Ko's Firearms Collection

While it may surprise some, considering my knowledge and the number of firearms I have accumulated over the years, I have not been into firearms all that long. I would estimate that I got my first only ten years ago. Before that, again a surprise to many, I was actually against gun rights. This was because I was young and stupid and had grown up with the propaganda of the media filling my head. “A Real Man doesn't need a gun, he can fight with his fists,” was the sort of nonsense that I believed back then. I saw gun owners as cowards who hid behind their weapon rather than fight “honestly.” I have since grown up and seen that the world just isn't like that.

Many of the firearms I own have no “practical purpose” for, as they are owned just for my enjoyment. I equate this to owning a Ford Mustang. Having 300 horsepower under your hood does not change the speed limit. There's no practical purpose for owning a Mustang. But this does not, in any way, mean people shouldn't have them if they want them. While having a Mustang doesn't mean you're a race car driver, or even that you want to be one, it's still nice to have something like that.

Without further ado, here is my collection. I will be adding pictures, slowly, over time, as I bother to produce them.

Handguns

Beretta Neos – .22 LR – Target pistol

I would like to say I bought this for its merits as a target pistol, but in reality, it was one of the firearms I bought from St. Louis Arms as a combination of low cost and “to keep the shop from getting stuck with it.” Thankfully, I was lucky, in terms of the quality of this pistol and in terms of how much I've enjoyed it. In the years since I've bought it, I've come to really appreciate how easily the gun disassembles. Where Ruger Mark IIIs have this convoluted procedure, and is so sensitive to how you put it together that many people have trouble doing it, this Neos has a button you hold down while rotating a little wheel. This wheel unscrews the top assembly from the frame, after which you can release the slide and pull it and the mainspring out.

Beyond the disassembly, the gun also shoots fairly well. Resting it, I've been able to get pie-plate groups at fifty yards, with that red/green dot sight. It might be better with a magnified optic, but I'm not going to shell out for one to find out.

At some point, I need to get a bunch of small boxes of ammunition together and do some recorded accuracy testing with it, to see what the best ammunition for it is. I've neglected to do this simply because it never occurs to me that this is the one pistol I have that wouldn't it be superfluous with.

Beretta 21A Bobcat - .25 ACP – Collection Gun

This replaced an earlier pistol, a FIE Titan, that I seriously regretted buying. When a gentleman brought this gun in to Mid America Arms to sell it, I snatched it up quickly and sold that POS Titan for what little I could get for it. Mine is blued with a wood grip, so is also a fairly nice looking piece.

My attempts at handloading for this gun haven't been too great. The handloads don't feed as well as the factory ammunition does, and I haven't really experimented enough to figure out why. They may be too weak, but the load range for this chambering is tiny and I don't really want to weigh each charge.

I've considered buying new grips for it for Ixia to paint, but those that are available are too expensive to really do this with.

Beretta 3032 Tomcat - .32 ACP – Collection Gun

This was my brother's light-clothes concealed carry weapon for years. He got it at the same time I got my old North American Arms Guardian in .32 ACP, and at the time, we both had the mentality of “it may not have loads of stopping power, but it will at least give an assailant a reason to stop doing what got him shot.” I have since retired that mentality, and I believe my brother has, as well. One of my memories about this gun is that the first time my brother and I shot it, we also shot my PT938, and he liked my gun better. :)

It is a blued gun, with a XS Big Dot front post night sight on it, factory installed. I've heard stories about them cracking with hotter loads, so I've been hesitant to really push my handloads for it, but since the gun it replaced liked the lighter loads, anyway, it wasn't a big change.

I've considered buying new grips for it for Ixia to paint, but those that are available are too expensive to really do this with.

Taurus M741 - .32 H&R Magnum – Collection Gun

One of those things not easily explained is why I want a gun that shoots the older, less powerful round that one of my other guns can also shoot. In this case, it's not easily found. There aren't a lot of double-action .32 H&R revolvers on the market, and most of them are pretty pricy when they can be found.

