Firearm Enthusiast Thread

[Vancvillan]

2 hours ago, Dom_Wren said:

if I didn't carry and had the opportunity to protect myself and or my family it would be in me

Also you "I think safe and proper Gun Storage has to be a gun owners #1 priority,".

As a fellow firearms owner this is circle I can't square.  If you carry then you're doing so for protection.

How is your firearm stored at home?  Because if it's unloaded and trigger locked it's not going to be much use if someone busts in your house at 2am when you're sleeping. Even if you could unlock the firearm and load a mag, in that tired state (which impairs judgement), would you trust yourself to get into a position where you knew your backstop given that there are people around you definitely don't want to hit?  Even a 9mm is not stopping when it hits drywall, and that's before ricochets, etc.

When you are carrying outside - if something happens again, do you really trust your limited training in a high adrenaline situation?  Because there's no putting that bullet back in the gun if you mess it up.  I'm curious - have you ever been hunting?  Because even though you've prepped for that moment for year and been ready for it for hours / days on a hunt, when the thing you are expecting to see and want to shoot walks out in front of you, your heart is pounding - even if you're sat in a blind with your backstop pre-cleared.  If you've had to do some strenuous activity to get into a shooting opposition your whole body is vibrating.  It takes a lot of physical and mental control to put a 308 into a 6" diameter circle at 200 yards, and the 308 bullet is dropping the same at 200 as your 9mm is at 60 yards.  Imagine making that shot in a crowded environment without the opportunity to ensure you have a clear backstop.

I don't have an issue with open carry for people who have the necessary training.  But that training takes years in specific scenarios, not at the range, and is generally limited to tactical units and the armed forces.

[Vancvillan]

7 minutes ago, Harkanon said:

Thread is cray cray.   If shooting practice is your thing why not just rent rather than own.  Is that even possible?  Anyway very strange thread on what I am guessing is a predominantly UK centric user base.  Showing off your guns in an American sports forum will probably be less hostile

The only guns one should own, I have a long way to go

 

Not to harp on this but plenty of people in the UK own firearms.  As they do where I now live, where hunting is ingrained in the culture.  The laws, attitudes and general culture are obviously vastly different, and herein lies the problem.

I wouldn't show them off since A. they're a tool and B. frankly I don't want anyone knowing what I have in the very unlikely event they track down where I live and want to steal them (they're triple locked, so self defence isn't use case that even crosses my mind - for more reasons on that, see my reply above).  I'm not proud of them any more than I am of my circular saw or torque wrenches.

To try and answer your question from my perspective, renting is not an option for one reason - accuracy. If I'm going to kill an animal, it's a massive part of hunter ethics that the animal dies as quickly as possible.  That means familiarity with your firearm and optics, and a strict regime of cleaning, maintenance and checking of accuracy.

I load my own ammunition for one reason - I can get a few more percentage points of accuracy and I know how the bullet drops, is affected by crosswinds and how it behaves on impact.  Knowing things like the expected spread of a five shot group at various distances means I'm never taking a shot I don't 100% expect to make.  Also knowing things like how that bullet expands on impact, and the required velocity for that to happen again helps me determine range.  I've spent hundreds of hours, maybe thousands, invested into ensuring the highest degree of certainty that when the moment comes, that animal will drop and hit the floor before it knows what happens.  Is it perfect?  No, but you owe it do the animal to do the work.  It's about controlling every variable you can.

Which makes the idea of a bunch of people walking around in crowded public spaces with handguns probably more baffling for me than most.

[Tayls]

Chaps with all due respect here, this is a ‘firearm enthusiast thread’, I would expect enthusiasts to potentially post images of their new firearms or discuss the latest ones out etc etc… Honestly, if you have no interest in the subject whatsoever and you are only posting because it happens to be towards the top of the page, then have another think and decide whether it is worth while actually entering this topic. 

Having a debate here about the 2nd Amendment and the recent events in the US is not the right place for it. 

[mjmooney]

3 minutes ago, Tayls said:

Chaps with all due respect here, this is a ‘firearm enthusiast thread’, I would expect enthusiasts to potentially post images of their new firearms or discuss the latest ones out etc etc…

I think it was the timing of it, right after Uvalde. 

[Tayls]

1 hour ago, mjmooney said:

I think it was the timing of it, right after Uvalde. 

I appreciate that, but how long should one wait until they can discuss their interests on a forum? Uvalde was two weeks ago today and the OP in question was made less than 24 hours ago. Could it be seen as in poor taste, possibly, but then anyone against guns as a whole will think this. 

We all know nothing will change stateside when it comes to the background checks. But to add, not all gun holders are interested in carrying out a mass shooting either and just want to focus on their hobby which just so happens to involve firearms. 

My point stands though, if you have no interest in guns, then avoid the thread completely.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Tayls

[sidcow]

I've shot handguns in the UK before they became illegal and I've shot rifles.  So 2 shooting events at actual organised ranges.  Both company social events.  Just something different to do. 

I found it interesting and it was definitely something different to do.  I don't feel particularly inclined to do it again and wasn't particularly taken with it. 

Pretty much EXACTLY my feelings on Golf which I tried once because I hadn't before and a lot of people get huge enjoyment from it. I will never play golf again, it just didn't interest me, it was really just something to try. 

So I can see why people are interested in shooting but it's definitely not for me. 

I have also tried Archery quite a number of times.  In fact I've been pretty good everytime I've done it, maybe I even have a talent and it's a sport I should take up. 

I enjoy it much more, it feels more.... I don't know...organic, you really "feel" the bow, it's more interactive than just pulling a trigger. 

