FN509Fan
Ultimate Member
I bought my very first firearm in 1990 when the house my first wife and I were general contracting in a fairly isolated area in a far west Chicago suburb got burglarized shortly before we moved in. Illinois required we get a Firearm Owner's Identification Cards (FOID) from what I thought at the time was a highly restrictive state. As soon as my FOID arrived, I headed to the next gun show and bought a NIB Sig 226 for $600. The wife headed to a breeder and picked out a beautiful white German shepherd puppy who wound up weighing in at 125lbs fully grown. What started with the SIG turned into a 300 round a week shooting habit for me and the ex for several years and me getting into reloading with a Dillon Square Deal and picking up other shoot'n toys.
Fast forward to 2006, I moved to what my brother calls the People's Republic of Maryland (he's lived here for decades) where I met my 2nd wife who can't believe she hooked up with a guy with a NRA sticker in the back window of his pickup. She's fairly anti gun (and anti NRA) and as of this year, I hadn't been to the range in 15 years or more. With all the political turmoil of late, wife #2 expressed an interest in learning to handle a gun and be able to defend herself. During the COVID lockdown, I've been teaching her gun handling and safety with my trusty SIG 226, we've been reviewing gun safety videos on YouTube and I've been scoping out our next acquisition.
I learned about the HQL requirement, searched for the least expensive options to fulfil the requirements. Though I didn't really need to take the training as an exiting gun owner, I wanted to do the class together with my wife. I found MSAR offered a bare minimum class (no extra shooting or range time/training) for $30 in person or $40 via Skype. We opted for Skype followed by a trip to the MSAR range to fire a single shot from a S&W 38. Woo Hoo! Finally back on the range. I forgot how cold it can be at the range shooting in the winter time. We got fingerprinted by the Rockville PD for another $40 each, and you know the rest.
You can guess from my handle what our latest acquisition will be. The wife is kinda ambidextrous so I wanted a fully ambi gun for her to decide which she wants to use a her dominant hand and to "qualify" on and build up her muscle memory on. This will be our self defense gun. She's been dry firing with the SIG, but as soon as the 509 arrives, it will be the only gun she fires till she is real comfortable with it. I wanted to get her the 509 midsize, but it seems to be almost impossible to find and goes for more than MSRP when you do find it. I happened to wonder across an auction at GunBroker.com where a 509 Tactical had a starting bid of $500! I had to get in on that action, and while it didn't go cheap, it was well below the regular retail price.
I'd never done an FFL transfer before but the guys at United Gun Shop in Rockville turned out to be great to work with. A great price for the transfer ($40) and no charge for holding the gun till our HQLs arrive.
If the wife adapts well to the 509, I've told her that as soon as I spot a 509 Midsize at a great price, she'll be getting a new gun and we'll have his and hers 509's. I've never had a tricked out gun, I'll do the trigger and put a red dot sight on it and retire it from being a defense gun. Maybe add a compensator.
At work I sit in front of a computer for 10 hours a day, so I'm not up for spending much time on the computer at home. But I hope to utilize the forums to find the best places to go shoot, and maybe do some socializing once this COVID crisis is over. Back in Illinois, my ex and I were part of a small cadre that went shooting every Saturday and pizza afterwards. It would be great to find that again.
Fast forward to 2006, I moved to what my brother calls the People's Republic of Maryland (he's lived here for decades) where I met my 2nd wife who can't believe she hooked up with a guy with a NRA sticker in the back window of his pickup. She's fairly anti gun (and anti NRA) and as of this year, I hadn't been to the range in 15 years or more. With all the political turmoil of late, wife #2 expressed an interest in learning to handle a gun and be able to defend herself. During the COVID lockdown, I've been teaching her gun handling and safety with my trusty SIG 226, we've been reviewing gun safety videos on YouTube and I've been scoping out our next acquisition.
I learned about the HQL requirement, searched for the least expensive options to fulfil the requirements. Though I didn't really need to take the training as an exiting gun owner, I wanted to do the class together with my wife. I found MSAR offered a bare minimum class (no extra shooting or range time/training) for $30 in person or $40 via Skype. We opted for Skype followed by a trip to the MSAR range to fire a single shot from a S&W 38. Woo Hoo! Finally back on the range. I forgot how cold it can be at the range shooting in the winter time. We got fingerprinted by the Rockville PD for another $40 each, and you know the rest.
You can guess from my handle what our latest acquisition will be. The wife is kinda ambidextrous so I wanted a fully ambi gun for her to decide which she wants to use a her dominant hand and to "qualify" on and build up her muscle memory on. This will be our self defense gun. She's been dry firing with the SIG, but as soon as the 509 arrives, it will be the only gun she fires till she is real comfortable with it. I wanted to get her the 509 midsize, but it seems to be almost impossible to find and goes for more than MSRP when you do find it. I happened to wonder across an auction at GunBroker.com where a 509 Tactical had a starting bid of $500! I had to get in on that action, and while it didn't go cheap, it was well below the regular retail price.
I'd never done an FFL transfer before but the guys at United Gun Shop in Rockville turned out to be great to work with. A great price for the transfer ($40) and no charge for holding the gun till our HQLs arrive.
If the wife adapts well to the 509, I've told her that as soon as I spot a 509 Midsize at a great price, she'll be getting a new gun and we'll have his and hers 509's. I've never had a tricked out gun, I'll do the trigger and put a red dot sight on it and retire it from being a defense gun. Maybe add a compensator.
At work I sit in front of a computer for 10 hours a day, so I'm not up for spending much time on the computer at home. But I hope to utilize the forums to find the best places to go shoot, and maybe do some socializing once this COVID crisis is over. Back in Illinois, my ex and I were part of a small cadre that went shooting every Saturday and pizza afterwards. It would be great to find that again.