I born in Nissa in 1950. My Papa was the revolutionary Roberto Amico. I went live in England in the 60s. Come back to Italy, in 80s, then went to Yugoslavia during Civil War to be arms dealer. I founder Sicilia-Serbo Armi Srl, Sicilijanac Srpski Oružje d.o.o and and Sicilski Slovenski Orožje d.o.o. in 1990 to export arms from former Republic Yugoslavia. 2010 very exciting year for me I make new arms company Stidda Armi Srl in Italy, Stidda Oružje d.o.o in Serbia and Stidda Orožje d.o.o in Slovenia work with my nephew and Roberto, (my former bodyguard), who named for my Papa, and niece Stefania, who named for my Mama. They own successful sports and arms company, Amico Sport Srl, which have many subsidiary companies, include my niece Lucia’s husband Danny’s company, Costa Auto Sport Italia. Family very important to me.
My personal life. I spent some time in jail, nothing serious, and the magistrate rule my conviction no good for illegal procedure. I get lucky and have very good lawyeressa, my niece Stefania. Now I’m legitimate arms dealer, no criminal.
I collector rare guns and maistru (master) of duellu cô cuteddu sicilianu (the art Sicilian knife duel), which save my life many times. My Papa teach me to use a knife and a gun. I own two of them good attack dogs my nephew train, a cane corso and dogo argentino. I like my boat, scuba diving, shooting and hunting. I hunt wolf, hog, deer fox, and barbary apes but more I like to hunt big game, lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, elephant, rhino, buffalo, bear, crocodile and shark. Italy have Great White Shark.
I’m single guy and live with my sister Maria. I Roman Catholic and my sister Lucia is a nun, she’s always breaking my cugghiuni to go to Church but I don’t have enough years left to confess all my sins. I stay in shape, my niece Amica, who is married my nephew Rob is my physical trainer. Most of all things I like dating sexy girls in their 20s and 30s and having much fun.
According to ATF statistics, 1, 219, 664 semi automatic pistols were manufactured in America in 2007, which is over 3x more than the number of revolvers for the same year. Over 25% of US manufactured pistols were made by American owned companies. Smith & Wesson alone made 302 633 pistols, which is more than Sig Sauer, Beretta USA, Glock, FNH USA and CZ USA put together, and the second largest US pistol manufacturer in 2007 was Strum, Ruger & Co. But neither of these American companies produce competitive semi automatic pistols. Smith & Wesson’s idea of innovation was to bring out a substandard and unlicensed version of the Glock in 1994 — 12 years after the original came out in Austria — and to add insult to injury they called it a Sig! SIGma — a stroke of genius!
The S&W M&P series would have been cutting edge thirty odd years ago, but in 2005 they’re just another Glock wannabe, as is their new SD range they brought out for the civilian market this year. Ruger are even worse. The SR9 they brought out in 2007 can be best summed up as a piece of crap and the 2008 Ruger LCP is a 6+1 round capacity 9mm Corto, which is one round less than the Beretta 3032 Tomcat, but that came out 14-years ago! Whereas the Beretta Px4 Storm subcompact has a 13+1 round capacity in 9mm and shoots as accurately as a full sized pistol and with barely any recoil. There’s just no comparison.
Colt 1911
And the only pistols that Colt, America’s most famous handgun manufacturer, are currently making are more variations of their famous 1911.Their Colt 2000, which came out in 1992 and was supposed to be their pistol for the new millennium wasn’t even still in production in 2000. In fact, the Colt 1911 was the last truly competitive American semi automatic pistol. That’s part of the problem because nearly every American pistol manufacturer makes a version of the Colt 1911. If they were only being made for nostalgia or sport that would be fair enough, I own a couple myself, but the problem is that is still being made and sold as defensive pistol.
