Another links based submission for the gliberati, but I’ll add my two cents at the bottom. Quite a bit of gun related news worth discussing this week.

Finally, is this the most retarded gun themed product ever invented? We report, you deride.

So, just a couple of random additions from me. First, I was talking with someone in the comments about 5.7 x 28 for home defense and they mentioned that they liked the cartridge but were not a fan of the PS90. Well fret not, ladies and gentlemen, for I have not 1 but 2 solutions to your troubles. The first comes to us from the ironically named Masterpiece Arms. Their ubiquitous brick on a 2×4 mac 10 clones are now chambered in 5.7 and available as a pistol and as a carbine. I am told that despite their looks they are excellent performers. The second option is by far the more attractive one. A company called AR57 manufactures 16″ and 12″ AR uppers chambered in 5.7 that use PS90 magazines and eject out the magwell, not unlike the PS90 itself. If you’re looking for a 5.7 slinger with more traditional features and layout, you’d be hard pressed to do better.

The other thing I want to touch on is concealed carry. I have avoided talking about ‘the best guns EVAR for concealed carry!’ because for one it has been beaten into a bloody paste by every gun blog, website, and magazine that has ever existed, and secondly because everyone is different and the gun I recommend for you probably isn’t going to work. Also, I have been open carrying for several years now and if it’s feasible in your area I recommend you give that a try. For one, it stops the fight before it starts. No criminal with even a hint of situational awareness is going to pick a fight with an obviously armed person (although it does happen occasionally). Secondly, it’s a nice conversation starter and a very simple, passive way to assert your rights in an obvious but non invasive manner. Granted, I live in the wild west where we all walk around in our Stetsons and spurred boots with six shooters on, so YMMV.

With that out of the way, here are my suggestions for getting into concealed carry. First, expect to change your carry gun several times throughout your life until you figure out what works. I think I have gone through close to a dozen EDC guns in the last 8 years. The nice thing about guns is that they hold their value very well, so if you do choose to sell yours you should get very close to what you paid for it if you didn’t get hosed on the initial purchase. Second, expect to purchase about 3 holsters for every gun you buy. Yes, three. Holsters are like shoes, no holster will fit the two people the same, and the holster that one guy loves the next guy will hate. The holster that I finally decided on for concealed carry is from N8 squared tactical. They are affordable and well made and fit a variety of pistols.

What I have noticed and experienced myself is that people go through phases with concealed carry. The first phase is what I call the big gun phase. This is where people try to conceal a full sized pistol as their EDC. They do this until basically they get sick of the weight and the pain of having a huge chunk of steel up their ass all day. Then they go into the tiny gun phase, where they buy the smallest little mouse gun they can slip into their speedo. This is great for actually carrying the thing, but then they go to shoot it and realize that mouse guns are tiny, weak, difficult to aim, painful to shoot, and not 100% reliable. At this point their gun size fluctuates up and down a few more times til they find the perfect sized gun, which is usually a single stack 9 or a compact/subcompact of their choice. This process is going to be different for everyone, so be prepared to buy and sell quite a few pistols until you get the one you like. I am loathe to recommend a cc pistol, but if you put a gun to my head and forced to recommend one… well I would probably shoot you for doing that, but if I was being nice I would recommend a single stack 9mm. The two that immediately spring to mind are the M&p9 Shield and the XD-S. I own an XD-S, and other than its mediocre trigger I have zero complaints. My final recommendation is to carry the biggest gun (size wise, not caliber) you can comfortably conceal. For me that is my Sig P320 carry, which is not really a CC sized gun (roughly Glock 19 size). If I have to go deep concealment I will switch to my XDs in a pocket holster. Big guns are easier to shoot, hold more ammo, are more reliable, and actually hit what you aim for. Notice that all of those actually matter if you have to pull the gun, whereas comfort while carrying doesn’t mean shit if you’re dead.