V2 Cigarettes - Smoking Nirvana? Not so fast, my friend.

A few months back, I ordered an e-cigarette from V2. The V2 cigarette is supposed to be a premium brand of e-cig. On their website, you're bombarded with phrases like, "America's Best Brand of E-Cigarette", "The Thickest Vapor in the Business", and "The Difference is In Our Vapor".

I was very impressed with it at first. I got the basic kit. In that, you get a battery, USB charger, wall charger, and ten cartridges of your choice.

I ordered "Red", which was supposed to approximate the taste of Marlboro, and "Coffee" which is self explanatory. I also ordered "Vanilla" later on.

The performance of the V2 is top notch. True to the hype on the website, it produces a lot of thick vapor, which makes it feel a lot like smoking. The battery lasts about 24 hours or so, and charges pretty quickly. Even when it is totally dead, a few minutes charging gets you a few puffs, so you don't have to wait until it is completely charged in order to get enough drags to get you by.

The flavors are very good. The Red, although it doesn't taste like a real cigarette, is not objectionable. The Vanilla and Coffee are positively delicious.

A pack of 5 cartridges, with shipping, is around $18. Since a cartridge is supposed to be equivalent to a pack, that would roughly equate to $3.60 a pack. Cheaper, in many places, than real cigarettes, but not here. I can get real cigs for $3.50 or so locally.

So far, so good, but the cigarette itself costs over $60 just to get started. The overall cost of each puff diminishes the longer you have it, but if you already start higher than a pack of cigarettes, it won't be any more cost effective than regular smoking.

Fair enough. Most people buy this as a "safer" alternative to cigarettes, and there is evidence that suggests that it is. So, most won't mind the extra expense.

V2 also allows you to get free cartridges for "pimping" their product...you get an order number with your first order, and you can give that out to friends, who may use it as a coupon code. Each time it is used, you get a free pack of cartridges, and your friends get a 15% discount off the price of a starter kit.

So, the cigarette itself is a well-made, quality piece. And the cartridges themselves are tasty and satisfying, and with a little work, you can get them for free. So, what's the problem?

There are actually two problems. One, quality control. Two, customer service.

Let me just say, I never expect a company to be perfect. I know that all kinds of things can happen during production of a product, and that's understood. It's how the company handles it that makes all the difference, and I was kinda surprised at V2, while trying to pass their product off as a "premium" brand, fell short in a couple of ways.

First, I ordered some "clearance" items, namely, coffee flavored cartridges that were heavily discounted. The product description said that were fine, except that the center electrode might need tweaking to work correctly. Being a handy individual, I didn't think it would be too hard to fix and I ordered some for the discounted price.

When I got them, the electrodes worked perfectly. The problem was, they were absolutely the worst tasting e-cig cartridges I'd ever had. They tasted sour and stale.

I chatted with a company rep, who informed me there were positively NO refunds or exchanges on clearance merchandise, even if problems arose that weren't listed in the description. I pushed a little. They pushed back. No refund or credit.

Let me be clear. If I'd gotten these and the center electrode had been impossible to fix, I'd have never asked for a refund. But not ONE of the clearance cartridges had ANY electrode problems. All had the same unpleasant taste, rendering them unusable. And the company wouldn't stand behind them! Which makes me wonder if there was an electrode problem to begin with. Let's face it, you wouldn't post these as a clearance item and then say, "Stale and sour tasting". Who would buy it?

So, lesson learned. Don't buy the clearance items. The next problem was a little more unavoidable.

The USB charger, which came with the original kit, began to fail. The insulation pulled away from the boot where it went into the USB plug, leaving an exposed red and black wire. An intermittent short meant the charger had to be in exactly the right position to function correctly.

No problem. The charger was under warranty, so I figured I'd have them send me a new one. Got online with the chat person and a new one was on the way the next day. Problem was, they wanted me to pay return shipping for the old one.

Not fair, since it wasn't my defect that caused me to return it. But, they did send me a bubble mailer (without postage, of course) pre-addressed to them that I could put the old charger in and send it back.

The new charger quit working within a week. Two chargers failed. What are the chances?

Had I sent the old one off before the new one quit working, not only would I have been totally unable to charge my e-cig, and I'd have had to pay return postage on two separate chargers. As it is, I might be able to combine postage and get both of them back for one price, since I didn't mail the old one out immediately. I'm still nursing it along.

