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Starting out: I have two M&P .22 compacts which I thoroughly enjoy. They are reliable, accurate, fun and mostly not ammo picky except they will NOT shoot Geco brand. My Browning 1911-22 will shoot the Geco all day, after I spend a lot time with paper towels cleaning the thick layer of gunk off of each individual round. Now on to my shopping day......
I've been house bound for a while and have really been wanting to get "to town" to see if I could find a Taurus TX22 that so many people have said is fun to shoot and reliable. Feeling ever so much better today, and it being cold and misty, it was a good day to do some looky-feely stuff. Hubby went along.
We went to 4 privately owned gun stores. There is one more, but they don't usually have much of interest. There are also 2 or 3 chain stores but I was not interested in going to them.
The first place was our favorite LGS. We have dealt with the owner for over 20 years and they are really good people. They are the ones who sold that Baby Rock so quickly for me. Gramps currently has a gun on order with them also.
They have a lot of guns in their cases. A lot! There were all calibers and sizes of many brands, some new and some used. They had a beautiful black Kimber full size Raptor for around $1200 which is not out of line for that particular model. They didn't have what I thought I might want, so after checking out everything we proceeded onward.
Then we went to a small store which I've only been to a couple times but it is the favorite of one of my friends. No customers in there so we chatted a bit. They didn't have a lot of guns but what they had were nice ones. I mentioned sort of looking for another .22 toy and the fellow reached in the case and brought out a Kel-Tec CP33with a 33 round magazine. My one son recently bought one and says that even though the reviews are spotty, for him it is reliable and a real blast to be able to crank off 33 rounds without changing magazines.
![www.keltecweapons.com]()
CP33 - KelTec
www.keltecweapons.com
It has fiber optic sights and points naturally and has a really light, crisp trigger pull. It is also unbelievably ugly and rather enormous looking, since the back end of the slide sticks out WAY FAR from the grip. The grip was very uncomfortable also. Interesting, but definitely not for me!
The next store was the one where I had traded in my Bersa BP380cc for my Shield EZ. They are also nice folks. They have always priced their guns at MSR and still do. Nothing there I was interested in asking to handle, so on to the last place.
The last place we went is the store where I ordered my Browning 1911-22 Black Label, using one of my Glock 42's as a down payment. It is also the one with the indoor range where my friends and I shoot when the weather is too bad to use our outdoor club facilities. They still have a good selection of guns - a LOT of Glocks, but quite a few other guns of various brands and calibers also. Their prices run full MSR or a bit higher but not to the true gouging point. LO AND BEHOLD, they had one Taurus TX22. So the young lady got it out of the case for me to hold, etc. What a shocker: That darned thing wanted to point high - I mean WAY HIGH. I'm used to guns that point more or less naturally, but this one took me five times from "at my side" to shooting position before I ever got the front sight almost lined up properly. And then there was the trigger. I can't tell you what the trigger pull strength was. I can tell you that it didn't want to move backwards! Finally it did. CLICK. And back into the case it went. I commented, "It sure isn't like a Browning!" and the young lady laughed out loud and said "Hardly anything is!"
SO, other than paying for the case of ammo I bought on a credit card last month, our tax refund is mostly still in our checking account, and there is something to be said for that.
If you know anyone who lives in or near east TN, the gun stores in Crossville are decently stocked with guns (no ammo) and they are all good folks. There were lots of long guns also but we didn't spend much time looking at any of them.
I've been house bound for a while and have really been wanting to get "to town" to see if I could find a Taurus TX22 that so many people have said is fun to shoot and reliable. Feeling ever so much better today, and it being cold and misty, it was a good day to do some looky-feely stuff. Hubby went along.
We went to 4 privately owned gun stores. There is one more, but they don't usually have much of interest. There are also 2 or 3 chain stores but I was not interested in going to them.
The first place was our favorite LGS. We have dealt with the owner for over 20 years and they are really good people. They are the ones who sold that Baby Rock so quickly for me. Gramps currently has a gun on order with them also.
They have a lot of guns in their cases. A lot! There were all calibers and sizes of many brands, some new and some used. They had a beautiful black Kimber full size Raptor for around $1200 which is not out of line for that particular model. They didn't have what I thought I might want, so after checking out everything we proceeded onward.
Then we went to a small store which I've only been to a couple times but it is the favorite of one of my friends. No customers in there so we chatted a bit. They didn't have a lot of guns but what they had were nice ones. I mentioned sort of looking for another .22 toy and the fellow reached in the case and brought out a Kel-Tec CP33with a 33 round magazine. My one son recently bought one and says that even though the reviews are spotty, for him it is reliable and a real blast to be able to crank off 33 rounds without changing magazines.
CP33 - KelTec
www.keltecweapons.com
It has fiber optic sights and points naturally and has a really light, crisp trigger pull. It is also unbelievably ugly and rather enormous looking, since the back end of the slide sticks out WAY FAR from the grip. The grip was very uncomfortable also. Interesting, but definitely not for me!
The next store was the one where I had traded in my Bersa BP380cc for my Shield EZ. They are also nice folks. They have always priced their guns at MSR and still do. Nothing there I was interested in asking to handle, so on to the last place.
The last place we went is the store where I ordered my Browning 1911-22 Black Label, using one of my Glock 42's as a down payment. It is also the one with the indoor range where my friends and I shoot when the weather is too bad to use our outdoor club facilities. They still have a good selection of guns - a LOT of Glocks, but quite a few other guns of various brands and calibers also. Their prices run full MSR or a bit higher but not to the true gouging point. LO AND BEHOLD, they had one Taurus TX22. So the young lady got it out of the case for me to hold, etc. What a shocker: That darned thing wanted to point high - I mean WAY HIGH. I'm used to guns that point more or less naturally, but this one took me five times from "at my side" to shooting position before I ever got the front sight almost lined up properly. And then there was the trigger. I can't tell you what the trigger pull strength was. I can tell you that it didn't want to move backwards! Finally it did. CLICK. And back into the case it went. I commented, "It sure isn't like a Browning!" and the young lady laughed out loud and said "Hardly anything is!"
SO, other than paying for the case of ammo I bought on a credit card last month, our tax refund is mostly still in our checking account, and there is something to be said for that.
If you know anyone who lives in or near east TN, the gun stores in Crossville are decently stocked with guns (no ammo) and they are all good folks. There were lots of long guns also but we didn't spend much time looking at any of them.
