And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my plan to fool gullible Utahans again.

Orrin’s been a changed man since the Tea Party started. Why yesterday he even threw us gun enthusiasts a bone:

Recognizing the need to revamp outdated and restrictive gun laws, U.S Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have introduced the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act. The bill allows for the interstate sale of firearms and removes several antiquated and unnecessary restrictions imposed on interstate firearms transactions.

Well gosh Orrin…you’ve been a Senator what… 30 years? And now, when you face a strong primary challenge, you start to worry about the Constitution?

No thanks. Enjoy your retirement. 

I regularly compete with three policemen that are excellent shots.  Three out of about 300 in our county (including city, county, and state and federal personnel).

On occasion I see other police shooting, most recently at an all police match.  And it wasn’t pretty. They were better than the public, but not as good as they need to be considering they tote a gun every day.

A couple of days ago police in San Francisco opened up on a person with a weapon, missing him and shooting two by-standers.

Now, I’m sure San Francisco gives their officers minimal training in accurate shooting and gunfight decision making.  And I’m sure they don’t hire with marksmanship as an important, or even considered, criteria (race and sex probably being foremost concerns).  And it is also true that most police officers never fire their gun in the line of duty.

But they carry a pistol every day. Some departments even require they carry off duty.  And should they need to use it, they need to be able to use it effectively and safely for those walking about innocently.

If you are a police officer and you aren’t happy with the training you’ve gotten from your department, it is incumbent on YOU to improve yourself.  It may cost some money, but hey, maybe your weapons sergeant can kick you some ammo.  And you should train and compete.  USPSA, IDPA, PPC, whatever. Get your heart rate up, and try to shoot and make decisions under pressure.  Someday your family, or an innocent by-stander might thank you.

Update: There have been 29 ‘unplanned’ shootings since 2005 at the SFPD.

My son and I took home 1st (me) and 3rd place (Brian) at the United States Practical Shooting Area 1 2011 Championship.   This is in the B Division (sort of like a handicapping system).   I did very well, finishing 12th of 90 shooters and beating a bunch of Master, A, and even a Grand Master.   Brian did well as well and would have handily beat me except for pistol problems on two stages.

Next stop…. Nationals!

P.S. I like this better than Little League, cause I get to play too!

Old slogan: Your favorites. Your Pizza Hut.
New slogan: Only criminals may be armed.

I don’t go to Pizza Hut. I don’t order from Pizza Hut.  Why?  Because their policy is to NOT permit concealed carry  firearms in their stores.

I’m fine with a private place doing this, but I vote with my feet unless they provide security because lacking that I’m unilaterally disarming when real criminals will not.

So, for instance, if I’d been in a Pizza Hut this weekend in Louisville, KY, I might have been defending my family with nothing but a red pepper shaker….

Police say a woman involved in an argument at a Louisville Pizza Hut raised the stakes considerably when she tried to pull a sword.

This particular incident seems overblown as “trying to draw a sword” hardly qualifies as a crime in my book.  But if she had got it out of the sheath, and then gone all “Braveheart” on customers there, who else was there to defend? Cops?  Armed Pizza Hut agents?  Nope.

Remember… all the police do is write the report.  It can be about your family’s injuries, or some wacko’s untimely end whilst playing “Game of Thrones” in a pizza joint.

Alas, Pizza Hut has already determined that outcome, and that’s why I don’t patronize them.

Update: Hunting around the web, I’ve found that some independent owners, for instance, in Arizona, have modified this policy. Good on them. But I still won’t go there.  Their pizza’s not that good. Sorry.

http://briankevinnelson.com/an-xdm-production-racegun-624

The shooter reports it ran great.

I was still hoping for a bb-gun at this age.

When I was in the Army I was issued an M16 rifle. To the best of my recollection I never had a jam with live ammo. I did with blanks, but I don’t recall ever with live ammo. We did practice jam recovery (slap – tap – rack – bang), but with many tens of thousands of rounds down range, some with barrels almost bending from heat, no jams.

