Nightmare

I rarely have them.

In the dream, there was an intruder in my house. I 'woke' in the dream, thought something was fishy, and went to the front door. The lock was busted, so, I figured the bad guy was in the basement, as he wasn't in the living room or my bedroom. I was pretty sure. I didn't know, see?

I was armed in the dream, of course. A snubbie with a Crimson Trace laser. I really need to improve my "bump in the night" options. And I was scared enough I knew that stress would really throw off my shooting if that became necessary. You gotta calm yourself as much as possible, I don't need to tell you. That's a big part of the training I am doing at the gunsmith's shooting similator and range trip. Ramp up the stree to get used to dealing with it and endeavor to stick with the fundamentals.

But in the dream, I wasn't dealing with the mortal dread very well. And I knew it, in the dream.

Then there was a flash. Like a nuke touched off. But in the basement. My conclusion was the bad guy was messing with the circuit breaker box downstairs. Which is fine by me. I don't need light in my own house.

Then I woke up.

Dunno if any of you saw this

Some kid in Baltimore was carrying a BB gun that looked like a Beretta.  And the cops shot him.  They couldn't tell from looking at it.  The kid was just injured and will be ok, but here is a picture of the replica gun and the

Which one is real which is fake?  I knew right away, but I have advantages that most reporters don't have.  This is close up.  At a greater distance and moving around and in a hand I don't know how a cop would instantly spot a fake in time to not have already acted on the assumption it is real.



---

The story got over-shadowed by the guy in the panda onesie outside a Bawlmer TV studio with a suicide vest with candy bars instead of dynamite upset about Bernie losing Maryland or something.  He also got winged by the cops for the trouble because at a distance, that could be Semtex.  What a world we live in.  They oughta sell tickets.

[Correction:  HEDGEHOG onesie.  I regret the error. -ed.]

Talked about S&W

Earlier. 


If your Smith isn't timing offa one or more notches.  The hammer drops before the little pawl in the bottom engages... 


Maybe don't send it to S&W pro shop for service. 


Which is a difficult decision as it is difficult to get replacement parts for you revolver.  Smith isn't in the habit of selling them to you without them fitting it for you too. 


You can send you gun in with one of six not timed right and get it back with 3 of 6 not timed right.  S&W just holds to the 50% rule for themselves.  If you are dissastisfied they might agree to trade you.  Send you a different gun entirely.  Usually a gun not as valuable, tho. 


It's just a bad time for Smith revolvers right now.  ARs and M&P are reportedly just fine, but the revolver side of the house appears to be in a nadir.   And this from the gunsmith, not me.  Now, sure they could reverse the trend by buckling down.  Let's hope.

Weerd says Springfield will fix it. Uhhh, is that what you meant, Weerd?  Springfield?  Cuz it's news to me that Springfield is doing S&W work.
  Perhaps awesome if true.

When you are jonesing

To be a hobby machinist and a gunsmith it is important to avoid video series like this one by Waffenschmiedin. (German for 'gunsmith')



Or you end up making a hash of it after blowing thousands and thousands on tooling. But what fun that would be if my pockets were bottomless and my skill set deeper. Neato torpedo

But watch the whole series.  She's not done yet, but it does satisfy my curiosity on a lot of things.  Like the rifling cuts using a modern lathe. 

Ground Game

Election day.

Kasich's peeps called me trice. 

The Jewish Community Research Council called me twice, but didn't endorse anyone specifically. 

Jeff Jones called me for a congressional vote.  So did Aryen Shudofsky.

That's it.  None of the front runners cared about my vote. 

Jeff Jones?   On guns he says

I don't want to take guns away from responsible citizens. It is a Constitutional right. But we need help getting to reasonable limits as to who can own guns and what type and for what reason. Background checks can protect school children from being killed in their classrooms, or our children attending a movie should not have to worry about whether they get to go home or not. Access to guns should be limited. It might also be helpful if licenses were issued with the kind of arrangements driver's licenses are controlled. It should be renewable, it should be considerate of age and ability etc. there ought to be classes required for gun safety and possession guidelines. Hundreds of children shoot or kill friends or siblings because they find a loaded gun where it shouldn't be. Maybe regulation could come in the form of ammunition control. How many bullets do you need to hunt for food? How many bullets are going to be needed if you want to protect your home and belongings from an intruder?

