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AR-15 Rifles, Pistols & Tactical Gear | Gun Store in Roanoke, TX

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Glock

Are you using an outdated gun for self defense?

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Lance Rankin here, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas. A customer put this question to me at the counter not long ago: is my 1911 outdated for self defense? He’d carried it for twenty years, and somebody on a forum told him it belonged in a museum. Since I make my living working on guns both old and new, here’s the answer I gave him.

Old doesn’t mean obsolete

A gun doesn’t expire. A well-maintained revolver from 1985 stops a threat exactly the way it did in 1985, and the .38 Special coming out of it hasn’t gotten any weaker. When people say a design is outdated, what they usually mean is that newer designs do the same job with fewer compromises. That’s a real difference, but it’s not the same as your gun being useless.

What modern pistols actually buy you

I’ll be honest about what’s improved, because plenty has. Modern striker-fired pistols feed a wider range of ammunition without complaint. On my bench, a stock Glock or M&P almost never comes in for feeding problems. Budget 1911s come in for exactly that, regularly. The old joke that a 1911 needs a gunsmith on retainer is unfair to the good ones, but it didn’t come from nowhere.

Capacity is the other honest gap. Fifteen or more rounds of 9mm in a gun the size of an eight-round single stack changes the math, and today’s factory tolerances mean the cheap end of the market is far better than it used to be. Add optics-ready slides and holster availability for every current model, and the case for modern designs writes itself. Same story with shotguns: the pump gun earned its reputation, but a quality semi-auto like a Benelli runs a wider range of loads with softer recoil and faster follow-ups.

Where the classics still earn their keep

Now the other side, because I sell and shoot both. A revolver has no slide to rack and no magazine to seat wrong, which matters for shooters with limited hand strength. A good 1911 trigger is still the standard everything else gets measured against. And familiarity counts for more than gun writers admit. If you’ve put thousands of rounds through your old gun and it runs, you’re better armed than someone with a new pistol and a box of excuses about range time.

The test that actually settles it

Skip the forum debates and run your gun. Two hundred rounds through it, including at least fifty of your actual carry load. No malfunctions you can’t trace to bad ammo? Sights you can see in bad light? Parts and a decent holster still available? Then your gun isn’t outdated where it counts. If it choked three times and the model’s been discontinued for decades, the gun is telling you something. Listen to it.

My advice from the bench

If your old gun runs and you train with it, keep carrying it with confidence. Feed it right, though; ammunition is where the last twenty years of progress is cheapest to buy, and my self-defense ammo picks cover that. If your gun is fighting you, or the honest test above went badly, a modern 9mm doesn’t cost much anymore. My lists of the best home defense handguns and best 9mm pistols under $500 are the place to start.

And there’s a middle path people forget: fix the old gun. We do gunsmithing in-house here in Roanoke, just north of Fort Worth, and a classic that’s been properly gone through, with fresh springs and modern sights, is a different animal. Bring it by appointment, or call me at 817-393-4000 and we’ll talk through whether yours is worth the work. Usually it is.

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California’s Glock ban is under fire as the DOJ files a federal lawsuit

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Lance Rankin here, FFL and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas. Something unusual is happening in California: the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a federal lawsuit against the state over its so-called Glock ban and its handgun roster. The federal government suing a state over gun control, arguing the state is violating its citizens’ Second Amendment rights, is not a sentence I expected to type. Here’s what’s going on, as of this writing.

What California actually restricts

California doesn’t just run background checks. It maintains a roster of “approved” handguns, and a pistol can’t be sold new in the state unless it’s on the list. Getting on the list means meeting a stack of requirements: loaded chamber indicators, magazine disconnects, and microstamping, a technology that has been more theory than product. The practical effect is that new handgun models almost never get approved, so Californians shop from a menu frozen years in the past.

The newer “Glock ban” went further, targeting semi-automatic pistols based on technical specs of the trigger mechanism. The result pulled some of the most popular handguns in America off California shelves. When I say popular, I mean it: the Glock 19 and 17 are probably the two most common defensive pistols in the country. I sell them week in, week out.

