Kayla and I recently went on a shooting date.  We took this route.

Why didn’t we cross the I-90 bridge?  It is about seven miles less of a trip.  We didn’t go that route because I (Del) hate the I-90 bridge.  I think it’s awful in just about every way possible.  We ended up coming back via that way, but I really wish there was another option.  A bike only bridge maybe.  Magnuson Park to Heritage Park would be pretty neat, but I don’t see that happening.

At Wade’s we spent a tidy sum (about $90) on lane fees, ammunition, targets, and gun rentals (ok, so the gun rentals were free thanks to Kayla’s sex).

This was me shooting a S&W 1911.  I quartered the target up in a plan to try and put 2 rounds in each piece.  That went out the window pretty fast and just went for the center.

Not too shabby.  That was at ~20 feet.  So… nothing impressive either.

The Sig 1911 was a thing of beauty.

So was my group.

My form could use a good bit of work though.

Aaand the results!

Good luck trying to find ammo.

Del, from PC:

Happy rides!

How you raise your children is a very personal decision and no one can tell you what is best for you and your family.  That being said… today I am going to venture in to the extremely controversial subject of kids and guns, or more specifically my thoughts on raising children around firearms.  This topic is something I have been asked about frequently, however as I stated above, this blog is completely my thoughts and my opinions.  I am not, in any way, trying to tell you how to raise your children.

First, I have to say as the mother of three boys ages nine, five, and three there are some important things I have learned.  Number one: my house will be a lot of things but it will never, ever be boring.  Number two: kids are curious and inquisitive by nature, almost from day one.  Number three: the more taboo you make something, the more curious and interested in it kids become.  Number four: if you dare to say the words “my kid would never” (you fill in the blank here) then you are just asking to be laughed at while your kid does said thing.  I have said all of this to say I think the key to raising children around firearms is to take the curiosity out of it without sacrificing safety.

As firearms instructors, and gun enthusiasts, guns are an unavoidable part of mine and Scott’s lives and a frequent topic of our conversations.  It would be irresponsible (and damn near impossible) for us to exclude our children from learning about firearms.  So it is our responsibility to insure they are introduced to firearms in a way that is safe and educational.  We have talked to our children from the beginning about gun safety; our 9 year old even has the NRA gun safety rules hanging on the wall in his bedroom (his choice not ours).  Anytime you are dealing with firearms, whether it is with adults or children, safety should always come first.  Therefore it stands to reason that the first lessons you would teach your child would be about gun safety.

If you are looking for a great place to start gun safety education, the NRA has a great program they created for children called the Eddie Eagle Program.  Eddie Eagle teaches four important steps for your child to take if he or she finds a gun.  As soon as your child is old enough to talk you can teach him/her these four simple steps.  IF you see a gun:  STOP!  Don’t Touch.  Leave the Area.  Tell an Adult.  It’s important to remember that even though you may be a responsible parent who has all of your firearms safely stored out of the reach of others, your child is not always going to be with you and could come across a firearm at a friend’s house.

Now for the part I mentioned in the second paragraph about taking the curiosity out of it.  All three of my children (yes, even the three year old) are allowed to touch and hold all of our firearms and, as of a few weeks ago, they have now all been to the gun range with us.  What I teach my children is the only time they are allowed to touch a firearm is when they have asked permission and they are under the direct supervision of either me or my husband.  Does that mean I leave them out and trust them not to touch them?  ABSOLUTLY NOT!  Remember what I said about that phrase “my kid would never” yeah, I know better than to use that phrase.  Our firearms, when not in use, are all stored in a gun safe out of the reach of the curious little buggers.  That being said when they ask, or when we have the guns out for any reason, we take the time to teach them the basics, answer their questions, and allow them to handle them.  The first thing they get to do is watch us check to make sure the gun is unloaded; a fact that is double and triple checked.  Then we show them how we know that the gun is unloaded, describe what a safe direction is and talk to them about keeping it pointed in a safe direction. Then one of us will hand the child the unloaded gun while never taking our eyes off of the child or gun, staying close enough to take the firearm back if safe gun handling is not demonstrated.  This process is repeated every time we hand one of our children a firearm not just the first time. Another thing we did was buy our children bb guns. Our two older boys each have a rifle style Daisy BB gun and a CO2 powered bb pistol and the BB guns are treated just as strictly as the real guns, both at home and at the range.  When not in use they are locked up and the kids have to have our permission to bring them out and shoot them.  The BB guns have been a great training tool for teaching them basic gun safety and how to properly hold and shoot a gun.

