The Gun Blogs

Working at a gun shop gives me some wonderful oppertunitys to try stuff I otherwish would not have. At time I am very impressed, other times not so much. This time was both, and a learning experince to boot. I took home a brandnew Taurus 650 CIA (carry it anywhere) mine is a .357 magnum, 2' barrel, Double action only. Now I am ussaly a fan of having the option of the single action; however where I to be involved in a gunfight with this gun, I would not be using single action! So I am training myself to shoot double action, as most of the handguns I carry daily are either double action only, or double action first shot. There are rumors that DAO shooting is inaccurate, and diffcult. While it may take more concentration to fire in DA mode this is not a bad thing as it helps us to concentrate more on a consistant trigger squeze.
I like the little 2" revolvers because they tend to be there by my side when not other firearm will quite do the trick. Add to that the performance of the .357 Magnum caliber, and you have yourself a great little combo. I drive a pickup that the desighn of the seats allows me to afix a holster inbetween the drivers seat and the center consul. This is where I prefer to have a revolver. I cannot readily reach my holstered weapon the gun-in-the-seat meathod is wonderful. With the small CIA all I have to do is put the gun in my pocket when I leave the truck, which not only secures the firearm, but also provides me with a great back up gun.
Anyone reading this must note that although these meathods work for me they may not be ideal where you are. I live in Alaska, and it is simply a differant kind of enviroment. We have cold weather, animals, remote wilderness areas, and the usual assortment of drunk, vandals, and criminals. No, the truck never leaves the driveway with out at least one rifle, and one handgun. Here it is dark half of the year so it is impertive that one should learn to shoot a firearm in darkness. I think that this is a must have skill for anyone who takes their personal saftey seriously. If you think about it most crimnals will not attack you in daylight downtown, but add darkness to the picture, and suddenly the other person has concelment.
Constant darkness is one reason why I do not carry full power .357 loads in the Taurus. When testing the gun in darkness the muzzle flash from this little gun was enough to blind me to the loaction of the target for almost 3 seconds. To any of you who have been in a gun fight you will know that three seconds can very well spell life or death. I also know that it is unlikely that an assailant will stop their attack INSTANTLY after my first hit. With that in mind I choose firearms that are able to fire without essesive muzzle blast. So I carry the .38 special +P loads, and a speed loader.
Bullets do not do the shooter any good unless they impact their target. We must test our carry guns first for reliably and second for accuracy. It works. I am not going to tell you that you can hit a gopher at sixhundred meters. I was able to relably hit the head at 25 yrds on a standard size siluette target. long range is not where the real shine is though, its the personla distance shooting that will make or break the gun. I was able with very little practice shoot fist sized groups at 10 yards. These groups where all point of aim.
So on the stevedcross scale of gun testing I would give this little bugger a 6. I would have scored it higher, but there was a problem. This gun willnot work with Cor-bon ammo. I have no ideal why, it just does not work. It works with other ammo of the EXACT same power leval, but not the corbon. Now this is important to remember because had I not tested my ammo I would have been in for a rude supprise had it come time to use it. I will work on this though and let everyone know when I fighure it out. Meanwhile I would advise you not to shoot Corbon in Taurus revolver as I am not the first one to have this problem.
Good luck and stay safe
stevedcross

I got me a KEL-TEC P-3AT. Fugger has the stats on it. I'll tell you my impressions. This gun is tiny. It is easily smaller than my hand. With the Uncle Mike's (no relation) pocket holster seen above, it easily fits into front or rear pants pockets with no printing. It's polymer and seems quite durable. It's also a breeze to take apart.

At the blogger shoot, I shot it for the first time. The gun is so small that I don't see how it's possible to effectively shoot it one handed. So, I didn't try. I put three magazines worth of 102g Remington Golden Sabers through it with no problem. When I switched to the cheap plinking ammo after I was satisfied it would handle my carry load, I had one failure to feed on the second magazine and one failure to feed on the fourth magazine. After that, no problems at all. I put 50 rounds of plinking ammo through it with those two problems. I'd say it was a matter of breaking it in. After those two FTFs, it was perfectly reliable.

This gun is not pleasant to shoot. It's a small, light pistol and that makes it bounce around quite a bit. After shooting, my index finger was a bit sore. I bought a Hogue slip-on rubber grip and put it on to absorb recoil next time I shoot. If you buy the smallest size Hogue, you still have to cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom of it to get it to fit without covering the magazine. But this isn't a gun you get because it's pleasant to shoot. It's a gun you get to conceal easily.

Accuracy was about what I expected out of this tiny pistol. Best group was about 3 inches at seven yards (with the Golden Sabers) and average groups were about six inches. This pistol isn't made to for minute of angle, it's made for minute of ass hole. So, I can't complain.

If you want a pleasant to shoot, accurate gun, this is not it. However, if you want a reliable pistol that's about as big as a pack of cigarettes (and much thinner) that you can stick in your pocket, this is your gun.

Unfortunately, the weapon only comes with one magazine and additional magazines are $20. If they'd up the price and ship them with two, no one would complain.

Also, the trigger pull on it, while consistent, is not crisp and it's also not a true double action. It requires cocking, similar to various striker fired handguns.