New Gun on the Way

So, I was hanging out on my favorite gun forum and I saw a gun up for sale in the trading post.  Sig  239 in 9mm with 5 mags, 3 holsters, etc.  Basically the whole kit and caboodle minus ammo, for about the price of the gun in used condition.  I've only gotten to shoot a Sig once, a single stack full size 9mm.  I liked it, but not enough to spend the money on one.  This week, I bit, the price was just to good.  I can hardly wait to shoot this gun.  Will is be as nice as I remember?  Will it be as accurate as I've always heard they are?  Will it be small enough to become my new EDC?  I hope so, it cost me $300 in wife tax to bring this one home.

I Write Like

I write like
Ian Fleming

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Win 1000 rounds of .380 ACP Ammo

During the great ammo shortage of 2008 I really caught the reloading bug.  I've come to enjoy the simple pleasures of making my own little precisely measured dollops of lead poisoning.  That said, I wouldn't have the brass I needed to enjoy reloading without places like Lucky Gunner to buy ammo at.  So when Breda posted that Lucky Gunner and The Firearms Blog were giving away ammo.  I got excited.  With ammo prices still running almost 150% of 2007 pricing.  Every shooter is feeling the pinch.  Now I don't shoot .380.  Not because I don't like it or think it's not effective.  I just don't want to complicate my ammo supply.  So, because I've enjoyed reading Breda's blog so much, I'm giving any .380 ammo I win to her.

All this reminds me on why I've made my personal ammo decisions.  I stick with NATO calibers for all my firearms.  7.62 is plenty big enough for any animals I hunt.  5.56 is a great plinking round.  9mm is everything I need in a defensive round.  12 gauge is what the Marines use for house clearing, I've never been one to argue with a marine about ammo choices.  I find that twelve gauge works just fine from home defense to Canadian Geese.  It can be a lot of fun to play with different calibers, but if I really want to shoot a .45, I've got lots of friends to help scratch that itch. 

Now my son, he has to get all fancy with that 25-06, the little rebel.  He listens to rap music too.  I guess if that's as bad as he gets, I've probably got the best kid in the world.

PF9 Mark II Update

My new to me PF9 has performed beautifully for me.  It's been to the range three times kicking about 250 rounds down range each time.  No malfunctions to speak of.  But I've got a problem.  I can't seem to trust the PF9 design as much as I used to.  Having the takedown pin walk out on me makes me wonder when it'll happen again.  What if it happened when I really needed the gun?  So I found a screaming deal on the Sig P239.  Hopefully it'll be small enough to become my every day carry gun.

New to Me Carry Gun

So with my little PF9 off to the factory for repair, I've been carrying my full size pistol.  A full size Ruger 9mm is not a very comfortable carry gun when you've gotten used to the small light, disappear in your pants PF9.  So I was very happy when I found a used PF9 at my local pawn shop.  I went to the bank to grab some cash and when I got back, it had been sold.  :(

The next morning I got a call from the broker, the buyer had been denied on his background check.  Bad luck for him, great news for me.

The gun was in perfect mechanical shape, I'd say less than 100 rounds down the barrel.  No frame rail wear, the are still tool marks inside the barrel.  It did have a lot of holster wear.  I'd say that 90% of the bluing was gone.  An afternoon with some cold blue has that all taken care of and tomorrow it's going to the range.  If this gun is a shooter, I'll be happy to carry it until my primary gun comes home.

PF9 going back to the factory

Saturday was not the best day.  It started beautifully.  Wide open time line, plenty of ammo, some new loads to test, and great weather.  Things were going really well until I pulled out the pocket pistol.

I had just fired it's first five round string of the day and the take down pin broke.  Not a good deal, but not a major problem either.  The problem showed up when I started examining the frame.  It appears that I have a crack where the assembly pin mates with the right side of the frame.  Most likely the head of the pin sheared off do to some unseen defect and the crack happened as the pin began walking out of the hole.  So, the whole gun went back to Kel-Tec today.  I'll report back when it comes home.

Reloading

I sure have enjoyed the reloading game.  Each round is a work of art.  With a single stage press, hand primer, and a liquid cleaning solution, I can load about 100 rounds an hour spread over two days.  Day one is deprime, clean and size.  Day two is prime, load, and seat.  Now that I've got a chrono (PACT Mark IV), it's easy to find loads that shoot very accurately.

For my 7.62 NATO, I've standardized on 168 grain loads.  43grains of Varget makes for an awesome mid-power load (2588fps) that makes one 7.62 hole over a 5 round group.

For 5.56 NATO, I'm still in the hunt, but a 55gr bullet over 21 grains of H322 is bringing in great accuracy, but mediocre velocity (2550fps).  24grs of H322 isn't bringing great accuracy, but has the velocity I'm looking for (2800fps).

For 9mm, I'm not super thrilled with my accuracy, but I've found that 5.6grs of Unique under any 115gr bullet delivers 1100 fps very reliably.