New Ruger!

Wow, the guys at Ruger are really burning the midnight oil.

Now they have an 8-shot .22LR version of the LCR polymer-framed revolver.

They released an 8-shot .22 SP101 with a 4″ barrel and a 10-shot version of the Single-Six (with a 5.5″ barrel) a few months back.

Now they have adapted the LCR with a 1.875″ barrel to .22LR, with the same heavily-relieved cylinder design.

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Street Crime

It is almost impossible to get a gun to legally defend yourself in Chicago.

That fact is a problem for most law-abiding citizens, who are at the mercy of criminals who don’t obey the law (and are not adequately punished when caught).

Unless you are this guy:

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Who needs skills?

Not every gun owner practices as much as they ought to.

I understand why: our lives are full and guns don’t nag as loudly as spouses do; dragging our gear to the nearest range (which might not be so near) is a hassle; range-time and ammo cost money; and cleaning guns can be a chore.

But we all need to practice, and I am glad to see people taking the time and bearing the expense to do it.

Except when they aren’t “practicing” to get better, and they’re just wasting ammo & making noise.

There is a time and a place to do that and it is fun.  I have done it, so have most shooters.  It’s cathartic, it’s more fun than manually unloading a magazine.  But you don’t become a better shooter by setting the bar absurdly low and then failing to meet even that low standard.

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The "Master"

Golly, there’s a lot of finger-pointing and animosity flying around whenever you start to talk about shooting classes and the people who teach them.  Ask a simple question about the qualifications behind someone’s reputation, and all of a sudden you have people calling you names and making accusations.  Are Jeff Cooper and Barack Obama related?

What are the qualifications of a shooting instructor?  There’s actually 2 relevant questions there: what are the actual qualifications of the instructors?  And: what should the qualifications be for an instructor?  Does anyone think that those 2 questions are not legitimate questions to consider?  Ideally, that Venn diagram would have 100% overlap, but the world is not a perfect place.

Most of us have seen the youtube videos of “shooting instructors” doing questionable and dangerous things.  What sane person would take a class with the guy who advocates running at his assailant while shooting?  “Shoot you to the ground” I think he called it.  Stupid is what those of us who watched the video call it.

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1911

I have said it before and I will end up saying it again: the 1911 an old design that is more trouble than it is worth.  I don’t say it to be confrontational, or to draw attention to myself.  I say it because I see my fellow shooters mindlessly parroting the gun equivalent of Chuck Norris Facts whenever the 1911 comes up in conversation, and I just don’t get it.

I am not surprised that the 1911 is out of place in today’s world, and you shouldn’t be surprised either.  What other 100-year old design is still in daily use?

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