Testing a new lighting setup to get softer shadows. Here’s a very dry-looking Kimber Custom TLE II, covered with crud from the leather IWB it’s been sitting in.

I’m preparing to take the training and apply for my California CCW. Since you have to register the weapon you intend to carry, I needed to select my first gun intended for concealed carry. My other firearms were not ideal choices. Most of my guns are magnum revolvers in stainless steel, heavy and not very concealable. My autos consist of a Walter P22 (.22 is obviously not a good defense round) and one 1911. A 1911 is a fine choice, but mine is full size and I’m shorter and smaller than your average man - I would have a hard and uncomfortable time keeping it hidden. It also features a manual safety, which I don’t train enough to trust that I’ll remember to disengage it in a fight. Also, my 1911 is “home gunsmithed” which puts it out of the question from a reliability standpoint (I’m not a professional smith) and from a liability standpoint, which I’ll get to in a bit. So there was nothing to do but head off to the gun store! My wife agreed, bless her Kimber Eclipse carrying heart.

In reality, I had already made up my mind after much thought and all I had to do was plunk down the moolah and paperwork. I chose a SIG 239 SAS in .40. Here’s why: I wanted something small, concealable, easy to wear, with good stopping power and night time suitability. And I wanted all of this to come with the gun with zero gunsmithing or modification, which might be perceived as unsafe or negligent.

The last point is important. When you decide to carry a gun and end up in harm’s way, you have to defend your life not once, but twice. The first is during the life-threatening encounter which causes you to deploy deadly force. The second is when you appear in court to defend the use of said deadly force. It does no good to save yourself or your family if some over zealous DA’s office decides they will use any and all tactics to “punish” you for your legal right to defend your life. Should justice fail to prevail, and you are imprisoned, for all practical purposes your life is over. Even if you win, the legal fees can be devastating. You need to make your right to self-defense airtight. Since each choice you make about the weapon will be debated in court, you should choose wisely from a legal as well as a defense perspective.

First and foremost, the Sig 239 meets all the criteria for an effective carry weapon. It is of a good, demonstrably capable caliber in .40. I avoided 9mm, because of it’s underpowered repuation. Although I’ve read that modern loads now make 9mm effective, the general thought was that I couldn’t go wrong moving up a notch to the forty. The .40 is effective, won’t over-penetrate (to keep bystanders safe), but fits in a small, easily hidden gun. The round also has negligible recoil, making it easier for me to control in stressful situations. I also wanted something that the police or the government carry, and load it with the same ammunition that they use. This diffuses the argument that the gun was used with “mankiller” or “cruel” rounds, a point of attack in many cases. By using the same caliber and ammunition as the police, you can’t readily be accused of being “Rambo” about your choice of bullet.

The Sig 239 is also small. As I mentioned, I’m not a large man, and what I wear on a day to day basis requires something with very little “print.” I thought about the 229 version of the SAS, but the butt was too long for me and the DA trigger was too far forward for my smallish hands. The 229 grip was also too fat to sit comfortably in my hands. The 239 was just right, allowing me a good grip. It only holds 7+1 rounds, but most fights statistically never require a reload and are resolved in just 3-4 rounds. Besides, in CA, the 229 is capped by law at 10 rounds, so I was only missing out on two rounds by sticking with the 239.

The 239 SAS stands for “Sig Anti-Snag” and features a “melted” finish that is both visually pleasing and functional. No sharp edges means nothing to catch when you are drawing from clothing. This isn’t a “knock the corners off” job that can still poke at you with long hours of carry, but a true soap bar type of melt. No halfways about it and no gunsmithing needed. The reason I wanted all the features as factory standard is to address the argument that I created a gun that was unsafe. Any gunsmithing, even by a qualified smith, might be interpreted as a “zeal” to create a “murder weapon” which also resulted in a negligently unsafe handgun. I wanted everything to be absolutely stock and tested/approved by the state of California.

The sights are tough and functional, with a single tritium night sight up front and a plain black notch in the rear. I have trouble lining up triple-dot sights on the range, and triple night sight dots can cause problems in the dark since you may not immediately know which dot is the front sight. A single dot leaves no confusion. Again, I would not have to have a gunsmith retrofit the sights to my liking.

The DAK trigger was the single most deciding factor in choosing the 239 SAS. The DAK trigger is double action only. Many police departments have switched to double action triggers because they are perceived as being safe as compared to DA/SA or single action only weapons. Like it or not, this is the prevailing wisdom in legal settings these days. If I wanted to be percieved as a safe and responsible gun owner, I would have to go with a double action only weapon. The problem is, they all suck. Many DA only semi-autos have heavy and long trigger pulls. Others, like those on the Glock, do not have a second strike capability. If the hammer falls on a round that fails to fire, you must rack the slide to re-cock the internal striker. In a fight, requiring two hands is a liability. Shooting Times reports that 80% of the time, a second strike on a dud round will fix the problem, and instinctively, your first move would be to pull the trigger a second time. Sure, you can train for tap-rack-bang, but I don’t train nearly often enough to make this a perfect combat move, and it ejects a perfectly good round in many cases. The Sig’s DAK system is the best feeling DA trigger around and doesn’t feature a pre-cocked striker. If you have a misfire, just pull the trigger again. DAK also has a secondary fire mode that features a shorter and lighter trigger pull. After the first DA pull, you just ease the trigger forward about half-way and the gun is ready to fire again without having to fully reset the trigger. This move might require some practice, so I’d probably just fully reset the trigger. Since I mostly shoot revolvers, I’d be well trained for the Sig’s DA trigger-another good reason to choose a DA system.

