Product Announcement

h/t Angus McThag

Commit to the comedy.

SiG Arms: Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

If they don't pull it, hails of derisive laughter from the gun community.

If they do pull it, a legion of ambulance-chasing shysters with lawsuits in their hands.

I say they should simply admit to the obvious, and commit to the comedy.

Regardless, it's sad. I own some of their products, but not the 320 180.

It's always unfortunate when the best engineering minds drop an Edsel.

Ruger: Screwing The Pooch. Again. Harder.

 h/t Commander Zero

Courtesy of CZ's excellent blog, we learn Ruger has noticed an obvious gap in their product line, and unfortunately, in typical Ruger fashion, has once again rogered their pet dog. This is so common thereabouts, the ASPCA puts them out as "information only" bulletins.

We don't reflexively hate Ruger, unlike the way HK hates us. We have a number of products made when they - accidentally or on purpose, we're not sure - stopped thinking with their heads up their asses, and made a fine weapon. When they get it right, they get things very right.

This is not one of those times.

Cdr. Salamander (IIRC) dubbed the Navy's LCS "Little Crappy Ships". In that spirit, we present to you, Ruger's Little Crappy Carbine, in, as CZ drolly put it, .45 AARP.

Shaking my head over this...thing. First thought: "And Ruger steps on their junk again." But I repeat myself.

Ruger having the wit to make this on their PC Carbine platform would've been just fine. They excelled on that one. As I noted at the time. More than once. But in the immortal words of Captain Rex Kramer, "That's just what they'd be expecting us to do."

The only thing this left-handed attempt is better than, is nothing at all. Allegedly.

And I've still got my vintage Marlin .45 Camp Carbine, thankyouverymuch.

Probably still would have wanted to get one of these (assuming such might ever be possible here in Califrutopia) but which is highly unlikely given that by not making this on the PC Carbine platform, just looking at the picture, this thing already checks three or four boxes (folding stock, protruding pistol grip, >10 rd mag cap, muzzle brake/flash hider...wonderful! Why not just cut to the chase, and make it full auto, with grenade launcher, flamethrower, and a permanently attached suppressor built in?!?) any two of which make it it a Califrutopian "assault rifle", meaning the @$$holes in Sacramento will want any version legal for sale here to require depot-level disassembly to reload, negating the entire point of making one in the first place.

I'm sure they'll make a California-compliant version in a couple of years that's a single-shot bolt action, or some such stupidity.

If they'd built it as a PC .45 Carbine (or, wonder of wonders, simply product-improved the Marlin Camp Carbine they now own the rights to), as any foole could have told them to do, it could have gone on the shelves unscathed tomorrow.

's okay though, it's not like we're only 10% of the entire firearms market in the country or anything.

I'm surprised they didn't invent a proprietary magazine for it too, that sells for $97@ for extras. How they resisted that bit of bog-standard Ruger idiocy is a mystery for the ages.

I can hardly wait until they get around to fornicating up a Marlin lever-action in .45LC. In 10 or 20 years, at their current pace. They'll probably make it require a proprietary tube for feeding, and hold 4 rounds. Or else belt-fed, with a bipod. That way, they can piss off cowboy action shooters and Marlin lever-action fans in one fell swoop.

I know Bill is dead, but his block-headed stupidity and market tone-deafness lives on at the company he built, and seems to be dug in there like herpes. Every once in a great while they claw their way free, but then the weight of decades of "We've always done it this way" practice drags them right back to 1980 all over again.

Hoping Ruger won't screw the pooch every chance they get is like rooting for the Cubs, or voting for Republicans and expecting to get smaller government.

Thanks for living up to all my expectations, Ruger: never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity. I fart in their general direction.

Barrett .50 Range Report

Head on over to Commander Zero's blog for the details.

$4/round will do that to ya.

Happy Ending

 

There are many like it, but this one is mine.

Once upon a time, early in the COVIDification of Operation Enduring Clusterf**k, Sumdood paid in full with cash money for a brand new pistol. A marvel of Swiss attention to ergonomics, firing a proper pistol cartridge, of which even Jeff Cooper would approve. Had it shipped to his local FFL. 

And then, probably, died. We'll never know, because no one ever showed up to claim it. Crazy, right? No wild idea who purchased it. Zip. Nada. Zilch. No e-mails. No phone calls. Maybe they went for a harbor tour with first mate Willie Gilligan and Capt. Jonas Grumby.

The truth is a mystery for the ages.

Two years and more later, long-suffering FFL decides to put it in the counter as unclaimed property. (Storage fees alone made that a done deal months and months prior, but the guy has a heart, and it's been a rough couple of years for everyone.) 

At any rate, we couldn't leave it at the pound all by itself, so it followed us home. Adding us to the tally of over 100M background checks processed since 1/1/2020.

Just because. Wasn't on our list. Not Wish, not Want, not Would Be Nice. Just "Was there - grab it!" But random factors (co-efficient of feels good, points right, great price, here now, wad of cash available for said purchase, etc.) aligned to alter its destiny, and conjoin it with our own.

