Ruger LC9: First Shots Down Range

I got in the Ruger LC9 today.  What a sweet little gun.  I put 150 rounds down range and not one hiccup.  I'll tell you though, if you're looking for a sweet shooting handgun that you can spend all day at the range shooting, the LC9 is NOT the gun for you.  It is not a beginner's gun, not your wife's first gun, and it is not a gun you buy to get your kid into shooting.  It's got some feisty-ness to it.  It's a self-defense gun, plain and simple, and is not "smooth shooting."  I fired 150 rounds in about 10 minutes, and my hand and forearm were ringing.

I love it, though.  I can't wait to take it out more.  I Shot Winchester USA, UMC, and Wolf ammo out of it.

WROL/SHTF: Choosing the Right Self-Defense Weapon

I've become interested in the WROL (Without Rule Of Law) and SHTF (S%!t Hits The Fan) topics, and there's quite a bit on the internet.  For those that don't know, someone who takes an active and serious role in preparing for such catastrophes -- be it man made or natural disaster -- are called "preppers."  I'm learning that a prepper has taken things a bit further than someone who is a survivalist.  I'm not sure, but I think the term "prepper" is fairly new. It's a pretty interesting world, and I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos on the topic.  I've always been someone who mentally prepares for something like that happening, and I know I have most of the gear/food stores/ammo to survive, but a prepper takes it a step further and actually stages the gear for easy/quick access.

One of the topics, and the topic that I want to touch on, is the choice in firearms to choose as your WROL/SHTF weapon.  Of course, you have the guys who are all about the AK, and "It's the best weapon ever because you can do anything to it, and it will work, and the 7.62x39 Soviet round is the best as a man stopper"  And those that have the big revolvers in .357 because that's the most reliable handgun, in a great caliber.  And of course you see a lot of guys who choose 1911s, and Glocks in .40 S&W.

I agree that the AK is the best choice if you're looking for something indestructible, and the revolver is the most reliable choice.  And I'm certainly not going to argue the effectiveness of any of the above mentioned rounds.  HOWEVER (draws long breath), I am going to argue that those choices are a bit misguided.  In my humble opinion, you shouldn't choose your weapon by brand or model, but by caliber.  Of course, if you don't own a lot of guns, you have no choice to use what you have.  But, if you do have a choice, your order of importance in picking out a weapon should be, 1. caliber, 2. reliability/durability.

In choosing calibers, there's really only a few choices.  In handguns, the number one choice is 9mm.  In rifles, .223/5.56.  If you want a high powered rifle, .308/7.62.  You could argue until your blue in the face about the effectiveness of these caliber choices, but it doesn't matter.  Is the 9mm the most effective pistol round?  No.  Is the .223/5.56 the most effective rifle round? No.  But I will tell you this: a handgun that you have in 9mm, with ammo, is more effective than a .40 S&W Glock without ammo.  And no matter how many thousands of rounds you can store up before WROL/SHTF, depending on the circumstances, you do not know how long WROL/SHTF will last, and you will eventually run out of ammo, or become permanently separated from your ammo.  So you will have to scavenge.  And since 9mm and 5.56 are our military standards, as well as the standards of the entire Western world, you will always be able to find those rounds.  If you lived in Russia, the 7.62x39 would be the best choice, but you don't, so it's not.

Sure, the chances of WROL/SHTF lasting more than a few weeks, or months is low -- like New Orleans after Katrina, but if you're a prepper, you need to prare for WCS (Worst-Case Scenario).  I would say, probably worst case scenario is Somalia.  A complete and utter collapse of government -- a true anarchy.  Or perhaps Rwanda-type situations are even worse, when there is genocide.  My point is that in those situations, especially Somalia, there has been WROL for over a decade.  Even if you had 10,000 rounds, in that amount of time, you would have either ran out, or perhaps been separated from your ammo.  So, you definitely need a caliber that you can readily scrounge up.  And the 9mm and 5.56 you'll be able to find on or near any military base.  You'll also find it on bodies of military personal that you stumble upon, or even in abandoned military vehicles.

For handguns, I would say seconds are the .40 S&W, and the .45 ACP.  A majority of law enforcement agencies/departments use the .40, some use the .45 (and also the .45 was our previous military standard -- and it's the most popular handgun cartridge in our country -- so there's a lot of that around.)

In sum, while there are better choices for self-defense, there is no better choice for availability.  As the saying goes, Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.  And in talking about WROL/SHTF that could potentially last for an extended period of time, resupply will be crucial.

Ammo!!!!!

The ammo I ordered from Aim Surplus came today.  Commie stuff.  Have I ever told you how much I love getting new ammunition?

This is the primary reason I ordered ammo, the 7.62 Nagant.  The revolver cost me $79.  Ammo for it around here is hard to find, and when you do, they want $50 per box.  I can't see paying almost as much for a box as I did for the gun.  Aim Surplus has it for $22 per box.