That’s quite a bit of thought, but I wanted to be thoughtful about the weapon I choose to carry and, possibly, bet my life. The Sig is known for its reliability and accuracy, and has all the features you might want in a carry weapon including night sights and melted carry packaging. Just as importantly, it also fulfills legal criteria for what is considered a safe and responsible weapon, but does so without compromising function. No easy feat! Of course I hope never to use it, but if I have to, I can do it with confidence both in the field and in the courtroom.

The Dan Wesson is just about my favorite revolver with its interchangeable and highly accurate barrel system and massive frame and mean looking underlug. Smithing information on this gun is hard to come by, so here is a useful one for takedown:

There are very few sources of gunsmithing information availble for the Dan Wesson VH8 models. Here are mine as confirmed by the factory:

Dan Wesson Disassembly Instructions

1. Remove rear sight by punching out the retaining pin (this is to make hammer reinsertion later easier).
2. Remove the grips.
3. Pull the hammer back and tighten the 3/48th screw 1 or 2 turns to capture the hammer.*
4. Pull trigger to release the hammer into its captured position.
5. Pound out the hammer pivot pin left to right.
6. Pull trigger and lift hammer straight up out of its slot.
7. Punch out the trigger guard.
8. Remove half-moon lock on lower crane leg. use needle nose pliers to remove the crane lock.
9. Hold revolver upside down and work cylinder back and forth on crane to remove it.
10. Remove cylinder and crane assembly.
11. Unscrew the ejector rod, spinning it counter-clockwise.
12. Use empty cleaning rod to remove the main spring guide bye inserting the empty end over the spring guide where the guide meets the hammer. compress the spring and unscrew the 3/48 screw.

*On my own Dan Wesson, turning this screw did not capture the hammer, nor could I see how it would be possible. Your mileage may vary.

One look, and you either love it or hate it. The boards are completely polarized about if such a beast is practical, necessary or too ugly to go on living.

Being a revolver fan and amatuer gunsmith, I had always wanted to carve out a niche for myself by creating custom tactical and carry revolvers. After all, I hadn’t seen modern combat principles applied to this venerable format of firearm. They key factors would be the option of a light rail, tactical style finishes, moon-clips, de-horned carry surfaces and rugged sights with scope options.

Why? Well, despite what most people believe, the revolver is an excellent tactical weapon alternative to a semi-auto. Ammo capacity comes up often as the argument for semi-autos. But current revolvers hold 8 rounds, which is more than enough when you consider that the average rounds fired in an encounter is under 5 rounds. With moon-clips, reloads can be just as fast or faster than magazines (see Jerry Miculek).

Also, revolvers are also more reliable, period. They are simpler mechanisms, with fewer things to go wrong. They are safer, having a heavier double-action pull to keep finger clenching from battle tension from firing an unfortunate round. Sure, it is slower (if you are untrained), but that can be better too, making you aim each shot rather than spraying and praying. Being calm (relatively) and aiming is much more effective in a fight than just spanking the trigger.

Revolvers also allow you to carry a higher power round more comfortably than a semi-auto. When going up against body armor or opponents in cover, being able to employ a .41 or .44 magnum with hunting loads can give you a great advantage. I don’t know of a semi-auto that can handle that while being in as convenient and carry-able form factor as the revolver. In the home defense scenario with the occasional or infrequent gunner, they are also much easier to use. You don’t have to train to remove the safety, loading is obvious, and you don’t have to know how to rack a slide or clear a jam. You can make the argument that revolvers actually take more training for tactical or police use because of the double-action pull (if you ignore all those safety and tap-rack-bang drills)…but if you’re in that business you should be highly trained anyhow.

So, revisit that old wheelgun. Consider it as a backup or special purpose tactical firearm. I’ll be taking orders next spring.

Where’s all the gun pictures? Here’s one, of my XD-9 in the Tucker Gunleather “The Answer”. I’ve had this gun for two years now, my first handgun. Nice to see some wear on it.

We’ll probably never resolve our differences, but I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun trying. It’s good to be on board!

Additionally, Grummz has been teaching himself how to smith the 1911, so that’s something we can both agree on. We’re both pretty new to shooting, so expect a lot of discovery. If you’re a new shooter, you might enjoy our extremely sporadic ramblings. Looking forward to seeing a little more energy around here now. Welcome aboard, buddy!

I visited the kydex folks today. We’ll have the kydex modification for Glocks next week. You can order on line here or call 800-308-6628 and leave me a message. I’ll call back promptly. If you order on line use the comments section to add the kydex “retainer piece.” I don’t know the cost yet but it won’t be more that a couple of dollars.

Awesome! Although no one will know it, I’ll be that guy who “made the little plastic thing that keeps your Glock from falling out of your Kydex IWB when you’re taking a dump”. It’s a far cry from being John Browning or Eugene Stoner, but heck I’ll take it.

I guess I don’t need to buy that kydex press now. I still need a holster for my Beretta 92SB, which I’ve grown to like shooting, but is hard to shop for.

Came across this auction site with a whole bunch of different vintage toy ray gun. Cool!

Came across Holsters By Eric, and was charmed by its straight forward presentation by a guy who likes making gunleather. There’s a pretty good description of the difference in holster options that I found pretty informative (ride height, for example). He describes why these options exist, which a lot of websites don’t. Every page has useful information on it, and lots of photos. The holster I’m eyeing right now is the Com3, which looks like it would be quite concealable and comfortable. Tempting!