While you’re waiting for the next Empty Mags Podcast to release (soon™), go have a listen at some of the other excellent gun-related podcasts out there.

Shooting the Breeze: This is a great, laid back, conversational podcast. It covers firearms related current events, and covers topics having to do with carrying concealed, competitive shooting and more. As a bonus, each show includes a cigar and drink pairing recommendation. I quit smoking some time ago, but I still enjoy hearing about the pairings.

Roadgunner Podcast: This is a fun podcast to listen to. The host, Un-named Trucker, talks about carrying a firearm through various states during his travels as a truck driver. Lots of good information, tips for traveling with your gun, funny rants and tangents and a restaurant tip or cooking tip (he was a chef) to boot.

GunDudes: If you’re not listening to the GunDudes and you’re listening to other podcasts, you’re probably doing yourself a favor. These guys are hilarious, crazy, and you’ll lose IQ points for listening – but once you start, you can’t stop and in the end you’ll truly be a better gunner for it.

Handgun World Show: A ton of great information and interviews about practical, every day Joe type firearms usage and ownership, as well as competitive shooting. If you like what you hear on this show, you might also wish to check out Bob Mayne’s Today’s Survival podcast as well.

New Shooter Podcast: This one is by someone who is new to shooting, and who lives in a very anti-gun state. Lots of great information can be found in this podcast for both new and experienced shooters alike.

And of course, check out all the other great shows on the Gun Rights Radio Network!

Linoge over at Walls of the City is trying to raise funds for Soldiers’ Angels. Continue Reading

You’ll notice a new poll up on the sidebar to the right. Please take a few moments to participate. I’d like to know what you think about this site’s layout.

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This week is going to be pretty light for a few reasons. If I am not able to record another podcast within the next three days, there will not be one this week. So if I don’t talk to yall again before then, have a great Thanksgiving!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:59 — 10.5MB)

Keeping a list of all your firearms and specific information about them is something you need to do to assist you, Continue Reading

There is an article up at Gun Owners of America that lists several flaws with HR822. It brings up some things that I failed to consider. I like it even less now. Go have a read.

Another thing that I think will happen, if this is passed and made law, is that the may-issue states may possibly ban CCW all together. Some states don’t want visitors to be able to carry concealed and if faced with only “allow all” or “allow none” options, what do you think a may-issue state like Massachusetts will do? Goodbye CCW permits for all their law abiding citizens.

Here is why I do not like the national CCW bill that is going through congress right now:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet in the last 5 years, there is no doubt that you are either already a member of Continue Reading

Nick over at the New Shooter Podcast recently posted a video on youtube of the AR he just built. Ignoring the California Crap on the rifle, it sure is a nice looking AR and its bound to be a great shooter, with the quality parts he used. Watch the video to see an overview of the rifle and the parts used, and watch the New Shooter Cast for when he is sure to talk about this on his podcast.

I really like the Apex free float tube on the front of that. I may have to introduce it into consideration for whenever I finally finish my BWA lower I have sitting on my bench. I am also extremely thankful for the fact that I can use 30 round mags and don’t ever have to touch a “bullet button”. Nick I think it’s about time you move to the USA.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:16 — 30.6MB)

I did a quick review of Ammo.net and Fiocchi Canned Heat, then played an interview I took with Charlie and Colin from Gunway.com.

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Have you been doing dry fire practice lately? You should. It is one of the best ways of maintaining your gun handling and trigger control skills, improve a flinch and just be one with the trigger.

Balloon Goes up has some dry fire training tips that may help.

This reminds me that I still would really like to get the SIRT Training Pistol. They even have a laser training bolt for your AR rifle on the way, which resets the trigger. Awesome stuff.

That doesn’t sound right, does it? The Firearms Blog has the full scoop and pictures.

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Turns out, at some point the commenting system on the site had died and no comments were able to be posted. I am not sure how long it had been like that. Rather than invest the time to try to figure it out yesterday, I opted to install a program called Disqus to handle the comments.

I know there people who don’t mind Disqus, and then there are people who really just don’t like it. I’m mixed on it myself but I want to know what you, as users of this site feel about it. Please leave some comments and give me some feedback on it.

This is a repost from the old blog:

I ran 200 rounds of .223 and 100 rounds of .380 through my two firearms that have been treated with Mr. C’s Super Sekrit Gun Oil.

Taking note of how the firearms performed, and constantly thinking about doing a review on the oil, the first thing I noticed is: I don’t know how to review gun oil, so I  kind of made up the parameters of what to look for as I went.

As you may have read in my first impressions post, this oil is extremely slick. I could feel absolutely no metal-on-metal friction in my AR upper as I slid the bolt carrier group in and out by hand. It also quieted up the action some.

