Not so much biking...

I haven't been doing a whole lot of bike commuting lately, due to a variety of issues. Hopefully I'll be able to start it up again in the spring, but for now I think I will discuss other awesome hobbies.

My wife and I are both big fans of firearms, and both have our concealed carry permits. My wife, however, doesn't have a gun that is appropriate for concealed carry. She has a 5" .38spl. I wouldn't mind a new carry gun either, since I am rocking a double stack Makarov in 9x18mm--not the best capacity or most potent round.

We have decided that we will get each other guns for Christmas this year, though mine will be a shotgun to help round out my collection. I'm planning on the Mossberg 500 Field/Security combo so it can do double duty as defense and skeet gun (and deer gun if I ever felt like learning to hunt). We haven't decided what we will do for my wife yet, though. Still in the planning stages. I have been trying to give advice and guide her to possible choices without trying to dominate and impose my own will. "Well, I've heard really good things about XDs, M&Ps, and SR9Cs..."

We rented a Springfield XD SubCompact in 9mm that we both liked and put about 100 rounds through it, but that was a few months ago. We attempted to rent a Ruger SR9C, but the compact wasn't available so we just rented the full size. Oddly, my wife found the recoil to be prohibitive on the SR9, but not on the XD SC. I just didn't think I shot it that well, so I think the SR9s might be off the list for now. Sadly, they don't have 9mm M&Ps for rent at the local range so we won't get to try one and she would like to try before we buy. We hav handled Glocks in the store, but neither of us cares for the way they feel in our hand, so they are pretty far down the list as well.

Last time we shot she really liked the feel of my Makarov, so I am thinking we might rent a Bersa Thunder in .380 next time we hit the range since they are very similarly sized guns. I consider 9mm to be a vastly superior round to .380, but the most effective round is the one you will practice with and that you can hit your target with.

Also, hopefully I will be getting a reloading setup soon--just a Lee Hand Press and all the required accessories, so it will be slow going, but in the apartment I don't have a good place to set up a press on a permanent basis so this will be a good compromise. Once we have a house or at least a better spot to mount a press, I should be able to get a turret or progressive press and not have too much other expense since I'll have all the dies. Or such is my hope.