Inside the DOJ lawsuit against California’s Glock ban

The lawsuit leans on District of Columbia v. Heller, which held that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to keep arms for self-defense, and specifically recognized handguns as the class of firearm Americans overwhelmingly choose for that purpose. The DOJ’s position is blunt: a state can’t use a regulatory maze to accomplish what an outright ban couldn’t. If the most commonly owned pistols in the nation can’t legally be sold to you, your right to acquire protected arms is being denied by paperwork instead of statute, and the outcome is the same.

Notably, the DOJ is framing California’s approach as a potential pattern of civil rights violations, not a one-off dispute over one model. That’s an escalation, and it signals the federal government intends to treat gun rights the way it treats other enumerated rights.

Why it matters outside California

California’s gun laws travel. Other states copy the roster concept and the feature mandates, so a DOJ lawsuit win against the Glock ban would echo well beyond the state line. The core question is one every gun owner should care about: can a state make it functionally impossible to buy commonly used firearms, so long as it never says the word “ban”? Courts answering no would change the playbook in a half-dozen states.

My take from behind the counter

Here in Texas I can sell a customer the current generation of any pistol they want, and the process is still thoroughly regulated: 4473, NICS check, the works. I explain the whole thing in how to buy a gun in Texas. Nothing about a handgun roster adds to that safety process; it just decides which safe, common guns you’re forbidden to choose.

The DOJ lawsuit over California’s Glock ban will grind through the courts for a while, and rulings get appealed, so check the current status before you rely on anything here, and talk to an attorney if California law affects you directly. I’ll keep following it, the same way I’ve tracked the suppressor rulings. If you’re in a free state and shopping for a pistol, the store is open, our pistol inventory is current, and I answer my own phone: 817-393-4000.

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Best first guns to buy in Texas: handguns, shotguns, and rifles

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I’m Lance Rankin, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, just north of Fort Worth. I’ve been helping first-time buyers pick a gun since I took over this shop in 2017, and the questions are always the same: what’s the best first gun to buy in Texas, what does the law require, and how do I not waste money? Here’s how I walk customers through it at the counter.

The legal basics in Texas

Texas keeps it simple. No permit is required to buy a gun here. Federal law says you must be 21 to buy a handgun from a dealer and 18 for a long gun, and every dealer sale runs through the NICS background check. Handgun purchases from a dealer generally require Texas residency, so if you just moved here, get your Texas ID sorted first.

Texas also has permitless carry, so eligible adults can carry a handgun in most public places without a license. Legal doesn’t mean ready, though. Get training before you carry. I walk through the whole purchase process, including buying online and picking up at a local dealer, in my guide to how to buy a gun in Texas.

Start with the job, not the gun

Before you look at a single model, decide what the gun is for. Home defense, concealed carry, range fun, hunting? A gun that’s great at one job is usually mediocre at another. Most first-timers are best served by one of three answers.

Handguns: the best first gun in Texas for most people

For most people, the best first gun in Texas is a mid-size 9mm semi-auto pistol. Big enough to shoot well, small enough to carry, and 9mm ammo is cheap enough that you’ll actually practice. The Glock 19 is the default recommendation for a reason: it’s boringly reliable and everything on earth fits it. The Sig P320 is another solid pick, and its modular design lets you change frame sizes later without buying a new gun.

Skip the temptation to buy the tiniest micro pistol first. Small guns are harder to shoot, not easier. And don’t assume you need to spend a fortune; I keep an updated list of good 9mm handguns under $500 that I’d stake my name on.

A word on revolvers: they’re mechanically simple and there’s no slide to rack, which helps folks with limited hand strength. The trade-off is lower capacity and a heavier trigger. They’re a reasonable nightstand gun for the right person, just not my default recommendation anymore.

Shotguns: the home defense classic

A pump-action shotgun is rugged, affordable, and effective. A Mossberg 500 or Remington 870 will outlive you with minimal care. For a new shooter, think hard about 20 gauge instead of 12; the recoil is noticeably friendlier and it still does the job at home defense distances. Keep the barrel on the shorter side of legal for maneuvering hallways. I go deeper on models and loads in my home defense shotgun guide.

