BAG Gun Review

Why did I select this rifle?

Well you know my ammo simplification philosophy. I try to keep commonality to the calibers so you have as few varieties as possible. And this is the companion piece to the S&W 686 .357 revolver.





It's a carbine. I don't have much in the way of short rifles and I wanted to correct that.

Alphecca likes them and gave a glowing review and that put the bug in my head. I FOUND Kim DuToit's site researching the 1894c and he gave them a glowing review, too.

If I ever take a girlfriend shooting, or a youngster, or just a n00bie, it's a good step up from a .22 and not as intimidating as a Garand.

It's classic olde-timey styling is less scary to the great unwashed legions of hoplphobes. Wood stock, looks like the guns seen in westerns. So it can't be dangerous if favorite old actors used it. Like Roy Rogers! (I miss the Double-R burger at his fine eating establishments...) If the SHTF and Katrina style flooding hit Silver Spring, folks might panic less to see me carrying this gun around compared to carrying around a black scary rifle. See? Not scary is it?:


And walnut is pretty.

Ash, from Army of Darkness was able to beat back an undead horde and a Super-Witch with something similar, and the gun showed it's ability to knock undead assailants 20 feet backward on impact. (well it certainly was a lever gun of some type. it might have been like the lever action shotgun the Terminator used in T2 Judgement Day) That HAS to be true, and that is DEFINITELY good. (What?) Anyhoo, a proven zombie slayer.


(Clattoo Verata Nicto, baby.)

It wasn't too expensive.

I can shoot it at indoor gun ranges that only take pistol calibers.

I can mount a scope on it, as it has the holes tapped for that already. Even an EOTech Red-Dot scope. On a lever gun. That would look wonderful.

It's a John Moses Browning design, and I like the man's work.

Not bad.

And luckily, the one I got shoots like a dream, here at 50 yards:



I am pleased.

Quotes and Anecdotes from MBtGE

My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast sent me some quotes in a "forwarded email" kind of way. You know, like those annoying chain-letter emails your mother-in-law sends that want you to forward to a mess of friends and Bill Gates will donate a dollar to cancer research if you do, and the message is all sappy and stuff. This one is different. First: It's not sappy. Second: I actually LIKE the quotes, so I repost them here.

1. John Steinbeck once said: "Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."


2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.


3. I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy.


4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.


5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him "Why do you carry a 45?" The Ranger responded, "Because they don't make a 46."


6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.


7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. "Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?" "No Ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle."


8. Beware the man who only has one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!


9. I was once asked by a lady visiting if I had a gun in the house. I said I did. She said "Well I certainly hope it isn't loaded!" To which I said, of course it is loaded, can't work without bullets!" She then asked, "Are you that afraid of some one evil coming into your house?" My reply was, "No not at all. I am not afraid of the house catching fire either, but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are all loaded too." To which I'll add, having a gun in the house that isn't loaded is like having a car in the garage without gas in the tank.

Taurus

Taurus has a lesser reputation. I sort of agree. If you are going to pop down $500 for a revolver, you might as well come up with a couple hundred more and get a Smith and Wesson. Smith and Wesson doesn't have the volume of anecdotes of "then I had to send it back to the factory because it came out of the box broken." Plus I don’t like the 2-dot sight system Taurus uses.

But they DO make a .45 ACP 'Colt 1917' style revolver, and that is on my tertiary list. (I saw it on NRAhab) By being on the tertiary list it is obviously not a type that I must have or would use primarily. For a backup gun, maybe a little economy is in order.

So I am entertaining the possibility of the Taurus for a .45 ACP revolver and will adjust the Master List accordingly.

Here's a picture of the Colt original 1917 model:

And the Taurus version. Dunno about that silly porting, but it's not on the snub versions of same. And they don't make them anymore, so I'd have to buy it used. Boo.

All is not lost if Taurus versions are scarce in the used market. I saw 3 various 1917 models in the case at Bass Pro, so the model isn't going away.

April Rifle Range Report

The weather was glorious, dry and in the low 80's, and we couldn't have picked a nicer day to head out to Clark Brothers.

We did this on Saturday the 19th. A prestigious anniversary I was unaware of until Tam enlightened me.

And I got to put a bunch of new stuff through their paces.

My Garand was up first. It has the new Scout cope from Luepold to zero, and it needed it. But adjusting it was simple and soon it was right where I wanted it. A little high and centered at 100 yards. You can see me walking the scope in at 50 yards:

Then I took the scope off, and tried the iron sight. They were still good, naturally. 7 clicks up to get what I wanted there. Same as always. I put the scope back on to see if it would return to zero. I bought decent Leupold rings just for this, figuring I'd have repeatability with something other than budget rings. And the zero was still where I wanted it, so I'm happy. I'd only rarely take it off from this point forward. 'I' stands for iron, or ARN if you prefer, at 25 yards:

Here it is at 100 after reattaching the scope:

And at 100 with correction. We had My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast's astronomical telescope for spotting holes at this range:

And a little more correction and we are good, or good for me:

The Garand did slam fire once. I'm pretty sure it's the ammo I have to buy from Clark Bros. It's American Eagle, and the primers are just too thin. According tot he internet, American Eagle is the budget Federal brand, and I've seen reports that Federal does use such primers

One BAD thing about the Garand. Once in a blue moon after leaving it in the cabinet for a while the bolt just won't open. I can jiggle the operating rod all day long and it won't come loose. It's never done this during a firing session, just when cold, out of the cabinet or sleeve. If it DID, I bet it'd bend up the operating rod, with my luck. Well it did it this time as I broke it out for the first shoot. I took it to the gunsmith to unstick it and see what he thought. He had no long term solution. The next time it does it, I'm going to take the time to comb over every part to see where it is sticking, stem to stern. It could be up at the gas cylinder, or the back of the bolt, though originally I always thought it was the fore end of the bolt. The area around the firing pin could be it. Maybe if I dry fired it, it would loosen up. Hmmm.

