The last three handguns I want for awhile

[MagnumDweeb]

Okay so six months or slightly more ago I said I was done buying handguns, I was making really good money day trading in the stock market (six hundred or more dollars a week is really good to me), got a S&W 19-4 6" and two hundred dollars for painting the outside of a house. I told myself, over the previous six months before that I had acquired a Ruger Redhawk 4", Redhawk 7.5", and a couple Romanian Toakrev TTCs, Ruger P90, Ruger P89, Taurus 92.

Since that I've become a NRA certified pistol instructor and am doing between 30 and forty students a month, still making really good money with the stock market(but now am only saving it because I've only got one year of law school left and want to buy two houses instead of one within three years of graduating, and the instructor money is good even with charging considerably less than the local ranges). And I've gotten a Norinco Tokarev in 7.62x25, one in 9mm that can be switched back to 7.62x25, and another that looks purely dedicated to 9mm(and I won't do the work on it), and a Taurus .22lr 4".

So now I'm sitting and thinking, what else do I want. I can afford it and I'm only spending from my instructor work(which after expenses rounds out around $1100 a month after paying my assistant[Iraq war veteran], and summer break is coming and I know a few people who want me to paint their houses for $475 a pop) so I've decided, I'll try again to stop buying more pistols.

Granted I've done homebrews on three AKs, went ahead and finished my PPSH43 as a pistol and not bother to try and do a carbine.

So these are to be my last three handguns for a long long time, I got a couple of beater Mausers (surplus ammo went through them and the original owners never cleaned them up and I bought them off them as salvage for a total of $100 because no gunshop would touch them) that I'm going to rebarrel in 6.5x55 because I want a couple rifles in the round now I've decided, and it's not the hardest to do with the mausers, granted it'd be easier with a Mosin Nagant rifle but I won't touch the two I've got for that.


Here they are:

Rock Island 1911 5" G.I.: because I've wanted a 1911 for a real long time and can get one for under $400 out the door brand new. I already reload .45 ACP for my two Rugers. It'd be mostly a fun gun to get me acquainted with the 1911 platform because I haven't completely written it off as not carrying it for CCW. I love shooting my Uncles self-custom Caspian and Fusion builds.

Glock 22 .40: it's going to be a police trade-in. I'm going to get the conversion parts so I can shoot it in Sig .357, 9mm, .40, and .22lr. Granted I want to get an Advantage Arms conversion for it so my students who have been returning to me for additional instruction can shoot a semi in something other than the Ruger P89, Taurus PT 92, or 9mm dedicated Norinco Tokarev. This gun is more for enhancing my classes than anything else. Most students appreciate getting to shoot a wide variety of guns when I can't take them to the one range where they can rent a wide variety of guns to shoot with me.

A Taurus 605 3" .357 Magnum---well because I want another snubbie .357 magnum that doesn't have a 2" barrel. I already have a Rossi 462 and Taurus 617. Granted I'm not buying this one for awhile because there is a pawnshop near me that always seems to get really nice finds. There was once a S&W 19-3 in a 3" I didn't get at $399 that I could probably have talked them down to $350 if i had cash with me right there and then, but it wouldn't have been an easily pocketable guns like my other snubbies and that is key. If they have a Ruger Sp 101 in 3" in .357 magnum than I'm definetly getting that one. It just has to be $400 or cheaper in 98%+ condition. And yes a lot their guns are like that. I regret not getting the Ruger GP100 6" at $429 when they had it for three months but I already had to Smiths (19-4 and 19-5) at 6".

Well opinions are appreciated. After these three I'm redidcating myself to purely working with rifles again or doing homebrews from parts kits. Mind you I'm not buying another gun for a least a month and a half. Oh and I have tons of ammo and reloading components, and contacts at the local Wal-mart who let me know when ammo gets in, and I'm not against getting cloths on at 10pm to run out and get ammo. Plus 2k of large pistol primers arrived that I had forgotten I ordered over six months ago, and I've still got shy of 3k sitting around. Mind you I'm only buying Blazzer Brass brand new right now as far as ammo goes.

