR9c for it's 1911 width grips and the fact that it shot like a house afire (my carry SR9c is out for a set of XS Sights right now). The SR9c clocks in at 23.4 ounces and a lenght of 6.85 inches for its 3 1/2-inch barrel.

The LC9 essentially "splits the baby" between the SR9c and the wildly successful LCP .380.

Ruger LC9...note manual safety

The LC9's length is 6 inches (same as the Taurus Slim, longer than the Kahrs and the Sig) with a barrel length of 3.12 inches. Weight is 17.10 ounces; width of only .90 inches, consistent with the Kahrs, the Slim and the new Sig and compared to the 1.2-ish width of the SR9c. To compare, the LCP has a length of 5.16 inch, a width of .82 and an unloaded weight of 9.4 ounces.

I put about 60 rounds of mixed 124-gr ammo through the gun, most of it WW white box ball. I won't lie to you — the LC9 barks. But interestingly enough when I shot it alongside by LCP with Corbon defense loads, I'd have to say the .380 definitely had a sharper bite. The LC9 agazines come with an optional buttplate with a pinky grip...I've never paid that much attention to similar buttpads for the LCP, but I have to say the extra finger on the grip of the 9mm made a big difference to me. Depending on how the gun carries, my inclination would be to install the extended buttpad on all the magazines. I shot the 60 rounds through 4 magazines and had no malfunctions of any kind, a little surprising since this is a VERY early production model. Watch Wednesday's video podcast...those are the first rounds from the out-of-the-box gun...no break-in, no oil, no nuthin'.

The LC9 has an excellent set of fixed sights (with those annoying 3-dots!), including a dovetailed front. In fact, when I changed from the LC9 to my carry LCP, I really missed the sight picture! The LC9 has a strong-side only manual safety a la the SR series...not really necessary for a long double-action-only trigger, but I'm still going to come down on the side ot "plus." As you all know, I am a huge proponent of a manual safety in a gun carried off-body or in a forward of the hip carry like appendix or forward crossdraw. The gun also has a magazine safety, which sucks. Hopefully, it's as easily removable as the ones in the SR series guns. All four magazines dropped clear, and the mag button is where God and Jphn Browning intended it to be.

The trigger pull is long but not particularly heavy (I ran this gun to the range straight from the FFL person, so I didn't have a lot of my tools and toys with me). Tere is a small bit of roughness — not stacking — at the end of the stroke, but it didn't seem to be an issue with my shooting. The trigger smoothed out some as I shot it.

I did NOT have time to do any accuracy testing, although both Marshal Halloway and I will be pulling that together over the next few days.

Okay, here's the question of the day...is the LC9 a pocket pistol by the conventional definition? I'll give you a qualified "maybe." It's in my pocket now, and weightwise it feels like steel J-frame revolver, but bulkier. I'm ordering a DeSantis pocket holster tonight that should fit the LC9, and I'll let you know.

Do I think Ruger has found the tipping point here? My answer is yes, they have, and in exactly the same way they drove the LCP to best-seller status. There were a host of .380 pocket pistols before the LCP, but the Ruger captured the market with its name recognition, quality, price point and canny mix of features. The LC9 exhibits those very same traits...it's a Ruger, which means that not only will it likely work, but the company will stand behind it. At a $443 MSRP, it's substantially less than the top-end Kahrs (and probably the Sig, which hasn't yet announced the P290's MSRP), but not hugely more expensive than the bottom end. The sights are exceptional; the trigger pretty good. It's a handful, but not an uncontrollable handful.

I think the LC9 will appeal to the Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 people who came into the culture through CCW with a pocket pistol like the LCP and are now ready to step up to a larger caliber. They've had more time behind the gun, understand both shooting and carrying a lot better, and I believe the first gun they're going to be looking at is the one most similar to what they're already carrying.

[iPhone video and photography by the Sweetie]