The Taurus PT809 Pistol

I recently purchased a self defense pistol as a birthday present for my wife. She has been carrying a Ruger MKI for most of our married life in .22 long rifle. I load it with hyper-velocity rounds for her, but those are still not really a self defense round. She just does not like shooting the .45 acp I carry and felt more comfortable with the Ruger .22 pistol.

I have been looking at several large capacity magazine 9 mm autos and settled on the new Taurus PT809 as the most gun for the money. This is a modern polymer/steel pistol with some really neat features. It has a right side and left side magazine release, slide release and safety/decocker, in other words it is fully ambidextrous. It comes with three different sized interchangeable back straps to fit the grips to the shooter. The front and back of the grips are checkered and grooved for a non-slip grip. The pistol has a front rail for lazer or light attachment along with a wide smooth faced trigger and a polished feed ramp. Three dot sights are standard for instant sighting in low or normal light situations. Along with a magazine that holds 17 rounds the pistol has a beveled magazine well for secure and fast loading. The metal parts have a Tennifer finish which is supposed to be a high tech kind of case hardening that is more stainless than stainless steel.

In this day of bargain box store ammo I have noticed in some lots of ammo failure of some rounds to fire. This usually means waiting a few seconds, clearing the round and running it back through the next magazine to see if it will fire. The Taurus PT809 pistol has a unique second strike ability, if a round fails to fire just pull the trigger again and in most cases the round will fire. This could be a life saver in a bad situation. I however recommend that you only load the best and most reliable ammo you can obtain when you are counting on the firearm for self defense. Save the bargain brands for plinking and target practice.

All in all after shooting this pistol and having my wife get familiar with the way it shoots I am impressed with the function and accuracy of this little gun. It came in a hard case with two magazines, a mag loader, bore brush, lock key and three grips all for around $350.00 at most box sporting goods stores.  You could spend a lot more for a lot less gun.  As always I had to buy this gun with hard earned money just like you do and I get nothing for this review.  It is what I have my wife carry so you know what I think about it. 
Good shooting, Wild Ed

If you would like to read more about the Taurus PT809 here is a link to the Taurus website http://www.taurususa.com/product-details.cfm?id=602&category=Pistol

Happy Birthday to Julie!

Happy birthday to the amazing gal we know as Julie Zickefoose! She is known the world over by a variety of names, and by her many wonderful works. Crazy Dog Lady is just one of the names she goes by—and proudly—since she has bonded with our Boston terrier Chet Baker about as strongly as the white is bonded to the rice.

She is the Science Chimp who leads the science club at Salem Liberty Elementary and gets young f0lks to tune into the amazing living things all around us.


She is the living embodiment of Scooby-doo's friend Velma, shown here with Daphne solving a mystery involving Old Man Wiggins.

She is called Mommy or Mom by a couple of the sweetest kids ever to wear dorky hats.


Crazy Bird Lady is another moniker. When this red-headed woodpecker showed up at our feeders last winter, Julie immediately hung a bird house up for it, held in place by bungee cords. The woodpecker, recognizing that this was the CBL, immediately moved in for a week-long stay.

She is rarely referred to as being tall—at least in physical stature. Yet she is a towering tree in terms of wisdom and talent. Here she is cracking us up on Easter Sunday while posing for a photo with my mom, Elsa.


Years ago, when we were first talking by phone about an art project for Bird Watcher's Digest, I found out that Julie was a musician, which made her vastly more fascinating to me. So I courted her with my best rawk song.

Now Julie plays in a band with me and several other special people: Craig and Wendy (Jessie and Kage not pictured, but equally special). We Rain Crows have fun always.

She plays the pennywhistle like a pro—sometimes morphing it into a jazz stick when the mood strikes her.

And she's not above throwing down some sweet dance moves, as she is doing here during a Hog Island seminar.

Crazy Turtle Lady is another nom de nature. As is Crazy Bat Lady.

In the fields of nature writing, painting, and sharing, she is outstanding. And out standing.

And sometimes she is also out lying in her fields of endeavor.

And she is the best person I've ever met at self-actualizing. She is rarely happier than when she is alone in her little kayak, floating among the birds and butterflies and turtles. Now if only she could bring Chet Baker along in the boat....

We love you, Jules! Happy birthday from all of us. We bask in the wonder of all you share with us, and consider ourselves so lucky to be a part of your world.