The Hit & Fit

This last fall I took a young German interning where I work to an indoor shooting range. He thought a full sized auto in 9mm was comfortable, a full sized auto .45acp was too much and a .357mag Colt Python more than he could tolerate. He'd never fired a gun in his life.

A comment in Cold Range below says - .44 Magnum double action revolvers can be downright painful, since the grip doesn't roll in the hand.

Yes, sometimes. I once shot a Contender, with grips that didn't fit me. The painful description was about right.

In handguns, finding the right one that fits the shooters hand is extremely important. The right fit promotes accuracy as well as comfort. For instance, I have small hands so few of todays models fit me very well. Guns designed decades ago when the average man had smaller hands fit me a lot better than the latest designs. I can shoot a Glock if I hold it with both hands and slide my hand around to reach the trigger, but the comfort level is low. On the other hand the Browning Hi-Power fits great, and a 1911with slim grips and short trigger is comfortable even with one hand.

Like the fit, the shooters recoil comfort and tolerance level is also unique. The young German mentioned above needed two hands for the .45acp, where I find one handed shooting easy. He thought the .357 was way too much recoil, while to me it's mild.

The .44mag launches 240 grain bullet at about 1500f/s depending on barrel length and the particular load. I occasionally shoot a 300 grain bullet at 1600f/s with little discomfort out of my Super Redhawk 454Casull. It has a big push, but well within my comfort range. Now the 240 grain load at 1800f/s is a different story. I never shoot more than 25 rounds of those in an afternoon or my hand starts to swell. That one slaps the hand like a hammer. That pushes my tolerance to the limit.

The recoil that an individual can tolerate, or be comfortable with, depends greatly on the individual and the fit of the gun.

He is FURIOUS

E-mailed to me from a reader - - -

I AM FURIOUS.
This 'stimulus' package is the biggest crock in our country's history. A very tiny part of this TRILLION dollars will actually find it's way to us tax payers. The rest is going to all the pigs lined up at the trough, greedily lapping up their special pork projects!! This is being forced down our throats by using the word 'stimulus', when in actually it is the single largest boost to the federal budget that has EVER been demanded by our representatives. Their eyes are glazed over with anticipation, and they think we should just lay down & pay for it. They already dispersed 350 BILLION of our dollars, with no oversight. None what so ever! All the money just disappeared into bank pockets, with not one dollar going to help with any mortgages. I feel so darn helpless to stop this fraud! Why in the world would anyone think that the same politicians who have allowed this mess to happen, could possible be able to can fix it?? We are putting the rooster in charge of the hen house, and if you think that anything good can come of it, you are crazy! I want to be positive, I want to trust and believe, however, this is getting beyond absurd. Our country is crumbling, WE ARE BROKE, and OUR money is being thrown up in the air for the biggest to grab and run off to hide with. I call bullshit. If we gotta bail out this government, then so be it. But, the money is not being used to help WE THE PEOPLE. Want to help the economy? They should: Make unemployment tax free.....immediately. Allow those in need to feed their families. Drop the tax rate immediately. Allow us to keep more each month. Drop small business tax rates immediately. Allow jobs to be created. Make those greedy bailed out banks give new loans so as to refinance our homes (that have dropped so dramatically in value) at a super low rate of interest, adjusted to the current tax value of the homes, which would allow people to make their payments. Offer us great incentives for all those repo'd house to be bought back at lower realistic payments. DO NOT build/improve/upgrade federal buildings, buy 600 MILLION worth of new federal cars, give 50 million for ART, 1 billion to AMTRAK, no money for global warming or carbon 'capture', no foreign birth control, no 650 MILLION MORE or our tvs, no ACORN. WE ARE BROKE!! Our political leaders, from the prez to our local dog catcher better cut out the B.S., get real, and realize that this country is in a world of hurt. QUIT STEALING MY MONEY YOU GREEDY PIGS.

Change

The Huckabee show tonight was rather interesting. One of the subjects was whether "the change' promised by the new president, as understood by those who voted for him, is the change that is happening. Did you know our tax dollars will be supporting world organizations that do abortions? Did you know he wants to enforce any kind of marriage on the national level, trumping state law? Are you aware of his anti-liberty gun law agenda?

