Doing this Play is taking a lot out if me. I’m so tired, I can’t see straight.
(When I posted this, It was well after 1 AM… after getting up at 6 AM and doing a full day at work.)
.22 Rimfire for serious defense?
I’ve always scoffed the use of .22LR for Self / Home defense. But consider the following.
A combination such as the above as a lot of potential for a .22LR House Gun or Truck Gun. The Stinger is pretty much the hottest thing going for .22LR that I know of. It claims 1640 FPS, which is smoking for these little Rimfires. Put 25 of those little suckers in a little carbine such as this HK MP5, or an S&W M&P15-22, or even a good Ruger 10/22, and you just might have something there.
I know I don’t want to catch any of these Stingers, and certainly not 25 of them. That’s a pretty goodly amount of fire power in a package that even a small child or frail adult or very strange ladyboy could handle with little problem.
We’ve nodded at the value of a training analog using such rimfires to offset the cost of ammunition with 5.56mm and the like. Ammo is expensive, but luckily .22LR can be had in bulk at the average price of 20 bucks for 500.
As a survival tool, .22LR is a clear winner for sure. Packing 500 rounds is pretty easy compared to 500 rounds of anything else. Lots of ammo on hand, cheap ammo, it has a lot going for it.
.22LR is a very lethal little round when used with good accuracy. It’s killed quite a few things over the years. And it’s been used with success as a defensive tool as well. However the point of Defense is not to Kill. The point of Defense is to Stop A Threat. The mad man with the knife is the model often used as an example, and perhaps this is unfair for the rimfire, as it’s also unfair to most handguns… only thing that really works there is a 12 gauge anyways and even then you are going to use multiple shots, so what chance does your 9mm have let alone a .22? The most often “Defense Use” of a weapon is pulling the gun up, pointing it at the Threat and saying “STOP”. This usually works because even stupid bad guys don’t want to get perforated regardless of caliber. And a scary looking .22LR like the picture posted is probably going to be every bit as effective for this purpose as anything else. If not, you have 25 bullet points in your argument to present… I am thinking that this might be convincing enough.
Wild animals don’t speak English, and can be unimpressed with your fancy gun regardless of caliber. Noise often scares them away and any gun shot can do the trick quite often. Having a high capacity here is a very good thing though because if the warning shot (ONLY FOR WILD ANIMAL THREATS OUTSIDE OF THE CITY) fails to send the critter running away, it’s going to come at you. Some animals are much tougher to stop than others. Badgers for one. I hit one with a car and then a .45 and it just got pissed. (I was the one that ran away! Evil little fucker!)
The key here with a .22 LR for Defense is ammo. You want to use the good stuff for this. And I’m talking STINGERS or VELOCITORS. I’d not use anything else. The cheap bulk stuff is good for plinking and practicing, but for serious use, keep your mags full of the quality made stuff. Mini-Mag HP’s are the Minimum. Shot Placement is more critical than ever here because the stopping factors such as hypovolemic shock are not going to come into play here. The hotter rounds as mentioned are your best bet for penetration and tissue/organ disruption. Hollowpoints are advised as well. Not because they expand, because they rarely do reliably… but because the flatter ogive cuts more tissue instead of pushing it apart out of the way. To get the Shot Placement that is so needed, practice becomes very important and again, the .22LR lets you do this. So if you are practicing all the time with your .22 and you can make 5 fast hits in a blink at the sound of the buzzer… that’s a pretty solid defensive response.
Feel free to discuss or argue below.
Superhawk Update.
Unplanned, I sold my bike. An offer was made on my Superhawk. So I sold it. I was surprised, as the thought totally had not occured to me.
Oh well. It’s done. So I shall be getting a new bike. Something that is not a Honda. In fact, its very un-Honda. The Anti-Honda. Something I’ve never had before. It’s also very large and heavy, and that makes me nervous. It’s also ridiculously fast… But not something that will have me riding like I have been. This will be a good upgrade for me. One I can cross the country on… and will.
Tactical Carbine This Saturday.
