Sunday, October 31, 2010
New Blaster
Got a new gun from the gun store place.
It's a Col. James Fizziwig design out of his company Nemesis Now LTD or it may also be known as CJF Industries (est. 1849). They don't have much of an online presence, these. The model is called "The Big Daddy" and it's a doozy!
(Please excuse the dust. I haven't been able to replace the cleaning woman just yet. One 'Incident' and word gets round and no service will let me engage them. What's a bachelor Gentleman like myself to do.)
The thing runs off of photons, and uses genuine Ossotronic valve gauges. It's really a wonder of engineering. But the 'ammo' is expensive! (and it may well be radioactive...) It'll take me a while to build up a supply, but it's worth the effort.
As is the gun. Worth every farthing. The thing has very little kick. Honest Injun. I was expecting .51 Magnum, but it seemed less than a .38 +P.
As you can see, it could cause some serious damage. The trigger is ok. About the same as my 1911, or perhaps a little worse. Not too mushy. Not as good as a single action revolver like my S&W 686. And, like most guns, I shoot it low and right. That's my fault. And that one hole on the lowest part was a flier from my first shot, I was too excited and still learning the operation. There is a slight pause you have to account for, but I think I can tighten up the shot grouping after a bit more familiarization. Like I mentioned, it kicks less than the .22 with shorts in the cylinder. I should do much better. 10 yards was the range.
It's a 6 shooter, naturally. The ergonomics could be a bit better. The grip is reminiscent of the 1896 "Broomstick" Mauser. Where have I seen that pattern on a blaster before? That cylinder is larger than the Taurus Judge. And it was made for a righty. The safety is only on that side. But there were instructions on how to pin the safety down, in the box. I wonder if they drop tested the design? An unexpected discharge would light up the room.
I only got the three rounds off at the range because, for one, I mentioned the expense of the cylinder charges that serve for ammunition, and secondly, we noticed daylight coming out of the backstop of the range. Oops. Glad there was an hill behind the store. Luckily no one was hurt. Thirdly, the damn paper thing smoldered and smoked and if I left the target down range much longer it might have gone up in flames. Next time I must try iron plating of some sort.
Way too bulky to CCW. But woe betide any blackgaurd or ruffian that comes to my door plotting mortal mischief. Especially if I am in my cups and well past my 7th Vodka Gimlet or Gin Rickey and heading toward my usual 14th or 15th. Ooo, that reminds me. My Urban Assault Conveyance would make a poor back stop. If I ever wanted to ride it again. I better move it. And I must lay in more stocks of bourbon. It's well past Labor Day. I should be drinking the brown spirits at this point. See if I had a woman in twice a week... I thought I was helpless without my batman. PO1 Brindell. (I didn't rate a Chief, or CPO.)
Oddly enough, the ATF hasn't classified this as a firearm. Yet. But I'm not telling. No sirree, Sonny-Jim.
Bonus: I'll be ready for any killer-robut uprising.
It's a Col. James Fizziwig design out of his company Nemesis Now LTD or it may also be known as CJF Industries (est. 1849). They don't have much of an online presence, these. The model is called "The Big Daddy" and it's a doozy!
(Please excuse the dust. I haven't been able to replace the cleaning woman just yet. One 'Incident' and word gets round and no service will let me engage them. What's a bachelor Gentleman like myself to do.)
The thing runs off of photons, and uses genuine Ossotronic valve gauges. It's really a wonder of engineering. But the 'ammo' is expensive! (and it may well be radioactive...) It'll take me a while to build up a supply, but it's worth the effort.
As is the gun. Worth every farthing. The thing has very little kick. Honest Injun. I was expecting .51 Magnum, but it seemed less than a .38 +P.
As you can see, it could cause some serious damage. The trigger is ok. About the same as my 1911, or perhaps a little worse. Not too mushy. Not as good as a single action revolver like my S&W 686. And, like most guns, I shoot it low and right. That's my fault. And that one hole on the lowest part was a flier from my first shot, I was too excited and still learning the operation. There is a slight pause you have to account for, but I think I can tighten up the shot grouping after a bit more familiarization. Like I mentioned, it kicks less than the .22 with shorts in the cylinder. I should do much better. 10 yards was the range.
It's a 6 shooter, naturally. The ergonomics could be a bit better. The grip is reminiscent of the 1896 "Broomstick" Mauser. Where have I seen that pattern on a blaster before? That cylinder is larger than the Taurus Judge. And it was made for a righty. The safety is only on that side. But there were instructions on how to pin the safety down, in the box. I wonder if they drop tested the design? An unexpected discharge would light up the room.
I only got the three rounds off at the range because, for one, I mentioned the expense of the cylinder charges that serve for ammunition, and secondly, we noticed daylight coming out of the backstop of the range. Oops. Glad there was an hill behind the store. Luckily no one was hurt. Thirdly, the damn paper thing smoldered and smoked and if I left the target down range much longer it might have gone up in flames. Next time I must try iron plating of some sort.
Way too bulky to CCW. But woe betide any blackgaurd or ruffian that comes to my door plotting mortal mischief. Especially if I am in my cups and well past my 7th Vodka Gimlet or Gin Rickey and heading toward my usual 14th or 15th. Ooo, that reminds me. My Urban Assault Conveyance would make a poor back stop. If I ever wanted to ride it again. I better move it. And I must lay in more stocks of bourbon. It's well past Labor Day. I should be drinking the brown spirits at this point. See if I had a woman in twice a week... I thought I was helpless without my batman. PO1 Brindell. (I didn't rate a Chief, or CPO.)
Oddly enough, the ATF hasn't classified this as a firearm. Yet. But I'm not telling. No sirree, Sonny-Jim.
Bonus: I'll be ready for any killer-robut uprising.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Artful Use
Of the Gadsden Flag. Parody.
From that Comedy Central fake political rally in downtown DC.
From that Comedy Central fake political rally in downtown DC.
Distill it all down
The difference between the political left and the political right? One side thinks a 'need' is an ojective rather than subjective notion. The other side thinks need has nothing to do with it.
Unreasonable Stuff
So, what gun restriction that we have now are, to a common sense person, unreasonable?
May-Issue CCW is unreasonable, I think. But convincing non-gunnies that it is might be an uphill climb and may take a little while longer.
The ATF acting like our opposition when they can come to our side and work WITH pro-gun folks to go after bad actors. They'd get rid of our antipathy and actually help their own mission. That's up to them to make a Herculean effort to mend the fences between us. But gunnies are a natural ally. Gunnies are law abiding and hate criminals and don't want to be grouped with bad actors.
Restriction on suppressors is unreasonable. They aren’t restricted in Europe. Some AOW (any other weapon) restrictions are silly too. If I attached a rifle style stock to the area where my mainspring housing is on my 1911, I have just committed a felony? Ridiculous!
May-Issue CCW is unreasonable, I think. But convincing non-gunnies that it is might be an uphill climb and may take a little while longer.
The ATF acting like our opposition when they can come to our side and work WITH pro-gun folks to go after bad actors. They'd get rid of our antipathy and actually help their own mission. That's up to them to make a Herculean effort to mend the fences between us. But gunnies are a natural ally. Gunnies are law abiding and hate criminals and don't want to be grouped with bad actors.
Restriction on suppressors is unreasonable. They aren’t restricted in Europe. Some AOW (any other weapon) restrictions are silly too. If I attached a rifle style stock to the area where my mainspring housing is on my 1911, I have just committed a felony? Ridiculous!
Of course the most reasonable thing we can forward, if we could only convince ordinary voters about it, is that the problem isn't a lack of reasonable gun laws, it's a failure to ENFORCE THE ONES ALREADY THERE.
Friday, October 29, 2010
OPFOR Strat
You saw me mention that WaPo series on guns this week. Odd they would bring that up the week before a midterm election. The last time the Dems were in the majority on both houses of Congress and held the Whitehouse the whole gun issue was a major impairment for their electoral chances, turns out. This series would better server Liberals if they had waited 2 weeks to publish.
But the WaPo, while reliably liberal, is not foaming-at-the-mouth batshite liberal. We can see that anti-gunners calm, collected, seemingly reasonable response to rights gains our side has seen recently. We can see how they expect to most effectively counter us from where we now stand, forward.
The level headed anti-gunners don’t whine about “Oh noes, the Wild West.” They know that that is of limited utility. Their issue that might have legs is simply and entreaty for “common sense gun restrictions, not like that Bloomberg guy’s. Who can be against that?” they’ll argue? And they’ll sorta be right, as most pro-gun people have no problem forbidding violent felons from gun possession. I know some libertarian types that don’t have a problem giving ex-cons their gun rights back. But they almost always put in the caveat that if the felon was still a danger to society he should still be in jail until he isn’t. If he’s out of jail, he isn’t a danger, and ergo gets his pistol back. Effectively, it’s the same restriction, just some unreformed felons are on the street in the first scenario and forbidden guns, and other unreformed felons stay in jail and are forbidden guns there.
The new common sense gun restriction is going after gun shops that are loose, in their view, about selling guns that then end up in the hands of criminals. The common sense gun restriction is coming down harder on these gun shops.
Who can be against that? Close up crooked gun shops? That’s a good thing. Right? Right?
Yes, but the devil is in the details. We have been burned by restrictionists so many times that we don’t trust them on this now. Let them write a law and they’ll be clauses in it that go too far and shutter innocent shops. Or they’ll close the worst 10% of gun shops and then… later, close the worst of the 10% of gunshops that remain open and then later close the NEXT worst 10%...
If we dig in our heels opposing such new ‘common sense’ restriction legislation the other side will wave their bloody shirts, calling us unreasonable.
It’s a fine line we must tread. Not all of our opposition are idiots. Some are quite savvy. They can back us into a corner if we aren’t ready.
So what do we do when they come up with some scheme to go after the gunshops (or other items)? We trot out our innocent gunshops. Small business people trying to realize the American dream providing a legal product that possession and bearing of is a right recognized by the Constitution. When they come up with a so-called reasonable restriction we counter with THREE unreasonable ones that need to be taken off the books.
By the way need to start thinking of some more unreasonable restrictions to throw out there for repeal.
That's just some ideas. I’m not on the board of SAF or NRA-ILA or GOA. But all of us gunnies tend to be politically active and thinking on these things early, hashing them out on backs of envelopes, is something that can only help our cause.
But the WaPo, while reliably liberal, is not foaming-at-the-mouth batshite liberal. We can see that anti-gunners calm, collected, seemingly reasonable response to rights gains our side has seen recently. We can see how they expect to most effectively counter us from where we now stand, forward.
The level headed anti-gunners don’t whine about “Oh noes, the Wild West.” They know that that is of limited utility. Their issue that might have legs is simply and entreaty for “common sense gun restrictions, not like that Bloomberg guy’s. Who can be against that?” they’ll argue? And they’ll sorta be right, as most pro-gun people have no problem forbidding violent felons from gun possession. I know some libertarian types that don’t have a problem giving ex-cons their gun rights back. But they almost always put in the caveat that if the felon was still a danger to society he should still be in jail until he isn’t. If he’s out of jail, he isn’t a danger, and ergo gets his pistol back. Effectively, it’s the same restriction, just some unreformed felons are on the street in the first scenario and forbidden guns, and other unreformed felons stay in jail and are forbidden guns there.
The new common sense gun restriction is going after gun shops that are loose, in their view, about selling guns that then end up in the hands of criminals. The common sense gun restriction is coming down harder on these gun shops.
Who can be against that? Close up crooked gun shops? That’s a good thing. Right? Right?
Yes, but the devil is in the details. We have been burned by restrictionists so many times that we don’t trust them on this now. Let them write a law and they’ll be clauses in it that go too far and shutter innocent shops. Or they’ll close the worst 10% of gun shops and then… later, close the worst of the 10% of gunshops that remain open and then later close the NEXT worst 10%...
If we dig in our heels opposing such new ‘common sense’ restriction legislation the other side will wave their bloody shirts, calling us unreasonable.
It’s a fine line we must tread. Not all of our opposition are idiots. Some are quite savvy. They can back us into a corner if we aren’t ready.
