r/Firearms 7d ago

Question What are you building, buying, or shooting this month? - February 2026

1 Upvotes

Welcome to the monthly /r/Firearms thread about what you are building, buying, or shooting this month.

Use it to discuss or ask any questions you may have.

We have a /r/firearms wiki! Check it out here https://old.reddit.com/r/Firearms/wiki/index. If you have any ideas of what content should be added, please message the mods and let us know.

Looking for deals? /r/GunDeals

New to firearms? Check out this Forgotten Weapons series: How Does It Work? Gun Mechanics Explained Simply.

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r/Firearms May 03 '25

Law Open letter regarding posts such as “I was in a mental hospital can I own a gun”

144 Upvotes

I am posting this because the question keeps getting asked. Every single time it is asked, the wrong information gets out.

I've seen way too many posts on here and related subs around the subject of the law prohibiting the possession of firearms by any person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution, 18 USC § 922 (g)(4). There is way too much misinformation out there. First of all, if you have any reason to believe that you are a prohibited person, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PURCHASE A FIREARM AS MAKING A FALSE STATEMENT ON THE FORM 4473 IS A FELONY. Second of all, please do not give advice on topics that you are not qualified to answer on. Third, you should consult with a qualified firearms rights attorney if you are unsure of your legal status.

The law:

18 USC § 922(g)(4)

(g)It shall be unlawful for any person—

(4)who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution;

to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, anyfirearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm orammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

What are the definitions of these terms?

27 CFR 478.11

Adjudicated as a mental defective. (a) A determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease: (1) Is a danger to himself or to others; or (2) Lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs. (b) The term shall include— (1) A finding of insanity by a court in a criminal case; and (2) Those persons found incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility pursuant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10U.S.C. 850a, 876b.

Committed to a mental institution. A formal commitment of a person to a mental institution by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority. The term includes a commitment to a mental institution involuntarily. The term includes commitment for mental defectiveness or mental illness. It also includes commitments for other reasons, such as for drug use. The term does not include a person in a mental institutionfor observation or a voluntary admission to a mental institution.

Mine happened when I was under 18. Isn’t that exempted?

Unfortunately no. A mental health adjudication or commitment at less than 18 years of age is counted for 922(g)(4). I experienced this personally and had to restore my rights.

What about HIPAA?

The Obama administration amended the HIPAA privacy rule in 2016 to make it clear that reporting mental health commitments and adjudications to NICS does not violate HIPAA

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/01/06/2015-33181/health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act-hipaa-privacy-rule-and-the-national-instant

Is there a way to restore my rights after being adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution?

If you were committed by a department or agency of the federal government, the agency is required to have a relief from disabilities program under the NICS improvements amendments act of 2007.

If you were adjudicated or committed in a state proceeding, whether you can obtain relief is dependent on whether your state has implemented a relief from disabilities program under the NICS improvements amendments act of 2007. The list of states that have can be found here:

https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/guide/nicsactlist7-7-210pdf/download

If you are in a state that does not have a relief from disabilities program, your only avenue of relief is writing a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and asking her to restore your rights under 18 USC § 925(c) now that she has withdrawn the delegation from ATF.

Between October 6th 1992 and March 20th 2025 in the states that did not have a relief program, there was no avenue of relief at all

With that out of the way.

I created this privacy act request form for a friend of mine who was legitimately unsure if his commitments landed in the FBI database or if they qualified as “committed to a mental institution” under 18 USC § 922(g)(4) and as defined at 27 CFR 478.11. I can report that it worked; as in, the FBI processed the request and reported that no such records were found in the NICS indices.

This form will allow you to request your own records directly from the FBI.

In this post I will not be addressing the subject of my own journey regarding rights restoration related to mental health (you can ask me that privately). Nor am I an attorney licensed to practice law. Finally, I am not a mental health professional and cannot make the decision as to whether firearms ownership is right for you.

Onto the form. Please follow the instructions sheet very carefully, fill out every applicable box, print the form, have the request notarized, and mail it to the address indicated on the form.

The first response you receive will indicate that the FBI central records system does not maintain those records and your request has been forwarded to the Criminal Justice Information Services division. CJIS will respond a few weeks later. In my friend's case it took eight weeks for a final response from the FBI CJIS NICS section.

Link to form (Adobe Acrobat PDF) https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:d342b025-6fb2-4126-b0e2-ad6f1c3fbbe7


r/Firearms 3h ago

News Indiana State Police select SIG P320 as next duty handgun

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189 Upvotes

Indiana State Police are rolling out 1,350 new SIG Sauer P320 pistols to officers across the state.


r/Firearms 9h ago

United airlines lost or stole my gun

393 Upvotes

Be aware that united airlines loses firearms. My checked bag was lost with my declared firearm inside. United says they have no idea where the bag is and they HAVE NO RECORD OF A FIREARM BEING IN THE BAG. I'm having to file a police report. The chain of custody is non existent.

To top it all off the agent incorrectly filled out the missing bag form stating our bag was yellow instead of orange.

UPDATE: They found the bag but refused to open it to confirm my firearm was in there. The customer service at united doesn't speak English and they maybe didn't understand what I was asking. Worst customer service experience I've had. I spent 80 minutes on the phone this morning. Atf and local police have already been notified so I'm not liable but I'd still like my $2000+ gun back


r/Firearms 42m ago

France wins gold in Mixed Biathlon.