Thus class is going to be awesome. We’ve got three if The Gun Dudes coming out to attend the class. These guys are a riot. If you’ve been thinking about coming out to train, this is the class to be at. Come on, nut up and do it.
10mm Handguns for Defense.
Some guys are tired of the 9 vs 45 debate… and they don’t want Middle of the Road. They are looking at the 10mm. I’ve been getting a lot of emails about the 10mm. Which 10 you can get. My answer is simple, but to get there is a winding road.
So you say you are shopping for that 10mm pistol. You start looking at the 1911’s of course, because the 1911 is like the Harley Davidson of the Gun World. Wilson Combat and Nighthawk Custom, as well as other high end 1911 Builders are all doing a few of them. They are all very nice indeed… and expensive. You really want to invest in one like that and throw it in a combat holster and roll in some gravel with it? We’re looking for a defensive gun here. And if you are not willing to roll around in the gravel with your super expensive custom built piece of artwork on your side… then you are not looking for a 1911. Your really not. If you choose one of these, and you are willing, then great. 10mm 1911’s do tend to be a bit more reliable, and accuracy is great, and you can get that first shot off nice and precisely. But let’s say you don’t want to drop 2 Grand on this pistol. We have to look elsewhere. You want that feel of a solid steel gun. Feels good doesn’t it? Oh yeah.
So you look at the EAA Witness pistols. Classic CZ design. Double stacked so you have a good capacity. Their “Wonderfinish” looks good. The gun feels good. But dang, it’s heavy. Accuracy is pretty good, but that long Double Action pull is not as great as it should be. The Witness has some sharp edges here and there… and yeah… that weight issues is just too much for daily all day carry. Let’s keep looking.
S&W is making a cool revolver in 10mm. One of the Nightguard series. Old School Cool, now in 10mm. And you can shoot .40 cal as well. How cool is that? But you have to use Moon Clips. Moon Clips are a PITA. I don’t really care for them and you shouldn’t either. Besides, this Nightguard would be cooler in .44, wouldn’t it?
That leaves the Glocks. You have two options. 20 and 29. The 20 is the full sized and the 29 is called a Sub Compact. Either one is great and either one you can theoretically get with the “SF” frame. The Slim Frame. But they are hard to find. In the .45, you can find SF’s but the 10mm’s are tough. My choice is the 20. Full sized, accurate, controllable, great capacity… There you go. Now we are talking about something.
But I don’t like the Glock Trigger, you say. Okay. So change it. You can put in a trigger that feels just like how you want it. Easy to do. Have it your way, just like Burger King. But the gun feels blocky, you say. You can alter the grip frame as well. It’s plastic. It’s pretty easy if you take your time. But it’s ugly. Do you really care what your Parachute looks like? It’s a weapon. One that if you use in a defensive situation, you might not ever see again anyway. The Glock is the perfect fit for the job. Don’t cry about the Grip Angle. You get used to it pretty quickly if you decide you want to.
The main problem with the 10mm Cartridge is not the Cartridge its self. Its not that the ammo is more expensive than others… Because its not… It’s what, 2 bucks more than .45 Auto? The problem is that it’s been a Commercial Meh. Why is that? Too powerful? I find it just like .45 Auto… it’s not too much. The FBI dropped it, not because it’s too gun for their Accountants, Lawyers and sundry beancounters… It was because there was too much of the gun for them to get their hands around. The 1006 was a gun made for Non-Human hands. It didn’t fit all those little girly hands, so they were not able to shoot it very well.
What the 10mm needs is for the gun makers to put out the guns that people are already buying, and give them the 10mm Option for it. M&P, XDM, and the Storm are three of the most popular guns out there as far as our local sales go… and none are offered in the 10. This is the 10’s main issue in a nutshell… There are no 10mm options in the guns people are wanting to buy.
Guns that SHOULD be available in 10mm.