When this showed up on Gun Broker, I had to bid. I probably paid way too much, but it's a gun I think I'll enjoy, and I think I can improve it a little, as well.

This one is a blued, 4” barrel gun, with a six-shot cylinder. It has adjustable sights (thankfully) and looks like it has little wear on it.

Ruger SP-101 - .327 Federal Magnum – Collection Gun

When I heard about this new cartridge, I knew I would own something chambered in it eventually. In essence, it is taking the .32 caliber revolver to the modern cutting edge. The gun itself is nice, a stainless gun with a moderate barrel. Despite that, I would, someday, like to replace it with a Blackhawk and a Smith & Wesson snubnose in the same chambering. One to get more of the potential out of the cartridge, the other as a concealed carry weapon. The latter is unlikely to happen, since I'm fairly happy with my XDSC.

Taurus PT938 - .380 ACP – Collection Gun

This was one of the guns I chose when doing my initial research to get one gun in each of the major handgun calibers. I chose it because of the capacity. There weren't - and still aren't - many double-stack .380 ACP pistols, and at the time, I was still in the mentality of wanting lots of capacity. Even though I've gotten over that idea, I still really love this gun. It's one of my favorites.

It is based, loosely, on the Beretta 92 and 84/85/86 copies Taurus has been making for years. Same take down, same trigger system, same decocker/safety. But, it's a compact pistol. When I first saw it, during the 1994 Evil Black Rifle Ban, it was listed has having a ten-round magazine, and after the ban was allowed to sunset, Taurus updated the listing as fifteen round, and then promptly discontinued the gun, and for a reason I can easily come to grips with. It's rather big for a .380 ACP, and is big enough to be a 9mm Luger (in fact, they made a version of it in 9mm Luger), hence Big Bore loving, “Magnumitis” suffering Americans aren't much interested in it. Only weirdos like me. For years, I searched for the elusive 15-round magazines for it, even had an outstanding order with Taurus for two of them, and then eventually came to be told that they didn't exist, and never would. A few years later, they started making them for another gun, which was never sold in the states.

The action is, in a word, sweet. The action is very smooth, the trigger, while having some room for improvement, is actually pretty good. To phrase it another way: it is so nice, I am surprised Taurus actually made it.

Springfield XD9SC – 9mm Luger – Concealed Carry Weapon

Due to the extremely positive experience I'd had with my first XD 45, when my mindset on how many rounds a concealed weapon should have shifted away from a five-shot revolver, it was serendipity that one of these Springfields came in used, and the owners of Mid America Arms had practically stolen it from the previous owner. So, I got a very inexpensive change over in my CCW pistol, and got to cut the owners of the shop out of potentially doubling their money on it.

Even if I ever change to a different concealed carry weapon, I adore this little gun, and will probably never sell it. It has been flawless. I've tried to get this gun to misfeed, and it won't. I've shot underpowered ammunition through it, shot it full of pocket lint, shot it sideways, one handed, left handed, put two hundred rounds through it fast. It just refuses to suck.

Llama Model VII Especial – 9mm Largo – Collection Gun

After selling off the previous trio of these things I had, I wound up craving one. When my Astra 1921 had to go back to the pawn shop, I started searching for one of these, again. I think I paid too much for what I got, and it needed a little gunsmithing (thankfully, it just so happens I am a gunsmith), but it's turned out to be a nice little pistol.

Smith & Wesson 15-2 - .38 Special – Collection Gun

A fairly recent acquisition, this was part of a plan, half-aborted now, to get a gun in four “old” chamberings that, while I have guns that shoot the successor magnum round, I just don't feel are quite “appropriate” to shoot the shorter rounds in. This replaced a Taurus 82 Military Surplus revolver that I had buyers remorse over. It was another forfeit that came out, and it was perfect timing (aside from how little money I had ready to spend at the time).

It has adjustable rear sights (which the Taurus lacked, and needed) and a really good trigger. I've been getting better groups with it, at fifteen yards, than I was getting with the Taurus at seven. I'm extremely satisfied with the gun.

