"You Know How I Said I Liked You, Sully?"

I lied.

I dragged my buttocks to the range Sunday after all with my new toy.

That's all at 50ft, the max distance at Bill's (indoor).  Played with the sights a little, got used to the action, etc.  Not good, and a lot of high and to the right (target's sideways), but not terrible for a guy who's not fired anything much but handguns for nigh-on 10 years.

I only have the one mag still so my reloading digits got tired before my shooty desire did, but 250 rounds later I can say I'm definitely hooked.  Next up, I guess, is one o' them fancy red dots and a bunch of spare mags.  And a trip to an outdoor range where I can truly embarrass myself.

Somebody Has a New Toy, and that Somebody is Me.

Atom Smasher: "I don't go to the range enough."
MeatAxe: "Cease thy ruminations and obtain for thyself an MP15-22."
Atom Smasher: "Aye."


Was going to go break it in today, feeling too lazy (and I am working the holiday tomorrow) so will go read in the sun instead.  But I am looking forward to next Saturday - every purchase at Bill's gets you a free range ticket, so it's a guaranteed good time.

It's so LIGHT!

High Speed, Low Drag: Kydex Drop Leg Holster For A Single Action Pistol

Check out this holster made by the craftsmen at Spartan Village. This one's for you, Smasher.

"I'd say about twenty guns. Some on the surface, some on the towers."

My blogpartner has convinced me that I am missing out on too much fun by not having an EBR .22LR chucker. I'm all set to go shopping this Saturday for a S&W MP15-22, and I'm online just now checking the two local boomstick emporia to see what they have on hand.

For years I've been pining for a wood-furniture CETME. No logical reason for it, I just like the lines and the look, and I want one. Every time I've been close something has come up - unexpected trip, car repair, something like that. Also, MeatAxe has reminded me of the weight, the expense, and the shoulder wear a good 1970s battle rifle in a Balrog-dropping caliber brings to the party. And I'd thought I was mostly over it. But then perusing the Frontiersman's website, I saw in the used guns sidebar:

"Several Cetme and FN/FAL .308 cal rifles"

The resulting Gmail chat went something like this:

Smasher: "I really still kinda want one."
Axe: "You'll never shoot it, plus it's expensive when you do shoot it."
Smasher: "But it's pretty."
Axe: "Stay on target."
Smasher: "I still kind of want one."
Axe: "Stay on target!"

So I think we're good.  .22LR here I come!

Some Guys Just Go Down hard

Check out this story and this one for accounts of 2 gunfights, in which the bad guy soaked up an astonishing number of rounds, and was still around to cause trouble.

In the first story, the bad guy was shot 22 times before he finally went down, and in the second it took 17. That doesn't include shots that missed, either.

Both articles contain lengthy discussions of tactics and should prove interesting to readers of this blog.

Possibly The Stupidest Headline Ever

Triple Barrel Revolver Makes Anyone an Expert Marksman

From Gizmodo. Which is  apparently a little fuzzy on the exact details of how one hits targets with boolets. 

When you see this thing, check out the axis of recoil, imagine the weight of the fully loaded cylinder, and try to imagine hitting anything with it, unless it mounted this beast on a tripod first. 

"I Say We Take Off and Nuke the Site From Orbit. It's the Only Way to be Sure."

"Oh Smasher, you're so judgmental - every culture and way of life is as valid as your own."

I know that "Different" does not equate to "Worse".  Except when it does.

"S Korean customs agents seize 17,000 pills containing powdered human baby flesh"

Hat Tip to Hot Air.

Ode to Joy Indeed

This weekend I was in Boston (Hi Jay!) - my mom flew her little brood in to catch the Boston Symphony.  We have a minor tradition of doing Tanglewood every couple of summers for Beethoven's 9th Symphony (although one year we did the 1812 instead) but this year my mom wanted to do a nice steak place afterward so Boston it was.  (HINT FOR THE GUYS: TANGLEWOOD.  FALL.  EXPENSIVE.  BUT DO IT FOR THE LADY. JUST SHUT UP AND DO IT.)

Worst cabbies ever?  I had 'em.  But it was very nice to see my family, as we're scattered throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.  And Flemings serves up one NICE piece of steerflesh.  And out waitress was awesome.

I'd never been to Symphony Hall before, and it was very impressive.  We had good back-balcony seats and the acoustics were great.

When you bring the Tanglewood Chorus to your auditorium for the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th, you tend to look for other chorale pieces for them to do, and accordingly the program Friday opened up with Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.  Embarrassingly, I don't know much about Stravinsky except the parts of the Rites of Spring that Disney used for Fantasia, but after listening to his Symphony of Psalms, I can confidently say: The Strav-monster liked him some oboes.