So what do we do when they come up with some scheme to go after the gunshops (or other items)? We trot out our innocent gunshops. Small business people trying to realize the American dream providing a legal product that possession and bearing of is a right recognized by the Constitution. When they come up with a so-called reasonable restriction we counter with THREE unreasonable ones that need to be taken off the books.
By the way need to start thinking of some more unreasonable restrictions to throw out there for repeal.
That's just some ideas. I’m not on the board of SAF or NRA-ILA or GOA. But all of us gunnies tend to be politically active and thinking on these things early, hashing them out on backs of envelopes, is something that can only help our cause.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
More Elaborate CCW Explanation
Michael Bane and I are on the same page wrt to CCW and firearm desgin trends. He just says it better and has less wishing.
To sum it up, we both see new pistols coming soon that will cater to new carriers. The market responds to the desires of the consumers. He is guessing more slim, reliable, composite 9mm will come out pretty quicklike, and I wish it was single stack carry-.40s on the way, but I may have to wait for the wave AFTER the coming wave.
To sum it up, we both see new pistols coming soon that will cater to new carriers. The market responds to the desires of the consumers. He is guessing more slim, reliable, composite 9mm will come out pretty quicklike, and I wish it was single stack carry-.40s on the way, but I may have to wait for the wave AFTER the coming wave.
Hello, Commenter Jon...
Were you looking for .38 S&W ammo (not special or super)?
Cuz it is available commercially. I was checking Midway to see if I could suggest reloading component options, but they do carry new made .38 'short'. It's just out of stock right now...
Keep the faith. It'll prolly come back.
Sure are a lot of .38 cal bullets. Special, S&W, ACP, Super, +P, .380... .357 sorta.
Cuz it is available commercially. I was checking Midway to see if I could suggest reloading component options, but they do carry new made .38 'short'. It's just out of stock right now...
Keep the faith. It'll prolly come back.
Sure are a lot of .38 cal bullets. Special, S&W, ACP, Super, +P, .380... .357 sorta.
Crotchety Old Neighbor and HIS Machine Gun.
Well, there is a possible machine gun shoot coming up on the 7th, and my gunstore guy said he’d be sure to tote along an M3 Greasegun. Archie, the Crotchety WWII veteran neighbor I look in on, had been telling me he’d love to get a chance to get his hands on the GM Guide Lamp Division Submachineguns, and play with it one last time, so I’d thought I’d do him a treat and haul his crust butt to the range to shoot it.
He wasn’t as thrilled as I thought.
During the big war, Archie was in the Navy, delivering Marines to the beaches. While the Marines were at chow, they often left their Greasegun on their bunk. It was here that Archie familiarized himself. That and through Marines he was sorta buddies with.
Archie isn’t a gun guy, so shooting is no particular pleasure. And his years in a body shop has given him wicked tinnitus, and loud noises are particular bothersome to him even with lots of hearing protection. So he begged off the happy expedition. Ah well.
But he wouldn’t be remiss going to a gunstore to examine a Greasegun there. Well, heck, THAT’s easy. I’ll get that lined up. It’s a 5 minute drive instead of an hour, too. This should be fun.
All this talk about machine guns with Archie did reveal an interesting misconception. He assumes there are LOTS of machineguns out there on the streets, routinely used in crimes. I tried to explain that since 1986 and the Hughes Amendment, that the price on machineguns has skyrocketed, making them a bit too dear to just get tossed around and accessible for criminals. He countered with talking about news reports where criminal use AK-47s. He knows those are machine guns! I explained that that pattern of rifle LOOKS just like an AK-47, but isn’t a proper AK as it doesn’t actually have a full auto ‘switch’ on it. It can only fire one round at a time. He countered AGAIN citing a series of articles in the Washington Post this week. The articles are about how some gunstores sell guns that end up in crimes at a more prevalent rate than other gunstores. But HE cited how someone shot somebody 33 times. So THAT had to be a machine gun. I checked the article closely. Yes, it was 33 shots fired, but out of a Glock 17 with an extended magazine. NOT a full auto Glock 18.
I insisted that actual machineguns are not used in crime anymore. You don't need them. If Capone were alive today and sending out hit men to a 2010 version of the St. Valentines Day Massacre, they wouldn't use, or even need, a machine gun or guns. They are just rare. When an actual machine gun get's used in a shooting it makes bigger news. I can think of the North Hollywood bank robbery in 1997, Waco in 1993, maybe, The SLA stuff in the 1970s. There aren't that many instances. It rare enough to be a special event and notices, a machine gun deployed by bad guys.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he is right. Maybe all those reports of AKs in the news are machine guns that bad guys got their hands on. Or other machine guns, beside AKs, as we know that the media has trouble accurately identifying weapons. And the news reports aren’t properly reporting the facts by saying something like, “the shooter used an AK-47, and NOT the semi-automatic variety so popular with gun enthusiasts, but an ACTUAL select fire weapon.”
Does anyone remember an actual confirmed machine gun used in a crime inside the US in the past 10 years or so? Not an ‘assault weapon’ but a real select fire weapon made to be a select fire weapon?
He wasn’t as thrilled as I thought.
During the big war, Archie was in the Navy, delivering Marines to the beaches. While the Marines were at chow, they often left their Greasegun on their bunk. It was here that Archie familiarized himself. That and through Marines he was sorta buddies with.
Archie isn’t a gun guy, so shooting is no particular pleasure. And his years in a body shop has given him wicked tinnitus, and loud noises are particular bothersome to him even with lots of hearing protection. So he begged off the happy expedition. Ah well.
But he wouldn’t be remiss going to a gunstore to examine a Greasegun there. Well, heck, THAT’s easy. I’ll get that lined up. It’s a 5 minute drive instead of an hour, too. This should be fun.
All this talk about machine guns with Archie did reveal an interesting misconception. He assumes there are LOTS of machineguns out there on the streets, routinely used in crimes. I tried to explain that since 1986 and the Hughes Amendment, that the price on machineguns has skyrocketed, making them a bit too dear to just get tossed around and accessible for criminals. He countered with talking about news reports where criminal use AK-47s. He knows those are machine guns! I explained that that pattern of rifle LOOKS just like an AK-47, but isn’t a proper AK as it doesn’t actually have a full auto ‘switch’ on it. It can only fire one round at a time. He countered AGAIN citing a series of articles in the Washington Post this week. The articles are about how some gunstores sell guns that end up in crimes at a more prevalent rate than other gunstores. But HE cited how someone shot somebody 33 times. So THAT had to be a machine gun. I checked the article closely. Yes, it was 33 shots fired, but out of a Glock 17 with an extended magazine. NOT a full auto Glock 18.
I insisted that actual machineguns are not used in crime anymore. You don't need them. If Capone were alive today and sending out hit men to a 2010 version of the St. Valentines Day Massacre, they wouldn't use, or even need, a machine gun or guns. They are just rare. When an actual machine gun get's used in a shooting it makes bigger news. I can think of the North Hollywood bank robbery in 1997, Waco in 1993, maybe, The SLA stuff in the 1970s. There aren't that many instances. It rare enough to be a special event and notices, a machine gun deployed by bad guys.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he is right. Maybe all those reports of AKs in the news are machine guns that bad guys got their hands on. Or other machine guns, beside AKs, as we know that the media has trouble accurately identifying weapons. And the news reports aren’t properly reporting the facts by saying something like, “the shooter used an AK-47, and NOT the semi-automatic variety so popular with gun enthusiasts, but an ACTUAL select fire weapon.”
Does anyone remember an actual confirmed machine gun used in a crime inside the US in the past 10 years or so? Not an ‘assault weapon’ but a real select fire weapon made to be a select fire weapon?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Stainless
JayG asks, “which do you prefer, Stainless or Blued steel?”
Oddly, my preference for stainless revolvers happened because of Soldier of Fortune when I was a kid, and long before I even thought about buying a gun.
The big new thing on the one or two issues I managed to pick up was reviews of the new stainless revolvers, like it was only just then introduced in the mid-80s, and I decided there and then that I could do a lot worse than to one day get a Colt Python .357 revolver.
Fast forward 15+ years and after trying a few models of MBtGE including a stainless .44 magnum, I settled on… A S&W 686. Colt Pythons weren’t made so much at that point, and the Smith was in the case.
Not that I don't LIKE blued steel revolvers. Blue looks better, stainless is easier to maintain... whatever. The differences are minor. I just had a little intertia down the stainless path. But I own 3 stainless revolvers. Blued 1908 Pocket Hammerless, and some blued stuff in the rifles, too.
Now that I think of it... Saucy Trollop got a big ol' stainless .44...
Oddly, my preference for stainless revolvers happened because of Soldier of Fortune when I was a kid, and long before I even thought about buying a gun.
The big new thing on the one or two issues I managed to pick up was reviews of the new stainless revolvers, like it was only just then introduced in the mid-80s, and I decided there and then that I could do a lot worse than to one day get a Colt Python .357 revolver.
Fast forward 15+ years and after trying a few models of MBtGE including a stainless .44 magnum, I settled on… A S&W 686. Colt Pythons weren’t made so much at that point, and the Smith was in the case.
Not that I don't LIKE blued steel revolvers. Blue looks better, stainless is easier to maintain... whatever. The differences are minor. I just had a little intertia down the stainless path. But I own 3 stainless revolvers. Blued 1908 Pocket Hammerless, and some blued stuff in the rifles, too.
Now that I think of it... Saucy Trollop got a big ol' stainless .44...
Quarantine
Survival.
Here is a “what if?” to ponder. Let’s say a virulent disease cropped up, and the wisest response was to quarantine the region/nation. Everyone was to remain in their homes. It’s the only way to stop the spread
Gov’t types in NBC suits would patrol outside, and you’d be perfectly safe from them. Unless you stepped outside.
Your stocks of ammo won’t even be touched. All your guns are nice to have, but not needed. The quarantine starts now, and lasts until Groundhog Day. Yes, 90 days.
Electricity, water, and gas supplies will be sporadic. For instance: the water may go off on day 2 and never come back, or it may stay on a week, and go off a week, that sort of thing. Sewage is not a problem. It may go to the river untreated, but we can worry about that later.
What’s the first thing you are going to run out of?
For me, it’ll be toilet paper. Unless I can sneak to Archie’s house. He has a closet FULL of boxes of Kleenex.
Water would be addressed with a full bathtub on the first day, topping it off whenever the water supply returned. If it returned. My hot water heater is also a supply of water. And if I have warning to fill the tub then I have the ability to fill everything in the house that holds water. So water might not be a problem. For drinking. I'd need about 90 gallons to survive. If I want to flush the terlet, I'll need 300. I don't have 6 55 gallon drums of water sitting around. Or just one to catch rainwater, even.
Fuel will be a problem. I have plenty of scrap wood for cooking fires, but it will be in the winter. And my house has no fireplace. If I didn’t have to step onto the back porch I’d survive the low temps easily. But dried peas, beans, and rice needs cooking. I'll get hungry if I can't cook. I'll get thirsty if I have to boil my water.
Here is a “what if?” to ponder. Let’s say a virulent disease cropped up, and the wisest response was to quarantine the region/nation. Everyone was to remain in their homes. It’s the only way to stop the spread
Gov’t types in NBC suits would patrol outside, and you’d be perfectly safe from them. Unless you stepped outside.
Your stocks of ammo won’t even be touched. All your guns are nice to have, but not needed. The quarantine starts now, and lasts until Groundhog Day. Yes, 90 days.
Electricity, water, and gas supplies will be sporadic. For instance: the water may go off on day 2 and never come back, or it may stay on a week, and go off a week, that sort of thing. Sewage is not a problem. It may go to the river untreated, but we can worry about that later.
What’s the first thing you are going to run out of?
For me, it’ll be toilet paper. Unless I can sneak to Archie’s house. He has a closet FULL of boxes of Kleenex.
Water would be addressed with a full bathtub on the first day, topping it off whenever the water supply returned. If it returned. My hot water heater is also a supply of water. And if I have warning to fill the tub then I have the ability to fill everything in the house that holds water. So water might not be a problem. For drinking. I'd need about 90 gallons to survive. If I want to flush the terlet, I'll need 300. I don't have 6 55 gallon drums of water sitting around. Or just one to catch rainwater, even.