When the AR was actually being used – it performed flawlessly. After 100 rounds I took it apart and inspected inside to see if the oil was doing anything weird, like congealing, gunking up or burning off. It got no more dirty that any other oil and there was still enough there to keep the gun lubed. The action was still very slick. I did the same thing after the next 100 rounds and the quality of the oil was not noticeably changed.

I checked for similar things when I was shooting the Bodyguard, looking after 50 and 100 rounds. I was using cheap ammo that seems to be quite a bit dirtier than other brands, and I had no problems. In the Bodyguard, the slickness of the oil is not as noticeable as it is in the AR, but it functioned nicely.

Aside from swabbing out the barrels, these two firearms will remain uncleaned and will have no more oil added to them until they really need it. The Bodyguard will continue to live in my pocket and I’ll also be checking to see if the oil attracts and traps any more lint than normal. Then we’ll see how long and how many rounds I can put through each firearm before needing to reapply oil.

To sum it all up in a single sentence: I will buy this gun oil.

This is a repost from the old blog:

I recently received a can of Fiocchi Canned Heat in .223 to test out, from Ammo.net. I am going to get a bit more in-depth with this information on an upcoming episode of my podcast, but I wanted to get a little mini-review up here on the blog as well.

First, let me start off with a little about Ammo.net. They are obviously an online retailer of ammunition, but one thing that sets them apart from the other sites out there is that they take a portion of the money they’ve made from each order, and send it off to a pro-freedom organization as a donation on the customer’s behalf. Right now, there is a select list of organizations you can choose from, some bigger, some smaller, but there is bound to be one you wont mind being charitable to. When you order, you’ll be able to specify which organization gets the donation. This list includes: Blue Star Families, Campaign For Liberty, Homes For Our Troops, Liberty PAC, National Rifle Assocation (NRA), Patriot Action Network, Small Wars Foundation, Soldiers’ Angels and Tea Party Patriots.

From the Ammo.net Donations Page:

Why do we do this?  It’s simple really.  We believe in supporting those who protect our freedoms.  Of course, we hope you’ll choose Ammo.net as your preferred ammunition dealer as a result of knowing that not only will you get your order super fast and at a great price, but that you’ll also be doing a little bit of good for those who are actively protecting our freedoms.

After you submit your order on our order confirmation page, you’ll see a drop-down of all the available organizations you can donate to.  This is the point at which you choose who will receive 1% of your order’s value as a donation from Ammo.net.

Now, I have never done business with Ammo.net before this, but the above reason alone is enough to earn my business in the future.

On to the ammunition itself: I received one fifty round can of Fiocchi’s Canned Heat in .223. It has a 55 grain FMJ boat tail bullet, which according to the manufacturer has a muzzle velocity of 3240 feet per second with 1281 foot-pounds of energy.

The Canned Heat Line of ammo is, wait for it… canned. It comes in a metal can that is packed with a desiccant pouch and then hermetically sealed to protect the ammunition from outside elements and is supposed to prolong the shelf life of the ammo (ammo shelf life is an entire post in itself that I may touch on later). To be completely honest with my thoughts here, I think the can itself is mostly a gimmick – but don’t let that take away from the actual quality of the ammunition inside. Depending on your storage area, I think the cans may be easier to store for some people.

I put this round up against some of my own loads running Hornady V-Max bullets sitting on 24 grains of 8208XBR powder, and some Federal XM193 5.56 that I had laying around. The Eotech on the AR I was using is currently sighted in for my Hornady loads. Out at 50 and 100 yards, the Fiocchi preformed slightly better than the Federal XM193, giving me tighter groups overall and point of impact was closer to point of aim. The Fiocchi did not do better than my own loads, but that is an unfair comparison as I’ve spent months developing and fine tuning my recipe for this rifle. At 50 yards I was shooting the Fiocchi in pretty consistent 1.5″ groups and that expanded about an inch at 100 yards. In the fifty rounds of Canned Heat shot, I experienced no malfunctions or hiccups of any type.

I’ve shot Fiocchi brand before, but never this line. Combining my experiences with them in the past and this experience with the Canned Heat, I am able to say that I believe the Canned Heat is a great choice for anything you’d normally use a Full Metal Jacket bullet for: target practice, plinking, training, etc.

FTC DISCLAIMER: I was contacted by Ammo.net to do this review. The product was shipped to me free of charge and no money has been exchanged in either direction regarding this transaction and blog post. 

My old blog, Eyes Never Closed has been archived here. From now on all blog posts and podcast show notes will be found here on the main site. There will be a few of my most recent posts on ENC cross posted here for further exposure.

If keep me bookmarked, please update your links to http://emptymags.com. Thanks!

Over the course of the next few days you will see some changes to this website. I am consolidating my separate blog and podcast pages into one.

Continue Reading

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:38 — 5.3MB)

Don’t cheer just yet, I ain’t quitting. Just reorganizing how and when I record the show.