E-Mail 'Hawkeye’s First Gun - Part 1, by The Novice' To A Friend

7 Comments

1. When I first started reading this article (which I do find interesting), the first thing that struck my mind was: where is he going to find a 9mm handgun and the ammo to go with it? Online retailers are almost completely out of 9mm ammo and a 9mm handgun is almost as scarce. Used prices, from either the local FFL or private sales (if legal in your area), are also high too. In fact some people are selling their used handgun for more than the price of a new one.

   Good luck to your friend but I sincerely hope he and others in the same boat are far better prepared the next time (and there WILL be a next) we face similar demand in self-protection products.

   1. Yes, Andy, guns and ammo are really hard to come by right now. Fortunately one of my friends had an extra gun and some ammo that he could sell Hawkeye.

2. If somebody is willing to put in both the initial time and the ongoing time to train to become reasonably and reliably skilled with a handgun under pressure, then God bless them, but when my friends come up with similar requests, I have steered them hard at a shoulder weapon, especially if they have previous pleasant experience with same. It is hard to get good and stay good with a handgun and most people that do not need to carry on their person (per your friend’s scenario) are much better served by a shotgun or ‘pistol-caliber’ carbine (M1 carbine, M1 clone in 9mm, M92 clone in .357 or other, etc.). If he wants to store out of kids’ hands but handy, hanging in a nearby closet – above the door, usually does the job. Since he’s concerned about kids (his own and possibly others), I would bet heavily that he can shoot much more accurately under pressure with a “cowboy assault rifle” than he can with any handgun, and the M1 carbine was Audie Murphy’s hands-down favorite for clearing houses in WW2. I’ve been trying to get my hands on the new Ruger PC Charger pistol and fit with an arm brace for a similar scenario with a niece, but the last rig I got for a female worker (not throwing any shade on her gender, I’ve been out shot by many, many women) was a lever-action in .357.

   1. Great insights, TJMO. Thank you for sharing them.

3. An encouraging story of an awakening within your friend. Don’t let the momentum stop.
   My wife bought her first handgun in 2013 when Emperor Hussein began one of his attempts to disarm Americans. She shot a bunch right away, but since then she has shown little interest in shooting, only accompanying me to the range a handful of times.
   This afternoon when I got home from work, she said she had some good news and some bad news for me. The bad news was that she wanted to spend $1700 on homeschooling supplies because she said she wanted to withdraw from public school (that’s bad news somehow?). The good news? “I want you to take me shooting on Saturday!” She is planning activities with our kids this summer that I won’t be along for, and she realized she needs to get back on the horse and shoot enough to feel safe, competent, and confident carrying again.
   Needless to say, I’m not waiting for Saturday and instead am taking a day off work tomorrow to hit the range first thing.
   Sad that it took the coronapocalypse to wake her up again, but it is a great blessing whenever anyone realizes they are the only one who can 100% take care of themselves in this world.

   1. Great news! And welcome to the homeschooling club 😀 it’s hard work and amazing here.

4. I bought a handsome new RIA 1911 in .45 for about $400 and it was the dirtiest new gun I had ever purchased! It wasn’t just the oil, but the barrel was fouled. I had to use patches and a bore brush over and over again to finally get it clean. I don’t know why; maybe they had to do a bunch of hand fitting and kept test firing it, or maybe it wasn’t really new. It shoots fine, however. Very nice trigger.

Comments are closed.