I know a lot of Americans thinks that the Colt 1911 is the best semi automatic pistol ever made, and to be fair, when it was first commissioned as a service pistol by the US army in 1911, it was an innovative, greatly admired and often imitated pistol. But now, just shy of a century later: a heavy, overbuilt, single action, 7×1 round capacity full sized pistol is an antique. To be honest it was really starting to show its age before WWII. Even in 1911, it wasn’t the most accurate firearm on the market: the Luger P08, Glisenti Model 1910, and Bergmann Bayard M1910 Mars were all more accurate, even if they were less durable.
The Colt 1911A1, which came out in 1924, and was designated the M1911A1 by the US military was a barely improved 1911. The only differences were a shorter trigger, indents in the frame behind the trigger, no “Double Diamond” on the grip, arched mainspring housing, longer grip safety spur, wider front sight and a shorter spur on the hammer. The working parts of the weapon were unchanged. The Pistola Campo-Giro de 9mm Modelo 1913-16, Astra 1921, Astra Model 900 (1927), Walther PP and PPK (1929), Tokarev TT-33, Beretta M1934, FN 9mm Hi-Power 1935 and Walther P38, which were all better pistols than the M1911A1 were in production before the outbreak of WWII.
The reason that the M1911A1 was in service from 1924 until it was replaced on the 14 January 1985, by the Beretta 92FS had nothing to do with combat performance; it was because it was over-procured. During WWII the US military procured 1.9 million M1911A1 and didn’t purchase any after 1945 because they had more pistols than men. Although the US military adopted the Beretta 92FS in 1985, the Italian army adopted it in 1980 as a replacement for the Beretta M1951. The Beretta 92FS is was one of the original wonder nines and came out back in 1972 and its proved itself to be far more accurate and reliable.
The US military are looking Now they are looking to replace the Beretta 92FS but after 65-years in the wilderness, manufacturing revolvers, I can’t see Colt getting the contract with a double stacked 1911. If the rumours are right, the US Army want a .45 ACP calibre polymer pistol. So Smith & Wesson better start looking at ripping off the Beretta Px4 Storm SD.
In 1975, Česká zbrojovka based in Uherský Brod, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) introduced it’s now famous the CZ 75 9mm semi automatic pistol, which is still in production and is still one of them most popular semi autos in the world today. The CZ 2075 RAMI is their subcompact offering which came out circa 2007. The CZ 2075 RAMI P is the polymer version of the aluminium alloy 2075 RAMI and is 30 g lighter, other than that it’s the same gun. I had the opportunity to try out the CZ 2075 RAMI P 9x21mm this week. Don’t worry it comes in 9×19 mm, but that calibre is illegal for civilian use in Italy.
The first thing I noticed was high light it was. At 665 g this has to be the lightest subcompact I’ve ever fired. By contrast, the H&K P2000 SK 680 g and the Beretta PX4 Storm SubCompact is 740 g, although the CZ 2075 RAMI P is actually 5mm longer, 3mm taller and 0.5mm thicker than the P2000 SK, and 10 mm longer than the Px4 Storm Subcompact. So it’s really not a smaller gun — no more concealable – but it has a 10 +1 round capacity in 9mm, whereas the P2000 SK and Px4 Storm Subcompact have a 13 +1 round capacity.
The only problem I had with shooting it is that the trigger is uncomfortable and bites my finger. The ergonomics aren’t as good as the P2000 SK and Px4 Storm Subcompact, but it still was a good fit for my petite hand. Rob finds all subcompacts too small and the RAMI is no exception.
Shooting wise, it is a fantastic gun. I fired 300 rounds with no failures and that was with no cleaning or lube. The gun is designed to be accurate to 50m and it is. But what really interests me is rate of fire, recoil and accuracy over 10m in a dark room. The CZ 2075 RAMI P does all of those things well: it has illuminated titanium three-dot sights and it’s sleek shape is great for point shooting and there is very little recoil. However, despite being a great little female friendly gun. I still prefer the P2000 SK and Px4 Storm Subcompact, so I didn’t buy it.