I also think it is extremely important to talk to your children about the differences between toy guns and real guns as well as the difference between the stuff you see on television verses reality.  This brings up another common question I receive: Do we let our kids play with toy guns?  The short answer is yes.  As for the long answer, I think I will have to save that one for another day.  Maybe this blog will have a part two.

Once the basic safety rules have been mastered going to the gun range can be a great family activity your kids will really enjoy.  When you decide your child is ready to go to the range with you be sure you explain what to expect and what the rules will be when you get there.  If you have more than one child I highly recommend for at least the first few times you visit the range you have only one child per adult. Only you know the maturity of your child and can determine when he or she is ready for more responsibility.  You should not plan to do any shooting yourself, as you will need to concentrate on helping your child and making sure they are demonstrating responsible gun handling.  Because my children are still very young we have just recently become brave enough to take all three boys to the range at the same time but they know the rules and they know that the range, though a lot of fun, is not the place for horseplay or for testing your parents.  Even so, with both my husband and I supervising, we still only allow one child on the firing line at a time.  One of us supervises and assists the child who is shooting while one of us makes sure the other two sitting on the bench remain on the bench with their protective glasses and hearing protection in place.

We have a Walther P22 handgun and a youth model 22 rifle that we allow the kids to shoot.  I have attached some pictures below of our last trip to the range.

We stopped so she could grab pizza, then she said she had to run home to change for work… Kissed goodbye, said we’d see eachother in an hour when she went to work, except instead, at 8 PM she messaged me that she was home, had just woken up and most likely lost her job… Tried to pep talk her, but then she mentioned going out of town for a few days and apparently, that was that. Either she passed out or she hopped in the car with her best friend and off they went, because when i walked to her house, there was not a sign of life in there.

Hung out with a friend for a bit, bought the cute bartender several shots, of which she didn’t charge me for any, and then convinced my friend to go to a strip club…. a stripper requested his number a couple hours later, then off we went, me hopping out of the car in front of my house, and home, now, writing this.

So basically, i have no idea what happened today.  She really is throwing me for a loop at this point….

This exact Walther P22 that I am reviewing was the first gun I had ever shot and what a magnificent choice it was as my first gun. I am definitely a believer that the first gun that people should buy is a .22lr of some sort. Some say a .22 rifle is the best first gun and I would probably agree that it is a superior choice for a beginner but I am definitely not saying that a .22 handgun is a bad choice for a newbie. One thing that I really do like about the P22 is its looks, it looks like a semi-auto combat handgun, and not like an alien gun (I can’t say the same about the Beretta Neos). Even some Ruger 22/45s have an acquired taste, but if you dig the modern looking handgun the P22 fits the bill.

You can tell that the P22 is a quality firearm as soon as you pick it up. Everything feels like it is supposed to and nothing rattles or seems like it is about to fall off. The gun is very simple to use, all your standard buttons and levers as on any handgun. One thing that does stray some from the “average” handgun is the magazine release, instead of a button right next to the thumb it is rather a small lever on the trigger guard which will just take some getting used to for people accustomed to the button release.

One thing that is not the most fun to do is cleaning the gun. I would not say the actually cleaning process is difficult but reassembling the gun takes some trial and error to get right. To disassemble the gun all you have to do is remove the magazine, lock the slide to the rear and push down on the takedown switch until it is in the most downward position. Then you pull the slide to the rear and lift it up and then run the slide forward until it comes off. You then have your recoil spring, pin, and slide removed and you can proceed to clean the gun in your normal fashion.

Now the hard part, putting the slide back on, you must use a small pin tool that comes in the P22 box and place it inside the recoil spring and put the slide over it. Then you must quickly pull the slide back in a reverse of the steps you performed to takedown the pistol, but sometimes the spring gets caught in an awkward position and will not allow the slide to reassemble.