Fuel will be a problem. I have plenty of scrap wood for cooking fires, but it will be in the winter. And my house has no fireplace. If I didn’t have to step onto the back porch I’d survive the low temps easily. But dried peas, beans, and rice needs cooking. I'll get hungry if I can't cook. I'll get thirsty if I have to boil my water.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Splinter
I found another fragment, probably picked up in the blog shoot. This one was in my wrist and I have no idea which gun did it to me. Or if it was from the shoot at all, but the timeline was right for it. I didn't notice when it happened.
It was about as big around as a thick eyelash but only about a sixteenth of an inch long. It wasn't lead, either. Too hard for that. Steel or maybe part of a copper jacket. It wasn't bending easily.
Odd that one fragment could go to the artery in my neck and another to the artery in my wrist... I'll be very happy if it avoided the one in my thigh at some future date.
It was about as big around as a thick eyelash but only about a sixteenth of an inch long. It wasn't lead, either. Too hard for that. Steel or maybe part of a copper jacket. It wasn't bending easily.
Odd that one fragment could go to the artery in my neck and another to the artery in my wrist... I'll be very happy if it avoided the one in my thigh at some future date.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Soft Case
NO MORE SOFT CASES
For my long guns. I think the wood of my Remington Model 11 shotgun got damaged in the car to or from the Northcoast Blogshoot. From contents shifting in transit. Or something. Anyway, never again. I had the one case my .308 rifles went in. But I want more case space.
Hey! Even Amazon has Pelican Cases for sale. That's the 2 rifle size. Or you can go a little bigger. Get 4 in that one. Or one and a lot of other stuff.
I use a carry-on size Pelican now for all my air travel needs. If my trip needs more stuff than one overhead baggage space allows then I am checking a handgun so I can lock up my cargo space luggage. With ammo if going to a CCW friendly area, without if otherwise. Or maybe with a starter pistol. Yeah, you can lock your hard sided luggage if there is a mere flare gun in there without any flares, fill out a form, and fly with it all. Cool huh?
For my long guns. I think the wood of my Remington Model 11 shotgun got damaged in the car to or from the Northcoast Blogshoot. From contents shifting in transit. Or something. Anyway, never again. I had the one case my .308 rifles went in. But I want more case space.
Hey! Even Amazon has Pelican Cases for sale. That's the 2 rifle size. Or you can go a little bigger. Get 4 in that one. Or one and a lot of other stuff.
I use a carry-on size Pelican now for all my air travel needs. If my trip needs more stuff than one overhead baggage space allows then I am checking a handgun so I can lock up my cargo space luggage. With ammo if going to a CCW friendly area, without if otherwise. Or maybe with a starter pistol. Yeah, you can lock your hard sided luggage if there is a mere flare gun in there without any flares, fill out a form, and fly with it all. Cool huh?
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Lawn
Lawn is mowed. It couldn't wait. It would have been better next week as it would have mulched up more fallen leaves.
The grubs have come back. And I only recently went through the last of my Grandfather's precious stash of DDT. Now I'm gonna have to put down something harmful to humans as well as bugs.
I hate grubs. There, I said it. I'm not a lawn obscessive. Our peoples could live in peace if they left that lawn green. It's the toleration I extend to green weeds. Clover and wild strawberry and violets? You are welcome in my lodge.
The grubs have come back. And I only recently went through the last of my Grandfather's precious stash of DDT. Now I'm gonna have to put down something harmful to humans as well as bugs.
I hate grubs. There, I said it. I'm not a lawn obscessive. Our peoples could live in peace if they left that lawn green. It's the toleration I extend to green weeds. Clover and wild strawberry and violets? You are welcome in my lodge.
Big Brown Truck
I love coming home to find the nice delivery man has left me some heavy packages.
Stocks of my pistol ammo were low, and, while availability has recovered locally, the gun stores prices haven't come down at all. For bulk buying I trust to online purveyors, now.
So, where once I had darn little, I now now have a bit. .38, .40, and .45.
Stocks of my pistol ammo were low, and, while availability has recovered locally, the gun stores prices haven't come down at all. For bulk buying I trust to online purveyors, now.
So, where once I had darn little, I now now have a bit. .38, .40, and .45.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Malaria
This is how I picture myself on my first Safari. But with a goatee. I want to get a Cape Buffalo, a Springbok, and some trophy quality Mosquitos.
Chili
There are no beans in chili. Beans are a garnish that you can add when you serve up a bowl, but you don't cook them in the pot with the meat.
Why? Because you should be cooking that meat for hours. Days even. Beans would disintegrate.
And there are 3 types of Chili. Texas. Cincinnati (which has tomatoes and cinnamon), and the abomination known as 'Manhattan Style' (which has BELL peppers in it!) On this there can be no argument.
I'm glad I was able to finally settle the argument for everyone. Now our little community has one less thing to bicker over. We can get back to talking about how 1911s are superior in every way to them Glocks.
(I posted this now because the beans thing has infected my workplace!)
Why? Because you should be cooking that meat for hours. Days even. Beans would disintegrate.
And there are 3 types of Chili. Texas. Cincinnati (which has tomatoes and cinnamon), and the abomination known as 'Manhattan Style' (which has BELL peppers in it!) On this there can be no argument.
I'm glad I was able to finally settle the argument for everyone. Now our little community has one less thing to bicker over. We can get back to talking about how 1911s are superior in every way to them Glocks.
(I posted this now because the beans thing has infected my workplace!)
Friday, October 22, 2010
MSI and Candidate/Governor Ehrlich
Like most CCW restrictive regions, we have an organization in Maryland devoted to a remedy. It’s called Maryland Shall Issue (we’d have decent regs if they just changed the word “May” to “Shall” and take the discretion away from the State Police).
We also have an election coming up here. (You do TOO? What a coincidence.) And Maryland Shall Issue, MSI, reported on a gun rights interview of the former governor, current candidate, and maybe-future governor Bob Ehrlich.
Governor Ehrlich was not a favorite of gun-rights folks last term. He hadn’t DONE anything to help us!!! (they complain) And you know how we like to eat our own, turning on folks, often to our issue's detriment? I’ve heard LOTS of vitriol leveled at Ehrlich on the gun issue from lots of folks. Foolish. I don’t know why our side does that. “If he isn’t for making Maryland like Alaska and shouting about until that happens, that politician is DEAD to me!”
Hopefully the Q&A session with Ehrlich will help educate and even out the man’s pluses and minuses.
Ehrlich claims to be for Shall Issue CCW. But the state legislature simply will not be sending any liberalization bills. They are VERY Democrat laden. He can’t ram a pro-2A anything through them. He is/will-be the Governor. He needs the voters to “ram through a more receptive set of lawmakers.” Pro CCW still hammered at him, saying he could order the State Police to just pencil whip all the CCW applications through without the ‘current threat’ requirement that makes them may-issue. He agreed with this line of strategy and claims to have already discussed such a tactic with his candidate for head of the State Police.
He pointed out that during his previous term, Heller hadn’t happened yet. The ground for change is more fertile NOW. Maryland, even, is a whole different place with regard to gun rights compared to his previous administration, he said.
He also said he was proud of how he blunted the dangers that the handgun roster represented. The intent of the Roster was to make Maryland like Massachusetts, where only approved guns can be sold, and approvals never happen. Ehrlich moved that process along so models are routinely approved, and quickly. He packed the panel with pro-gun members. Without Ehrlich, this panel would have rejected all guns that didn’t have a built in integral locking mechanism, like the zit on new S&W revolvers. So there would be NO Springfield XDs (and others) in this state. He’s have like to rescind the law, but he was only the governor.
Ehrlich also didn’t like our state’s Integrated Ballistic Identification System, or IBIS. What IBIS is is the State Police collect a fired shell casing of every handgun sold in the state. This adds $25 to cost of a pistol, and the idea is they’ll catch more criminals by tracing spent casings found at crime scenes. No crimes have been solved with this system. Traces on spent casings that were KNOWN to be in the system found at crime scenes do not even return as a match. It’s a boondoggle, and he did what he could to defund the flawed system. But he was only the governor. The legislature has to do the repeal. (seeing a trend, here?)
If elected again he would continue to exempt gun ranges from noise ordinances in the state, as he did before.
The man is a pro-rights politician.
Why isn’t he running on a more full-throated gun rights advocacy? Because this is Maryland, the ‘most Democrat state in the union’. Gun rights might not be a net vote loser anymore, here, but it is not yet a net vote gainer. Not like in West Virginia, where even the Democrat is shooting a rifle at mock up of Cap and Trade Senate legislation.
Oh, NRA rates Ehrlich a B. Most every other Dem running in Maryland, and certainly O'Malley and any I can vote for are rated F. If you want to even FIND a conservative Republican likely to win an election in Maryland you are not in a suburb. It's the same place where you find Dem candidates that the NRA rates higher than F.
We also have an election coming up here. (You do TOO? What a coincidence.) And Maryland Shall Issue, MSI, reported on a gun rights interview of the former governor, current candidate, and maybe-future governor Bob Ehrlich.
Governor Ehrlich was not a favorite of gun-rights folks last term. He hadn’t DONE anything to help us!!! (they complain) And you know how we like to eat our own, turning on folks, often to our issue's detriment? I’ve heard LOTS of vitriol leveled at Ehrlich on the gun issue from lots of folks. Foolish. I don’t know why our side does that. “If he isn’t for making Maryland like Alaska and shouting about until that happens, that politician is DEAD to me!”
Hopefully the Q&A session with Ehrlich will help educate and even out the man’s pluses and minuses.
Ehrlich claims to be for Shall Issue CCW. But the state legislature simply will not be sending any liberalization bills. They are VERY Democrat laden. He can’t ram a pro-2A anything through them. He is/will-be the Governor. He needs the voters to “ram through a more receptive set of lawmakers.” Pro CCW still hammered at him, saying he could order the State Police to just pencil whip all the CCW applications through without the ‘current threat’ requirement that makes them may-issue. He agreed with this line of strategy and claims to have already discussed such a tactic with his candidate for head of the State Police.
He pointed out that during his previous term, Heller hadn’t happened yet. The ground for change is more fertile NOW. Maryland, even, is a whole different place with regard to gun rights compared to his previous administration, he said.
He also said he was proud of how he blunted the dangers that the handgun roster represented. The intent of the Roster was to make Maryland like Massachusetts, where only approved guns can be sold, and approvals never happen. Ehrlich moved that process along so models are routinely approved, and quickly. He packed the panel with pro-gun members. Without Ehrlich, this panel would have rejected all guns that didn’t have a built in integral locking mechanism, like the zit on new S&W revolvers. So there would be NO Springfield XDs (and others) in this state. He’s have like to rescind the law, but he was only the governor.
Ehrlich also didn’t like our state’s Integrated Ballistic Identification System, or IBIS. What IBIS is is the State Police collect a fired shell casing of every handgun sold in the state. This adds $25 to cost of a pistol, and the idea is they’ll catch more criminals by tracing spent casings found at crime scenes. No crimes have been solved with this system. Traces on spent casings that were KNOWN to be in the system found at crime scenes do not even return as a match. It’s a boondoggle, and he did what he could to defund the flawed system. But he was only the governor. The legislature has to do the repeal. (seeing a trend, here?)
If elected again he would continue to exempt gun ranges from noise ordinances in the state, as he did before.
The man is a pro-rights politician.
Why isn’t he running on a more full-throated gun rights advocacy? Because this is Maryland, the ‘most Democrat state in the union’. Gun rights might not be a net vote loser anymore, here, but it is not yet a net vote gainer. Not like in West Virginia, where even the Democrat is shooting a rifle at mock up of Cap and Trade Senate legislation.
Oh, NRA rates Ehrlich a B. Most every other Dem running in Maryland, and certainly O'Malley and any I can vote for are rated F. If you want to even FIND a conservative Republican likely to win an election in Maryland you are not in a suburb. It's the same place where you find Dem candidates that the NRA rates higher than F.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
MD CCW
Snowflakes in Hell get's the Hat Tip for this:
Getting a CCW Permit in MD
from No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money
State Delegate Smigel from the Eastern Shore is bit combative, and in the best way. SAF's case is progressing.
