What guns to buy? and related posts.

[ReserveGrowthRulz]

......I told the wife that upon the last kid graduating college I want to move somewhere that I can crack the kitchen window and pick off groundhogs as random practice. She wants to move to the beach instead.

Move somewhere where you can shoot groundhogs and build your wife one of these.

Not a chance. I can't even get her to consider a beach along the Great Lakes, or along the Gulf Coast. It is Atlantic seaboard or nothing.

[Catweazle]

I'm considering trying out Russian made Tula ammo, any thoughts on steel cased and steel core ammo?

Yes; Don't use them for steel plate practical shooting. Some muppet used 9mm steel jacket ammo at a practical shoot I was in and a bit of jacket hit me just under my eye.

[ReserveGrowthRulz]

I'm considering trying out Russian made Tula ammo, any thoughts on steel cased and steel core ammo?

Yes; Don't use them for steel plate practical shooting. Some muppet used 9mm steel jacket ammo at a practical shoot I was in and a bit of jacket hit me just under my eye.

Thanks for the tip.

[vtsnowedin]

I'm considering trying out Russian made Tula ammo, any thoughts on steel cased and steel core ammo?

Yes; Don't use them for steel plate practical shooting. Some muppet used 9mm steel jacket ammo at a practical shoot I was in and a bit of jacket hit me just under my eye.

I need a bit more information here. At what range were the steel targets? And why were you standing that close? It just seems common sense to not bounce off bullets, steel or other construction, off a steel target if you are anywhere near where the fragments might go. So a lead bullet doesn't hit you so you notice but that dust it became is in the air you are breathing. Perhaps more deadly then the steel frag that nicked you.

[Catweazle]

I'm considering trying out Russian made Tula ammo, any thoughts on steel cased and steel core ammo?

Yes; Don't use them for steel plate practical shooting. Some muppet used 9mm steel jacket ammo at a practical shoot I was in and a bit of jacket hit me just under my eye.

I need a bit more information here. At what range were the steel targets? And why were you standing that close? It just seems common sense to not bounce off bullets, steel or other construction, off a steel target if you are anywhere near where the fragments might go. So a lead bullet doesn't hit you so you notice but that dust it became is in the air you are breathing. Perhaps more deadly then the steel frag that nicked you.

I wasn't close, I was standing talking to some other competitors at least 30yds back from the firing course. A small piece of steel jacket hit me and stuck in my cheek.

The shoot was outdoors, in an old gravel pit.

As I understand it the danger of fragments coming back towards the shooter is much higher if the bullet craters the target, either because the bullet is too hard, the target too soft, or the bullet too fast. A normally "splattering" bullet will splash mostly sideways, but in a crater the splash can be directed backwards away from the target.

[vtsnowedin]

Yes; Don't use them for steel plate practical shooting. Some muppet used 9mm steel jacket ammo at a practical shoot I was in and a bit of jacket hit me just under my eye.

I need a bit more information here. At what range were the steel targets? And why were you standing that close? It just seems common sense to not bounce off bullets, steel or other construction, off a steel target if you are anywhere near where the fragments might go. So a lead bullet doesn't hit you so you notice but that dust it became is in the air you are breathing. Perhaps more deadly then the steel frag that nicked you.

I wasn't close, I was standing talking to some other competitors at least 30yds back from the firing course. A small piece of steel jacket hit me and stuck in my cheek.

The shoot was outdoors, in an old gravel pit.

As I understand it the danger of fragments coming back towards the shooter is much higher if the bullet craters the target, either because the bullet is too hard, the target too soft, or the bullet too fast. A normally "splattering" bullet will splash mostly sideways, but in a crater the splash can be directed backwards away from the target.

Yes steel or any full metal jacket ammo would not be recommended at that distance against a steel target.
In my youth there was a lad (not me) that shot a 22 at a railroad track rail. managed to hit the slant of the foot which ricocheted up to the top shoulder then back towards the shooter hitting him in the left arm. The same guy also managed to carry a revolver with six full chambers and drop it out of the holster on the exposed hammer which fired it striking him at the top of the thigh. How he lived to be twenty-one remains a mystery.

[Vortex2]

I suspect that anyone who has worked with firearms or explosives has had a few close calls.

Even in the UK during my lifetime I have just avoided a bullet twice by inches.

[vtsnowedin]

I suspect that anyone who has worked with firearms or explosives has had a few close calls.

Even in the UK during my lifetime I have just avoided a bullet twice by inches.

Oh I have blown a primer or two working up handloads, but chainsaw work and driving tractors in hillside woods have put me in more danger and I have some scars to prove it.

[kenneal - lagger]

I had a "gun accident" when I was fifteen or sixteen. My friend and I made up some sodium chlorate weed killer and sugar and packed it into a toy cap spud gun. My mate decided he was going to pull the trigger but it didn't go off. A few tries later the gun blew up in his hand and nearly deafened both of us. Luckily neither of us were caught by the shrapnel.

Another time we had a gun fight with air rifles. We were careful not to shoot at each other but we did come close. Later on he joined the police and became a firearms officer! He's long retired now though.

[kenneal - lagger]

............... but chainsaw work and driving tractors in hillside woods have put me in more danger and I have some scars to prove it.

I've worked in the building and farming industries all my life which is about as dangerous as you can get in the UK. I have a crushed little toe after an accident in a tunnel and I'm deafer in one ear than the other after years of chainsaw work without ear defenders. I have nearly been crushed by a cow on two occasions and, on one occasion, if the cow had had horns I would have been dead but apart from that I'm not in bad nick for a seventy year old.

I've not had any problems with firearms though, yet, touch wood!!! But then they are locked away most of the time.

[ReserveGrowthRulz]

Makes it terribly easy to get at the guts of the thing to clean it.

[Vortex2]

most importantly from my perspective, a manual safety,

I know a spook who carries a 45 Glock. He has NO safeties at all.

I assume to ensure that it goes bang even when grabbed in a panic.

[vtsnowedin]

most importantly from my perspective, a manual safety,

I know a spook who carries a 45 Glock. He has NO safeties at all.

I assume to ensure that it goes bang even when grabbed in a panic.

Actually Glocks have a built in safety system that keeps the firearm from discharging if it is dropped etc. Putting your finger on the trigger and beginning to pull it back releases it. All you have to do to keep the gun safe is keep you finger or other objects out of the trigger guard until ready to shoot.
But if you are a 1911 fan and are used to manual safeties you will never feel right not being able to flip the safety on when done shooting.

[ReserveGrowthRulz]

most importantly from my perspective, a manual safety,

I know a spook who carries a 45 Glock. He has NO safeties at all.

The Glock has safeties, they are just related to dropping or hitting the thing, and they deactivate when someone, or something, pulls the trigger.

[ReserveGrowthRulz]

But if you are a 1911 fan and are used to manual safeties you will never feel right not being able to flip the safety on when done shooting.

Safety on, safety off, safety good!!