Other than that I was happy with it.

Speaking of slamfire... A guy there had a brand new, to him, SKS. His first clip of 10 the thing slam fired 4 in a row after a few singles. Needless to say, he was done with it for the day until he could do something about it. His 7.62x39 ammo was the same brand that I used with the Garand, so the same light primer applied to his problem. There is an aftermarket firing pin with a spring that can be applied to his problem.

My BAG, "Gummint Cheez" gun was tried out. Marlin 1894 in .357. Sweet. The first two trying rounds were very nice. And the others aren't so bad either.

And it shot well every round. I am so happy Nancy Pelosi is sending me money to pay for this. Thanks Nancy! You're the greatest. Don't look so surprised that I gave you a complement! What? You ALWAYS look surprised? Oh. Anyway, these are the last 4 rounds I shot with it:

All deer killers, even in that 6 ring.

MBtGE had some guns to try out. A Savage .22 with that accu-trigger, a Henry AR-7 survival rifle, and his AR-10

The .22 holes on this one are from the Savage, and the Henry a bit low and left:

The first round I shot with the savage was the bulls eye. I've been doing that a lot. Shooting very well with the first round. Great for hunting if that is a habit. I am not convinced I like that accu-trigger on the Savage, but I can't fault the gun for it's accuracy. The Henry's trigger is a little funky, and that may explain why it shoots down there. But I always seem to shoot left with .22s, pistols and rifles, so I must be blamed for some of that. You can see some .357 holes on there as well. Did I mention I was pleased with the Marlin 1894?

I don't have a target to show how I shot with the AR, but that thing is ACCURATE. I was pleasantly surprised. I will have to bad mouth ARs less in the future. Of course it WAS chambered in a manly .308. MBtGE got a good deal on it, and it is in its original Armalite factory configuration and he has shot less than 200 rounds through it. He wants to customize it and was thinking of selling it to fund a different AR-10, like the one from Panther DPMS. But this guns shoots too good. You can't sell a good shooter. People always regret it. So I guess another AR is in his future.

That star gazer telesope we used as a spotter has a video-out feed. Our next trick with it is to set it up with a lap top or even a projection system so we can keep track of where the rounds strike like keeping score at a bowling alley. This thing can see .17 caliber holes at 100 yards, no problem.

Book Meme

the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
2. Find page 123.
3. Find the first three sentences.

"When Suffolk met Margeret he was forty eight and she fifteen. He was a suave, experienced man of the world with cultivated charm, while she was a young, untried girl about to leave her family and the land of her birth for a strange husband and new life. Suffolk was kindly and avuncular, and made no secret of his admiration; she was flattered and susceptible to his warmth."

It's from a History on The War of the Roses, I SWEAR!

Still....

Zombie Wiki

If something is worth knowing it is worth making an online encyclopedia about it.

Zombie Survival Wiki

Second April Range Report

Went to range again. Then we went to a Happy Hour. Shooting then drinking is much preferred to drinking then shooting.


The first magazine was GREAT. I am very pleased. Loading 5 mags next to a guy shooting a magnum, I thought the flinch factor would be intensified. After enduring the pressure waves while loading, I stopped a moment, took a deep breath and tried to relax. I took to heart the lessons from the last trip: lock the elbow, front sight, be patient. I was rewards with the best group I’ve ever shot. See:




Still low and right, but if I shot that well, with a .45 at 25 feet, EVERY time, I could live with it. I have never shot an entire magazine and had them practically all touching. No fliers either.


The other guys with me, Corky, Chuckles, and Winston Wolfe also had a good initial magazine. It was unreal. Like the planets were aligned.


Then our accuracy fell off for the remaining ammo. Dunno why. Maybe the flinch hit us from our OWN guns, combined with the magnum in the next lane. Odd.


My groups were in the standard place for me. But the good group confirms it is not the gun, it is the shooter. As I suspected, but reinforcement is always a good thing. I had Corky and Chuckles try my pistol as well. Corky’s standard flaw with his own guns is shooting a hair left and he gets the same with mine, and it turns out Chuckles favors just a hair low and right with my 1911, as you can see with the following target test. Corky is top:



I was half considering adjusting the rear sight over to the left to move my worst groups to more of a center. I don’t think that is prudent. Better to fix the shooter than gimp the gun customizing it to shoot true, but by compensating for my poor technique.


Wolfe and Chuckles shoot Ruger and Buckmark .22s respectively, and they let my play with their mag loader. It works nifty! I highly recommend them.

For improvement for next time, I think I might try the revolver with 3 rounds in the cylinder, randomized. To work on flinch. That’s what is making me shoot low, I am pretty sure. Anticipating the recoil I, and many others, push forward at the last moment. I also want to maybe grip just a bit more firmly. Not strangle hard. The purpose of this is to maybe improve the trigger pull with a bit more steady “foundation” and not squeeze my thumb while squeezing the index finger. Patience, as always, is important to work on. Sum: Flinch drill, bit more squeeze, patience, remember to breath. Plus the other stuff from last time.


It is AMAZING how quickly the arms tire when shooting. Not much, but enough to make the grip and stance and aim shaky. Some weights held out at arms length and some long-term living room dry firing may be in order, too.