Really the arguments for and against archery are exactly the same aren't they? It's primary function is for hunting and killing.  I'm not sure if there was an Archery thread on here there would be a great deal of hostility. 

Dunno what I'm saying, I guess there aren't loads of people being killed with bows and arrows (there was that guy in Wales last year though) so it's not considered odd to own and use this UK legal deadly weapon. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by sidcow

[chrisp65]

I have an interest in guns.

I’d like the gun culture in the U.S. to be sorted out so wannabe gangsters over here see less role models.

I’d like to understand the thought process of someone that can see a rolling discussion about murdered school children and post ‘hey, here’s my new day to day shopping gun’.

[Vancvillan]

30 minutes ago, Tayls said:

I appreciate that, but how long should one wait until they can discuss their interests on a forum? Uvalde was two weeks ago today and the OP in question was made less than 24 hours ago. Could it be seen as in poor taste, possibly, but then anyone against guns as a whole will think this. 

We all know nothing will change stateside when it comes to the background checks. But to add, not all gun holders are interested in carrying out a mass shooting either and just want to focus on their hobby which just so happens to involve firearms. 

My point stands though, if you have no interest in guns, then avoid the thread completely.

Respectfully, as a firearms owner and someone who has spent time on firearms-specific forums, conversations around safe storage and handling are common.

There's also a difference between a firearms-related hobby (e.g. sport shooting) vs carrying one for self defence with (in what many firearms view as) minimal training.  The potential for negligence handling  or discharge is important because the consequences are so grave.

I'm interested in discussions on open carry hence I asked questions.  But I'm also protective of the right for responsible firearms ownership where the risk is correctly managed, and I think that open carry without training is counter to that.

I of all people on here am probably more "pro gun" than most if it has to be put that way, and I think interaction between people on various ends of the scale needs to be happen more frequently, not less.

[Follyfoot]

Shot all sorts of guns in Vegas years ago, I can see the attraction 

[Tayls]

17 minutes ago, Vancvillan said:

Respectfully, as a firearms owner and someone who has spent time on firearms-specific forums, conversations around safe storage and handling are common.

There's also a difference between a firearms-related hobby (e.g. sport shooting) vs carrying one for self defence with (in what many firearms view as) minimal training.  The potential for negligence handling  or discharge is important because the consequences are so grave.

I'm interested in discussions on open carry hence I asked questions.  But I'm also protective of the right for responsible firearms ownership where the risk is correctly managed, and I think that open carry without training is counter to that.

I of all people on here am probably more "pro gun" than most if it has to be put that way, and I think interaction between people on various ends of the scale needs to be happen more frequently, not less.

That’s all fine. But my point is that this specific thread is aimed at firearms enthusiasts, which is why the post about a new firearm purchase was made yesterday. In my view, it’s not fair that ‘non-firearm enthusiasts’ have come into here to share their opinions about that post because of the events recently. The two should not be linked. We have a ‘Gun Violence in the US’ thread I believe where the sorts of conversations around ownership and the recent events should be discussed. 

The open/concealed carry laws in the US is always a fun debate. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Tayls

[limpid]

5 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

Shot all sorts of guns in Vegas years ago, I can see the attraction 

Heist went bad?

[fightoffyour]

2 hours ago, Tayls said:

That’s all fine. But my point is that this specific thread is aimed at firearms enthusiasts, which is why the post about a new firearm purchase was made yesterday. In my view, it’s not fair that ‘non-firearm enthusiasts’ have come into here to share their opinions about that post because of the events recently. The two should not be linked. We have a ‘Gun Violence in the US’ thread I believe where the sorts of conversations around ownership and the recent events should be discussed. 

The open/concealed carry laws in the US is always a fun debate. 

I think it's fair in the context of the thread to ask a firearm enthusiast what aspect of firearms they're enthusiastic about that makes them feel the need to carry said firearm out to the shops, beyond because it's "100% legal".

[sparrow1988]

13 hours ago, limpid said:

Heist went bad?

If @Follyfoot is carrying out a heist it runs like clockwork, Ocean's Eleven style. Never gets messy and no one gets hurt apart from Andy Garcia's ego .

[sparrow1988]

20 hours ago, Dom_Wren said:

Fair point. I did not mean to cause people to get ___________ (fill in the blank). I genuinely believe that some people are interested in firearms/target shooting and some are not (fair enough). I do not share the points that a lot of you are making by me posting. Its tragic and certainly when i talk about guns i am coming from the only point of view i know-a US Citizen, educated, background checked and tested in carrying a concealed weapon (well SC is now open carry) i dont have the answers of how to stop it happening again.

But i don have a unique perspective of being a dual citizen with just less than half of my life spent in England. Hence one of the reasons why i thought the thread would be good to give my point of view on certain situations, but not sure if thats what it is now?

Fair enough, I don't think I'm going to agree with the open carrying of firearms just becasue it is legal. There are just too many nutters out there and it's too easy for them to get their hands on these items which are designed to kill. There are already enough items out there with which they can kill if they're going to do it. I really think that this is something that people will look back on in 100 or 200 years or so and look at the lack of gun control and ease of access and think, 'just what were those people thinking?' You also have to consider that when the second amendment was written, the weapons available at that time were worlds away from the ones available today. Did they intend for people to have access to semi-automatic weapons to go to Wallmart?

Anyway, I think that I will try and avoid coming in here as it's not really for me. However, I'm sure that the "next unread topic" button will send me here unintentionally from time to time. Stay safe.