Gun Nuts

For the past few months I have been learning the ins and outs of 3 gun shooting competitions and it would have been pretty difficult to accomplish this without a shotgun with which to work. By SHOTShow 2014 I had at home, a rifle and a few pistols, yet, up to that point, shotguns were still not on my radar. So when it came time to bring a shotgun into my world, I wanted to work with one that had some 3 gun mods already, but that might also fall into the category of “entry level”. CZ’s 712 Practical retails for $699.00 and with the brand’s long history of lux sporting shotguns, one can expect a solid platform on which to build.

I was genuinely impressed when the mag worked after being shot with a shotgun. The jumping up and down and the car stuff is just being silly, but the shotgun? Impressive.

Upper from Brownells, lower from Aero Precision, optic is a Redfield Counterstrike, mags from Troy.

Yesterday we had a wee bit of Christmas come early at the Gun Nuts office. My 11 inch AR pistol upper showed up, along with my pistol buffer tube and SB15 Arm Brace. Here’s the result:

I would like to express my frustration with the hunting industry. They are incredibly kind, and incredibly welcoming – but it’s just a difficult sport to get started in. My options are mostly regulated to “go out into the fields of South Dakota with my friends” or “buy a 2,000+ dollar safari.” Now, going out into the fields with my friends isn’t a horrible option, but I feel like there has to be something better – because not everyone has friends like mine.

I don’t normally recommend XDm pistols, but when I do it’s the 5.25.

This Thursday I’ll be winging out to Rockcastle Shooting Center in Kentucky to shoot my first NRA Action Pistol World Championship. Immediately after that, I’m heading to Columbia, MO for the 2014 Bianchi Cup. It’s going to be a hectic couple of weeks for me, that’s for sure.

Dynamic Pie Concepts kills it again

This is the best video since Sweep the Leg Drill.

Speed loading a shotgun, a skill I never thought I’d need, has now become a daily activity. There are a few techniques out there, and based on the length of my shotgun’s magazine tube (8 shells) and my newness to 3gun, I chose the “two-at-a-time” shell loading method. I explain this decision in my post, 3 Gun Decision: Shotgun Speed Loading Method. Each technique needs a belt mounted system that aligns the shells and holds them until they are needed. A few manufacturers have come out with models of carriers all with slight variations and certain quirks and benefits. Since it’s rare to find such equipment in a brick and mortar retail store, it can be hard to get any three brands side-by-side and really compare them. ...

If you’ve ever engaged in a discussion of terminal ballistics online, I guarantee you’ve read some variation of this argument: “Oh yeah, well if .45 doesn’t have any knockdown power, why don’t you let me shoot you with mah trusty forty-five!” Other variations are similar, but it basically boils down to “well if you don’t think it’s effective, let someone shoot you with it.” It’s also the stupidest possible thing you could say during a discussion of terminal ballistics. It is the argument of an idiot who doesn’t understand terminal ballistics.

Yesterday I published the list of the 5 worst places to get gun advice from online. They’re all pretty execrable, but I wanted today to offer some balance, and give you a list of five places that I visit every day. As it turns out, I don’t read a lot of blogs, and I’m not active on a lot of forums. I obviously visit the sites I own every day, here and GunUpTheMagazine.Com, so here are the top five sites I read, in the order I hit them from first to last.

At the 2013 Bianchi Cup, Tiffany Piper just missed out winning her first Ladies Championship. This year, will she be able to pull it off? Follow our coverage of the upcoming NRA AP events to find out!

One of the topics we address a lot here is terminal performance from service pistols, and how it’s all basically the same when you’re dealing with calibers from 9mm to .45 ACP. One of the things we don’t cover a lot are terminal ballistics from mousegun calibers, .380 on down to .25 ACP. Generally speaking, mouseguns are what you carry when you can’t carry a proper service pistol like a 9mm, and you’ll see serious ballistic compromises when you do go down to mousegun calibers.

The great thing about living in the modern age of the gun internet is that there is a nearly never ending stream of great websites out there to get information about guns, self-defense, the shooting sports, you name it and it’s out there.

Sometimes you’ve just got to wear a G-Shock while rolling with your Phlster holster and Beretta Nano. Operating hard on the way to the gourmet grilled cheese shop down the street for lunch.

A couple of years back, I raised a bunch of money for Livestrong here on Gun Nuts, because cancer sucks, and male specific cancers suck a lot. Of course, there are other cancers, and one of those is breast cancer. Let’s be honest here dudes (because I know most of you are dudes) we all love boobs. So this year, I’m going to do something fun with my shooting.

I don’t think I’m a particularly good shooter. I reckon I’m ok, nothing special. The reason for that is because the people I compare myself to and the objective standards I use to measure performance say so. If I was a USPSA GM, I’d probably say that I was a decent shooter, but not really in the same class as “real” GMs. If I won a national championship, I’d say “I’m pretty good, but not as good as the best in the game.” I’d imagine that Eric Grauffel knows he’s good, but he also knows he could be better. Because we’re nowhere near the pinnacle of human performance in the shooting sports.

If you have considered carrying a firearm for the purpose of self defense, at some point you have likely encountered the concept of civil liability for a legitimate use of force in defense of yourself or others. The criminal and civil court systems in our nation function very differently and operate on very different standards. In a criminal trial the jury is supposed to use a “beyond a reasonable doubt” before they assign criminal guilt. In a civil trial, however, the standard is the “preponderance of the evidence” which basically translates into the jury believing that it’s more likely that the charges levied against you are true than they are untrue. As a means of illustrating the difference between these two standards of proof (and probably not one endorsed by legal scholars or your local bar association), think of the standard in a criminal trial as being 99% certainty that the accused is guilty of the charges before a juror can vote for a guilty verdict. In a civil trial it could be convincing jurors to a 51% certainty that the plaintiff’s charges are true.

If you’re like me, you’re never going to win a match that counts. That’s why wearing the right shirt is essential. If you can’t win, look good while you use! Make sure to use this handy guide for picking your match apparel.