N00bie shooters

I have never recruited any true non-shooters to take up a weapon and make holes in paper. Like Armed Canadian did.

I did INSPIRE some guys, that already had the propensity to go shooting, but just hadn’t gotten around to it, to start up, or start up again, in earnest. Now.

And they didn’t just pay for range fees, buy ammo, and paper targets. They became range members with yearly dues, they took their kid to Hunter Safety Training, and they BOUGHT firearms. More than one, each, actually. And all the accouterments that go with them, like range bags and gunsafes and spare magazines and such. I’m mainly talking about Chuckles and Corky here, but there are others around us inspired to go blasting at paper circles and all that entails.

I’ve even inspired MBtGE to do new things. He had let his NRA membership lapse, and now he has renewed it partly because I got one. He was sold on the utility of the 9mm and .223, but my research for my own purchases, and bouncing those ideas off him, got HIM to reconsider the .45 and .308 because that was where my conclusions were leading me. Now he is sold on the concept. I can’t take all the credit, as it was Jeff Cooper that led me that way. And some of the other folks on my blogroll. (I’m looking at YOU Tamara…) That and my own prejudices and awareness of American military history. And all this rethink and my contagious enthusiasm accelerated MBtGE’s acquisition rate.

If I ever start shooting more accurately than MBtGE I bet he buckles down to exceed me again and will try to stay ahead from that point on, so I may continue to inspire someone much more advanced than me.

All I need to do now is get someone who has NEVER fired a gun interested, familiarized, and competent with some shooting of their own. And to see that person go out and purchase a gun of their own. Then it will have come full circle. I will officially have added to the ranks.

Sorry

Sorry about all the political and 2nd amendment posts the last couple of weeks. I try to stick to the topic and if I let my guard down I venture far afield. I can complain about politics all day long here, but rants like that are a dime a dozen on these here internets.

I will redouble my efforts to post about the truly important stuff: Range Reports, Wishlists, and Zombie Preparation.

Appleseed

There is a group that does weekend shooting and training you can find at appleseedinfo.org.

I need more info to be sure they aren’t REAL wackos plotting to overthrow the gov’t and take revenge for Waco and Ruby Ridge. I don’t need the headache of being on Homeland Security list for that kind of thing. Occasionally I need to fly to visit my Mother. I doubt they are that kind of group, but want to make sure they are nothing more than a modern rifle-shooting enthusisast group with and Amercian Revolutionary War interest tacked on. If that is indeed what they are then they are right up my alley.

They get kinda close in November, with an event Mechanicsburg VA. Coupla three hours from here. If they are just ‘gun wackos’ that is good, because, well, a lot of my friends are that kind. Nice people too. Despite what Democrat politicians say.

Most importantly, they can instruct the HECK out of me, and for a reasonable fee entry fee. I’ll try to get MBtGE to come with. There is plenty of time to consider. It is hunting season, though, so… It may be a toss up.

I’d love to get some comments from people that have attended or links to a blog with an After-Action report on an event.

They use paper targets and stopwatches to gauge your skill and to simulate 500 yard man-sized silhouettes, I believe. Obviously the outline is smaller to represent a zombie very far away, and I bet they instruct how to adjust your iron sights elevation for the REAL, long-distance, thing. I’d bring the Garand and… gulp, 500 rounds. I don’t think I’ll have a spare rifle. MAYBE the .22 bolt action in case the Garand breaks in such a way I can’t attend to it. I doubt I will have acquired an M1A, and if I do, I’ll have had to have a few weekends of prep time to familiarize myself and break the new rifle in.

Heh, as an aside, I still have issue calling magazines, ‘clips’, and part of the problem if I use a Garand. What it uses for reloads are properly called clips: En-bloc clips. Not that big a deal, but it makes me look like an idiot when I call my 1911 mags clips.

April Pistol Range Report

I went to the range last week. Indoor Pistol at OnTarget's range. And I stunk up the joint. I seemed to forget everything I learned.

To correct for a possible flinch problem, I went in with double ears. Plugs and 'headphone' cans. It did seem to help. Much less feelings of anxiety from random booms at neighbor lanes. That was the last thing I did right for a little while.

The first thing I noticed wrong was that I was focusing on the target, not the rear sight. My usual impatience made me want to skip a step and instead of shoot, then look where you hit, then shoot, I was trying to do both at once, and that is not good. I corrected that flaw by the second target sheet. I was also testing two mags of hollowpoint by PNC for the bottom right hand corner of this first target sheet, as you can see, and I still notice a drop in accuracy in comparison with ball ammo. I wonder why that is?

As you can see I still go low and right, and there are a few more fliers than even I am used to.

I've noticed that Corky and Chuckles have already lapped me in skill, and I was the one that pushed them down the slope of recent firearm interest. They had previous training, but little with handguns. So I have mixed feelings. I just have to work harder and compete with myself. Not that I worry about them that much.

A thought occurred to me. When Chuckles takes his time he has VERY tight groups right on the bull. So to confirm that my problem is me, and not my 1911, I had him shoot my pistol at the top right hand corner of the following.




Well look at that! It pulled for Chuckles, low and right. Just a little, but he is very accurate. Hmmm. Before I go nuts I'm gonna sacrifice some more ammo and have him try it again next time. Corky too. I'd be very happy if it was the gun, but what are the chances? I always figured it HAD to be the n00b shooter. Me, in other words. If I adjusted the sight and it only shot my usual groups, but centered and a little low I'd be ecstatic.