Those rifles were old, many dated to Vietnam, and they were loose, sloppy and inaccurate. But they ran fine.

I was worried when issued the gun, because I was old enough, and interested in guns enough, to know about the controversy that the M16 caused when first introduced. It jammed… a LOT.   This turned out to be due to the Army using the wrong ammo, and also to a buffer spring issue.

I now have a decedent of the M16A1 introduced in Vietnam. It is of the M4 variant and is  tuned for competition shooting.  It has a compensator to minimize recoil by venting gas backwards.  It has a lightened bolt driven backwards with just enough gas to cycle the rounds, but hit the back of the receiver too hard.

It doesn’t jam either.

Given that history, you might find this history, of the M16’s introduction into service interesting.

http://www.esquire.com/print-this/ak-47-history-1110?page=all#

He got the facts basically right, which is refreshing for a journalist – especially one Esquire would hire. Read it.  The author also wrote the popular book “The Gun”, which is a history of the AK-47.

Here is the result:

And here are the details:

http://briankevinnelson.com/the-870-project-its-done-533/comment-page-1#comment-1197

We shot it in a short IDPA shotgun course this weekend and it ran great.

BTW: I ran a number of shooters through one of those Shotgun stages… you’d be surprised how often people forget to pump their shotguns…  Definitely something to practice.

Here he documents how his shooting coach, who also does 1911/2011 work, improved the trigger on the pistol.  The goal…  teach Brian how to improve the trigger pull of any 1911 with original parts and look but a much lighter (5.5 lbs) and crisper trigger pull.

http://briankevinnelson.com/a-trigger-job-on-a-gi-4-1911-496

Next up Brian will purchase one or two used low end 1911’s and smooth up their triggers and other components.

If you live in D.C. get yourself one!

The libertarian (and correct) Cato Institute links to an article in the Washington Post about what has happened since the Heller decision permitted D.C. residents to own guns.

In the 2½ years since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the District’s handgun ban, hundreds of residents in Washington’s safest, most well-to-do neighborhoods have armed themselves, registering far more guns than people in poorer, crime-plagued areas of the city, according to D.C. police data.

This seems obvious to me, and right to me. Unmentioned is that most male adults in the latter mentioned parts of D.C. are felons.

Says one recently armed citizen…

"I don’t have confidence in the police in terms of response time," he said. "If we are unarmed citizens, then we have no protection, and we’re automatic victims."

Amen brother…

DC still lacks a gun shop and due to abuse of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution pistol purchasers must purchase in their own state.  So it is hard for residents to purchase a firearm.

What has been missing?  Any uptick in violence or misuse of firearms since they were made legal.

My favorite of the show… two things. 

Here is a video of me explaining the Ranger III 1911 from STI. I REALLY liked the safety hammer feature:

And this new Kel-Tec pump shotgun, with TWO 7 round tube magazines that you switch between easily:

Learn more here: http://www.keltecweapons.com/news/preview-kel-tec-shotgun-ksg

My son will blog more about SHOT show in the coming days after we get home and decompress.

I’ve got to stop now and go soak my burning feet in cold water….

If I could snap my finger and get rid of all firearms in the U.S., would I snap?  

It’s a bit of a silly question, since it isn’t feasible.  But the “snap” does pose an interesting thought problem.

People hurt others with guns. People save others with guns. Guns help gain freedom. Guns help take it away.

I suppose the answer depends on what you value.   I value, very heavily, political freedom, economic freedom, and self-reliance. 

I don’t like, nor trust, the idea of relying on police to protect me, largely because they can’t, and also because they are very likely, in time, to oppress me rather than protect.  We see early trends of this now, as a result of “over protection” from drug wars, terrorism, and the inability of politicians to resist force based “solutions” to whatever bugs them.

We have too many police now, enforcing too many laws. I’d prefer less of them, focusing on far less laws that are of critical importance.

