About this site...
About These Articles...
At the end of 2008, I realized that my
website had become rather disorganized and this section pretty
well as boring as watching paint dry. So to liven things up, I
decided it was time for a rework. Since I had been trying to
document what I had purchased, why, and for my own purposes
learning a bit about the history of the company and the
weapon, I decided that a good presentation would be to write
up an article about each arm separate from the others using
the form you would commonly find in a magazine. Doing this
is also intended to help me to improve my writing in general
as well as my presentation style. (You can see this
improvement quite clearly as you compare my earlier and later
articles.)
It should be
noted though that I am not a gun writer nor do I have any
illusions or aspirations of being one. (If the right paycheck
came along that might change, of course, but if that happens,
it will be because someone came to me, not because I went to
them.) Since I am a
decently well spoken individual, it just seemed like that was
the most interesting and entertaining format for me to use. I
also think it's been incredibly useful to me personally since
if forced me to learn more about each of these items as
well as doing the necessary background work needed to put
each page together. (Which is really the primary intent behind
creating these pages to begin with.) I will not promise that
my facts are all perfect but I do endeavor to be as
technically accurate as possible in my compositions. If there
are any corrections to be made, please don't hesitate to
contact me!
About This Site...
This is a one man show. I do my own system
administration, my own web page authoring and layout although
I am not a web developer by any stretch. It should also be
noted that I typically do all of my own photography as
well. From time to time, one of my buddies will fill in, but
the images are composed under my direction. I am not
affiliated with any publisher or any
related professional organization in any official capacity.
I put this site together because I wanted to, not because anyone
asked me to. This site and my firearms collection is a hobby
for me. I do not work in any associated business. In fact by
profession I am a network engineer doubling as data center
facilities manager. Generally my job involves dealing with
routers, switches, racks, power, and cooling. Nowhere in that
is there any association with firearms or anything related to
them apart from having that interest in common with some of
the other employees. What that means is that these articles
and the research and testing necessary to assemble them is
done almost entirely on my days off.
This is a
learning experience for me and a way to spend my free time
doing something productive. I do not pretend to be an expert
on firearms, firearms history, military history, or
marksmanship. Like most of you out there, I'm just simply
learning as I go, although I'm probably pursing my studies in
somewhat more detail. If you as a reader enjoy these
pages and benefit from what I have put together, so much the
better.
About The Target Images...
"Benchrest" for me means
I sat down, put my elbows on the table, and rested the stock
on either a bag rest or my forward hand which was resting on a
sand bag. None of these targets were the result of a
gun or a rifle in a fixture or a high tech rest. This is each
round being sighted in individually without the aid of
anything but possibly a scope. Also, newer weapons are largely
"out of the box" factory weapons, not tripped out
and slicked up with the price of the modifications and tuning
exceeding the cost of the arm itself. Martial weapons are left
exactly as I found them unless safety would mandate small
repairs. (If these repairs can be done without compromising
the integrity of the specimen.)
With all handguns, they are being fired from a
standing position with a two handed grip. Exceptions will be
duly noted. Also, since, like most shooters, I'm on a budget,
I usually go with the cheaper rounds. As a result, this means
that my accuracy won't be quite up to the same as those who
have money to spend on higher quality rounds or those who have
the materials and the patience to find the
"sweetest" hand load for one particular
gun. Nevertheless, one should still be able to get passable
performance out of these rounds. I believe firmly that the
true measure of the performance of an arm, especially one
being sought for defensive purposes, is not how it
behaves after careful tuning and the best custom loads but how
it shoots straight from the factory with off-the-shelf
ammunition that the average Joe is likely to feed it. Thus, it
is appropriate to use this same ammunition for my tests.
Last comments...
I hope you enjoy reading about my collection.
Constructive comments or questions are always welcome.
The only thing I enjoy more than putting together my collection
is sharing the knowledge that I've gained from the activity.
(P.S. Oh... while I have your attention, I'm extremely
interested in locating a grip maker, preferably in-state,
who can produce custom grips–both smooth and
carved–for some of my arms, possibly rifle stocks as
well, using hardwoods native to my home state of
Arizona such as Oak, Mesquite, Juniper, Ironwood, etc. I'm
specifically after native materials as a reflection of the
region I'm in. That, and the fact that I think some of these
materials are under appreciated. If you know of anyone who can
fill this need, please let me know. Yes, I'm willing to
pay a little more for such grips.)
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