Are You Comfortable Around Guns?

@Don Alaska
The Colt Government Model, as it's come to be popularly known, made in 10mm caliber for some years, proved to be a rather serious "flop". It was known as the "Delta Elite". Turned out, the 10mm round, with it's high-pressure loading, is basically too much for the old Government Model frame. Many developed problems in use.

The 1911 design in 9mm is available from several manufacturers other than Colt. Years ago, Llama (Spanish or Brazilian?) built them; my nephew has one. For beginning shooters, the 1911 design poses more difficulty in understanding proficiency, with it's single-action only operation. Carry it with round in chamber, hammer at half-cock, or "cocked and locked" with safety engaged, as the famed Jeff Cooper loved, I to this day disagree with cocked and locked, as well as NO round in the chamber. Still, I love the 1911, and always will, preferring it and many others over Glock.

Frank

 

@Tex Dennis
A friend of my wife's family shot 600 to 1000 rounds of skeet a week! I envied his abilities.
Frank

 

For whatever reasons they may have, our military just can’t leave well enough alone. In the search for excellence, they keep shooting themselves in the foot which again shows that military intelligence is indeed a contradiction in terminology.
Still, I love the military no matter how backward they seem to get now and again.

 

Frank when at my prime I shot lots of Reg Trap and tried to shoot 500 practice a week every week and traveled to matches every weekend, I have shot all over the country, eye problems cancelled this plus divorce but was some of the best times of my life honestly. I had a dilemma of shooting well enough to be in the top classes but not competitive there won some lost a lot. Dad started me at 6yo! One of the few subjects I can discuss with 1st hand knowledge. 500 targets was just 20 boxes of ammo. Then moved on or rather back to shooting handgun matches. Shooting was the only reason I started wearing glasses.

One of the best times in my life was shooting the 5th Army Command Matches at Ft Riley Kansas until they cancelled them my best friend and traveling partner Col Fielding and I had some real serious discussions with Maj Chittenser at Ft Riley over this well until he found out Jack was a full Col and the mood changed drastically but no changes.

 

We have some really good shotgun shooters up here, and most of them are women. Several of the women from UAF have gone on to the Olympics. I myself have never been really good with a shotgun. My boys would out-shoot me. I prefer a rifle, but became more interested in handguns when they were threatening to take them away.
@Tex Dennis have you ever had trouble reloading for a semiauto/autoloader? I have been told that you get a lot of malfunctions with the handguns using custom loads. I have never loaded for a handgun, just rifles, but I bought some for my wife to use from a person leaving the state who couldn't take them with her. She hasn't taken them out to try them, though.

@Frank Sanoica I wasn't really tempted by the 10 mm, but it was offered to me by someone I correspond with occasionally. It was more than I wanted to pay, and if I get another handgun, it will probably be a large revolver, but even that is unlikely, as I don't go out into the wilds any more. The three sons I still have in Alaska all carry .44 Mags in a chest holster when they are fishing as a "Just in case" item. Often when they are out, they encounter brown bears and feel safer with something just in case. Rifles and shotguns are too awkward to carry when fishing. None of them have ever had to shoot one though.

 

Not really with those who know what they are doing use good equipment and pay attention, I cany remember my last malfunction I had and shoot all semi autos. I bet it was with factory ammo though, every match round I load id dropped in a go no go gage and no go is practice ammo for me my quality control is very high when I find a load that works I stay with it. Most problems I bet are from improper sizing or overall length wrong. Also high primers cause many misfires.

 

@Don Alaska
I've likely reloaded upwards of 100,000 handgun loads, with only very few mishaps. I attribute that to extreme care in set-up, loading only a couple of rounds, then test-firing them, and use of carefully selected and re-worked brass.