BONUS: Local establishments - plural - once again have case-lot quantities of ammunition in popular calibers available for immediate purchase.

Faster than you could say "C-notes", some of that precious metal landed in the trunk next to the new pistola.

Now we get to try it out, and sooner, rather than later.

Come to think of it, there are a fair number of bits of ordnance on the "waiting for field testing" list of Things To Shoot laying around FOB Califrutopia, and now that a range trip means buying more ammunition rather than expending any of our painstakingly gathered precious hoard, we may be making the range a regular visit for a while. Which is great, because we haven't shot anything out in the great outdoors but an azimuth for some good stretch of time.

Probably after an earnest SAR mission to find all the other prodigal toys.

We sense a list in the offing.

BTW, SIG: $60 for spare mags? Srsly? Without a cuddle and kiss? Ouch. So maybe three mags, rather than the usual ten-plus. For now.

I think I see a Sure-Fire WML and a quality red dot on the slide, in its near future, followed by  taking the long-serving  .357 wheelgun to the safe, for a long and quiet retirement from Bump In The Night status. Nothing at all wrong with it, but "rear sight and target blurry" is something I can now do without even trying, whenever I wake up and open my eyes. I haven't measured, but my working theory is that my arms have gotten shorter since my 20s. 

Regardless: Did someone say Range Day?

Just kidding. There are way more than that. We need more trucks.

We salute you, Mr. COVID random MIA.
We're doing this because you cannot.

Alec Baldwin Day

 

We should have thought of this sooner.

Let's end the rancor over this @$$clown's clowncarnucopia of fail, and instead unite over something we can all agree upon.

As even his schlocky cheapass movie title proves, Rust is the enemy of guns. We must therefore keep this chowderhead from killing anyone else with them. There's only one solution for that: Buy them yourselves, to protect them from him. Or vice versa.

We therefore happily proclaim now and henceforth, in perpetuity, October 21st shall evermore be known and celebrated as Alec Baldwin Day!

Go buy a gun to celebrate Alec Baldwin Day! Save a life! Keep another gun out of his hands forever.

And hurry up, because you're already three days late on this.

Give until it hurts.

Descriptions or hog pics of your acquisitions welcome in comments.

Scenes From The Fun Show

 

So finally, after dead people in the tens of thousands have tapered off enough, our would-be overlords have consented to let the local Fun Show hereabouts take place again.

O frabjous day! Callou! Callay!

I'd been to the last one, back before the last wave of Kung Flu cancelled everything, and it was ponderously well-attended, but this one has put Disneyland lines to shame. 

I live maybe 15-20 minutes away. Normally parking takes 2 minutes, and the wait to get in is 5-10 more.

Today, it took half an hour just to get parked, on a weekday (which they normally don't do), followed by a line stretching solid every bit of half a mile around the entire fairgrounds just to get in the gate.

For those foolishly convinced this state is all liberal kooks: 33% of 40M people is still more conservatives than voted for Trump in Texas in either of the last two elections. And apparently half of them showed up today. We normally get vendors from OR, UT, NV, and AZ, but this time around, people were driving here to shop from those states as well, judging by the plates in the parking lot. I spoke with three people in line who were attending after flying here from WA. (They also announced they were moving soon to Texas, and were from "the Midwest". Add that data point to your memory bank every time you start yakking out your @$$ about "people from CA/WA/OR coming in and f**king up your state". I've told you times beyond counting, they're not from here now, and they won't be when they move to your red purple states in 3, 2. ...). Stop blaming my state for being first base on their trip around the basepaths when they get to you second, third, or whatever. A non-zero number are your own idiots exported here, just moving back home. But I digress.

Even with the entire thing being under pop-ups out in the sunshine, instead of the wide-open barns normally used, the throngs were out in full force. I haven't gotten this much Vitamin D at one time since last September, and it was glorious.

Evidently large herds were there mainly for ammunition, which they had, but I wouldn't bet on the supplies holding through the whole 3-day run. That line was like Indiana Jones, on the 4th of July. The main ammo seller usually goes through two semi-trailers of product in under two days. Whatever they brought this time, it'll be mostly gone by noon tomorrow, if today was anything by which to judge.

While I, like any man, could always use more ammunition, I'm not deficient there currently, at least not enough to stand in line for a couple of more hours, and was in search of other bits and bobs instead. Including the fabled partially-constructed lowers of certain sub-species of firearms.

Whereupon, hand to God, the following exchange occurred at one such seller:

Bubba Dumbshit: "What's the waiting period on that?"

Booth owner: "There's no waiting period, sir, it's an 80% lower."

Bubba: "So what's inside won't look like that one sitting on top that's all completed?"

Booth owner: "It looks EXACTLY like the one on top, that's an incomplete 80% lower. Hence the term '80% lower'."

Bubba: "So I have to fill out the paperwork, and pick it up later, after it's built?"

Booth owner: "NO."