A lot of chefs get their knives professionally sharpened but you won’t find any artists getting their pencils professionally sharpened. Admittedly, most of those workshy, soap-dodgers don’t do enough doodling to blunt their pencils, but you get the point — no pun intended — sharpening a knife requires a little bit of knowledge and skill.
There are lots of different ways to sharpen a knife: I learned two of them at school during woodwork and metalwork classes. Unfortunately, a lot of lads don’t do useful subjects like that they do home-economics (aka cooking and shopping), sowing, and pottery, which ain’t going to be much help when he gets married and his old lady wan’t him to sharpen her kitchen knives. She’s not going to know how to sharpen them because you know she didn’t do metalwork or woodwork at school — she’s a bird — she took cooking and shopping. And it doesn’t just end there: a mate of mine gets a call from his sister because her boyfriend’s got a puncture and he don’t know how to change a tire! Jesus, Marry and Joseph: I could change a tire, hotwire a motor and drive by the time I was twelve.
Anyhow, you sharpen a knife by grinding it against something harder than the blade, which removes metal from the edge, like a grinding wheel, whetstone, Japanese water stone, diamond coated steel, belt sander, sand paper, V sharpener or draw through sharpener. You can even grind it against the bottom of a coffee mug, and if you’re that much of a cheap bastard, you probably wipe your arse with a free newspaper and buy your Mrs lingerie from a second hand shop.
Whatever you sharpen your knife with you need to grind a consistent bevel angle along the entire length of the edge. The bevel angle depends on the grind and type of knife: it’s 10° on a razor, 20° on a kitchen knife and 30° on a meat cleaver. That’s why a V grind sharpener is better than sharpening freehand on a whetstones or waterstones, but personally, I prefer using a bench grinder or the scary sharp method.
Mechanical grinders are the most effective way to put an edge on a blade but they’re also the most dangerous, especially if you’re female. In fact, if you’re female you shouldn’t be touching any power tools. Here’s Willy from Carson’s Saw Shop in Eugene, Oregon, who has been abusing the gimp chained up in the back room, and professionally sharpening tools for 25 or 30 years — he can’t remember — demonstrating how not to use a pedestal grinder. The idiot grinds against the side of the wheel instead of the edge. How he hasn’t lost his fingers or killed himself is a mystery to me.
Willy doesn’t bother using a grinding jig to get an accurate and consistent angle, he just guesses and when screws up, he says it doesn’t matter, and he’s supposed to be a professional sharpener. How that shop stays in business is beyond me. If you’re going to use a bench grinder — you can get one for well under $50 – follow the safety instructions, they’re there for a reason. Also don’t guess the angles use a grinding jig. You can get a decent one for $30 but if you’re too cheap you can make one out of wood with a G-clamp. You can also use an angle grinder but don’t turn it upside down on a working surface or hold the blade with one hand and the angle grinder in the other. Secure the knife in a grinding jig or vice and use the angle grinder with two hands.
After grinding, a blade has a wire edge, which needs to be honed to get rid of all those burs. Otherwise it won’t retain an edge and you’ll be sharpening the knife all the time. The difference between grinding and honing is that you don’t remove any metal when you’re honing. So technically, honing isn’t sharpening. You’re just straightening the edge, which makes it cut better. That’s why you can’t sharpen a blunt blade on a steel. Then you have the final stage of the process: polishing, which finishes and smooths the blade, and reduces oxidation. You can use a polishing stone, leather strop or sand paper to polish a blade, or you can just buff it against a buffing wheel on a bench grinder, which is what I normally do.
I shave with a Dovo Full Hollow Ground black nickel 6/8″ straight razor, and before every shave I’ll strop it on leather strop, with some Stangen strop paste. Just like this.
It’s easy to do and takes no real skill. You lay the razor flat, draw it across the strop spine first and turn it over, then go the other way, and remember a slow pass is just as good as a fast pass. It’s not a race. Obviously you’re not sharpening a blade with a strop, you’re just realigning the blade and taking off any burs. When a strop isn’t enough you can make a few passes on a honing stone, and when that fails, then you’ve got to sharpen it, although a lot of barbers, like chefs, send them off to be professionally sharpened. But I think that’s stupid because it’s not difficult to sharpen a razor.