So, yeah, an idiot.  And the other guy that called, Shudofsky is a Toomey-Mankin man.  Nope. 

You too can screw up

Saw this in JayG's Facebook. 

You, Too, Can Screw Up a 1911

Don't I know it.   And you can do worse than that. 

My only issue with it is the 'all cheap 1911s are bad.'  Yes, pawn shop cheapies... someone is trying to sell his gunsmithing problem away.  But Armscor guns... I'm sorta converted on them.  And those are cheap.  If they used slightly better steels they'd be darn good instead of just good.

And limp wristing.  I'm also coming around on a gentler, relaxed grip.  For recoil control.  But that isn't really limp wristing.  The wrist is rigid enough, and something for the recoil to push off of, it's the grip that is light.  So apples and oranges, I guess. 

But that's just what I've been going by lately.  I need a lot more practice before I have any sort of authority.  It's just where I am now, in the journey.

Stand by for Bupkis Tuesday, tomorrow!

Got it back

The grips look good?  They had to be fitted a little, the grips stuck out too far at the 'back strap'.

Also, the timing is now good.  Never buy an S&W revolver unless it times on every cylinder.  That means the pawl underneath engages the notch in the cylinder in double action before the hammer drops.

And... just for giggles he smoothed up the trigger.  Like buttah! 

Hey!

I know that guy!

I met him at an NRA convention.

And, hey, look!  He's talking about Gun Crow laws.  Good for him.  Thank you Mr. Cooke. 

Can you imagine if, after 1965, they got rid of all the other Jim Crow laws, including the prohibitions about black people acquiring the tools to defend themselves, but forgot one of the other ones?  Like, all the other Jim Crow laws were repealed but the separate drinking fountains was still a thing?  And people just went along with that, like it was ok?

In 1834, alarmed by Nat Turner’s rebellion in Virginia, Tennessee amended its state constitution to make this purpose unambiguous, clarifying that the “right to keep and to bear arms” applied not to “the freemen of this State” — as the 1794 version of the document had allowed — but to “the free white men of this State.”

Imagine that.

When someone says they just want to pass 'sensible gun safety regulation' call them a racist Kluxer, without irony.

The 1968 Gun Control Act was passed under the columns of smoke from riots after MLK was assassinated. 

You think crack cocaine was a CIA conspiracy but you ignore this? 

Vocab

I need to more frequently drop the nigh-obsolescent words 'Gutta-Percha' into casual conversation.
 
Heck, I impressed some co-workers with the word macadam once.

Micarta

I thought Micarta was a new thing.  Prolly made that assumption because the first time I became aware of it it was Micarta with carbon fiber fabric.  Carbon fiber is new, so micarta materials made with it must also be new?



Naw.  George Westinghouse was making micarta at least as far back as 1910.  You can make it with paper or canvas or fiberglass fabric.



It's just layers of stuff impregnated with some liquid resin and cured.

Makes good gun grips.



Back in 1910 you see those black rubber gun grips on stuff.  Often get chipped in their travel through the 20th Century.



I imagine a rubber grip was easy to make in a mold compared to shaping and checkering walnut or some bone product.



Micarta grips aren't cheap, but maybe they could be if it was the go - to material for grips.  But grips are SO last year.  Just make a gun with built in grips, as part of the stock or frame.

Or your money back

France guarantees to responds to any future terror attack in 20 minutes. 

Which is about 19 and a half minutes too late for many of the victims. 

Police aren't first responders.  They are second responders.  YOU are the first responder. 

A diffuse offense requires a diffuse defense.   If only the victims freely had the tools to respond...

Cat Calls

One of the feminist bugaboos getting ink in the last few years is about women walking down the street getting catcalls from construction workers.


The women bringing this up are usually in coastal urban settings.


States with very little condoned conceal carry.


Do women get catcalls from construction workers as much in Dallas?  Phoenix?  Indianapolis?  Memphis?  States where those ladies might have a defensive pistol concealed on their person?  You tell me.  Bound to be some women that enjoy walking tours of cities all over this great country of ours. 