Getting a CCW Permit in MD
from No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money
State Delegate Smigel from the Eastern Shore is bit combative, and in the best way. SAF's case is progressing.
Hondo
I am 'reading' this book in audio book form. On my commute. Mainly because it is pledge week at NPR.
Hondo. Cavalry scout. There's some gun content there!
MBtGE got me into audio books, but it's only good for long trips for me. My DC area commute is a mere 45 minute. His is twice that, and audio books make more sense. Especially if a traffic mishaps doubles his commute. Traffic mishaps around here can take the form of this stranges substance called 'water' coming out of the sky. People act like they've never seen it before. That it is, in fact, fish guts, dropping out of the sky on them. And they drive appropriately. Virginia is worse than Maryland. Virginia has the perfect road system to handle their daily load. IF today was 1966.
Anyhoo.
Boy-howdy, Hondo makes a man think about what it means to be a man. But one can one do? There are plenty of reasons to act a man, but there is precious little opportunity to track Apache, break horses, or build a dam to trap the spring rains in the desert. It's a bit more subtle, manly ways, in modern 21st C. suburban life. But no less important. As the Duke would attest, were HE around.
Gun content? Hondo sleeps with his single action Colt in his hand, uncocked. He sleeps very still and only awakes when there is something wrong or unusual, and then he wakes with his faculties and judgment intact. In a fight, Hondo would much rather turn to his lever action Winchester. Since this is based in the early 1870s, that probably means caliber .44-40. While his pistol would be .45 Colt. (Confirmed on disk 5. Winchester 73 rifle, and Colt .45 pistol.)
Other content? Be alert to what is going on around you at all time. Sleep lightly. Know your environment. Men and women are different, not the same.
Hondo. Cavalry scout. There's some gun content there!
MBtGE got me into audio books, but it's only good for long trips for me. My DC area commute is a mere 45 minute. His is twice that, and audio books make more sense. Especially if a traffic mishaps doubles his commute. Traffic mishaps around here can take the form of this stranges substance called 'water' coming out of the sky. People act like they've never seen it before. That it is, in fact, fish guts, dropping out of the sky on them. And they drive appropriately. Virginia is worse than Maryland. Virginia has the perfect road system to handle their daily load. IF today was 1966.
Anyhoo.
Boy-howdy, Hondo makes a man think about what it means to be a man. But one can one do? There are plenty of reasons to act a man, but there is precious little opportunity to track Apache, break horses, or build a dam to trap the spring rains in the desert. It's a bit more subtle, manly ways, in modern 21st C. suburban life. But no less important. As the Duke would attest, were HE around.
Gun content? Hondo sleeps with his single action Colt in his hand, uncocked. He sleeps very still and only awakes when there is something wrong or unusual, and then he wakes with his faculties and judgment intact. In a fight, Hondo would much rather turn to his lever action Winchester. Since this is based in the early 1870s, that probably means caliber .44-40. While his pistol would be .45 Colt. (Confirmed on disk 5. Winchester 73 rifle, and Colt .45 pistol.)
Other content? Be alert to what is going on around you at all time. Sleep lightly. Know your environment. Men and women are different, not the same.
Racism
I’m depressed. I’ve been noticing more and more racists or overtly racist utterances among the gunnies I run into online. It’s becoming more and more overt and prevalent lately. Combining a black president with coming conservative electoral success and I think they feel emboldened and unafraid to reveal how they feel. They identify with the latter, are wary of the former, and their security in their future is shakier than it has to be. That's part of if, I think
But.
It's so ignorant. I think I’d invite such flagrant outbursts in face to face meetings. I look a bit like Ed Norton in America History X, but without the nazi tattoos. And I’m a bit pudgier. Fat. No one ever slips and uses an epithet in front of me, though. (except the crotchety old neighbor, but he's old and close to death.) No, for that you need the relative anonymity of the internet. Or maybe the gunnies I've met aren't racist. I take that back. Someone connected to my gunstore definitely is.
There is nothing about guns or conservative political thought that HAS to lead to racist outlooks. So. Stop it. And Second Amendment rights go hand in hand with OTHER civil rights. Rights denied blacks for so long in this country. Charlton Heston fought for both kinds of civil rights. Charlton Heston believed in the Constitution and our foundation principles. It’s why he marched with Martin Luther King in the south and why he headed the NRA. What would he say now to the racists on the internetz toobs if he were still alive? “Keep yer stinking hands off the keyboard you damn dirty window-licker!”
Racism is not what all this is all about. Stop being racist.
We walk the same path from different directions. Heck it is because of racism that we HAVE gun control today AT ALL, pretty much! Well, maybe not. Absent black people, our gun control restriction impulse would have been born out of hatred for Catholic immigrants from Poland, Italy, and Ireland, instead.
At any rate, STOP IT. You’re not doing yourself or us any favors displaying that behavior, as the real evil from the busybodies will bastardize, exaggerate, and use any hint of racism against the lovers of liberty. Save your hatred for Collectivists that want to force you to fit into THEIR version of Utopia. And when Collectivists see the light and turn from such folly, let them back in. Don't hate THEM forever either if it isn't warranted. There will always be other deserving evil tyrants to direct your venom.
But.
It's so ignorant. I think I’d invite such flagrant outbursts in face to face meetings. I look a bit like Ed Norton in America History X, but without the nazi tattoos. And I’m a bit pudgier. Fat. No one ever slips and uses an epithet in front of me, though. (except the crotchety old neighbor, but he's old and close to death.) No, for that you need the relative anonymity of the internet. Or maybe the gunnies I've met aren't racist. I take that back. Someone connected to my gunstore definitely is.
There is nothing about guns or conservative political thought that HAS to lead to racist outlooks. So. Stop it. And Second Amendment rights go hand in hand with OTHER civil rights. Rights denied blacks for so long in this country. Charlton Heston fought for both kinds of civil rights. Charlton Heston believed in the Constitution and our foundation principles. It’s why he marched with Martin Luther King in the south and why he headed the NRA. What would he say now to the racists on the internetz toobs if he were still alive? “Keep yer stinking hands off the keyboard you damn dirty window-licker!”
Racism is not what all this is all about. Stop being racist.
We walk the same path from different directions. Heck it is because of racism that we HAVE gun control today AT ALL, pretty much! Well, maybe not. Absent black people, our gun control restriction impulse would have been born out of hatred for Catholic immigrants from Poland, Italy, and Ireland, instead.
At any rate, STOP IT. You’re not doing yourself or us any favors displaying that behavior, as the real evil from the busybodies will bastardize, exaggerate, and use any hint of racism against the lovers of liberty. Save your hatred for Collectivists that want to force you to fit into THEIR version of Utopia. And when Collectivists see the light and turn from such folly, let them back in. Don't hate THEM forever either if it isn't warranted. There will always be other deserving evil tyrants to direct your venom.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The TWO Rules?!!!
Interesting. From Alan at Snarkybites.
RTWT.
His post has distilled the 4 rules down to 2! And it JUSHT might be crashzy enough to work, Trebek!
Cooper came up with the 4 Rules, as mentioned. And HE did it as a response to like 9 rules or somesuch that was already out there.
There is also good comments adding caveats of "know the status of your weapon at all times" covering the old 'always loaded' #1 rule. And "you are responsible for every bullet that leaves the barrel" covering the old #4 rule of know your target and what's behind it. Stuff that should be mentioned and drilled home, but don't HAVE to be a part of the "New Two Rules" to obey to avoid negligent discharges.
Others have commented too. I'm still chewing on it. (Great, more mastication... Maybe I should swallow now and again.)
RTWT.
His post has distilled the 4 rules down to 2! And it JUSHT might be crashzy enough to work, Trebek!
Cooper came up with the 4 Rules, as mentioned. And HE did it as a response to like 9 rules or somesuch that was already out there.
There is also good comments adding caveats of "know the status of your weapon at all times" covering the old 'always loaded' #1 rule. And "you are responsible for every bullet that leaves the barrel" covering the old #4 rule of know your target and what's behind it. Stuff that should be mentioned and drilled home, but don't HAVE to be a part of the "New Two Rules" to obey to avoid negligent discharges.
You are responsible for each bullet. Know the condition of your weapon at all times and follow the two rules: 1) Keep you finger of the trigger until ready to fire; and 2) NEVER point it at anything you don't want a (deadly) hole in.
Others have commented too. I'm still chewing on it. (Great, more mastication... Maybe I should swallow now and again.)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Metrocon Outlet w/ Pro 2A Piece
I'd be remiss not to not that John Lott got a Second Amendment note on National Review Online. I give them a hard time on this issue it is only fair to pipe up when they do visit our little section of the Conserva-sphere. It's about anti-gun bias in professional medical organizations.
P v R
Rifles are so much fun. And relatively easy to shoot well. I can shoot targets reliably that I cannot see if I hit… but when I check it seems I did a decent job of it. The premiere firearm political entity is called the National RIFLE Association. We have that American tradition of the Minuteman and the Frontiersman, using his rifle and his rifle skill to great effect wherever applied. That national myth/legend impacted our military philosophy, trying to turn out infantrymen of the same mindset, shooting, deadeye, far off threats. That mindset also hit up against reality when actually applied to war. In WWI you often didn’t want to stick your head above the trench to look for something to shoot. In WWII the vets told the recruits they weren’t on the square range back at Ft Dix, and to FIRE their weapon even when they had no target to keep the enemy’s head down at least. And in Viet Nam you couldn’t SEE very far in many terrains because of the vegetation, and the enemy was getting really close up on purpose, so long range accuracy was of less value, and a heavy long range bullet wasn’t as practical as many more lighter bullets. In fact a book has been written that will go into this describing a decidedly inaccurate rifle and how it can be applied to great effect despite the handicap.
We have another tradition/myth/legend in this country. The Cowboy and his holstered pistol. The handgun is ever present, ready to be used or abused. It’s not as effective as a rifle, and a Cowboy, if given a chance, will switch over, but a pistol is not there for its idealized ability. It’s there to be an exclamation point of a social interaction if a termination is called for. Part of the legend, propagated by Hollywood, is the quickdraw. Now how much the quickdraw is tinseltown standards and practices bushwa (mostly) and how much is real (very little) the fact remains it is part of our national psyche BECAUSE of Hollywood now. And it goes to a pistols nature. With a quickdraw both men are ostensibly starting from level ground, inoculating the aggressor from being viewed as using unfair practices and then being turned on by other bystanders. It gives the defender a chance (if he IS a defender… often the matchup could be best described as between 2 mutual aggressors). And it also gives the aggressor the appearance of also turning to self defense when starting on that level playing field.
And today? We still love our rifles, no doubt, cold dead hands and all. But it is harder to use a rifle for practical reasons, even if you have all the space in the world and aren’t stuck in a suburb far from a range. People in the boonies DO have to hoof it downrange a lot farther to test their mettle and see the results, and rifle ammo is expensive. We WANT to be riflemen, but it is easier to be a pistolero. Heck, I could build a range in my BASEMENT for the cost of my own sweat, digging, and a few sections of cement drainpipe, and there would be no legal complaint from the constabulary. And speaking of legal entanglement, we are charting new territory now with our national pistol tradition that we can’t do with our national rifle tradition, all thanks to expansion of CCW. We can’t carry our rifles about (and if it was socially/legally acceptable we still wouldn’t do it as much)
So circumstances are making us more a nation of pistoleros vis a nation of riflemen, and it’s not because we love the rifle less.
This iconic American wielder is more the Private Eye or undercover detective mythology. This CCW habit. Advanced and evolved to modern times. Upgrade Dash Hammett's Sam Spade. With less compunction to pull our gatts. ANd quasi ploice work is not most of our jobs. Less cool and macho too. One thing I've found about CCW types. The honest ones are all kinda nerdy/dorky.
What does this mean?
Not too sure. Still chewing on this thought.