Bubba: "So I can put the other parts on, and it'll shoot already?"

Me (eyes glazing over): "It's not a gun."

Bubba: "I was talking to him."

Booth owner: "It's not a gun."

Me: "You have to build it."

Booth Owner: "You have to build it."

Bubba: "Oh!"

(Turns to me snottily): "Some people explain it better than you."

Me: "Clearly. Have a happy day, sir."

Bubba wanders off mumbling and muttering. 

Booth owner rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

The purchase I made from them afterwards more than made up for watching Bubba Dumbshit wander off thoroughly baffled by such simple concepts as "not a gun" and "have to build out".

I know the Founders, in their genius, decreed that everyone could own a gun, with no nonsense like a basic intelligence test to purchase, because that would be abused all to hell, but praise a merciful Deity that not everyone does own a gun. The weekly stories of general armed jackassery we read about are what happens whenever another Bubba Dumbshit buys one anyway, and sets both Darwin and the Grim Reaper to salivating, and wise men to seek bulletproof cover. It's just a hunch, but I'm pretty sure whenever another Bubba passes a NICS check, another mortician gets his wings.

And FTR, I swear to Buddha that the best training I ever received for dealing with deranged mental patients and general drunks and retards in the ER was not delivered in nursing school, it was the two years I worked behind a retail gun store counter dealing with some of the stupidest and craziest people on the planet.

But if I'd been behind the counter instead, I'm pretty sure I'd have sold him the lower, and then told him to come pick it up in 10 days.

And It Only Took Them 60 Years To Figure This One Out

h/t Free North Carolina

Seems the Air Farce (an honorable alternative to military service) has finally figured out what Gun-Lego users have known for a decade or two: you can make the AR platform any size or purpose you want.

(GUNS.com) The U.S. Air Force developed a new assault rifle that breaks down into two pieces, allowing it to be stored in the ejection seat of modern jets. The GAU-5A carbine is designed to provide the firepower necessary for aircrew to defend themselves until rescue.

 

The GAU-5A was designed by the Air Force Gunsmith Shop.

Um, no.
It was designed by Eugene Stoner, and 60+ years later, is still doing a helluva job, if you let it. The GAU-5A (which AR haters - which we are not - will doubtlessly note stands for Gun, Automatic, Useless, 5th Attempt) will be a vast improvement over previous downed pilot toys but there's a hitch:
someone's going to have to teach Air Farce pilots how to shoot rifles.

But despite all of them having been to college, doubtless if they apply themselves, and have good marksmanship instructors, they may yet be able to master that difficult skill set.

It always warms our cold, green amphibious heart whenever the Air Farce remembers they are a branch of the military, and acts like it, however briefly. It shows there's still a spark down deep than can be kindled. Now if they'd only embrace CAS as a mission, instead of an annoyance, we'd give them a proper Arc Light and AC-130 cheer. But little steps are better than none at all.

Still, it's ironic, given that they're the reason McNamara >ptui!< inflicted the original weapon on the military to begin with, that it took them so long to figure out what any foole knows.

Natzsofast, Tam

According to her blog, the above is a dumb holster idea.

"Basically, unless you're wearing a plate carrier or LBV or something that interferes with a normal belt mount, you should probably leave the drop-legs to Hollywood space pirates and B&W cowboys."

Oh really?

Point of order.

Look, I can give you eleventy times and places where a drop leg of any type is weapons-grade dumb (self-castration optional); BTDT and got the t-shirt. But I can also think of several situations where it's pretty wizard-level. And let's face it, not everyone is a Travis Haley gunslinger, nor trying to be one.

What about for someone who's not trying to look tacticool at all, but maybe earning a living driving a truck all day, or a cabbie, an Uber/Lyft driver, or a pizza delivery guy?
(Not in NYFC or similar anti-gun locales, but in places where the Constitution still applies most days.)

I would normally defer to Tam's judgment on this sort of thing, if only because she's certainly shot more last year than I did last decade.

But I think the above examples are an example of not thinking this all the way through, especially for Joe Average just earning a paycheck.

Sit in a car, a delivery van, or a semi rig cab, and show me your IWB or appendix-carry draw, against, say, a robber or carjacker.With your seatbelts on (in observance of the law, natch), and maybe wearing a jacket, just to make it interesting for you.
I'll wait.
(We won't even talk about where that IWB is digging into you all shift, or where your appendix carry muzzle is pointed, sitting in a vehicle seat. And to be sporting, we won't stipulate that one might be a bit on the portly side.)

Now, sit in a car seat, same conditions, and tell me where your hand falls on your upper leg:
unless you've got gorilla-length arms (which you'd need to get to any ankle rig), that'd be right where this holster sits. Handy. Readily available. Not pointed at your junk.
Five stars.

I'm not saying it'd be a good choice for CCW (obviously), let alone a trip to the brew tappery for a bite and pint, or window shopping at the local mall. And anyone who's ever tried running with a drop leg on knows when it's a dumb idea (and they probably speak in a voice an octave or two higher than normal).
But for a guy sitting in a car or truck seat, for hours or all day long?
Pretty close to ideal.