I didn't vote for him, and the change that is happening is exactly what I expected.

Short & Cold Range Time

I renewed my membership at the range for another year and did a little, very little shooting while there. With temperatures in the low teens and occasional slow blowing under the roof, I didn't stay but 2 hours.

The SuperBlackhawk .44 Mag did real well. Heh, what would you expect from a factory rebuilt gun? I hadn't shot a single action handgun in a while so it reminded me why I prefer double action revolvers. The grip is smaller at the top than the bottom and has a shape that doesn't fit my hand all that well. The shape of the grip causes the thing to slip down the hand under recoil so I had to re-grip it with every shot. Despite that, or maybe because of that, it was pleasant to shoot. I didn't shoot it off a rest for groups, but it seemed accurate enough at 50 and 75 yards.

I also shot about 1/2 a box each through my .357 and .454 at the same range. Most of my handgun shooting, what little I've been able to do, has been with defensive weapons from 7 to 50 yards with something other than pinpoint accuracy in mind. I'm a bit out of practice with my hunting revolvers, and my shooting showed it.

Also ran about 20 rounds each through the AR and .30 carbine. The AR is a joy to shoot, and it looks like I finally got the .30 fixed.

Deluded Policymakers

I just read a very long but exceptionally well done article about the effectiveness of the various gun control methods available to the bad guys. The author explores each option with good logic and evidence.

Here's the conclusion.

Without a commitment to or capacity for eliminating the
existing inventory of private guns, the supply-side ideal and
regulations based on it cannot be taken seriously. It is best to
acknowledge the blocking power of the remainder and adjust our
gun control regulations and goals to that reality. Policymakers who
continue to press legislation grounded on the supply-side ideal while
disclaiming the goal of prohibition are deluded or pandering

Emphasis mine.

I can take this 2 ways. Either all the lawmakers and their supporters are delusional, or the intent is total confiscation. And the author has an extremely compelling arguement that an attempt to confiscate could tear this country apart.

Count me among those that will not comply to registration, let alone confiscation.

Renewal Time

Got plans to go to the outdoor range Saturday and renew my membership. Probably can't stay long, but will surely take the time to shoot the renewed 44 for the first time, and the repaired 30 carbine.

Saved $600

I make it a point to not buy anything on impulse. This philosophy has served me well over the years, but on occasion it backfires. I resisted the impulse to buy the STI in .357 Sig when I first saw it. After thinking about it several days, I decided to make the purchase. I stopped to do that last night. Somebody beat me to it. Oh well I was saved $600.

The last 2 nights I window shopped in 3 different gun shops, mostly looking at short guns. The choices are few for those with small hands. The only things of interest were two 9mm carry guns made by Kahr. The tiny little PM9, not much bigger than the Keltec 380, and the CW9, slightly smaller and a lot slimmer than my Kimber UltraCarry. If I ever decide to get on, I'll not be paying retail. I know a guy who can get me one at dealer cost.

The blown up 44Mag that was given to me and then repaired by Ruger at no charge has a local retail price around $500. Saw one in the store last night. All it cost me was shipping charges. Eeeeha!

Racism

There was a time not too long ago when I was convinced that racism was for the most part a thing of the past in this country. The last few weeks, and especially today, have proven me wrong. The people are celebrating that a black man, or that an African has become president. This is mostly the sentiment of those of similar skin color, in a country where skin color shouldn't matter one little bit. There's hardly been a word spoken that he's an American.

Back in the days of my youth the whites held blacks in contempt. Now it's mostly the other way around. Will there ever be a time when we as a people don't pay attention to race?

A Day for the Park

At about 11:30 today I loaded Amber (Siberian husky) into the truck and headed out to one of the local gun stores. The intent was to browse for anything that I couldn't do without and also to check out their reloading supplies. I'm running low on certain bullets. Then take the dog for a walk at the park.

I originally wanted to get out to the range this weekend to renew my membership and test fire the 44 Mag that's back from Ruger, and the 30 carbine that might be fixed this time. I didn't go because the bone chilling cold hasn't let up enough as yet. Just 2 days ago we were the coldest in the country, including Alaska. It was -18F in the area.