I talked to that representative and ordered a new charger on or around the first week in November. It didn't arrive at my house until November 14.

As you can tell, the charger fiasco is a headache. I figured since I'd been through the wringer twice, and I was going to have to pay to get it fixed, that V2 would be nice enough to comp me a 5 pack of cartridges. I mentioned this to the CSR I spoke with, and they would not. I even got a little pushy about it, telling them how many of my friends that I recommended this to, and how I was a loyal customer, etc. No dice.

Surprising, especially since they hand out cartridges left and right for people who pimp their product. Now, when they screw up, they're unwilling to go that extra mile to make it right.

I'm reminded of another company that I've dealt with on this blog...Hi-Point. If you have a problem with one of their products, not only will they fix it for free, they'll send you an extra mag as a way of repaying you for your trouble. As a result, even though I don't like all of their products, I do recommend their better stuff to my friends. Part of that recommendation is assuring them that excellent customer service is behind everything they make.

It is asking a lot in this day and age to expect a customer to pony up extra money to continue using your product without getting something directly in return. This isn't eBay after all. Maybe it would be better if it was...I ordered a keyboard from my laptop from eBay a while back. It was defective, and the seller just sent me a new one, no questions asked, and didn't require that I send the old one back. In other words, I got a replacement product with NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES. That cost a lot more than a 5 pack of cartridges, too. If eBay sellers can do it, why not V2?. If V2 has the money to give away cartridges hand over fist for pimping their product, they certainly have the money to make things right with their customers when their products fail on multiple occasions.

I never understood this philosophy. V2 could have had a happy customer for a few bucks out of their own pocket. I could be here blogging about how great their products are AND how generous their customer service is. But, it appears that they are hell bent on sacrificing their own reputation to keep every last penny in their pocket. Is this the kind of business you want to deal with? I'm not so sure I do. I'm just left with a bad taste in my mouth, no pun intended. In fact, I'm trying another brand of eCig that I purchased locally. While not as high quality as the V2, the charger has been flawless, and at half the price, I don't care so much if something goes wrong with it.

V2 has forgotten that one of the tenets of capitalism is that consumers can make choices.

UBUNTU - PLEASE DITCH THE UNUSABLE MONSTROSITY CALLED "UNITY".

I've spent the morning just trying to get Unity to work. It's horrible. I can't understand any of it.

The whole point in a UI is that a person should be able to just sit down, and within a few minutes, figure it out. You simply cannot do this with Unity.

I just can't understand why the folks at Canonical would want to kill their disto like this. It is truly horrible to the point of being unusable.

I tried to do one simple tweak of moving the window buttons from the left to the right. It didn't work. Now, half the time the buttons are on the left, half of the time they are on the right. WHY?

With an old download of Ubuntu and the Gnome desktop, I could make my UI look EXACTLY the way I wanted it to. I could make it work for me. No longer the case.

I will never understand how taking away or hiding options is better for a user. Makes no sense at all. Now, I'm crippled.

The bad part is, I used to be able to just choose to use the classic Gnome interface. No more. Gnome isn't even available.

Horrible. I'm convinced the people at Canonical are just stupid. They HAD the best Linux distro on the planet. No more.

Unity sucks. A lot. And, they're trying to force it on me. Forget that. I'm going elsewhere, and I'm recommending everyone else do so as well.

Kel-Tec P32 Review - Mousegun Mirth!

.32 Auto Keychain

Words cannot describe how happy I am so far with this gun.

Yeah, it's that good. And it is so good because it is so surprising.

It is not surprising because of it's superior Browning design (I don't know of another tilt-barrel pistol of this size), because it shoots a decently powerful .32 cartridge and yet manages recoil very well, because it is less than 7 ounces, five inches long, and less than an inch thick, and practically disappears in a pants pocket. It is not even good because it is reliable and acccurate.

It is surprising because it manages ALL of these tricks at once. This is a gun you can carry when you don't want to carry a gun. Stick it in your pocket, and it disappears, not to be thought of until you need it, or you get home and empty your pockets.

Now, there are people who look down their noses at the .32 auto. I agree. Although I regularly carry a 9mm, I sometimes feel that isn't enough gun. And, it a perfect world, I wouldn't consider anything less than a .40.

