Time for that gun-buying spree! Tom Smith

Our AG-to-be likes to regulate guns it seems.  No big surprise I suppose.  But that raises the question our readership should really be able to sink its teeth into.  What guns should I buy now before it is too late? I'm a California resident for my sins and already own a Springfield XD .40 Tactical and already plan to buy a Mossberg 500 12 gauge or something similar for home defense.  But what sort of combat rifle should I buy?  What about an all purpose firearm for my lovely wife?  A .22 is said to be a must for target and small game.  All wisdom welcome. How do you find good used guns?  I think we don't need to worry about TEOTWAWKI.  Probably.  I think there's a very good chance that won't happen.

Comments

[larry]

I think California law severely limits your choice of combat rifles. I'm certainly no expert on this subject, but my recollection is that semiauto rifles using a detachable box magazine are banned. This means all combat rifles developed in the last half century are out.

If my understanding is correct, the only semiautomatic rifle found commonly is the M1 Garand. The Garand uses a clip rather than a detachable box magazine (it's a small piece of metal that clips 8 rounds together. It fires a 30-06 round. I highly recommend the Garand. I think you can still find one in good condition for $500-600.

If you don't pick the Garand, I think you'll probably be left with military surplus bolt action rifles, such as the British Enfield in .303 caliber, the US Springfield 1903, or the German Mauser 98. These are excellent rifles, but the bolt action is considerably slower to fire than the semiauto, at least for people who don't practice regularly.

For your wife, a Ruger MkII .22 target pistol is a joy to shoot. If you want a .22 rifle, Ruger makes an excellent semiauto rifle. One of the great advantages of .22s is that you can afford to stockpile vast quantities of ammunition. It costs about two cents per round and doesn't take much room. If my fears about the new administration are right, then he will drastically raise taxes on ammunition. He may not ban guns, but he will make it next to impossible to shoot them bc few people will be able to afford much ammunition.

[larry]

I forgot to mention one other thing: if your wife will use a pistol for self-defense and probably won't practice much, I recommend a revolver for her. As to caliber, if she can handle substantial recoil, a .357 magnum would be effective. But if she cannot, then get a .38 special revolver, preferably one that can handle the +P ammunition that is slightly more powerful, and effective, than regular .38 special rounds.

There are lots of great makers, including Smith&Wesson, Ruger, and Taurus.

[larry]

I think California law severely limits your choice of combat rifles. I'm certainly no expert on this subject, but my recollection is that semiauto rifles using a detachable box magazine are banned. This means all combat rifles developed in the last half century are out.

If my understanding is correct, the only semiautomatic rifle found commonly is the M1 Garand. The Garand uses a clip rather than a detachable box magazine (it's a small piece of metal that clips 8 rounds together. It fires a 30-06 round. I highly recommend the Garand. I think you can still find one in good condition for $500-600.

If you don't pick the Garand, I think you'll probably be left with military surplus bolt action rifles, such as the British Enfield in .303 caliber, the US Springfield 1903, or the German Mauser 98. These are excellent rifles, but the bolt action is considerably slower to fire than the semiauto, at least for people who don't practice regularly.

For your wife, a Ruger MkII .22 target pistol is a joy to shoot. If you want a .22 rifle, Ruger makes an excellent semiauto rifle. One of the great advantages of .22s is that you can afford to stockpile vast quantities of ammunition. It costs about two cents per round and doesn't take much room. If my fears about the new administration are right, then he will drastically raise taxes on ammunition. He may not ban guns, but he will make it next to impossible to shoot them bc few people will be able to afford much ammunition.

[spectator]

Smith & Wesson .38 special for your wife. Classic, timless, reliable, and user-friendly.

[MikeD]

Well, you can own any of these:
http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/awguide/awguide.php

Which is pretty much every "assault rifle."

Unless you want to be the test case to see whether the newly-interpreted 2A applies to "assault rifles."

The Ruger 10-22 is an awesome 22 caliber. The advantages to a 22 is cheap ammo. You can go through a brick (500 rounds) in an afternoon for 30 bucks. That's a lot of shooting.

If you want something assault-lite, look into a Mini 14:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-14

I *think* you can get them California legal: http://www.ruger-firearms.com/firearms/PDF/NewProducts/KMINI-14-5TH.pdf

Of course, I wouldn't be my freedom on that, since I haven't researched it extensively. So you probably shouldn't bet your freedom on it, either.

[Dan L]

Prof. Smith - congrats on your Springfield. I've got the XD-9, and I love it. It fits my hand better than any Sig or Glock I picked up. I'm looking at a Mossberg 590 (or 500 if I can get it cheaper.) I've got some combat rifle options for you:
Larry mentioned the M1 Garand - still widely available and California legal. Usually they run about $800 in stores or online, but check out www.odcmp.com to get a govm't surplus one (once you jump through some fairly easy hoops). They start around $500. Remember that Gen. Patton called it "the greatest battle implement ever devised." Note that the Garand should not be loaded with anything other than military ammunition. The factory 30-06 rounds for hunting rifles are too powerful and could damage the Garand.