Taurus 85 - .38 Special – Collection Gun & Backup Carry Gun

I used to own a Smith & Wesson 642, and after I sold it, I didn't have any snub-nosed revolvers. I felt the collection was a little lacking without one, so when this showed up on the used shelf, I snatched it up. It's an older model, lacking the key lock, and has a bobbed hammer instead of having an internal hammer.

Rock Island Armory 1911 - .38 Super – Collection Gun

This is truly the gun I replaced those Llamas with, as what I really had wanted was a .38 Super. I opted for this gun mainly for the ability to put a Mech Tech CCU on it. Otherwise, I'd have ordered in an EAA Witness. I've been very satisfied with this gun, though, and Ixia likes how nice it looks with nice grips. It's the nickel-plated version, and it really boggled the owners of Mid America when it came in as it was certainly not something they'd have ordered, themselves.

I'd had some trouble, early on, as it apparently doesn't like flat-nose FMJ bullets. I've not tried any hollow-points, but I suspect it'll dislike them just as much. But, since there are plenty of round-nose 9mm bullets, that's not a hard problem to deal with. It's a gun that roars with the right powder, too. :)

Taurus M627SS6 - .357 Magnum – Hunting Sidearm

I originally got this as a collection gun, as well as one step toward being able to handle the .454 Casull. It was a gift from my brother. One of the things I remember was getting it right before a trip to Colorado to see my sister, and sitting there itching to go shoot it, but it was hundreds of miles away.

It is a six inch barreled gun with porting at the end, which tames the recoil more than I understood at the time. It also makes the gun louder, which is both fun and problematic.

When a hog hunting trip was proposed, I needed something as a sidearm in case the pigs charged, and the only reasonable gun I had for it was this one. Since then, it has remained my hunting sidearm, even though I have other guns that are more powerful.

Sig Sauer P229R - .40 S&W and .357 Sig – Former Concealed Carry Weapon turned Collection Gun

My favorite handgun. Sometimes, I forget that it's my favorite, but once I shoot it, the love comes back. :) I traded in a Glock 32 towards this gun, which had been a “project gun” of the owner of St. Louis Arms. He'd given it a trigger job, Hogue grips, added a .357 Sig barrel to the package, and three extra magazines. Then, he ran out of time, or changed his mind, or something. So, he put it up for sale, and I bought it.

I used to carry this gun, in a shoulder holster, during the cooler months. I was occasionally self-conscious about it, but my worries were often dispelled by people being surprised they never noticed that I was carrying such a large pistol. More recently, an incident of a lawful person carrying his concealed firearm resulted in him being effectively murdered by the police, and it spooked me into carrying a pocket gun more often, because it's less likely to be noticed.

Sadly, it's not as pretty as it used to be due to both shoulder holsters I owned for this thing having a faulty retention strap that meant my gun got dropped, loaded, a few times. Once on concrete. :(

This is one of the guns Ixia's been allowed to paint the grips of, though they were the original polymer grips that I never used.

Glock 20 – 10mm Auto – Collection Gun

Although I sometimes kick around the idea of replacing this with a more modern version, I most likely never will. This was what replaced an EAA Witness because of that gun's problems. The original barrel is undersupported and caused some scary levels of bulging in the brass. So, I bought it a Lone Wolf Distributors replacement barrel and it's been flawless ever since.

I used to have a Hogue grip around its frame, but I ended up cutting that off because it felt weird after a while. I'm planning to, some day, get a 9x25mm Dillon barrel for it, but it's a pretty low priority project, since I'll have to buy ammunition.

Ruger Redhawk - .41 Magnum – Collection Gun

This is the gun I should probably switch to carrying as my hunting side-arm, since I may have to deal with larger critters in Colorado. It walked into Mid America as a used gun and I snatched it up quickly. Although the backstrap of the grip has some pitting from past rust, I don't regret buying this gun at all. It's smooth as silk and shoots fairly well. I'd been considering a Taurus Tracker in .41 Mag, but this was a much better option.

Ixia's been allowed to paint a set of wood grips for this that actually make the gun look fairly nice.