One thing that is immediately noticeable when you first pick up the P22 is how light it is, coming in at just 15 oz. A lot of people think the lighter the better, but for me it can sometimes be too light and my hands start to wobble in the air which effects my accuracy but for the purpose of this gun as a trainer I think it’s weight is decent. It is a very comfortable handgun but for some folks it might be a little too small, but it comes with different sized back straps so you can put the one on that best fits you. It might even be good that it is small because it can help you train for your concealed carry handgun which might be of similar size. It’s trigger is nothing special in single-action pulling just over 5 pounds, and it is a little rough in double-action pulling 12 pounds. But remember that this gun is not meant to have a great trigger, it is a practice gun.

The P22 has a few aftermarket accessories such as a barrel extension which makes the barrel 5” long instead of the standard 3.4”. You can also buy a laser to go on it for around $100. The P22 also comes in a multitude of camouflage from Pink digital to lime green. Plus the gun is pretty accurate. I can usually keep about a 2 inch group standing at 6 yards although sometimes the lightweight frame does make me wobble a few shots. Do expect to be somewhat accurate with this gun, but do not expect it to be a total nail driver at 10 yards because of the short sight radius, if you are going for ultimate accuracy you are better off buying a Ruger 22/45 hunter which has a very long sight radius and I can have one hole groups at 6 yards. But beginners should be pleased with the accuracy of this compact-like handgun.

My favorite part of this handgun is the practicality of it, it serves its purpose very well and allows me to practice a lot more than I would if I was just shooting centerfire rounds. I do not feel bad or bankrupt after blowing through a couple hundred rounds of .22lr, but I cannot say the same if I was shooting something else like .45.

My Least Favorite part about the Walther is how picky it is about ammo. I always shoot CCI Mini-mags through it because everything else causes it to jam are have some sort of malfunction. So rather than buying my big box of Federal Bulk ammo at $20 for 550 rounds, I have to pay $7 for 100 CCI which granted is not expensive compared to other calibers I would still prefer to just have to buy Federal Bulk. But if you shoot CCI mini-mags through it you will have no issues, the only malfunction I have ever had with CCI is a few failure to feeds from the same box of ammo and they seemed to have some sort of gel on the tip of the bullet. I have put well over 1000 rounds through my P22 and other than those few issues it keeps running all day long and will chow down on CCI all day long.

I would definitely recommend this gun to anyone looking for a good .22lr pistol, whether you want to plink or train it will serve your needs. But I would also check into the new Ruger SR22 pistol first which is almost identical to the Walther P22 but I have heard that it takes almost any ammo you throw at it.

SPECIFICATIONS

Model: Walther P22
Caliber: .22LR
Magazine capacity: 10 rounds
Weight empty: 15.1 oz.
Barrel Length: 3.42”
Overall length: 6.3”
Sights: 3 dot adj.
Action: DA/SA
Price MSRP: $379

Does its job well and is a great first pistol but I would definitely compare it against the Ruger SR22 before I bought either. Set up an Action Target Rimfire dueling tree and plink all day long and it will be a wonderful time spent with family and friends.

With the expiration of the ban, firearms manufacturers have returned to selling weapons that firearms aficionados want.  That happens to include “assault weapons” and large capacity magazines for both assault rifles and all semi-automatic handguns.  I like to compare this to something that almost all Americans use, which are automobiles.  Automobile manufacturers build vehicles that are going to be able to get the driver from point A to point B efficiently (and sometimes quickly).  A great deal of research and development goes into building an automobile which can get great gas mileage, etc. however nobody would argue that selling automobiles with the largest possible capacity for storing gasoline is an ineffective design.  It’s obvious to anyone who can think clearly on the issue.  The fewer times you have to stop and fill up, the better.  The same line of thinking applies to firearms, and firearms manufacturers know this.

Let’s assume that the number of crimes committed with assault weapons and/or high-capacity magazines has risen since the Assault Weapons Ban expired is true.  Logically, wouldn’t it make sense that those weapons which the criminal would be using at the time of his crime would be those very same weapons which are available for purchase?  If assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are available for purchase, then logically those would be bought and then subsequently used in these hypothetical crimes.  If those weapons were not available, then a different weapon would be used; however I do not believe that the crime would not be committed.  That is shortsighted and ignorant thinking.  I mean, did all crime cease during the Clinton-era and the now expired weapons ban time period?  The answer is quite simply, no.