Corky rememberd a tip from self defense pioneer Massad Ayoob, who recommended squeezing the grip hard until it trembled, then back off the pressure a little bit. I tried that before too and it seemed to work, so I tried that again. Results were worse and I shot the group that is low and spread on the top left here:

I gave up on super grip squeeze.

While doing that, I realized I was bending my shooting elbow. So I had the wrong stance the whole time. Wrong for me. I locked the left elbow, bent the right elbow, and shot the much better group at the same target, everything inside the circle. But I was already getting tired. 100 rounds is a lot. I think I'll stick to 75 a session from now on. After that last decent group my fatigue was affecting my accuracy from then on out.

My speed is good, but it also part of my problem. I should be more patient and deliberative while trying to improve. Relax and enjoy.

I tried out the new Lula Universal loader and it works well and saved my finger tip from cuts from the magazine.

So, for next time, remember:Front sight. Patience. Lock the left elbow. Try again.

One last thing. I tried Corky's new Sig Mosquito .22 and here are the results:

Notice that there are no holes in the lower right? Now what the heck? Come to think of it, every .22 I shoot shoots to the left of center for me.

Dangit!

Also...

"And not one red cent for Russia!"

-O. Long

Pensacola, FL

Why AREN'T we giving them MORE power?

Everybody loves the gov't and the gov't loves us.


And protects us. Wraps us in a secure warm blanket of love. And gives us gifts!


And it asks for next to nothing in return for all this. You just have to do what they tell you and give them what they ask. And what's wrong with that? It's not like the gov't wields its power recklessly, or that it would ever go overboard and abuse that big chunk of nigh absolute power. Right?

Why are we giving them MORE power?

NO ONE likes the gov’t. ALL gov’t has an inefficiency built in. Waste, minor graft, impersonal beuracratic abuses exist even in the most duty bound and benign department. And the US Gov’t is basicly that. We don’t have it in our cultural DNA to be TOO abusive from on high. Oh sure there are some pretty nasty things lain at the feet of our gov’t, but relatively speaking it’s not as nasty as their contemporaries. Militant Germans, Revolutionary Russians, Nationalist Chinese, Jacobin French… the list goes on... ALL have worse evils on their score card than any the US Body Politic has perpetrated and racked up at its worst. Small consolation for the ones ground up under the local boot heel, yes.

Plus there is the whole problem of the gov’t DOING something on a subject that they don’t really know much about. Kim DuToit started in, from inspiration by Doctor Thomas Sowell, on this:

Until Wilson, or maybe even Lincoln we had built in safeguards. Disperse power and keep it small to avoid any one parts graft and corruption from doing too much harm when that graft and corruption manifests itself.

Ok, I’m going to say Lincoln’s stretches of power did more good than harm. So we’ll stop with him. If we get to a Lincoln level of gov’t, then, THEN we can argue if it is too oppressive. But Wilson was a monster. His War Socialism was a Great Leap Forward in the ‘telling you common folk what to do for your own good’ and ‘the ends justifying the means’. His was the start. He made it possible for FDR’s over-reach and explosion of gov’t, and LBJ’s after him then History’s Greatest Monster, James Earl Carter. So bad was this power expansion that we think Reagan’s minor gains in the other direction were reactionary.

Left not forget Teddy Roosevelt. His certainty and self-rightiousness, while not overly burdensome, was the germ of an idea that led to the monster Wilson. But at least Teddy realized his folly and opposed Wilson, recognizing that public officials aren’t necessarily the peoples servant, as he tried to be, but can strive to be the ‘People’s Master’ and a Horror which no one contemplated. Plus he thought Wilson a namby pamb. Teddy couldn't abide one of those milk sops, and worked his entire life throwing of the soppitude he was born into himself.

Oh sure, we’re Americans. We try to be nice about it, when we tell you how to live your life. We try to have noble intentions. It just doesn’t work out that way. A goodly portion of the American public does NOT want to be domestic animals, and chafe at the gov’t yoke. Another portion just wants stick their nose into your bidness and tell you what to do. It's been like that since the 1600s, with Frontiersman (in the wilds of NEW ENGLAND of all places) and the Puritans butting heads.

The solution? Well a smaller gov’t works to that. Paying attention to our inherent checks and balances. In most things gov’t can be small and a petty tyrant impacts fewer people when strangled off from large parts of the Treasury and confines him to petty matters. And where the gov’t HAS to be big, you have to rely on the checks and balances to keep the power in check and causing the least harm. That and our tradition of niceness. For example, our Cincinnatus tradition that was started by George Washington himself. Where he served as Commander and could have seized power, but instead returned to Mt. Vernon to resume his life of Gentleman Planter. The tradition continued in the themes that Eisenhower warned us about; a military industrial complex over stretching it’s boundries. He wasn't anti-military by any means, but he new a check was needed, written or not. Even now our professional military is very comfortable with heeding the call and then returning to the ‘farm’ when the duty is done.

Don’t trust crusaders that sound the alarm about some new problem and have a solution all ready to solve it when that solution entails, “first, YOU give ME a bunch of power over you…” The problem could be oppressed workers ‘suffering’ under capitalism, too much bug spray in the air killing robins, a coming ice age from our pollutants blocking out the sun, or a coming heatwave from our pollutants holding in the heat. Don’t trust them ESPECIALLY if they appeal to a desire to protect the little children.

Don’t trust them when their solution is a TWO whole brand new gov’t entities that make ordinary people queue up into lines, take off their clothes and remove their fingernail files, all to prevent a recurrence of an event that now would never come off. 6 men are not going to ever gain control of an airplane with knives. The passengers won’t stand for it. Their actions have ended hijacking forever because people's internal policy of "be calm and sit quiet, do what they say, and we can all get out of this alive" has been fundamentally wrong.