Rifles: for the range and beyond

If marksmanship is the goal, nothing beats a .22 LR rifle to start. Ammo costs pennies, recoil is nil, and you can burn a whole afternoon learning trigger control for the price of one box of centerfire.

If you want one rifle that grows with you, it’s the AR-15. It fits nearly any body size, parts are everywhere, and as an AR specialist I’ll tell you it’s also the easiest rifle in the world to learn to work on. We’re an authorized Daniel Defense dealer, and a DDM4 is a buy-once gun, but there are honest budget options too. Start with my best AR-15 for beginners writeup.

Budget for more than the gun

Plan on three things beyond the purchase price: a proper safe or lockbox so the gun is secure but reachable, a few hundred rounds of practice ammo, and a training class. A $500 gun plus a class will serve you far better than a $1,200 gun and no training. Every instructor worth their salt teaches the same fundamentals: treat every gun as loaded, finger off the trigger until you’re on target, and know what’s behind your target.

Come handle a few

Specs don’t tell you how a gun fits your hand. Rent a few models at a local range if you can, then buy the one you shot best, not the one the internet liked. That’s the honest answer to the best first gun in Texas question: the one that fits you. We’re an online store with local pickup by appointment here in Roanoke, and I’m glad to talk through options first. Call 817-393-4000 or email [email protected].

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a permit to buy a gun in Texas?

No. You’ll pass a federal background check at the dealer, and you must not be a prohibited person, but Texas requires no purchase permit or license.

What’s the best first gun for home defense?

A reliable mid-size 9mm pistol or a pump shotgun. Either works well; the better answer is whichever one you’ll actually train with.

Handgun or rifle first?

Handgun if defense and carry are the priority. A .22 rifle if you mainly want to learn to shoot well on a budget.

Can I try before I buy?

Yes, and you should. Ranges with rental counters let you compare grip, recoil, and trigger feel across several models for a few dollars each.

How do I transport a gun in my car in Texas?

If you’re not a prohibited person, Texas generally allows it. Keeping the gun unloaded in a locked container is the safe habit while you’re new.

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Do you still need backup iron sights on a red dot carry pistol?

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For years the rule was automatic: put a dot on your carry gun, add suppressor-height backup iron sights behind it, done. Lately I’ve been rethinking that, and I’m not alone. I’m Lance Rankin, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and I install carry optics and sights on customer pistols every week, so this is a debate I have with people in person all the time.

The case for skipping backup iron sights

The honest starting point is that miniature red dots grew up. Ten years ago they were fragile electronics that died at inconvenient times. The current generation of quality optics is durable, and battery life is measured in years, not weekends. The catastrophic dead-dot failure that backup iron sights are supposed to solve has become genuinely rare on good hardware.

Meanwhile the irons themselves aren’t free. Tall backup sights add snag points on a concealed gun, narrow your holster options, and eat up space in an already small optic window. And here’s the part people don’t like hearing: in a lot of real failure modes, irons don’t help anyway. If your lens is fogged, caked in lint, or smeared from riding against your body all day, you can’t see through it to use the rear iron sight either. The failure that irons fix is narrower than the slogan suggests.

There’s a training argument too. Instructors keep noticing that shooters with irons in the window use them as training wheels, hunting for the front sight instead of learning to present the gun consistently so the dot just appears. Take the irons away and the dot skills tend to come faster.

What to do instead

If the dot ever does die, the optic body itself is a usable sight at defensive distances. Put the target on top of the housing, sometimes called the guillotine hold, or simply center the window on the threat. Practice it in dry fire a few minutes a month and you’ll find it’s plenty accurate inside typical self-defense range. That skill costs nothing and covers the emergency the irons were bought for.

The other half is boring maintenance. Wipe the lens regularly, blow the lint out, and change the battery on a schedule (every birthday works) instead of waiting for the dot to dim. A maintained optic almost never surprises you. Most “optic failures” I see at the shop are really dead batteries and dirty glass.

Where I land

My honest position: on a dedicated carry gun with a quality optic, backup iron sights are optional, not mandatory, and plenty of serious shooters are now better off without them. That said, if your slide already has good sights that co-witness cleanly and don’t cause holster problems, there’s no urgent reason to remove them either. What I’d stop doing is spending $150 on tall irons for a gun that doesn’t need them, before you’ve spent that money on ammo and practice.

