Gun Nuts

In the mid 2000s, the Sci-Fi channel was full of space-age guns as props in television shows. Two of the most prominent were the FN PS90 in Stargate SG-1 and the Beretta Cx4 Storm in Battlestar Galactica. But in the real world, which of these two lightweight carbines stands on top of the sci-fi gun heap?

FN PS90
The PS90 showed up in Stargate SG-1 as the primary weapon of the Space Assault Guys, or whatever they were called. Of course, it was in its full rock-and-roll P90 version with the stubby barrel. Its primary roll in the show was full auto magazine dumps in the general direction of badguys, A-Team style. Still, it looked cool, and that’s important. In fact, it looked so cool that it was originally used in Battlestar Galactica. The prop department of BG eventually dumped it specifically because it was all over SG-1, and they didn’t want their cool gun to be the same as the other show’s cool gun.

In the real world, the PS90 is chambered for the unique 5.7×28 cartridge. It is generally only available to civilians with a 16 inch barrel, which remains quite compact thanks to its bullpup

I am frequently skeptical of force on force training as an way to pressure test self-defense skills. Because most Force on Force (FoF) is scenario based, it’s very easy to construct contrived “gotcha” scenarios that leave the student without a better understanding of their own skills, or the application of deadly force. This post was spurred by a thread on Pistol-Forum, an AAR about a FoF class. Here’s the relevant scenario:

Scenario is, you’re going to pick up your teenage child from the mall. As you’re approaching the entrance, several distraught individuals pour out of the doors, panicked, screaming that some guys are fighting, one of them has a knife. You go inside and find that it’s your kid that’s got the knife, and is stabbing someone on the ground. As I was yelling at “my son” to stop, another person with a gun steps out from behind a corner, also screaming for him to drop the knife. Kid doesn’t drop the knife,I yell at the other guy to drop his gun, other guy shoots “my son” and I, of course, light him up. This one actually turned into a running (waddling in my case) gun fight. I got hit once in th

Fun Beretta fact: M9A1s manufactured for the consumer market and the military market are exactly the same. Want to buy the exact same pistol that the USMC carries? You can buy an M9A1 off the shelf that is identical.

The Lionheart LH9 I’ve been testing came with some additional pieces of gear: a GCode OWB holster and a double magazine pouch. The double magazine pouch was…not good. However, in the spirit of the test, I went ahead and ordered a pair of the GCode single magazine pouches to continue the test with. Generally speaking, I prefer single pouches to doubles anyway. Double magazine pouches tend to be harder to adjust the retention correctly. Usually what happens is you’ll have one of the pouches adjusted just so, but the other pouch will either be Kardashian-loose or tighter than…a very tight thing.

The GCode single magazine pouch is a single piece of injection molded plastic that uses a single screw for retention at the top of the carrier body. The belt attachment is an easy-on/easy-off clip which appears to be sized for a 1.75 inch wide belt. The retention level was set so tightly when I took the pouch out of the bag that after I had successfully removed the test magazine, I half expected to be crowned king of England.

Read the Guns of Magnum PI today on GunUp the Magazine!

The Vitals

• Country of Origin: USA
• Caliber: 9mm
• Capacity: 13+1
• Loaded weight: 1.8 pounds

Shooting Stats

• Class: Subcompact
• Trigger type: Double action/single action
• Recoil characteristic (for type): average
• Grip texture: smooth/slippery
• Trigger pull weight: 12 pounds DA/5.5 pounds SA

Performance notes: The Px4 Storm Subcompact fits into the class of guns dominated by the Glock 26. Unlike the other members of the Storm family, it does not use the rotating barrel, instead opting for the traditional Browning Short-Recoil action. The wide grip and availability of a pinky-extension for the magazine make this a very pleasant shooting sub-compact, but just like the other Storm pistols and the Nano, the grip is too slick. However, with a reasonable price point and excellent DA/SA trigger, the Storm scores

Here’s a video of me shooting the IDPA classifier with a raw time of 50 seconds. The purpose of doing this was to shoot it so fast that I was basically out of control; I dropped a spectacular amount of points and finished terribly. But, the value in this is that I learned a max speed. After this run, I shot it again and pulled the speed back just a little bit – my raw time increased to about 65-70 seconds, but my points down dropped dramatically. Sometimes, you have to go out of control to realize how fast you’re capable of shooting.

