Tuesday, March 31, 2009

MArooned: Safe Queens...

MArooned: Safe Queens...

So Jay G wants to know about safe queens:

I have two Winchester 101's. Both 12 gauge, one pigeon grade, one waterfowl model, they only come out when I need to impress the upper class with my clay busting, and/or pheasant killing skills.




I have a Browning BLR in 308 with detachable box magazine that I bought to use as a brush gun for pigs, until I decided it was too pretty for such dirty work.

There are a few others that dont go out often due to age or family heirloom status, but I do find it difficult to own safe queens.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Travel update

No role model of the week today as I have been traveling.

I had to detour around a Texas blizzard, and contrary to popular belief, not everything is bigger in Texas.

I arrived at the range about noon today, it has been raining, it is muddy, and it is chilly (37deg).

Watching all the Grand Masters shoot looked more like old slapstick comedy, there was alot of slipping and falling, mud flinging everywhere. Tomorrow is my turn, I will post video and pic's if at all possible.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Rifle Calibers for Home Defense

Russ' Hunting / Shooting Blog over at about.com has a post about rifles for self defense. I may have misunderstood his point, but he seems to think that a 223 is a poor choice where as a 44 mag is a good one. Read the post, there is more to it than this. Either his research is faulty or he is afraid of evil black rifles.

NPS lead policy clarification

The National Park service has released a statement about lead use in the National Park system:
Clarification Statement

WASHINGTON – On March 10, 2009, the National Park Service distributed a press release entitled “National Park Service Gets the Lead Out.” Due to some confusion over its contents, the agency provides the following clarifying statements:

1. Nothing has changed for the public. We are simply announcing the NPS goal of eliminating lead from NPS activities to protect human and wildlife health.

2. We will work to clean our own house by altering NPS resource management activities. In 2009, we will transition to non-lead ammunition in culling operations and dispatching sick or wounded animals.

3. In the future, we will look at the potential for transitioning to non-lead ammunition and non-lead fishing tackle for recreational use by working with our policy office and appropriate stakeholders/groups. This will require public involvement, comment, and review.

I blogged about this earlier in the week and missed the update. I do not think that this is a war we are going to win. We have however won the battle. We need to have more studies done about the environmental impact of lead use by sportsman, even if all they do is constantly show that lead use is not an issue.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Frank the Fighter

I sent Frank out to a special training camp, I would almost say they worked the meat right off his bones. As a matter of fact he is all skin and bones.

If you have any doubt why he is called 'Frank the Fighter' look closely at the rack, and you should see the scars in his hide.

Diversity

Infighting has been notorious throughout history for destroying great nations. Perhaps if you break it down in the simplest of terms, it is the destroyer of nations. On September 12, 2001 we were one nation, one people, like minded, with a common resolution. We are still those people, we are still that nation. Diversity is what makes us a great nation, diversity is what makes us a nation of the people.

But great people know that there is a time to come together, a time when infighting causes harm rather than a reasoned debate. Sportsman and shooters have always had differing goals, often at the expense of the other. Recently the National Park Service has decided to ban lead in all park grounds. The fisherman, hunter, and target shooter are all affected by this ruling. I have many hobbies, I feel as if I belong in the outdoors. With this ruling I am affected on all three counts (where do I find non-lead fly line?). I am not going to preach about calling your congressman, I am not going to tell you to have a protest. I am simply saying that it is time to stand together. I do not think that there will be a frontal attack on our gun rights, but lead may be a good place to start. From sinkers to bullets, we are all affected. Let us stand together and strong, the price will be high if we do not.

On a lighter note, I would like to thank Brigid for allowing me use of her picture. She is a charming lady, her writing is stirring and witty, I cannot compete with that, nor do I try, instead I copy her pictures.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Role Model of the Week: Part VIIII

Is there anything more important than your principles? Are your core beliefs worth fighting for? John Pierce is the co-founder of opencarry.org, as the name implies, he is fighting for, and promoting the right of legal open carry.

Last month he was in San Diego, CA, where it is legal to open carry a unloaded pistol. About 40 people participated. The police were summoned and no arrest was made due to no laws being broken. The article is here, I will let you read the leftist spin that was put upon it. The reporter seemed to relish equating panicked beach goers with open carry.

My point is not to get into the open carry debate. My point is that Mr. Pierce is willing to travel the country and practice the freedoms that he is allowed as an American. He is willing to deal with the negative media attention and police officers keeping a close eye on him. Why? To bring attention on our rights as Americans. As it says on his website "A right unused is a right lost." Whether you agree with him or not, sticking up for your ideals is a noble trait.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Super Hero






You Scored as Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones is an archaeologist/adventurer with an unquenchable love for danger and excitement. He travels the globe in search of historical relics. He loves travel, excitement, and a good archaeological discovery. He hates Nazis and snakes, perhaps to the same degree. He always brings along his trusty whip and fedora. He's tough, cool, and dedicated. He relies on both brains and brawn to get him out of trouble and into it.






