Rambling Thoughts & Observations

• My First job was to decide what caliber to shoot. Seemed like everyone was shooting the 9mm, but my research clearly suggested that 9mm is ineffective as a CCW. I was leaning toward .40 or .45 cal until I decided to ask the most experienced person I knew, my brother, Jamie. He, without hesitation, said, “40 cal, Smith & Wesson.” My research since has supported that call. Most people who don't take the easy way out with, “Whatever you can learn to shoot well.” recommend .40 cal S&W. Checking into ammo costs, showed that although more expensive that 9mm, .40 S&W is still reasonably priced that I will be able to afford the large amount of practice that I would demand of myself.
  

• My next concern is that I am left handed and I am unable/unwilling to take the advice, “Learn to shoot right handed.” Although I do plan to practice a great deal, I doubt it will be enough to overcome 54 years of left handedness. Most guns are just right handed, a few guns are semi ambidextrous, and a small number are fully ambidextrous. What this breaks down to, is that some guns have safeties on both sides of the gun. Some have either magazine releases on both sides or one that is reversible. Very few have slide releases on both sides and practically none have reversible slide releases. My answer will be to get good at sling-shotting the slide most of the time. There is an argument that it is the better way of doing it since it creates less wear on the slide release.

• Next issue is size. Obviously, a sub-compact is easy to CCW and a man cannon is not. My feeling so far is something in the compact range (Glock 23 size) The idea being that I want something that can be concealed, yet will be fun to shoot. I'm convinced, “large amounts of practice” and “fun to shoot” need to go together.
  

• Conclusion (at this point): Compact .40 cal S&W 14+1 shots, ambidextrous/reversible mag release, Double/single action, Safety/De-cocker, maybe. Ambidextrous slide release, a plus. Hopefully not a POS and reasonably priced.

Since I am very positive about relocating, I have decided to get back into shooting. As a kid, I enjoyed shooting immensely and getting back into fishing  this year made me realize that there were many things I enjoyed when I was younger that I have gotten away from. I've always wanted to get a handgun but, here in Massachusetts, the "a gun killed JFK and Bobby, they must be all be bad" state, it's nearly impossible to get a concealed carry license. This, of course, means that only the criminals have guns. And yes I have had to deal with a 18 yr old punk with a gun while unarmed. It's an imbalance I did not enjoy. Anyways, I'm going to start blogging about handguns I have tried, the direction my thinking is taking me, and observations about handguns in general. So, here goes...

As the title says, changes are coming. In the process of arranging to take the month of April off from work as vacation time. Don't feel too jealous, it will be a working vacation. Going to spend the month in Michigan working with my brother, John. He has started, with help, a camping trailer business and I have decided to go out there to help him make it work. If all goes well, I will be heading out there permanently in May with the plan of working 6-8 months per year there and spending the rest of the year (the winter months) in Florida.  As I tell people, I was born in the local hospital and have never lived more than 15 minutes away from it since. So, this is a big step for me. In the following months, I hope to write more often than I have been about the transition.

I’ve seen this with the letters out of order, but this is the first time I’ve seen it with numbers.

Good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this you have a strong mind:

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120689/