 

[Col. Plink]

What was the process like becoming a cc instructor? I'd like to get certified here in Texas and then instruct. Does an instructor typically need to supply everything? I would think the student would need to come with the weapon for which they intend to be certified... Thanks!

BTW, a .357 snub? Interesting choice...

 

[MagnumDweeb]

The process was three days. Some written tests, if you are an info junkie like me who knows almost everything about everything you'll be alright, but if you've taken an NRA pistol course before you should be alright on learning. We had to shoot, were to told to shoot a 5.5" grouping at twenty feet. We had to turn in some targets before hand. Well the instructor trusted us and I was all good then except for the two targets I did in .44 Magnum(mind you it was a 3"- grouping) one handed and had to redo them in .22lr. My shooting requirement was done in ten minutes because of the two targets( I had done all the targets in .357 magnum, luckily my parent's neighbor who had me paint his house sold me the 19-4, because I only had long barrel revolvers in .44 Magnum). I had brought my newly acquired 19-4 which I had only shot one time before with (figured I'd be sticking to the spirit of being to pickup any gun at anytime and drill tacks with it, my groupings at twenty feet were under 3 inches only because the instructor told me to be sure to have countable holes), my Ruge Super Blackhawk, my heritage rough rider .22lr and snub nose .357 magnum. Luckily I had brought an open box of .22lr Federal Valu pak because the instructors Remington green box just wasn't working for folks who had Ruger MKIIIs or .22lr revolvers. I did mine with a group who does TSA contracts and such.


For my students I have a lecture portion where I pass out NRA material books that cover marksmanship, storage, and safehandling(the whole nine-yards). The shooting portion and lecture portion never take part on the same day because I want my students to have a chance to better familarize themselves before the range. Plus I hand out a waiver and release form(eight pages) done up by a lawyer I know(range me $150), and I got insurance just in case from the NRA, for the shooting portion that I pass out after the lecture, tell the people what forms they need to get to apply for their CWP, where to do the finger prints, get the photos and such. My lectures are no more than 20 students. A week or two later we have a range day. There are two large outdoor ranges where you can go for free once a month so my students will usually meet me out there, mind you I don't have a time restraint as some folks are too busy sometimes. So twice a month the students have an opportunity to do their shooting portion for which I only charge $20, the lecture is $50, the ranges are running at between $100-$150 and they use K license instructors(supposed law enforcement instructors).

Also if folks will coordinate I'll take up to five people to the range with me at one of the insides for an additional 15 per person once a month. My assistant is a retired Marine(Iraq war vet with a missing foot and most of his shin), I supply the .22lr ammo and two guns for use as part of the fees for the class. Once a shooter shows me they can perform six shots down range and want to do the other 19 shots for qualification with their own gun they are welcome. For folks who want to cut their teeth with 9mm(mind most of these folks have no previous experience with firearms) I charge twenty bucks for twenty five founds and my personal instruction(shooters like doing a five inch group at twenty feet with that last mag of five).

Also most shooting days don't take more than an hour and a half(I let my guns cool). And my students are allowed to hang around and personal instruction on their own firearms for another hour I'll hang around. Plus I'll soon be launching a website to coordinate when folks can get together and we can go out and do shoots after my classes so folks can get further instruction, at $20 a gun.

I've had a lot of students saying the sights on their guns are bad, I take the gun from them, usually one I have never shot before, load three rounds into the magazine, line up the sights at twenty feet after I do a sight check, and shoot a grouping smaller than half a playing card, and they usually want to learn how to do that. You wouldn't believe how many students I have grifted from the local firing ranges by doing that with folks having a hard time with their own or rental guns.

I figure the panic will be over in another year and I can get .357 Magnum Rossi 462s again for $310, when that happens I'll pick up three more and teach snub nose focused shooting classes. With enough practice you can shoot 2.5" and smaller groupings at twenty yards. I carry .357 snubbies because in a two-inch barrel you lose a lot of performance for the conveinence of carry. And with 110grn to 125grn PD rounds you'll see a drop from 1200fps to 1000fps-900fps in a snubbie with .357 magnum.