Photo by Joe Huffman, from 2008. Going back to a simpler time in the gunblog game, before SEO mattered, before this was a job, before I got paid. It just a bunch of cool people shooting guns at Blackwater with Todd Jarrett.

There are a lot of great training schools and instructors out there. Long time readers of the blog know that I’ve never included Front Sight in that list, and there are good reasons for a lot of that. If Front Sight was just a training school using obsolete techniques, that would be one thing. But there are many, many problems with Front Sight that extend beyond just their training.

1. Doctrinal Weaver
Let us be honest for a moment: Weaver is obsolete. Modern Isosceles, as used by every top tier shooter on the planet, is better. Yes, you can absolutely prevail in a self-defense situation using Weaver, and a well trained Weaver shooter is very capable. However, Front Sight teaches Weaver as The Only Way, and still teaches it as close to the original Modern Technique as possible. Even Gunsite, the fountain of Weaver has adapted their stance over the years. That’s why I always tell people, if you want to learn how to shoot Weaver properly, go to Gunsite. They started it.

2. Their prices are insane
Front Sight’s 2 Day Handgun Course is $1,000.00. You read that correctly, that’

Did you ever go out with someone that you were absolutely crazy about, only to find out somewhat later that she was actually crazy? You manage to get clear of the meltdown without getting burned too badly, but even though you know that moving into a little flat in Chernobyl would be safer than getting her back into your life there’s still this completely irrational attraction you can’t shake off. Every now and then you go to a party or an event and she’s there, and heavens does she look amazing. In the moment you see the smile and the cute way she brushes her hair back behind her ear when she’s flirting…and things start to happen. Your olfactory receptors are catching the subtle scent of her perfume, triggering all sorts of memories to the point where you can practically feel the dopamine hitting your brain like a warm summer breeze. She is beautiful, isn’t she? Didn’t you two have some amazing times together? The few neurons in your head that aren’t bathing in all the feel-good chemicals swirling around up there remind you that she’s actually quite mad. She may be blushing slightly and smiling innocently now, but you know from hard experience that she’s capable of pulling your still-beating heart from your chest, taking a great bi

The M&P Shield has been my go-to carry gun for a while now. Whenever I don’t want to carry a full-size gun, I usually end up strapping on the Shield. It is in my opinion the best of the single stack 9mm market.

One of my goals is to take one major pistol class every year. Usually I like to do it right before the shooting season kicks off in earnest, as it’s a decent way to tune up before the season and knock any rust off. Since I started this policy in 2011, I’ve taken the following three classes that I personally identify as shooting classes:

• Intensive Handgun Skills, InSights Training Center 2011
• Speed Kills/Get SOM, Todd Green 2012
• Get Better at Shooting, Matt Mink and Ben Stoeger 2013

Photo by Dustin Pluth

Each class I’ve learned something new, something different that has improved my skills as a shooter. That’s the point of continued education – I want to keep learning. I have a lot of opportunities for continued learning at a few of the major matches I attend each year as well, because the availability of practice ranges at Bianchi Cup and Steel Challenge allows me to hang out with some of the best shooters in the world and learn things from them.

This is actually pretty well played, it was a nice humorous start to my morning.

Maybe I’m biased, but I have seen more impressive acts of true sportsmanship from the competitive shooting community than from any other sport in America. Everything from the courtesy extended to me when I visit a match to the written rules of the 3 Gun Nation, lead me to feel this way. I would even go so far as to say that children who participate in the shooting sports seem to be better behaved and have better manners than any other group of kids I’ve seen. Can this all be credited to guns?

I have combed through the 3GN rule book a few times now, and I noticed that they include a note to spectators. The rules state that tee shirts displaying obscenities and the like, will not be tolerated at matches. They also spell out rules of conduct that have nothing to do with gun handling or participation. I think this is wonderful! It adds to my overall sense of safety at these matches, because I know that the directors are paying attention. I can liken it to a restaurant with a less than spotless restroom. If they don’t take the time to scrub the toilet, how clean is their kit

Check out my new carry gun for the remainder of the year, the Morph 3X. The 3X uses advanced polymer construction to keep the weight low, and has a true DAO trigger mechanism. Chambered in 4.5mm, it fires a hardened steel ball at velocities sufficient to penetrate corrugated fiberboard armor. It’s been paired with the excellent Redfield Counterstrike combat optic, which because the Morph lacks a reciprocating slide will allow for rapid target acquisition. I’ve already ordered an RCS Phantom for this new rig, and I can’t wait to try it out in USPSA Open!

