Weekends

I approached this weekend with the best of intentions.

I was going to get the lawn mowed and get the oil changed in both of my cars.

Yeah...didn't happen.

So what did I do instead?

I took Mrs Hades shooting of course. My ulterior motive was to find something for her so that I could get my Sig back. But to do that it looks like I'm going to have to buy another Sig.

A little bit about Triangle Shooting Academy first, it's a fairly new place with an indoor range that opened up a few years ago that has a pretty nice selection of guns to rent. That's really the best way to get to try them out before you buy them, you can see what the gun is like to shoot before putting down your hard earned coin. Also, if you have a mind to do so, they have a selection of full rock-and-roll guns you can rent.

And by that I don't mean AR-15 ermuhgerd scary black "assault weapon" rifles, I mean no bullshit M-16 assault rifles with the rock and roll setting. They also had an AK and a Thompson, those were the ones I recognized right off, and their price listing includes a belt fed. So there you go.

But we went to look at handguns for the missus.

One thing I don't like about TSA is you have to be unloaded and no concealed carry in their facility. I understand the reasoning even though I don't like it; they cater to the new shooter and the casual crowd, the ones that either really aren't down with the gun thing or that are just getting into it, so not the group that is intimately familiar with their firearms. But I knew that going in, so I was ready for it and left my hardware locked up in the car.

On the plus side their staff is friendly and helpful, and not once did I hear any of them tell Mrs Hades that what she needed was a .38 Chief's Special. Instead they listened to what she wanted and helped her find what she was looking for.

What she was originally looking for was a Glock 43, which they had. She put a magazine through it and decided that she had really wanted to like it much more than she actually did, and after putting a magazine through it myself I was inclined to agree with her. That is one evil handling little firearm, tons of recoil and not much grip. And if that's not enough of a kick to the shorts, it (like the Glock 36) only has a 6 round magazine. It's perfect for pocket carry or as a backup but not something I personally would choose for an every day carry item.

The next thing she wanted to see was the Sig P365, and they had that as well. Two flavors of it in fact, one regular and one XL. The regular has a shorter barrel and grip with a 10+1 magazine and a curved trigger. The one we tried out had the 12 round magazine which has an extension on the bottom, which worked well but as you fired the gun the magazine would rock slightly and pinch the palm of your hand near the pinky finger. It was a good little gun but IMHO not quite great.

The XL on the other hand is slightly longer in both grip and barrel with a 12 round flush bottom magazine and a flat trigger. It's nice to shoot, it has a distinguished recoil but it's not snappy and uncomfortable like the Glock, and because it has a full length grip there are no problems with pinching. Even though it's slightly bigger than the standard 365 it's still plenty small enough to conceal easily, even on Mrs Hades' small frame. It retails for around $580 so the price isn't too bad, either. Some of the reviews I've read say it has a problem with going back into battery, but the one that we fired was flawless.

The one she REALLY liked, however, was the P229 Legion Compact. It has a full metal frame and is nice and heavy, meaning recoil is laughable and the gun pulls right back down onto target quick as a thought. It's a really nice gun, but being as big as it is (even though it's a "compact") it wouldn't be easy for her to conceal. So, even though it might be a really nice gun to have, and something that I might carry, it isn't ideal for her. Still, she really did like it. But it's also a bit over twice the price of the XL.

Anyway, it looks like she's a Sig girl, so if I want to get my P220 back I'll have to buy her a P365 XL. And even then I might still have to fight her for the P220, she really loves that gun. At any rate we had a great time at Triangle Shooting Academy and if you are in the Briar Creek area of Raleigh NC and looking to try out some guns I would recommend it.

I've also got another barrel for the Glock 36 on it's way in an attempt to cure the FTE problems that gun has. I really would like to love that gun, but as long as I'm having issues with it that won't happen. I've read that barrel changes sometimes fix the problem, and another thing I've read about is the ejector rod. I'll try those two things before I give up on it completely. I really hope the barrel fixes the issue though.

Sunday was spent at the hair cuttery and grocery store and afterwards standing in front of the grill.

There are worse ways to spend a weekend.