Indiana Jones




83%





Maximus




79%





Lara Croft




67%





El Zorro




67%





James Bond, Agent 007




58%





Batman, the Dark Knight




54%





William Wallace




54%





The Amazing Spider-Man




54%





The Terminator




50%





Captain Jack Sparrow




50%





Neo, the "One"




50%

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Six Words

Honor, integrity, righteousness overcome all obstacles.

Stolen from Jay

The short background is that Ernest Hemingway thought that any story could be condensed into six words.

What is your story?

Wherefore art thou, American values?

Ignatius Piazza had an interesting blog post about a young authors definition of conservative values. It could be summed up into four of them:
Respect for the Constitution
Respect for Life
Less Government
Personal Responsibility

Glenn Beck has the same thing going with his 'We surround them' campaign:
Honesty
Reverence
Hope
Thrift
Humility
Charity
Sincerity
Moderation
Hard Work
Courage
Personal Responsibility
Gratitude

They all center on one common theme. It is a theme that I personally believe in. You are responsible for your own life, you have the ability to make it whatever you want, and that you can do it with a minimum of government interference. It seems that these thing are slowly being whittled away. I did not ask for a bail out when my wife became gravely ill, some say that I was entitled to one. If offered one, I would have refused. I would rather try and fail honorably than to have something handed to me for nothing.

I have been working on personal responsibility with my children, and sometimes I feel as if I don't have the support of the school system. I don't believe that they have the desire to hold other children, and parents, personally responsible.

I have also been working on charity. I have always been against it. If you won't take care of yourself, why should I? I have learned that can't and won't are not the same word. If you can't take care of yourself, I will help. If you won't take care of yourself, your fate is of your own making.

Humility? Hopefully that comes with age, I'm not there yet.

These are a few values that I believe makes The United States what it is. I do not know what it will be. If we teach our children, and ourselves, to be better people, to be productive members of society. We will remain the best Naiton on Earth. A group of people that work towards a common goal, the goal that by working together, anything is possible.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
If it has been awhile, read the whole thing, remember why we, as a country, became great.

Appropriate definition of wherefore can be found at the Munchkin Wrangler

Friday, March 13, 2009

Role Model of the week: Part VIII

Do you remember your teachers from school? I don't remember all of them, as a matter of fact, most are just fuzzy memories at this point. A select few remain vivid and bright in my memory. They all taught me something, they all contributed to society in more ways than they could realize. I started my search for this weeks role model and found a few people that were worthy of mention. I had picked a teacher from Pennsylvania that was fighting for his right to be able to defend his students from harm. I started to type and the words came naturally, but they were not juxtaposed from a Fox news article.

My eighth grade social studies and history teacher was (and still is, I'm sure)an honorable man. He taught all of us literature, history, classical music, many things. At the time I did not know how they all were related to the class. I learned that lesson many years later, after my own politics and my own views of society had formed into what they now are. He made learning fun, interesting, entertaining. He past on his love for history, enthralling me with it's epic battles and subtle political nuances. There was the Egyptian dig and quest thru the school, and the mock battle with eggshells filled with glitter. History was alive, and flourishing in many young minds.

He is also the first teacher that I can recall holding me personally responsible for my actions. He was a man who could cause a lump to rise in my throat with a simple glance. He asked for respect and gave it in return. I do not recall whether the lesson was given directly or indirectly, but I believe that he is the man that showed me that you can shape your own destiny. I refer to it as 'making your own adventure'. The notion that whether you succeed or fail, ultimately you are the one responsible. I am sure that I gave him plenty of whiny excuses for things that I may or may not have done, I am also sure that on days he hung his head in frustration at said actions (bit hard headed I was).

I can go on for pages with stories from this gentlemans class room. The moral is this: Role models come in many shapes and forms, some obvious and some not, some may simply guide another to becoming a productive member of society. Some may fight for what is right no matter the cost. Some may save another life at the risk of their own. They all have a overlooked fact behind them, there were people in their life that guided them and molded them into better people.

Mr. Robert Hargis is one of those people, a person who may never be famous or in the spotlight, but he has influenced society in more ways than I can imagine. He truly makes the world a better place. Mr. Hargis, you sir, are a inspiration to others, and we all thank you.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

My STI is no longer broken, but I am.