We have another tradition/myth/legend in this country. The Cowboy and his holstered pistol. The handgun is ever present, ready to be used or abused. It’s not as effective as a rifle, and a Cowboy, if given a chance, will switch over, but a pistol is not there for its idealized ability. It’s there to be an exclamation point of a social interaction if a termination is called for. Part of the legend, propagated by Hollywood, is the quickdraw. Now how much the quickdraw is tinseltown standards and practices bushwa (mostly) and how much is real (very little) the fact remains it is part of our national psyche BECAUSE of Hollywood now. And it goes to a pistols nature. With a quickdraw both men are ostensibly starting from level ground, inoculating the aggressor from being viewed as using unfair practices and then being turned on by other bystanders. It gives the defender a chance (if he IS a defender… often the matchup could be best described as between 2 mutual aggressors). And it also gives the aggressor the appearance of also turning to self defense when starting on that level playing field.
And today? We still love our rifles, no doubt, cold dead hands and all. But it is harder to use a rifle for practical reasons, even if you have all the space in the world and aren’t stuck in a suburb far from a range. People in the boonies DO have to hoof it downrange a lot farther to test their mettle and see the results, and rifle ammo is expensive. We WANT to be riflemen, but it is easier to be a pistolero. Heck, I could build a range in my BASEMENT for the cost of my own sweat, digging, and a few sections of cement drainpipe, and there would be no legal complaint from the constabulary. And speaking of legal entanglement, we are charting new territory now with our national pistol tradition that we can’t do with our national rifle tradition, all thanks to expansion of CCW. We can’t carry our rifles about (and if it was socially/legally acceptable we still wouldn’t do it as much)
So circumstances are making us more a nation of pistoleros vis a nation of riflemen, and it’s not because we love the rifle less.
This iconic American wielder is more the Private Eye or undercover detective mythology. This CCW habit. Advanced and evolved to modern times. Upgrade Dash Hammett's Sam Spade. With less compunction to pull our gatts. ANd quasi ploice work is not most of our jobs. Less cool and macho too. One thing I've found about CCW types. The honest ones are all kinda nerdy/dorky.
What does this mean?
Not too sure. Still chewing on this thought.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Gear o matic
Advice I should take from Carteach. Or at least keep in the FOREFRONT of my mind. You already got pistols, plural? You’re already a gunnie? Carry what you got, practice with what you got, TRAIN with what you got. Stop looking for yet another new-gear solution to a problem.
That said…. I kinda want a spare .45 1911, and a spare .40, and a spare snubbie, and a spare .380. Cuz, you know, it’s a spare. What if I am in a snubbie carry situational day and my snubbie is broken and in the shop? Plus, more toys are fun. It’s the trap all gunnies fall into and we all need to work through it in our own way.
That said…. I kinda want a spare .45 1911, and a spare .40, and a spare snubbie, and a spare .380. Cuz, you know, it’s a spare. What if I am in a snubbie carry situational day and my snubbie is broken and in the shop? Plus, more toys are fun. It’s the trap all gunnies fall into and we all need to work through it in our own way.
(Ooo! And that carbine I want! And the bolt action .308… and the scatter gun… )
~~~
It doesn’t just apply to guns. I’ve gone the same way with shaving lately. I have 4 different types of shave soap, all upgrades to the old Barbasol can I used for 20 years. I’ve tried 4 different variety of safety razor blades. And I am looking with a covetous eye at more badger brushes and even… straight razors and accouterments. Lord help me.
For those of you that want the “just get a midrange 1911 and you never need another handgun” school of thought for shaving and think my advice is worth anything. A Tweezerman badger brush and a $5 shaving bowl, a Merkur barberpole razor, Feather safety razor blades from Japan (Shark is good too), and the ladies love sandalwood so get Geo F Trumpers shave soap in that scent. You can’t do much better than that.
It doesn’t just apply to guns. I’ve gone the same way with shaving lately. I have 4 different types of shave soap, all upgrades to the old Barbasol can I used for 20 years. I’ve tried 4 different variety of safety razor blades. And I am looking with a covetous eye at more badger brushes and even… straight razors and accouterments. Lord help me.
For those of you that want the “just get a midrange 1911 and you never need another handgun” school of thought for shaving and think my advice is worth anything. A Tweezerman badger brush and a $5 shaving bowl, a Merkur barberpole razor, Feather safety razor blades from Japan (Shark is good too), and the ladies love sandalwood so get Geo F Trumpers shave soap in that scent. You can’t do much better than that.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Married
Some Librarian I know referred this title to me:
Married with Zombies (Living with the Dead)
Huh. Well I'm just gonna have to hit amazon again. Can't go against a librarian, after all. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Married with Zombies (Living with the Dead)
Huh. Well I'm just gonna have to hit amazon again. Can't go against a librarian, after all. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Zombie Bubble
Wired asks "When will the great zombie bubble burst?"
Duh! When the Level 4 outbreak has denuded the human population down to single digit percentages in a massive apocalypse.
Duh! When the Level 4 outbreak has denuded the human population down to single digit percentages in a massive apocalypse.
Nice graph, tho:
Dow vs. Zombie
Friday, October 15, 2010
Scoping the 1894C
After shooting those milkjugs with a .357 pistol and seeing what happens, I can more understand why some jurisdictions have no regulatory problem accepting that caliber as a deer round.
And that got me thinking...
I should put a scope on my Marlin 1894C, affectionately known as Gummint Cheez (I used Nancy Pelosi's tax rebate check to buy it, because I knew that would please her). The iron sights work just great, but/and there are places for rings to attach to...
The next question is, which scope? 4X is probably more than enough power, and that would also keep its size and weight down and keep the little carbine handy. Now I can spend anywhere from $30 to $1500 on this optic, but I want something between those extremes.
Leupold has a nice 4x fixed scope for $300. Is there a variety out there almost as good for $199?
And that got me thinking...
I should put a scope on my Marlin 1894C, affectionately known as Gummint Cheez (I used Nancy Pelosi's tax rebate check to buy it, because I knew that would please her). The iron sights work just great, but/and there are places for rings to attach to...
The next question is, which scope? 4X is probably more than enough power, and that would also keep its size and weight down and keep the little carbine handy. Now I can spend anywhere from $30 to $1500 on this optic, but I want something between those extremes.
Leupold has a nice 4x fixed scope for $300. Is there a variety out there almost as good for $199?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Training by NFO
I like Old NFO's take on training and it deserves a RTWT alert.
He pretty much reflects my thinking on the subject.
I'd LOVE to take a so-called carbine class. Mainly because it'd be fun and help toward familiarization and I'd get to do more dynamic things and get tips and corrections I can use for all rifle applications.
But would I ever need such training for house-clearing and door-kicking? Nope. What if the SHTF? Nope. What if it was REALLY bad SHTF? Still nope. What if you waved a magic wand after the SHTF and made me 25 again, young and strong? NOPE. It's a skill for trained uniformed people where it is their job. It's nice to know stuff about brain surgery, just to know, but to DO brain surgery? Or even an appendectomy? I'm not going to be doing that either, no matter how badly it's needed.
I want to do pistol training much more than I want to do carbine training anyway. Much more practical for someone with a CCW.
I want to do long range rifle shooting more than carbine training, too. It has more real world application for super-SHTF situations, and, more likely, for hunting. If you can hit a paper target 500 yards away, taking a bead on a whitetail 180 yards away can then be a much simpler matter
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Northcoast Pt 2
The rifle portion!
Here is the view from my spot. I just had the scout scoped Garand and M1A, and had the most fun with the Garand. My groups stayed on the shoot-n-see. And nearer the center than the edges. The fun part was finding a full milk jug with it. Heh!
Breda giving my Navy Garand a try. MBtGE's Savage .308 is visible on the right.
The World's Most Dangerous Librarian sits behind Bubblehead Les' semi-auto M1919.
And here is an outdoor bandshell in Downtown Willoughby. "Next Stop, Willoughby!"
One important lesson... I don't know how I would have managed without MBtGE's GPS thingy and his cell phone. I may have to get both for my own self. His EZPass toll booth thingy was also Hamned Dandy.
Total personal injuries; the shaving cut from the Snubbie from Hell, the blood blister on my thumb I must have gotten loading magazines, and the trick knee acting up from going prone a few times.
Here is the view from my spot. I just had the scout scoped Garand and M1A, and had the most fun with the Garand. My groups stayed on the shoot-n-see. And nearer the center than the edges. The fun part was finding a full milk jug with it. Heh!
Here is MBtGE with his newish AR15 with an untested EOTech mounted. He was happy. And he was right about how light the recoil is.
Here is Jay getting a nice bruise from the DPMS AR10 of Newbius. I tried this one out too. Newbius was disappointed with it because his groups were covered by a quarter. He wanted them to be covered by a nickel.
Breda giving my Navy Garand a try. MBtGE's Savage .308 is visible on the right.
The World's Most Dangerous Librarian sits behind Bubblehead Les' semi-auto M1919.
The little girl had her own pink .22 cricket but like the M1 Carbine, too. You can see the shadows lengthening. We shot til a bit before sunset and then there was the traditional bayonet charge. We were treated to the tiniest sliver of moon, too.
And here is an outdoor bandshell in Downtown Willoughby. "Next Stop, Willoughby!"
One important lesson... I don't know how I would have managed without MBtGE's GPS thingy and his cell phone. I may have to get both for my own self. His EZPass toll booth thingy was also Hamned Dandy.
Total personal injuries; the shaving cut from the Snubbie from Hell, the blood blister on my thumb I must have gotten loading magazines, and the trick knee acting up from going prone a few times.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Northcoast Blogmeet Report, pt 1
So I heard that 2 of my favorite bloggers were going to meet up, and that this meet would be only 6 hours away... I couldn't NOT go! It's JayG and Breda!
First off, the weather all weekend was flat out perfect. I dragged My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast along because he had a cell phone and a GPS device. Without those, this trip would have been MUCH harder. As we travelled north the trees changed from green to fall like. They went full blown autumn 2 days later on the trip back.
Arrival Friday meant we HAD to check the local library. Well, after walking up to the door and finding it posted "No Guns" we had to retreat to the truck, disarm, then approach the building again. Inside was the worlds most dangerous librarian. And no hobos. Probably because MBtGE and I looked like Jules and Vincent leaving a coffee shop, and the local tramps made themselves scarce.
I'd put up with the winters to retire to a house adjacent to this park. It's lovely.
The evening was steaks and beer and the Willoughby Brewing Company. Their One-Hopper IPA was not impressive, but their regular Lost Nation Pale Ale was well done and the Mad Cow Milk Stout was very good. It was here that I met JayG and Mike. Jay is Jay, and despite my earlier insinuation, Mike was not a ball of rage, but, actually, a really nice guy.
Here is before the steaks arrive...
The next day, noon, saw us going over to Heath and Amanda's place 50 miles away. Their family had the land where a shoot could be held. (Oh, an aside, Heath parents look like older siblings more than they look like a previous generation. Must be something in the water in Ohio.) And they were WONDERFUL hosts.
I wish I had brought my notepad, I am horrible with names. I am lucky I remembered Heath and Amanda's. I apologize if I skipped over you, as there were MANY more people than I expected. But definitely, Newbius was there:
And CueBall, who brought a COOL Star 38 Super... that I didn't get a chance to shoot...
There was a gunstore guy there named Van, and a buddy of his, as well as his lovely little daughter (who thought me a bit weird...) Van brought some cool guns along, too...
Heath works at a place that distributes bottled water, so he was able to secure some great reactive targets. Here is the range before action commenced:
And after:
One of the biggest benefits of a blogmeet is you get to try new guns. Here is a single shot pistol that shoots .45-70. I don't think you can hunt deer with a rifle in Ohio, but a .45-70 pistol would get the job done. (that might be Mad Saint Jack with the bandana below? There is another newbie blogger somewhere at the shoot, too.)
The top of one of the jugs landed behind the shooters when hit by that big pistol.
And that's about it for my pistol range pictures. But not the end of my pistol range report. I got to try that .45-70 too. It does have a kick, and Saucy Trollop will probably want to get one. You know what else has a surprising kick? Breda's Bersa Thunder. I was shocked that a .380 could feel that snappy! It was a treat to finally familiarize myself with the famous Bersa. I'm glad I didn't get one for myself. Not because of the recoil difference between it and my gentler Colt Pocket Hammerless, but because there are a lot of parts and levers and thingies on the right hand side of the pistol. Right at the place I put the thumb of my support hand. I just know that thumb would interfere with the works and cause a jam in time.
