Category: Guns

I know I’ve talked about this before, but since I can’t find a link I’ll mention it again. There is a neighborhood in Nashville called East Nashville, or just “East” to some people. East Nashville has been “up and coming” or “in the process of gentrification” for at least the last 15, probably 20 years. Young, white liberals moved into pockets of East Nashville surrounded by MDHA housing projects, section 8 housing, and halfway houses for felons and druggies. These things were already there, haven’t gone anywhere, and by the looks of things aren’t going anywhere any time soon. It’s quite easy to find a condo that last sold for $250,000 nestled between a four unit cinder block apartment and a crack house.

New residents and business owners in East Nashville are shocked, SHOCKED! to discover that these neighbors see them as income sources. New restaurants are frequently robbed. So are residents. Usually no one is hurt, but that’s not always the case.

So, what do these people do to combat crime in their area? Install alarms, surveillance cameras, and “No Guns Allowed” signs. You know, because criminals are deterred by signs. By and large they shrug violent crime off as a cost of living in the “right” zip code.

I try not to go to East Nashville because of the combination of high crime and victim disarmament policies. Pretty much every restaurant in the area is posted, but yet East Nashville still has the highest violent crime rate in the area. Unfortunately, my wife and I have several friends who live there so I can’t entirely avoid it.

Last year, Republican Speaker Beth Harwell told legislators not to bring up gun bills.

Looks like the leadership is doing it again this year.

Remind me why I spent so much effort getting a Republican majority in the TN House? I have forgotten.

First off, just want to thank Wizard for letting me play in his sandbox. I’ve been lurking around a number of gun blogs for a couple years now, yadda yadda yadda…

Ok, now that that’s over with, on with the actual post.

Back in January, I picked up a Springfield XDm compact in 9mm for when I finally get my rear in gear and get my carry permit. I enjoy the gun. The only complaint I really have is that, since it’s such a new model, it’s damn near impossible to find magazines for it besides ordering from the factory. I can find the full-sized mags in some shops, but none of the grip extension sleeves. Oh, and Springfield ran a special right before and right after I bought it where they would give you 3 more mags… grr.

Anyways, I was shooting it a few weeks ago at a shoot after a hacker con here in town. No problems other than my usual bad aim when I pull the trigger and the report felt and sounded wrong, plus my face was sprayed by… something. I froze as I waited for my hands to start letting me know that something was wrong. Fortunately, there was nothing to report. Next was “did I have a squib load?” no… I saw the bullet strike the target.

I finally actually inspected the gun. The slide was forward, but jammed up tight due to the slide release being on the wrong side of the slide. The RSO saw me wrestling with it and came over to investigate. Between the two of us and some percussive maintenance, we got the slide open to find this:

Apparently I had a round with a weak casing, which blew out. This was a new manufactured Monarch brand (Academy’s bargin brand) round. I’ve shot thousands of this brand of various calibers, so I think I just got the one in a million bad round.

After getting the slide off, I was able to get the slide release back in it’s channel and working. I reassembled the pistol, and the RSO and I both inspected the pistol for damage. It’s probably a sign of something that I was then willing to try some more rounds through it. So far, I’ve put about 100 rounds through my gun without incident since then. I guess I would say that’s a pretty good indicator of the quality of the XDm!

Chocolate 1911 as a Christmas gift from the folks at Lucky Gunner

Yes, they’re tasty!

My goal for 2011 was to get a suppressor. That’s still in progress, but I’ll call that a success.

My goal for 2012?

Take as much training as I can. Cool guy gear is nice, but being able to run what you brung is more important IMHO. I had a blast at LuckyGunner’s event last year, and the highlight was the training class from Rangemaster. It really whet my appetite for gun school.

I’m already signed up for an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor class. With that, I’ll also be able to become a state certified Handgun Carry Permit instructor–but that’s not the point of me taking the class. The point, for me, is to be credentialed. I have this feeling that if I’m credentialed, new shooters will be more comfortable taking instruction. Might be just in my head, though.

I want to take four other classes throughout the year. I am open to suggestions on where to go and what to take. Right now, I think I want to take classes that cover: