The Goggles, they do NOTHING!

Standard eye pro at the range is for suckers.  Not when you can sport THESE and look cool.  Only 15 bucks.

Now I won't look like a dork.  AND I'll be ready for Steampunk cosplay or a Mad Max style dusty colander wearing apocalypse.  Done and done.

And get a good hurricane lamp while you are at.  NOT 15 smackers....

It's Not A Proper Nickel Heist

At the mint if there isn't a lady with a baby carriage nearby.



Click to embiggenate.

No Blog Today

Today it's Turkey Day.  Gonna take a blog day off.

Run, Fat Kid!

The American Heart Association reports that kids today are more likely to be eaten by Zombies:

• Around the globe, children are about 15 percent less fit than their parents were when they were young.
• In the United States, kids’ cardiovascular endurance performance declined about 6 percent per decade between 1970 and 2000.

Kids are too damn slow. 90 seconds slower than their parents. And I bet kids use proper clothing when they take em out for a run at recess to test this. When I ran the mile in elementary school 30 some years ago we ran it in corduroys and buster brown earth sandals.  So unless the youth of today is saddled with that tragic beltless pants problem I've seen, lately, they should be faster.  No.  Too much pie.  Snack for the undead now.

Twit

What’s a “tactical flashlight”? Does that mean you use it to kill people? http://t.co/066Q7lmneh

— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 26, 2013

Vintage Range

Why can't indoor ranges be like this nowadays?

That's from here, a pre-1925 range.

It's less claustrophobic with that high ceiling.  Sure, it's probably not THAT well lit, here, what with no windows [heh!], but with that height you can get some better light sources. 

The best range I've been to is the one at NRA headquarters.  Good lighting there, certainly, but I'd love to see a ceiling this high with all the other pluses NRA HQ offers. Plus better options there for prone and sitting position shooting

Dem Bones

I'm thinking of registering as a Democrat.  No, I didn't get a lobotomy...

I'm in Maryland.  It'd give me creds with the the local ruling class.  I can vote in THEIR primaries and such, since one of them is gonna win anyway.  And I can say on forums, "I'm a registered Democrat, but.... we really should open up Shall Issue in Maryland."

What do you think?

Watch Out for Snakes

25 years ago...

knock out

All this talk of the Knockout Game that seems to be in vogue again in the news is the usual histrionics from the media.  I know of people in Maryland talking a big game:  "Ima carry my CCW piece even without a Maryland permit and just take the risk."

Well, you don't really NEED to.  This falls into the the whole not going to stupid places to do stupid things with stupid people.  That and lack of awareness of your surroundings.  More than 2 or 3 young men with no accompanying women?  Warning sign.  Males that were conversing that stop when you come into range.  Flags should go up.

I haven't placed myself into a situation where the knockout game was an option against me in a long long time.  And don't be fooled, this is not really a new thing.  There is nothing new under the sun.  The media is just paying attention to it again.  There will be all sorts of hand wringing, I'm sure.  And just because it is a ginned up controversy doesn't mean it isn't serious.  You just gotta not go around in Condition White, no matter if you are CCWing or not.  Awareness.  Stay alert, stay alive.

A new Metrocon

I complain about the Metrocon Fortnightly, but I first heard this pro-gun Michigan news from them.  So, GOOD for them with the scoop.

 That's a new pro-gun contributor on me, over there.  Sterling Beard.  GREAT name. He's been around but I don't remember seeing him before now. 

50 Years Ago Tomorrow

The premiere of Doctor Who... Something happened today, too, 50 years ago.

Has anyone mentioned either of these events?  I posted this back in the Spring of 2012.

Everyone wants to be cremated these days

Not me.  Bury me.

But if you insist on cremating me, put my ashes in an ammo can and lob my powder into the Chesapeake.

Just like this guy is getting within his favorite holler in West, by God, Virginia. That's a good and tidy way to take care of bidness if you are a gunnie.  Are you listening, Brother?  I'll prolly kick it before you.

Boo.

Buy ammo day was yesterday.  I bought nuthin.  Hadn't failed at that in a while.

Big Nation's Fun Show is this weekend.  Prolly won't go.

Maybe I should.  I am kinda looking for a hunting rifle...  Guess what kind?  Go on!   Here's a hint, it was developed to shoot .308.

If I go to the show I bet I could make up my ammo issue from yesterday.

That was nice.

I had something for a Monday, but not a Tuesday.  Bupkis on Blog-fodder.

There has been a funk in the gunblogosphere of late.  Heck, the whole blogosphere, too, but I only care about the stuff near my corner.  Been doing so for a while.  Sadly, we'd be even more of a shadow of our former selves if it weren't for that surge thanks to a passle of gun control laws almost a year ago.  Why does it take a big ol' tragedy and crisis to glue us closer together?  Why can't a happy time be as sticky?

