My initial impressions of the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space Limited Edition Rulebook

Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space Limited Edition Rulebook

I bought this RPG core book for less than the cover price on Amazon.  I saved about $15.  Now as for the book itself, it’s one of the better written and laid out RPGs I’ve ever read.  The layout is easy to read and the contents are well organized.  The table of contents is as standard in these books and the index is more useful than other RPGs I’ve played and run. 

The actual game itself is easy to learn and character creation is very easy and should be no problem for newbies to understand.  Making a character takes maybe ten minutes and if you already have a clear idea of who or what kind of character you want to play it should take less than that.  It did for me. 

This system being so simplified compared to other games may turn off veteran gamers with its simplicity.  I found it refreshing and having a new life. This is a sort of regeneration of RPG gaming. 

There are characters presented in the book for play and yes you can play as the Doctor and you have three choices of Doctor characters, Ten, Eleven and the War Doctor.  My first disappointment with the game is that the Ninth Doctor isn’t a pregenerated character.  There are a number of companions included so you can recreate favorite episodes with your outcome.  However not every companion of the included Doctors are presented.  Rose, Amy, Rory, Clara, K-9, Sarah Jane and few NPC original characters round out the rest of the cast for this book. 

My other complaint about the book is the anti-gun view of the author.  I understand that the Brits have a disdain for firearms but the author seems to feel that guns have a mind of their own and are inherently dangerous by themselves.  I may or may not buy other books from this series based on their political views.  

In general this is a good RPG and easy to run and set up.  I haven’t yet actually run a game but can easily conceive of a storyline to go with it.  I do recommend it for Whovian gamers and other sci-fi gamers.  I’d give it four out of five stars.  It loses one star for it’s political views.

The Rossi Ranch Hand "Mare's Leg."

Not the most practical pistol to own. I still love this gun mostly for the cool factor. This is the Rossi Ranch Hand in .45 Colt caliber. It's a 6 shot lever action pistol that has a distinct look and feel of the old west to it. It handles well but is a bit heavy after a while of shooting at the range. The lever action is pretty smooth but needs to be broken in. The sights are fixed with a range adjustment on the rear sight. The sights themselves are a bit hard to see and use and I find that the pistol shoots high and left and still need to contact Rossi about adjusting that problem.

As for home defense, it'll work for that. You can still use it at the close ranges for home defense by sighting down the barrel. Takes some practice but it can be done. The .45 colt round is more than enough to stop a home intruder. The 12 inch barrel insures the additional power doesn't go to waste. As for any real practical use for this pistol, I can't think of any. I bought it mostly for the cool factor and don't regret it. It definitely gets looks from other shooters at the range. It has the large loop for flip cocking but I don't recommend it for live rounds. I love it, it's fun to shoot. I'm sure others out there will find more practical uses for it. I do know of one fellow who uses it for hog hunting. I'd rather use a rifle for hunting, but everyone will find some justification for owning it.

I don't actually use it as one of my home defense guns as it's a bit awkward for me. My CZ P-07 is more suited for that task. I plan on using it for fun and show and maybe as a backpack gun for hiking and camping. I'm sure there are heavy enough rounds made for it to use effectively on bears. Not that I plan on shooting bears left and right, just in case type of situation is what I mean.

If you like the old west and want a memorable gun for shooting, the Rossi Ranch Hand is perfect for making impressions. Not so much for home defense as it's a bit large and awkward, for me at least. I'd give it four out of five stars for ratings. It loses the one star for the sight problems.

My impression of the GP WASR 10/63

Well about a year ago I saved up money for an assault rifle. I wanted something for an extreme case/worst case scenario for defense. I originally narrowed my selection to three types, the M-1 Carbine, the Ruger Mini-14 and the AK. I did a little research and rejected the M-1 Carbine due to the cost of the rifle and the cost of the ammunition and availability of ammunition. It wasn't the cheapest to shoot and I can't get the ammo at Walmart. I rejected the Ruger Mini-14 only because the price was too much for the rifle. I have a low income and need to find the best prices that I can with the best quality. I finally settled on the AK.

