For those who didn't already know this, I'm a teacher. Pretty much all my life, I've been in education in one way or another. One of the things that I tell my students when they want my political views is that "I'm radically Anti-Radical". Maybe it's an Asian thing, or that I come from a family of professionals. But the fact is that I believe we'd be able to solve many of the worlds problems if we weren't so dogmatic. How does this have to do with this blog?
Before we go further, let me make it clear that I support the 2nd amendment..... but I'm about to steer left a little bit. I've studied and taught government, and to the best of my understanding, the reason that our Constitution is structured the way it is, is that the founding fathers knew they didn't know what the future held. Therefore, making the lawmaking apparatus open ended in order to deal with eventualities.A good case in point is the 18th amendment and the resulting Voltead Act that created Prohibition...... and the 21 amendment nullifying it.
The mechanism that has made it work over the years have been the process of legislative debate and compromise. However, this process has gone off the rails.
Increasingly, our society has gone toward the extremes on all viewpoints. This has created a paralysis in virtually all aspect of governance because no one is willing to compromise on their stance. I've looking at the various claims on the current crisis of mass shootings, and frankly, I've found a lot of stupidity and a lot of sense delivered by both sides.
Being a Texan and teaching Texas History for roughly a decade, nobody has to point out the role of an armed citizenry has in guarding against tyranny.
But, at the same time; I'm somebody that grew up in a Mayberry RFD-like small town of the 60's and 70's rural America. And from where I sit, there's not a good way to look at the situation and say that access to weapons capable of (and designed for) killing a lot of people in a short amount of time doesn't play a role.
How did we get here?
.... from here? Sure, Mayberry is fictional, but if anyone was alive in the late 50's early 60's, they'd know that it wasn't far from reality. Even when I was a teenager in the 70's, it was more this than today. Police went around with a revolver and a shotgun in the cruiser. That's because they didn't need to be able to outgun somebody armed with a 15 to 18 round handgun and/or an AR which takes 30 round mags.
Yes. I get it and actually believe that in the current environment, a ban on any sort of weapon would only serve to keep it out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. But here's the thing. Virtually all of the horrific mass shootings that have occurred in the last few years have been committed by people where were law-abiding right up until they went off the edge! Don't believe me? Look it up. Almost all of the guns used were bought legally. I don't even know what to say about this?
The sad thing is that I grew up in a world where this was the norm. Half the vehicles in my high school's student parking lot were trucks and probably half of them had one or more guns in the rack behind the seat. So, clearly, I'm not saying that we need to ban guns!
What I'm saying is that we have to come together and put everything on the table and get something done. We can't just stand around pointing fingers at each other while some "off-the-rail" teen shoots up a school every (or every other) week.
Sure, I believe that this thing is absolutely an out-growth of societal issues that run deep. And we talking everything from bad parenting to mass media, to social media, but aren't we being ridiculous if we refuse to discuss the access that these messed up people had to the gun(s). And I hate to say this, but the role that the type of gun had in making it 17 people killed versus 3 or 4? Any number is tragic, but can we not discuss ways to limit the damage? Would it be considered radical if the moderates stood up and spoke out?
Sounds like some kind of Hardy Boys Mystery doesn't it? No, it's actually not. This is really about my desire to have a gun that isn't manufactured. Now, you'd think that in today's world, with CNCs in everyone's start-up business, that somebody would be producing something that fits every niche, but that's just not the case. Here's my issue.
I shoot the 9mm, or more correctly, the 9 x 19mm Parabellum, often known as the "Luger". It's my favorite cartridge, I reload for it and shoot it way more often than anything else. As a matter of fact, I currently own 2 guns chambered for it and a third which is a 12 gauge shotgun with a 9mm chamber adapter. When I get around to getting a Texas LTC (Licence to Carry), I'll start saving up for another 9mm more conducive to "concealed carry". So, what is it that I need/want that isn't made?
A non-semi-automatic rifle/carbine chambered for the 9mm. What the...... why!?! Maybe, I'm weird, but I don't want to just shoot my gun as fast as possible. I want to slow things down and study the performance of the ammunition. I'm a reloader and I want to determine what my reloads are doing. So, what I really need is something along the lines of the Spanish "Destroyer" depicted above. Unfortunately, it's chambered for the 9mm "Largo" (9 x 21mm) and hasn't been made in several decades. And therefore; most importantly, around $500 when you can find one! So thoughts of having one re-chambered for 9mm Luger are not terribly realistic.
....... and therefore, we get this. My cheap solution, which is a single shot, break-open 12 gauge shotgun with a chamber adapter in it. My Turkish Fedarms SS12 was only $62 and the 9mm adapter was another $50, so that whole rig is definitely cheap. The problem is that it's also cumbersome at best. As you can see, the extractor pushes out the entire adapter, versus the fired case. It's not so much that it's a single shot, but that for each shot, I have to "break-open", pull out the adapter, punch out the previous shell casing with a cleaning rod, then load a new shell, close and fire. So yeah..... a single shot actually chambered for the 9mm or a bolt action would be awesome. But nobody manufactures such an animal!
In today's world, a person can find any number of AR based pistol caliber carbines like the one above..... although it's actually classified as a "pistol", but you get what I mean. Oh, they're cool, but I don't really need one. I don't want to shoot faster, I want to shoot slower! So, I'm out there looking for a "unicorn"..... a non-existent gun......
I love "pistol caliber carbines" (PCC), actually, that's a bit of a lie. More correctly stated, I love sub-machine guns, however, if a person doesn't want to get involve in NFA (national firearms act) restricted weapons, the modern PCC is as close as the average person's gonna get.
In reality, I'd really love to own a Swedish "K", but Uncle Sam frowns on such things, so I'm left with the a regular carbine with at least a 16" barrel.
Where I originally started was one of these......
.....which I intended to turn into one of these. Now on the eve of Hightower Armory releasing it's bullpup stock for the 995, I'm having second thoughts. Why?
Let's look at the decision making matrix and dissect all the factors involved.
- I'm looking for a easy handling pistol caliber carbine capable of using the same ammunition as my primary handgun (9mm). This one is easy since the 9mm is the most popular caliber on the planet.
- I don't want to spend more than $500 "all in". This one is a little tougher, but definitely doable.
- I really want it to be compact and easy to carry around unobtrusively. Definitely makes things harder.
- Oh, yeah.... I like interesting....
So, there you go. Not too bad. It needs to a 9mm carbine, (16" barrel, 26" long), cheap, shoots the 9 x 19mm and interesting. Then, let's look at the candidates:
- 1st, there's the "Planet of the Apes" gun, or the original Hi Point 995, 'cus I own that. It's very handy, it's cheap, shoots the 9mm and the Hightower Armory stock is coming soon, .....and should correct the ugly gun syndrome! Issues? REALLY hate the 10 round magazine limit!
- 2nd, is the AR variant. We'll go ahead and get the elephant out in the open. They're expensive. I might squeak a home-build in under $500..... maybe. And the cheap self-build using magazine adapters tend to be a little unreliable.
- 3rd, is the "new" option (for me at least). That would be the Kel-Tec Sub 2000 folding semi-auto. It's very unusual and kinda cool. More on this later.
There are others such as the new Ruger PC9, but they are well out of my financial range. And some like the Beretta CX4 Storm is out of consideration due to ugliness. So, let's look at the folding gun,shall we....
In 2001, George Kellgren, aka Mr. Kel-Tec brought out the original Sub 2000 (image is Gen 2). At the time, it was (and still is) a revolutionary concept, where you can take a semi-automatic carbine and give it the ability to fold in half, giving it an overall length of 16" folded and 30" open! That's a size that's easily back-packable. On top of that, the design comes in flavors to take magazines from several major handgun manufacturers such as Glock, Smith & Wesson, Beretta and Sig Sauer. Why did this even become a thing?
Here's the deal. You might have heard that Walther magazines cost an arm and a leg. So, I've been looking into using mags from other manufacturer's guns. One such gun is the Beretta 9x series of pistols, one of which is the 92 that our military calls the M9. As a result, you can often find these mags for them cheap, including the excellent quality Beretta branded 30 round extended mag as depicted above. When modified (eg, cutting a new slot for the Walther mag release), it can be used in my P99! Which mean that I'd be able to take a Sub 2000 set up for Beretta mags and use modified ones as interchangeable between it and my Walther. To me, that's extremely attractive!
So yeah; something along the lines of this Gen 1 Glock model, but you get the idea. Right now, I'm very tempted to sell my Planet of the Apes 995 and save up for one of these!
This was me on Monday! Presidents Day finally gave me a chance to get over to a range and try out my reloads..... and the Walther P99. Overall, I'd say, that I shot about 200 rounds of 9mm in three different guns.
The bulk of them were fired through the P99, which was fantastic by the way....
I fired several magazines through Hi Point 995 to establish a couple of things. One, it operates well had no trouble with even my handloads. Two; the issues that I read about the gun having with ProMag extended 15 round mags were also confirmed! That that I've been able to confirm the reliability of the gun, I now need to decide whether I want to continue on to build the Hightower Armory bullpup project, or sell it to buy a Kel-tec Sub 2000 folding carbine.
......then about 20 rounds through this Fedarm SS12 shotgun with a 7", 9mm rifled adapter. I I learned that it's accurate with the 9mm making it a legit multi-caliber gun, so I'm pretty darned pleased with this $63 bargain. Those are the ups.
The downs? I had some of the above.... right. Yup, some cratered and flattened primers showing some signs of over-pressure. So; some adjustments are in order for my reloading processes. All-in-all though, an hour at the range is the start of a pretty good day!
Oh no...... not these magazines...... although I sure wish they haven't gotten up to today's common $8 to $10 price.....
No, I mean these "mags". Many of today's firearms feed from a "box-magazine". For my AR-15 clone, these are crucial. And in the world of ARs, there are a wide variety of them.
When the conversation is about to the Stoner designed AR, we of course start with the "GI" mags that were designed for the M-16 back in the '60s. Although originally designed to be disposable, it turned out that they pretty much last forever and are available all over in the new as well as used market at anywhere from $8-12 depending on capacity and condition.
However, the defacto standard today is the Magpul "PMag" of varying generations, colors and options such as side windows to show the number of remaining rounds. These guys typically sell for around $16-18 each at big box stores such as Academy and Bass Pro. They are so popular and reliable that they're commonly used by the military.
Along with Magpul, there are now a wide range of mags of both metal and polymer construction. Regardless of material, they tend to run into the + or - $15 range new. Most "experts" seem to recommend having around 10 or so of the standard 30rd capacity. That would add up to somewhere around $180 after taxes. So, I started looking into other routes.
That's just too much for me to spend at one time, so I decided to nickle and dime this problem. One thing that helped was that I just wanted something of quality regardless of brand. So, I started by bidding on and winning a set of three Troy BattleMags on GunBroker. They ended up being around $7ea after shipping brand new.
Around that time, various local stores started running sales on Mission First Tactical mags between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I bought 2 for $12 from Bass Pro and 4 more for $10 when Academy put them on sale a week later.
In the middle of this timeframe, I found a listing for some Hera (a German manufacturer not well know in the U.S.) H3 magazines on GunTrader for a really great price of $5 each. Unfortunately, when they arrived, the lips were bulged out enough so that they couldn't hold cartridges in and allowed the follower to pop out. The seller refunded the entire amount (8 mags) when I contacted him, but it wasn't a complete waste of time though. I decided that I'd let the manufacturer know what had happened. They responded immediately asking for details and a picture of the problem. Their second email related that they would be forwarding the information to their engineers in Germany as well as asking for my address so they could send me some of their new version magazine.
A couple of weeks later, 2 of the Hera Arms H3t windowed 30 round magazines showed up in the mail. At this stage, I figured 11 mags (6 MFT, 3 Troy, 2 Hera) would be enough for me. Then I started thinking that I needed at least 1 of the smaller (10 or 20 round) mags would be a good idea.
You can probably see that when an AR is being shot from a bench, there's not a ton of room underneath it. therefore, having a smaller (less than 30 round) mag would be a good idea for that use. Unfortunately, I've found that they are generally more expensive than the typical 30 round versions, the most inexpensive I've been able to find being around $15 before tax or shipping. Yes, I get that $15 isn't a lot of money, but it sticks in my craw a little bit, so I kept putting it off (besides that they aren't typically stocked in stores).
Then, this happened...... a 10 round Magpul Gen 3 PMag appeared. I was in a Pawn shop killing time because my son was at swim practice when I ran across some IMI (Isreal Military Industries) M855 "green tip" ammo in 30 round boxes when I saw this in the case marked for $10 as a ProMag (one of the brands that I don't usually buy). It's hard to tell, how much I paid for it, although $10 would have been a decent deal to start with. It got bundled together with 60 rounds of the M855 ammo, 48 rounds of 9mm FMJ and a 3DS Nintendo game for my son.... for $45 "out the door".... which is pawn shop speak for the amount of tax being included which is another 8%+ discount. My best guess is that it probably cost me about $8.
When it's all said and done, I've got about $95 invested in 12 magazines. That's less than half of the normal amount that a person should expect to pay just walking into a store and buying them. I'd say that 12 is probably enough for me, although I do still have the 8 "bad" Hera H3 Gen2 mags sitting around. Now, if I can just figure out how to get those lips reformed...
