u/Inside-Honey-7689

I spent a little while at the range last week. I don't get a lot of time to go so I work to make sure I spend time wisely. Set goals, make a plan, carry out the plan.

All 9mm pistol action this trip. My objectives were to evaluate as many of the applicable-to-my-use-cases rentals as I could (for the most part, looking for a compact, preferably hammer fired gun to replace my b6c, which is a bit too thick for my preference), test reliability of a potential new defense round I'm considering (Remington x-point... Not worth it), and continue to hone my accuracy with my primary home defense and range pistol, my SAR9.

I auditioned the CZ P-09 C again to see if my feelings from the first 2 times had changed. They have. It's not as crazy accurate as initially thought, and it's physically larger than I remember. I don't think it would be meaningfully more discreet than my SAR9 so there's really no point in continuing to consider it.

Looking at smaller guns, next was HK CC9. I expected to like it more than I did since I generally like HKs. But, it's TOO small for me, though. Sub-compacts usually don't feel good to me, and while I understand their role, "teeny tiny gun" isn't a role I feel is worth investing in for me. So after that I went a little bigger.

FN reflex xl. I was surprised at how well it shoots for such a small pistol. Most others in the same general class don't feel as good. I believe it's slightly larger than the HK but still classified as sub-compact? If I do end up getting a concealable pistol, this would be on the list except that it is not available with a thumb safety.

The compact Walther PDP has the same issues for me as the full sized: mag and slide release don't fall to thumb well for my hand, and it feels more snappy than I would prefer.

Smith & Wesson CSX. Size wise, similar to the FN... Sort of bridging the gap between a sub and a compact. I don't understand why this gun exists. It's not actually a da/sa hammer fired gun. It's not SAO. You have to manually cock the hammer back, which is about the same effort as releasing the thumb safety, so I'm not sure what the point of the thumb safety is. And the shield series covers literally every size range from almost-compact to basically-micro.

No Beretta px4 and no other CZs, either. So I considered a few striker options that are available with thumb safety. They don't have an m&p 2.0 OR in their rental fleet and the shieldX was out for cleaning. I considered testing out the Shield Plus, but I decided instead to send my last 30 rental rounds down range with an old friend...

Beretta 92. It feels like home. Ishot these in my younger days and they always just feel... right. It's everything you could want in a full sized classic pistol, and it has been 15+ years since I shot one. Full cheese the whole 30 rounds. I concede this was not part of my original plan - It was pure nostalgia and I loved every second of it.

The Remington hollow points fed fine and ran smoothly but they were all over the place. At 45 feet my groups were all at least 2.5 times larger than with the Winchester defense rounds and HST. Will definitely not buy the remmy again.

The pictures are of mags sent from 45 feet. This exceeds the longest distance I am likely to have to shoot inside my house by 5 feet, so is my baseline for training distance. I need to clean up a couple of fliers and would like to tighten up to inside the 9 region , but I'm happy with my progress. 4 months ago, the spread was double the size, or more.

Last photo is the shirt I wore to the range. The only black guy working at the place gave me a nod and said "interesting shirt" I nodded back and said "well, you know... don't want that sht around here." He nodded again.

A gratifying moment of acknowledgement between allies, especially given the clientele at a gun range in a very red part of a red state.

Everybody's always posting pics of NGD. I'm here to buck that and post pics of the guns that are departing my stewardship. Unlike many of you, I'm not really into collecting guns, and these have no role for me so they need to go.

First is a Norinco SKS. Not sure of the year. Maybe someone on here knows better than I, how to look that up reliably. One source I found said late 60s, another said early 80s. Whatever the case, I don't need to invest in 7.62x39 ammo and if I did, it would be for an AK. It works just fine, numbers match on this one, and it still has the cool little cleaning kit in the butt stock!

Next is a 1941 Mauser 8mm k98. Still has the loser stamps on it too so "almost certainly not a capture". Numbers not matching on the bolt, magazine cover and front band but the rest match. Barrel is rusted on the inside so it's not functional right now. Inherited this from an uncle who brought it back from Europe in the 80s. Fu*k n@zis and their guns, though. I don't want them in my home. 