I'm curious if anyone has noticed a difference.   Or a difference over time.  What would construction sites in New York sound like 3 years after a shall issue ruling at SCOTUS removes obstacles to exercising their rights.

Libertarian

Or just contrarian?


Do you trust your doctor?


Back in the 1980s, coffee was bad for you.  Meat was bad for you.  Booze like red wine or beer was bad.  Eggs, salt, lard, whole milk, lots of stuff... ALL bad for you.


Eat more grains!  See the food pyramid?  No more square meals, PYRAMID!  Eat more of this and less of that, rather that a balance of stuff.  Eat more polyunsaturated fats.  Corn syrup is also fine.


Now all those things that were bad are good for you.  Or not nearly as bad as thought.  And vicey versey with carbs and high fructose.


Back in the day, the USDA came up with the pyramid thing and the dietary guidelines.  As policy.  For the nation.  Turns out this was based on... iffy... science.  Hence the more recent turnarounds. 


You know what?  ALL the doctors I've seen in the past 30 years were all on board with the Fed's dietary policy and pushed it like they were ordered to.  They took their queue from the .gov and just accepted it.  Doctors that should be tuned into science and evidence based conclusions weren't.  They just accepted it "them gummint eggheads must know what they are talking about" and passed that right on down the line to us laypersons.   What gives?  What ELSE is my doctor willfully ignernt about now?

Guns are Designed to Kill!

Yes, and?  Wouldn't be much use if they didn't.

Tuesday Bupkis

Like Monday's but on a Tuesday.

Did my taxes a bit ago.  Noticed recently I am gaining on the pile of money that grows versus the  pile of money that shrinks.  Prolly because I am buying less expensive guns and gun skool accoutrement.    Now, the trick is not to get a new hobby.  I have no place to set up a machine shop.

The news said housing price averages have finally got back to the high water mark of 2005.  Wouldn't know that around here.   And the DC suburbs?  If that region can't keep high housing numbers I don't know what other areas can do to keep up.  Where are these recovered values, anyway, outside of San Francisco?

I was lucky to have bought in 1999.  But buddies are all later purchases and more financially precarious.  So they keep a closer eye on local property values than I do.  Not one of them reports that Zillow is thinking of a higher number than what they bought for. 

A socialist wouldn't be a serious contender right now if we had had a few 4% GDP growth quarters since 2001

When you meet him

He seems standoffish.  Like you have money to give him, but he doesn't want to take it.  He give you excuses to NOT deal with him.



It's a gunsmith shop, not a gun shop.  Looky-loos just take up resources.

Gruff demeanor.



Is it bad business, scaring paying customers off?



I thought so, but now it seems to be more of a thing where he wants to be sure you are serious and motivated, despite discouragement, to get a gun worked on, what with the wait times and costs.



The first time I met Sam he was like that.  The only time he brightened up was when I noticed a flyer for one of his classes.  He was enthusiastic about me doing that.  Of course learning stuff would lead to knowing exactly what he was grousing about with sad talk about my gun he didn't want to work on.



His Yelp reviews bear this out with other folks
having a similar experience.



It took me a year to sign up for that class.  I did it, and learned stuffs.  Took another class.  The rest is history.  Sam is downright pleasant once he thinks you are semi-OK and understand what he is about.



Or maybe I am all wet on my assessment and thusly I am glad he doesn't know this blog exists.

The Gun of the Hand

And you know these bad men by sight?

I can see what they do.

Race to the bottom.

Saw this the other day.

What kind of rifle is that, Mr. Bannon? It's kind off looking.   Oh my... it's not... is that a Hi-Point carbine?  Phew!

Millicent is MY Spirit Animal

She is awesome

Parts

Parts for the 1911 are a mixed bag.  The best ones are priced like they know it.  You may love EGW for more things, but one part type they make is not up to snuff, let's say.  The extractor spring is one.  For extractor spring, Ed Brown.  STI makes good stuff, too.  Caspian, of course.

Wilson Combat.  Their extractor springs are worse than all of the above.  What a dog's breakfast.  Even a N00b like me can see the issues with it.  Like they take a fine wire wheel to it. 

Most Wilson parts aren't good.  Except... 