Now my version is the Romanian made WASR-10/63. I read the reviews for it and thought that this is the best rifle I can afford and the ammo is plentiful and cheap. I checked this rifle out before buying, checking for the things I read about that were quality control problems with the WASR-10. The WASR-10/63 is vastly improved over it's previous version. I couldn't wait to take it out and try it.

It shot well and reliably. I put three hundred rounds through it that first time and it worked every time and it had a pretty decent grouping at fifty feet. The only complaints I have with this rifle is that the pistol grip is uncomfortable. The original grip is a plastic stick that cramped my hand after a while. I replaced this with a Hogue pistol grip and it makes a world of difference. The comfort level is high and it fills my hand better. I also added a few other items to the rifle and turned it into a tactical rifle.

The WASR-10/63 holds a good grouping, it is easy to clean and maintain. The rifle came with an extra magazine and a bayonet. The bayonet isn't all that useful for me and needed a very thorough washing. The items you need to get to make this rifle complete is the front sight adjustment tool, which I picked up in Amazon and a small mallet for making fine delicate adjustments to the front sight. One more thing that you need is a sling with metal attachments. My original sling melted from the heat of the barrel as I layed it down on the ground. My sling rested on the barrel and the sling attachment next to the barrel heated up as much as the barrel so that when I picked my rifle up again the sling came apart.

This rifle is the best rifle I've shot and I can see this rifle being used by me for the rest of my life. I have no need or want for another assault rifle. The picture above was taken a few months after I bought and I added the red dot scope to it with a new receiver cover that had rail mounts on it. The picture below is my current version of it with a Tapco Galil type handguard and a collapsible stock and a new muzzle brake. It shoots well before and now the recoil is lessened not that recoil was bad before but now the muzzle lost a lot of that upward motion with this new muzzle brake.

In short, the GP WASR-10/63 is a good buy and a good quality rifle. It's also a lot of fun to shoot and it's completely customizable to fit your needs. I'd give this rifle 5 out of 5 stars.

My impressions of the Hi-Point JHP .45ACP

It's been a while but I'm back to blogging today. Today I shall share my thoughts about the Hi-Point JHP .45 ACP handgun. I bought this pistol back in June of 2011 and I've had a chance to put about 500 rounds of .45 through it so far. It's a plain simple handgun and there's not a whole lot of extra features on it. It comes with the most basic features and as few internal moving parts possible. I like that. It means there's a smaller chance of things breaking on it. It has a manual safety and a magazine release and a slide lock, which is the manual safety and that's all besides the trigger.

The JHP is a very decent and heavy pistol. It holds 9 rounds in the magazine and has a rear adjustable sight. The pistol comes with a trigger lock and additional rear ghost ring sight like the other Hi-Point I own. I took it out to the range the weekend I bought it and put 200 rounds through it and I've never fired a .45 that I loved this much. It didn't take very long to sight the pistol in. It's very accurate and the recoil is very light for a .45. It almost feels like shooting a 9mm with a light frame. The sight alignment is good and feels natural. The weight really helps hold the pistol steady. To me it is the best .45 ACP I've fired and I've fired the Colt 1911 match grade and government model, Llama's 1911, and the Glock 21. Out of those pistols I prefer the Hi-Point. It's just as accurate, it holds plenty of rounds, it easy to clean and it costs under $200. Not a bad buy if you're looking for a .45 for home defense, plinking, target shooting or competition.

The photo above is of the first target I shot with this pistol. The target was about 37 feet away, about half the distance of a 75 foot range, and as you can see you do get decent accuracy out of the JHP. The misses were my fault as I started to shoot faster. My only complaint with the pistol, which is a minor complaint at that, is that the grip is too smooth. I may add a grip sleeve to it like I did with the C-9. Other than that I've not had any problems with this pistol of any kind.