JayG brought the Snubbie From Hell. It has significant recoil with .357 loads but it wasn't as painful as all the build up. Breda handled it just fine. In fact she shot me with it. Really. Well... she was standing next to me when shooting and a shaving of the bullet was thrown to her left and hit me in the neck. Probably curled off the arris of the barrel at the cylinder gap. First aid was helpful tweezers to remove the fragment and then just ignore the bleeding as if it were a shaving cut. But that was a first for me, an actually injury from a bullet! And Breda 'did' it with JayG's gun. I feel kinda honored that such famous people and things would slightly injure me accidentally in such a way. But this is a prime example of why you where (correction: WEAR! Sheesh. I went to college!) eye protection. If that fragment had hit a bare eye... That would have been a bad scene.
What else? Van also brought 3 HK pistols. The famous one. USP. The mall ninja holy grail. A service size, a compact, and a tactical version. The triggers did feel VERY nice on them. I'll give HK that. A very comfortable set of pistols. I'm glad I got the opportunity. The fit and finish and action was reminiscent of a Swiss watch.
Newbius had an XDm and a Walther PPK. Luckily he warned me not to bunch up the meat of my shooting hand too high, so I didn't get bit by the Walther. I had never shot an XDm. It felt no different than a regular XD.
Jay had his Colt Gold Cup 1911 there. That feels... different... from any other .45 I've shot. Nicer almost. Definitely good. Dammit! Now I covet.
The reactive water target were a hoot. But the 5 gallon ones were a bit big. No challenge to hit them. Not for pistols at 7 yards nor rifle at 100. I was serious about the difference. When a 9mm or a .38 &c, hits a milkjug full of water it leaks from 2 holes. When a .357 hits a milkjug full of water it explodes. Same with projectiles going at rifle speeds. Newbius taught me a trick. When an empty milkjug is resting on the mud, if you shoot it near the bottom the dirt and mud splash sends it flying.
We went through a PHENOMENAL amount of ammo. MBtGE probably did 1000 rounds alone.
Tomorrow, the rifle portion!
First off, the weather all weekend was flat out perfect. I dragged My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast along because he had a cell phone and a GPS device. Without those, this trip would have been MUCH harder. As we travelled north the trees changed from green to fall like. They went full blown autumn 2 days later on the trip back.
Arrival Friday meant we HAD to check the local library. Well, after walking up to the door and finding it posted "No Guns" we had to retreat to the truck, disarm, then approach the building again. Inside was the worlds most dangerous librarian. And no hobos. Probably because MBtGE and I looked like Jules and Vincent leaving a coffee shop, and the local tramps made themselves scarce.
The hobo known as Snotty showed 5 minutes after we left. Shame. We had plans for him.
Oh, Breda is cuter and shorter in real life. And it's a pretty library she works in.
I had never seen Lake Erie, so we killed time looking at it after checking in with Breda. It looks like the Chesapeake, a little.
Oh, Breda is cuter and shorter in real life. And it's a pretty library she works in.
I had never seen Lake Erie, so we killed time looking at it after checking in with Breda. It looks like the Chesapeake, a little.
I'd put up with the winters to retire to a house adjacent to this park. It's lovely.
The evening was steaks and beer and the Willoughby Brewing Company. Their One-Hopper IPA was not impressive, but their regular Lost Nation Pale Ale was well done and the Mad Cow Milk Stout was very good. It was here that I met JayG and Mike. Jay is Jay, and despite my earlier insinuation, Mike was not a ball of rage, but, actually, a really nice guy.
Here is before the steaks arrive...
The next day, noon, saw us going over to Heath and Amanda's place 50 miles away. Their family had the land where a shoot could be held. (Oh, an aside, Heath parents look like older siblings more than they look like a previous generation. Must be something in the water in Ohio.) And they were WONDERFUL hosts.
I wish I had brought my notepad, I am horrible with names. I am lucky I remembered Heath and Amanda's. I apologize if I skipped over you, as there were MANY more people than I expected. But definitely, Newbius was there:
And CueBall, who brought a COOL Star 38 Super... that I didn't get a chance to shoot...
There was a gunstore guy there named Van, and a buddy of his, as well as his lovely little daughter (who thought me a bit weird...) Van brought some cool guns along, too...
Heath works at a place that distributes bottled water, so he was able to secure some great reactive targets. Here is the range before action commenced:
And after:
One of the biggest benefits of a blogmeet is you get to try new guns. Here is a single shot pistol that shoots .45-70. I don't think you can hunt deer with a rifle in Ohio, but a .45-70 pistol would get the job done. (that might be Mad Saint Jack with the bandana below? There is another newbie blogger somewhere at the shoot, too.)
The top of one of the jugs landed behind the shooters when hit by that big pistol.
And that's about it for my pistol range pictures. But not the end of my pistol range report. I got to try that .45-70 too. It does have a kick, and Saucy Trollop will probably want to get one. You know what else has a surprising kick? Breda's Bersa Thunder. I was shocked that a .380 could feel that snappy! It was a treat to finally familiarize myself with the famous Bersa. I'm glad I didn't get one for myself. Not because of the recoil difference between it and my gentler Colt Pocket Hammerless, but because there are a lot of parts and levers and thingies on the right hand side of the pistol. Right at the place I put the thumb of my support hand. I just know that thumb would interfere with the works and cause a jam in time.
JayG brought the Snubbie From Hell. It has significant recoil with .357 loads but it wasn't as painful as all the build up. Breda handled it just fine. In fact she shot me with it. Really. Well... she was standing next to me when shooting and a shaving of the bullet was thrown to her left and hit me in the neck. Probably curled off the arris of the barrel at the cylinder gap. First aid was helpful tweezers to remove the fragment and then just ignore the bleeding as if it were a shaving cut. But that was a first for me, an actually injury from a bullet! And Breda 'did' it with JayG's gun. I feel kinda honored that such famous people and things would slightly injure me accidentally in such a way. But this is a prime example of why you where (correction: WEAR! Sheesh. I went to college!) eye protection. If that fragment had hit a bare eye... That would have been a bad scene.
What else? Van also brought 3 HK pistols. The famous one. USP. The mall ninja holy grail. A service size, a compact, and a tactical version. The triggers did feel VERY nice on them. I'll give HK that. A very comfortable set of pistols. I'm glad I got the opportunity. The fit and finish and action was reminiscent of a Swiss watch.
Newbius had an XDm and a Walther PPK. Luckily he warned me not to bunch up the meat of my shooting hand too high, so I didn't get bit by the Walther. I had never shot an XDm. It felt no different than a regular XD.
Jay had his Colt Gold Cup 1911 there. That feels... different... from any other .45 I've shot. Nicer almost. Definitely good. Dammit! Now I covet.
The reactive water target were a hoot. But the 5 gallon ones were a bit big. No challenge to hit them. Not for pistols at 7 yards nor rifle at 100. I was serious about the difference. When a 9mm or a .38 &c, hits a milkjug full of water it leaks from 2 holes. When a .357 hits a milkjug full of water it explodes. Same with projectiles going at rifle speeds. Newbius taught me a trick. When an empty milkjug is resting on the mud, if you shoot it near the bottom the dirt and mud splash sends it flying.
We went through a PHENOMENAL amount of ammo. MBtGE probably did 1000 rounds alone.
Tomorrow, the rifle portion!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Blogshoot Recovery
Well, I slept in, drank coffee, lazed around the house, worked on the after-action report for this past weekend, got the long guns cleaned and laundry started and now it's almost dark. The post will be ready for tomorrow, however. It was much fun.
Here's a nice picture of Mike and Breda in beautiful downtown Willoughby, Sunday morning:
Here's a nice picture of Mike and Breda in beautiful downtown Willoughby, Sunday morning:
Trumped 2
How you like that? THAT is how I get blog fodder. I take a subject that may have been well covered by other gun bloggers and I add a twist to it to make it novel. To give it the T-Bolt flavor. Hey, it works.
Report of the weekends fun and festivities to be forthcoming. Enjoy the rest of your Columbus Day.
Report of the weekends fun and festivities to be forthcoming. Enjoy the rest of your Columbus Day.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Mini-Report
Back home.
Here is my initial impression.
JayG's online persona matches up with his in-person persona.
Mike-i-stan was the seething ball of barely controlled rage, ready to explode, that I expected. He didn't injure me, however.
Breda? Well... Lessee. A good summary of the weekend would be: Breda winged me in the neck with a .357. And she was shooting the Snubbie from Hell, so she and Jay may have been in cahoots. You know me. It takes more than .357 to take T-Bolt down. I expected a hostile meetup but I didn't think anyone would get shot at. Much less me.
More info later. Here is something I learned. When a 9mm hits a milkjug full of water it leaks from 2 holes. When a .357 hits a milkjug full of water it explodes. When a .45-70 hits that jug, it explodes BIGGER.
Here is my initial impression.
JayG's online persona matches up with his in-person persona.
Mike-i-stan was the seething ball of barely controlled rage, ready to explode, that I expected. He didn't injure me, however.
Breda? Well... Lessee. A good summary of the weekend would be: Breda winged me in the neck with a .357. And she was shooting the Snubbie from Hell, so she and Jay may have been in cahoots. You know me. It takes more than .357 to take T-Bolt down. I expected a hostile meetup but I didn't think anyone would get shot at. Much less me.
More info later. Here is something I learned. When a 9mm hits a milkjug full of water it leaks from 2 holes. When a .357 hits a milkjug full of water it explodes. When a .45-70 hits that jug, it explodes BIGGER.
Trumped
Trump for President. Via Alphecca.
Alphecca, like a good little gun blogger, zeroed in on The Donalds political position on firearms and noted he’s a little from column A, a little from column B. In other words, unacceptable. Alphecca also noted that Trump is one of the privileged few that can actually GET a conceal carry permit in New York.
This last bit got me thinking. What if The Donald was elevated to Emperor of the US after a free and fair election with just a little tweak on his policies. Yes, he’s bad on the assault weapons thing. But he’s Emperor now, and he just re-wrote the 2nd Amendment into language even Sarah Brady can’t argue with. Like I said, ARs, AKs, FALs, M1As even M1 Carbines are to be turned in to the police. All 8 round enbloc Garand clips too, but not 5 round ones, so you got that going for you. 8 is dangerous, 5 is fine. Or something.
That’s the bad news. The good news, to get where he is and not be a hypocrate, it is not a permanent thing that Open Carry and Conceal Carry are all Vermont/Arizona/Alaska style. And it is much easier to buy a pistol. Most of the country also adapts Kennesaw Georgia rules, and adults are EXPECTED to go strapped. No restrictions on handguns beyond what is there now for your average state. No Glock 18s, for instance, will be any more available than they are now.
Trumps reasoning behind this is that rifles are offense weapons, but pistols are defense.
And now the whole gun-control issue is put to bed forever more thereafter. The NRA and GOA have come to a permanent Peace with MAIG, Brady, and VPC.
~
How do us gunnies like THAT hypothetical? (as outlandish as it is…)
I, for one, well part of me, is relieved. I don’t have to keep fighting that political battle, here or elsewhere. Part of me is perturbed at the alteration of the 2nd, the loss of real rifles, and the whole POINT of the original intention and meaning of the 2nd.
Could we be happy, never to be hassled about carrying a SIG around just as often and to as many places are we now tote a cell phone? We are certainly not a defenseless population, then. We are all equalized. Universal pistol carry isn’t the best way to counter tyranny, but it’s pretty effective.
What say all of you?
Alphecca, like a good little gun blogger, zeroed in on The Donalds political position on firearms and noted he’s a little from column A, a little from column B. In other words, unacceptable. Alphecca also noted that Trump is one of the privileged few that can actually GET a conceal carry permit in New York.