But, every one of those other guns has serious drawbacks to carrying. My full size 9mm, the Bersa Thunder, can be carried in an inside the pants holster, but the handle often prints through whatever shirt I wear over it. Plus, after a few hours, it tends to become uncomfortable.

I also have a Kel Tec P40, which I carry in a separate waist pouch. The waist pouch works great, but you have to deal with the extra bulk of carrying something "outside" your body. Also, access isn't great, because you still have to unzip it to draw your weapon.

But, when you shove the P32 in your pocket, it is as accessible as anything else in your pocket. And, no one will ever know you are carrying it.

It beats going unarmed, and that's the point. As a friend said, it beats throwing rocks.

Or, as I like to say, I don't know of a gun with which anyone would like to be shot. Any gun is better than no gun.

But, that's not to say that this is a bad gun.

The Kel-Tec is surprisingly accurate and smooth. I could punch holes in a tin can with reasonable regularity out to 10 yards, which is all one can expect for such a weapon. It cycled reliably with everything I fed it, except for some old, old rounds that actually had corrosion on the outside of the cases. On one, it struck the primer but the round didn't go off...not the gun's fault. On another, the last round wasn't powerful enough to push the slide back far enough to lock. Other than those (obviously ammunition related) minor issues, there was not a single problem.

Despite it's ultra light weight, the Kel-Tec was comfortable to shoot. I had initially avoided getting one of these for my wife because of reports that the recoil was stiff. I went with an AP-MBP .32 for her instead. But it seems to me that the Kel-Tec doesn't really recoil any more severely than that gun, despite being half its size. She could shoot it easily, and she had no problem racking the slide. She liked the way the Kel-Tec felt in her hand, and of course, it's "cute". She might end up taking it from me.

Guys...if you have a significant other who can shoot any handgun above a .22, rest assured that the Kel-Tec will be no problem for her.

Conclusion: The Kel-Tec will probably start going with me everywhere. I might carry it by itself, or as a back-up-gun, but it is so light and convenient, there is no reason NOT to carry it around with me everywhere. What is surprising from something this small and inexpensive ($249 at the local sporting goods store) is that the Kel-Tec is a real gun...not just a novelty that doesn't deliver on its promise.

Why I Am Beginning To Hate Dish Network...

During the past week, we had some severe winds. My satellite dish got knocked out of alignment, so I went online to request a service call.

As I was on the Dish Network site, I figured I might as well browse around to see if I wanted to change my service.

I have the 250 channel Gold package, and thought about downgrading to the $10 cheaper Silver package. But, as I started pricing the different packages, that they obviously don't want you to know what you will be paying for satellite service! Look at this:

Here's the price of the Silver package as displayed on Dish's front page:



And, once you log in, the price changes:



I understand the idea of luring in customers with reduced rates, but then, you go to the page where you add or remove services, and you see this:



Why the difference? And, perhaps the best part...my invoice:



One company, four different prices for the same service. Dish Network has NEVER been able to adequately explain to me how their billing is set up. I suspect that they don't know either. If they did, they might actually have to explain options that would save their customers money. And we can't have that...

The $5 Camera...Mamiya 1000 TL

I learned photography on an old Praktica LTL that was my dad's. He used it the whole time I was growing up to take pictures of my family, our vacations and everything else. The old M42 screw mount body was built like a tank and took great pictures, and it's humble origins in communist East Germany ensured that the price was right. It was the perfect camera for a college kid wanting to learn how to take good pictures, and I used it to great effectiveness back in the early 90's.

Alas, the old Praktica doesn't work so well anymore. The mirror is really dim, the film advance doesn't seem to work correctly, and the focus ring on the old 50mm Pentacon lens is so stiff as to be unusable. I retired it several years ago, after it shot a roll of film and left huge gaps in between the pictures, meaning I got several shots that were halves of two other shots! Disappointing, but the Praktica had more than done it's duty. I still have it, and will never get rid of it, but it is retired for good.

So, during a recent vacation to the Outer Banks, you can imagine my great joy when I found an old camera bag in a thrift store, tucked into the back corner of the room. I opened it to find this:



I wasn't familiar with the 1000 TL, but I was familiar with Mamiya. Before digital, I can remember salivating at their medium format stuff. At $5, the 1000 TL didn't even warrant testing. I figured if it didn't work, I could put it on eBay as a parts camera and at least make my money back.

