Sunday, February 27, 2011

My Range Bag Can Eat Your Range Bag...

If you're looking for the BEST range bag for not a whole lot of $$$, look no further than the Midway Competition Range Bag, regular price is $69.99 but I don't think I've ever not seen them on sale for $39.99 except for when the green bag first came out. This thing has got to be one of the nicest bags I've ever seen. Here's the pics.


A little disgruntled...

So the wife and I have been NRA Certified to instruct in Basic Pistol for almost four years, we're going to get our cert. for the NRA Basics of Personal Protection Outside of the Home (PPOH) this spring and we're looking around for "Train the trainer" type classes.

Lets be honest, "NRA Certified Instructor" is almost as non-impressing as a Cracker-Jack diamond ring. I've met good and bad NRA Instructors so you would think there would be available venues for instructor development out there. While there are some, there aren't many that accept non LE/Military personnel. What I've found so far that doesn't require you to be LE/MIL is Range Master in Tn that offers an instructor course and the Sig Academy appears to take us normal fold in their Instructor Development Courses, the Sig Academy is also GI Bill friendly, so it looks like next year we'll be off to NH to increase our skill set. There were one or two others, but they want you to go through "X" amount of their classes before offering an instructor type class, that's cool and makes sense that you want to have some basis of proof that it's not Joe Blow walking into your door wanting to be a trainer, but it would be nice if there were more options to aide in self improvement.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Iowa Permit to Carry Classes, NRA Basic Courses, and Private Instrution

We have ventured in to our own training entity, Central Iowa Defensive Training and are offering the NRA Basic Pistol Course, and two Iowa specific carry classes covering open and concealed carry. We will also be expanding our curriculum this Summer to offer the NRA Basics of Personal Protection Outside of the Home and a women's only course covering everything from empty hand to armed defense. We are also providing private instruction for those needing / wanting more specific instruction.

We will still be conducting classes in Traer and hopefully this summer we will also have the Marshall County Izaak Walton League as a hosting venue as well, if that works out well we will make efforts to bring in outside talent such as InSights Training, Suarez Intl., I.C.E. Training, and possibly an Aim Fast Hit Fast series of courses.

We are also able to provide live-fire qualification for permit renewals in accordance with SF2379.

We look forward to serving Marshalltown, Ames, Grundy Center, Waterloo and surrounding areas in providing good quality handgun training at a fair price in our your own back yard.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Came Across a Nickel HK P7 Today....

...And had to have it. It's on lay-a-way (up to a year with no interest) until I can sell another item to ease the transition of coming home with another gun this soon after the arrival of the Nighthawk. Gun comes with two mags and is not marked as the recent re-furbs that hit the market a while ago. Both mags are refinished as well, should make a nice "discreet carry" firearm and I may end up passing the P238 over to the wife as she's been eye-balling it of late.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

A minor rant...

"It's out of my price range" when applied to a gun that's maybe $200 more than the other model someone is looking at when that someone all ready has a decent collection of firearms.


Now I can see price range and budget being an issue for a first gun where one has nothing to fill a role with and they "need" a gun sooner rather than later. But if you have a stable of handguns, is saving a couple more months for something a little nicer that may fit your wants/needs better really that much of a burden? If you've got three pistols all ready, is the cost difference between a Sig and a Glock really that big a divide? Or the difference between a Sig and a HK? or a Springfield MILSPEC vs a Loaded? Now obviously there are some guns out there that are outrageously priced and I wouldn't scoff at someone telling me I'm nuts for shelling out what I did for my Nighthawk but it's not like we're talking about putting off a Taurus to save for an Ed Brown where the cost difference is more than 100%. For the most part, mid tier guns of similar design are all within a couple hundred of each other. I think people just are in too much of a hurry for self indulgence and the "but I want a new gun now" wins out over rational thought.

Officially jumping n the 10-8 bandwagon

I've referenced material from 10-8 before, and read/forward their articles to many, so I might was well do it here as well.

