Back in January, the wife and I met up with Uncle NRA in Long Beach to visit the range. By my request, my uncle brought along an assortment of semi-auto 9mm pistols for us to try out from Glock, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson and several other manufacturers I can’t recall. The idea was to determine which one would be the most suitable for us to use and buy.
After the trip, we felt more comfortable using a firearm. My wife still wasn’t keen on the discharge sounds from inside an indoor range. In the end, we decided on the Sig Sauer 226.
I had already looked around and knew the cost of a handgun before the election and noticed a huge spike in demand and cost following the election. I hear this has to do with the idea that Obama plans to further restrict handgun sales, which I have yet to see.
My uncle suggested a private sale would likely be cheaper and said he would keep an eye out for us. Until then, we could spend more time at tr range with him to get more comfortable.
This was a month before we found out we were pregnant. Obviously, there were no subsequent trips to the range for safety reasons and other priorities.
About 20 days ago, Uncle NRA told me about a Sig Sauer 226 that was for sale. He knew he owner, a former peace officer and current competition shooting teammate. After a week of debate, I met up with my uncle and the seller during a practice session at Mike Raahauge’s range in Norco, CA. It’s a bit of drive, but Mike’s is a nice and huge gun range on what looks to be a ranch. As long as you’re not driving a lowered vehicle, you’ll be fine. But note that the last 100 or yards are literally a rock covered road.
The weapon turned out to be a limited edition Sig Sauer P226 Blackwater Special Edition (not the tactical version), which came with lots of extras over anything I had seen in the stores thus far. And the price was even less; several hundred less. Here’s an example image of the exact model I’m talking about:
I opted to buy the Sig and we proceeded to nearby Annie’s Get Your Gun (1338 W. 6th St) in Corona to do the transfer paperwork. Following the required 10 day waiting and proper handling demonstration, I was able to pick up my Sig Sauer. Anne is a really nice and professional woman who helped with all of the paperwork. She even gave me a bottled water for my drive back to San Diego when I picked up my gun.
I’m a bit busy with baby, but plan on going to the range soon and taking some formal courses at a local range. My sister and several friends have already expressed interest in joining me.
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The wife has been on board with this since last year, but stressed that learning proper safety technique was a top priority.
To that end, CA requires a HSC, or Handgun Safety Certificate, for gun ownership. Although only one of us needed to have an HSC, I decided it would be good idea if we both took the HSC test to get comfortable with the concepts. We picked up a copy of the study guide from Turner’s Outdoorsman (also available as a free download) and took the test last Halloween. The questions are common sense, so of course we passed.
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