In 90 days I have bought five and now own four handguns.
My carry license in the state of Indiana cost about $175 and took four weeks from start to finish including finger printing, to find my snail mail, mailbox.
Indiana is a “carry” state ~ you can open carry or conceal carry ~ no one cares and the license is reciprocal with 25 states ~ although not Illinois.
On October 2nd 2020, I walked across the street to Chase bank and cashed in $525 worth a five-dollar bills, that I had been tossing into a drawer for about six months.
I drove 20 minutes north to Schererville and parked in front of South County Guns.
The staff was courteous and better yet knew their stuff.
I had decided on a revolver.
I like “simple.”
The winner was a Taurus 856 (six-cylinder) 38 special ~ $374.49 out-the-door.
After I selected the handgun they pointed to a computer on the wall, an ATF form appeared on the screen.
I filled it out in no more than five minutes.
As I walked back to the counter, they said the “feds had approved you” (take that Illinois).
I bought the only box of 38 special bullets they claimed to have in stock and drove home.
It took me a few weeks to realize I could not find any ammo for that gun – none.
Having a gun with no ammo is never a good plan.
With almost $200 left I drove back to SCG almost a month to the day and bought a Ruger LCP, the one with the American flag painted on the slide – very cool. (see image above, top of the blog)
Since then I’ve been adding magazines and holsters.
It’s amazing how many holsters Amazon sells for $20 and less.
One of my favorites for the Ruger .380 is this ankle holster
In between that time, during one of our, every Saturday find as many yard sales as we can event, I purchased 60 rounds of 25 ACP ammo for 10 bucks.
Now I had ammo and no gun.
The 9 mm on the left (below the video) is a Fivestar.
Manufactured in Spain until 1988 (I think) it was a standard issue for French and Spanish police over two decades.
Many humans mistake it for a Glock 1911.
I bought the Sterling 25 ACP on GunsAmerica.com for $150 bucks and had it shipped to Hometown Loan, an FFL (Federal Firearms License dealer) that accepts third-party gun shipments for $35 and is 3 blocks to the east of us.
That’s the silver gun on the right (above).
The story of Sterling’s Arms demise is that a baby sitter invited a boyfriend over.
The boyfriend found a Sterling 25 in the house, dropped the magazine but neglected to check the chamber.
Not realizing a 25 ACP bullet was in the chamber, he pointed the small handgun at the 8-year-old in the babysitter’s charge, pulled the trigger, and killed her.
Legal fees incurred while fighting legal onslaughts brought down the company.
For the record, I keep my pistols chambered.
In the meantime, I had been talking to my best friend Joe.
Joe is 73 and had open-heart surgery in March that they f*cked it up.
He was preparing to go to the Cleveland Clinic for his second open heart surgery in six months so he was not in his normal jovial state of mind.
I wanted to see him before surgery and show him my new handguns.
He lives on a 40-acre farm where he’s been since the age of six.
He has three gun safes, one for auto and semiauto handguns and rifles.
One for long rifles and a third for handguns.
All filled to the brink with ammunition plus he does his own loading and has a target range in the garage.
He was excited to hear about the 38 special and made me an offer.
He said he was “having problems loading the five-star magazines”.
He would trade me the Taurus 38 special for the Five-star along with 150 rounds of 9 mm ammo.
I rode the Rocket III out to the farm on a very windy (50 MPH gusts) day 90 miles east on IN Rte 30 so I could show him my three new guns and do the deal.
Firearm factoid: I carry firearms and knives in the motorbike’s luggage.
In that, I will probably never morph into a Mad Max movie scene, I don’t see myself “drawing ” while riding thus avoiding the metal to asphalt to bones and skin contact when the round rubber wheels end up pointing in the wrong direction.
I brought half a box of 38 special ammo (the other half of the box I had shot at Shoot Point Blank Range in Merrillville) but he didn’t care because he loads 38’s himself.
The Rocket carried a breakfast of Jew food, bagels, lox, cream cheese, onions, and tomato.
Lots of coffee made it a great brunch.
I was excited about revisiting the range with a new (for me) 9 mm and the Sterling 25 ACP.
Upon my triumphant return to Shoot Point Blank, I fire six shots with the 25 caliber Sterling and it went just fine.
I was happy about that and worried no more about my “other” small pistol.
After shooting a full (6 shot) magazine with the Five-star flawlessly the second bullet in the second magazine, caused the gun to jam.
Having no working knowledge of gun malfunctions with live ammunition, I removed the magazine from the clogged Five-star and took everything home.
Later in the shop, after about an hour of YouTube videos, I ejected the stuck cartridge.
The color of the casing did not match the rest of the box so somebody actually added two bad loads.
The next day I examined the gun and it took me about another two hours to figure out how to remove the slide because the model I have did not match any other Five-star breakdown Youtube videos.
With all of this as a backdrop, I had been buying ammo online and went to the big firearm show in Crownpoint where I bought more ammo.
Now I had 800 rounds of ammunition including 500 in the 9 mm size and once again no gun to shoot it.
I found thisSCCY PCX2 online and apparently the Robin egg blue is not popular.
I paid $199 by agreeing to pick up in-store.
It comes with a spare mag (10/1)
On November 9th a Monday the last 70° day of the year I rode the Rocket to Sportsman’s Warehouse in Fort Wayne Indiana.
Google maps claimed the drive to be 128 miles round trip.
It ended up being 198 miles round trip.
I drove the last 60 miles in the dark which is just as not fun these days for the old guy (68) that I am.
In the next couple of weeks, I’ll take the SCCY 9 mm to the range for test firing.
SCCY sells PCX2 magazines for $24 (free shipping), a great price for a magazine.
My order of one arrived in a week.
A primary premise of carry is to have more than a single mag of ammo.
The SCCY came with 2 mags, the third for $24 is a perfect addition.
The weapon is designed for a 10/1 magazine scenario.
In the meantime I found this to be a really comfortable holster for around twenty bucks
I use this belly holster for the SCCY 9 mm and the now 2 spare mags.
Fuxi Belly Band Holster for Men and Women- Glock 19 Holster for Concealed Carry
My shooting range is only $17 an hour on Mondays for seniors.
I can get a membership there (Shoot Point Blank) for 30 bucks a month which includes unlimited range time.
Unlimited shooting range time is a good deal but ammo isn’t, so I’m doing some dry fire practice and will use dry fire caps for the initial testing of the two guns I am restoring.
I’ve decided to conceal carry because, in conversations with others, open carry can stress people out in your immediate space.
I still travel to Chicago, Ukrainian Village almost every couple of weeks, and southern Cook County Illinois weekly.
I’ll say publicly that I don’t leave my house without being defensively armed.
Yes, you can add this story as one more reason firearms and ammo are in short supply in 2020.
I have also since joined the NRA, got a backpack and (paper) magazine to prove it.
I keep a Google doc with all five guns information including dates of purchase, where they were purchased, and serial numbers.
Because State Farm our primary insurer will only insure the guns for their value but not provide any liability benefits I purchased a Gold membership policy from USCCA
I am not a religious man but I pray that out of the 11 other insurance policies that I have this is the very last one that I would ever use.
Respectfully,
MitchR.
outstanding Mitch!! a long way from the nice guy with no guns, to the knowledgeable nice guy with guns!!!
We miss your voice, Joe.