Lastly, try to recall the mass killing that took place a number of years ago at Virgina Tech.  This was committed on April 16, 2007 by a troubled student named Seung-Hui Cho, who used 2 semi-automatic handguns to carry out his attack which injured 17 people and took the lives of 33 people, including himself.  The handguns he used were a 15-round capacity Glock 19 (9mm rounds) and a 10-round capacity Walther P22 (.22 caliber rounds).  With the capacity to only carry 25 rounds of ammunition at a time, how did he manage to shoot, injure and kill so many?  It doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out.  And if you’re still too dumb to figure it out….he re-loaded!

In conclusion, it is my firm belief that the only way to stop crimes with firearms is for firearms to not exist. However; this is just as ignorant and unthinkable as believing that limiting the number of bullets a criminal’s semi-automatic handgun can hold will make any difference on the number of bullets he brings with him to his crime.

I feel that if you love a black gun that is great, two-tone awesome, stainless with rosewood grips beautiful, if you think pink is cool and empowering and will get you to the range than that’s what you should have.  What I find interesting, with most of us acknowledging that we’re all unique, is that some people still assume that because I’m a woman I would automatically choose pink over any other color.

Imagine a man walking into a gun store and says, “I’d like that S&W 1911”

Man behind the counter replies, “Excellent, would you like that in blue?”

Just thinking about an exchange like that at a gun store totally cracks me up!  It seems completely silly to me that because a man walks into the store that anyone would assume that he wanted a blue gun simply because he is a man.  Just as silly as it would be to assume every woman that walked into your store would want a pink gun.

When I finally decided that Walther was just what I had wanted-perfect as is- the man behind the counter said, “You want that in pink?”  I whipped my head around, shot him a quick glance, and retorted, “No, I do NOT want that in pink.”  He laughed and said something to the effect that he has to ask “these days” because some women want their guns pink and “blinged” out.

Sitting around the dinner table at Easter I asked the lovely ladies in my family what their favorite colors were.  It just so happens that my gram loves green, my aunt has always been fond of blue, my mother and I like orange (holy crap am I becoming my mother??!!), and my teenage cousin’s favorite is pink. So that is 1 pink lover out of 5 women around the dinner table.  Yes I know that is a small sampling but I still find it interesting.

Perhaps the better question would be “would you like this as is or in a different color?” which would most likely prompt from the buyer “what colors does it come in/do you have it in orange?”

Just because pink and blue help us easily identify babies so that we don’t hurt their parents feelings, and thank God for that because I hate it when I call someone’s cute little boy a beautiful baby girl, it doesn’t mean that when we grow up that women want everything in pink and men want everything in blue.

Honestly, this really bummed me out.  I was so proud of going through the pistol safety course and just taking a step towards getting a gun that I thought the men behind the counter would be at least a little excited for me too.  Not that I was expecting high fives or a parade I just thought they would be a little more encouraging and interested. 

After much consideration I went back and I wound up getting a Walther P22.  Taking the advice of one of my girl friends I picked the gun that “felt like a glove” in my hand. 

I’ve been to the range a few times now and have had a great time with Walther so far.  I’ve learned that Walther does not like all .22 ammo and prefers CCI Mini Mag ammo.  I’ve also learned that I need to bring more than 100 rounds to the range…100 goes by too quick!

I’m completely new to the gun world.  About 2 years ago my husband said that he’d like to get his pistol permit.  Believe it or not it took us about 16 months out of that time to get them!!  I didn’t grow up with guns in my house and for the life of me I didn’t understand why anyone would want a gun.  To me they were totally scary and unnecessary.   My husband on the other hand grew up in a house full of guns, learned how to use them at a young age and really wanted to have one and who am I to keep him from something he wants?  That’s not my style.

If we were going to have guns in our house I felt strongly that I needed to know more about them…no actually I needed to know EVERYTHING about them.  I wanted to know things like the crime rate in the United States, how many people died each year due to firearms, why people carry, the laws, and of course how to use them. 

The real opportunity to research this information came when I was faced with picking a topic for my capstone project in the MBA program I was in.  I wanted to put my education to the test and see if I could come up with a business plan to open my own business…but couldn’t figure out what type of company but kept coming back to a gun store. 

Why a gun store?  It seemed fitting.  I wanted to learn more about the industry and my first gun shopping experience well… it sucked.  Overall, my project was inspired by the undesirable experiences that I encountered when going through the process of buying my first handgun as a woman.  I don’t think that I need to say much about that as I hear and read about similar experiences all of the time! 

So I decided that my final project would be a strategic plan for opening my own gun store.  The capstone project covered the last 2 semesters; I just loved working on this project it was so much fun.  Being new to guns the research proved to be very interesting and quite eye-opening and I don’t think that I would have examined the gun industry on my own.  Many of the things I thought would be true based on my own biases or lack of knowledge proved not to be. 

I can tell you that we will NOT be opening up a gun store anytime soon!  Maybe if we win the lottery we could afford it.  I would love to work in a gun store part time not only to be able to handle all different kinds of guns and learn more but to also meet other gun owners and ask them questions and hear their stories.  Plus I think it would be great to see more ladies behind the counter. That being said I don’t think that my heart is behind a counter, I think its at the range.  Helping other women feel comfortable and get the training they need.  But becoming a trainer is a long ways away for me, I’m only at the beginning of my journey.  But a girl can dream, right? 

Now that I have whet my appetite with knowledge and learn more each day I feel that it’s time to get to know my gun better and that’s where Walther comes in.

Good move lobster.

Classy.

Some vintage 1980′s horror stickers.  Nice come up.

Tactical Varminator

Tuffer than leather.

Neighbor’s new “L O V E” tattoo

New shirts available on Hollywood Blvd.

I guess OBEY did this design.

“For Traffic Info call 5-1-1″  or just look up from your phone.

Dharma had me stop at the range’s pro shop before heading out to the bays. He wanted to pick up brand new target back boards so that we could find my shots instead of having to guess which ones where mine on the used ones you can get out at the bays. This was a smart idea, wish I had thought of it. After spending the 10 minutes it take to unload the car and set up the bay for shooting we were off. So to speak.

Breaking in a new gun where you are the only one shooting it is actually a surreal experience. You and the gun have to get to know each other and this can be a bit of a challenge. Not a bad challenge, but a challenge. My little Walther PK380 looks, works, acts and is exactly like Dharma’s First Edition, mine just doesn’t have First Edition stamped on it. So it would seem that because this gun is built the same, looks the same, and acts the same, it should fire the same, have the same site picture….so…..provided I am doing my job and keeping my fundamentals in play I should be firing the same, immediately grouping and on target…….right?? If any of you said right, you would be as wrong as I was….it’s ok….really….we are learning together.

After sending a few rounds down range and hitting mostly the backboard I found that I was shooting high. Ok, if I had been aiming to make head shots I was dead accurate…..but….I wasn’t aiming at the head I was aiming at the center of the back board where the little black target was…ok….lets try something else…lets try bench shooting the little beastie…..I did much better bench shooting it than I did shooting from a standing position….all I can say is of course I did (all sarcasm intended).

I refuse to and will not allow myself to get frustrated shooting a gun ever again (although frustration is a natural emotion for me so yes it will happen again). First off, it just doesn’t do any good to get frustrated and second it takes all the fun out of shooting…..so…..let’s shoot the 1911 for a bit.

I only have 50 rounds of 9mm so I need to make that last a bit. Bench shooting this gun makes things allot easier on my back. I think that the groupings are pretty darn good. I was putting rounds through right next to the previous shot. I am so proud…if you notice I covered up the orange dot with a black paster…it no longer taunts me and I think that by eliminating this taunting color I am shooting much better.



Bench Shooting 1911




Bench Shooting 1911

Where can you buy the Viridian C5L or the Viridian X5L Gen 2 Green Laser Combo? Visit http://www.xfighterdefense.com to purchase the Viridian green laser light combo.