I began looking around in the bag, which looked to be mid sixties vintage (the 1000 TL was made from the late 60's through early 70's). There were several vintage Hoya filters, a lens hood, a bayonet mount converter (to what, I have no idea), and a Soligor 135mm f/2.8 lens. Hoo boy. Jackpot.

But, when I got it out of the store, I discovered that the light meter actually worked. The shutter snapped crisply, and everything seemed to be in order. Best part was, it was an M42 mount, just like my old Praktica, so all my old lenses and teleconverter would work.

By today's standards, nothing in this kit is impressive, but back in the day, this was a solid piece of photographic equipment. It has shutter speeds from 1/1000 all the way down to 1 sec, plus B. I already have a shutter trip cable that can lock open the shutter for any amount of time I want. It has a self timer which will trip the shutter after about 10 seconds. It doesn't have a hotshoe, which is perhaps the only thing lacking that I really could have used, but since I don't plan on shooting indoors much with this camera, it's not really a problem.

It looks very clean inside and out, although, as is common with cameras this age, the light seals look cruddy. I've already ordered some black string and light seal foam to completely redo the whole thing. Nevertheless, I have a roll of Superia Xtra 400 in it right now, just to see if this thing works or not.

Regardless of how it turns out, I'm pretty happy to have found this. If it works well, it will be all that much better.

Hi Point C9 Review...A Lot of Time and Effort, Very Little in the Way of Results.

I had rotten luck with the Hi Point C9. That might make some mad. Heck, it makes ME mad! But, the truth is the truth.

I tried to like the C9, which is Hi Point's 9mm pistol. I really did try to like it. I bought an extra mag for it to try to make it work better, but it jammed. I sent it back to Hi Point to see if they could get it to work. They did some work on it, declared it cured, and shipped it back. It still jammed. I took it apart and polished the feed ramp, adjusted the mag lips, replaced the magazines, replaced springs, etc. It went from jamming to the last-round-hold-open (LRHO) activating before the mag was empty.

And, it was a crying shame, because the little C9 is about as accurate a 9mm pistol as you'd ever want. It was so easy to put round after round into the same hole (or nearly so) time after time. On the impromptu target you see above, the two shots on the right are the "sighting in" shots. I gave the rear sight a couple clicks to the left then proceeded to shoot the rest of the rounds that hit in the middle. Nice.

But, I had to quit kidding myself. All the tweaking, all the work, all the parts changes just didn't seem to make a difference in this little gun. And as much as I hate to say it, and as much as I want it to work, it is getting to the point where I'm putting a lot of time and effort into this gun and not getting much in return.

Before you start saying that I'm being unfair, keep in mind that I have had this gun for almost a year, and I've really stuck with it. Before you accuse me of being a snob against cheap guns, remember that I bought my wife an AP-MBP .32 for just over $130 with tax, and it is a fine weapon. Before you accuse me of being an anti Hi Point bigot, please find my post where I review the JHP .45 and sing its praises. Also, understand that I have a 995 Carbine in my stable. It is tricked out with an ATI stock and dual mag holders. It is one of my favorites, and rides in a shorty case along with my pistol grip Mossberg (I call that my "riotpak").

And yes, I've seen this:



And believe me, if my C9 performed like that, I'd never think of getting rid of it.

Maybe next weekend I'll give it one more shot. They say that the C9 is very sensitive to how you grip it. I don't think this has anything to do with the slide locking open, but you never know.

Depending on what happens, I might just have a gun for sale next week.

Bersa Thunder 9mm HC Pro Review (and comparision with the Ruger P89).

After a lot of effort, I finally got it! Surprising how difficult it is to find one of these things, but after much perusing of on-line gun classifieds, I finally snagged this one from GunsAmerica. As I review this gun, I'm also going to make some comparisons to the 9mm that used to be my main auto, the Ruger P89.