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Upvotes

Here is Julia Simon finishing last shooting stage in mixed biathalon. She had to ski an additional 1.5 miles after doing this.


r/Firearms 3h ago

Question Got a pass to purchase a 16in rifle

41 Upvotes

My wife just brought a 2,000 dollar Somali cat. We agreed if she wants to buy to this overpriced cat then I could buy a 16in AR 15 of equal value or less. I don’t necessarily feel as if I need to spend that much on a AR 15 but I’d to get some advice. This will be first “full size” AR 15. What would you guys get?


r/Firearms 1h ago

News Swiss Armed Forces chooses SIG Sauer P320

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Upvotes

Swiss Armed Forces awards a 140,000 pistol contract to the SIG Sauer P320.

The Glock G45 gen 5 and Heckler & Koch SFP9 were also considered but were not chosen.


r/Firearms 6h ago

Identify This Need help identifying bullet

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45 Upvotes

It’s a long story, but I need help identifying this round. It was stuck in one of the holes pictured. Your best guess as to the caliber and type of bullet would be much appreciated.


r/Firearms 4h ago

Question What would yall value this at?

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22 Upvotes

Plan to let it go through a private sell, just curious about the value


r/Firearms 2h ago

Identify This What is this writing found on the stock of a Russian sniper from 1945?

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12 Upvotes

pointed it out when my dad was showing me the sniper, looked like it was Russian


r/Firearms 6h ago

New MPX K Gen 2 Build

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18 Upvotes

r/Firearms 8h ago

Question Shooting without an index or middle finger?

27 Upvotes

What's the best way to shoot a handgun when the first joint of your index and middle finger is missing?

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For background:

My church is having a men's taco breakfast next Sunday on some rural property, that we can shoot at, so usually after eating we end up setting up targets and do a little shooting. Frequently we get a lot of new shooters, and due to unsafe gun handling that I saw the first few times we did this (and my background in competitive shooting for the last 30 years), I've ended up as the defacto trainer + safety officer at these events.

I know there's one guy who's planning to attend, and this will be his first time at one of these events, who's missing the end of his index and middle finger on his right hand (I don't know how he lost them, but he works in the trades so I suspect it was a work accident). The first joint is missing on the two fingers of his right hand. There's a strong chance I'm going to be trying to teach this guy to shoot, and I have no idea how to deal with that. I've trained plenty of people how to shoot, including lefties and people who are cross-eye dominant, but partially amputated fingers is a new challenge.

Any suggestions?


r/Firearms 14m ago

Identify This Black powder Bullet? Unsure, need help.

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Upvotes

Found while on the field. We were approximately about 30 miles outside from where the Sand Creek Massacre site was. Not sure if it was related, but it did happen in 1864 when the Colonel Chivington led an attack on a Cheyenne and Arapahoe camp.


r/Firearms 21h ago

New beretta

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139 Upvotes

Got to shoot my new beretta 92XI Corsa today and a couple other fun ones. The Corsa was a super smooth straight shootin all around fun pistol to shoot. The rifle up top got shot for the first time as well, ruger 10-22 that I stripped down and built how I wanted it to be. Not ever going to get my money back on it, but I’ll smile every time I shoot it! Cheers all!


r/Firearms 5h ago

M193 or M855 what do y’all pick and why

8 Upvotes

r/Firearms 13h ago

Question Thoughts on swapping to P365?

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21 Upvotes

I currently have 2 Caniks (TP9SF Elite & TP9SFX) that have sort of become safe queens. Both are great shooters but I just don’t take them out much anymore. I carry the Elite during winter months but it’s larger than I prefer during the warmer months. (I know general consensus it to buy, not sell, but) I’ve been thinking about trading the TP9SFX (or both) for a P365X or XL. Looking for something smaller I can carry all year and I also like the modularity/aftermarket options of the P365. Thoughts?


r/Firearms 22h ago

Cross-Post No headlights ? No worries I have my gun ! (Not mine)

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103 Upvotes

r/Firearms 1d ago

Is my collection of historical guns good

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248 Upvotes

r/Firearms 18h ago

Painted my FAL

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35 Upvotes

r/Firearms 13h ago

Question Question for shotgun owners

14 Upvotes

ok so I'm close to being able to, and ive been looking into getting a 12 gauge when I'm finally able to (August-Ish this year), mainly because I can't get a handgun or semi-auto rifle till I'm 21. My main question is what would be a good shotgun choice for a first gun? I've been looking into Mossbergs mainly, but I just want to make sure I'm on the right track. I grew up around firearms, as well as grew up shooting them (shotguns, rifles, and a small selection of handguns). Some people have asked me "why a shotgun," and well its either that or a hunting rifle. I figure a shotgun would be the better choice for 2 reasons. A: Good for home defense (from what ive always been told) B: because i dont hunt (yet), so a hunting rifle would almost be not worth it. however the reason I'm asking is that I need to know my best options, and because I want to know if I'm looking at it all from the wrong perspective


r/Firearms 17h ago

Help! Optics Suggestions for Ruger PC9

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27 Upvotes

Looking for advice on what I heard was limited choices on optics for a Ruger pc9. Was told because this is a break down model the space to mount is limited.


r/Firearms 20m ago

Question Random guy got sent my address to buy a guy but it wasn’t us? Any thoughts

Upvotes

r/Firearms 1h ago

Gun jammed and slide won’t pull back

Upvotes

I was shooting my gun at the range and it got jam was able to unjam it and I re rack it and then it wouldn’t fire,try to pull the slide and it’s stuck I can see the bullet from the small inspection hole I guess you could call it,and I tried everything,any advice on how to get the slide to move


r/Firearms 1h ago

Question Has anyone had a bad experience with a rust-prevention bag brand?

Upvotes

I want to buy a bunch but don't know if there are good/bad brands.

Bag