Monthly Archives: February 2012

Not only did we warn them, but we even did a video public service announcement about the problem.  Apparently they didn’t get the memo.

We was at the vigil holding candles and stuff and grieving”, recalls
Meech Jackson, a friend of Smith’s. “When we heard some shots. I left.
People scattered after that.”

As said by Don Wood, “Candles don’t stop violence.”

It is a shame, not only for the first victim that was lost, but the additional victims created by this act of violence.  I find it most probable the people in that gathering were not armed.  Doubly so since they think there is strength in numbers.  However holding a candle while discussing the scourge that is guns on society just labels you as an unarmed potential victim.

If you missed our public service announcement, here it is again.

via Kurt Hoffman

Dot Torture that is!

So I’ve got with Joe to the past couple action pistol and steel matches and come in middle of the pack.  I don’t always let my type A personality take over, but middle of the pack just isn’t acceptable.  I know I’m going to be there for a while, it’s going to take time and practice.

Today was the first time in a while I actually spent some time at the range for some serious practice.  I started off with just some standard target shooting at 7 yards eventually pushing it to 17 yards.  Then I switched to the 1911 with the .22 LR conversion kit.

About 2 years ago I bought a Kimber .22 LR conversion kit for my 1911 with the statement I can practice more.  Well, I have practiced more, with anything other than my pistol.  So I finally broke it out yesterday and figured I’d review it as well.

The case is solid, makes storage easy and protects it especially if you do your conversion at the range.

Initial thoughts were that the construction was solid, the overall finish was extremely nice.  Though with such a nice conversion kit, it was disappointing they shipped it with a polymer magazine.  We’ll see how long it lasts.

There was a nice coating of cosmoline on everything so I fully stripped it down and cleaned it before assembling it on my 1911 frame.

Parts and pieces are the same as the standard 1911 frame and slide. If you know how that goes together you can disassemble a conversion kit and put it back together.  Seriously, not hard.  Pop out the the slide lock, pull off the old slide, put on the new one and reinsert slide lock!

The finished product after being cleaned and mounted on the 1911 frame.

It came to my attention as I started writing this I didn’t take a picture of any of the targets I shot slow fire at 7 yards for practice and familiarization with how it shoots.  I do however have another picture which I will get to later.  I ran approximately 150 rounds through the conversion kit with no issues.  I actually borrowed a 22 mag from the shop gunsmith who I happened to know from the LPC Action Pistol matches.  I do not remember the brand off hand, however the kit ran just fine with the third party mag as well.  Only complaint is that the slide doesn’t lock back on the last round thus making slide lock reload practice impossible on the conversion kit. I haven’t found any magazines that allow the slide lock to function yet, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop looking.

So, thus far this .22 conversion kit is getting the thumbs up from me, however I haven’t looked at the prices lately but I’m sure they’ve gone up.  This was listed at Cabela’s when I got it for $300, though I snagged it on sale for $275 at the local store.  They currently list for $330.

So,  I ran a bunch of simple drills with my 1911 at 7 yards getting comfortable with the conversion kit.  Then I decided it was time for some torture.  I ran it first with the 1911 with the conversion kit at 3 yards, pushing my comfort zone since it was 22.

It was pretty bad though it was obvious I was pushing.  Those 5 shots at the top I was walking up to find the correct position for the sight picture that close.  I then moved on to my XD and moved into something with some recoil.

As I was shooting the string I became very concerned when it game to dot 4.  I couldn’t see any fliers in the cardboard though that were new, it was all pre-existing holes.  Before bringing the target back after shooting the string I did a little experiment.  I closed my eyes and pointed straight out to find my natural point of aim.  It was at dot 4, my body was triggering off the natural point of aim to break the shot.  I didn’t push far beyond my comfort zone with this one, I was pushing but I wanted good solid hits.

Reviewing the target though it shows I need to work on shooting with my weak hand more.  It’s pretty clear I’m pushing and having recoil problems off hand. 

I’ll be going back for more practice in during the next off weekend from action/steel shooting and I am going to increase the distance for dot torture.  I need to send out an email to some friends in the interim to see what can be done to help my 45 supplies for matches as well as some for practice too.  Joe’s offered me time on his reloader, which eventually I’ll probably take him up on, but I’ve need to solve the problem in the interim.

In closing today I was able to get a picture of just pure win.

The little girl informed me she also got a BB gun for Christmas.  At least that’s what I think I heard through the hearing protection and gunfire.  As she was leaving I smiled at her and asked if she had fun.  She grinned back and said, “Yup, it was a blast.”  Sarah Brady must be crying in a corner somewhere.

*A note to the FTC, FUCK YOU!  No one paid me shit to write this review.  I paid out of my own pocket for the conversion kit, firearm(gift from dad so yeah…), ammunition, and range fees.  No even just sent me hardware to review, I bought all of it.**

**If you would like me to review some product of yours, feel free to contact me.

I demand that we close the Going Wherever You Want Loophole! If we checked everyone for government issued photo ID as they walked out their front door, we could prevent sidewalks from being superhighways for criminals, but the ACLU has vowed to fight any such legislation.

Tam – Argumentum ad fabricatum: You’re Just making stuff up.

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[Careful Tam, someone might actually run with that.  It is amazing though the number of people who go into PSH over two law people engaging in lawful commerce.

I think to prevent people from going on murderous rampages with vehicles there should be no more private party sales.  If you want to sell a vehicle, it has to be through an auto dealer.  What’s that I hear you say, the person selling the item won’t make what it’s worth anymore since the dealer is taking a cut.  Too bad, we can’t have two consenting adults participate in lawful commerce anymore because there could be a bad person out there.

At one time the law was to protect the innocent and law abiding.  At some point this was turned on it’s head and people seem to think the law is there to protect them from the bad people.  News flash, it’s your job to protect yourself from bad people.  It is the job of the law to punish the bad people after they have done or attempted to do something to you.  It is not the job of the law to punish people because they have the ability to do something you don’t like.  Just because I have a gun doesn’t mean I’m an armed robber.  Just because Joe asks if he can buy a gun from me, doesn’t mean he’s going to go rob a bank.  I don’t see how my wanting to engage in lawful commerce makes me a criminal.

Just the same, my wanting to travel without showing ID doesn’t make me a criminal.  It just means it’s none of your damn business.  The fact I don’t fly anymore doesn’t make me a criminal, though these same people would argue it does.  What am I hiding and so upset by that I don’t want to be molested against my will by some sexual deviant being paid by the state.  To all those who want these types of laws: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.  I haven’t done a damn thing to violate you, your rights, or your property.  Leave me the fuck alone to conduct my business in privacy and how I wish.  What is so freaking hard about understanding this!?  I haven’t broken the law, and as such you have no right to infringe upon my rights. –B]

So, Oleg posted a video this morning which is a strong reminder of why I have the State Sponsored Criminal Count. 

As much as I hate to say it.  The police by their own attitudes have become the enemy.  If a law enforcement officer has a problem with being video taped, they need to find a different job.  The human brain sucks at memory under stress.  A video camera is unbiased and unforgiving to those in the wrong, which is why they hate it.  If you don’t want to be video taped, don’t be a public servant.

Any officer that has a problem with me video taping them while acting in an official capacity is a criminal acting under the protection of the state.  Period.  Lawdog had the comment regarding evidence collection.  I have no problem providing my name, address, phone number, and even identification as a material witness.  While they do have a right to obtain the evidence, especially with regard to investigating possible police misconduct, they have a nasty habit of just deleting files off the phone.  I will deal with the courts and a subpoena and provide you an unaltered copy of the data.  You will not be allowed to delete the original which is what happens oh so often.