First, a little background. Both of the pistols have roots in military or law enforcement service, as well as origins with legendary firearms manufacturers. The Bersa is the service pistol of the Argentinian National Gendarmerie (police force), and while Bersa might not be a name with a pedigree, the Thunder 9 is based on the Walther P88 design, and the manufacturing seems to be solid. The Ruger's reputation comes simply from being a Ruger. They have been known for making tough, reliable firearms with anvil like durability. And most people DON'T know that the Ruger P85 (an early version of the P89) was a principal competitor when the military was looking for a replacement for the venerable 1911. It was actually created to fulfill that contract, so it was designed from the ground up for rough treatment and problem free operation. Although I'm pleased with the Bersa, I haven't owned one for ten years as I did the P89, so I can't speak to long term reliability. The P89 never failed me once during that time...not one mis-feed, jam, or breakage of any kind, even after thousands of rounds. That says a lot.

The bottom line? The pistol was $339, and was purchased from Roberston Trading Post out of Tennessee. These people are friendly, helpful, and made the whole thing easy. Plus, they had the best price around on the gun, they shipped for only $15, and didn't charge me a percentage fee for using a credit card. They are a class act all the way, and I highly recommend them.

My own FFL charged me only $10 to do the transfer, for a total price of around $365. You can get P89's in this price range, so as far as that goes, it's a toss up.

Both the Bersa and the Ruger are inexpensive for what they are: high quality 9mm pistols. The Ruger's quality is legendary, but is the Thunder 9 a good value for the price?

So far, it seems that way. The Bersa is impressive. I've only put around 100 rounds through it (and they go fast, through the Bersa's two 17 round mags that are included with the pistol). I shot a mixture of hollow point and ball ammunition of 3 different brands and I'm happy to report that the Bersa gobbled everything down without issue and was quite accurate. They say that the accuracy of these guns improves even more as you shoot them, but this gun is pretty good already.

I did three tests at 10, 15, and 20 yards, using targets on standard 8.5 x 11" paper. I didn't have a single round off the paper. Correlate that to a bad guy, and you're talking about a small space in which most of the vital organs reside. Obviously, the closer I was, the better. At 10 yards, it was not difficult to get 2" groups consistently. I feel that my own ability (or lack thereof) was keeping me from achieving even tighter groups, although I felt my accuracy improved as I shot through the hundred rounds.

The second test I did was to tack up two targets, both 8.5 x 11" about five feet apart. I then started 10 yards out, with my back to the targets. I turned, pushed the safety off, acquired the first target as quickly as possible, 2 shots, then acquired the second and 2 more shots.

This is something I don't practice nearly enough, but even after a short time with the Bersa I was getting rounds on paper with consistency. Follow up shots came quickly and it was easy to pull the Bersa back on target and deliver follow up shots.

Am I more accurate with the Thunder than the P89? Not necessarily. The issue that makes the Bersa so much sweeter is the trigger. The P89 is "stagey", with a long pull, even in single action. You pull the trigger back to what feels like a stop, then you have to take up even more trigger. You then get a fair amount of creep before the gun discharges. In contrast, the Bersa has no staging...just a little creep, then it fires. The P89 can shoot accurately, but the trigger makes you work at it.

After a hundred rounds, I didn't notice any fatigue or pain from recoil with the Bersa. The gun shoots smoothly and comfortably. At first, I was wary of the hard plastic grips, but I found them easy to hold and very form fitting and "meaty" for my large hands. I would like a rubber grip option, something other than a Hogue slip-on, but it is not a pressing issue. The Bersa grips are fine.

Of course, the P89 grips are thin. I had a set of Hogue wraparounds that helped that a bunch, but the factory Ruger grips weren't nearly as comfortable to me. Also, it seems to me that the longer and more upright grip angle of the Bersa fits my style of shooting much better.

The Bersa has several options on it that make it a great value for the money. The "round chambered" indicator is nice, although I'd rather it be on the side than on top. I guess the idea is to make it easy to see when you are aiming, because it will be right where you are looking. But, if it were either on the left or the right, it would be simple to FEEL it, eliminating the need to look altogether. But, that's nitpicking, considering the P89 had NO round chambered indicator.

It also has polygonal rifling like the CZ82, which may not be an advantage from an accuracy standpoint, but will probably last longer than a barrel with traditional rifling. Also, the firing pin is reinforced to allow dry firing practice. I don't know how safe it is to do that, but I've heard in more than one place that the reinforcement was done for that purpose. I dry fired it a couple of times without any ill effects, but it is not something I'd want to do day in and day out.

Furthermore, the Bersa has an integral front rail and Glock style "dot U" sights. They are far easier to see than the Ruger's traditional dot sights. I'd like to have a laser at some point, but I think it would make holstering a challenge. And, shooting the Bersa is easy enough that it is really not necessary.

