Slow fishing and hunting seasons, but there is still time to spend at the shooting ranges

Andy Couch went into the coho salmon closures in some depth in his column this week. If you’re wondering, Fish and Game has closed coho sport fishing virtually everywhere in the valley because of extremely low coho return numbers – numbers so low that even making minimum broodstock escapement goals is very doubtful this year. Also, if you’re wondering, ADF&G commercial fisheries has already closed the Northern District set net fishery for the same reason.

Since salmon fishing is effectively done for the year, it’s time to turn to hunting and shooting. The hunting isn’t much better than salmon fishing for some species, but at least there’s still shooting to be done at the various ranges around the valley. The sheep and goat hunters are out and so are the caribou hunters. From what I’ve seen on social media and a limited number of sightings of caribou racks in vehicles returning from up north, at least a few folks are having success putting meat in the freezer.

But let’s talk about shooting. My latest acquisition is a pistol caliber carbine (PCC) made by Smith and Wesson (S&W). I’ve been interested in that type of firearm for some time and actually was hoping to find one in 10 mm auto caliber to go along with my 10 mm handgun. The PCCs in that caliber are relatively few. A friend had bought one version by a new manufacturer I had never heard of, and he was hoping the gun would work out for his purposes. It did not! The gun was plagued with feeding problems and the manufacturer failed to correct the problem when the gun was returned to them for repair.

Hearing that news, I began rethinking exactly what uses I wanted a PCC for. I realized that I was interested in recreational shooting, plinking, possibly small game hunting, and home defense which were all activities I thought would make a PCC useable. I also thought about the cost of ammunition and found that 9 mm parabellum ammo is about the cheapest and easiest to buy.

I started looking around and found a couple of guns which were designed to fold, making them easy to carry and stow in boats, trucks, and airplanes. That idea appealed to me. Keltec made a folding version, but the barrel folded over the top of the receiver making it difficult to mount an optic on the gun. I’m old enough to realize I would be putting a red dot sight on whatever I bought because of my aging eyesight. The Smith and Wesson firearm folded sideways, so there was no impediment to mounting an optic on the barrel.

I decided on the S&W model FPC (folding pistol carbine) in 9 mm and ordered it with my FFL license. When the gun arrived, I was impressed with the design and a little surprised at how small the carbine seemed to be. I started thinking about attachments I could use on the gun and developed a short list. The most obvious was the red dot sight and I lucked into a half-price sale on a Leupold red dot at a local sporting goods store. The sight came with a mount and, with its one-minute red dot size, was exactly what I was looking for. A set of scope caps completed the red dot set up.

Next, I got a birdcage flash hider and crush washer to go on the threaded muzzle. I already had a set of 45 degree offset “iron” sights to serve as backup to the red dot. I later added a set of detachable sling swivels and a nylon carry sling for those odd times when I might need or want to sling the PCC rather than carry it in my hands.

My next venture was finding inexpensive ammo to feed the plinking and recreational activities I had in mind. I found another sale at a local sporting goods dealer and stocked up on a few hundred rounds to get sighted in, to shoot while learning the gun’s functioning, and to break in its semi-auto action to assure smooth and reliable functioning. The good thing about the ammo is that it’s all name brand and the cases are reloadable, so if push comes to shove, I can keep shooting the PCC by reloading.

I suppose I should mention that my 9 mm handgun is an older model, all stainless-steel S&W which shoots well. Now I just have to get out and shoot the guns!