Their bullet proof ambidextrous safety.  Expensive!  But worth it.  I love them. The most expensive thumb safety out there.  Even better that the ones the gunsmith recommends, which seem pretty rough.  HE likes low mount thumb safeties and HATES all ambis.  (they wear and wiggle and flex and get worse with use)  For left handers he makes a second plunger tube on the other side of the gun.  But even the low mount Gunsite safety can be a bit rough in itself.  Had to straighten all the ones in class. 

Anyway, the Bulletproof Wilson Ambi Thumb Safety.  Finely machined, like a little jewel.  Break my heart with other parts, at least THIS on makes the grade, and all is forgiven.

It's different, the way the two halves mate, compared to all other ambis.  Better support.  No special grips needed, either.  No tab.  I need to call them and get a spare hammer pin that comes with it that mates with that right side section with a dovetail t-slot.  One I have is munged up.

48 Hrs

1982.  Movie.  Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy

Was watching this and appreciated the attention to detail with the gun handling.  It showed reloads from cover, revolvers galore.  When Nolte loses his .357 revolver he borrows a .45.  Really nice movie work with firearms for that era.  But I need to watch it again beginning to end with that in mind.  I wasn't watching looking for flaws, I'm saying. 

Like...  I didn't count the shots in time.  But I don't think it was 9 and then a reload.  It's easy to screw that up in a movie.  You can be trying to be careful and realistic when filming and then editing out a scene will make a revolver barrel seem to hold 14.

 

Colors

The movie Colors.

1988

Seemed much scarier and gritty when it came out.  Less so in the rear view mirror.  But that era had a much higher murder rate than today.  It SHOULD be scary because of that, but the movie doesn't convey that.  It holds up 30 years later, but only a little bit.

One issue is the actors went on to be associated with other things

Are those ALL the Wayans brothers before In Living Color.  The guy humping the plushy is Major Payne.

Holy crap, Don Cheadle is the main bad guy!  War Machine?  I LOVED him in Oceans 11.

Sean Penn playing himself again.  A dumbass.

Nice to see the cops with all these revolvers 

And the sound track.  I wish I could go back in time and tell Ice T about the house he lives in in 2016.

You don't know me. Fool!
You disown me?  Cool?

Yeah, good lyrics Mr. T.  Wait. I can't call you by THAT honorific...

The title song came to mind and I changed it around in my head to explain the situation in Ireland to folks totally ignorant.

I am an Irishman walking, leprechaun stalking
King of Dublin, bout the Trouble they're talkin'
Living life like a firecracker, drinkin' dat stout
Just watch out for Tommy when the IRA's out

 Green or Orange 'cuz of religion
It just don't matter
Suckers dive for their life when my dancing clogs clatter
The folk of the Isle will never die!
Just multiply, Colors

Well, I don't know if those will help them be less ignorant about Ireland, but it's a thing.  Breda is gonna prolly kill me now.  If her Mom doesn't get to me first.  SORRY!  Not the face!

Giving Advice on the Internet

I was never strident in my gun advice.  Well, not seriously.  I'd be strident in jest, for the larf.  Take the training wheels off.  Get a 1911.  Be a man.  That sort of thing.

My actual advice has always been generalized.  Steer folks away from cheaper makes to mainstream makers.  Tell them not to get married to a caliber.  Or a design.  Try a few.  Think on it.  Buy a decent holster for their eventual choice so it has a safe place to live inside the safe you bought before you chose.  Get ammo and training and practice.  Be safe always.  Lucky Strikes Means Fine Tobacco.

Simple stuff.  Common Sense stuff.  Very few compulsories in the routine. 

I am known as the gun guy that doesn't talk about it.  I talk plenty, but usually around other gun guys.  I don't advertise at non-gun functions like work and non blog social media, and I don't know how they find out I know anything, but now people seek me out.  ME.  The N00b.  I am not ready to snatch the pebble from the Master's hand, and thereby leave the monastery... but they ask anyway. 

If anything I am less strident now.  Heck I've been warning people... sorta... offa 1911s lately.  Unless they want to devote a lot of attention to their pistol.  Which is fun if that is what you want to do. 

Angus asks...