Ruger Super Redhawk - .44 Magnum – Collection Gun

So overbuilt that I won't worry about going to maximum loads, this gun is another one that I rescued from Mid America Arms. Since the floor manager had effectively stolen a Smith & Wesson I'd put dibs on, I bought this one as quickly as I could before he tried it again. It's a pretty big gun, however, and as such I'll probably never use it as a hunting sidearm, though I might consider using it for a primary hunting gun if I ever go handgun hunting.

It has a built in scope mount and I have the rings for it, but I've just never bothered to put a scope on it. I may, someday, but for now it's fine as it is.

Springfield XD45 - .45 ACP & .400 Corbon – Collection Gun

This is actually the second time I've owned this model in this configuration. I'd been having troubles with getting it to shoot .400 Corbon, as my handloading dies would either insufficiently crimp the case, or would buckle the shoulder. I foolishly gave up on it, rather than find a different solution. So, since I was getting bitten by the 1911 bug at that time, I sold it to get a Springfield 1911. I never should have. The XD was a far superior gun in the original chambering, as it would feed anything and didn't feel like it had as much recoil. So, I've bought another one and a new .400 Corbon barrel for it.

I'd wanted to get the Olive Drab frame gun, but it was just never available, so I gave in and got an all-black one again.

I still have some trouble with .400 Corbon, but I think I've found a solution in not loading as many rounds in the magazine.

Taurus PT145 - .45 ACP – Collection Gun

I cannot adequately explain why I bought this gun. I got this from South Side, well into the time when I knew Tauruses were iffy. I already had a .45 ACP. I had, and still have, no intention of using it as a CCW. I just really liked how it looked. It helped that it wasn't too expensive.

I often like to refer to shooting this gun as “bull riding,” as the recoil is strong enough that I feel I have to hang on pretty tight.

Springfield XD-LE - .45 GAP – Collection Gun

I should have gotten a Glock 37, but the one chance I had at one, the douchebag floor manager snatched it up, probably just to spite me.

I've had a few misfeeding issues with this gun, both with handloads and with factory ammunition, and I tend to blame it on the “stack-and-a-half” magazine this thing uses.

Ruger Blackhawk - .45 Colt – Collection Gun

I recently replaced my Uberti with this, and I am far more pleased. The trigger is nicer, it has modern safety devices, I was able to put a hogue grip on it. It's just simply a much better choice. I wanted a swing-out cylinder double-action, but those are hard to find.

Taurus Raging Bull - .454 Casull – Collection Gun

My monster. Early on in my pursuit of this collection, I'd decided I should have at least one “Big Bore Magnum,” and I was enchanted by the concept of one gun that shoots two different chamberings. I talked to a few people that had experience with several of these chamberings, and even the fact that they all said the .454 Casull was a brutally recoiling gun, it wasn't enough to steer me away. It did, however, cause me to “train” my hands to handle the recoil before I jumped into the Casull. I got the above mentioned Taurus 627, and shot it until it was no big deal. Then, I got a Raging Bull in .44 Magnum, and shot it until it was no big deal. Then, finally, I took the step up to the .454 Casull. Each of those steps I was surprised at how much more recoil the gun had, and was glad I'd approached the .454 Casull this way.

For a time, I had a scope mounted on this gun, but I've since removed it and given the mount away. I suspect the .454 Casull recoil was damaging the scope, but it was cheap and I won't mourn it if it turns out to be bad.

I had a little trouble, early on, with cases sticking, but years of use have polished those chambers to the point that the cases come out easily, and I have had rare issues of the firing pin getting stuck in the primers, but it hasn't happened recently, so maybe it also has broken in to the point that it's not occurring any more.

Mine has an 8”+ barrel, and I sometimes wish I'd gotten the 6” barrel, but not enough to trade the gun off.