This is what happens to folks who've never sat in a Humvee or Jeep with a sidearm strapped on all day long (let alone a Prius or a Freightliner).
They're missing a thing or two because they never experienced it.

It's the same reason pilots and AFV crewmembers have been partial to their shoulder holsters. Because it works for their specifics.

I'm thinking that "Dumb Holster Idea" pronouncement might want just a smidgen of walking back. Maybe with just a dash more of humility.

"Purpose-specific Holster Idea"? That I could see.

But one idea does not fit all.

Idiot Savants

From Comments

The upcoming generation of morons who embrace the high-tech battery-powered whiz-kid horseshit by itself are going to pay a heavy toll when it shits the bed in combat, either from primary or logistical failure, and they're left with aught but high-priced clubs.

In riflery, just as in auto racing, the true professionals learn the old ways, because the lessons have been paid for in actual blood.

The Horse Had It Coming, Right?

Seems the topic of marksmanship, particularly long-range, has come up again over at WRSA . You should go read it, for reference.

A hip pocket lecture on the topic commences:

Actual shooting time in the best .Mil sniping courses of instruction is such a small component because while important, it’s probably less than 10% of the requisite skills, and consists of what is, at that point, merely the icing on that cake.

 And at that, upper-tier physical fitness is assumed.

That’s because if you couldn’t find, identify, and approach the target in such a way as to be able to hit it and then get away, you’d never get to the point of putting any lead on the target to begin with. At least not twice.

The only reason they pick the best basic shooters to attend is because they already know the fundamentals, and probably have the right mindset of listening to marksmanship instruction, along with being above-average intelligent and self-motivated (there won’t be a helpful instructor along to kick you in the ass once it’s for real) so it’s mainly a weed-out. The fact is you can turn most any shooter into a mil-spec sniper, it’ll just take longer, and the .Mil doesn’t like to spend extra time on slow learners.

Once you get someone to that level of performance, the caliber is interchangeable. (And I daresay, largely pointless.)

Evidence in support:

Simo Häyhä: stock iron sighted Sako in 7.62×53
Vassili Zaitsev: Mosin-nagant in 7.62x54R with PU 3.5x optical sight
Carlos Hathcock .30-06 Win 70 variant with Unertl 8x fixed power glass. Also an M2 .50BMG on single shot, with a scope mounted.
Chuck Mawhinney: Rem M700 7.62×51 w/ Redfield 3-9x scope
Adelbert Waldron: M21 7.62×51 w/ART 3-9X scope
gazillions of .mil since then: 7.62×51 from Rem M700s and M-21s in .308/7.62×51, with multiple glass combinations, then .300 WinMag, and even .50BMG
LE by the ton: primarily .308 under glass, because the Fed Match 168grBTHP and 175gr offerings are bog-stupid repeatable out of the box, with all the relevant numbers in all respects available to anyone, anywhere.

And on and on. Multiple combinations; same results: DRT.

All of the above, and many more, shoot better than most shooters can or will ever take advantage of.
6.5 helps a little, with one aspect.

You will not become One Shot Paddy with it, or any other cartridge, without significant amounts of regular training.
I repeat, significant amounts of regular training.
Everything else is secondary.

TL;DR:
Take what you have, and learn to hit with it in any weather and wind, any time of day or night, at any practical range. On the first cold shot.
That means keep a log book, and learn your rifle/sight/round combination backwards and forwards.

{Hint: You would do far better shooting 1 round a day for 1000 days in a row at various random ranges than shooting 250 rounds four days in a row from a few standard ranges.}

 Duh.

But that’s hard, and most people want easy.
Suture self.

Carpenters build things that don’t fall apart by building lots of things.
What hammer (or nail gun) and nail combination they use is a matter of relative indifference.

And the odds that we’ll get a new sniper caliber, and machineguns to match, and get everyone in NATO to go along, are long and slim.
We shoot 7.62×51 (and 5.56×45) weapons because the calibers are standard.
Good luck getting one army, let alone 29, to flip to a new cartridge that is standard nowhere in any of them.

You will likely see phased plasma rifles in the 40W range adopted first.
And then some jackass will pop off with the opinion that the 45W is a better man-stopper than the 40, and we’re off to the dead-horse-beating lab, again.

And if you can’t hit man-sized targets with well-used iron-sighted AR platforms in 5.56 out to 500Y routinely, like thousands of kids, some with only GEDs, do every week at two MCRDs, with a modicum of common sense and the tender instruction of Marine PMIs, you’re already a NO GO at the riflery station.

That’s basic numbnuts marksmanship, BTW.
Long range starts at >500Y. Period.

Best unfuck yourself.

Quoted For Truth

This embiggens.

And with one flowchart, he undid the last 40 years of Guns&Ammo, Guns, Gun Digest, twenty-seven lesser rags, two FBI weapons selection tests, and the last three military attempts to find a new standard service pistol…

RTWT over at Commander Zero's internet bunker.