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) released a statement today clearing the massive, 9 month NFA backlog and waitlist. Due to the recent boom in suppressor purchases and SBR builds, the single employee at ATF who processes NFA requests had become worked to the point where his standard 20 hour work-week wouldn’t allow him to process NFA requests in a timely fashion.

ATF released the steps they took to clear the backlog in such a short order:

• Hired two more full time employees to round out their NFA processing staff to 3
• Increased the standard work week from 20 hours to 40 hours
• Cancelled the formerly mandatory 2nd breakfast, elevensies, and afternoon tea breaks for all NFA processing employees

ATF’s PR Rep also released the following statement: We are very sorry to have inconvenienced law abiding gun owners like this. We realize now that no one would ever go through the formal NFA process if they planned on committing a crime with their legally purchased NFA item. Again, we’re really sorry about all this. It’s just that delaying NFA requests to run redundant background checks is a lot easier than fighting actual crime, like finding out who’s sending all those guns to Mexican drug cartels…

Additional items of n

For immediate release – March 31st, 2014
Noted arms maker Sturm, Ruger & Co has announced their acquisition of Florida based “firearms” manufacturer Kel-Tec CNC, Inc. Ruger is known for their quality firearms that have a well earned reputation for reliability and durability.

“We’ve been taking Kel-Tec’s designs and actually turning them into reliable, working firearms for years now” said Michael O. Fifer, Ruger’s CEO. “We just figured, why not make it official, so we bought them out with some pocket change. Look at this way, now you’ll be able to get a twin-magazine bullpup shotgun that actually works and ships in a timely fashion.”

Full details of the sale have not yet been announced, however industry insiders have leaked that the majority of Kel-Tec’s production staff will be laid off. Certain key former employees of Kel-Tec will be chained to a drafting table in a basement dungeon under Ruger’s Prescott, AZ facility where they will design guns keeping with the Kel-Tec ethos. Kel-Tec’s production facility in Florida and a

In news that will shock many, today Sig Sauer discontinued a massive number of guns in their product line. All handguns other than the classic P-series guns such as the P226 and P229 have been dropped from the lineup, effective immediately according to a source inside Sig. On the rifle side, all long guns other than the new MPX submachine gun have been dropped as well. A Sig Sauer insider was quoted saying “Look, we all know what you want is more P226s and P229s, but for years we kept making diamond plate rainbow compact 1911s. We’re really sorry about all of that, and we’re going to go back to making the awesome guns that you actually want.”

The abrupt cancellation will definitely affect the availability of Sig’s new striker fired polymer pistol the P320 which was in the process of shipping to dealers this week. Inside the Sig factory, CNC machines once dedicated to the production of P238s and Molon Labe 1911s were taken offline, scolded for being naughty, and brought back online to machine slides for new production Sig P229s in 9mm. The real question in this announcement is whether or not th

Shannon Smith, USPSA National Champion and all around cool dude wins the internets today. Well played!

I received my official squadding for Bianchi Cup over the weekend, and in the letter I received notice from the NRA that I’d made Master class in NRA Action Pistol.

You classification in NRA AP is based off six shot averages of your scores, so for Master your six shot average must be at least 57.60. Now having made Master in NRA AP (when they re-ran classifications in advance of the 2014 events), I am now faced with an interesting choice. I have Master class in IDPA, obviously, and now Master in NRA AP. There are only two “action” pistol sports that have their own classification systems that I’m not Master or better in, and those are USPSA and Steel Challenge. Dismissing Steel Challenge for a moment, a quick check of my USPSA classification record indicates that when I was shooting USPSA every weekend I was 3 points and change away from making Master in L10.

This morning, I find myself debating an interesting topic. Is it worth the time and effort necessary for me to go out and finish off th