Survival and Emergency Preparedness

Mac66 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 1:37 pm Just added another single shot shotgun to the collection. Trying not to spend money on guns this summer but when It was offered up on a local gun forum for $100 I couldn't resist.

It is a 12 ga NEF (New England Firearms, formally H&R) "Pardner" SB1.

Wife and I were out shopping today. My favorite little hole-in-the-wall gun shop had moved to a new location closer to my home but I hadn't been out there yet. Did a search of the address of the new location and found out it was 3/4 of a mile from the store we were at so we popped over to see what they had.

My wife has some issues with hand strength so we've been looking for a small on-body carry pistol she'd be comfortable with and that she could manipulate the controls. We found an LCP II and it worked for her so we purchased it. While we were waiting for the background to clear I noticed a new grey-framed Taurus G3 in the case for $259. I asked the shop owner about it and he said he couldn't keep them in stock. He'd just gotten that one in. So I got curious because we've been chatting here about the G3 and G3c and asked to see it. He took it out of the case and racked the slide and my wife noticed how easy it seemed to rack. She asked to see it and found that she was able to easily manipulate the slide and control. Well, that's all it took so we decided to purchase that one as well. For $259 it was hard to pass up. I really like the grey frame. Came with the standard 17-round and 15-round mags. Brought it home and compared it with the Glock 19FS I just got a couple of months ago and pretty much the same size. The Taurus is a bit taller with the 17-round mag. With the 15-round mag it's close enough to not matter.

I was pleasantly surprised with the trigger. It does indeed have the wider dingus and was smooth and crisp. Doesn't seem to break as far back as I remember the G2 breaking. The reset was short and crisp. Fit and finish seem to be nicely done. About the only criticism I can thing of right now is that the 3-dots sights are on the smallish side. Functional but small, white dots. However, since they are compatible with Glock sights I can see a set of night sights going on them in the near future. Texturing is aggressive but not as aggressive as I remember on the G2. So right now it feels like it would give a solid purchase on the grip without ripping your hand apart during recoil. Actually shooting the pistol will give the yay or nay on that but I suspect it will be fine.

Magazines have the yellow follower which I like as a feature. Anything that helps you to quickly identify some aspect of your pistol under stress is a plus. One reason I like the orange followers on the Glock Gen 5's so much. A simple thing but it's a functional advantage.

Slide does have good serrations front and rear. Not in your face yet functional. And the slide is easy to rack. Seems very smooth.

One of the features I particularly like is the indentations on the sides of the mag well and the mag base plates. As an instructor, I really drill students on malfunction drills and these indentations really help to strip out that mag in the advent of a double feed.

So the periphery stuff is a thumbs up. I'll probably get it out to the range next Monday and put some rounds through it for a functional test.

cityfarmer wrote: ↑Mon Jul 20, 2020 5:10 pm Picked up a like new Chiappa Rhino Revolver 60DS. Long story but I got it from a close friend and paid way more than it's worth but I didn't mind.

It's a crazy weird revolver but light and narrow (for a 6 shot 357 magnum) for 6" barrel revolver. I just shot 19 rounds as that's all the rounds I had with me but felt nice. Heavy DA trigger pull (about 14 lb.) but smooth and SA was light (about 4 1/2 lb.) and pretty crisp. For a light revolver it handles the recoil really well. It felt lighter than my 4" model 66 by few ounces. It has a traditional looking hammer that can be cocked for SA shooting but it's not really a hammer as the real hammer is somewhere down by the grip.

I shot factory Remington 158gr JHP which usually had pretty harsh recoil but it wasn't bad. I would say it was about like shooting the same ammo out of a 6" S&W 686 revolver but was able to get back on the target much faster. I liked the full moon clips as it's very fast for unloading and reloading.

I'm not sure if I like this revolver or not as I don't have enough trigger time on it but it has potential to be a great revolver. I'm going to shoot it a lot more this weekend and see how it performs.

David wrote: ↑Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:50 pm Just picked up an HK USP 45 with night sights, holster and 6 mags for $775.



Has a Talon grip on it as well. Very good shape. The DA trigger is very smooth and of course the SA trigger is sweet. My wife was amazed at how easy it is to rack the slide. That put the pistol up a notch in her estimation. Picked up a couple of boxes of 230 gr Federal HST +P.

Looking forward to shooting this one.