1. S&W M&P. In Full, Tactical, and Compact sizes.
2. SIG P220. In both Full and Compact.
3. Springfield XDM. In the Full, Tactical and Compact.
4. CZ 97B. The new style with the Decocker.
5. HK45. They have two sizes and neither are 10mm.
6. FNH FNP Tactical. This would turn a 10mm pistol into an offensive platform.
Monday’s Motorcycle: Kawasaki KLR-650
I’ve been wanting one of these bikes for about 10 years now. It’s the Two Wheel example of an SUV. Go anywhere, do anything… if Jeep made a Motorcycle, it would be this.
You see them around town, passing through, usually overloaded with gear and stuff… going on Adventures… making me think about where they had been… where are they going… and wishing I was going too. This has really put an Enduro type bike on my Radar. While I keep looking at others, I always come back to the KLR-650.
It’s not just me. The US Army and Marines have purchased hundreds of these KLR’s. The Military versions are outfitted with Diesel engines and 8 gallon fuel tanks. Go anywhere. Do anything. The KLR is that bike. It’s not the best of the Enduros… the fastest… the easiest… whatever. It’s a solid bike. That’s what I want. Sure, it looks like Crow T Robot, but come on… it’s a rig that gets you there and back again. If Bilbo Baggins had one of these, The Hobbit would have been a Short Story. One day I will own one of these, and I’ll ride the hell out of it. I want a stable of different bikes… so wanting this one is not exactly me saying I don’t want another one like a Vstrom, Tiger or BMW enduro… I’ve just always wanted a KLR.
China on Guns
China says US Gun Ownership is a Human Rights violation.
Hey China. Shut the fuck up. Here is a brief overview of what China does – back from 1995 and it has only gotten worse. Since then we have reports of mass forced abortions and ground up dead babies taken as pills.
China… you guys are Monsters. You are why we have guns.
Compact 9mm’s
Gear Alert: Primos Light
I’m a gear whore when it comes to some things… especially Lights. I love a good flashlight. Primos has an interesting new Weapon Light out now. It’s designed for Night/Low Light Predator Hunting. Check it out.
It seems fairly large for a weapon light, but it has some good qualities that make it worth a look. Rechargable is a nice feature, as is the 220 Lumen LED head, and a 5 hour run time. A High Low switch would be able to extend that life cycle by double I’m sure.
On the side is a small dial switch that turns a red filter to give you a 220 Lumen white light, or red light as the situation warrants it. Well, maybe not red… more light a soft pink. The white light is nice and bright, but I’m not sure our example is 220 lumins. Maybe half of that… but it’s still nice and bright.
It has a very narrow profile and could potentially do very well on the side of a Quad Rail, or on the top with a rifle with a fold down flush front sight post. However, this light from Primos has a couple problems I’m not real pleased about…
The mount is crazy tall. It’s designed to clip to your 1″ Hunting Scope Body, and be able to rise above the scope’s objective bell and such. Which is find for what it is… but a low picatiny mount would give this some nice tactical applications, not just hunting.
The light does come with a pig-tail switch. But if you have charged batteries in the light, the light is on. When you attach the pig-tail switch, you can then turn it off. Oh, it also turns off if you plug it in to recharge… but then you can’t have the pig-tail switch plugged in when you do. This retarded power on/off thing is a deal-breaker for me on the light for my purposes… but might be just fine for yours, so it’s worth looking at. I think to make this light more ulititarian would have been to include a simple freaking ON OFF BUTTON. Also, it’s not water proof. WTF was Primos thinking here? Fix these issues and give it a low profile pic mount and you could have a heck of a good Weapon Light for the Tactical Shooter, not just the Critter Shooter.
Monday’s Motorcycle: Triumph Bonneville
The Saturday evening friends gathered to watch some awesome Motorcycle Racing. Before the races, we sat around a table and talked bikes and riding and all of us have some different points of view… but we all agreed on one thing. Triumph. No matter what kind of Biker you are… you have to nod that Triumph owns Cool. So in honor of The Triumph Accord, Monday’s Motorcycle will be the coolest of all Triumph Motorcycles. The Steve McQueen Edition Bonneville.