Rifles

Savage Mark II - .22 Long Rifle – Target and Small Game Rifle

Being disappointed with the accuracy I was getting out of the Mossberg 142-A I'd been given, I sold it off and bought this thing. It's a magazine-fed, bolt action rifle. Polymer stocked with an Accutrigger. It's really not much better than the 142-A, but it is a slight improvement. I might hunt rabbits with this thing at 100 yards, if I had any place where the rabbits sat in the middle of a finely manicured lawn waiting to be shot or picked up by a hawk. As is my way, I scoped it with the 3-9x40 scope that my brother had given me with the Mossberg.

It's not yet blooded, and I'm not likely to do so any time soon, but the chance is always there.

It likes a certain kind of Fiocchi ammunition, which is a shame, since it seems to be rather hard to come by.

Ruger 10/22 - .22 Long Rifle – Painting Project Gun

I got this as a reward from Ruger for selling a decent amount of their products. From day one, it was meant to be Ixia's for her to paint. She has since painted it black with stylized blood and barbed wire in honor of her ex-wife. We've put one of the spare red-dot optics we had around the house onto it, and it's not a bad shooting gun. I don't like the dis-assembly process, so it may not get thoroughly cleaned all that often.

Remington 510 - .22 Long Rifle – Painting Project Gun

This is a single-shot bolt-action rifle we picked up solely for one of Ixia's painting projects. If memory serves, this one is now ivory with gold accenting. The cretin who owned the gun before it was sold to Mid America Arms had drilled and tapped the gun, and wound up drilling into the chamber. As such, we only shoot CCI CB Longs through it, so as not to abuse the screw that's holding the scope mount in. It has a tiny little scope on it, but it's clear enough to watch those super-slow bullets travel to the target.

Remington 514 - .22 Long Rifle – Painting Project Gun

This is also a single-shot bolt-action rifle we picked up solely for one of Ixia's painting projects. I don't see a whole lot of difference between this and the 510, in function, but the parts are certainly not the same. This one is still unfinished at the time of this writing, but is brown with dark green accenting. It will have light green accenting on top of the dark green eventually. This one has no scope, and I have no intention of trying to fit one onto it. I may change my mind later, but who knows?

Marlin 60 - .22 Long Rifle – Gunsmithing School Project Gun

This is a tube-fed semi-automatic rifle that I bought specifically to make a tactical chassis for in Specializations section in my gunsmithing school. There's not a whole lot to say about it, other than that I'm pissed that it's been more accurate than my Savage Mark II.

Stag Arms AR-15 – .204 Ruger, 5.56mm Nato, .264 LBC AR, 6.8 SPC, 300 AAC – Collection Gun and SHTF Weapon

My AR-Mutt. I originally bought the lower due to Obama Fever in 2009, I think. I bought it as a “complete minus stock” lower, and Bi Gal put a CMMG stock onto it. It stayed this way for months. Just a lower with no uppers. Then, I broke down and bought a CMMG 5.56mm Nato upper for it, just to complete it. It stayed this way for a year, with a decent scope on it. Then, I decided to sell off my PTR-91, because it was heavy, and used the money I got for it to turn my CMMG upper into a .264 LBC AR upper via some Les Baer parts, and sold off the 5.56mm Nato barrel. A nearly useless decision, since I've turned that .264 LBC AR into as heavy a gun, if not perhaps heavier, as that PTR-91, and later kicked myself for not keeping the barrel to turn into a new 5.56mm Nato upper.

For a time, I also had a pair of Olympic Arms pistol-cartridge uppers, but I had plenty of problems with them and got rid of them.

About two years ago, I bought a Model 1 Sales 5.56mm Nato upper, and have regretted it since. I'm not sure, but I think the products from that company come completely unassembled. Either way, the handguard was crooked, so I took it apart and found out that the moron who put the gun together didn't use the right tools, chewed the shit out of the barrel nut, and installed the gas tube wrong. So, Shadowfax and I took it apart, put a new barrel nut on it, and put it together right. Even so, it was a gun of poor accuracy. The first few shots were fine, but after that, the best I could do was 1.5 MOA, and I think it was purely a fluke when I did it. I've rebarreled it with a DPMS 20” bull barrel, and the results have been excellent. Half-MOA accuracy with several loads.