Range Report II: Ruger PC9 Carbine

Having played with this indoors, and gotten it sighted in at home defense range, it was time to take it outside.



The carbine as tested. Note the charging handle on the left side.
And yes, that's the finest piece of Chinese glass $39 will buy. 

It was a perfect day. 75°, sunny, 1/10 clouds, with a 0-10MPH variable crosswind in the canyon varying from 3 o'clock to 8 o'clock.

And if you're keeping score at home, indoors was with Federal 115gr FMJ. Outdoors was with Winchester white box 115gr FMJ.

Shooting it this time off a sandbag on a concrete shooting bench, the 20Y zero proved to be low and right at 100Y.

I made similarly bold dope corrections to the previous settings, but at a more normal zero distance, they were overmuch. The next group was all high and left. Having some wee life experience with bracketing a target (with howitzers), I took off half the original change, and achieved everything in the black inside a 4" circle.

Which reminded me why I like going to the range.

Then I settled down, and focused on slow, steady groups. The variable wind made this a small challenge.
So did the jackhole who decided, on a 75% empty range with 50+ stations, to settle in right next to me and begin rapid-fire strings of turning money into noise with his AR.

Which reminded me why I hate going to the range.

(Which is why a priority for Castle Anthrax is outside-city-limits ability to shoot on the property, WheneverTH I feel like it, consistent with safety and neighborliness.)

After relocating away from Slob A$$hole, re-arranging my gear, and setting up my target 3/4ths of the way to the other end, things were much more agreeable.

The wind died down for awhile, I took my time, and the groups tightened up to where I was moving the centers 1 click at a time.

The final adjustment was 2 3/4" L, and 3 1/2" Up, from the 20Y zero.
I then put the best part of two 10-round strings into the same fist-sized group I'd achieved the other day at 20Y, with a couple of fliers that were me jerking a trigger that is anything but a smooth precision rifle example, and lets off when it feels like it at nearly 5 lbs. of pull. And I think Ruger was using Soviet trigger pull gauges when they made that claim.

Nonetheless, you won't shoot yourself in the foot with it if your aren't an idiot, and I didn't buy it to shoot precision marksmanship. But as I'm not alone in my estimation, there are several after-market drop-in trigger groups on the market, one of which may find its way into my carbine.

According to comments elsewhere, a carbine that will put pistol rounds into minute of chest pocket at 100Y is no improvement over a Glock pistol, for a penalty of 5-5.5 pounds.
Elmer Keith being dead, I will shoot any non-professional using their stock Glock pistol against my Ruger rifle as described, for $1/point at 100Y and farther, and we'll see whether the 5 pounds is worth it.

It was windy, and yes, I rushed a couple.

Just to rub it in, I had 25 rounds left over from the 100 round box I started with.
I was originally going to sight-in at 200Y, but as it was both late in the day, and not worth the walk, I opted for some fun instead, with a bit of serious effort.

The range has metal gongs set up out to 600Y.
Including a 15" circle, and a 14" tall pig silhouette at 200Y.

Standing offhand, and using Kentucky windage, I used the duplex reticle to address the problem. After 2 "overs", it turned out the part of the reticle where the crosshair fattens up to a post at 6 o'clock is the exact bullseye for 200Y, with no farther sight manipulation whatsoever.

Just the way it worked out.

So I then proceeded to clang both the chest-width circle, and piggy, 23 times in a row.
Bang-clang. Bang-clang. Lather, rinse, repeat. Bang-clang.
Like I said after dialing it in indoors: tedious regularity.
Standing.
Offhand.
200Y.

{Next time I get back there, I'll shoot a video of that, too, and post the YouTube of it. -A.}

Come show me you can do that with your pistol at 200Y, and when you fail, ask me what the extra 5 pounds gets you. More importantly, anyone with minimal training could do the same thing, which cannot be said of pistol shooting at that range, ever.

Another commenter asked why a carbine for 9mm now weighs 2-3 pounds more than an M1 from 1943.
1) a heavier barrel, that takes down in about a second
2) a non-locking straight blowback action
3) which includes a molded tungsten firing block weight inside the PC9 bolt group, to keep the rifle from doing what Marlin's Camp guns did: battering themselves to pieces, even with hot +P 9mm rounds.

Words fail to convey how happy I am not to have to clean any part of a gas system on this thing. A quick spray-down of the bore with Break Free CLP, and half a dozen patches wrapped around a bronze bore brush, and the barrel is clean.

Word to the wise: blowback means the charging handle is coming all the way back, each and every time, whichever side you have it on. I watched to know this, I did not experiment by putting my mitt in the way, but if you do it the hard way, well, look up Mark Twain's comment about the man who carries a cat by the tail.

Tomorrow, I'll crack open the manual again, and take the action apart for a proper cleaning.
All I did between Range Days 1 and 2 was Q-tips and a few wet patches inside the open action, to get the worst of the crud out from around the bolt and such.

