Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 38

.22 RENAISSANCE

The .22 rimfire has always been uber-popular: low cost, light recoil, relatively quiet report.  Today, events have conspired to make it more relevant than ever. The estimated ten million first-time gun owners who’ve “joined the club” in the last couple of years constitute a pool of new shooters both broad and deep.  All the above advantages apply. […]

YOUNG ADULTS AND AR15S

Over the weekend, an eighteen-year-old turd who was allowed to fall through the cracks after being put in a mental hospital for threatening to shoot up a school, committed a racist mass murder in Buffalo. The death weapon was an AR15, supposedly legally purchased and illegally (under New York law) modified. Predictably, the call went […]

GUN MACHISMO IS EXPENSIVE. DON’T PAY FOR IT!

Human beings have personalized their weapons since the first caveman made his mark on his club.  I get it.  I own guns that have my name engraved on them. I have a few with serial numbers personalized with my initials, “MFA-1.”   What I DON’T have are guns bearing bullshit macho insignia.  And if you are wise, you […]

GUN MAINTENANCE

The last entry in this space addressed making sure we had ammo that was going to work. Of course, the other half of that is firearms we are sure are going to work. Which means cleaning. Lubrication. Springs replaced at appropriate intervals, and all of that. Those who are mechanically inclined enjoy that sort of thing.  Those of […]

KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY

The current (July/August 2022) issue of American Handgunner carries my article on testing the Smith & Wesson CSX 9mm pistol that was introduced a few months ago.  I was very much impressed with the gun, and wound up purchasing the test sample for personal use.  I noted in the article that there was a single misfire in the […]

THE IGNORANCE AND STUPIDITY WE’RE UP AGAINST

Over at the stalwart website The Zelman Partisans, gun owners’ civil rights advocate Carl Bussjaeger calls out an anti-gunner’s screed. It pains me to link to something as stupid as that which Bussjaeger righteously fisks, but I think you need to see the whole thing.  It’s here. The would-be gun-banner who wrote it, Paul Shriver, is […]

WHEN ONE OF OURS GOES TO THE OTHER SIDE

I just finished reading “Gunfight” by Ryan Busse, a former vice-president of Kimber. The subtitle is “My Battle Against the Industry That Radicalized America.” Busse was happy to be in charge of sales for a company that manufactured high-end bolt action sporting rifles and 1911 pistols, but had no use for polymer pistols, handguns that […]

WORKING FOR GOD

Over the years I’ve graduated from several homicide investigation and officer-involved shooting investigation courses, and taught my share myself.  One of the best I was fortunate enough to go through was Advanced Homicide Investigation, taught by Vern Geberth, the retired commander of NYPD’s Bronx Homicide Task Force and the man who wrote the authoritative text in […]

GOING RETRO

Did you ever go bird hunting and decide, even though you had the latest and greatest autoloading shotgun, you were gonna go afield with an old-fashioned double barrel “just because”? Or deer hunting with an old lever action carbine instead of a high tech modern long range bolt rifle, for the sake of nostalgia? Old […]

THE PIN SHOOT LOOMS

I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that what I consider the coolest of all shooting matches is coming up in June. Whether your choice is pistol or revolver, shotgun or carbine, there’s an even for you. The Pin Shoot – formerly known as the Second Chance Shoot – became an icon among gun […]