Columns

Series of articles that explains the question and discusses the answer. To a person who has experience shooting many types of guns, choosing one for carry does not sound like a tough problem. But for someone who has little or no experience with guns, it can be hard to decide what gun to choose. And there are so many opinions and myths about guns, some of them just plain wrong, that it is easy to choose the wrong gun. What may be right for one person is a terrible choice for another.

This was my first every Polymer 80 build, and I hope it inspires confidence if you have been thinking of trying it out. I am in no way a gunsmith, and arguably not even a decent gun mechanic. I used simple hand tools, that I would wager everyone has laying around. No drill presses or lathes around these parts.

Bullets have evolved considerably since their first use from homogenous pure lead to homogenous copper and brass. Along the way, velocities have increased from a few hundred feet per second (fps) to a few thousand feet per second. For the most part, hunters have strived for complete penetration on whatever game animal they are pursuing.

Kalashnikov’s legendary AK47 is unlike the battle rifles of the NATO. The AK47 was a unique marriage of an intermediate cartridge with a sophisticated mass production design. Perfectly integrated with the Soviet doctrine of mass attacks and mass fires, it became a symbol of revolution.

There are really two reasons that a person may want to break in a gun. One is to improve or smooth the action or trigger. The other is to make the gun as precise as possible. So the first thing to consider when deciding to break in a gun or not, is what the gun is going to be used for.

This loss of life was the single worst case of mass death in American history prior to 911. The Jonestown tragedy serves as an extraordinary example of what results when true darkness is unfettered within the hearts of men.

If you carry a gun for self-defense, like more and more people in the US do, you have taken one step towards taking care of yourself instead of relying solely on others to do so. But a gun is a mechanical device and mechanical devices sometimes break or don’t work. There is no time in the middle of a fight for your life to get a gun repaired, so having a spare can be an excellent idea.

“Retro” ARs are neat rifles, and very interesting to research and build. Brownells did a really good job creating their likeness of the original AR-10. You can buy a complete BRN-10 rifle from them, should you prefer. But then you don’t have the fun of putting one together.

Howard Unruh was technically the third prolific spree killer in American history. However, his utter cold-blooded ruthlessness set a template for countless psychopathic losers to come.