Reader C.T.H. wrote to ask me if I thought that the Springfield Armory XD pistol offered in Front Sight’s Front Sight’s “Get a Gun” training and gear package offer [1] was worth adding to a family gun collection. The answer is an enthusiastic yes, and I’m not the only one that is enthusiastic about these pistols. [2] But I must add one proviso: Spare parts are currently hard to come by. Ironically, this is because of Springfield Armory’s exceptional lifetime warranty program. (Because of the lifetime repair warranty, there is little impetus for gunsmiths in the US to do XD repairs.) So, yes, the pistols are excellent and very reliable, but they won’t be the ideal choice for your primary defensive pistol until spare parts start to become more readily available. (I’ve heard that some parts will soon be imported from Croatia–which is where the pistols are made.) My recommendation: Go ahead and take the course using Front Sight’s very generous package deal. Unless you are exceptionally recoil adverse, then specify getting the hard-hitting .45 ACP XD45 model.
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Greg Grillot, writing in the Whiskey and Gunpowder [3] e-newsletter [3] (a free and recommended newsletter, BTW) notes that the aggregate consumer credit debt in t he US is now $2.48 trillion dollars, and of that credit card debt alone is at a record $915 billion. Grillot writes: “In just the last five years, household debt is up 24%. Nearly half of all American households spend more than they make each year. And 60% don’t even have more than three months of savings stored up.” I expect consumer credit defaults to rapidly escalate, as the nascent recession develops. Widespread corporate layoffs will mean that additional millions of Americans will not be able to make their mortgage payments, car payments, and even the minimum payments on their credit card bills. Any alternatives to delinquencies, defaults, and bankruptcy filings? Not many, because sharply lower house prices home equity lines of credit are becoming a thing of the past. The average American consumer is tapped out.
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Reader Michael H. recommended this set of two CD-ROMs, containing more than 1,600 military, civil defense, and firearms manuals [4].
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Kevin A. sent us a link to a Sharon Astyk article posted at the Silver Bear Cafe that discusses the world’s accelerating food crisis. We Regret to Inform You… [5]