I am always asked the question “Why would anyone want a biometric safe.”  Currently on the market you can buy safes that use keys, mechanical combination locks, electronic combination locks, or biometric locks.  A biometric safe will use a fingerprint to unlock the safe, and we all know fingerprints are all unique to each and everyone of us.  If you have a safe with a biometric lock only the person with a programmed fingerprint will be able to open the safe.  There are never any lost keys or forgotten combination’s.  We at Xfighterdefense.com sell only one biometric gun safe for your firearms and other valuables.  The Locksaf personal biometric gun safe is a handgun safe that opens using only a fingerprint.  In the dark of night if you need your firearm some could panic and forget a mechanical combination or forget where the keys are located.  A trembling hand from an adrenalin rush could make it difficult to  enter a mechanical code.   If you want to open the Locksaf Biometric safe, just push the activation button which lights up the fingerprint pad and place the finger programmed into the safe firmly onto the pad.  The safe only takes a few seconds to open.  Another disadvantage to key locks is a child could find your safe keys and get access to your firearms.  It is irresponsible to have loaded firearms laying around the house for an intruder or child to find.  A Locksaf personal biometric gun safe is great solution to these problems.  If you purchase one of these safes you can feel confident your firearms are safely locked up and only the people allowed in the safe can access the biometric safe.  Please watch a video demo of the Biometric safe sold in our store.  Please contact Xfighterdefense.com if you have any questions.

Suicide notes left by the gunmen who killed 10 people yesterday at a school in Finland express his hatred for the human race and show he had been planning the massacre for a number of years.
 
Matti Juhani Saari, 22, left two handwritten notes in a dormitory at the Kauhajoki School of Hospitality where he was a second-year culinary student.
 
He wrote that his motivation for the killing was because “I hate the human race, the solution is Walther 22,” which is a reference to the Walther P22 he used.
 
A police source said: “Saari left notes saying he had a hatred for mankind, for the whole of the human race and that he had been thinking about what he was going to do for years.  The notes show he was very troubled and hated everything.”
 
After Saari posted videos of himself firing his gun at a shooting range on YouTube, police officers interviewed him on Monday.
 
Police said that they took no action because Saari had not broken any laws and was not deemed a threat to others.
 
Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said; “The detective who handled the case did not think that the circumstances were such that they required a confiscation of the weapon or a withdrawal of the license.”
 
Police are now searching for the person who operated the video camera that took the clips of Saari at the shooting range.
 
The task of identifying the victims could take up to two weeks because their bodies were set on fire after they were shot in the classroom.  The nine bodies – seven females and two males — recovered from the room are burned beyond recognition.
 
The tenth victim, a young woman was shot in the corridor and is thought to have died at Tampere University Hospital, the same hospital where Saari later died of self-inflicted head wounds.
 
The school’s principal, Tapio Varmola, described Saari as a “silent young man” and said that nobody had any inkling about his deadly plan.  “He was a young man with two faces,” Varmola said.
 
A neighbor said that Saari lived alone with his cat and appeared to be a normal quiet person.  The neighbor said: “He was like one of us, quiet but not a hermit.”
 
The massacre in the town of Kauhajoki, 220 miles northwest of Helsinki, was the second school shooting in Finland in less than a year and has led to calls for a review of the nation’s gun laws.
 
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said: “We must considerably tighten them.  We should consider whether to allow these small arms for private citizens at home.  They belong on firing ranges.
 
Vanhanen, along with other ministers was visiting the scene of the massacre.  Earlier, he had declared today a day of national mourning.
 
Finland ranks third behind the United States and Yemen in the world’s highest gun ownership rates, with 1.6 million guns in private hands.

[Based on reports by The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the Press Association.]

Before we bought it, we heard of problems with round ejection.  We were told you had to use high end high velocity ammo for it to work properly.  That kind of defeats the purpose of buying a .22 unless it’s for competition.  So I got some Federal 550 round box generic stuff.  It worked flawlessly.  Not a single jam or any other kind of ejection problem.

I only had 2 complaints about the gun.  1- The sight blow assholes.  After shooting my Steyr with the trapezoidal sights or whatever they call them, I hate anything else besides a scope.  2- If my .40 can hold 12 rounds, a .22 should be able to hold at least 20.

But overall, it shot well.  Accurate, fast, trouble free.  If you can tolerate the sights and the feel of it’s tiny frame, then I would definitely recommend one to anyone that wants a .22 handgun.

And just for good measure, here is a cell phone shot of her (nice shirt huh) showing off her gun: