The first review: War Rifles

Here's the first of what I hope to be many gun reviews.  This is the whole reason that I started this blog, so here it goes.

When looking for a gun with some history to it many turn to war rifles.  I personally own a Mosin-Nagant M38 that fires the lovely 7.62 X 54R round.   I chose this particular rifle because (this sounds bad even to me) it was cheap.  When I bought it I was short on cash and I wanted a GD battle rifle.  I went to a decent gun show in Tulsa, OK and found several booths selling WWII era rifles.  Now as a disclaimer none of these rifles that I found were show case quality, but the ones that I really liked were in servicable condition: meaning that they can be fired.  So, you get a gun with world-changing history and you can shoot the hell out of it.  Here's what mine looks like.

The top one in the last pic is a Mosin Nagant M1891/30.  It has 4 inches of more barrel, considering that the bottom rifle is considered a "carbine".  Both weapons are identical until you get to the barrel making all of their parts compatible with each other.

Both weapons ran me about $110 a piece.  Cheap, right? Even though it was a cheap way to go, they both perform very well and are accurate over 300 meters (being that that's the farthest I've been able to shoot them).    If you want better info and history The Other Side of Kim has great reviews on many of the WWII era rifles separated by country of origin.

My next rifle to discuss is the M1 Garand.  Being that the M1 was the first fielded semi, it performed incredibly well in battle.  Nowadays they are great additions to any collection and, they are purely American.

.30-06 caliber, 8 round mags allow you to lay fire to anything in your way.  One of these babies will cost you roughly $600 from the CMP for a service grade Garand.  The Civilian Marksmanship Program is one of the best suppliers for Garands and Springfield 1903's.  They also provide civilian classes to help educate the civilian population for gun safety.

This (and the Springfield 1903 A3) is the next rifle that I plan to buy.  

There are many other options out there like the German Mauser K98 or the Japanese "Arisaka" Type 38.  Do you research on the gun you want to buy because some are more expensive than others, and the ammo costs differ depending on what each rifle is calibered to.  As I increase my experience I will add more blogs.

-M.C.

Guns and Kids

Now before I get into the actual topic of guns themselves let me get one minor safety rant.  

If you have kids PAY ATTENTION!!!

The number 1 rule about guns and kids is that guns are ALWAYS loaded.  I have guns around the house and we constantly have to be vigilant about where they are and which kid is near them.  Son #1 and #2 know not to touch "Daddy's dangerous guns".  With that said anyone who trust that their kids are actually going to LISTEN to what they say is being naive and that can be a dangerous mistake.  Here's some basic rules that can help (remember that these are my opinion).

#1: Introduce them to the gun.

If the kids only see them in passing their interest peeks to the point that they have to "peek".

#2: Depending on the children and your parenting style, explain what guns do.  

I don't mean turn on your best FPS (first person shooter) or the goriest shooting movie that you can find.  Explain to your kids that guns can hurt people.  My kids know that guns cause "big owies" and they only touch them when I let them.  They have tested the boundaries and they were reminded that the rules would not break.

#3: Keep the media violence to a minimum.

Every new TV show and movie has violence and killing in it.  Now don't get me wrong, I love me a good action flick but I watch movies like that before I even think about letting a kid be in the room with it playing.  The most violent movie that they are allowed to watch is Iron Man and we had to explain that people got hurt in the movie.  My kids understand that guns kill people.  I don't try to scare them, but without understanding comes ignorance.

#4: Teach them how to use them.

Take the time to teach your kids how and when to use a gun.  I don't think I even fully appreciated the destructive power that guns possess until I used one for the first time.  Not only will it give you great quality time with the kids but it will teach them that YOU respect guns and they should too.  As a plus everyone like shooting stuff.   The wife and I have discussed in detail when is the best age to start teaching the boys and we pretty much decided that we'd start at 6.  Whatever your thoughts are on the subject, that's our plan.

Always, always, always treat a gun as if it were loaded.  All you have to do is google search kids getting shot with guns and you'll find all kinds of stories about guns and the unintentional deaths that they cause each year.  All can be avoided.  Many could have been avoided if parents had just taken the time to spend teaching their kids.

I did say I was opinionated and I hope that I didn't ruffle to many feathers but gun safety is so important to the preservation of life.

-M.C.

Guns, guns and more guns.

If you like guns then you're in the right place.  I share a common interest with so many Americans that love things that go "boom"... guns.  The 2nd amendment provides all Americans the right to bear arms, but I'm not going to preach right or wrong or political views on the 2nd.  I am, however, going to fill this blog with my personal opinion.

Obviously, being a cop, I carry a gun.  If I wasn't an officer I'd still carry a gun.  In today's world violent acts against humanity are continually growing more frequent; I can't even turn on the news without seeing stories about violent crimes.  I also see the darker side of society, and trust me it's there.  You can be as naive as you want to be, but it's still there.  

I will not discuss professional stories with this blog because everyone deserves the same amount of respect, but I will reference personal experiences as they come along.

I'll start with this:

I began shooting at the age of 18 when I joined the army.  Like all Army I began shooting the M16.  I quickly moved on to LMG's  (light machine gun) and HMG's (heavy machine gun).  I have shot most personal and squad based weapons that the Army had to offer and I was sent to basic armorer school where I learned to work on and maintain military weapons.  I left the Army to join the police and started my pistol and shotgun training.  I'm still working on fundamentals, but as a shooter you always have to work on fundamentals.

As far as civilian weapons go, I'm still fairly inexperienced.  As I continue to expand my knowledge I plan to write it down and share with anyone who cares to read.

So I leave you with that.  -M. C.