If you’re setting up a carry pistol from scratch, optic-ready guns make this easy now; the Glock 43X MOS is a good example of the breed, and my home defense handgun guide covers the bigger picture. I do optic cuts, sight installs, and zeroing in the shop here in Roanoke, north of Fort Worth. Bring your gun by appointment, or reach me at [email protected] or 817-393-4000.

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Glock 43 vs Glock 43X: which slimline 9mm should you carry?

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The Glock 43 vs Glock 43X question comes up at my counter about once a week, usually from someone buying their first carry gun. I’m Lance Rankin, owner of Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and I’ve sold and worked on plenty of both. The short version: they share a slide length and a slim profile, and the whole decision comes down to the grip. Here’s the longer version.

Glock 43 vs Glock 43X: what’s actually different

The Glock 43 is the original Slimline single-stack 9mm: six rounds in the magazine, a short grip that most people can’t get their pinky on without an extension, and about as little gun as you can carry while still having a real 9mm.

The 43X keeps essentially the same slide and barrel length but stretches the frame. That buys you a 10-round magazine and a full-hand grip. Height is the only dimension that changes in a way you’ll notice, a bit under an inch, and that inch is the entire argument.

Shooting them back to back

Put both on the range and the 43X wins, no contest. The longer grip gives your whole hand something to hold, so the gun squirms less, muzzle flip is easier to manage, and follow-up shots come faster. The 43 is perfectly shootable, but it’s a two-finger gun for a lot of hands, and light snappy pistols punish loose grips. New shooters especially tend to shoot the 43X noticeably better within one box of ammo.

Capacity tells the same story. Six plus one versus ten plus one isn’t a small gap. And no, the magazines don’t interchange; the 43X shares mags with the Glock 48, not the 43.

Carrying them

Here’s where the 43 earns its keep in the Glock 43 vs Glock 43X comparison. In concealment, grip length is what prints, not barrel length. The muzzle points down along your body where nobody sees it; the grip is what pokes through a fitted shirt when you bend over. If you dress light, carry in athletic wear, or occasionally pocket-carry in a proper trigger-covering holster, the 43’s shorter grip disappears in ways the 43X won’t.

For most people in normal clothes carrying inside the waistband, the 43X hides almost as well and shoots much better. That’s why it outsells the 43 at my shop by a wide margin. But “almost as well” isn’t “as well,” and the customer who’s tried both usually knows immediately which trade-off they care about.

Optics, lights, and upgrades

The 43X MOS comes factory-cut for micro red dots and has a short accessory rail for a compact light, and that’s the configuration I’d steer most buyers toward today. A dot on a small pistol is a real advantage once you train with it. The standard 43 makes do with iron sights, though good aftermarket night sights fix the factory plastic ones on either gun.

The two 43X builds that move fastest off my shelf are the Glock 43X COA with the Aimpoint ACRO already mounted, which takes the optic-plate guesswork out of it, and the threaded-barrel 43X Hush Puppy with suppressor-height sights for anyone planning to run a can on it.

One gunsmith’s note on the popular Shield Arms steel magazines that push the 43X to 15 rounds: they work, plenty of my customers run them, but pair them with the metal magazine catch as recommended. Steel mags against the factory polymer catch will wear it. That’s a ten-minute install we do at the shop all the time.

My recommendation

My call on Glock 43 vs Glock 43X: buy the 43X, ideally the MOS, unless you have a specific deep-concealment reason to want the 43. More grip and more rounds beat a slightly smaller silhouette for most people, most wardrobes, most of the time. If you’re shopping for a smaller-handed shooter, both are worth handling first; my best handgun for women guide covers that decision in more detail. Whichever you pick, feed it quality defensive ammo and test it in your gun; here’s my rundown of the best 9mm self-defense loads. And if you’re new to carrying in Texas, start with the Texas carry permit guide.

We stock both models in the online store along with the rest of our pistol inventory, and local folks can handle them side by side by appointment here in Roanoke, north of Fort Worth. Questions: [email protected] or 817-393-4000.

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