I said it before

I'll say it again.

You will lose more because of your slavish adherence to gun control and gun bans.

I keep giving you suggestions on how to have an out to tell the tiny minority of gun control supporters that aren't going to stop voting for you if you flip.  Gun control is racist, and now you can say it is sexist, too.  You are starting to see.

"If Ginsberg had let Scalia put the words "strict scrutiny" in Heller and Hillary said "Gun control is just not going to be a priority for my administration," Hillary would have been elected President."

Some of you Lefties see it, and have forever.  And will be fine when this particular hobby horse plank is taken out back and uh... dispatched.   Then millions of Republicans will have a lot less reason to turn out on election day.  Think of it, Dems!  Embrace the Constitution.

Fat

Fats Domino turned 89 yesterday.

A year younger than Archie, my dead crotchety old neighbor, 2 years gone.

Archie was skinny.

"You never see old fat guys!"

Well, sometimes you do.  I wish I could lead the lifestyle Churchill had, who died at 91.  His last 10 years were a little less vital because of strokes.  Fine.  I'll cut out 99% of the cigars and half the booze Churchill drank.  I should live fat dumb and happy until age 130 like that. 

Trump is yankin yer willy

" INFO WARS--home of great stories about how the moon landing was a hoax and the chemicals inside juice boxes are turning America's children gay--have Trump's ear and will get more access to the White House...but the New York Times and Los Angeles Times are 'fake news' "

Yup.

And?

What's yer question?

You think New York Times is better than Info Wars?  Is that what you are complaining about?  It's that, the Times, is more important than Info Wars and should be included in stuff?

How long have you felt this way?

Do I know what Info Wars really is?  Oh yes.  Definitely.

Now answer my question.

(you Lefties need to relax.  you are gonna burn up inside.  you are running at too high and RPM.)

A whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

I was re-watching JAWS again.  Hadn't see it on my current larger TV with HD and all that, and what with new glass for TV watching... I caught an extra detail.

Some rude yahoos catch a big shark and they all figure that it's the baddie and there is publicity that the crisis is over and all and the yahoos wanna know what kind of shark it is.  Hooper, the super-rich hippy marine biologist tells them it's a Tiger!  And like the slack-jawed, gibbering, Red Sox rooting morons respond with the rejoinder:

"A whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

But that's not the important bit.  Hooper is making some measurement and recording them.  And I notice a small little thing:

The pencil in his mouth is a Palamino Blackwing #602, 'half the pressure, twice the speed.'  Hemingway's favorite pencil.  Hooper is a proto-hipster from 1975.  If he had a premium double ax he never swung at a log it would be complete.

It's a good pencil, if you are a hipster or not.

Never would have seen that with the cathode ray tube TV. 

Range, 23 Feb '17

So, not too bad.

I mentioned last time I was missing one little detail.

Corrective lenses.

And I seem to shoot a bit better.  I can actually SEE the target and don't have to wind it back in to know how I did.  Crazy!  Being able to see quarter inch holes, 25 feet away.  One failure to eject on the last round of the magazine, #40.  90 shots total, CCI mini-max.  Sets of 10, top left to bottom right. 

I was getting tired by the end, I guess, based on the drift-off increasing.  I encircled the inital 10 and shot another 10.  Seven of those were inside the initial 10.  So, if I was tired it wasn't hurting the grouping.  One target, #5, I squeezed the support hand a little bit extra, just to see.  Opened up the group.  Another target, #3, I went for a bit faster pace.  Opened up the group. 

I think I am getting a more centered group when I get more finger on the trigger and sorta drag the trigger to the left.  And tighter groups when I don't do that.  

4th Circuit Ruling

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that my state is a-ok under Heller to ban AR-15s and AR mags that hold more than 10 rounds. 

You seen it elsewhere this week.  I am not news to you.

I just wanted to remind you what Maryland's cockamamie law means.  It's silly.  When it gets appealed to SCOTUS people will poke at its silliness.  I want you to know ahead of time.  Because it will be harder for the bad guys to prevail if people are laughing at them constantly.

First, Magazines!  Is it illegal to possess a 11 or more round magazine in this state since 2013?  Does this have any impact on mags you already had and aren't 'grandfathered' in?  Do magazines have to be tracked by the state with a serial number now? 

The answer to all of these is 'no.'  Perfectly legal for you to move to Maryland now with all your 30 round P-Mags, then drive to Virginina, buy more 30 rounders, and take them back to your house in Maryland and put them in the guns that Maryland has no idea you have or when or where you bought them and nothing in law to really compel you to prove you either bought them elsewhere.  Or in Maryland, for that matter.  The magazine ban is a paper tiger

Oh but you did buy a gun illegally in Maryland?  Well if you don't incriminate yourself by continuing to brag about it.  It would be hard for Maryland to prove anything about anything unless you confess or did all your crimes on camera.  Or unless you are already a prohibited person.  All the things you can do illegally and prevent you from buying a gun federally are also illegal in the state.  Illegal to the feds, also illegal to Annapolis.  But that's not the ruling.  The ruling is 10 round magazine and....

Second, Assault Weapons Ban:

"So I can't buy an AR, Tbolt?"

No, you can buy any AR-10.  You might be able to not even wait the full 1 week waiting period for that.

"So, AR-15 lowers are banned then?"

Well, no, you can buy a stripped lower if you want.  .223 are great for varmint hunting and Maryland's Deptartment of Natural Resourse is all for you potting groundhogs 365 days a year.

"Wait, so what is banned?"

Well you can't buy a whole AR-15 that isn't an HBAR.  Heavy Barrel AR.  If you bought the lower, well, you aren't supposed to attach an M4 upper on that.  If you bought the lower in Maryland, the state knows when you did that.  And if they see you bought that serial numbered part after 2013 and there is a non-HBAR upper on that lower, AND you get cross threaded with the po-po by say challenging the state trooper to a fist fight so he finds that weapon in the subsequent search, you may get into some hot water.  But the state never prosecutes the gun crimes as a rule.  They'll nail you for the first fight and either pretend to plea down the gun charge or ignore it completely.  Unless they need to make an example of someone and it is your unlucky day, you are safe-ish.  Don't get into fights with the cops.

"But I bought the lowers in PA when I lived there for 6 months or it's these other lowers I bought in Maryland back in 2010 that I have my M4 upper on.  Why isn't that banned"

It just isn't banned.  Not yet.  They'd have to pass more draconian gun control before that happens.

"But I bought the M4 upper in 2015!"

They don't know that.  Can't prove it.

"What if they pass laws that make all 'Assault Weapons' illegal and include confiscation measures?"

Well, the lowers they know about?   The non Pennsylvania bought Maryland lowers from 2010?   They'll send you a letter reminding you to surrender them.  Tell them you sold them and then sell them.  They want the uppers too, but how will they know about those?  If you surrender anything surrender the lower and nothing else.  You don't want the state cops going to the range and having fun with your AR.  But that's in the future.  Maryland hasn't passed that.  If they lose in SCOTUS because this ban is silly and a rights violation they will have a setback and be further from being able to do that.   With Gorsuch on the court they we have a better than average chance.  If Ginsberg retires and another Gorsuch is confirmed our chances are much much better. 

If we get 2 Gorsuch types in quick succession be sure to spit on the ground whenever you see a #NeverTrumpetStrumpet. 
     

Operator

Like this.  But more masculine.   At a hospital.

Did you know, I was an Operator

No foolin'.  Got me at the ripe young age of 19.  Lots of responsibility at that job.  Lives depended on me.  I decided to become an Officer, though, because the pay was better and I wanted a chance to fly.  That didn't work out due to a training mishap.  After that, years of almost drowning myself in beer.

I've turned it around since then. 

Don't be Racist

Are you using black silhouette to train?  You are probably racist.

I see.  This target means you hate black people:

I guess using this target makes you a homophobe:

This one means you have a problem with Asians:

I don't know who you hate if you use this one.  Cold people?

And this one might mean you are threatening the president:

Some people have lost their damn minds.

Trump report, 1 month in...

What?  It didn't have to be totally AWESOME?  Put the Johnson away, there are ladies present.  All the right people have lost their fudge so bad that they may never find it again.  Bill Kristol, man...  Dude.  Someone look in on him before he harms himself.

What else has he done?

Well, it's only been a month.  But of the things he has actually done, there is nothing bad in it from where I sit.  Short circuited some liberal executive orders.  Yeah, that's ok.  Fine by me as a semi-disinterested and entertained outside observer.

"What about all his CRIMES?!"

Huh?

"What about this horrible things he said?"

So?

"He hasn't repealed Obamacare!"

A month.   Try to relax some.  Or this will be an exhausting 8 years for you.

"It turns out he is better than Ronald Reagan!"

Now the other side.  I'll say it again...  A MONTH.  Fer criminy.

ASSAULT RIFLE!

Another liberal enclave, another report of a person with an Assault Rifle.

And she's a school librarian so now there is a call to ban ANY teacher from ever owning a gun.  We shouldn't let em vote, neither!  Or be given a trial by jury!  Why did we let gov't employees have any rights?

Like before, I doubt that this is an assault rifle.  Care to wager, Melkorka Licea and Susan Edelman, Journalists (TM) extraordinaire? 

By the looks of that mag well, looks like pistol caliber carbine, too.  Those things are selling pretty good lately.  Anyway, bet the farm it's not a machine gun.  Leave the poor librarian alone, pants wetters.

Finally

Rocket packs.

I Hate Clickbait

"Pic of Canadian Mounties 'greeting' refugees goes viral but here's what's NOT mentioned"

"The RCMP later cooked and ate the hapless southern trespassers with fava beans and a nice Chianti."

"Here's a fresh one!"

Cooper

Imagine, instead of his thinking peaking in the 60s, Cooper was peaking now, 50 years later...

Well he would look like some of the good instructors around these day, moving the ball of knowledge downfield, just like the current really good instructors are moving it standing on the shoulders of giants like Old Cooper.

Cooper, when in his 30s - 70s, would be the first guy to admit a better way might be a better way.  Just because he got crotchety in his dotage doesn't mean he wouldn't have recognized a good thing.

Thought getting him off .45 FMJ and onto 9mm HST would be a heavy lift.

As heavy as the burger's you get at Five Guys, mmmm, that's a tasty burger!  Important part of any nutritious breakfast.  Buy three, today!

Blog Maintenance

One of my loyal reader wrote and suggested I clean up the link list over there ---->

Got the blog list pared, now, today, tackle the vendor/misc list.

Good idea.

Not much else to mind right now.

I was surprise that 27% of police these days have fired their service weapon for realsies, according to Pew.  I was surprised it was that big a number.  Even accounting for dispatching road-injured whitetail.

Holy Crap

I just realized...

Did you know that Donald Trump is president? 

This is kinda weird.

And on the 15th

Look at that!

Decent results after the first target upper left, everything else the same, except for one thing, but drifting right now, a week later.  Just a tich.  And a noticeable slight anticipation of recoil when the hammer falls on an empty chamber...  Dangit. 

I need to test that one thing.  A simple difference, other than time.  I'll tell you what that is then, next week's post.

Range Day Feb 8

Strings of 10.  Pretty fast cadence.  Not 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, but more 1and2and3and4.

That first target, upper left... Ugh, that's gonna make for a looooong day.  But wait.  Each subsequent target was much improved.  Like I needed to warm up before not sucking.

And this is at 25 feet instead of 10, like last time, four days ago, on the 4th.

Closeup of the first 10:

And the last 10:

So, mini break-through after settling down.  Good session.  Need to shoot cold a little better, but this improvement target to target I will take as it is solid progress.  Pleased with this day at the range.

One failure, to eject, #26.  50 rounds.  1835 rounds total.  And I'm really impressed by the small number of failures in a conversion kit .22.   They come pretty regular, yes, now that I am tracking, but I expected more frequency.  Of course it isn't a true test, with no cleaning or lubing.

Oh, Damn...

Machine Guns in Maryland!

At a crime scene in Upper Marlboro:

Roses are Red

I like Violets a lot

"AK-47 found near man hit, killed by SUV in Maryland shopping center parking lot"

First of all, notice the secondary bad guy, here, is the Sport Utility Vehicle?  It murdered a guy!  But it was a guy with an "Assault Rifle" so WTOP has mixed emotions about that...

I am willing to bet you, WTOP reporter, $1000 that it was not an assault rifle.  It's not more an assault rifle anymore than that kit car of yours, built on top of a Pontiac Fiero, is a Lambroghini.

VD

Hang On Sloopy

The guy that recorded that song in the 60s, he still flies alot.  Rick Derringer.  30 - 50 times a year.  He always flies with a gun in his carry-on baggage.  So he has flown over 400 times since the invention of the Transportation Security Administration.  And he was only just caught now.

Why did he have a gun with him despite being VERBOTEN?  He didn't know it was against the rules.  HA!  I love this guy.

What tipped off the mentally deficient TSA gropers?  The loaded magazine shows up better on the xray machine.  They noticed that.

Derringer is not the first person I know of that has gotten his pocket pistol past the crack squads manning the security cordon at the airport, but he is the only one I know of that did it on purpose. 


It's ok to just do away with TSA, while you are zeroing out excess gummint agencies.  It's just another one that doesn't do anything worthwhile.

Japanese Sailors

Man the actors portraying sailor play-fighting a huge battleship sure do a lot of shouting.  What's the French word for esprit de la guerre?  Anyway.  Lots of carrying on.  I wonder how it was in real life on a Japanese ship?  Same kind of shouting?  Or less enthusiasm, and more professionalism, and let the army do the banzai shouts, the Navy will do their job more calmly and with less dramatic heroics.

Climb the Texas Tower

The Texas Tower shooting of 1966


Charles Whitman.  None of you numbnuts know who Charles Whitman is?



Ordinary Texans broke out their hunting rifles and returns fire, probably suppressing Whitman.  Only 2 people admitted to that since then, but you can tell more than 2 people were doing so from the audio.

Bravos for citizen response?

But PBS claims all these non-po-po shooting caused the police to hand back to avoid getting in the crossfire.  Well, those PBS folks would say that no matter what the truth of the matter is

They have zombies

In cartoon Britain?

Firearm Operating Systems

Or manual of arms.

1911 is different from Striker Fired is different from DA/SA.

M1 Garand, M14, M1 Carbine are similar, but not the same.  Same charging handle feel, yes.  The carbine has that different safety.  The Garand has the en-bloc, and the mag release is different on the Carbine and M14.

And the AR is vastly different than those 3.    

Limit the ammo AND limit the OS's is my general motto.  Maybe if I could go back...  Start from scratch...  Just ARs and Glocks.  There are worse things.  And I would have saved SO much money!

But the Striker Fired pistol is so easy to transition to.  So there is less hesitation going from 1911 to striker.  In my meager experience.  And I'd get a striker fired gun now...

My gunnie evolution is matching other people.  I am just behind, taking up the rear.  Maybe 5 or 6 years out.

But I'd eschew other OSs.   The DA/SA thing, for example.  I sold my DAK.  I sold my spare 1911.  I complicated the arsenal with 5.56 and 9mm, but I simplified it with eliminating .40.

As for Double Action... I think I'll only go for S&W revolvers, and no other types, semi or otherwise.  Watch, now a nice Colt revolvers will fall out of the sky on me.  

Why did I go on and on about this?  Just thinking aloud.  Getting things straight in my head by typing it out.   Sorry to submit you to all this.

Who Trained My Trainer?

Well, this guy, some.  Max Michel.  He also made guns for him in the Army Marksmanship Unit, back in the day.  Sig guy.  Pro.

But he is advanced enough I don't know what I'll gain from merely watching the videos.  Simple concepts, I am only able to grok now, that are difficult to actually execute are there.  Sorta like with Jerry Miculek "Present the pistol sight line square to your face."  I get that now.  And Max, "minimize extraneous movements on the draw." Yup.  I understand in my head.  Less so with the doing of the Three Step System, or what have you. 





But I will have to go through the video and at least see if I can glean a bit off of this Max guy and compare him to what I am getting from Sam.

Gah!

LOOK at all those aftermarket product names and geegaws.

• TD Vickers Slide Releast
• Pearce frame insert
• Tyr trigger
• Framulator alignment grid
• Turboencabulator in a 40 watt range
• ZEV V4 connector
• Overwatch Precision trigger
• SSVI Tyr
• and I bet there might be an unmentioned The Gadget slide plate on one.  Possible

I can't keep up.  I don't even know what a frame insert is supposed to DO.

That's Glock. I am hopelessly out of my depth.  The steep learning curve goes up the sea floor bed for quite a ways before it is shallow enough that my head is above water.  That doesn't count the foothills on shore.

I know a bit more about AR things.  Not the nomenclature.  But I have distinct ideas on how I'd like my next hand guard.

And I know a bunch more about 1911 options, having been in the guts of the pistol up to my elbows more than once with burn scars on my credit card to show for it.  Plus hours and hours going through the Brownells paper catalogue on JUST 1911 bits.

But I feel like I am missing out, not playing with a Glock, trying mods.  Just because.

But every time I think I am getting a handles on this gonne stuff I am humbled by how MUCH more there is to it.

Live Fire Training 4th FEB

Sam brought my Hardcore.  Still waiting on Caspian to send more magazines and then he'll have to tune those to the gun, so he 'has' it at the shop.  But what the heck, lets train some with my new gun.

Shot 90 rounds of .22 and 50 rounds of AE 9mm.  2 .22 failures on one mag on the last round FTE.  Only the same last round on Magazine #1 with the 9mm.  Still haven't got that one tuned.  Target at 10 feet.

Two things.  Relax more.  On recoil I am 'catching' at the top of the muzzle flip and trying to force it back in line.  It would be faster to let the gun come back on its own.  So I tried to relax that a bit more. 

And Sam is noticing self-correction that I am doing without even thinking it.  He had me do string with a certain cadence, then speed that cadence up.  Apparently I am learning good if I can fix myself on the run without even knowing it.  The next thing is to just do it right and rarely even need to subconsciously fix myself.  How did I fix myself?  I fall off high and right or low and right and then move back to the center, all by improving he fundamentals, but not falling off the cadence.  It was a good session.

Range on Groundhog Day

Think how good I'd be if I hit the range 10,000 times in a row.  On a looping Groundhog Day.  Shooting the same 100 rounds of .22.  Alas there was just the one, last week.

Started poorly.  Vertical lines were the first pairs.  Look how bad the top left one is with the vertical line holes.  Ugh.

Then it got better.  Circle then horizontal line.   Started concentrating on "hey... don't move the gun."

30 more shots, 1695 total since last proper cleaning.  9 failures in past 495 shots. 

Random Thots on the Sig P320

So, the Sig P320 must be on the OK list in Maryland because my local gun store has them for sale.

The 320 is the gun that won the Army slection process and is set to replace the Beretta. In case you have been living under a rock and don't know: It's a modular gun. The serial number part is the removable trigger group. This pops out of the frame. So you can swap frames easily. Or slides and barrel combinations. It's neat.