I have never reloaded a shotshell, but did do huge quantities of rifle ammo, primarily .223 Rem, .308 Win., and .30-06. Greatly enjoyed reloading 8mm Rem. Magnum. The rifle resides now with a friend in MO, who helped us greatly during our move to AZ. I met him at the high school, the year I taught Math there. He teaches Special Ed. Great guy, family man, 2 daughters who both go out with him for deer, the elder is 17, will graduate in May. Time flies, my friend!
Frank

 

I have a friend back East who is the best hunter I have ever known, and he does a lot of reloading. His shotgun bench used to face the glass wall of his bathroom (outside the bathroom) so he could watch his wife bathe while he reloaded shot shells...or at least that is what he told me. It became non-productive to do that eventually, as the availability and price of shot shells was so cheap that he no longer does shot shells.

I asked about the reloaded shells in handguns since that last gun I bought had a statement that the warranty was voided if hand-loaded ammo were used. I have also know some really picky semi-autos that would only happily operate with one manufacturer's ammo. Reason for that was not determined as the ammo looked and seemed to measure exactly the same. Mt #2 son has a .22 pistol that is that picky. I think it will only work reliably with Remington ammo. The primer there isn't the issue, since it is rimfire. Strange, though.

 

I am comfortable if I am handling them or someone I know, that knows how to handle one safely is handling one. Otherwise very uncomfortable and avoid such. I grew up with guns, that is part of ranch life. Girls learn to shoot safely, same as boys. When I was 12, I spent one summer in Alaska. I had to learn how to shoot a 30-06 with a heavy load for protection against grizzlies. My dad's best friend was a gunsmith and fitted a super recoil pad on it, but it still kicked me harder than I liked. I was use to my 22's and 30 30 lever loaded light for carrying around the ranch. I had a Colt revolver. I never liked or felt comfortable around semi auto firearms. I saw no reason for such. A bolt, hammer, lever, or pump works just fine. I was taught to never shoot at anything you don't intend to hit and never shoot at any animal or human you don't intend to kill. Learn to make the first shoot count. I loved target shooting. I never cared for hunting. I had no problem blasting rattlesnakes and barn rats.

 

Surprise post as I just was thinking of shooting today as no real plans and to windy for the lake really, as stated all I shoot is 99% semi autos and reload all match ammo and have many years I am kind of getting back to regular shooting of several trips a week as just to get out as my mowing days have started to go down thankfully, I still try to shoot 200-500 rounds a week here as most my friends also do, I bet we don't see anything but semi autos shot even 1 a month but that will change next month as deer season starts. Our next match for Oct is going to be a 150 round 1911 style match, several of us are going to another city to shoot it, looking for about 25-30 there, then the next weekend our church 2 gun match with a Halloween theme and meal following, hand gun and either BUG (back up gun) or carbine all semi autos for sure. We see maybe 2-3 non semis a year maybe.

 

Don't hunt anything anymore here but coyotes or bad snakes just when I find them, just shoot for pleasure a lot and help with church shooting groups, carry daily as most here also do especially out working alone in the woods or pastures, sometimes just take a walk in the woods with one of my dad's firearms and dog may or may not ever fire a shot, many trips late afternoon to the trash dump looking for rats as I did as a kid, dad would drive me there and leave me coming back later to get me, right before dark was the best time and so many cans to shoot at all in a huge hole. Even had a blind there to sit in. Cloudy late afternoons with a sprinkle of rain were the best times I found out. GF also went with me many times. Love to repeat that

 

I am comfortable around guns as long as they are not pointing in my direction.

 

Should be rephrased to people carrying or handling firearms. Yes, to all your questions, I am especially comfortable with baseball bats and billy clubs.

 

There was only one gun I wasn’t comfortable around and I had to dispose of it making it’s entire species a non-threat to the entire planet for indeed, it was the last of it’s kind.
No matter how much I thought it was trained, it had a mind of it’s own and would run amok shooting whatever and whomever it wanted to with no reasoning in any way.
Finally, after having to clean up after it one last time, I disposed of it the best way I knew how; I denied it of any bullets and it starved to death after which I gave it a burial complete with a 12 gauge shotgun salute.

Like I wrote, the whole species is now extinct and no matter what anyone else says, the are no longer any wayward guns who shoot all by themselves.