If you own a 1911 you owe it to yourself to check out this stellar reference site: 10-8 Articles, also of interest is their blog. I recently picked up one of their Armorers blocks and it's proved useful in the short time I've had it. Just the other day their Gen 2 Slide Stops were back in stock and I decided to get one as my Nighthawk was not consistently locking open on empty with Wilson ETMs, so far it seems to work as advertised, the pad is nicely oversized without being overly large. I also picked up some 10-8 Lube and some Armorers Tools. We'll see how this slide stop performs now that IDPA is getting to start back up as well as some scheduled training this Spring. The wife and I are heading back to TDI for Pistols II & III to fill the prerequisites for Team Tactics. 

I totally spaced during my ordering process as I meant to get some of their nifty slotted screws designed to work with a .45ACP casing, oh well, there's always next time. If the slide stop works well for me I'll probably order another for my Springfield.

Monday, February 14, 2011

100 Years of the 1911

On this day today in 1911, the M1911 was patented.

Now say what you will about the 1911 and it's perceived and legitimate short comings, you have to admit that for a basic handgun design to still be in use, largely in it's original form for 100 years says something about the genius and ability of the design. From new gun owners to Military and Police hi-speed / low drag types, to gun collectors, carriers, competitors, the 1911 fills the hands of many of shooters and is still thought of in some circles as "the" handgun to have.

It's no secret that I'm a 1911 fan, and this year is being hailed as the year of the 1911, every maker under the sun is offering a commemorative 1911 celebrating the 100 year anniversary.

Kimber, Remington, Para, Colt, Ed Brown, Les Baer, Nighthawk Custom, and many others are all offering something special for this year. Colt is even roll marking models with "100 Years of Service" on the slides of 1911s made this year on top of their commemorative models. The two models I'm most interested in this year are the Colt ANVIII an the Ed Brown Executive Elite Centennial Edition  . When you look at the likes of the Kimber and NHC model that Ed Brown isn't too outrageous compared to their other models.

Most likely I'll be ordering a Colt ANVIII, but those Browns sure look nice. Maybe an ANVIII and another Colt with the roll mark are in order...

Monday, February 7, 2011

Most likely going with Sig for the new rifle.

While the Colt SP901 is pretty temping, so is a gas piston AR 10 made by Sig.

From Sig's Facebook Page








All ready has the ACS stock I want and may be a little lighter than the Colt sans the monolithic upper. How did I miss this at SHOT?

There's also a "Precision Marksman" version with a longer rail and 20" barrel, specs show less than two pounds of difference, 9.3 vs 10.6 lbs. But I'd have to buy the ACS stock anyway and eBay the PRS from the Marksman model. The ACS is less clunky with no funky wheels and stuff, has a cleaner look and a better spot  (a'hem "cheek") weld than most of the other stocks I've felt. I wonder if an extra 4" of barrel and longer rail is worth the weight, it's not like I'm going to he hiking in Afghanistan with the thing and some moderate range coyote hunting may be in my near future.

Guess we'll wait and see how the pricing between the Cotl SP901 versions the Sigs compare.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Don't Shoot the Messenger: Another Reason to Not Endorse Kimber...

ALE's pricey guns prove unreliable.

"ALE Director John Ledford said the Kimber pistols repeatedly suffered such problems as rounds jamming during training exercises, broken sights and the weapon's safety button sometimes falling off. He made a deal with a local firearms dealer to swap the pricey pistols for less expensive handguns without spending any additional money."

I'm sure that those guys are just haters and gun snobs and that there's really nothing wrong with the guns...

Oh, my favorite part.

"In an effort to fix the problems, Ledford contacted Ralph Karanian, the chief operating officer of Kimber America of Elmsford, N.Y. Karanian promised to fix the problems, and the company replaced a key spring on the pistols, according to the memo. Agents also fired as many as 1,500 rounds with each pistol on the suggestion they needed to be "broken in.""

If you buy crap, don't be surprised at the stink.