"Just for curiousity's sake... Is an issue M1911A1 a dog, decent or good?  Sometimes when I read about 1911 quality I am thinking we have soldiers and bench-rest shooters arguing about what constitutes a good bolt-action. While a K98k isn't shooting sub-moa, a bench-rest rifle is toast in the mud. I won't even bring up the topic of where to put the bayonet... "

So...  the issued 1911 a dog, decent, or good?

The answer is yes. 

And why are you asking me?  There are much better historical 1911 experts out there.  I have barely handled more than a handful.

And a 1940 M1911A1.  You got in your time machine and snatched one at random right off the loading dock at the factory.  Was it made by a guy that's been there making gun since the last war?  Or the new hire just let out of apprenticeship and making guns for the first time?  Is the old guy set in his ways and takes too many shortcuts and was REALLY hungover the day he made that gun?  Or is the new guy competent, but slower, and still is extra careful with his work because he is diligent and never wants to screw up?  Production is ramping up this year, and there is pressure to produce so are the quality of the parts different now compared to 1930?  Lots of new hires, lots of new contracts. 

Ok, forget all that.  You snagged the averagest 1911 from 1940.  Yes I said 'averagest'.  What do you have?  A decent gun you can count on.  One that required more cost and skilled labor to produce than a service pistol for 2016.  Post sale support will also need to be more skilled with your pistol, dogface.  The armorers job is much easier with a 2016 Glock than your 1940 Colt.  Tolerances are looser with your 1940 M911A1 than if you spent big bucks on a custom gun today.  You won't shoot bullseye groups.  You won't be able to choose which shirt button to drill through the Nazi officer, but you will hit him in the chest ok.  The 1940 gun will be test fired before it leaves the factory.  Not so, today, chances are. 

All bets are off if that 1940 gun had to travel 75 years to get to your hands today.  Who KNOWS what has happened to it since then, even apart from Patina and whatnot.

So, good enough to do a soldiers job, a dog at shooting a cigarette out of someone's lips.  Loose enough to work in the dirt and dust, tight enough to probably do better than what you can buy today.  All probablies.

Tam mentioned years ago about a WWII era 1911 she messed with.  The trigger was 10 pounds, if I remember right.  On a gun she was pretty sure was un-monkeyed with.  That's the trigger the GI would have had to deal with with that one gun.  It would vary gun to gun, of course, as if they were all 10 pounds folks wouldn't have been happy.  You know what?  A 10 pound trigger can still kill Nazis. 

But what are you shooting Nazis with a  pistol for?  What happened to your air support from the P-47 Thunderbolts?  You rifle?  Fire missions from a company of M7 Priests?

But man it would still be cool having the WWII pistol.

I don't want him to win

But I think he's gonna. And by a wide margin.

Et Tu, Max Brooks?

Brooks stated, “Finally murderers have a lobbying group called the NRA.”

Awww, I loved World War Z.   The book.  Not the movie. 

And he was a big fan of the M1 Carbine in The Zombie Survival Guide.  But carbines were more plentiful then and have since been supplanted by the EVIL AR15. 

Both light rifle varieties make great anti-zombie guns.

Will asks...

"What brand is that grip safety?
What is that clearance on the top of the tab for? That is what looks so weird to me. It's been a while since I looked inside a 1911, but I'm drawing a blank. If it hits the frame, then the frame may be out of spec."

With regard to this:

It's a Caspian on the bottom. 

The clearance on the top  of the tab is weird.  And unnecessary for function.  It does make it easier to gunsmith as you can take the part in an out without full disassembly.  That's all.  For beavertails.  Regular grip safeties are already easy on/off if I am not mistaken.  A full size tab only hits the frame when out of position.

There is a LOT of that in gunsmith.  Take the gun apart, fix something, put it back together, check something, take the gun apart, fix something, put it back together....  Ad infinitum.  The clearance is just to make that onerous process moderately easier.

And there is a trick to getting the part in and out that took me an hour to learn on my own.  There is a lit twist and a turn as you are putting it in and out.  Sorta like the acrobatics you need to do to get the bolt and operating rod off of an M14.

As an Aside

As and aside, my life has been ruled by two sets of Australians, of late. 

No, not Mad Max and Crocodile Dundee.  Not even Yahoo Serious.  No, now it is the Katering show and Clickspring.



