Gun Review: Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8TtAyF6YA

The boss’s mouse gun malevolence notwithstanding, I’m still a fan of petite pistols and reserved revolvers. In fact, I was so impressed with Kel-Tec’s .380 P3AT that I just plunked down $239 of my own cabbage for one. Boy, has it been a dandy, reliably (and accurately) chomping its way through an inaugural 250 rounds of FMJs, JHPs, and assorted plastic-bagged reloads. All is good in my mouse gun paradise save one slightly-disturbing detail: those .380 bullets sure look small. For folks more bothered by this than me, the Kel-Tec Calvary has responded. Enter the 9mm Kel-Tec PF-9.

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Gun Review: Kel-Tec P3AT .380

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIIBclENyBs

Kel-Tec’s P3AT is one of the most popular pocket pistols pistol purveyors purvey. And no wonder. It’s small, light and cheap. And . . . there you have it. For most buyers, it’s enough; size, weight and price are the only three boxes a mouse gun needs to check. Especially one chambered in the doyenne of downsized destructive devices: 380. Of course, skin-flint gun enthusiasts want more. Safety. Reliability. Accuracy. Beauty. Ergonomics. Well, you can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you just might find . . .

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Gun Review: SIG SAUER P250 9mm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaFwkP_gt7c

As a kid, there was one toy I frequented more than anything with a barrel or trigger: LEGO® blocks. With these ingenious Danish creations, I was more than merely a defender of good and an avenger of evil; I was in control of literally everything. Pre-packaged kits for planes, trains, cars, municipal buildings or even spacecraft ultimately morphed into a custom-made (for me, by me) LEGO city nestled upon a discarded, three-tiered entertainment center. What made this possible?  No, Benjamin, not “plastics;” modularity made this possible. Enter the SIG SAUER P250.

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How Not to Buy a 20mm Gatling Cannon for your Museum

Driving past the “future site” of an upcoming aviation museum the other day, I noticed that a new old airplane had joined the rotting vintage fleet in the fractured parking lot.  Sitting between a wingless C-141 Starlifter and a stodgy A-7 Corsair II was bona fide movie star – the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Today, when I watch Tom Cruise jet-jockeying with F-5s painted to look like Soviet MiGs, I can’t help but think that it all looks a little contrived and melodramatic.  What wasn’t contrived, however, was the famed U.S. Navy Top Gun school, which provided Navy pilots with enhanced training in the areas of air combat maneuvering and the use of guns. When it comes to guns, the F-14 had a big one . . .

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Gun Review: Arsenal, Inc. SLR-106FR (Bulgarian AK)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9flyeCcIwQ

Let’s just come right out and say it:  Precision is to AK-47 as Rahm Emanuel is to bipartisanship.  Sure, Kalashnikov’s legendary avtomat holds many virtues – virtues that have rendered it the most common firearm in history; however, the reputation for tight tolerances and ultimate accuracy has always gone to other weapons.  Most other weapons, in fact.  In the realm of post-Assault Weapon Ban AKs, how well they operate is mainly a function of whichever domestically-produced parts are shoved into the imported rifles to make them 18 USC 922R compliant.  All too often, el cheapo parts (gas pistons, trigger groups, etc.) only promulgate the AK’s standing as a “somewhat accurate” assault rifle modern sporting rifle home defense gun.  But what would happen if one of these importers perceived a niche for quality over sheer affordability?

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Gun Review: CZUB CZ 75 P-01 9mm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoJTHEvcDj8

Sometimes I just get a “feeling.” Like the first time I ever stood in front of a classroom and realized I wanted to teach. Or the night I met a certain tall brunette. Every once in a while, for reasons that usually can’t be explained, something is just right, and in a moment of wonderful clarity, I know that it’s right. The CZ 75 P-01 is like that.  Although it’s not necessarily the weapon for me, it has made one thing very clear: my next gun purchase won’t be like my last, which was emotionless and 100% criteria-based. Instead, I’m going to let “what feels right” have more sway in the decision-making process. A lot more sway, in fact.

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Gun Review: Century Arms WASR-10 (Romanian AK)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouSiJXJs6m0

“Loose is good.” I think. Since that’s really just a hunch, I did the easiest most journalistically-thorough thing and Googled the phrase. My results? Well, let’s just say they stuck a collective finger in my gut: nearly every hit involved Weight Watchers. Then I repeated the search with the SafeSearch™ filter off, at which point I’d rather not say where the collective finger was sticking. Regardless, other than loose-fitting jeans (and, uh, loose-fitting other things), nothing I could find supported my contention that my friend’s loosey-goosey AK-variant, the WASR-10, is superior to its less-wobbly alternatives. But I still think it is.

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Meggitt Training Systems Part II – Road Range

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBp0h0xFJ8Y

I’ve always been fascinated with trailers. Not the kind that tornados always seem to favor or the sort that supplies a steady stream of guests to the Jerry Springer show. I’m talking about the secret agent-like potential hidden within a tractor-trailer’s 4,000-cubic-foot cargo holds. For those of you who grew up in the Eighties, reference Knight Rider, Spy Hunter and The Dukes of Hazzard. A rolling casino hidden inside an eighteen-wheeler? Magic. Today’s “toterhomes” shelter everything from mobile mammography clinics to NASCAR gymnasiums. Still, none of these specialized semis are all that—in a star-struck little kid sort of way. With one exception: the Meggitt Training Systems Road Range TM.

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Meggitt Training Systems Part I – SHOTT House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATKF-0whQ1w

Commenting on a previous TTAG piece about confronting intruders in your home, reader MikeD shed some light on the immensely dangerous activity of clearing a building:

I work out with a large portion of my city’s SWAT team, and since I’m friendly with them I’ve been invited to help them with training (I get to be a bad guy and they hunt me down). Even trained professionals have a very hard time safely clearing a building. In every scenario I’ve run in training, I’ve always shot one officer before they got me. If they can’t do it, I surely can’t do it.

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