The down side of a blowback action is that everything does, in fact, blow back into the action, so everything from the ejected brass to the working parts get dirty. Coal miner's face dirty, in fact.

Tomorrow is cleaning day.

When I get the camera and card reader sorted out, I'll start posting my own pics, instead of web grabs. (Maybe even crank out short YouTube snippets.) But that's something for another day.

And the fact that I did two weapons-related posts (which happen around here randomly, at best) on the day before and the day after the anniversary of Weaponsman's passing: pure serendipitous happenstance. I think. (Cue spooky music.)

Next project is upping my Vaughn hammer-hatchet to something close to what PJF did with his:

 

Range Report I: Ruger PC9 Carbine

As noted a few days back, I picked up one of these recently, and today was time to try it out, and do some sight adjustment.

The Good:
Ruger. I.e. built like Russian tank.
It feels solid, sturdy, and compact.
6# 13oz stock, and mine was about 8 pounds as tested, with scope and sling.
Points well.
Aperture ring rear and protected front blade iron sights, on barrel assembly, adjustable for windage and elevation.
Picatinny top rail built into receiver.
Comes with multiple stock spacers to adjust length of pull.
Breaks into two pieces for compact storage.
(With weapon unloaded, draw bolt slightly back, pull up on takedown plunger, rotate 1/8th turn counterclockwise, then slide barrel assy. out of receiver. That fast and easy.)

Charging handle and mag release are ambidextrous.
Ruger OEM mag well swaps out with one that takes Glock 17/19/26 mags.
Threaded 1/2-28 muzzle w/thread protector, for flash hiders, and/or SHHH! cans, if you've got the federal tax stamp.

The first thing I did was use one of the three included Allen wrenches, remove the factory Ruger mag well, and swap in the included Glock block instead. I already have the above models, and have no desire to buy OEM Ruger mags at whatever the market price is, for something that's been Californicated to hold only 10 rounds. (Hopefully if Duncan v. Becerra is finalized, that'll sunset that nonsense hereabouts.) Meanwhile, since I'm going to be round-limited, I opted to use G26 mags, for minimum profile.
Provided one seats a loaded magazine firmly into place, they work just fine.
(So do G19 and G17 mags.)
If you don't check it, you'll find the magazine now with nine rounds sitting under the weapon after your first shot jiggles it loose.

The second thing I did was swap the charging handle to the left side of the receiver, where it belongs for right-handed shooters with two hands. That leaves your dominant hand on the stock grip, which works just fine. The changeover took about 90 seconds, 20 of which were reading the manual to see how to do it. If you can screw in a light bulb, you can change the charging handle over.

As presbyopia means never having to worry about your iron sights, I acquired an optical sight to make this fully useful. (If I wear my readers, I can see the sights, but not the target. With naked eyes, I can see the target, but not the sights. I still have better than 20/15 vision. It's just that after a certain number of birthdays, it now starts 4' from my face, rather than at the tip of my nose. And my arms aren't that long. So optics.) Given what the weapon costs, I couldn't see blowing $300 or more on optics for a short-range carbine. This is not an M40A3, it's a truck and brushwhacking gun.

So, instead of a spendy red dot, I bought the $39 Chinese-made Barska 3-9X w/duplex at WallyWorld. (No, I don't ever expect to need more than 3X, but fixed magnification wasn't an option.) But, true to form, the Barska came with rings made to mount that thing on top of a 10/22 or Marlin .22, not full-sized Picatinny rail. So I bought a pair of Leupold 1" rings, for as much as the scope cost, and mounted the whole assembly on top.



The carbine as tested. Note charging handle is on the left side.
And yes, that's the finest piece of Chinese glass $39 will buy.

 

Thus prepared, it was time to head to the range.


It took about 40 rounds to get it centered, shooting 5-shot groups, and at an indoor range with about a 20Y max range.

Recoil?
What recoil?!?
It's a 9mm carbine. Your 10 year old daughter could shoot this all day long.
One-handed.

I started about 2" right and 2" high, but given the relatively short range, the scope corrections were rather bold. By the 40th round, the rifle was more accurate off-hand than I was capable of, and keeping 10 round mag strings all in not just the 10 ring, but the middle of the 10 ring at 20Y became child's play.

To the point that I was able to Have A Nice Day on the last string.

The Bad:
I have the takedown 10/22, which comes with a nice backpack carrying case to stow and tote the weapon broken down, with space for ammo, additional mags, cleaning gear, survival supplies, etc.
The PC 9 does not include such a case. Pity. It should, even if it's sold as an after-market accessory.

I had one stovepipe, which annoyed me, but it's still getting broken in.
As it gets dirty, you may need to assist the bolt to close home on a new mag, due to residue fouling.

I went through 100 rounds in less than an hour, slow-fired. The barrel is fluted, which aids cooling. Which is fortunate, because even that modest amount of firing got things h-o-t.

And though I may or may not have some legally-obtained higher cap pre-ban Glock mags, what this thing wants is the 33-round happy sticks, or better yet, the 50 rd. drum or the 100-round Beta-C mag.

And a place to shoot outdoors where you can practice rapid fire.
On pumpkins, watermelons, and old plastic milk jugs filled with water.
Wear gloves. (Be careful: the piece is hot!)

The worst thing about this weapon is that they aren't yet making it in .45ACP (they have evidently announced a .40S&W version for next year), and capable of accepting M1911 mags. I would buy twelve of those. (I have no idea if Ruger will figure this out on their own and add that choice, or whether it will take them another 20 years to clue in, if ever. But it should be a slam-dunk business decision.)

The Ugly:
This thing comes from the factory with a front sling swivel, and a molded swivel loop at the butt as part of the plastic molded stock.
Ruger was 0-2 on this.
The front sling swivel was 20° out of whack, because some flunky was too lazy to put it on straight. So I had to fix that.
And then the mold job on the rear sling swivel leaves the loop too wide to put on standard QD sling swivels, necessitating some Bubba gunsmithing on one side of it with a mill bastard file, to get the sling ring profile to accommodate the QD swivel and close properly. This tells me that Ruger either didn't check, or doesn't care. Sloppy.

That's it.
I have nothing else to complain about regarding the weapon.
IMHO, Ruger has another winner, and a worthy successor to the discontinued Marlin Camp carbines.
This thing is the poor man's Tommy gun, esp. if you slap 33-50-100 round magazines into it.
If you have a 9MM Glock pistol, you should get one of these to make it a matched set.


Sometime in the next couple of days, I'll take it to an outdoor range, and get it dialed in for 100Y. I may even see about learning its 200Y zero for the scope mounted on it, just because I can. When I do that, Range Report II will follow.

Addendum in re: Comments:
Boys and girls, there are limits to what I'll do.
Putting a $300 (or more) sight on a $600 pistol-caliber carbine is one of them.
No matter how quick and nifty it would be.
Even with just the irons and my eyes, I could still point and hit minute of bad guy out to 100Y, just from muscle memory.
At this point, just on 3X with the cheapie Barksa, it holds minute of X-ring at house and yard-width distances. My group at 20Y slow-fired offhand would fit under a teacup. Tomorrow (probably), at longer range, I suspect it'll be dialed in even farther out, and I'll see what the overs and unders are for intermediate ranges.

At that point, lacking the legal ability to add the can it wants on those threads, and the drum mags I want (yet), the only thing I'm adding is a thumb-buster loading block to make reloading the 10-rd G26 mags even quicker and easier, and probably another handful (6-8) of those, and a pouch or two on the gun case to hold them in.

And in case anyone at 5.11, Maxpedition, Fox, Voodoo, Condor, etc. are listening/reading this, WTF don't any of you guys sell MOLLE pouches cut to hold
a) Californicated 10-rd standard rifle mags for things like ARs, AKs, M1-As, etc.
b) 10/22 mags by the triple or more
(currently I use MOLLE grenade pouches instead, lacking a steady supply of M67 frags)
(Hint: a bandolier that had 10-12 pouches for them? GENIUS!)
c) G26 mags 4-, 6-, or 10 across, on a belt or MOLLE grid???

When Ruger's PC9 case becomes a reality, I'll probably get one of those too, if it stores it broken down.

The only reason now to get an Inland M1 Carbine is nostalgia.
(Which doesn't mean I won't acquire one, or a WWII original, at some point.)
This thing does everything the M1 would do, cheaper, and with far more utility.
I still have a Camp .45 around somewhere in vintage shape, which wants the after-market recoil springs, buffer blocks and such, but the day Ruger does a PC45, that old Marlin is going on the sale block, to help pay for the dozen PC45s I'll want in a ready rack.

And the Ruger PC wants three, maybe four, after market stocks:
One in solid wood. Birch, walnut, whatever.
(That may be a weekend/retirement project someday.)
A wood one with the M1 carbine sling cut and profile.
A plastic one like they make, but with a sliding/folding adjustable length.
A plastic one, with a pistol grip.
I suspect in a year or two CM&T, Magpul, and a dozen other companies etc. will get hot on those last two. If not, they're fools.

Follow-Up: Range Report II: Ruger PC 9 Carbine

Quote Of The Day

From GunFree Zone:

First thing to note is the  fact that King Abdalla isn’t running around firing an AK into the sky like their Arab neighbors. 

What The Firearm Blog fails to mention is that King Abdallah II trained at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, the same school as Princes Harry and William, is a 35 year veteran of the Jordanian military, and commanded Jordan’s special forces unit.

The  other thing that caught my eye about this video is that the King runs a 1911.

The man has the entire defense budget of Jordan at his disposal to get whatever he wants and he runs a 1911. 

It’s good to be the king.

We cannot disagree with the sentiment.

Gunner Mongo Likes

h/t Tam

Behold, me hearties, the Silencerco Maxim 50.
$999 in New World dollars? Sold, sez I.

What be that foul humor?

Arr, it be the smell of every shitweasel in Sacramento evacuatin' 'is britches, fer this beastie be a muzzleloader, ergo not a firearm, no port of entry lubber's 4473, nor any scurvy waiting period, and no bilge-swillin' $200 stamp. They can ship it straight to me own port o' call direct, this very day. I may even stock meself an entire small arms locker with 'em, for boardin' parties an' such.

"That smell...that black powder smell! Nothing else smells like that. It smells like...victory!"

ATTN: WeaponsMan folks

You might have noticed his blog has popped up top again to the right.
That's because brother Brendan posted notice that he's putting a goodly number of Weaponsman's personal firearms collection up for sale on consignment.

List at the WeaponsMan site.

There's also notice of an estate sale coming up in a couple of weeks.

Are We There Yet

h/t Tam

From the blog Misfires and Lightstrikes today

Gun writer and bon vivant Jenn Jacques was let go from BearingArms.com last week, and from what I understand, the site itself might be going away very soon as well. 

Not all that surprising. They won. We have a pro-gun President in the White House, nominally pro-gun Republican majorities in Congress, and the balance of power will be maintained (or improved upon) in the Supreme Court. The future that BearingArms wrote about happened, and now they (along with a host of other gun companies) are not really sure what to do next.
...
We haven’t hit that “dot com bubble” yet with gun culture, because since 1994 (or even earlier…) our culture hasn’t been based around expanding our rights and welcoming new people into the fold, it’s been built on fear and defensive warfare that bitterly clings to what few rights we had left.

Well, true enough, things are good, but they're far from excellent, let alone perfect.

Over a quarter of the American population (26%), some 86,000,000 souls, live behind the modern anti-gun curtain of states like MA, NFY, NJ, MD, IL, and CA. The answer to that isn't for them to move, it's to pull down the statues of Lenin in those places. "Run Away!!" was a funny Monty Python strategy, not one for serious men. See the preceding post.
And only 1/4 of the country are Constitutional Carry states.
So at best, the glass is 3/4 full.

Where to next?

Give a holler when Constitutional Carry is the law of the land in 50 states, with both the GCA of 1968, and the NFA of 1934 revoked in toto.

Then, and only then, we're back to where we ought to be, and can turn our attentions to other things - for awhile.

Meantime, it's far too early to declare "Victory!" overall, and retire from the field, and it probably won't be happening in my lifetime, if yours.

Total victory is always a long campaign.

More CMP Garands Coming

h/t WRSA

Link: CMP Garands coming home from Phillipines

Woo hoo.

 Do what you need to qualify for a CMP Garand now.

There were only 6 1/4 million made, and the survivors should all be given a good home, back here in the US.
As a bonus, they’re hell for tough, great for DRT terminal ballistics, as thousands of Zombie Good Krauts, Japs, Norks, Chicoms, and VC could attest, and they don’t look like eeeeevil Black Assault Rifles, while still providing a steady rate of semi-auto fire on anything that’s pissing you off.

Something to consider for any future sportiness on your horizon.

{FWIW, its invention by John Garand was prescient. They sold to Uncle for $85, in the day. In the wild now, a decent one goes for about a Ga-rand. CMP price ought to be decently less than that.}

A Quick Thought On Calibers

A novice shooter recently acquired a weapon for personal defense (after some casual comments at work) (Yay her!). She was wondering about other things, once she's happy and comfortable with her new tactical tupperware of the ever-shooting goodness variety. I passed on the following thoughts.

In the time since the US military first fired brass cartridges, and before they switch over to phased plasma rifles in the 40 Mw range, they have primarily and overwhelmingly used personal arms and ammunition in the following flavors*:

.45-70
.30-06
.308 (7.62x51)
.223 (5.56x45)

For pistols it's been
.45LC
.38Spl
.45ACP
9mm

Along with shotguns in
12 ga

And training rifles and pistols in
.22LR

Which coincidentally comes to ten examples.

That goes back some 140+ years. All such are still in full production to this day. Were one to acquire/possess and stock up on firearms and suitable varieties of ammunition in most or all of those calibers, and those alone, they'd absolutely be capable of reliably stopping any game or wild animal on both of the American continents with from two to four legs, from thieving bastards to buffalo, and would also be highly unlikely at any foreseeable time, of running out of ready re-supply, one way or another.

Nearly everything else is thus a relative oddball, however beloved it may be, for whatever reasons, and to whomever.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.












*(Yes, I know about such esoteric things as the .30-40 Krag, .38Colt, etc. Makes no difference to the larger point.)

No, You Magnificent Bastard, I Don't Want To Try Out That Weapon

Warning: Try not to blast today's meal on your screen.

Dear BATFE: Is it legal to mount a Fleshlight on a SIG SB-15?

And yes, gentle readers, the BATFE responded.

I know today is Thanksgiving.
This is not the "stuffing" you were looking for.