Truth in Advertising?

I actually posted this elsewhere about a year two years ago, why I never posted it here I don't know....I came across something on Kel-Tec's website regarding one of their folding carbines and it got me thinking of this post:

Is there any?

So in another thread I read about how Springfield Amory isn't even "the real Springfield Armory" or something along those lines...No kidding tell me something I don't know. Sure they boast "The oldest name in American Firearms" and that's true, it is the oldest NAME. Hell, they tell you right on the website that they purchased the rights to the name and that the original armory was closed. Anyone doing any real amount of research will find that out in 10 minutes on the website.

Lets take a look at Smith & Wesson's Military and Police line. Tell me, what Military is currently using these guns?

How about Taurus "Putting terrorists on notice" HOW? Are they sending them bills? If Taurus is putting terrorists on notice, I'm going to get that Federal reciprocity bill passed with Obama's signature. Or how about all the custom features that they put into the PT1911? Half of those are standard these days by almost every manufacturer worth their salt. "Standard features worth over $2100 on a custom gun" Yet I didn't even pay half that for my Les Baer TRS and don't even try to compare the two, I'll laugh myself to death.

How about Sig Sauer? "To hell and back reliability" Is anyone expecting Sig to take a trip down below for hi temp testing?

How about FN's "Built for them. Built for you" ad? If anyone hasn't noticed, what's being built for them, isn't being built for us.

Don't even get me going on any ad that has the words "Special Forces" or "Tactical" in it, I don't care how tactical your gun is, if you don't know how to shoot, that picatinny light rail and threaded barrel aren't going to do squat for you.

How about Kimber? "CDP pistols are powerfull, accurate, and absolutely dependable" ...after that little 500 round break in...if you're lucky. "The choice of America's Best" except for almost every police dept. there is and rumor has it that Marine Force Recon was not as thrilled with the Warrior models as Kimber made them out to be.

How about Stag Arms? "Stag carbines have fast become the bar by which all others are measured" Afraid not, that is STILL Colt and if you actual look at "The chart" you'll find the Stag is not that top of the line and not what I would use to measure all others against.

I like this one...

Ruger "The AR platform redefined" this is regarding the SR556, OK did they just miss every other piston driven AR on the market?

Or how about "Excellence at an affordable price" That's from Nighthawk Custom referring to their GRP and GRP recon....$2350 and $2550 respectively.

I'd keep going, but it's getting late. The bottom line is don't believe everything you read, take some time, start a thread, ask some questions, even use the search feature if you're feeling real dangerous, just do some research and don't get butt-hurt when you find out that those silly ads in the gun magazines aren't really true.

New addition:

So what did I see on Kel-Tec's website?

How about this for a good laugh:

The "Delta" model rifles are intended as a personal weapon for non-infantry military personnel, special operations, SWAT law enforcement, and civilians in high risk environments. The SU-16D is especially suited for low intensity urban combat...

 Yeah, I bet that when SEAL Team 6 took that holiday to Pakistan they were all toting Kel-Tec SU16Ds. Har dee har har... Designed for Special Ops my foot.

An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power

For those that haven't seen this yet, this is a pretty good read from Greg Ellifritz who readers of this blog should know from the TDI After Action Reviews posted elsewhere.

An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power

Dropping a gun....

Is never a good thing, while most newer firearms have "drop safeties" that are supposed to prevent a discharge as a result of a drop/fall, you can never count on a "safety" to do it's job as some times, things break or just don't work right from the factory.

One poster on a forum kind of stepped in it by citing that (allow me to paraphrase)...."ALL guns made after the GCA of 1968 are drop safe and dropping a gun is nothing to worry about"

Now without getting into the folly of that statement regarding handguns of domestic manufacture, lets look at a couple of things.

Even if a gun IS drop safe, a lot of people will try to catch that gun and that's when they blow hole in an unintended object/person. Guns such as your Glock, M&P, etc have that nice little trigger safety that works great until you try to catch a falling gun, as you are clutching with your hand and stand a pretty good chance of getting a digit inside the trigger guard and breaking a couple of firearms safety rules.

NEVER TRY TO CATCH A FALLING GUN!

Second, sometimes manufacturers just don't get things right, take into account the previous recalls on the Ruger SR9 and LCP

Ruger - LCP® Product Safety Warning and Recall Notice

Ruger has received a small number of reports from the field indicating that LCP pistols can discharge when dropped onto a hard surface with a round in the chamber. We are firmly committed to safety and would like to retrofit all older LCP Pistols. The retrofit involves installation of an upgraded hammer mechanism at no charge to the customer.

http://www.ruger.com/SR9Recall/index.html

We have determined that some Ruger SR9 pistols manufactured between October 2007 and April 2008 can, under certain conditions, fire if dropped with their manual safeties in the "off" or "fire" position. The pistols will not fire if the manual safety is in the "on" or "safe" position.

We will retrofit all affected SR9 pistols (those with serial number 330-29999 or lower) with these parts at no charge to our customers. In order to ensure correct fitting, the new parts must be installed at our Ruger factory in Prescott, Arizona. We will remove the old parts and install the new trigger group promptly, at no charge, and will return the pistol to you. The old parts will not be returned.

So, regardless of age, or newly incorporated whizbang safety implements, never count on a dropped gun to not go off, and in the event that you should drop a gun, never try to catch it.


Edited to add: If you're about to drop your gun into a lake etc. it may be worth catching and long guns are a different story...

Cental / North East Iowa IDPA Update +

So in some previous posts I mentioned some upcoming changes in IDPA in the Waterloo area.

Wolf Creek IDPA appears to be a no-go for 2012, but Blackhawk Pistol Club (BHPC) has decided to take on IDPA in addition to USPSA monthly shoots.

I've been approached to help out and will initially be acting as match director for a few matches, maybe the whole season but hopefully we'll get some of the new shooters from 2011 up to speed  and willing to step in.

There will be a lot of familiar faces from past USPSA and IDPA shoots and it will be good to see those folks again. We're entertaining the idea of holding matches on Saturday instead of Sunday, or maybe just a few Saturday matches throughout the season to see how they do.

There's  a bunch of us looking to obtain the IDPA SO Cert. so hopefully that will help us run the new club.

There's sure to be some hurdles to overcome, but it will be a fun and enjoyable shooting experience as BHPC has been doing a great job with USPSA this last year and it's sure to only get better. Talk of a 2013 Iowa State IDPA Match is also floating around as the range where BHPC holds it's shoots is being expanded.

In other news, it's 03:26am and my wife is NOT in active labor like we thought she was, the house remodeling is almost finished...one year+ into a 9 week job and work has been hectic, so please excuse the lack of content over the last few months.


If you'd like to learn more about the BHPC, there is an active segment at the Iliowa (Illinois/Iowa) Practical Shooters Forum

In other news, I'm shoring up my training calendar for 2012 and it looks like the wife and I are in for a good time.

I'll finally be attending a Suarez Intl. Point Shooting Progressions Class with Roger Phillips, this is a class I've been wanting to attend for a while, don't let the title fool you, there's more to it than just point shooting.

The wife and I will be attending TDI's Partner Tactics Course, yet another course we've been wanting to take forever, we would have done this last year but her pregnancy interfered with those plans.

I'm also wanting to attend Todd Green's Aim Fast / Hit Fast in Indianapolis in Oct of 2012, but it's not open for registration yet.