I have been contemplating for some time now to use my Ruger P95 as trading fodder.  I have no use for it anymore.  It was the first semi-auto pistol I bought when I first started to carry concealed.  I have since moved on to other guns that work better for me, and I don't even take it to the range anymore because I want to spend range time shooting the guns that I do carry.

At first I was talking myself out of trading it because then I wouldn't have a 9mm in my collection.  It's not that I have a special affiinity for that cartridge, it's just that I like to have a wide variety of calibers in my collection, although it is only a small collection.  I was thinking about trading for one of those smaller Kel-Tecs, for use as a pocket gun, but I couldn't bring myself to trade a Ruger for a Kel-Tec.

There's another kind of gun I've always wanted, though, and it would mean trading a Ruger for a Ruger.  I'm thinking either a Blackhawk Convertible that can shoot either .45 Colt or .45 ACP, or possibly a Vaquero in .45 Colt.  I'm leaning more toward the Blackhawk because it can shoot two different versions of the good ol' .45, and it has adjustable sights.  Also, one of the first handguns I ever shot as a teenager was a Blackhawk (in .357 magnum) and I've always wanted one of my own.

By the way, Ruger revamped their site sometime not too long ago, and I think it's a lot easier to navigate now.

Before someone points out that the Blackhawk Convertible in .357 also shoots 9mm, I'm not going to go that way.  I already have two handguns that use .357/.38, but I don't have one that uses .45 Colt.

Having a gun that shoots .45 Colt might be the last excuse I need to start trying some reloading.

As time goes by, revolvers are appealing to me more and more.


Completely grauitous picture of the short-barreled Blackhawk, thanks to Ruger.

Sometimes you can't tell who's who.

From pressofAtlanticCity.com :

“I can tell you that we have never had a safety fail,” Atlantic County Sheriff's Officer Phil Tucker said. “If your finger is on the trigger and you pull the trigger the gun will go off. It doesn't just go off on its own.”

Tucker should know. He has been a firearms instructor for years and a sheriff's officer for 22.

The 40-year-old firearms enthusiast knows weapons. He repairs them.

He also teaches new recruits. In the past week, he spent most of his time at the Atlantic County Range in Egg Harbor Township teaching classes and assisting in target practice.

A Glock — the most widely used gun in law enforcement — is considered one of the safest when all of the safeties are on, Tucker said.

“It has a firing pin safety, a trigger safety and a drop safety,” [pfft!  No grip safety?--ed.] Tucker said. “In my experience with the Glock firearms, there have been no issues of guns going off without the trigger being pulled. The safety automatically goes on and unless you pull the trigger, a Glock won't just go bang.”

Authorities in the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office are still investigating a June domestic violence incident in which 31-year-old Pleasantville police Detective Adam Brownlee's gun went off and his girlfriend Denise Foley, 22, was shot in the leg.

So the reporter who wrote this up was told two times that guns don't just "go off," yet she still wrote that this cop's gun "went off."  Some people just don't listen.

Pleasantville police and the majority of departments around the region use Glocks because of their added safeties. [I don't believe that's why so many police departments use Glocks--someone cite me some evidence if that actually is the reason.  Glocks are no more nor less safe than pretty much any other semi-auto pistol.--ed.] Brownlee told police his duty weapon fell to the floor of the couple's Hammonton home during a confrontation and Foley picked it up and accidentally shot herself, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey S. Blitz said in June.

Although Tucker and Atlantic City gun dealer Guy Petinga would not comment on the Brownlee case, they said nothing is foolproof.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits, or something like that.

A revolver does not have a safety, said Guy Petinga, a certified pistol instructor with the National Rifle Association. So he tells his customers not to put a bullet in the first chamber so that if it does accidentally fire, there is at least some protection.

Oh, man.  If I was standing there and overheard him tell someone this, I would be hard pressed to not just bust out laughing.  Are any modern revolvers made without a transfer-bar safety?  Are there any double-action revolvers that have trigger pulls as light as a Glock, XD, or any other single-action capable semi-auto?

The only way to fire a revolver is to pull the trigger, just like your fanciest evil black tactical pistol.  The big difference is this:  before a revolver fires, the cylinder rotates.  With a double action, when you pull the trigger, two actions take place:  the hammer is cocked and the cylinder rotates.  If you're shooting a single action, the only way to fire it is to first manually cock the hammer.  When you cock the hammer, the cylinder will rotate.  Either way, the chamber which is under the hammer at rest is not the same chamber as that which is under the hammer when cocked.  I put this in bold in case someone who is not thoroughly familiar with firearms reads this.  Following Mr. Petinga's logic, it would make more sense to leave the second chamber in line unloaded.  All modern revolvers have a transfer bar safety (unless I am mistaken) which prevents an impact from driving the hammer forward into the cartridge accidentally.  The only way for the transfer bar to be moved is to cock the hammer.  Accidental discharges from an impact to an uncocked hammer is something that is part of the old technology.  They solved that problem decades and decades ago.

The best gun-safety techniques are to be informed about locks and make sure to buy one if your gun does not come with the device.

No.  The best safety is the one between your ears.  Know your gun, know how it works, and teach the rest of your family how it works.

They did print the "three rules," which I have to give them credit for.  They forgot the one about being aware of your target and what's behind it.

Over at Baboon Pirates.

So now I get a prize.  I wonder if I should wear surgical gloves when I open the package.

From The Telegraph via Free Republic:

In Westchase, residents do not want to talk about buying guns, fearful it will only make them more of a target. But a local business-woman said: "I always hated guns and would never touch one. I could not understand the mindset of the women I knew in Houston who not only owned and handled guns but drove around town with one in the car. "But never is a word we should not use. Six months ago, with my blessing, my husband bought a gun and went, with our 23-year-old daughter, to a class to learn how to use it, clean it and learn the laws that go with it. After another recent murder, I now have one too, although it still freaks me out." Texas offered shelter to nearly 400,000 evacuees from Louisiana at one stage, including thousands ferried by bus from the squalid nightmare of the New Orleans Superdome. About 250,000 are still scattered across the state.

As someone who spends a lot of time pounding the streets in San Antonio, I've heard of (admittedly anecdotal) similar problems in S.A.