Anyway, I forgot that gun store is closed Sundays so I stopped at a different one on the way back. That one didn't open for another hour and I didn't want to wait. So I started to turn in the parking lot of the third that has an indoor range, but it also has the TSI in .357 Sig that I wrote about last week. There was little chance that I could resist the temptation, so I drove on by and headed to the park.

As soon as I got the dog out of the truck the wind picked up. Now Amber didn't mind it a bit, but I did. Our normal 1 to 2 mile walk was cut extremely short. Amber gave me a dirty look when I put her back in the truck, but the wind made it just too cold for this old man.

BTW, I turned 58 two days ago. I guess being vertical is still a good thing. Happy birthday to me.

Popping up Like Pimples

In the Soviet Republic of Illinois it's illegal to purchase a firearm or ammunition without a firearms owner card. In other words you have to be a registered gun owner. Thanks to the idiots that gave similar people control of the federal congress and the administration, crap like this is popping up all over like a bad case of pimples.

(1) IN GENERAL. It shall be unlawful for any person other than a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector to possess a qualifying firearm on or after the applicable date, unless that person has been issued a firearm license . . .

HR 45 was introduced by the soviet Bobby Rush of Illinois.

And if that doesn't make your blood boil how about this stupidity.

. . . trying to make it a law that all bullets have to have serial numbers. This is nothing but a blatant end-run around the Second Amendment. The anti-constitution party, known as the Democratic Party, does not care how it is done, as long as law-abiding citizens of this country are disarmed.

Bills like this have been introduced in 18 states, and all by Demorats. Apparently the majority of Americans don't like their liberty. . . . . . Go figure.

Oh, . . . And let's not forget the The Democrats' current gun-ban-list proposal . You know what they say, since it didn't work the first time, get a bigger hammer. But crime reduction wasn't the real reason for the first one or the one that's coming. They just can't stand for their subjects to be armed. That's too much liberty for the masses, and the possibility of The People wanting their country back, and the tools to do it, is more than they can stand.

A Bit Right

With Beck joining the network and Hannity going it alone, looks to me like FOX News is now leaning a bit right, at least as far as commentary shows are concerned. I hope their regular news programs remains balanced.

Coronation of a God ? ?

I'm continually amazed at all the crap going on about a changing of the guard. You'd think we were expecting a god in human form or something. Can he really walk on water? Not very damn likely. I bet his feet are made of lead just like every other lying politician, and in this case he's a socialist too.

Shall I bow at the feet of the new god? Double hell no! Anyone that raises out of the swamp known as the Peoples Republic of Illinois deserves scorn, not praise.

Jihadists Are Celebrating

Based on the Obama appointees and what I've heard on FOX news, the war against terrorists will soon be one sided. The European socialists and the jihadists surely have been celebrating. Our government will be controlled by idealistic weak kneed socialists. The European elite are happy, and life for the murderous rag heads will become easy. We'll have at least one more date to remember to go with December 7, and 9/11.

Oh, lest I forget, this is also the end of capitalism.

In Hell First

The Obama may not try to take our guns, probably because the office doesn't have that authority, but he sure as hell won't get in the way. Most of his Democrat cronies are certain to make the attempt.

The Democrats' current gun-ban-list proposal

I have 3 on the list. I'll see the confiscators in hell before they can have them.

Flying With a Gun

Several years ago I had a less then stellar experience transporting 2 guns by air. The trip there was without incident. Both were in a locked hard plastic case, unloaded and in regular checked baggage. I found out, on the return trip, that forgetting to unload one was not a good thing. Besides the embarrassment of being so stupid, it cost me $300. That my friends is getting off easy.

This is what reminded me of that.

I already had a nice blue hard-plastic Smith & Wesson pistol case, so I went to Walmart and bought a "TSA approved" combination lock. I didn't want to take any chances of this not working out.

I THOUGHT I was well within these guidelines... so, my wife and I got to the airport and we headed up to the counter. It was to be a light trip, so we packed our clothes and gear in our carry-on backpacks, and the pistol case was the only thing I was going to check in.

The Delta lady that checked me in was VERY friendly. I just have to give her some credit, first of all. She didn't look at me weird when I told her that I'd like to check a firearm, she just made small talk as she tagged it, and said "Okay, now I have to take you over to TSA to inspect this.

"This is where it gets funny. Before I was even TO the TSA inspection area, the short-haired woman wearing the TSA badge said loudly, "That's not going to work."

"Uh oh!" I said while grinning. As you know, I am hardly ever serious. "Will it work for 20 bucks?" I asked her as we approached the inspection area.

"Funny. No, the whole idea of having a locking gun case is so that the guys down there [pointing to the black hole where all the bags were conveying into] can't get into it. Your case is plastic."

"Yeah, but your website said a hard-sided case that can't be crushed."

"Well it would be easy to break. Plus, your case only locks once, in the center of the handle. It has to lock at both ends."

At this point, a TSA guy who had been listening to the exchange poked his head over and repeated: "It has to lock on both ends."

Bummer. That was fine though. I had put aside about $700 JUST for travel expenses, and having the gun was worth it to me. Heck, I think I'd rather stay in an "unsafe" hotel WITH my Glock than a "safe" one without it.

"Well, do you sell pistol cases?"

"No," the lady said, "but the airlines sometimes do."

Yes- Hope. Not the Obama kind... actual hope!

The nice Delta lady was still standing there, and frowning, said to me, "We stopped selling them a while ago... but Northwest Airlines only stopped recently. I would go ask that lady over there," she said pointing at a lady behind the NW airlines counter.

So, we walked down there. "Excuse me ma'am, but I was told by the TSA lady down there that you might be able to help me by selling me a pistol case.. [I held mine up] this one here doesn't meet regulation. Before you say anything- there's 20 bucks in it for you if you get me fixed up!"

She looked at me funny and said, "Well I can tell you right now that the cases we sold were $75!"

Ouch. But, maybe it would be a good case.

"That's totally fine- I just want to be able to take my pistol!"

She left, and returned empty handed. "Sorry, we sold our last two cases last week. There's one back there still, but there are no keys for it, so we can't sell it."

Rats... I had one last idea. I thanked the lady wholeheartedly for all the legwork, and headed back to TSA. Now, once again, I must give this older woman at the Northwest Airlines check in line credit- she was REALLY nice, and again didn't seem weird that I was checking in a pistol. Anyway...

"Excuse me," I said to the TSA lady. "NW is all out of cases... what if I check my backpack as luggage and just stick the case in it- would that work?"

The TSA lady sighed and proceeded to demonstrate on my poor pistol case how easy it would be to break it open. "Okay, I get it!!"

As I took my case back, I noted the heavy frost around it where she had touched it.... kidding!

When I tried to check the gun, the Delta lady must have written something on my boarding pass, because BOY did my wife and get handpicked for some major TSA searching.

They wiped our hands, wallets, phones, EVERYTHING down for drugs, they took everything out of our bags (EVERYTHING), they patted us both down, and they even stuck us in a TINY glass room for a few minutes while they went through all our things. Everyone was looking at us through the glass as they went by.

I'm such a joker that I wasn't embarrassed... but I'm not sure if my comments to TSA helped anything:

"Find anything yet?"... "I'll be counting that money when you're done there, just so you know!"... "Make sure you check those boots real good!... "Wow, you're done with the boots? I can have them back? Ha! Awesome- Hey babe, they're done checking the boots!"

The weird thing was, my wife was the only one who found my comments funny!

It's been my experience that the TSA goons have no sense of humor. Joking around will only bring you grief.

Asshole Gov. of Ill.

Looks like that asshole governor in Illinois is still putting up a big front, despite the state representatives vote to kick him out. Now it's up to the state senate to determine whether he stays or goes, then comes criminal prosecution.

I wonder if the vote would've been different without all the national attention? And why did only one guy vote no?

Big 44 Continued & .357 Sig

I picked up the .44 Super Blackhawk tonight.
This is what the barrel looked like before I sent it off to Ruger.



This is how it was returned.


Big difference huh?

They replaced the barrel, cylinder, hammer, trigger, ejector rod, ejector rod housing, rear sight, trigger return spring, and cylinder latch. Of those the barrel and ejector rod & housing were the only things visibly damaged. The trigger return spring was apparently not original. Then they reblued everything. Basically I have a brand new revolver for the price of shipping the broken one to the Ruger service department. Damn hard to beat the price or the Ruger customer service.