Next I got a YHM 6.8 SPC Upper, which I regretted jumping on so soon, but it has turned out to be a very nice gun. Fairly light, too, so it may be used as a hunting rifle some day.

Just recently, I picked up a .204 Ruger and a .300 AAC Blackout upper.

The .204 Ruger is a DPMS 24” heavy fluted barrel with a free-float fore end. It's already produced sub-MOA groups with factory ammunition. I'm a little excited to try handloading for it and see if I can get that even lower.

The .300 AAC Blackout is a CMMG 16” 1:7” twist upper with a pistol-length gas system. It's not done quite as well as other uppers I have, but I've only shot factory ammunition through it, so far.

Swedish Mauser 98 – 6.5x55mm Swedish – Painting Project Gun

This was originally part of my “last paycheck” from St. Louis Arms. And, I gave too much for it, too. It's a restocked Mauser. Years later, after shooting it a few times, I decided to let Ixia turn it into the first of our art project guns. It gave us some troubles in this regard, and is ruined in that the bolt has gouged a hole in the paint job. I do, occasionally, shoot it, but only on rare occasions.

I tried to sell it once, but the closest to an offer I got was for $50 so that the guy could “fix” it. Asshole.

Savage 16 “Bear Hunter” - .300 Winchester Short Magnum – Hunting Rifle

This is meant to be my “Colorado Hunting Gun.” Meaning, with the likelihood of 300+ yard shots at deer and maybe even elk, I decided I needed something considerably better ranged than my 1894FG. I settled on something like an actual magnum round, and, due to my experience of less powder meaning less recoil, I went with a Winchester Short Magnum. I considered the Mossberg 4x4, but I just didn't get the sense of rightness that the Savage gave me.

When I was first working up to it, I was expecting the recoil to be fierce, so I started trying to build up my recoil tolerance. I shot my Mauser with full power loads, fifty at a time until my shoulder was more accepting of the heavy hitting rounds, and still I worried it wouldn't be enough. But, that recoil pad and muzzle brake helped a ton.

At the end of last year's deer season, I decided that I needed something with more punch than my .41 Mag rifle could produce, so I switched to this as my primary deer rifle. I didn't get a shot at anything with it, though, so I don't know how effective it will really be in my hands.

Ruger PC9 – 9mm Luger – Collection Gun

When I was looking for a 9mm Luger PCC, it was strangely easy to decide which one. There are more 9mm Luger PCCs than any other chambering, but the simple fact that it took the same magazines as my Ruger P95 sealed the deal.

Shady and I ended up removing the rear sight in order to put a scope on it at the proper height, but beyond that it's been a pretty good rifle. It's strange to take apart, but at least not as strange as the 10/22 or Ruger's Mark III. The trigger isn't great, but it was a Bill Ruger Era gun, so there was an idiot involved in the design of it.

For all that I bitch about the trigger, it's not that inaccurate of a gun. Three MOA might sound like a lot, but it's my second best result with a PCC.

Mech Tech Carbine - .38 Super – Collection Gun

This is the gun that really drove the choice of what .38 Super pistol to get. I have yet to chronograph it, but I'm betting it's pushing the 115gr bullets to over 1500 fps with the right powders.

It does, I'll admit, look weird as hell with the bright shiny 1911 grip, often with some ornate panels on it, sticking out of the matte and kinda gritty looking upper.

This was the first of the Mech Techs I got, and I'm really happy with the gun, aside from its looks. It does make an odd “sproing” sound every shot, but you can't let things like that bother you.

