1 down, 99 to go

'nough said

Generations

Last week my father gave me a gun. While that in and of itself if pretty great, it's not the gun itself that is really special, but the guns history. It took a little research, but I managed to figure out a little about the gun.

It is a version of the Pistolet Automatique de 7 millimètre 65 genre "Ruby", however, this one is made by Santiago Salaberrin and it is a .25 auto with the trade name "ETNA" stamped on the gun. There are a number of variations on this weapon, but this one is definitely a pocket pistol designed as a little holdout piece.

So the guns is not really all that special with over 30 factories making versions and copies I would bet these things are lying in boxes and in the tops of closets all over the world. So what's so cool about a 70+ year old gun? My great grandfather was a drummer in a band. He traveled the river boats up and down the Mississippi playing drums and generally doing what a musician would do in the roaring 20's. In his vest pocket for all of those trips was the little "ETNA"

So now I think I'll make sure it's in good working order and carry it with me to work. I can't think of a better legacy or connection to the past.

That was close

So I picked up a Kel-Tec PF9 the other day and took it to the range on Sunday to try it out.  A couple of boxes of Blazer Brass 115g FMJ went smooth as silk and the little gun, while snappy, is controllable and accurate enough.  I then shot a box of Golden Saber 124 +P JHP through it and again, no problem, so I moved on to reloads.  This was also going smoothly until the little gun stopped barking, I did a QA on her and the slide won't budge, rot roh. 

At the range, I couldn't get any movement on the problem, so I packed it up and went home for more serious investigation.  After complete dissasembly, it turns out the bullet in that round set back severely (about .25", looks like a .380ACP now) and bulged the case, locking it in the chamber tighter than bike pants on Rosie O'Donnel, lets just say it was tight.  Thing is though, the gun was just out of battery and my trigger pull resulted in the firing pin striking on the very edge of the primer, another tenth or so and I would have probably been digging Kel-tec out of my hide at best.  Who knows what the worst would have been, I'm just glad I didn't find out.  You wonder sometimes what the difference between a ho-hum range report is and another internet posting of a blowed up pistol, I find it is .10".

Then again, maybe it was God's way of saying I should have been in church on Sunday morning...