So the STI is up and running again. Repaired the grips that I broke, I think that I took the super secret Todd Jarret kung fu grip too far. I found a cracked firing pin and repaired that. I also installed a new mainspring housing and a larger magwell.

Double Tap is two weeks away and my confidence in this gun is not as high as it should be. I went to the range on Tuesday and fired about a hundred rounds thru it, no problems except that I seem to be developing a slight flinch. The solution? More dry fire and practice with the 22.

I shot the indoor match at Let's Shoot Gun Club last night. I performed very well when I slowed down. Yet again, or still, I am trying to go too fast and I start dropping points. I need to slow down and focus on my transitions. When I watch that front sight I do very well, I was running about .2 seconds behind the leader. But if I lose my discipline I start to go to fast and lose the front sight. If anybody has some good ideas about how to fix these problems, I would be very interested.

I don't have time to repair these issues before Double Tap, I have decided that I'm going to go and have fun, take my time and get good hits. I have no delusions about winning, so we will see what happens.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Quote of the Day: Pmag Edition

I recommend Pmags because they are made of compressed American freedom and the tears of patriots. They also are impact resistant.

Taken off of The Zombie Squad Forum

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Damn rating must come from a liberal

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site



This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

gun (17x) shoot (6x) hell (3x) zombie (2x) dangerous (1x)

Friday, March 6, 2009

Role Model of the Week: Part VII

Now as you all know, I try to pick an oddball, off the wall example of some prime example of the goodness in people. Believe it or not, it's harder than you think. The person that I picked out for this week has already been blogged about, and I try not to copy somebodies work. Luckily I found an even better example.

The Buckeye Firearm Association reports that an 82 year old woman used a pistol to defend herself against an armed robbery. I truly consider this lady to be an example to all of us. Refusing to be a victim is one of the most important tenants to being responsible for yourself. It sounds like Ms. Dassel heard a noise and went to investigate, she than found the suspect who had broken a door jam to get into her house.

According to the report, Dassel was inside her home when she heard a noise coming from the back of her house. Using a walker to move to an enclosed back porch, she opened the door from the house and discovered a man standing on her back porch.


This was my favorite part of the article.Dassel immediately picked up a pistol that she had in the pouch of her walker and pointed it at the intruder. Do they make custom holsters for walkers? My thought is that it was homemade! Just because you are in a walker does not deny you the right to defend yourself. Remember this when you hear a something go bump in the night. If a old lady in a walker can do it, so can you.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

New shooter report


Two weekends ago I took my neighbors 21 year old son shooting. This was not his first time shooting, but it had been years.

He enjoyed shooting my Contender and absolutely loved shooting my Buckmark. He loved it so much that he went out and put one on layaway.

I covered all the basics on the drive to where we were going to shoot, the four rules were easily accepted and I do not think that the responsibility of them was lost upon him. He actually shot very well and by the end of the day was shooting better than most of the people that were there. He was dinging the steel, with the buckmark, like a pro.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Getting behind the ACLU!

Now here is something that I can get behind!

Funny video from the ACLU

I'm not sure how old it is but the video is very humorous!

I have always been against the National ID card, I firmly feel that the next step would be a firearms registration card, and we all know that we can't have that.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Lack of training time

The Double Tap championship in Wichita Falls is only a few short weeks away, and I have not gotten all of my training in. I have been plagued by gun troubles(the STI is down, again), and the real world is preventing me from sending as many rounds downrange as I would like. So my training has suffered, and my performance does not appear to be match winning at this point. Any ideas on how I can get more bang without the necessity of being on the range?

I also shot a USPSA match Sunday and noticed that I am having a problem on my target transitions. More specifically I'm already looking for the next target before I fire my second shot on a target. I'm not getting all of my hits because of it, and all I can think is, SLOW DOWN!

More later this week on how to repair your STI when you break the plastic pistol grip.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

When you just know how the days gonna go...


It's early Saturday morning, time to head over to one of my monthly matches. I climb into my loyal steed and happen to glance at the odometer. First thing that enters my
head "this isn't going to be a good day". I simply find such superstition humorous, although occasionally it can be ironic.


I was shooting a fairly long run and gun stage when the recoil on my pistol didn't feel right. I also felt something impact my cheek and safety glasses. I immediately stopped shooting and cleared my weapon. I originally assumed that I had caught a bad ricochet. My gun closed properly with the offending case stuck in the chamber. When I went to shoot the next stage I could not figure out why my gun would not load. Turns out that the case in the chamber had a head separation, came out of the chamber and struck me in the face. Luckily, I was following all the rules and my safety glasses saved me from a serious injury.

So what is the lesson of the day? Stay home when your odometer says 666? I think not. The lesson is to wear the proper safety equipment and follow the four rules of firearm safety.
 
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