Here's my little CZ 452 .22lr all put together. I tuned the trigger with a Yodave spring and shim kit for a light, crisp pull with no creep. The stock has a checkered steel buttplate, steel grip cap, and inletted swivel studs in addition to one-piece bottom metal I modified for the rifle with the 5 round magazine flush with the underside of the stock. The finish is clear lacquer and it could use a few more coats, which it will get once I'm done taking it around the woods for the year. Since I started this project before I really had any idea what I was doing when carving and inletting a stock by hand, it is rough as hell compared to what I can do today so I won't continue with checkering this stock to finish it off. Plus this claro walnut is very much on the brittle, punky, porous end of things when it comes to walnut so it would not be conducive to good quality checkering instead of outbursts of profanity. Weighs a little under 6 1/2 pounds, feels solid, and is balanced wonderfully with the 20.7" barrel. I just had it out on my grandparents farm and rained hell on starlings and pigeons- it shoots! A great little gun.
I bought a Springfield .40 XDm on Halloween while out trick-or-treating with the kids. A friend of mine needed the money and sold it to me for $400. It has only seen about 50 rounds down the pipe. Happy Halloween to me indeed. Spoiler
I know the more you spend on the scope the better it is going to be. I just don't feel like dropping 1K plus on a scope right now. From what I have read, Mueller, Vortex, Bushnell, Burris, Weaver seem to be good mid range sight, any other manufactures that I should be looking at? Any of the ones I listed I should stay away from? I reload for my 40S&W so I know how to reload, just never reloaded for any rifle before. What is everyone's favorite power tricklers? Does recommendations of brands for single stage press?
Leupold rocks, and I've always had great success with Bushnell, especially with their 52+ mm variable 3-9.
+1 for Bushnell. Their customer service is amazing and the scope I have on my shotgun has served me very well.
I'll throw my hat in the ring for Vortex. If you ever break one of their scopes whether through fault of your own or not, they will fix it free of charge no questions asked. Lifetime warranty and it transfers forever. I've got a Vortex 2.5-10 Viper PST FFP which is pretty slick.
Finally gonna bite the bullet and go get my CHL. I've just never been able to justify wasting even half a saturday on it, so I've been putting it off for years. But I guess that's the point, right? You hope it's just a wasted Saturday. I'll shoot with my .40 to qualify; looking at the requirements, it's kinda scary, actually, how easy it is for "just anyone" to get their license.
I cringe a bit when I see those standards too... think the bar could be raised some without infringing on rights. Been thinking about CHL handguns and may start looking for 9mms. I can handle .45s no problem but know a 9mm would work well for my girlfriend too and any defense gun I purchase will require a lot of trigger time so that is a big factor to me. Just found a gun I forgot about... a Benjamin .20 pellet pistol. Started making some custom grips for it years ago and got sidetracked and it collected dust since. The grips are now held on via wraps of black electrical tape (especially classy considering my most recent post above, I know) so I could I put a little spacer block on the rear of the grip to better fit my hand. Now my air rifle has a friend for my 25 feet indoor "range" and just messing around last night I could hold shots within a quarter at that range. Good times. Spoiler: stock photo Just like this, except all nickel plated and shiny. Looks great with the tape around the grip.
Does anyone else on here concealed carry? And if so, what caliber do you carry (and why), and do you prefer shoulder holster, inside waistband, what? I've had my.Taurus .40 cal for years, always keep it on my side when I'm hunting as a backup. I feel extremely comfortable shooting it, and my accuracy with it, especially in non-traditional stances you get in the field, is crazy just due to comfort level. Ideally it would be my CCW for that reason, but I'm worried about it printing because of it's size. So once I get my CCL, I'll be looking at getting a CCW-specific sidearm. Leave the tank .40 at home (the physical size of it is my concern; the caliber is just fine -- this article basically proves my beliefs). I'm also in the market for a good little .22 pistol, mainly as a snake gun for when I'm fishing and for practice because .40 rounds get expensive. Any opinions on how well those are as CCWs as well? No one likes to get shot, even a little bit, so I know that leaves room for some debate.
I pocket carry a .380 in a nemesis holster and it works well. It's no target pistol, but they aren't meant to be, either. If you're looking for something small, try a few pocket guns out.
We just bought a SIG P238 .380 for concealed carry while hiking and mountain biking. Our main criteria were concealability and being comfortable for the whole family to shoot. That includes my wife, two girls -14 & 21 and our son, 19. We looked at everything and tried out the main contenders at the range over a few visits - P238, P938, G42, G43, Kimber Solo 9mm, Walther PK380. We all really wanted to go with one of the compact 9mm's, but the G43 and P938 were just too much for the girls to shoot comfortably. We switched back to the P238 immediately after that and they all loved it again, so we bought one the next day. For myself, I would have picked the G43, but since it's mainly for the rest of the family, the P238 is perfect. Their favorite to shoot is still our G19 though. It's so cool to see my kids shooting. The one big surprise was the Kimber. People continually jerk off all over them, so I expected it to be a nice gun. It was a piece of shit that wouldn't feed ammo. Everyone makes excuses and says it has to be broken in for a couple hundred rounds, but none of the other pistols had any problems. I would trust my life with any of the other ones, but never the Kimber.
I'm thinking strongly about a .45 Long Colt for concealed. I love Taurus, they just always have felt great and shot well for me (their price and lifetime warranty is a bonus, not the main consideration though). They make a beautiful revolver in that caliber. My thinking going with a .45 is, I'm the only one who's going to be shooting it and if my life ever got to where I needed to rely on deadly force, I want overwhelming force. If you're gonna put a hole in someone, might as well be a hole you can drive a truck through.
Because I don't want to take out a second mortgage for a handgun. And also the idea behind a concealed handgun, is for it to be a size that you can conceal it. A .22 on your waist is more deadly than a 50 cal in the gun safe.
I carry a G19 IWB in a Galco King Tuk. I run 9mm 135gr +p Critical Duty specifically because I spend a huge portion of my time in my vehicle and might need to shoot through glass which it is specifically designed for. I carry 9mm because I want to have more rounds available to me in the super unlikely event I might face multiple attackers so I can deal with them effectively and I can shoot really well with it. Not only this, but it is super cheap to shoot, stockpile, and I can trade it off for stuff (which I recently did for some smith work). The IWB itself is comfortable to draw out of and wear about. Never carry a 22 for defense purposes. While I wouldn't want to be shot with one, you still want a round which is going to incapacitate a bad guy quickly. That is usually achieved through hitting the CNS or blood loss via hitting a major organ or big holes in the body.
Never say never. In some situations, a .22 is just as effective as other loadouts. If it's a small-handed person who can't handle a 9mm or bigger safely or confidently, then a small .22 would be a better choice. If the girlfriend needs something small to fit in that little clutch she's wearing to the opera, then a small .22 would fit where a 9 wouldn't. If you're facing a thug who pulls a knife and you pull a .22, the fact that it's a gun and that it will make "bang bang" noises can be very effective and make them run the fuck away without the need for putting golf-ball sized holes in them. Not all potential situations are going to consist of tweaked out Jihadists wearing body armour coming at you in a crazed manner, so maybe a .22 will cover 90% of what you might run into just fine.
You're right. There are always two schools of thought when it comes to self defense with a 22. While I agree a 22 is better than nothing, there are certainly better options to carry. I like the more varied options of a 38 special or a 380 for small handed persons. In a situation like you described I might carry a hammerless charter arms 38 or something similar as they aren't too much bigger than a derringer. And let's face it, a derringer is going to be a bitch to practice with.