Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Safe Queens...

Safe queens. The guns that you own that just never seem to make the trip to the range. Now, I don't mean broken guns, or heirloom guns, or guns that are too valuable to shoot very often, or guns that take obscure ammo. I mean the guns that, through no fault of their own, just don't get out much.

Most of the time, at least in my experience, the reason for a safe queen is that there's a better alternative in the rotation. For example, the Harrington & Richardson Sportsman .22LR revolver. I've got two other .22LR revolvers (three if you count the NAA mini, but that's a safe queen in its own right) - a Colt Official police that's a good trainer for a .38 special, and the S&W model 17, which is my favorite .22LR handgun. The H&R just doesn't fit in; it's not as well-made as either the Colt or the Smith; the sights are even more rudimentary than the Colt's grooved topstrap; the only advantage is that, since the cylinder can be removed completely, it is easier to clean...

The NAA mini is another version of a safe queen. It takes .22LR ammo, so it's not that the mini is too expensive to shoot. It's only .22LR, so even the minuscule size of the gun doesn't provide terrible recoil. It's even so tiny that cleaning is a cinch. So why doesn't it make it out more often? Well, quite frankly, it's a single-action, five shot revolver with a 1 1/8" barrel that you need to remove the cylinder to load. It's just not a lot of fun to take to the range for a normal day shooting.

Now, where it does excel is as a novelty. It's a great gun to bring when folks are expecting/hoping for something interesting or out of the ordinary - it's not every day you get to fire a gun that's a third the size of your hand. The Snubbie from Hell™ falls into this category somewhat as well - folks want to shoot it out of a morbid curiosity to discover for themselves the unique level of agony that is setting off a 158 grain, 1300 FPS .357 Magnum round in a 3/4 pound handgun...

I've divested of most of my safe queens; the only ones left have some other intrinsic value like the 3" barrel Colt Detective Special or the aforementioned NAA mini. I had a Ruger Single Six that was an excellent little .22LR shooter; however, I got it the same time I found the S&W model 17 - and it just sat in the safe for range trip after range trip... Some guns, like the S&W model SW99 compact 9mm, have been replaced by other guns (the G30 in this case); there's little reason to bring a carry gun to the range if you no longer carry it.

So what are your safe queens? What are the guns you own that you don't shoot terribly often?

That is all.

14 comments:

doubletrouble said...

The lil' NAA should be a "pocket queen"...

Jay G said...

That just sounds... dirty... *g*

RW said...

I thought a safe queen was Andrew Sullivan, after he tested positive for HIV.

Ross said...

Well... My Ruger P90 turned into a safe queen after I got a 1911, so I sold it to Nickle's son in law. Currently, the only safe queen is my Ruger Mark I... since I have a Mark II. But I think I'll keep it just in case I need two .22 semis on one range trip - newbies, ya know.

Asphyxiated Emancipation said...

My Glock 21. It has a few things against it. the .45 ammo isn't cheap, and my Glock 22 fits my hand just a tiny bit better. So, the 21 gets safe duty most times.

Sigboy said...

Why did the linky no worky?
http://thesigboychronicles.blogspot.com/2009/03/marooned-safe-queens.html

Is having a safe queen like having a woman that's too pretty to take outside?

Dan said...

Browning .338 Win mag... too expensive to plink with, pointless to shoot on less than 300 meters and doesn't get used often enough to clean it from "memory". It is a special purpose firearm so it stays. ;)

And, a .22 mag NAA mini pretty much for the same reasons as Jay.

Jay G said...

Sigboy, you mean this link?

Looks like we have similar criteria for safe queen status.

What I've found, with the cost of ammo rising ever higher, is that I bring a .22 or two with me each range session to spread out the shootie goodness.

F'rinstance, I'll bring my Gold Cup and my Official Police .22 when I'm in a Colt mood (although soon it'll be the Colt with a Ciener conversion!) or the S&W models 17 and 19 if I'm in a S&W mood...

Alternately, I'll bring a .22 rifle for the pistol range and plink at orange clays on the berm for fun. Breaks things up, doesn't cost a lot, and still gets in shootie time...

Wally said...

Wow, thinking about this I'm a little bummed in having so many safe queens. Guess I need to shoot more ?

I have a few guns that haven't been shot, and a few that I am deliberately beating the snot out of, but as to guns that do get shot every couple of years -

Ishapore .308 Enfield - It's an Enfield in great shape and has no redeeming qualities other than this was my dad's all time favorite rifle.

Bersa M83 - single stack predecessor to the Thunder. Fine shooter, smoooth action, but the pistol is a little large for the caliber. Dad's carry gun for decades.

Iver Johnson .38SW pop-top. Underpowered, obscure, and delicate. My uncle used this pistol to fend off a mugging. Somewhere on Blue Hill Ave, there's a mugger who is trying to explain how he lost his pants.


Glock 31 & 23 (both early MA approved models )- havent shot them in years, but was saving for a special occasion. Like if I moved back to MA, I could be AG complaint when I shot myself in the head.

Jay G said...

Wally,

Actually, you could bring in a brand spankin' new G23 or G31 and be MA compliant (mags, OTOH, would not if they hold > 10 rounds and were made after 9/94).

Did you buy them in MA? If so, you can sell them to a MA resident if you're tired of them.

Hint...

;)

EmmaPeel said...

Jay,

You can see my list on my blog. I can't imagine selling a gun. I guess I have just been fortunate enough to love shooting nearly every gun we have. Not in my list are some nice antiques.

Wally said...

Jay,
While I could sell them into MA, the better question would be why are there gunowners left in MA ?

Atom Smasher said...

I have too many safe queens, but the ones I don't take even when I do get in a proper range rate are my Ruger GP100 and Walther P38. If I'm going to put .357/.38 down range I have more fun with my Blackhawk, and when I'm feeling 9mm-ish you can't pry my Steyr M9 out of my hands with a crowbar.

MauserMedic said...

Safe queens? That would be virtually all my guns, these days. And with ammo the way it is, I don't see it getting better any time soon.