Something about that accent.  The catering show proves that women CAN be funny, and Clickspring makes me want to buy $10,000 worth of machinist tooling and be able to do nothing with it.

I will never forgive those Aussies. Especially for Yahoo Serious.

Important Distinction

We've all heard the story.  Folks were designing a new rifle for the US Army in the 20s and 30s.  They were designing it to fire the .276 Pedersen round.  But General MacArthur,  Army Chief of Staff, noted that we were in a Depression 1932 and had tonnes of .30-06 lying around.  So he ordered the rifle shoot that instead.
 
This, folks that are interested in the Garand, know.   ANd I've harped on the way History of infantry rifles would have been different, if only...

But an important detail is... Garand kept that in mind WHILE designing his .276 gun.  He always had an alternative that could shoot .30-06.  And his model was already sorta favored by the time MacArthur made his decision.  What if Garand hadn't take the precaution?  And planners briefing Dugout Doug noted "Well, we'll have to go back to the drawing board..."  It may have swayed his decision the other way.    And then them dang dominos fall. 

My thinking about how great the .276 could have been has evolved a bit in the past half decade, but it is still fascinating to think about.  Well, fascinating for me.

Fatties vs String Beans

For the first time in human history, there are more obese people in the world than there are skinny people.

Wow.

Neo-Malthusians are crying in their beer. 

But you know...  This is the sort of thing that calls up disaster.  Mother Nature likes to remind us who is really in charge.  First Hubris, then Nemesis.

Ahh, so the other side of the coin

To illegal immigration, huh, Barry?

If labor shifts about looking for the best deal in a world without borders then HQs will too.  Nature of the beast. 

Don't be surprised when foreign countries want to tax low-level laboring people in the US because they moved here instead of staying home to be taxed there.  And all because of free markets and plenty of immigration.   

1911s

Saw this referred to on Uncle's site.

"1911s, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"

It is a decent artilce about 1911s from an avid fan and shooter of 1911s.

One of the big disadvantages in taking all those 1911 armorer and gunsmith classes?  It really warped my standards.  I know too much, now.   I know what it takes to make a really good 1911 and how to do so, even if I do not have the ability to reliably do it myself. 

What I am about to say may be a little controversial.  A decent 1911 costs $3000.  $800 guns from 1911 factories?  Are not decent.  Some are ok.  Some are dogs.  You might as well get an ugly Armscorps 1911 from the phillipines than get a sub $2000 American gun. 

There are things wrong with you Gold Cup.  That Wilson Combat isn't what you think it is.  Did some company tell you to shoot 300 rounds through it to break it in and work it loose?  Then they sold you an unfinished gun. 

Here is another problem.  There are LOTS of $800 guns with $3000 price tags.  But no gunstore is gonna let you inspect a custom 1911 with a full detail strip and smoke lamp to find out which 1911 it is. 

ANd $3k is for decent 1911s.  For a GOOD 1911, you need to spend $5000 or more.  Just for basic parts and labor and a boring finish.  You want fancy beside pretty grips?  You'll spend more.  Engraving, Damascus slide, titanium frame, melt job?  How much money you got?

Take an Armscorp 1911.  Luck out with the barrel to frame lockup being ok or unimportant to you at the ranges you want to use it (25 yards, for self-defense and IDPA, say).  Get someone that know what they are doing to put in a new sear and hammer.  Costs abot $500?  Assuming nothing else is wrong.  There.  A $1000 1911 that is ugly, a little softer steels, but is safe and you'll love the trigger.  But you can't buy this gun from a store shelf.  You have to get this done. 

Kinda puts a damper on 1911 ownership doesn't it?  Just get an M&P 45, right?  I can't help myself!  I just like 1911s!

Abrasive

I like stainless steel guns.  My back sweat doesn't rust them up so bad.  They are also relatively easy to repair cosmetic blemishes in the finish.  Like the kind you get when you are making a 1911 and you have too much side to side play in the slide, and then you have to use a special tool to squeeze the slide back together. 

This tool leaves a mark.  Sawright.

Or you are a stupid STUPID baby n00b gunsmith that put a big gouge in the slide being an idiot with the slide release.  STOOPID!!!!  Not that I may have done anything like that, no.