Springfield M1A - expensive, but totally awesome. In california we're limited to 5 round box magazines.
Springfield SOCOM - short barreled .308 based on the M1A (which is, of course based on the Garand) also california legal with a 5 rnd magazine
There are also California-legal AR-15's out there - one is the "FAB-10," which is essentially a typical AR-15 lower receiver with the magazine well closed up, and you load 10 round stripper clips through the top by pivoting open the upper receiver. I belive another legal way to own an AR in California is by getting one with a screw that fixes the magazine in place, and requires a simple tool like an allen wrench to remove it. Obviously, it really points to the idiocy of the Roberti-Roos act in the first place. I'm sure there's alot of gangbangers out there with allen wrenches tucked in their pockets.
10 years after I was in your contracts class, I seem to know a lot more about guns than I do about the mirror-image rule, but at least I remember that and the Reading Pipe case. Oh - the Suppenhuhn (stewing chicken) case too.

[Tom Smith]

thanks Dan (and all of you) -- very useful advice.

[dgm]

I can't help with brands, but I can tell you that I've tried out .357s at the range and the recoil is, like larry says, substantial (and I'm a pretty strong woman). It's fun to shoot and try to control, but in an emergency situation I'd prefer something I could control with confidence.

[Tom]

Get your wife a Glock 19 (9mm Compact). There is no weapon easier to use and master.

As for rifle suggestions, a fun way to go, the way that will really get to the AG, is get an off-list lower. This is the bottom half of an AR-15. The bottom portion of the rifle is all that needs to go through DROS. You can read up more on ways around the CA Assault Weapons ban- if you were to build a rifle (very easy to do) it would have to have a fixed magazine, a "bullet button" magazine release, or a non-pistol grip. Discount Gun Mart right down the street can sell you the lower for around two hundred dollars out the door.

The fun part about the off-list lower is the speculation about whether or not the California DOJ will re-open assault weapons registration so as to defeat this loop-hole. Under the current law, if they add to the list of banned weapons they need to re-open registration. That would allow you to configure the rifle without the features listed above. The DOJ has never taken this measure before, but the market for the lowers has expanded dramatically. Here is a letter written by Lockyer to the Governor that you might find interesting: http://www.hoffmang.com/firearms/Lockyer%20Letter%20-%20AB%202728.pdf

Other than the AR, a Springfield M1A or a Ruger Mini-14 is a decent way to go.

Also, consider taking a course at Front Sight with your wife. Given your background, there is an excellent chance they would give you a free course. Despite its strange marketing, Front Sight is an excellent school and is geared towards new shooters. The school is about five hours from San Diego and the courses run Friday through Monday. After taking a course at Front Sight, students tend to be far more proficient with defensive shooting than law enforcement.

[Tom Smith]

Tom
Thanks for the great suggestions. Might you know of a website or book that describes how to build a rifle as you describe? Is it really easy? Cheaper than buying one? If I could do it without having to buy expensive tools, that might be a fun hobby as well.

[Tom]

My Pleasure. I will cautiously direct you over to calguns.net. These guys are known for pushing the envelope of what is legal (things like open carrying unloaded pistols in public), but their knowledge of the Off-List Lower is excellent and quite sophisticated. I like these two pages:

http://www.calguns.net/copmemo2.pdf

and

http://calguns.net/a_california_arak.htm

From the second site, basically, the issue comes down to whether or not the weapon has a detachable magazine:

A semiautomatic centerfire rifle capable of accepting detachable magazines and any of:

▪ a pistol grip protruding conspicuously below the weapon’s action

▪ a thumbhole stock or folding or telescopic stock;

▪ a flash suppressor, grenade launcher or flare launcher;

▪ a forward pistol grip.

A semiautomatic centerfire rifle with overall length of less than 30 inches;

A semiautomatic centerfire rifle with a fixed magazine holding over 10 rounds.

If the magazine is fixed (requires some sort of tool to detach), then no matter how easy it is to detach the magazine, you can have all the other banned features. Likewise, if the magazine is detachable, then you must be sure the weapon doesn't have any of the other features. Having a "bullet button" is the most simple solution. As configured, the magazine can still be detached very rapidly.

You'll also want to remember all the other applicable Federal and State laws: the barrel must exceed 16 inches, only ten round magazines may be used, and perhaps most relevant here, you should be sure to install the bullet button as soon as you buy the lower so there is no question as to the legality if you have other parts and the rifle is not yet assembled.

As for building the rifle, it's very easy. I have taken apart my rifle a number of times and I am not particularly good at such things. You will find that everything is very modular for the AR-15. About the only hard part would be attaching the barrel to the upper receiver- however, this likely won't be an issue because you can buy the upper receiver completely assembled. I would recommend doing so. There is one armorer's tool that you'll need (about twenty dollars) to install the butt stock, but other than that, everything in the lower receiver is held in place by pins or hex screws. I am on campus so I could even lend you the tools you need. The entire rifle can easily be built for less than a thousand dollars, and probably even as low as six hundred dollars.

I will also mention that currently, it might be a bit tricky to find a receiver. Discount Gun Mart sells them, but it might take them a week or two to get you one. Parts will become more available shortly, but there has been a big run on everything lately as a result of the incoming administration.