A straight razor is hollow ground i.e. it’s concave coming to a fine delicate edge, so it’s easy to fuck up on a whetstone, waterstone or a grinder. But you can sharpen and hone it with sandpaper: sharpen it on a 1k grits, hone it on a 4k grit and polish it with a 6k grit, stroking the blade across the paper just like you’re stropping, and spray some water on the paper. You only need a few passes on each grit. But don’t do it to often and put some electrical tape on the spine of the razor to protect it, because otherwise you’ll grinding the spine, but you don’t need to worry about that on a strop.
Can you use a strop with a normal knife I hear you ask. Well as it goes, yes you can, just a couple a couple of passes after you’ve ground the edge will take the burs off and polish it. But if you do it like you do a razor dragging it spine first, you’ll end up with a concave bevel angle. So use it like a grinding stone: tip to heel at a 20º angle (or whatever your bevel angle is) against some leather on a hard service. I’ve got a proper barber’s strop hanging on the bathroom sink because I use a straight razor, but you could get away with using an old leather belt as a strop.
As I said in the previous post using a honing steel is just used for realigning the edge but doesn’t remove any metal. But this is where some people get confused, realigning the edge makes the knife sharper, without actually sharpening it. t makes sense: if you think about it because when you realign the edge on a honing steel you’re straightening it — a straight edge cuts better than a bent edge — it’s as simple as that. So a couple of strokes before and after every use on a honing steel will prolong it’s sharpness but every so often you’re going to have to sharpen it as well because you can run a dull blade down a honing steel as much as you like, you’re never going to sharpen the thing, which is why a lot of people have blunt knives.
This is where some people can get confused, a diamond coated steel, sharpens a blade, because industrial grade diamond is harder than steel and will strip metal off every time you run the edge of the blade down it. Now you might think a diamond steel is a good idea because you’re actually sharpening the knife, but if you use a diamond steel as often as you would use a honing steel, you’re going to wear down that knife pretty fast and if you’re not keeping a consistent angle using the steel, you’ll round or chip the edge. So a diamond steel is only good if you really know what you’re doing, and most people don’t. Here is Gordon Ramsay, top chef with Michelin stars coming out his arse, demonstrating how to fuck up a top of the range Wüsthof knife with a Wüsthof diamond steel.
If you clang a knife against a diamond or honing steel like that you’ll chip he edge of the knife and the steel. Here is how to do it properly:
When you hold the steel tip facing down, don’t hold it in a reverse grip, hold it in a forehand grip so your arm is out of the way and go nice and slow — it’s not a race. But even if you do it properly make sure you’re doing it at the correct angle, 20º on a kitchen knife, unless you’re stupid enough to buy Japanese chisel ground knives, which you only steel down one side and at a 15-18° angle. Japanese chefs might rate them, but lets be fair, they don’t even use knives and forks –their idea of good cuisine is poisonous raw fish, eaten off the floor with a couple of twigs. What the fuck do they know about cutlery?
Over the weekend we went tactical shooting testing out new handguns we bought. I fired over a 1,000 rounds!!!
I tried the Taurus 856 out with some tactical shooting drills… I hate it. The recoil isn’t too bad shooting two handed, but I really noticed it shooting one handed especially shooting with my off-hand. Six rounds isn’t enough and it’s not as smooth or fast as my semi autos. So I gave it to my little sister and I’m now the proud owner of a H&K P2000 SK. I tried and liked the Sig Sauer Pro 2022 but the P2000 SK is such a sexy gun, it feels better in the hand, performs as well as the SP 2022 and is a better concealed carry option. It’s 9×21 IMI like my other two defensive firearms, the Beretta Px4 storm and Beretta Px4 storm subcompact.