This last bit got me thinking. What if The Donald was elevated to Emperor of the US after a free and fair election with just a little tweak on his policies. Yes, he’s bad on the assault weapons thing. But he’s Emperor now, and he just re-wrote the 2nd Amendment into language even Sarah Brady can’t argue with. Like I said, ARs, AKs, FALs, M1As even M1 Carbines are to be turned in to the police. All 8 round enbloc Garand clips too, but not 5 round ones, so you got that going for you. 8 is dangerous, 5 is fine. Or something.
That’s the bad news. The good news, to get where he is and not be a hypocrate, it is not a permanent thing that Open Carry and Conceal Carry are all Vermont/Arizona/Alaska style. And it is much easier to buy a pistol. Most of the country also adapts Kennesaw Georgia rules, and adults are EXPECTED to go strapped. No restrictions on handguns beyond what is there now for your average state. No Glock 18s, for instance, will be any more available than they are now.
Trumps reasoning behind this is that rifles are offense weapons, but pistols are defense.
And now the whole gun-control issue is put to bed forever more thereafter. The NRA and GOA have come to a permanent Peace with MAIG, Brady, and VPC.
~
How do us gunnies like THAT hypothetical? (as outlandish as it is…)
I, for one, well part of me, is relieved. I don’t have to keep fighting that political battle, here or elsewhere. Part of me is perturbed at the alteration of the 2nd, the loss of real rifles, and the whole POINT of the original intention and meaning of the 2nd.
Could we be happy, never to be hassled about carrying a SIG around just as often and to as many places are we now tote a cell phone? We are certainly not a defenseless population, then. We are all equalized. Universal pistol carry isn’t the best way to counter tyranny, but it’s pretty effective.
What say all of you?
Saturday, October 9, 2010
By now...
By now I have met JayG face to face, and I know if he has a firm handshake, or if he does the dead, cold fish, noodle-arm shake.
By now I have met Breda, and I know if she is super awesome, or merely just uber. Also know if Mike is going to kill me.
If Mike kills me, avenge my death.
If I'm not dead, soon, there will be guns and meat and beer.
And tomorrow we'll cut our carbon emission 10%!
I'm kidding. Tomorrow I drive my SUV back home. At inefficient speeds.
By now I have met Breda, and I know if she is super awesome, or merely just uber. Also know if Mike is going to kill me.
If Mike kills me, avenge my death.
If I'm not dead, soon, there will be guns and meat and beer.
And tomorrow we'll cut our carbon emission 10%!
I'm kidding. Tomorrow I drive my SUV back home. At inefficient speeds.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Mission
I'm on a RoMERO mission to Cleveland. Bringing some of my personal kinetic solutions. More later.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
92
There were no semi-auto produced pistols before 1892. I did not know that. Wikipedia has Borepatch as a source of info for the Laumman pistol of 1892 so it must be a true fact. Patent drawings of that pistol sure do make it look like a dog’s breakfast, don’t it?
I’ve talked about the Borschardt and Mauser Broomhandle before. More early Euro designs. They came out in 1893 and 1896 respectively.
Browning had the Colt1900 in… uh… 1900, and it was a precursor for others including eventually the familiar 1911 pattern.
So from non-existence, to acceptance and production and adoption by the US military in 19 years, 1892-1911. It just seems so FAST for a weapon system. I guess it’s not. We went from the Wright Flyer to the aircraft carrier Langley in the same number of years.
I’ve talked about the Borschardt and Mauser Broomhandle before. More early Euro designs. They came out in 1893 and 1896 respectively.
Browning had the Colt1900 in… uh… 1900, and it was a precursor for others including eventually the familiar 1911 pattern.
So from non-existence, to acceptance and production and adoption by the US military in 19 years, 1892-1911. It just seems so FAST for a weapon system. I guess it’s not. We went from the Wright Flyer to the aircraft carrier Langley in the same number of years.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
M1 Carbine
MBtGE went to the Chantilly VA Fun Show. Since I was feeling poorly he asked if he should be on the lookout for anything for me.
Naw. Not really.
Wait. If you see a good deal on M1 Carbines...
Cheapest vintage one he saw was $1800. The brand new reproductions were less than a grand, but so what?
If that's where they are setting... Two LARGE... I'm not gonna be owning one. I am not buying a shooter M1 that costs more than my M1A. Crap.
If you could see me now you would see my sad face.
(I know, I know, I can probably do a third of that price, but still. I kick myself for not getting into the hobby sooner. Then again, I wasn't as wealthy 10+ years ago, either.)
In other gun show news... .40 was available in bulk from major manufacturers, around a quarter ($.25) a round. I'm happy to see that. I didn't expect $150 for 1000 nowadays, but was kinda expecting they'd try for $330 per.
Naw. Not really.
Wait. If you see a good deal on M1 Carbines...
Cheapest vintage one he saw was $1800. The brand new reproductions were less than a grand, but so what?
If that's where they are setting... Two LARGE... I'm not gonna be owning one. I am not buying a shooter M1 that costs more than my M1A. Crap.
If you could see me now you would see my sad face.
(I know, I know, I can probably do a third of that price, but still. I kick myself for not getting into the hobby sooner. Then again, I wasn't as wealthy 10+ years ago, either.)
In other gun show news... .40 was available in bulk from major manufacturers, around a quarter ($.25) a round. I'm happy to see that. I didn't expect $150 for 1000 nowadays, but was kinda expecting they'd try for $330 per.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
SLIM pistols
Saw the article on Taurus Slim in the NRA magazine American Rifleman
I like this trend/concept. Companies trying to come out with a better CCW pistol.
More and more are CCWing, so there will be further push for the 'ideal' CCW gun in a world where the customers are willing to buy and try new things, but rarely willing to fall in love and rely on new unproven things. So any 'ideal' CCW introduction better be perfect.
The ideal CCW design maximizes positive traits but knows every good trait is a child of compromise. There are plenty of service pistols out there.
So let's go over those traits.
You want the caliber to be big enough. That, the old gunnie trope goes, mean it has to begin .4x. Is that the correct choice? It doesn't matter, the idea is fully inculcated into the heads of potential customers. If the CCW revolution had occurred in the late 1970s the conventional wisdom would be the 9mm cartidge almost universally. Ok, say .40. The smallest .4x. .45 would be better, in my mind, since we're compromising power with compactness.
How many bullets does the magazine carry, you want 1000 of these, just in case. Except you can't carry a gun with 1000 rounds in your pistol. Especially .40 cal. Ok. 12? Wait, we want compactness because it is CCW. Ok, single stack magazine. 7 or 8. Some will complain that this is NOT ENOUGH, but let's assume that just having to fire one is rare enough, and in that event firing 3 is an even rarer subset of rare.
Also, single stack magazines are less bulky in themselves when you tote around the spare. And you ARE toting around a spare magazine with your semi-auto, right? One, for the folks that are sure that 7 rounds isn't enough, you should have a spare, and TWO, the failure point semi-autos is statistically in the magazine department. Or so I've been instructed.
I'll probably have to stick with polymers. Does anyone come out with a new design and use all steel construction anymore? Sure there are plenty of brand new steel guns being made today, but they are revolvers or 1911s or Browning Hi-Powers or somesuch. I'll just have to get used to plastic. It DOES keep the cost down.
So, so far we have a single stack .40, small, but not TOO small. All of ones fingers can find purchase on the grip when you have 7 rounds of .40 in a magazine. You want a huge hefty gun to help with recoil management, but that's the compromise for the ideal CCW gun. Paring down the size and weight, but not paring it down too much. (If you want to maximize compactness-yet-still-capable, there are plenty of mini .380s out there now.)
Other features? Butt-simple OS. Glock/S&W M&P/XD have this down, so I guess we're looking at a striker fired pistol with no safety switches to fiddle with, just the passive safeties.
It should have the melty bar of soap treatment to round off the corners and edges and catches, but this is also assumed.
So what do we have so far that would fill this role if no companies rise to meet it with a new product. Well, the 1911 already comes close. Commander size, it's short, already thin, and single stack. But how are gun companies gonna sell us something new? The 1911 model market is already glutted. Their marketing is gonna have to be: "More compact than a 1911, but not so small it's ineffective. And less less fiddly bits to catch out your clothes compared to your trusty 100 year old 1911 design. Yeah, we said it. Your pistol design is old, so come buy the new hotness!"
The company that makes this new slim .40 will have to be 'CompanieS' plural. There are Taurus fans, but not everyone is a Taurus fan, there are Springfield fans, but not everyone... you get my meaning.
There is another problem. A pistol this size is obviously a holstered carry piece, not pocket. And a new design will have zero holsters extant. A smart gun company would partner with a holster company ahead of release. Coupon, free holsters, that sort of thing. It's be cheap and easy to make a Serpa type holster and sell it with the gun, but a paddle holster at 3 o'clock on your belt isn't quite the concealed gat that a IWB holstered weapon is.
As for a review of the features offered in the only gun I am aware of... that selfsame Taurus Slim... Meh. It's got a triggerlock and a safety, both low on my desirability list. And it carries the Taurus reputation with it.
Now if SIG made my P229 with Double Action Kellerman and a narrower grip containing a single stack magazine... That would be an improvement in my eyes. Though I think I'd want to get away from DAK. A medium sized Springfield XD Slim would tempt me, quickly, too. And before you say, "what about the single stack Sig P239?" Is that really a narrower grip? It seems like Sig is always trying to maximize bulkiness rather than minimize.
In my fantasy world? 1908 Colt Pocket Hammerless in .40. It would have to be upped in mass, I'd think, but you wouldn't have to go too far. Move the mag release, as well. A few other things. But man that would be a nice heater.
Now, this is the CCW gun for me. Does anyone think it would be the CCW gun for others? Right now folks are carrying Glock Sub-Compacts, Kahrs, 1911s. All will do the job, yes, I was wondering it we could cut the width down a bit and also save some weight without sacrificing much else besides capacity. I'm carrying a 5 shot revolver in my pocket right now, tho. (It's Maryland, so that's in-house carry...)
Maybe the Kahr P40 is what I am describing... I dunno.l Never handled one.
Hey, speaking of pocket carry! It's October. That's big boy pants season. And routine daily at-home pocket carry.
I like this trend/concept. Companies trying to come out with a better CCW pistol.
More and more are CCWing, so there will be further push for the 'ideal' CCW gun in a world where the customers are willing to buy and try new things, but rarely willing to fall in love and rely on new unproven things. So any 'ideal' CCW introduction better be perfect.
The ideal CCW design maximizes positive traits but knows every good trait is a child of compromise. There are plenty of service pistols out there.
So let's go over those traits.
You want the caliber to be big enough. That, the old gunnie trope goes, mean it has to begin .4x. Is that the correct choice? It doesn't matter, the idea is fully inculcated into the heads of potential customers. If the CCW revolution had occurred in the late 1970s the conventional wisdom would be the 9mm cartidge almost universally. Ok, say .40. The smallest .4x. .45 would be better, in my mind, since we're compromising power with compactness.
How many bullets does the magazine carry, you want 1000 of these, just in case. Except you can't carry a gun with 1000 rounds in your pistol. Especially .40 cal. Ok. 12? Wait, we want compactness because it is CCW. Ok, single stack magazine. 7 or 8. Some will complain that this is NOT ENOUGH, but let's assume that just having to fire one is rare enough, and in that event firing 3 is an even rarer subset of rare.
Also, single stack magazines are less bulky in themselves when you tote around the spare. And you ARE toting around a spare magazine with your semi-auto, right? One, for the folks that are sure that 7 rounds isn't enough, you should have a spare, and TWO, the failure point semi-autos is statistically in the magazine department. Or so I've been instructed.
I'll probably have to stick with polymers. Does anyone come out with a new design and use all steel construction anymore? Sure there are plenty of brand new steel guns being made today, but they are revolvers or 1911s or Browning Hi-Powers or somesuch. I'll just have to get used to plastic. It DOES keep the cost down.
So, so far we have a single stack .40, small, but not TOO small. All of ones fingers can find purchase on the grip when you have 7 rounds of .40 in a magazine. You want a huge hefty gun to help with recoil management, but that's the compromise for the ideal CCW gun. Paring down the size and weight, but not paring it down too much. (If you want to maximize compactness-yet-still-capable, there are plenty of mini .380s out there now.)