This is why I left auto uploads enabled on my new phone.  Immediately after taking a picture or video it starts uploading it online.  I can immediately lock my phone at the push of a button.  I can also have my wife remotely wipe my phone so they cannot gain access to the online services where it was uploaded.  I do not have to surrender my phone because there may be other material available on that phone which becomes a 4th and 5th amendment issue.  You wanting a video file doesn’t allow you to search through all my email which is now available on my phone.  Surrendering my phone to you implies possession and if there’s some picture on there that can be construed as illegal it can be used against me.  I don’t record illegal acts, but I can tell you video and pictures of explosives being seen by a cop who doesn’t know who I am is going to land me in a world of shit.  I will email them a copy of the video, on scene, immediately, unaltered.  See that’s the thing about technology.  They don’t need the device itself, it’s not tapes anymore, it’s a fucking file! 

Generic witnesses do not have a horse in the race and it does not benefit them to alter or destroy evidence.  The cops however have a horse in the race.  They have qualified immunity to protect them and they don’t want evidence to show that they did something wrong.  They want anything and everything to stack in their favor to keep them from becoming Accountabilibuddyable.

We’ll I’ve known that for a long time.  I would say I’m short bus special but alas I never rode it.

Now there’s been a blogger award running around amongst the gun blogs, geared at the less read blogs.  Arms are the Mark of a Free Man put me in his award list. 

Liebster Blog Award:

The rules are:

1. Copy and paste award on your blog. Check.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award. Did you miss the link?  Check.
3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received an award.  Huston we have a problem,  yeah most of the blogs I follow are well beyond the 200 mark.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.  Yeah, I could care less, it’s up to them if they want to or not.  God knows I’m having trouble finding 5 that haven’t been done.

I’m probably flirting with the 200 followers now.  I have 124 subscribers when I just checked feedburner, that’s a more accurate count than just looking at google reader stats.  However my daily traffic is now about 120.  I say flirting because a lot of that traffic aren’t really daily readers but people searching for stuff.

So I will try and come up with 5, that haven’t been listed, and these are in no real particular order:

1. Gun Geek Rants 
2. Men Are Not Potatoes
3. Bayou Renaissance Man
4. The Clue Meter
5. Black Sunday Society

*As a random note, my cat failed me and I was attacked by a spider while writing this.  Best part is it looks like she pulled the insulation out that runs around my antenna wires which is how it got in.  She’s planning to kill me!

Honestly the times when I have been MOST miserable in my life have been
as a child because you are unhappy and helpless. When bad shit happens
now in life, I’m a grown-up, I don’t sit there and cry, I get to
fucking work and fix the shit.

Weer’d Beard – Another Good Video

February 10, 2012

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[I will admit that there are times I look back and my childhood and think it would be fun to go back.  Mainly those things that I think about going back for are those “Groundhog Day” type instances.  That entertaining night in Philly while going to the National Jamboree in scouts, hiking through Philmont, being staff for JLT with a bunch of friends.  It was fun!  It’s the fun and memories I remember that calls to me.

Thing is, I wouldn’t really want to go back and stay.  Why?  I can go out when ever I want and shoot stuff and blow stuff up.  If I feel like going to the range, I can hop in my truck and go.  No asking my dad and hoping he has time.  Yeah when something goes wrong I have to deal with it.  Does it suck, not really.  Why?  Because the buck stops with me and I like responsibility.  When something goes wrong I have to figure it out and solve the problem.  Yeah there are times I hate the stress that goes with it, but you know what, I learned from those mistakes.  Yeah stress sucks, but I have a wonderful wife there to help me find my way to the other side.  It’s life, get used to it.  Besides, as an adult I can actually do something about it.  As a kid, I’d just have to deal with it.

I think Sunday I’m headed down to the range.  Why?  Because I fucking can!  I’m good with being an actual grown adult.* -B

*This is opposed to those people who are grown up in physical size and stature but never emotionally matured and became adults.**

**This is not in reference to those with mental disabilities.  The wife works with people who do have those type of issues, I’m talking about the people coddled by their parents and shielded from the real world to the point where they want the government to become a parent to keep coddling them.]