Happy Pseudo-Friday everyone. Whoever invented the "let's celebrate it always on Thursday so we get Friday off too" thing deserves a bloody medal.

We've got a fun weekend ahead full of...you guessed it...lots of shooting with my beloved lead dispensers. The Bersa, which heretofore has only had a brief testing period with some Sellier and Bellot FMJ (only 25 rounds), is going to get a fierce testing with the 250 rounds I've purchased since. I'm breaking it in! I've also got some hollowpoint .223 to test in my PLR-16. I think I've mentioned all this before...oh well. Some low recoil .38Spl Hydrashok to test out, too.

Let's babble about shotguns, shall we? I've heard it said that had it not been "grandfathered in" as a traditional hunting implement the shotgun would be outlawed as a destructive device. As a home defence weapon it is second to none, it seems. Look at a single shell of 3" 00 Buck. In each shell there are 15 copper-coated lead balls, each of .33 caliber...just minutely smaller than a 9mm round. It propels them at a muzzle velocity of around 1200 fps, faster than most 9mm loads. So, essentially, with each shell fired, it is essentially equivalent to emptying an entire high-capacity magazine from a 9mm pistol (such as a Beretta 92 or Glock 19). That is enormously powerful. If you assume a 9mm Luger shell has a bullet diameter of .354" and each Buck pellet has a diameter of .33"...each 9mm bullet makes a hole of 0.0984 square inches, and each pellet 0.0855 square inches...times 15...1.2825 square inches, which is about 13 times as much.

That said, a shotgun is not a precision implement. Not the sort of thing with which to defuse an in-home hostage situation (an area where a tactical carbine like the compact AR-15s would excel). But the sound of racking a shell into the chamber is universally known and feared, and hopefully would have an intruder retracing his steps and looking for an exit strategy, so as to keep his vital organs non-perforated and functioning properly.

Yes, it has been some time since I've gone shooting and I'm all geared up for it as you can tell.

Happy Thanksgiving all. Eat lots of cranberries, they are healthy and patriotic.