Are we gonna be gone from the scene in a few years when the next assault of civil rights come roaring down from those that would consider themselves out masters?  Bloggers, I mean.  Gunnies are just as big or bigger and not fading.  Heck, if anything there are TOO many gunnies now.  (I can say that, having climbed onto the wagon a whole 6 years ago.  Berate the newcomers...)  Buying up all the ammo, taking up all the lanes at the range...

I did find a new-to-me gunblogger.  One with a navy tie in.  Guns, Aviation, and Blue-Water.  What's not to like? 

I yam what I yam?

Well, not really.

I use a nom de plume.  My name isn't really Jovian.  Not because I want to be anonymously rude to folks and get away with it.  Not because I don't stand by my statement 100%.  Not because I am worried that in the future something I wrote in 2007 will come back to haunt me.

No, I do it because there are ignorant people out there.  Ones that will take 2 plus 2 on my blog here (that I stand by 100%) and come up with a sum of 43.  Just one HR person that is a hoplophobe could kibosh my employment because they have an irrational fear.

That's why I don't use my real name.  It's not because I am ashamed of anything.

Another reason?  With my real name a burglar that knows I have a firearm or two could do a cursory search to find my home address.  Also less than an optimal situation, no?

Forget burglars, I don't want some of my more worshipful groupies camping out on my lawn waiting for a chance to get a glimpse of me.

Selling Out

My first banner ad.  Click to embiggen.

This made me think of RobertaX

Since she is constantly climbing 5000 foot radio antennas to fix em...

You blew it up!

Video Games

Updated versions of first person shooters are out in time for the holiday.  I like shooty games and would play a lot more if it weren't for my lumbago.

Those 2 franchises originally came out at WWII games.  That was a HUGE fad for a time10 years ago or so.  The fad faded, which is sort of a shame.  Now it's more modern stuff.  Another war came along to capture the imagination.  And jungles are hard to play video games in so Pacific wars were less doable.

I am glad I went through that era of video games.  It was fun shooting Nazis.  

Dispelling the Myth

One shooter at a time.

So, I was at the range with a buddy and his mom.  I mentioned that previously.   Serendipitously, we were able to hit the pistol range.  Also serendipitously, I had my snubbie.

Buddy's Mom and known conventional wisdom in my group were under the impression that the J-Frame was the perfect pistol for ladies.  I opined it would be the last on my list of recommendations from a brand new shooter of either sex.  But proof was in the pudding.  Buddy and Buddy's Mom shot it and sorta understood, then...  And the fact they liked the heavier 1911 and shot it better also helped convince that maybe the J-Frame lil revolver might not be a first choice.

Yay!  T-bolt did good.

I recommended, if they LIKED the revolver, to maybe think about something like more 'regular size'.  Since this was to be a home defense weapon at any rate. 

Subbies

When I was a kid, pre-1986 the neato thing in firearms was the submachine gun.  The Uzi, originally, but then the things BETTER than the Uzi.  (Uzi was the standard to judge the others.)

Did we really know anything?  Of course not, we were kids.

"The Mac-10 is faster [cyclic rate to my young understanding] than the Uzi!  That's the gun you want"

And, with a primary research informational resource of 'television,' these subbies seemed to be able to shoot 100 rounds out of a 20 round magazine.

Toward the very end of the submachine gun pop culture craze, an Arnold Schwarzeneggar movie came out.  I remember it being the most violent movie I had seen up to that time.  Total Recall.  More violent than RoboCop, even.

But the futuristic Total Recall was a great showcase for subbies.  It's The Future!  What kind of subbies would I be shooting in The Future?  Wow, listen to them fire.  Zzzzzzip.  Fast ROF. 

Now that I'm older and thank to the internet I can look up the guns and be properly disappointed.  They were just gussied up 1980s stuff.  But the one I like the best was the cosmetically gussied up Micro Uzi.  It just looked neato to my younger eyes.  And check out their faces!  Grr!

Gun Safety

From a PROFESSIONAL.

Blog Trend

Amoungst the Metrocons Fortnightly

They are getting harder to read on the Corner.  They are offering no opinion, no analysis.  OR they are showing a video of themselves I am not going to watch because I am at work.  They just quote some ridiculous story and then let it stand.  Zero commentary.  Make it harder to monitor them because that is boring.  If I wand a news feed I can go elsewhere.  They are there to develop thought.  Or they were.

TYPE something, fools.  You are conservatives.  Conservatives still know how to READ.

