Vladimir Putin is more popular than ever and is going to take the Ukraine with little effort.
Canada is getting itchy.
Scotland is going to split off from the United Kingdom.
Maryland State Police seem to be pissing on the Constitution more than Capitol Hill Insiders.

These are interesting times.  What should we do about all this?

What we need to do, is to get a grasp of our own legacy.  Our American heritage… our American Spirit.  American Exceptionalism.   To quote Mufasa, “You have forgotten who you are.”
We need to remember.

What is your favorite pistol?
Depends on the intended use.  Since I mostly talk about defense use of firearms, I’m guessing you are talking about my favorite defensive pistol… In that case it’s the Glock 23.   I’m sure most readers are shocked about that.  (Sarcasm) Overall and ultimately, the favorite pistol that I posses is my 1911.  It’s a bone stock Springfield 1911 GI model and it is my favorite handgun.  While I do not shoot it or even talk about it with any regularity, it holds a special fondness in my heart that I can’t explain, and if I had to explain it to you then you would not understand.  My favorite gun to just “plink with” would probably be my Beretta 92FS.  And I can’t explain that either.

What is your favorite caliber?
Again, depends on the purpose… overall and ultimately my favorite cartridge is probably the .17HMR. That little round continues to baffle and amaze me.  It’s insanely accurate and the damage that the .17 Hornady V-Max load is capable of is almost supernatural.  If you are talking defensive cartridges for handguns, well, 10mm but I am economically disadvantaged to enjoy it as much as my appetite for it allows.  So I satisfy myself with the shorter and weaker version called the “.40 S&W”.    For big bore rifle hunting, 7mm Remington Magnum is my pick for longer range hunting while .45-70 is my choice for closer range work.  However anything I can do with .45-70, I can probably do and would rather do with a 12 Gauge Slug.

If you had to “Pick Just One”?
That’s easy, and I’ve said it before… If I could only have just one gun, it would be a Remington 870 12 Gauge.  Potent and versatile, I can hunt anything from humming birds to African Elephants by just using the right shell for the job.  And I’ve hit targets with it from 0 to 400 yards (Have Witnesses) with my 18″ smooth bores, nothing fancy or specialized.

Do you still hate the AR-15?
No.  When I wrote “That” the AR-15 was finicky and troublesome, and I personally had several that were completely useless as rifles.  Moving on from that time, the AR-15 platform has had a lot of development and people have generally figured out how to build them to run.  Now days, even a cheap entry level AR from a 3rd tier maker is going to run pretty well if you take care of it.  And a good one will run pretty well even if you don’t.  My current rifles have reliability records that I would not have believed when I wrote the Why I Hate The AR-15 article.  Daniel Defense remains my top choice for an off the shelf rifle.  Crusader Weaponry for a custom rifle.

Woke up from a nightmare that I can’t stop thinking about.  It was extremely vivid and real.  HD Dream.  Sight, sound, smell… and when I woke up, I could still feel the phantom pains of my injuries.
In the dream,  I was leading my youngest child to the car.  It was night and I was parked in a dark area of a large parking lot filled with vehicles.   I put my boy in the car, walked around and got in… and suddenly this huge guy made of darkness that smelled of coal and burned rubber jumped me.  He started grabbing me through the open window.  I had to fight him off from a position of disadvantage.  He had a box cutter.  I had a gun, but it was not chambered and I struggled to get it loaded while fighting this dark – thing. I was getting cut badly, but finally got my gun into play.  Keeping my left arm high, I emptied the gun under it and into the Attacker, who fell away.  The muzzle blast was ferocious with heat, light, and concussion.   My boy was screaming.  I had blood everywhere. There was lots of pain. 
And then I woke up.

I can’t stop thinking about this dream.

My situational awareness was high.  But everything was wrong and I knew it.  Where I parked, the window down, the gun in Condition 3.  

I can only come to one conclusion.
I need a new gun.

A good Browning High Power has always been my #1 Unicorn. Followed very closely by #2, a SIG P210.
Those are so close as to be more like 1 and 1.2…

The Browning is a very special pistol to me.  Not that I’ve some nostalgia for it… but I’ve just always held it in high regard.  The pistol is almost as historic as the 1911 and is considered by many to be John Moses Browning’s crowning achievement in handguns.
The SIG has it’s own merits that make it extremely desirable.  One is it’s fabled accuracy. The other is its accuracy.  The downside to the SIG P210 is that it’s a very expensive pistol.  It requires a lot of machining processes, which naturally increase it’s cost.  But there is a cult following of the 210 that doesn’t allow used 210’s at reasonable prices to be found.  Those that are put on the market are snagged up so quick it’s insane.  Now that SIG is officially making them again, it’s going to mean new used 210’s on the market, so hopefully this changes.  But most guys who buy one, and shoot it, do not sell them off.  I’ve yet hear anyone that has actually owned one that said they didn’t like it.  Not one.  I’ve heard some guys who’s borrowed one sour grapes..

More on this later.