Marlin 1894 - .357 Magnum – Collection Gun

One of my guns that has a story :) I bought this gun used from Mid America Arms. When I got it home, I played with it a bit and found that it would only hold six rounds in the magazine. This was strange, since I was pretty sure it should be able to hold nine or ten. It didn't bother me too much, though, and I made nothing of it for months. Then, one day, I decided to take the magazine apart and see if it's fixable. I unscrewed the endcap's retention screw, pulled the endcap and spring out.... and on the end of the spring was a live round. This was a shock, all on its own. I tipped the gun forward to get the follower out, and two more live rounds slide out, followed by the follower. No, I had not forgotten to unload the rifle, some moron had taken the magazine apart and stuck three rounds in between the spring and the follower. This isn't something you can do by accident. It requires a screwdriver. Maybe the idiot thought he was saving money and making a magazine limiter (not that such things are needed in Missouri). I think he was just an idiot and sold the rifle when his “brilliant idea” didn't work. I'm extremely glad I did this when I did, since the round that was against the follower showed a dimple forming in the primer from the little nipple on the back of the follower. Eventually, this gun would have blown up in my hands, otherwise.

Either way, I put a scope on it and tried to find an accurate load for it, but I've only, so far, tried a Nosler bullet that the gun doesn't seem to have liked. I need to try other bullets and see if I can find something it does like.

Beretta CX4 Storm - .40 S&W – Collection Gun, SHTF Weapon

The first gun I owned that was mine, was a Hi-Point 4095. It worked well enough and it was reasonably accurate at 50 yards. But it was ugly and it was a Hi-Point. Eventually, it would fail, and the magazine capacity was a joke.

One day, someone walks into Mid America Arms with this Beretta CX4. The shop wasn't interested, but I was. So, they told me to offer what I was interested in the gun for, and I did. The guy tried to haggle me up, but I'd offered what I could reasonably afford to pay for the gun, and it was, to be honest, more than I should have offered. But, he took the offer, in the end.

My only real issue with this gun is that the iron sights just get in the way when you're wanting to put an optic on the gun. I've seen pictures of people who have hacked those sights off, but I really don't want to do that, yet. I just bought a riser and mounted the scope high.

In terms of shooting, this gun is beautiful in function. The trigger isn't great, but I've long since gotten used to poor triggers. I'm considering sticking a red-dot sight I picked up recently onto it, since the design of the stock doesn't lend itself to shooting this gun from a rest. I may wait until I've done a more thorough accuracy testing with it and found a load it really really likes.

Mech Tech Carbine – 10mm Auto – Collection Gun

With all the trouble I had with the Olympic Upper I used to have to fill this niche in my collection, I wound up selling the stupid thing, after having waited sixteen goddamn months for it.

Originally, I was toying with the idea of getting this for a 1911 frame, but I decided I wanted the capacity that came with the Glock frame, which I already had in a Glock 20. I'm pretty happy with that decision, since it meant that I could sell off that Springfield 1911, instead of using it for this gun's trigger group and mag well.

I haven't even tried doing any accuracy testing for this gun, but I hope to do so some day. During gunsmithing school would be a fairly good time, I suspect.

H&R Handirifle - .44 Magnum – Collection Gun

This was a tough decision. It was between a Marlin lever-action (I already had two of those at this point), a Ruger 77/44 (which was crazy light, and I was worried about the recoil), and this gun, which was also inexpensive. I think I made the right choice, even if this isn't a repeater.

The barrel on this gun is so super thick, I'm not at all worried about pushing to maximum loads. It'll take it, and then some. Prior to last years deer season, I was tempted to get some heavy Beartooth wide meplat bullets and see if I could find a nice load and use it for deer, but I think my .300 WSM will be better, anyway.

This gun also has the distinction of being my most accurate PCC, with a 1.5 MOA group.

I like this gun so much, I'm almost disappointed I couldn't get other niches in my collection filled with these Handirifles.

Mech Tech Carbine - .45 ACP – Collection Gun

The other of my replacements for Olympic uppers, this also uses my Glock frame. Not much more to say that I haven't said about the other Mech Techs, though. It's been a great gun, so far.

Shotguns

Stoeger 2000 – 12ga – Hunting Shotgun

For a while, now, I've wanted to switch to an autoloader for my hunting shotgun, and have been thinking I really ought to upgrade to a 12ga so that I could throw more shot out with each discharge. When this thing came out of pawn, I decided I should get it.

It is, sadly, covered in camo, and someone apparently used acraglass to affix some fiber optic sights to it, but I didn't pay much for it, so it's acceptable.