Other features? Butt-simple OS. Glock/S&W M&P/XD have this down, so I guess we're looking at a striker fired pistol with no safety switches to fiddle with, just the passive safeties.
It should have the melty bar of soap treatment to round off the corners and edges and catches, but this is also assumed.
So what do we have so far that would fill this role if no companies rise to meet it with a new product. Well, the 1911 already comes close. Commander size, it's short, already thin, and single stack. But how are gun companies gonna sell us something new? The 1911 model market is already glutted. Their marketing is gonna have to be: "More compact than a 1911, but not so small it's ineffective. And less less fiddly bits to catch out your clothes compared to your trusty 100 year old 1911 design. Yeah, we said it. Your pistol design is old, so come buy the new hotness!"
The company that makes this new slim .40 will have to be 'CompanieS' plural. There are Taurus fans, but not everyone is a Taurus fan, there are Springfield fans, but not everyone... you get my meaning.
There is another problem. A pistol this size is obviously a holstered carry piece, not pocket. And a new design will have zero holsters extant. A smart gun company would partner with a holster company ahead of release. Coupon, free holsters, that sort of thing. It's be cheap and easy to make a Serpa type holster and sell it with the gun, but a paddle holster at 3 o'clock on your belt isn't quite the concealed gat that a IWB holstered weapon is.
As for a review of the features offered in the only gun I am aware of... that selfsame Taurus Slim... Meh. It's got a triggerlock and a safety, both low on my desirability list. And it carries the Taurus reputation with it.
Now if SIG made my P229 with Double Action Kellerman and a narrower grip containing a single stack magazine... That would be an improvement in my eyes. Though I think I'd want to get away from DAK. A medium sized Springfield XD Slim would tempt me, quickly, too. And before you say, "what about the single stack Sig P239?" Is that really a narrower grip? It seems like Sig is always trying to maximize bulkiness rather than minimize.
In my fantasy world? 1908 Colt Pocket Hammerless in .40. It would have to be upped in mass, I'd think, but you wouldn't have to go too far. Move the mag release, as well. A few other things. But man that would be a nice heater.
Now, this is the CCW gun for me. Does anyone think it would be the CCW gun for others? Right now folks are carrying Glock Sub-Compacts, Kahrs, 1911s. All will do the job, yes, I was wondering it we could cut the width down a bit and also save some weight without sacrificing much else besides capacity. I'm carrying a 5 shot revolver in my pocket right now, tho. (It's Maryland, so that's in-house carry...)
Maybe the Kahr P40 is what I am describing... I dunno.l Never handled one.
Hey, speaking of pocket carry! It's October. That's big boy pants season. And routine daily at-home pocket carry.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Ammo Situation
I forgot to mention... I went to Bass Pro to look for 150 grain hunting ammo for the .308. Got 2 boxes. 40 rounds. Will last 7 years if I hunt with it and zero my rifle with it every year. Maybe longer if it zeros the same as milsurp.
But as for pistol ammo... Bass Pro, my local bulk brick and mortar discount ammo store, is still not back up to pre-Obama levels in inventory. No real bulk availability. There was a LOT of Remington green box 9mm on the clearance table, and a few odds and ends of other stuff. If I was desperate for ammo I could have brought home at least something for each of my calibers. There was no .357, but there was a few boxes .38, for instance. And I only have the 4 types of pistol to feed. .380, .357/38, .40, and .45
Prices for basic ball varied widely. The spot where the $21 boxes of .380 was empty, but the brand next to it was plentiful. But that cost $32 a box. So it looks like the market needs to settle, still.
But as for pistol ammo... Bass Pro, my local bulk brick and mortar discount ammo store, is still not back up to pre-Obama levels in inventory. No real bulk availability. There was a LOT of Remington green box 9mm on the clearance table, and a few odds and ends of other stuff. If I was desperate for ammo I could have brought home at least something for each of my calibers. There was no .357, but there was a few boxes .38, for instance. And I only have the 4 types of pistol to feed. .380, .357/38, .40, and .45
Prices for basic ball varied widely. The spot where the $21 boxes of .380 was empty, but the brand next to it was plentiful. But that cost $32 a box. So it looks like the market needs to settle, still.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
See?
See what yer dang Socialism leads to, Progressives?!!! Grunge Metal music and zombies!
The Zombie-Socialism nexus is revealed...
But I'm confused... Gorbachev is NOT a zombie, but in fact a Zombie retiring MACHINE? And when you kill commie-zombies, Twinkies and blue jeans fall out of the sky and all the beautiful women default to sexy-time?
The Zombie-Socialism nexus is revealed...
But I'm confused... Gorbachev is NOT a zombie, but in fact a Zombie retiring MACHINE? And when you kill commie-zombies, Twinkies and blue jeans fall out of the sky and all the beautiful women default to sexy-time?
Demos
So living in the DC area has it's disadvantages. LOTS of tourists, and then that number explodes whenever there is a demonstration downtown. It makes venturing downtown nigh impossible. It doesn't matter which side of the political spectrum you are it all contributes to a traffic nightmare.
It wasn't so bad this time. Apparently the Progressive-Democrats held a One People One Nation One Obama, Working Together rally. Instead of 'hundreds of thousands' it was 'hundreds maybe thousands.' No word on whether they cleaned up after themselves, which is a DANGEROUS habit the Tea Party types have picked up. C'mon Tea Party people! There is a whole industry down here devoted to cleaning up the litter after the events. If you hold 500,000 people rallies and leave NO trash on the Mall those people aren't paid overtime, in this tough economy
Anyway. It was definitely Progressives & Democrats on the Mall this weekend. No Socialists at all... SO don't call them that! It's those crazed right wing types that are supported by big money. These demonstrators were only supported by Unions like SEIU and AFL-CIO.
See, no Socialists?
---
Comedy Central will probably pull a lot more people at the end of the month.
It wasn't so bad this time. Apparently the Progressive-Democrats held a One People One Nation One Obama, Working Together rally. Instead of 'hundreds of thousands' it was 'hundreds maybe thousands.' No word on whether they cleaned up after themselves, which is a DANGEROUS habit the Tea Party types have picked up. C'mon Tea Party people! There is a whole industry down here devoted to cleaning up the litter after the events. If you hold 500,000 people rallies and leave NO trash on the Mall those people aren't paid overtime, in this tough economy
Anyway. It was definitely Progressives & Democrats on the Mall this weekend. No Socialists at all... SO don't call them that! It's those crazed right wing types that are supported by big money. These demonstrators were only supported by Unions like SEIU and AFL-CIO.
See, no Socialists?
---
Comedy Central will probably pull a lot more people at the end of the month.
Say what you will...
Gotta give Obama props for what he is depicted doing on this fridge magnet:
Yup. Barry is clocking a Shamblor. Good going Barry. Jimmy Carter would have gone for the sloppy kiss instead of the knuckle sammich.
Yup. Barry is clocking a Shamblor. Good going Barry. Jimmy Carter would have gone for the sloppy kiss instead of the knuckle sammich.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Yuck
I got the Rock-a-pneumonia, and/or the boogie-woogie flu. It's putting a kibosh on today's bacon and pancakes and gun range trip. I am perturbed. Stupid body. Missing the Fun Show in Chantilly, too.
Rifle
It's a Riflemans War in Afghanistan, as OldNFO linked to, and sadly Jeff Cooper isn't around to study and comment on it.
He was alive for the earlier kinetic stuff. Where a snake eater with a GPS and a radio was vestoring B1 bomber ordinance. And he commented on combat procedures in Iraq, dissappointed it was all batteries and bomb throwing, what with the IR and lasers and red-dot optics, and the lobbing of grenades via launch tube.
But I'm thinking Cooper would have been intrigued now that circumstances in Afghanistan necessitates more long range single shot engagements.
The trouble with old soldiers is that they DO fade away.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Bizarro
He's right, we are living in a Bizarro type parallel universe lately, where France thinks us wussies with Iran, Sweden won't bail out Saab, but the US will bail out GM, the NAACP says nice things about a Klansman, &c.
Weird.
More importantly, he is very right about the final thing. Barack Obama would TOTALLY rock a goatee. He should grow one. That would be great and earn some respect from me.
Weird.
More importantly, he is very right about the final thing. Barack Obama would TOTALLY rock a goatee. He should grow one. That would be great and earn some respect from me.
Winston Churchill
Churchill, a BRITISH citizen, should be the least familiar with inherent Rights of Man, as we understand them. Compared to a president of the United States, certainly. Every now and then I start to respect FDR a bit, particularly for his conduct during the way years, but then I learn something about him and I take him for what he really was: Imbecile.
At the last conference, Yalta, between Stalin, FDR, and Churchill, Churchill could tell FDR was not long for this earth. If FDR didn't know that, it was total denial. One of the big topics was what was Poland's postwar status going to be. Stalin wanted, of course, to gobble them up, and since the Red Army was going to have occupied the whole of it, it would take a lot of convincing to sway him away from that course of action.
What did FDR think, according to Chuchill's reports? Roosevelt, "took a distant view of the Polish question; the 5 or 6 million Poles in the US were mostly second generation." He was only concerned with base political considerations. Votes! Not for him, either, he'd been re-elected for the 4th time already and had to have known he wouldn't see 1948 or even 46. It wasn't going to impact him in any way, what happened to the Poles. And it would hardly impact his Party. Stalin, it turns out, was going to do as he wished anyway. Nothing FDR would say would change that, and he could have called for the Poles to be appointed High Muckity Mucks of all the world and be prepared to travel to colonies on the Moon to rule over us from above. The point is, there was nothing stopping FDR from taking the high road. Currying favor with Stalin by feeding him the Poles? Favor was not going to be curried, regardless.
What did Churchill think and say?
Stunning how a British Imperial, in the form of 70 year old Churchill, a man practically a Victorian in outlook, could understand a concept that should be second nature to every American. They are the very principles that our country was cast from. Individual rights and dignity. Self-determination. Inviolate sovereignty. How embarrassing that FDR didn't grok that at all. I think that is a still a problem with Roosevelt's political progeny.
Clement Atlee, his successor after the war, was right about Churchill. He was indeed the most consequential man of the 20th Century. I am in whole agreement.
At the last conference, Yalta, between Stalin, FDR, and Churchill, Churchill could tell FDR was not long for this earth. If FDR didn't know that, it was total denial. One of the big topics was what was Poland's postwar status going to be. Stalin wanted, of course, to gobble them up, and since the Red Army was going to have occupied the whole of it, it would take a lot of convincing to sway him away from that course of action.
What did FDR think, according to Chuchill's reports? Roosevelt, "took a distant view of the Polish question; the 5 or 6 million Poles in the US were mostly second generation." He was only concerned with base political considerations. Votes! Not for him, either, he'd been re-elected for the 4th time already and had to have known he wouldn't see 1948 or even 46. It wasn't going to impact him in any way, what happened to the Poles. And it would hardly impact his Party. Stalin, it turns out, was going to do as he wished anyway. Nothing FDR would say would change that, and he could have called for the Poles to be appointed High Muckity Mucks of all the world and be prepared to travel to colonies on the Moon to rule over us from above. The point is, there was nothing stopping FDR from taking the high road. Currying favor with Stalin by feeding him the Poles? Favor was not going to be curried, regardless.
What did Churchill think and say?
Churchill then spoke of the rights of Poles... "to live freely and to live their own lives in their own way." Britain had gone to war in order than Poland could be "free and sovereign." It was Britain's wish thatPoland "should be mistress in her own house and captain of her own soul."... There must be a "free vote of the Polish people" on the their future constitution and administration. -page 818-819 Churchill: A Life, M. Gilbert
Stunning how a British Imperial, in the form of 70 year old Churchill, a man practically a Victorian in outlook, could understand a concept that should be second nature to every American. They are the very principles that our country was cast from. Individual rights and dignity. Self-determination. Inviolate sovereignty. How embarrassing that FDR didn't grok that at all. I think that is a still a problem with Roosevelt's political progeny.
Clement Atlee, his successor after the war, was right about Churchill. He was indeed the most consequential man of the 20th Century. I am in whole agreement.
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