All in all, the HI-Point JHP .45 ACP get a five out of five star rating from me. Good gun for a good price.

My review of the Beretta U22 NEOS

The Beretta U22 NEOS is one of the nicest looking handguns I've ever held. It's a very ergonomic design and light. Mine has the 6 inch barrel and blued finish and has a very smooth trigger pull. With a 10 round magazine it will hold enough rounds for whatever target you're aiming at.

I found the recoil very light and the sights a little hard to see at the indoor pistol range. The rear sight is adjustable with a white outline around the notch. The front sight was the problem for me as it was a solid black. That made it hard for me to see the sight against a dark target. I fixed that problem by painting the front sight white so it's a higher visibility sight now. I can align my sights easier and actually hit the target.

I've no complaints about this pistol it's a very good target pistol and I myself need more practice with it and luckily since it's a .22 ammo isn't very expensive. It's not rated for magnum rounds and I paid around $230 for mine at a local gun show. It's smooth, light, comfortable pistol and well worth the price. I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars.

My impression of the Hi-Point C-9 9mm handgun.

At the beginning of the year 2011 I was determined to put my life in order and to start purchasing firearms. I've always been interested in shooting and have enjoyed the sport my whole life. I was saving up for a 9mm handgun and had my eye on the Ruger P95. Unfortunately life had other plans. I had a health scare and had to pay medical bills thereby wiping out what I saved for the Ruger.

I did a little online research and came across Hi-Point. I've never heard of them and had to question if they really made a 9mm handgun for under $200. They do. I read the online reviews and came to the conclusion that owners of the Hi-Point liked or loved them and the haters never even fired one. Well since there have been home invasions not to far from where I live I thought it be prudent to purchase it since it only cost me around $170 after taxes and a cleaning kit and other accessories.

First off I was a little surprised at the weight. It is a heavy pistol, especially for a compact. It weighs in at 29 ounces with a 3.5 inch barrel. It has heft. I liked that. The extra weight keeps recoil down and allows for faster sight realignment. The pistol is the C-9 and it comes with a trigger lock, an extra rear ghost ring sight, the instruction manual and a lifetime warranty and a single 8 round magazine. It has a three dot sight system and the rear sight is adjustable. A 10 round magazine is available for it as well. It's also +P rated. Not bad I thought.

I tried this pistol out at an indoor range and put about 100 rounds of Winchester FMJ target rounds through it. The pistol had failure to feed jams at least every once in every magazine, twice in one fully loaded magazine. It would sometimes strip the round off the magazine and the slide would slam that round vertically in the chamber. Not a good start. Well Hi-Point is aware of the FTF problem and tells it customers to bend the feed lips on the magazines. There is a diagram on a BBS to show you.

In the summer around June the pistol developed a problem with the firing pin not striking hard enough to set off the primer. I sent the pistol back to the company and got it back in about two weeks. After taking it out to the range last Saturday it worked flawlessly. I bent the magazine feed lips and this pistol works the way it supposed to.

The accuracy of the pistol itself is good. It's limited by the shooter and it's a compact pistol so don't expect great accuracy especially at longer ranges. I bought this pistol in Febuary of 2011 and it's now October and I've put over 1600 rounds through it. I like it but it's not great. This is really an instance of getting what you pay for. It'll do it's job and nothing more. I consider this pistol to be a good beginner's pistol or for someone on a budget. If you're willing to work on it to make it feed correctly then it is worth owning.

Hi-Point knows of the problems of the Failure To Feed and expects the customer to fix the magazines themselves and the fact that my particular pistol had FTF and misfire problems hold back it's true potential. The good thing is that it is cheap and it will work. It is durable and easy to clean and it is accurate. Their customer service is the greatest that I have worked with and the fact that they sent my pistol back with an extra magazine and rear sight and trigger lock is really nice. I'd have to give it 3 out of 5 stars.