Amica replaced her Glock 17 with a Bersa Thunder 9, which is a very accurate firearm and she kept her Glock 26, and got the Taurus PT 709 Slim, which really is slim. It also very accurate for such a small gun. You can easily wear it inside your skirt.
Rob already recently bought the Caracal C Quick Sight, and he’s not ready to replace that yet although I don’t like it. But he bought the H&K P30, as a carry weapon, which I love. Neither of us have owned H&K before, but they’re worth the money, unlike SIGs, which I feel are overpriced. Rob chose the incredibly reasonably priced Tanfoglio Force 10 Carry as his third defensive weapon. It’s a 10 mm AUTO, which is usually a target calibre but Tanfoglio seem to offer all their defensive guns in that calibre as well as the standard calibres. The Force Carry 10 might be known by a different name in America, but it’s a great polymer concealed carry gun, the Force series are based on the ČZUB CZ 75 frame.
We’re also all allowed to register 6 sporting firearms each. I’ve got a Beretta 87 Target .22LR, a Tanfoglio Combat Sport 1o in 10mm Auto, and Taurus PT 1911 in .45 ACP. Amica has a Tanfoglio Force 99 Sport and Taurus PT 24/7 in 9×21 IMI, and Rob has an Astra Daytona and Tanfoglio Witness 1911 Custom in .45ACP, and Beretta Stampede Deluxe .357 Mag revolver. We also got 6 shotguns in the house the Benelli M4 Super 90, Beretta Tx4 storm and Franchi SPAS-15 for defence and tactical shooting, and the Benelli M2 Comfortech Camo, Beretta Xtrema2 AP and Beretta AL 391 Urika 2 Camo MAX4 for hunting.
Some people might think we have to many firearms, but I’d rather have too many firearms than not enough because what good is a right of self-defence if you don’t have the means to defend yourself?
When I first saw the Pipe Dagger, I thought Condor were taking liberties charging $ 79.98 for a sharpened piece of pipe, because that’s what it is it is. To be fair it’s a 16 3/4″ and 1/8″ thick piece 1075 high carbon spring steel (HRC 55) hollow pipe, weighing 0.75 lbs, with an anti-rust black satin powder finish, and an 11″ blade cut at an angle from the handle to the tip, sharpened to a fine point on both edges. It’s got a rubber stopper on the end, which you can remove and it looks better if you do. So you’re probably asking why I bought this knife and why my favourite Ecuadorian knife manufacturer made it?
Arlan D. Lothe the designer came across some head-hunters in the Borneo jungle saw their bone daggers, and asked them whether they registered the patent. They said, “course we’re ain’t, we’re cannibals, we’re going to eat you, what you going on about?” So to cut a long story short, he escaped and nicked the design off them. Alright I’m making that up — but he did copy them off the Borneo head-hunters’ ceremonial bone dagger.
I bought it just for the novelty, but it’s actually a decent fighting knife and hog-sticker. I’ve used it on a few pigs — just don’t tell the farmer. Condor say that if you rotate the blade on the thrust it will cut a hold double its width, which is true, but what I found is that if you do that, you tend to rotate it on the way out as well. That gives you a cut over three times the size. And you can also thrust in and just keep twisting, which will chew up flesh. It also double slashes and because it’s tapered it draws into a V shape, which is going to be very difficult to stitch up.
There are two screw holes under the butt cap so you can attach it to a spear shaft. It also comes with a black hand made leather sheath, and like all Condor knives, with a limited life time warranty. Although this dagger is long, it’s not that wide so you can conceal it on your person if you wanted. Personally, I think I’ll probably just end up using it as a spear.
As Stefi said in her previous post we’re limited on the number of defensive firearms we own. So you might think I’ve not had much range time with other semi-automatics. Well I have. I’ve had a lot of range time with the Astra A-80, Beretta Px4 storm SD, Beretta Px4 storm, Beretta Px4 storm compact, Beretta Px4 storm subcompact, Beretta 90two, Beretta 98 FS, Beretta 8045 Cougar, Beretta 8045 Mini Cougar, Beretta 9000 F40, Beretta 3032 Tomcat, Beretta 21 A Bobcat, Bersa Thunder 9 Pro HC, Glock 17, Tanfoglio witness 1911, Taurus PT92, and Zastava CZ 999 Scorpion, and I’ve had limited time with some other semi-autos as well.
