CCW Qualification Prep, Modifying Carry Guns & May 30 Auction WWII Preview

Estimated reading time: 4 min

CCW Qualification Prep: Six Guns, One Range Session

[01:00]

With a CCW renewal session coming up the next morning with Bill Murphy at Firearms Training Associates, one of the hosts decided to dust off the permit guns beforehand. Riverside County allows six firearms on a CCW permit, so six guns went to West End Gun Club for a range session. The honest admission: some of those pistols had not seen daylight in two years. Carrying one or two guns day to day means the rest of the permit guns can go a long time between range visits, and that is not a good situation to discover the morning of a qualification.

The range setup was three bays on the upper tier past the shotgun area at West End Gun Club, with target distances of 15, 30, and 45 feet. At 15 feet the results were immediate. At 45 feet there was a moment of recalibration when the Kimber KS6 started printing low, requiring a hold adjustment to the top of the target to center shots on the 12-inch square. The qualification standard, at least as it stood at the last renewal, required 15 hits out of 18 rounds on a full silhouette target. Running a tighter 12-inch square at all three distances is a more demanding self-imposed standard, and a sensible way to show up to a renewal ready rather than barely adequate.

Should You Modify Your Carry Gun’s Sights?

[03:18]

The low point-of-impact on the Kimber at distance raised a natural question: why not just swap the front sight for a taller fiber optic? The answer comes down to legal exposure in a self-defense shooting. A modified carry gun gives a prosecuting attorney a straightforward argument that the owner deliberately altered a factory firearm to make it easier to shoot someone. Whether or not that argument is technically sound, it is an argument you hand to the other side voluntarily. The general guidance offered was to leave carry guns stock, know the gun’s point-of-impact characteristics at defensive distances, and make any necessary hold adjustments through practice rather than gunsmithing.

The practical reality supports this too. Most defensive gun uses happen well inside 45 feet, where a low-shooting front sight is not a meaningful factor. Knowing that your gun shoots a few inches low at distance and compensating for it costs nothing and creates no paper trail.

May 30 Auction: WWII Snipers, Colts, and Rare Milsurp

[05:10]

The May 30 sale at Gunslinger Auctions is tracking toward 800 lots and the crew is already struggling to decide what goes on the flyer. The straightforward answer they landed on: link to the whole catalog, because almost every lot is worth highlighting. The catalog goes live in approximately one month. Online bidding will be available through HiBid and Proxibid, and the physical lots will be on display at the Orange shop before the sale date for anyone who wants to see them firsthand.

WWII Sniper Rifles

The anchor of the military surplus section is a collection of WWII-era sniper rifles from the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, and Russia. Among the German offerings are Gewehr 41 and Gewehr 43 semi-automatic rifles, both rare and highly sought by serious WWII collectors. The British entry is described as a boxed example in original configuration, which for a sniper variant in that condition is an exceptional find. Any one of these would be a standout lot at most sales. Having examples from five different nations in the same auction is unusual.

Colts: 1902 Through Early 1911s

Colt semi-automatic pistols are well represented across a wide date range, from 1902 model automatics through early production 1911s and .38 Super variants. Colt Aces are also in the mix. The previous auction saw a Coast Guard-stamped Colt Ace hammer for approximately $14,000, and this sale includes multiple examples. Early Colts in collector-grade condition consistently attract strong bidding, and a sale with this concentration of pre-war and wartime production Colts is worth clearing your calendar for.

Soviet SVT-40 and Other Milsurp

The Tokarev SVT-40 is a semi-automatic rifle chambered in 7.62x54R that the Soviet Union fielded during WWII as part of its push toward self-loading infantry rifles. It is an ungainly firearm by any modern measure, long and awkward with a distinctive recoil impulse, but it is a legitimate piece of history and an increasingly collectible one. For WWII collectors it is a legitimate artifact of Soviet small arms development during the conflict, and the contrast with a contemporary M1 Garand tells you a great deal about where the two programs were in the early 1940s.

Rounding out the catalog are Winchester Model 1873 and Model 1886 lever-action rifles in the antique section, along with additional WWII and general military surplus lots still being cataloged. Anyone who has been waiting to see what this sale holds can visit the Orange location now. The full catalog online goes live in about a month, with in-person and online bidding running simultaneously on May 30.