Third is my first gun ever. The NEF 20ga pardner I posted a while ago. It just doesn't have a role in my life now. Other than some mild sentimentality, there's no reason to have it around. It was a great first gun and I'd love it to go to a friend who wants a first gun for their kid but I don't have any friends with kids around the appropriate age. 

Last is my Sarsilmaz B6c. It's a good gun, has a really nice DA/SA trigger, and low bore axis makes recoil very manageable, but it's a little too big to fill a role meaningfully different from that filled by my SAR9, with which I am much better. If it were slightly smaller, I might keep it for the off chance that I would carry some day, but it's a little fat for IWB at 4 o'clock.

If the shops have a 20g wingmaster that I can trade for, if the value is right it may turn out to be NGD for me (because busting clays is about the most fun I have ever had shooting), or I may scoop the Chiappa M1-9mm I have been peeking at for the last month or two. We'll see, though. Ostensibly that would play a home defense role, and also be a fun gun to have around, but it's a LONG way from a "need".

SAR9 gen2 with an osight SE. It eats everything except for the occasional stovepipe with blazer 115 (literally every other round has run flawlessly, from nato spec to +p 147s, every HP I have ever tried, to rando reloads and white box Winchester. I don't know what it is about the lighter blazer but I get a stovepipe about 1 out of 25 rounds). The HK style grip is the bees knees. There are a decent number of holsters for it but it fits glock holsters too, so basically unlimited options. Absolutely fantastic gun. Very underrated.

I was doing some dry fire the other night and set my piece down while I went to the bathroom and then got myself a LaCroix. I came back to this and a note that said "put the catnip on the table and back out of the room slowly. No funny business."

You never forget your first... Unless you forget it, in which case it's probably good that you forgot it.

This 20ga single shot New England Firearms Pardner was given to me as a Christmas gift when I was 18 or 19. It was my first gun. I'm pretty sure it was a pawn shop pickup by dad. I put a lot of #7 and #8 through it busting clays when I was in college. Had it behind my apartment door in a hidden compartment for most of my 20s. I haven't fired it in probably 10 years at this point though. I'll be taking it to shoot more clays one last time here soon. She just doesn't serve a purpose for me anymore and it's time to pay it forward. She will be a great first gun for someone else.

With 2 hours to spare on wood grip Wednesday....

This is one I'm willing to bet most of you have never seen.

It's a late 60s High Standard Supermatic Citation Model 106 Military .22lr pistol. The 'military' designation denotes it as having a 1911 style/angle grip. Mag release is at the bottom of the grip. Safety is on the thumb side, just above the generous thumb cradle on the real walnut grip. The slide release is awkwardly on the other side of the receiver, so I generally pull back and release after loading a magazine.

This type of pistol was widely used by competition shooters including in the Olympics. This model, or another variant of the High Standard Supermatic, was also the preferred pistol for most domestic bullseye competitions for many years.

I recently learned that the OSS also used this pistol with the barrel essentially replaced with a silencer for covert assassinations. Supposedly it was so quiet, it sounded like a cough.

The gun weighs a lot - around 6.8 lbs, and barrel weights can be attached at various points along the bottom of the fluted barrel. Due to the weight, the felt recoil is essentially zero. Trigger pull is less than3lbs and travel is around 1mm. This is a precision machine.

This example has a 7.5 inch fluted barrel but the rapidly interchangeable barrel options include a 5.5 inch "bull" barrel, and also a "space gun" barrel (fun stuff, should you want to web search for photos). The iron sights are adjustable for elevation and windage, clicks exactly like you see on modern scopes and red dot optics.

I'm a bad shot but even I can put a 10 round mag in a 3.5" circle at 25yds with this, which is remarkable considering I can't even see the holes in the paper at that distance.

I never really liked the look of the green plastic stock. i replaced it with one made from laminated wood. I would have preferred curly maple or walnut, but the hand-rubbed mahogany stain and oil finish is looking classy on this 597 Remington .22lr. I think it still needs a can, though.