Biologists remove arrow

From deer's head.  Why?  Just eat it!  It's a deer, eat it!  They aren't rare. 

Cripes, ohnoes! that poor lobster is missing one of it's hind claws. Well, give it to T-Bolt. I'll give it a nice steam bath and then rub an oil substance onto the soft tissue. After, I bet I pronounce that lobster 'all good'.

THIS IS WHERE I HAD VIDEO BUT I REMOVED IT BECAUSE OF THE ANNOYING AUTO PLAY

Range

Went to the range this past weekend.  Yay.

A buddy's mom wants to get a gun.  She wants a shotgun.  My buddie only has a 12 gauge and he thought I had a 20 gauge.  Well, I DO, but I gotta dig it out, but for somebody's mom, sure!

This buddy is a former Marine and he has a buddy who is a member of Peacemaker range, so...  Good to know, and we all trundled out to West Virginia.

Hey, this gave me an opportunity to air out the M1A and test the M4gery.  The good news?  I am still able to ring the gong at 230 yards pretty handily with the .308.  I can't quite SEE the gong at 300...  Some surplus ammo is better than others... Also, adjustments made to my AR now has it shooting semi-auto!

Ok, the bad news.  My Marine buddy was appalled at my AR's bolt.  I don't know ARs and appreciated his input and his demo on how to get that thing sloppy wet.  It's still a bit stiff.  Also...  before lubing it up good, I got slam fires.  AFTER lubing it up I am still dimpling the next rounds primer.  Good thing they weren't federal or I'd have many more slams.  Any ideas on fixing this?

Buddy's mom got to try out the 20 like she wanted but she was game to shoot everything you sat her down with.  Even 12 gauge slugs twice.  Luckily, I accidentally brought a couple 1911s and a buncha magazines.  The Marines had never fired the 1911.

You heard me.  Never.  Marines.  What is this world coming to?  They liked the M1A, too.  I need to bring the Garand for them next time.

Anyway, a navy guy and a coupla marines.  They called me a squid and whatnot and I acted surprised that they could read.  A good Veteran's days type outing.

Brits in WWII

Immigration

UC Berkley bans the term Illegal Immigrant.

Fine!  How bout:  Foreign Trespasser?   No?  Alien Interloper?  Spy For Overseas Powers?  Uninvited Public Resources Utilizers?

Aaaaah?

Now I'm Hungry

And also thirsty for Victory Gin!

History

About half the people wore spurs.  Folks preferred pistol in similar proportions to dentists, today, preferring sugar free gum.   And either there were more lefties back then than now, or folks liked carrying 2 pistols so as to dual wield themselves out of a tough scrape.

Behold this historical document:

Dammit!

Bloggers!  Readers of this blog!  If you are invited to be interviewed by a major media outlet about guns to be broadcast on TV then record every second of the process with a hidden camera.

LBJ

I loathe LBJ. What a shite-bird. Except for this one time... When he told Secretary of State Dean Rusk to ask Charles DeGaulle what the French wanted us to do with our cemeteries. DeGaulle wanted out of NATO and for all of NATO to get out of France in February 1966:

"President Johnson asked Rusk to seek further clarification from President de Gaulle by asking whether the bodies of buried American soldiers must leave France as well. Rusk recorded in his autobiography that de Gaulle did not respond when asked, 'Does your order include the bodies of American soldiers in France's cemeteries?'"

-

Verdict of History

It's been 40 years.  Verdict of Nixon:

"Meh.  He was no worse than the previous two arse-holes it turns out.  Too bad he wasn't more like Goldwater."

and.... SCENE.

Plus this:

Parsley

Tam and Roberta recommended chimichurri on my beef.  Said it really made it taste good.  I found some, finally and tried it.

Tam and Roberta lied to me!

Ok, that's over-harsh.  It wasn't to my liking.  I'd have preferred horseradish or A1 on run of the mill beef.  It is store bought jar of chimichurri, so...  Might not be up to homemade snuff.

Last night I made beef stew and the recipe called for parsley.  Hey wait a minnit, I don't have parsley flakes but I do have that stuff...  And it's mostly parsley...

Hey!  A big ol' dollop worked a charm in that!

Duel, 9mm v .45

Raped by the police and hospital doctors?

Because he clenched his butt cheeks?

What the...

This HAS to be a poorly time April Fools Prank.

Or some tax scheme at Guns&Ammo in order to kill the publication in order to write off the failure on somebody's taxes.

Another Zumbo?

I mean it's not like gunnies ever withhold their money from folks when they feel they are against their rights.

Lee Harvey

I'm low on fodder, and had planned this one for the future, but heck the "50 years ago..." thingies are already coming out on this.

From the back of my mind, a question nagged, but is quickly dismissed.