Anyway, 400 grit abrasivs cloth is about the same finish as you find on a typical 1911 stainless gun, right from the factory.  So you can match up decently.  On the flat parts, slide and frame.  The rounder areas are often bead blasted.  If you refinish a slide with sandpaper beware the transitions between sanded flats and bead blasted curves.  You can much it up and make the slide look wonky.

Always use oil! 

There is a shop made tool that works well with 1 inch abrasive tape. I used a bandsaw to make two, and have the makings for two more sanding blocks.

The little slot circled helps hold the sanding materials.

Oh crap

More Monday Bupkis.

Uhhhh, I dunno.  My 686 revolver is done.  Timing all fixed.  Bonus trigger job.  But somewhere I lost the Hogue grips that came with it.  Well, last weekend VZ Grips was having a grip sale so...  Problem solved.

I never wanted to spend money on the revolver so I would have gotten better grips afore now if that urge wasn't in place.  But in for a penny, in for a double sawbuck, eh, wot? 

I'm just telling you all this and how I have high regard for VZ Grips because I am big famous gun blogger and VZ sends me free grips all the time if I talk them up?  I WISH!  Too late now, though.  If they offered me free stuff I'd take it, but the damage to the wallet is done.  I am a repeat offender.  Er... purchaser.

Grip Safety

When reporting on the 1911 gun build class I noted how fitting the grip safety was giving me fits.  And how much metal you really have to remove.  A commenter Will was hoping I wasn't exaggerating.  So I promised to post a pic of the actual part.  Finally got around to it.  There is a new part for comparison.  Yup.  The black stuff is Sharpie marker.

Pocket-Dropit

 "Pocket-Dropit"

I like that term for you small BUG or Back Up Gun.  From the other day.

Fire Clean Sux!

I had forgotten about the spectrograph work done last... summer?... about FireClean gun oil just being Canola.  Back then I went 'meh' and moved on.

Well, now that they are suing Vuurwapen, I will NEVER FORGET what an awful enterprise they are.

I wish I had bought some so that now I could demand a refund. 

Second Pistol

Seems like everyone has 2 carry pistols. 

Not the carry rotation, a different gun for a different fashion day of the week in a carry rotation sort of way.  Different 9mm depending on the mood.  No.  Not that.

But the pistol you'd rather have and the smaller more convenient better than nothing pistol you carry when you can't really carry.  The dash to the mailbox pistol.  The summer cargo pants and t-shirt gun.  The easier of the two pistols.  Often in a pocket holster.  A 'better than nothing' carry.

Some have a .380.  Tam has been known to have a .32 magnum or S&W long or something in a snubbie format, and with that lightweight S&W alloy frame.   Which is kinda cool, if you ask me.   Compact AND revolvery.  Often gains an extra bean in the snubbie that way, too.  6 instead of 5. 

Being from a May-Issue state, I carry MY second pistol more than the full size 1911 that would normally be preferred.  It is easier to uncase and 'holster up' pocket a pocket pistol at the border than to finagle with the snaps of an IWB in the car.  Mine is a S&W 640 (that's a stainless snubbie that can fire .357) in .38+P.  I shoot it just ok.  And it might be the bulkiest and heaviest 2nd pistol out there.  Except for that 8 shot .38 short barrel they have, but I'd need special pants pockets for that.

My gunsmith sensei gun-kata shooting instructor guru guy (He'd be appalled if I called him sensei, but he doesn't read this blog.  And I am tongue in cheek about it anyway) has a pocket pistol, too. 

Now a NORMAL pistol for him is usually OCed on a riggers belt sorta thing.  He has no sentiment for individual pistols, and will sell you his favorite, so the pistol can change.  But lately he figures he would rather do nothing but 1911s and would if nothing but 1911s paid all the bills, and if he is going to do some shooting instruction or shooting he should at least be a walking advertisement so he is trying to carry some flavor of 1911 in a gaudy color.  But that is neither here no there.

His pocket carry pistol of choice that ends up being his more frequently carried pistol for convenience is... a Keltec... .32.

Correct, not even a .380.

But he is scary good and accurate.  To make up for the smallness there is bullet placement.  Not ideal but a set of keys are more bulky.