German Sport Guns, GSG-5, etc.: The expensive 22LR Plinker

No offense, but if you want a cool military looking rifle, the prices on CETMEs, AKs of all flavors, etc. are decreasing. I don't see the logic of a plinker that costs $400-$500. www.classicarms.us has the Draco AK pistol for $369.95. A real weapon at an affordable price.

The internet says good things about them.

If the GSG and it's ilk were cheaper, or you really used it for live fire exercises or something, sure, but not at those prices.

If you have one and love it, I respect that. I just think it's overpriced unless you are using it for training, perhaps and you have the real counterpart to the 22LR version.

Sigh...bad quotes and media disinformation again

I know, we've heard it all before. And my prayers and best wishes go out to the officers injured in this:

http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/jersey.city.shooting.2.1087890.html

But, on to the quotable quotes and disinformation:

"Pump-Action Automatic Shotgun Used Against Cops, 5 Wounded"

Well which was it? Pump or Auto? (I guess they mean SEMI-automatic) but you know the media. It's either a blunderbuss or a rotary cannon from an A-10.

"Jersey City looked more like a war zone early Thursday morning."

Wow, two people with small arms can make the whole town into a war zone. Either that's a really small town, or we need to send some of those weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan with our troops.

"It's a combat weapon. It's got a stock that's retractable. It had a strap on it where he had numerous shells on it. He was ready to battle," Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey said of Shakur.

And we always ask, how would a plain old pump shotgun be any different in lethality? If it was a pump? How did the stock make it more deadly? Was it really a combat weapon? Sooooo many types of firearms can and have been used in combat. But let's use that inflammatory language. It does sell papers and keep the website hits a' comin'.

"I don't know how many times a big city chief has to stand here and say we need help to stop these weapons from hitting the streets. This weapon is manufactured for no other reason than to hunt man," Comey said. "So we should stop being afraid of the NRA and start being afraid of our own rights."

Darn near 100% inflammatory rhetoric.

"Let's be afraid of our own rights"?

God help us if anyone ever really means that.

MPA930 Tidbits

In perusing the manual I found a couple of small pieces of information.

The manual shows a magazine loader, but none is included. $19.95 from MPA.

It mentions 9mm ammo, but nothing about +P or +P+ suitability. I emailed the company and they said they do not recommend +P or higher.

Partial review: Masterpiece Arms MPA930-SST-X

Just got one in yesterday, and it looks pretty good overall. Just under $500 shipped.

The flashlight and optics are both NcStar. Both appear to me to be of reasonable quality. Not great, but considering the price they're ok. The finish the safety extension for the barrel is a bit darker than the pistol. The extension and flashlight mount looks anodized, while the pistol is Parkerized.


A few not so awesome welds but they appear quite functionally fine:


Fit and finish seem pretty good overall. Mags click in and drop out positively and easily. An aftermarket paddle release is available.


The sight is the D4B model.

• 33mm lens
  
• 7 brightness settings
  
• 4 reticle patterns (1-crosshairs w/circle, 2-large circle around small dot, 3-small dot, 4-crosshairs w/small dot )
  
• Comes with a sight cover
  
• Extra battery

Flashlight is a nice mostly metal NcStar; I think it's the AQPTF. The body is anodized aluminum. A sturdy plastic or composite here and there. Hey, it's a light. Runs on a single CR123A lithium battery (3 volts, 1 diode for light) that mounts on a rail on the bottom of a ring retained by the trigger guard and safety extension.


40 (or 35 depending on who you ask) lumens, 1 watt. Quick release weaver mount, ambidextrous sliding switch to turn it on. The switch ends up right at trigger fingertip when you put your finger alongside the pistol body. If you're a lefty though, you'll have to use a different finger, as your trigger finger will turn the light off; not useful if you want it on.

I'm not sure you could use the bottom rail for much besides a flashlight as it can wiggle back and forth about 4mm. I guess a laser might be reasonably accurate at close ranges, but you could probably get a low profile laser on the top rail, mounted in front of the sight.

See the gaps above that let it move a little on the back end next to the guard.


It's a heavy sucker! 5 lbs unloaded with all accessories. Well, that will keep recoil low and the sights on target. And of course the bolt is huge, which will absorb a lot of the recoil.

You can buy MOST pieces of this separately from MPA. The pistol can be bought with the top rail mounted. And you could by the scope elsewhere too.

Lets price it out separately. Prices are from the MPA website.

MPA930SST-A Pistol, sidecocking. $499.95
Mini 9 Flashlight rail, flashlight, and Barrel Extension. $89.95
NcStar D4B. $40+ from various places, MPA doesn't sell it separately. If they did, it might be a bit more.

The MPA930-SST-X is $630.95 MSRP.

Strangely, the total price adds up to about what you'd pay for the package deal. I suppose you save a tiny bit, plus a little shipping.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

Next: Documentation included? And how about that warranty fine print?

Top 40 Reasons to Support Gun Control

From here an excerpt:

"2. Washington DC’s low murder rate of 80.6 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Arlington, VA’s high murder rate of 1.6 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control."

A funny and thought provoking read.

Summertime, and the ammo's here

Looks like some easing is on for the summer. I was in my local Academy store, and they actually had 9mm, 7.62x51 (!), and some other hard to find calibers in reasonable quantity. Now only if the Winchester white box NATO wasn't 90 cents a round...(!)

Gun Prices on the Way Down

Check out www.classicarms.us

That CETME for example has been marked down $100 since I bought one a month or so ago. DANGIT!

That's a good thing, personal 'loss' aside.