Needless to say, the Ruger has traditional rifling, regular 3 dot sights, and no integral rail. To be fair, the Ruger design dates back to 1985, and other Ruger pistols have been updated with the features found on the Bersa, so we're kind of comparing apples and oranges, but there are still a lot of P89's out there for sale in this price range, which makes these guns compete with one another in the market.

Take-down is not difficult for either pistol, but the Bersa makes it so simple that a child could do it. You simply eject the mag and flip a lever down. The slide comes right off. Pull the guide rod and spring out, push the barrel forward and down, and you've just field stripped the pistol.

The Ruger requires you to lock the slide back and push the ejector down so that the slide can come forward. Then, holding the gun in your right hand as if you were shooting, place your index finger on the take-down pin. While holding a little bit of back pressure on the slide, push the take-down pin through slightly. With your left hand, grab the other side of the take-down pin (which doubles as the slide lock) and pull straight out. The pin won't come out, but it will move far enough out of the way to let the slide come forward. Then, just like on the Bersa, pull the guide rod and spring out, push the barrel forward and down, and you're finished.

Basically, you need only complete these steps in reverse to reassemble, but on both pistols, it takes a bit of fiddling to get the slide lined back up so that the take-down lever or pin re-engages. Neither is difficult, but the Bersa is brain-dead simple.

There is a world of difference in the finish between the two pistols. The P89 has a durable finish that can withstand a lot of abuse. I've dropped it, scraped it, bumped it, and so on. I forgot and left it in my truck for 2 weeks and found it coated with a light dusting of rust over the blued slide. A little steel wool and gun oil fixed it up good as new, showing no discernible damage. Of course, the frame was powder-coated or some other such tough finish and never had any scratches or thin spots.

Like the Ruger, the Bersa's frame is finished just fine. Unlike the Ruger, the slide is a disaster. I've heard this is not uncommon for the matte versions, which is why I originally wanted a nickel finish, but they were impossible to find, so I settled. I almost wish I hadn't. The finish itself is uneven and splotchy. It looks as if it ALWAYS has an uneven coating of oil on it, because some areas had a sheen and were almost glossy, while others were truly matte looking and dull. I personally don't care whether or not it is glossy or flat, but Bersa needs to pick only ONE! It is a shame, because this horrible finish almost ruins an otherwise handsome looking gun.

And this led to my first mistake. I thought I could "fix" the finish by lightly sanding and steel-wooling the shiny areas to make them blend in a bit better. All I did was make the finish thinner and thinner, until I rubbed down to steel in one spot. So, I thought, maybe I'll just strip the sides of the slide and cold blue them for now, and then later maybe I could have it Duracoated or Parkerized. I rubbed the sides of the slide down with 1500 grit sandpaper and then ran my Dremel over the sides with polishing compound. After cleaning with denatured alcohol, I tried to apply bluing. Nothing happened. Re-cleaned it and tried it again. And again, nothing happened.

Finally, I gave up and left the sides unfinished. It actually looks nice, as if the manufacturer intended for it to be that way (you can see it in the picture above). And after two weeks of carrying it that way, directly against my skin, I've detected no rust whatsoever.

At some point, I might follow through with my original plan to get the slide refinished, but if the metal is as corrosion resistant as it seems, then I won't worry about it any time soon. It is a shame, however, that this gun is hamstrung like this. I shouldn't have to worry about it at all!

But then, some would say that maybe I'm expecting too much for a mid $300's gun. Maybe I am, but putting a nice finish on this gun would elevate it from good to great, in my opinion.

That's really my only complaint.

Bersa warrants their pistol for life for the original owner. I've heard their service is very good. I've also heard that Ruger's is as well, but I don't know the terms of their warranty.

My recommendation? As far as I can tell now, you can't really go wrong with either pistol. But the fact is, the Bersa seems like a much more full-featured pistol for the money, especially if you have the extra scratch for the nickel finish or a buddy who's crafty with Duracoating. But, that's an extra step that you don't have with the Ruger. Plus, the Ruger is a known quantity. You know it will never fail you, because it is built like a tank.

I will give more info on the Bersa's reliability as time goes on. If it is as good as the Ruger's, then the choice is a no-brainer.