This stuff here sells for $20-25 per box around here.  That's crazy.  You can get a surplus can of 1000 rounds for around $80.  Of course, that's corrosive stuff, but you get my point.  Aim had this for $16 per box.

Last is a couple of different types of 9x18 Makarov ammo.  Once again, the stuff around here is $20-25 per box.  I got this for $9 for the FJM and $11 for the Hollow Point.  The stuff around here is nice brass case stuff.  I don't need that -- it's a Makarov -- the steel case will do just fine.  That's what it's designed for.

The HP stuff:

Take a look at this pic, tell me what you notice:

To me, Russian ammo is so interesting (and we've already established that I'm a gun geek).  Actually, their whole mentality towards manufacturing is interesting to me, and ammo/guns is just a microcosm of their whole manufacturing industry.  Their stuff is manufactured so crudely, yet it works.  The ammo on the left is manufactured by BarnauL, and is their Silver Bear line of ammo.  You see how NOT-uniform their Hollow Points are?  And this wasn't handpicked as the worse, these were random rounds pulled from the box -- there were worse in their than this.  The lead is smeared on some, the copper malformed on others.  The stuff on the right is Hornady .380 ammo.  It's almost perfect.

As I said, yes, I do realize I am a nerd.

BTW, check out aimsurplus.com

9 mil

I have recently come to the conclusion that I do not own enough 9mm handguns. In fact, I only own one. It's a good one --  a Beretta 92FS -- but it's only one.  I blame my "lack of 9mm" revelation on Ruger and their announcement of the LC9. VERY drool-worthy. 

There are a couple of classics I'd like to add.  I've always loved the lines on the CZ 75, especially one in stainless.  Then there's the FN/Browning Hi-Power. This is the handgun, not the 1911, that John M. Browning felt was his masterpiece.  Most of the rest of the world agreed with him.   Here, many are biased against cartridges named after metrics.  More on that later.  I was recently tempted by a good deal on a Walther P1. I love the milsurp stuff.  Mostly because you can get high quality hardware at a great price.  Speaking of milsurp 9mm, who wouldn't want to own a Luger, if you could afford one. 

One the newer 9 mils that is tops on my list is the FN FNP-9.   I've wanted one for quite awhile now. I'm a HUGE FN-Herstal fan.  Also, in keeping with my recent convert to a Ruger fan, I’d also like to get my hands on an SR9.  I saw a pretty sweet one up at Cabelas with an O.D. Green lower receiver.  Also sweet is the price: under $500.  I’ve heard nothing but good things about Ruger.

Back to the metrics.  I’m wondering if the 9mm had been named .356 Luger, I wonder if it would have faired better in America.  That has a ring to it.  But why is that?  I think it has to do with in the 80s when the government was trying to incorporate the metric system into the US.  I remember, we were supposed to be a dual system for awhile, and the standard system would eventually go away and we would just use metrics.  Except we never got that far.  I guess a lot of people felt it was the Europeans trying to impose their way on us, and we had already told the them a couple of centuries ago that they’re not going to push us around.  It’s weird to, because in the military we use a lot of metrics.  Meters, clicks (1000 m/ 1 km), kilometers, etc.  I can see the benefits to both systems.

One last thing, is it just the military, or do civilians call it the “9 mil” instead of “9mm.”?  I don’t think I’ve ever heard a civilian call it that.

Semper Fi

.22LR vs 9mm vs .45ACP

Here's a hypothetical:

A .22LR is 36 grains, so it takes roughly 3 .22LR to equal 1 9mm 115gr round, and roughly 6 to equal a .45ACP 230gr round.

Given this, I have three questions:
1. Setting aside -- for a moment -- velocity and penetration, which wound channel would prove more lethal: 1x .45ACP, 2x 9mm, or 6x .22LR?

2.  Now including velocity and penetration, in the real world, which of those 3 would prove more lethal?


3.  Of the three scenarios, if you had to choose one to defend yourself, which would you choose: one .45ACP, two 9mm, or six .22LR?

Ammunition

I was meandering through Gander Mountain the other day and happened upon their "end of season clearance ammo" table.  I think I found some pretty good deals.  I picked up 3x Winchester 124gr 9mm NATO FMJ for $13, 2x Fiocchi 115gr 9mm Luger FMJ for $13, 1x Fiocchi 142 gr .357 Mag FMJTC for $18, and 1x Sliver Bear 185 7.62x54R FMJ for $8 (I remember when this stuff was $4).  For all this I paid $95 and some-aught cents.

I don't know if it's just me, but while I really enjoy loading my own stuff, I also get a weird satisfaction from buying it too.  It hurts the wallet, now don't get me wrong.  But I love ammunition off the shelf.  I don't know what it is -- if it's the weight of the box, the sound of the cartridges when the box jiggles, if it's all the shiny-ness (I don't like the correct spelling of shininess, I like it better my way, it emphasizes the "shiny" better than "shini"), or who knows what.  Am I weird, or does anyone else feel this way (I'm going to talk as if I have an actual audience, until I do have an actual audience.  Hey, you gotta "fake it 'til you make it).  haha