As horrible as recent events have been, I believe, firmly, that many many millions of people benefit from firearms ownership acting as a backstop for freedom and security.   In fact, I’d rather see MORE people own, train, and use them, than less. 

When I lived in D.C., I was forced to live without firearms.  I sat helpless as rioters over turning buses, police cars, and burning buildings approached my home. I watched helpless as thugs shot at a man beside me on the sidewalk. And I watched, helpless, as a one criminal shot another my home’s window in a “great NW DC neighborhood”.

So, no I wouldn’t “snap”. The calculus comes out wrong in my book.

I’d rather focus, instead, on proper prioritization of enforcement resources so that instead of arresting people for doing something millions do (drugs for example), they would instead have time, interest and inclination to check out reports of a psycho scaring students and faculty at a junior college.

It’s an STI Sentry, chambered in .40 S&W. It will be my gun for USPSA Single Stack and IDPA Enhanced Service Pistol division matches.

It will arrive just about match ready – with adjustable sights and a fiber optic front, as well as an Smith and Alexander style mag well.

I’ll have a local gunsmith smooth the trigger a touch, and polish internal parts and the feed ramp and then it will be ready to roll.

Oh… and I’ll get a supply of Virgil Tripp Cobra magazines for it – they always work.

For USPSA Single Stack, I’ll use a .40 S&W Major power factor load running about 930 FPS with a 180GR bullet.

For IDPA Enhanced Service Division, I’ll use a lighter .40 S&W load with 180GR bullet running about 800 FPS.

I’ll also carry it in my Sig Tac jacket in the Winter, or in a Cross Breed holster in the summer when I wear shirts untucked.

My son will shoot it, dissect it, and review it on his blog after it arrives.

I had occasion to use an STI GP6-C pistol in an IDPA match this weekend.  It is a DA/SA pistol, in 9mm, that my son mainly uses. I decided to try it, and found that I liked it quite a bit.

Short:

Excellent pistol.
I did the best I’ve ever done at an IDPA match with it. Inexperience with the initial DA action cost me.

Practice!

Longer:

Most things in life involve tradeoffs. There are few “perfect” solutions. This is especially true in pistols. 

The core tradeoff for the GP6-C is a smooth double action (DA) first shot, followed by 1911 quality single action trigger with a tiny reset.

What I found was that, with a bit of practice, I could get a good shot off with the initial DA, and then sizzle with the excellent Single Action trigger.  The minimal reset let me move my trigger finger minimally, thus causing little effect on the muzzle, for accurate shots.

Recommendations:

If you shoot IDPA, you should really consider this gun for their Stock Service Pistol division. It will give you a competitive edge.

If  you shoot USPSA Production division, and have a $1200 or so budget, I’d recommend a customized Springfield Armory XD Tactical because it has a longer sight radius (USPSA often presents longer shots than IDPA), and can easily have a superb trigger (done by Canyon Creek or other local gunsmiths).  If you are on a budget, the GP-6C is race ready for around $700 bucks.

If you shoot both, or don’t have budget to customize an XD Tactical, or budget for two guns, then I’d recommend this pistol highly as an excellent IDPA gun and very competitive USPSA Production division gun.

If you want to shoot the gun, just e-mail me and I’ll bring it to a match and we can run it afterwards.

For a more in depth review, read my son’s blog review of the GP6-C.

The video above is from last year, but it was the only I could find of it actually impacting targets.  The Army has deployed it to Afghanistan in select Special Forces units to get real combat feedback.  Each unit costs $25K, and each round, $25 bucks.

It looks cool, but the soldiers did seem slow to fire it. Not sure if that was just for demonstration, or if it has some inherent complexity that slows them down.

Read more here.

Just one video so far. Brian took some from his phone but hasn’t uploaded them yet.  This came from my phone which Kevin Acuff (Sin City Shooters) used to video it.

I believe this is Stage 5, but I’m not sure…