Makes me wonder how they can afford to do that. Their new firearms are competitively priced. They offer free service on their products. And last summer when stocks dipped they had the cash on hand to purchase a bunch of their out standing stock.

----------------------

While at the gun shop I partook in the gunnie habit of window shopping. While talking to the owners son I mentioned that at one time I wanted to buy a pistol chambered in the .357 Sig. I never bought one because I couldn't find one in a frame that fit my small hands, so I bought 1911 guns instead. All of which have slim grips and short triggers. He immediately walked away and came back with a used full sized STI that was originally chambered in .40 S&W, but was modified for the .357 Sig. It took all my willpower to put it down. It's too close after Christmas to plunk down $600 for another gun, that I want, but don't need.

He told me that the recoil was less than a .357 Mag revolver, and was somewhere between a 9mm and a 40 S&W.

I'll have to stay away from the used gun area for a while because it'll probably be there. That's not a combination that most will be looking for.

Swiss K31

Several years ago I picket up a Swiss K31. Probably the best military trigger I've ever touched, and boy can it shoot. My son shot a 3/4" 3 shot group at 100 yards with his, and it has the original sites. I think mine is about as accurate, but I can't really tell for sure. I can barely see the shallow and tiny rear notch.

Anyone have any knowledge about the clamp-on scope mount for the K31? I put an aperture rear site on it that helps a lot, but I'm always bothered by a rifle that shoots a whole lot better than I can see.

Insane Law

Ohio needs to do away with this insane provision in the law, and make a retail food establishment (restaurant) exempt from the gun ban. It is already against the law to carry a firearm while intoxicated, why this extra restriction? This would be like banning anyone who visits a restaurant from driving afterward, regardless of whether or not they had anything to drink.

I totally agree. Some states don't even care if the licensee carries in a bar. Been there, done that. I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot to me anyway. I carry in restaurants that serve alcohol about as often as not. If your weapon is truly concealed, no one knows. And if it's needed, I don't care if everyone knows.

The Big 44

James talks a little about the .44 Mag. I left a comment that mat be of interest.

And speaking of the .44, I may be getting mine back tomorrow night. Sometime late spring or early summer, a friend gave me a Ruger Super Blackhawk with a split barrel. Around August or September I paid a local gun store to ship it back to Ruger for evaluation and a quote to repair. Since I haven't heard from Ruger I gave them a call today. A very helpful lady told me it was shipped back to the gun shop on October 2 tagged as being for a customer. Unless they included my contact information in the box, the shop has no idea who it belongs to. Tomorrow after work I'll stop in and pick it up. I may even check it out in their indoor range.

I'd rather have a double action, but hey, it didn't cost me anything. And Ruger fixed it for free.

Not a Clue

In a short conversation with the father-in-law today, the subject of Obama and new gun laws came up. Not by me, but by the Boss. She said that if any kind of gun confiscation starts, we're likely to have a civil war. I told her Obama isn't that stupid, or at least I hope he isn't.

I told her dad that any confiscation will be one bullet at a time. He was rather surprised at that. "Would you really risk jail or death for a principle?" My answer was a definite yes.

People die every day for a "principle" called freedom. He doesn't have a clue. He's a weak willed drone that actually has trust in authority.

10 Manliest ??

As long as the list contains nothing French, gold-plated, .25 or with pearl grips (which Patton correctly observed are the mark of a New Orleans pimp), it is a good list.

Of his list of 10, I happen to own 7. I'll let you guess which 7.

I also own, well the Boss owns, one with pearl grips of the immitation variety. Years ago I was given an old model Ruger Single Six in .22 Mag that was a chunk of rust. I cleaned it up. It's matt nickle plated except for the screws and loading gate, that are black nickle. All the aluminum parts are black anodized. When I installed the pearl grips, the Boss claimed it as hers. I think she said "it's too pretty for a guy".

Good Quote

From the Munchkin Wrangler

Whenever you’re confused about the identity of the Good Guys and the Bad Guys in a conflict, here’s a tip for clarification. When one side mostly targets only armed belligerents, and the other side straps bombs to their kids and sends them into crowded pizza parlors, there should be little confusion as to which side wears the black hats.