Mind you again, I'm teaching a lot of newbs and I don't want them waisting their own money to buy guns first. I figure I let them get a chance to cut their teeth on a small variety. For return students, and I'm averaging fifteen return students a month(would be higher if I hadn't taken three weeks off for exams) I'll do the Glock 22 in 9mm so they can shoot four different guns in 9mm. Plus I've got a lot of folks who took the CCW course at the gunshows and didn't get anything out of it other than the paperwork who are taking my class to learn something worthwhile. And I haven't start advertising yet, I'll hopefully be doing that by this following weekend. Still I've got fifty students who have pre-paid the twenty dollar fee downpayment, and another seventy who have e-mailed me and want to do the class with me. Guess when you are a nice guy, actually work to be a teacher not a business man, and teach your students well, you'll get business. Granted I'm not prepared to take on more than 40 students a month.

 

[kanook]

Must be nice to get students that want to learn and take the time to learn. My class is 10hrs lecture and 2hrs range time. I will supply the firearm if they don't have one in a certain caliber and they supply the ammo or pay me what I paid for it. They clean my firearm for learning purposes. Most of the people I come in contact with "know it all" and take the gunshow course 2hrs and 1 bullet for $30 and say they didn't learn anything. When I suggest my course they say it's too long and don't have the time to do it.

 

[MagnumDweeb]

The gunshow fee is over $100 around my way. I just do the First steps, three hours of lecture and one hour of range, followed by lots of 'free questions' and follow up shoots and instruction if they want it. I'll soon be doing a class out of a local library, as a free demonstration only course for two hours with just a limited sampling of the actual course, mixed with some personal opinion, review of legal cases decided and upcoming for guns and gun owners, a bit of history, followed by a half hour of Q&A. A lot of my students thing the half hour bit will be great because I tend to politely share that I don't like to answer questions through my e-mail because I was getting thirty questions a week and that got real old real quick.

Of course should some folks like the free bit and want to take the actual class I'll only have them do an hour and half with me, at a nearby bookstore(Late's and firearm book learning) and do the rest of the lecture and info bits. The library said it's okay to use non-firearms for demonstration and I got some cheap($3 or less) manual action airsoft guns at the local flea market for demonstration purposes tha work real good, much better than those blocks of plastic, you can actually simulate with moving parts the process of chambering and 'safeing' a gun.

I do get the occasional "know it all" and smile some about, I don't get into it with those occassional types, mind you most of my current students have been either currently serving military types or former military types that just want their CWP, and of course their families and friends. Had an older gentleman, Korean War vet, not know hardly a thing about pistols(couldn't remember much about the 1911 he told me, and something about being a REMF I think he mentioned) who took the class, then he had his wife and daughter take the class, who then had husband take the class, who then recommended me to some friends to take the class. And then you get a ripple effect. It is fun by the way to watch a know it all pull out a Sig 226(HKs, FN somethings, take your pick, there have been a few) and not make the actual qualification for the first try. And then here them whine about twenty feet (it can be done at fifteen, but I stick with twenty as most ranges require it). Those are the guys whom I take their guns from and shame the most with glee as they whine about the sights being wrong or the gun being busted, "see three inch groupings can be a snap with five shots" (I only load three to five rounds in the mag.

I'm trying to be competitive by offering a lot of additonals and quality time with my students and it seems to be paying off. Of course I admit I dread advertising to the public and getting the risks of 'gayngstas' and tacticool mall ninjas showing up. But hey, I have a waiver and policy(which will be on the website once I get time to finish it) that I reserve the right to eject you from the class and keep $20 of your money if you act in a distracting, possibly dangerous, or disruptive manner to be left to my discretion and mercy, meaning I can take your money at my own will and you accept that ahead of time. Granted the website will be far more detailed as to that.