I was thinking about taking an extra day and visiting my blog-partner but he'd picked this weekend to run up and down a muddy mountain with his wife.

Selfish bastard, that one.


Anyway, the Ninth.  Wow.  4th time I've seen it live, and it still wrenches at me.  Thank you, Ludwig Van.

What a Dick

"...and we've got me in the house."

To quote Kate Bush, Mister President, "Get out of my house!"

Potassium Nitrate + charcoal + Sulfur = Fun!

I went to the range today for the first time in TOO LONG. Started with my favorite semi-auto, my Steyr M9 (9mm): Dialed myself in at 15 feet, was reasonably happy with the results. After 20 or so rounds, moved the paper to 21 feet, and aside from a serious case of "death grip" to the point where my hand was literally shaking, relaxed enough to be satisfied with the 100 rounds I put through it.


I like my M9.

Next was my alternate carry piece, my Taurus Millennium Pro .45. My fellow gun nuts all tell me that Taurus products suck and are unreliable, but I fed yet another 100 rounds of .45 through the thing and with nary a hiccup and was reasonably satisfied with my accuracy. Still need more practice, of course, but I'm happy (albeit not ecstatic) with where the holes in the paper appeared.

With all the "work" done, I switched to my true calling - my Ruger Vaquero in .45 long Colt and a Zombie target. 50 rounds at 21 feet. And what can I say? I'm good.

Single action cowboy gun, never using the sights, simple old-fashioned point shooting with gun raised up and held between belt and eyeline, and I'll say it:

I'm good. Really really good. Not great. But good.

When the zombie apocalypse comes, I'll have "better", more modern guns, because I'm not stupid, but strapped to my right leg will be a big-ass, honking SA revolver. Because the bullets all go where I think they should without any effort.

And the best part is that I equipped and dragged 3 pistols to the range and used them, and completely forgot about the snubbie S&W Airweight .38 I had in my pocket. Never even thought to put a round through it.

I love America and my part in it.

"Never mind", Part the Third

Hey, another climate dickhead admits he's a fraud: Via Powerline: British Climate Scientists Recants His Alarmism

Most importantly is his admission that “twelve years is a reasonable time”. It has provided enough time for a trend to develop that debunks the alarmist’s predictions. Finally Lovelock admits that which has been painfully evident to most skeptics, given the trend of those 12 years – “we don’t know what the climate is doing.”

Anybody still believe in this shit?

OMG The Pants Shitting Hysteria

Check out the comments on this NYT article on concealed carry clothing.

Ouch.

Just ouch. Courtesy Mark Steyn.

I Know Something They Don't Know

I say the following all the time. This guy says it better though, and with a byline (with an eagle on it and everything):

Kurt Schlichter, H/T Hugh Hewitt:

Ignore conservative ideas at your own peril.

Conservatives often scratch their heads at the image liberals hold of them, as misers and brutes whose ignorance is only matched by their hatred of anyone who is not a WASP male. The Left's contempt similarly encompasses those women, minorities and gays who "betray" their demographics to throw in with the Right.

Back to me now: I've said this over and over to my friends and fellow internet debaters for years - if I know, understand, and accept their motivations for their liberal positions, and they do not know, understand, or accept mine in turn for my conservative positions, then, well, what is there to talk about? I'm just wasting breath until the next time one of us brings it up.

Another facet has always been this (this is mainly an internet phenomenon, but not solely): I believe people when they say they want to "tax the rich" because they believe the rich aren't paying enough already - why won't they believe me when I say I want to lower all taxes in part because I think most people are already paying too much? Why must they translate that to "Smasher wants to help the rich"? Is it because their brains would explode if they tried to fit an idea other than their own inside? Is it because they've never actually put any thought into most of their positions and get defensive about their ignorance when challenged? Or is it because I don't have a byline with an eagle on it?

Obama... In... SPAAAAAAAACE!

So I'll raise the topic of Obama getting caught with Russia's dangly bits in his mouth.

Obama begs Russia to wait for actual penetration until after the wedding.

"On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space,” Mr. Obama could be heard saying to Mr. Medvedev, according a reporter from ABC News, who was traveling with the president.

“Yeah, I understand,” Mr. Medvedev, the outgoing Russian president, said. “I understand your message about space. Space for you …”

I'm glad some folks are still saying there's no difference between Obama and Romney, Dems and Repubs. After all, why would anyone want a president who actually pushed for American interests in office, as opposed to the interests of our long-term opposition in the world?