Why did former US Marine Lee Oswald buy a crappy Aye-Tie Carcano through the mail order supply house?  There was plenty of surplus rifles on the market.  Even what he trained with, the M1 Garand.  You'd think almost anything else would be a better choice for his intended plan.

So, without looking it up online, I considered...  Well, he's a commie with a low paying city-gov't job, and Garands are cheap but there is much cheaper in the 1962 milsurp options.  And if he wanted to use a scope, well, the Garand isn't set up for scope.  Oh, and I assumed he trained on a Garand since the M14 wasn't really online til 1960 or so, and I didn't think he'd have been in the USMC at that late date.  So the questions that remain are things like: are there cheaper but better scopable rifles available for Lee and if so, why did he choose what many consider the worst option?

Lemme see what wiki says about Oswald...  No insight as to why except maybe a Carcano could be easier to conceal.

[Wait a second...  This is just like that movie I reviewed.  Oswald used a revolver to kill Officer Tippit and they found cases at the scene.  "Numerous witnesses heard the shots and saw Oswald flee the scene holding a revolver, nine positively identified him as the man who shot Tippit and fled. Four cartridge cases found at the scene were identified by expert witnesses."  Who the hell dumps shells at a crime scene?  Gah!  No wonder there are so many conspiracy theories.]

Anyway, it was reported that Oswald liked prerusing shooting magazines, and bought the Italian carbine in March of 1963.  Here is a copy of the 1963 Guns Magazine issue that Oswald might have read when making up his mind what to get from a sporting goods store and.. WHAT ho, on page 7 is an ad for Klein's Sporting goods, the very same catalog house.  Well, a .30-06 US Model 1917 rifle costs $29.88.  A 4x scope costs $19.88 separately.  You can buy that rifle with the scope already mounted for $39.88.   A much better rifle than the one he bought.

But... on the same page you can buy the Carcano 6.5mm with the scope mounted, for only $19.95.  And this is probably the same ad copy Lee Harvey saw and ordered from.  Wow.  I feel all historian-sleuthy.  I'm sure Klein's sent duplicate ads to all the gun magazines they advertised in, so it may not have have been Guns Magazine that the assassin used.  But it was almost certainly a facsimile of the ad on page 7.  Hey, I'm right.  His magazine was American Rifleman, tho.  According to wikipedia.

So it was cost, probably, that informed his selection.  Has there been a wealthy wack job assassin since Boothe?  If Oswald was looking to buy a rifle today for nefarious purposes...  I guess he'd get a Mosin.  That would appeal to the commie inside him.

[oh, and the whole 'revolver cartridges found at the scene' canard, like they were ejected when he shot the policeman?  That was wikipedia getting it wrong.  Or fuzzy, at least.  The testimony in the Warren Report don't make it sound like that at all.]

It turned into winter

Just now, I mean.

2 hours ago, I come in from work... not winter.

Take the trash out now... WINTER.

Range Trip

Went with the Saucy Trollop to the Hap Baker range a week ago yesterday.  It's nice to have a break and shoot pistols at the outdoor lanes.

I am getting good enough with my trigger control that the area I used to pepper with 'flinch fliers' I can no use as a separate target area.

Most all the .45 I shot at the right shoot-n-see is on the black, if right of center.  There are 3 .44 magnums in the 10 ring, and I shot a magazine of XD40 at the empty white space below my target.  ANd there are double action .38s all over the place.  THAT I have to work on more.

Fever Dream

But gun related.

Sick

Got a bit of a chest cold so the blog well is dry.  More tomorrow with luck.

Get yo ho ready

Watch

You wanna watch that will survive the zombie apocalypse?   Well then you probably want a Maratac.  Simple.  EMP proof.  Rugged.  About the cheapest mechanical movement you can get that has jeweled bearings and a sapphire crystal face.

Almost as good, but much cheaper, but not glow in the dark is the Chinese made like this.

Plenty of cheap quartz out there.  As long as you think EMP won't be an issue.

EDC

So I went to this sight.  Everyday carry.

Yeah, expensive watches, pens, lighters, knives, and flashlights.  Moleskins.  Smartphone 7G or whatever.  I thought nothing but a buncha hipsters showing off their personal swag.  Interesting but...

Well, I went back a page or two, with some patience.  Huh.  Looks like some of the items carried were indeed Our People.  CCW pieces. Lots of folks like the Sig P238.   Well, it does look nice and fits in a pocket.

I'd put up a picture of my stuff here, but it's pretty pedestrian.  It's a bic, not a zippo, cuz even Neanderthals could make fire.  My good knife doesn't come along as it's a bit panic inducing at work.  That sort.