Lessons I Learned From The Worst Gun I Ever Bought. Editors Note The following post comes from Melody Lauer, the newest contributor to Lucky Gunner Lounge. Melody has been a firearms instructor and blogger for years, and were excited to add her voice to the team. NzQ0WDYwMA==/z/dh0AAOxy4t1Sl836/$_1.JPG?set_id=880000500F' alt='Walther Ppks Owners Manual' title='Walther Ppks Owners Manual' />Walther PPKS. A Legendary sidearm lives on as a rimfire for training and plinking TEXTBOOK 2000 2003 HONDA TRX350 TM TE TRX350 FM FE SERVICE MANUAL PDF EBOOKS toro timecutter z5000 owners manual sample papers for ict three little pigs that short. You can learn more about Melody on her bio page, or check out her blog. CBThe day I turned 2. Not only for the legal drinks at the local Applebees, but for the hour long trek to a not so local gun store to make the most exciting, and ultimately worst, purchase of my lifea Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry chambered in. S W. I took a lot of pride in choosing my first handgun. I believed Id done my research. Being new to firearms, I made a list of requirements and handed them to my husband. He came up with several guns that would meet these requirements and off we went, stumbling through a, sadly, anticlimactic purchase. All thats left of my Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry is this photo and a few bitter memories. I had never been so excited as when I walked into that gun store, or so worried as when the owner implied that I was making a straw purchase for my husband. I was never so insulted as when he tried to talk me out of my beautiful Kimber and into a snub nose revolver, or so stoic as when I demanded my 1. I was never so confused as to why I couldnt hit the target, or so infuriated that the gun wouldnt fire three rounds without it jamming, or so exasperated as seeing the amount of money I spent on gunsmiths trying to get it to run. Finally I was never so relieved as when a coworker bought it off of me for a fraction of what I dumped into it. Startup Delay Regedit Vista. I shed actual tears over that gun, but learned some valuable lessons along the way. Many years of concealed carry, a few dozen training classes, eight years as a firearms instructor, and two jobs behind gun counters have come and gone since that Kimber. I worked my way through a myriad of autos and revolvers, in all manner of calibers, carried in a number of different holsters. Along the way, Ive learned a few things about buying a gun. Lesson 1 Defensive calibers dont have to start with 4Once I learned the fundamentals of shooting, my accuracy became superb. Even with. 4. 0s and. I could hit my mark. I couldnt do it quickly, but I could do it. For three years, I maintained the stance that my defensive caliber must be a point four something. It took pulling a muscle in my shooting hand, and a lot of research on the topic, to learn that my stance on this was hindering my own shooting and the defensive use of my handgun. When I finally traded the seven rounds of. I saw real improvements in my shooting, particularly one handed. Moving to a more manageable caliber allowed far more confidence and mastery of skills, which I was previously denying myself in stubbornness. Lesson 2 Capacity is cool. Im fond of quoting Todd Green who said, Bullets are opportunities. Theyre options. Having more of them is always better than having fewer, even if you dont need them. I used to be one of those people who rested securely in the illusion of average. You know what Im talking about. The average gunfight is going to be within 3 yards, take 3 shots, and be over in 3 seconds. The trouble is, if average is what we are preparing for, why are we carrying gunsYour average day doesnt require you to go about armed. It took a couple rounds of force on force to realize how quickly ammo depletes itself and a few videos watching good and bad guys exchange dozens of shots to realize that average was not where I wanted to set my bar. Its not always practical or possible to carry high capacity firearms and magazines. One must do what they can. Whether the solution is more magazines, or simply the preparation of continued fighting with other skills once the ammo runs out, be reminded that cartridges are opportunities. Lesson 3 Safeties are irrelevant if you are not safe. For my first handgun purchase, I demanded a firearm with external safetiesa prime example of the appeal of a 1. There was a misguided sense of security in that. I thought it would make me safer. Safeties commonly have the effect of fooling people into believing they have an excuse to be careless or unsafe. I have been aghast and nearly shot due to the idea that, Its okay, the safety is on. There are no excuses for improper and unsafe handling. The more quickly you learn that, the quicker you will learn that the presence of an external safety is irrelevant. Training and safe handling make my firearm safe. All firearms should be treated and stored as though they are loaded, always, regardless of a safety. Lesson 4 It doesnt have to be made of metal. I had a strange aversion to polymer pistols when I was searching for my first gun. For some reason, they didnt seem like guns. When I looked at polymer framed guns, words like plastic and cheap went through my head. I had an irrational fear that they would break or blow up in my hands, and that bias kept me from experiencing some fine firearms for many years. I know now that my fears of an explosion or poor quality were unfounded, and my waistband got quite a bit lighter when I went from an all steel 1. Glock. There are some great lightweight metals out there, but many polymers have earned their place alongside steel as quality materials for firearms. Lesson 5 Reputations can change. When I was researching my first pistol, I read reviews. When I asked the question, Is Kimber a good firearm the response I got was a resounding yes. The firearm was expensiveIts Kimberbut I was willing to pay for quality. Kimber had a reputation for quality, and I trusted that. Throughout the years, I have owned four Kimber firearms. Manual Wheelchair Stair Climb. Game Of Thrones Izle 2. Sezon Turkce Dublaj. Two of them have been fine working machines. The other two can only be called firearms in the sense that they occasionally fired bullets. They also gave me lots of opportunities to work on my malfunction clearing techniques. I wrote Kimber off as a company I would ever consider buying from again, and noticed I was not alone. Plenty of people have changed their opinions of many manufacturers over the years. Glock almost went through a huge decline with the issues they had with the Gen 4 Glock 1. They were able to save themselves with outstanding customer service and a bunch of free recoil springs. In the end it saved their reputation as a quality manufacturer. Lesson 6 Find reputable sources of information. Reputations do matter, especially the reputation built within certain circles. Those in the firearms community see guns lauded by new shooters all the time. Its somewhat amusing, and exasperating, to see firearm reviewers with minimal experience write pieces titled Best Gun Ever, and then start off their reviews with phrases like, I got this gun today, havent had time to shoot it yet. How can you award superiority to a gun that still has its packing grease on it The reputations built on such reviews are shallow, but longstanding, because people who read and believe them often dont put their own products through rigorous tests. There are those, however, who have the ear and the respect of the community at large. They test firearms to the full extent of their measure, or see them frequently in shooting classes or competitions and demand performance from them that cant be truly tested with static bullseye shooting on a standard range. Those firearms and their reputations reign.