The latest, the Caracal C (Quick Sight) – a gift from my beautiful wife — has to be one of the finest semi-automatics I’ve fired. Which is a bit of a surprise because Caracal are a recently established United Arab Emirates arms manufacturer with their production in Abu Dhabi, but distributed by Tanfoglio.
The Caracal semi automatic were designed Willy Bubits, a former weapon designer for Glock, Walther and Slayer, so he knows what he’s about. The Caracal pistols have been adopted by the U.A.E. police force but as far as I’m aware not by anybody decent but they have passed all the NATO and the German military and police test. They were also tested by shooters from the Italian NOCS, GIS, 17º Stormo Incursori, Col Moschin and the Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano at the Futura Club last October, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they start getting picked up by western special forces and police tactical units soon because they really are that good.
The Caracal C is selling for €590 ($770) and the Caracal C Quick Sight for €620 ($810). It comes in 9×19 NATO, 9x21mm IMI, .357 SIG, and .40 S&W — mine’s the 9x21mm IMI caliber, which has a 13 round capacity — and weighs 750 g (26.4oz), has a total length of 186 mm (7.3″) and barrel length of 90 mm (3.5″). It’s a Double Action and has an ambidextrous magazine catch and great ergonomics. It very accurate, virtually no recoil and ultra reliable. The Caracal C is the compact version and easily small enough for concealed carry. It’s an excellent defensive gun.
Italian firearms law is complicated but essentially all citizens are allowed to possess 3 ”armi comuni da sparo” (common firearms), which are usually handguns, 6 “armi sportive” (sports firearms), 8 antique firearms designed before 1891, and an unlimited amount of ”armi da caccia” (hunting firearms),but we’re not allowed to own any “armi da guerra” (military firearms). All firearms in Italy are designated into those categories usually by calibre and in the case of sports firearms by purpose. What this means is that when I buy a new handgun I have to give up one of my existing firearms, or at least get it registered in someone else’s name.
Until last week my 3 common firearms were a Beretta Px4 storm, Beretta Px4 storm subcompact and Beretta 21 A Bobcat. I used to have a Beretta 8045 Mini Cougar which I had to give up, i.e. pass on to my sister, when I bought my. Px4 storm subcompact. After a lot of persuading from Rob, I decided to replace my Beretta 21 A Bobcat — or pussycat as Rob calls it — because it only fires 22LR rounds and just isn’t a manstopper. So last weekend I bought a replacement: the Taurus 856 .38 Special +P in Blue Stainless Steel. It’s apparently the gun issued to the Singapore Police Force, which is strange because most police forces issue semi-automatic pistols.
Taurus 856 .38 Special +P Steel
I chose to go with a revolver instead of another semi-automatic pistol because of I never fired a revolver and the .38 Special +P has nearly as much stopping power as a 9mm semi-auto and a lot more than a 22LR semi-auto. The Taurus 856 is 629 g (22.2 oz), 165mm (6.5″) in length, with a 51mm (2″) barrel. Like the 21 A Bobcat it’s a DA/SA. It has a reasonably comfortable rubber gripped handle and it’s a 6-shooter. The 21A Bobcat 22LR only took 7 rounds although it was a much smaller gun. One of the reasons I chose the Taurus 856 is that I’m petite — 160cm (5′ 3″) and 49 kg (108 lbs) — and it’s supposed to have less recoil than some other snubnose revolvers but it still has more recoil than my Px4 Storm and a slower firing rate between rounds.
At $441 dollars it’s reasonably priced and is overall a much better defensive choice than the Beretta 21A Bobcat 22LR. Still, I don’t think I’ll be keeping it long: I’m a semi auto girl.
stefi
amica
rob
pietro amico