One of the things they use to sell the gun is an in-store display with the 3 different grip sizes for you to handle, small medium and large. I have to say, even the large isn't that large compared to the fat baseball bat that other Sig models seem to feel like in the grip. And the small feels downright concealable. Good idea, Sig, these displays. If you buy a gun and want a different grip you can order a new size sent in the mail for $40. I'm thinking there is potential for further customization in aftermarket shops. There could be as many P320 grips as there are 1911 grip panels.

I was prejudiced a bit against Sig before this. If I was rooting for anything it was for Smith and Wesson, but for no real rational reason. Mere nostalgia. But this will be fine. Part of that attitude is the apparent quality of the gun. The other is me shedding firearm prejudices as I learn more about shooting.

I am wondering how crazy the swappable barrels will be. How many different calibers will be possible. The standards, yes. But then what? My gun-geek mind boggles. .32 ACP just for poops and grins? Why not. 10mm for those people? Is that even possible? .38 Super? Ok...

I could get one.  Lemme get better with my new 9mm before thinking about another pistol, with yet another OS, acquisition. 

Wool

Is it me?  Or is wool different nowaday compared to say the 70s and 80s?

I used to hate wearing wool socks in the winter.  Too scratchy.  Now, it's a highlight of the season.

My Navy issue watchcap of 1987 seemed scratchy, too.  Compared to a 2015 version of same acquired from the Navy Exchange. 

And sweaters?  Another sea change.

Is wool different now?  If woven wool pants could be machine washed it'd be all I'd own.  Is Vietnamese wool textiles from Chinese sheep just better, or is the good stuff out of reach to me in the 80s now cheap enough that they don't bother with the lesser wools?  Or is my old-man skin just less sensitive to itch?

At any rate, I like it. 

Glock at the Doc

Having recently been to the doctor's office, where I know at least one of the doctors doesn't like guns.

And thoughts of possible near future CCW reciprocity somehow coming to be, where I can now carry at the doctor...

What if they make me?  That I am carrying?  I don't want them to post a no-guns sign

Sure, when you don the paper nighty your pants and holster are all rolled up with your other clothes and sitting on that spare chair.  But it'll look funny if they go "Oh, Mr. T-Bolt, can you go to this room next door and let us get an xray of your neck?"  Something that has happened in the past.  But if I had a pistol, I'd also grab my pants in that case, before perambulating down the hall in my disposable smock.

If they notice the gun?  One thing a body could do is tell them a teeny tiny little lie, "It's ok, I'm with law enforcement."

Then, they figure all is right with their world.  Cops are allowed to have guns, right?  So they'd calm right down.

YIKES! 

No, there is much too much that can go wrong with that little sorta lie.  It's not a full lie.  A body didn't say he WAS law enforcement.  But a body was hoping the listener would imply that meaning.  All law abiding peeps are 'with' the enforcement of laws.  But you wouldn't want to say that line in front of a lawyer with a tape recorder.  Might as well carry one of those cheesy CCW 'badges' so the cops will have something else to laugh at when they take you down and cuff ya, impersonating a police officer is a felony, I am pretty sure.

Yeah.  Think of something else to say when the doctor notices you carrying.

Folks do calm down when they think you with the gun are probably a cop.  But don't YOU directly try to convince folks of it. 

It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be gray

And it's gonna last the rest of your life.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day

26th January Range

More of the same.  Some failures, though.  FTE.  The next round was chambering, but the spent case was there above it holding the slide open by a .22 case length.

Figure that mean the dirty gun is slowing down and the spring, which isn't that robust to start, is fighting the crud.  So... Lubed it. 

48 shots.  First shot was number 1618 in the log book.  Failure on # 1637 and #1641.  Stopped at 1665. 

Shot were in fours.  Three sets.  Vertical line.  Circled hole.  Horizontal line.  Then the stuff in the center all in one go.  Bleh.  Double bleh.

 
Today, must call to get further instruction today.  Do it.