And we don’t need the federal gov’t enforcing the laws on crimes that the local beat cop used to do. But if you shrink the gov’t and you will choke off superfluous law enforcement agencies. And other things. Let us complainers complain about bigger themes and let the power chasers chase power as long as that power is small.

Lie-In/Die-In Protests

A popular anti-civil rights pro-disarmament of gun victims protest technique lately is to do a Lie-In. Where 32 people fall down and lie still to represent the murdered Virginia Tech Students. Their implication is, if you ban the guns you ban the murderers. They hope their symbolism is effective at swaying feelings, if it lacks arguement.

The pro-civil rights self-defense side, OUR side, could do the same thing. 32 pro-gun folks could protest anti-gun legislation proposals by falling down "dead". But all with obviously empty holsters on their hips to represent how the government made them helpless to defend themselves against a gun wielding madman, and that same government accepts no responsibility for their individual protection. Symbolic, yes, and a strategy of fighting their fire with our own, in the protest theater department. Just a thought.

Wal Mart, Boooooo

Well Wal-Mart farted in our proverbial elevator, having allied with anti-civil rights and victim disarmament types like Mayor Bloomberg and his MAIG organization. All to curry favor and perhaps get a New York location to sell their ChiCom goods. I'm all for Capitalism and loved Wal-Mart's success story, bringing inexpensive goods to everyone with innovations in efficiency and super volume wholesale levels.

It's one thing to be neutral. Stop selling guns in some stores, maybe. That is is their perogative and I can respect that. But THIS move is sleeping with the enemy. It steps on our rights.

Of course they weren't a huge source of stuff for me, but I did buy ammo there. There are no stores around my house but there is one up by my work, and I did buy ammo there, and other things. Lunch break kinda purchases. I had nothing against going there, though, and would never hesitate buying stuff if there was a store near where I was when I needed something. Not anymore.

Needless to say, like many gun-types, I won't be shopping there ever again. And I want them to know it. I want them to know that I'd rather spend 25% more at Sears or Target (Target was iffy with recent rumors it was supporting anti-hunting and anti gun groupd, but they are apparently unfounded, with no actually citation indicting them) than give Wal-Mart my money. I'll get ammo somewhere else. My gun dealer for one. Bass Pro for another.

But that's not enough.

Losing a single customer is no skin off them. What else is there I can do to hurt them?

Well, I mentioned there is no Wal-Mart near me. Why? I live in an inner suburb. Chock full of immigrant families that don't mind bargain prices, a Wal-Mart would be perfect. Well the liberal county I live in doesn't like Wal-Mart. Liberal politicians around here are beholden to their Union support and the Union doesn't like Wal-Marts labor practices and worker compensation, so Wal-Mart building is resisted.

Here is how I hurt Wal-Mart. The county and state is going to elect liberal Democrat types no matter what, anyway, and no matter who I vote for. By 2 to 1. But I can talk to my representatives. Write letters of support. Give them accolades, attaboy, and hosannas, all for CONTINUING to fight the good fight against Wal-Mart. Insist that my elected public servants know that I am behind them 100% on their effort to pressure what few stores there are in the 60 mile radius to pay living wages and insist on a closed union shop. Suggest that they give no sibsidies but insist if a store DOES want to open up that it 'invest in the local community.' (that's politician speak for 'extortion') A politician can do a really good job at sidling up to Wal-Mart officers and saying, "That's an awful pretty big box store you got there. It'd be a shame if anything... happened to it... But if you were prepared to give generous HMOs to all your employees, and something for the ol' campaign coffers, maybe I can help you keep and eye on your nice store. Keep it safe from the new Big Box Tax On Stores With 'W' in Their Name..." And a really good politician can go ahead and vote for the Big Box Tax anyway. It wouldn't be the first time that happened in Maryland.

And politicians remember. That guy (Me) that wrote letters was a good supportive constituent on his counter Wal-Mart crusade. That politician will at least listen a bit more on other issues. Even 2nd Amendment issues.

We can go postal on them! Not like the old days of the 1990s where some idjit with a grudge and murderous rage management issues would go to their letter processing HQ and kill people. No, write letter expressing our support or disappointment with regards to their deportment. Simple, well-worded missives that expound on our rational and reasonable concerns.

I look forward to the day that verb "to go postal" reverts to that letter writing campaign meaning, for what it's worth.

THAT is how you hurt Wal-Mart. A boycott is lost sales. Money they never had. A politician sticking their nose in it COSTS them. Money they already counted on.

That little yellow smiley on all the price tags will look like this:

Sam Walton is probably spinning in his grave over all this.

In Local News

There was an incident in a local high school a week or so ago. A gun went off in the boys room. Why? Well there was a bit of buying and selling going on and someone forgot the 1st rule. So after the gun show loophole is closed, the anti-gun forces will concentrate on the Illegal Boys Washroom Room Loophole next?

The school went on lockdown, arrests were made. Illegal, gun-dealing high school maggots were hauled off the hoosegow, along with a 20 year old that didn't attend that institution of gov't learning and indoctrination.

The funny thing is, it didn't spark calls for more gun control in order to make the illegal acts 'more illegaller.' You see, private sales of handguns among people that are ALL under the age of 21 is already a no-no. Other laws were also broken. Stolen firearms, attempted sale of stolen items, guns in 'Gun Free Zone'. SO. No fresh laws needed. And in this case, fresh laws weren't even attempted/contemplated.

Perhaps this was too small fry for the Brady type people to make a stink. They figured they should keep their powder dry and pull the trigger on fresh legislation when the after-action details are more lurid and sensational. A bigger flash in the pan can get the Gun Control types to come out loaded for bear, perhaps. Say, if a student was injured by the negligent terlet area discharge. A tragedy draws in more national media attention and they'd get bigger bang for their buck. Then there would be shouts of "Do it for the CHILDREN!" and new legislation to ban .50 caliber ammo, or somesuch unrelated nonsense.

Coffee Mug meme

JayG of the Volksrepublik had an entry about a meme goin round.

A coffee mug meme. As in, 'SHOW US YER MUG'

Mine:

It's my mugshot. Nevermind the IPA and empty bottle of bourbon. Rough weekend.

If you can't read it it says: "Whom have YOU exposed to Syphilis? Tell your physician!"

To which I always reply, "What, today? This month? Or lifetime?"

I gotta get a better camera.

BAG Day

BAG Day stands for Buy A Gun Day. Everybody buys a gun on BAG day. It's the 15th of April so you can remember the government your tax dollars support, and maybe have a refund to help fund it, or at least know what your budget is if you have to cut a check this time of year. And despite my swearing up and down I was through with Marlin...

I bought a Marlin. ~sigh~

Isn't that pretty? Decent walnut figure. I'm a sucker for walnut.

It's the 1894c I said I was gonna put on hold because I was disappointed with Marlin's latest offerings, quality wise. This is a well cared for used one. It was either this or 3 times the money for the M1A on the top of my list. So this does better things to my wallet, and the M1A can wait till January 2009.

I don't have it yet, as it has to be shipped to my FFL dealer first, but it's on the way. I have a tracking number and everything.

Here's a plus, it was made before 1984, so there is better manufacturing quality, and more importantly, the loathed crossbolt safety is absent. And that was my preference already.

Corky got his Mosquito .22 for HIS BAG day:

Chuckles got a Browning Buckmark for his. But no scope on it like this one:

Frozen got a couple. An SKS, and an M44 Mosin. Here's the Mosin. Inexpensive Russian bolt action firing 7.62x54. He's happy.

MBtGe got a VERY expensive shotgun. Merkel over and under. He wanted a 'pretty' gun. Pretty pricy at $8 grand! He had to sneak it into the house because he used a pile of money no one knows about. Don't tell his missus...

All these BAG guns are from my influence, sparking interest in Frozen, Chuckles, and Corky. MBtGE got ME interested in shooting, but got HIM interested in pretty guns. I still can't believe he went that route, but, I'm not gonna criticise him, certainly. His wife may well kill me as well as him when she learns, sadly, so if I stop posting suddenly for a few months it means I got dead. At her hands. So Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don't snitch on him.

memes

24

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Created by OnePlusYou


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Collectors Firearms

Drooooooooooooool...

Collectors Firearms.

If I was a collector

AND I had the wherewithal…. I’d collect every firearm Browning ever designed. Decent versions of each type, and as close to the patent date as possible.

I’m sure I’m not the only one that has thought of this. I bet there are more than a few Browning collections out there.

Collector can love a finite and defined subset to put boundries on their obscession. Sure there are stamp collectors that know it is impossible to get them all, but there are other collectors that appreciate the limits. For example: The Stanley Rule and Level Company of Bridgeport Connecticut made and developed tools for the workman, and numbered them. They did this from the 1860s until a little after WWII when other tools and machines took over from their hand powered types. You can pick a tool types, like hand planes or rulers, and collect one of each. I know some of the handplane collectors. The numbers go from 1 to 444, with one or two duplicates and some gaps in the upper numbers. But the planes are well documented. You CAN get them all. And after you do you can STILL collect by getting a nicer version of each. It’d take more than a lifetime of looking and pretty deep pockets to get a hardware store new version of each tool.

For boomsticks with an open ended collector pit to fall down, better to get a milsurp rifle from all major countries thoughout time. Aaaargh has done a good job down this path. They are like Stamp collecting. You’ll never get them all. Dang Philatelists. So obscene.

The thing about collectors… the acquisition becomes as important as the object. And you don’t want to FINISH. If you do you’ll have to figure out something else to collect. That’s a danger in collecting Browning stuff. With enough money to afford em, you can FINISH pretty quick. Then you risk losing interest in the tool stuff (or shooty stuff) and you switch over to bottle caps or comic books or steam powered farm equipment.

Better to get a milsurp rifle from all major countries throughout time. Aaaargh has done a good job down this path.

I like looking at these tool collections, but I don’t want to collect myself. I have a few handtools and like the tool’s function, and futz with them in the shop a bit, but I don’t need a $2500 version of a common woodworking tool. Even if I had money to spare.

But if I had money to spare I WOULD want an armory with one of each of Brownings’s work. I don’t know why. The gun collection is much more expensive than a tool collection. There is almost zero chance I will even work down that collector’s road, seriously. Maybe that’s why I’d like to collect Browning weapons, because I know I will never have to.

And yes I’d collect the machine guns too. This is all assuming I win Powerball or a Goerge Soros turns out to be my long lost Uncle and wills all his money to me before he has a chance to give every dime to the Democrat National Committee. Since the Browning designed M2 Machine gun alone is north of $50,000, I'll need that kind of scratch

I’d have to have shooting/functioning versions of each, but some Browning firearms are more fun to shoot than others, so some in the collection will be played with more than others.

And collectors always like a spare or two in case one item breaks or fails. Spares means you can shoot the less valuable gun and preserve the pristine one, and have a source of parts for repairs.

I guess I HAVE started this collection though. Very informal. It just turns out that the practical functional firearms I want to play with are available in a pretty nigh-ideal form. And they just happen to be browning designs.


Here is a list of Browning designs from wikipedia, and I already have a version of the ones with ~~~, the ones with *** I REALLY kinda covet:



M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun
Colt Model 1897
FN Browning M1899/M1900
Colt Model 1900
Colt Model 1902
Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer (.38 ACP)
~~~Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless (.32 ACP)
Colt Model 1905, the first .45 ACP
Remington Model 8 (1906), a long recoil semi-automatic rifle
Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket (.25 ACP)
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless (.380 ACP)
FN Model 1910
~~~U.S. Model 1911, the first .45 ACP military handgun
Winchester Model 1886 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1887 lever-action repeating shotgun
Winchester Model 1890 slide-action repeating rifle (.22)
Winchester Model 1892 lever-action repeating rifle
***Winchester Model 1894 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1895 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1897 pump-action repeating shotgun
~~~Browning Auto-5 long recoil semi-automatic shotgun
U.S. Model 1917 water-cooled machine gun
Model 1919 air-cooled machine gun
Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) of 1917
Browning M2 .50-caliber heavy machine gun of 1921
***The Browning Hi-Power, the last pistol that John Browning developed
The Superposed over/under shotgun was designed by John Browning in 1922 and entered production in 1931

If I was a collector, I'd need as antique-y minty versions as I can get of all of them.

50 Year Old Pulp

David Codrea links to this whenever it comes up, but I love these old magazine issues so much I want to be sure my own loyal readers (both of them) see the link as well. A .pdf of Guns Magazine from 1958.

I can almost smell the musty, damp-paper, basement magazine smell wafting off the screen when I read it. I love that smell. It reminds me of my father's old Popular Mechanics form the 1960s. Magazines I read in the 80s. And the smell of my grand parents house, which, because it was on the water, had a mustiness acceleration factor. And THAT house was where I learned to drive and to shoot, back during the Reagan administration.

socialism

For you young whippersnappers that don't remember the Berlin Wall:

Socialism doesn't work! STOP voting for Socialists.

thank you.

Scout Conzept

I’ve read somewhere (sorry, I’ve forgotten where, dangit) that the Steyr company doesn’t make the Scout rifle anymore. Not enough sales.

The Scout concept came about through the efforts of Jeff Cooper in an attempt to design the perfect rifle. I’ve talked about it before. Basically, it is a lightweight (less than 7 pounds) magazine fed bolt-action rifle with a decent caliber (.308) with a forward of the receiver, long eye-relief scope.
I totally bought into this concept, but as I learn more about shooting, the more I hedge. I just don’t know.

Oh it’s still a great concept I respect, I just don’t know if it is ALL for me. And clearly it wasn’t for everyone else, or they’d still be making them to keep up with the demand.

I am drifting away from finding the perfect bolt action rifle for me (lefty, naturally) and settling on the next big rifle I get for a LONG time to be the M1A with a 10x NON-scout scope. And if I DID get a bolt action rifle, I’d get a 10x scope for that too. Not a scout scope at a mere 2.5x. So the scout concept isn’t realized here.

I like the scout scope I have mounted on my Garand, (I need to test it out a lot more, shooting) but that’s a Garand. Heavy, semi-auto rifle, only the scope and the basic reliability are features it shares with a true scout. But I am striking out on my own a little bit. I’m not willing to discard many, or ANY, of Colonel Cooper’s ideas, permanantly. That would foolish, as he was a wealth of info. But I’m not in lock-step, certainly. A scout style bolt action is furthest from my gun-acquisition mind, now though. But would I have a scout scope mounted on a Garand without Cooper’s prodding? No. The jury is still out on how I’ll like that setup.


So see? I adopt from Cooper what works for me and file away his ideas, just in case.

Where is my mind drifting now that diverges from Cooper opinion? Well, some of the modern optics intrigue. Red-Dot scope combinations, and the like. Night vision stuff, too. Cooper wasn’t impressed with them, as he heard of supply line troubles providing batteries to the troops, and when you run out Duracell juice, you are out of the fight. The market is addressing this deficiency, with 10,000 hour battery life, and swing-away scopes and the new buzz term "co-witness" with iron sights. Some optics work in daylight with no batteries, as you can see a permanent reticle. So coopers concerns are being addressed there. I am unaware of advances in night-vision scopes and helmet mounted night vision and the little gun mounted laser that goes with them that can only be seen (I think) with night-vision, but I am sure someone is trying to extend battery life there, too.

And I am thinking about those long battery life red-dot. We’ll see. Maybe just a simple EOTech type one on something like a Camp Carbine .45. I’ll have to see what I want for the M1A after I get it, but long-range scope and iron sights backup is what I hope for.

Cooper wouldn’t disapprove. He was conservative in his doctrines, but was always willing to change those doctrines if something demonstrably better came along. His problem was that very few ‘better’ things came along. He’d grab onto the good like a gold nugget washing past in a stream.

CRISIS IN THE HEARTLANDS!!!!!!!

McCain will unveil
plan to help homeowners who have 'burdensome' mortgages
During a business roundtable today in Brooklyn, Republican presidential candidate John McCain will propose what he calls a HOME plan that would give "every deserving American family or homeowner the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects the market value of their home."

Heh, I have a 30 year fixed mortgage at 5.25% on a house I bought 10 years ago.

I've watched it triple in price to the peak last year. It's gone down a little bit, but it's still close to triple

I pay income taxes.

Payments are 1/7th my income, and I made half what I do now when I bought it.

Still... that payment is burdensome! It's a BIG check to write. 8 times bigger than my car payment, and my house doesn't even MOVE. I want free gov't money! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Why punish me with no free money when I did everything right? I should be rewarded! Gimme!

And Senator McCain (D-Arizona) can't tell me I don't deserve it. He doesn't know me! He can't dictate my needs. And I NEED a new flat screen HD TV, maid service, a garden shed, a Springfield M1A, and a few other items and gov't should have to pay for. The gov't should give ME what I want for once, instead of everyone else.

A manageable loan would be at 2% I think. No closing costs or fees. I have GREAT credit.

Why is it, when I did everything right I get punished by taking my money away and giving it to someone that did everything wrong and bought more house than they could afford? Why can't we just agree that I leave them alone and they leave me alone on most stuff? Why does gov't gotta always stick their nose in it?

And it's not just McCain. The other presidential contenders, the Congress, my Governor, all want to take my money and give it to some idjit that thinks he's entitled to it and shouldn't have to be responsible for himself. I pick on McCain because I naively think he's better than that. It may be a forlorn hope.

How come whenever there is a 'problem' the first thought people have is, "Well we can fix THIS with some Socialism!!!" It's almost like they had the solution ready to go and were just hunting around for a problem. Got bug spray killing all the robins and chickadees? Here's some Socialism! Too many people on the planet? Voila, Socialism. Ice Age a comin'? SOCIALISM! Hot age a comin'? Rub some Socialism on that, it'll clear right up. Smoot Hawley tariff killed imports/exports? Instead of opening up trade how bout we fix that with some Socialism? Everyone has access to healthcare but some people don't have the prestige of health INSURANCE? That's a problem this here Socialism can fix. And use some good ol' Socialism to pay for mortgages of the people that couldn't afford mortgages.

Where's that flat screen TV you people owe me? And that's just the start.

Sheesh.

{gun content... that M1A reference up there. I NEED it.}

8 Year Old Girl? Bad Crime Deterrent

From Reuters:

FL Lawmakers pass "take your guns to work" law

By Michael Peltier
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Most Florida residents would be allowed to take guns to work under a measure passed by Florida lawmakers on Wednesday.

The bill, allowing workers to keep guns in their cars for self-protection, was approved by the Florida Senate by a vote of 26-13. It now goes to Republican Gov. Charlie Crist to sign into law.

Backed by the National Rifle Association and some labor unions, the so-called "take-your-guns-to-work" measure would prohibit business owners from banning guns kept locked in motor vehicles on their private property.

Which is great, because people that did the "Take your daughter to work Day" were finding out that their daughter was HORRIBLE at protecting them from muggers and carjackers. At least compared to a defensive sidearm combined with good training.

Tamara and the 17th

Tamara has posted on a subject near and dear to my heart... repealing the 17th amendment. She wrote the essay I wish I had enough talent to write myself. Luckily, SHE does, so now I don't have to attempt it in my own fumbling manner.

THAT is a Jacobin amendment. It is impossible to repeal the 2nd (it's just one of a list of inalienable rights that can never be rightly taken, only taken via oppression), but THAT 17th one can be repealed in a second, as it is mere tinkering with the gov't structure parts of the Constitution.

Hooray Federalism.

Sadly, it is too obscure an issue to get any traction in a repeal effort. Only History geeks know about it and have an opinion about its efficacy.

Tam and I have the same opinion. And it isn't "repeal the 17th please." It's: "REPEAL THE GULDURN 17TH YESTERDAY, YOU INCOMPETENT MORON CHOWDERHEADS!!!"

6 Word Meme

DANGIT! JayG pegged me with this meme. I was dreading this possibility.

Anyhoo, here were the conditions.

1. Write your own six word memoire.


2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.


3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.


4. Tag at least five more blogs with links.


5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play....

Now I have no problem with the 6 word memoire. Here are a few:

N00b jerked trigger, shot low, right!

N00b can't find butt with Leupold!

N00b no write Englisch gud? Unpossible!

N00b amazes with shooting skill, modesty!

And here is a picture that covers most all of them:

But tagging bloggers? THAT's hard. Very few people love me.

RobertaX already did one. Can't give it to her.

Tam? I dunno if she likes me. She never responded to an offline email I sent with a question about a 1911 torture test. And she may be feeling too low for meme foolishness. I bet her answer would be GOOD and snarky. And RobertX would have tagged her, certainly. So I'll leave her alone.

I guess I can send it to MBtGE Sooper Seekrit blog.

The Chied, Sailor Curt alread got pinged.

I don't think Breda has been hit up with it yet. [UPDATE: She HAS. It was a good one too. ]

I'll send it to my fellow Marylander, Armed Canadian.

.... and I'm gonna have to call for volunteers now. To make my quota.

Oooo, forgot the Firearm Blog!

And maybe Denise of the Ten Ring

Know It All

Isn't this great? I know next to nothing about guns, yet I have stretched that lack of knowledge to over 200 blog entries. I sure can slice the baloney thin.

I hope I have done a good job on topic choices and keeping it relatively focused to my original "follow this n00bie on a voyage of discovery. with guns." The thing about all blogs, they are not really about the stated subject so much. At least half of the material is about the internet. And that subject pit is bottomless. Expound away!

And I do repeat myself. Often for emphasis. On important stuff. It's a good thing to be repetitive about safety and practicing to increase your skills. Don't you think?

I'm not really a know-it-all on guns. That's just an affectation I put on to entertain you.